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- Treacherous
- Sorcery
- Alchemy
- Gods
- Intercessor
- Soldier
- Toolmaker
- Mutilated
- Versinya
- Lacrymosa
- Verachtlich
- Illaria
- Deceased
- Powers
- Sky
- Land
- Stars
- Oceans
- Fire
The Treacherous Folk
The Treacherous Lands are beyond our ken, but that doesn't stop stories cropping up here and there all the time. Whenever someone unexpectedly goes insane, it's rumoured that they visited the Treacherous Lands and were driven mad by what they saw there. Whenever something goes missing, superstitious folk think it's gone beyond the Wall. And then there's stories about the fairies and the Kraelings...The Fae
Fairies, Fae, the Little People, the Fair Folk. Plenty of legends exist about the magic beings that supposedly maintain a kingdom somewhere out in the Treacherous Lands. Lots of those legends concern them coming out of the Treacherous Lands and causing all kinds of mischief to honest god-hating folk. Thing is, in modern day Horizon, with our daily miracles of steam and clockwork, it's a little hard to take those old stories too seriously. Still, it seems you can't go into a tavern at the edge of town without hearing a bunch of country bumpkins swapping stories about the so - called fairies they've seen. Still, some people who think they've had bad experiences can get very angry over the issue. You haven't seen humanity 'till you've seen some bucolic community burning an out-of-towner for 'looking a bit fairy'.Rumours
Whole books of spells exist that can tell you how to summon and bind a fairy to be your servant. I'll bet they've got copies up at the university.Of course the Fae exist. Like everything else in the Treacherous Lands, though, they're pretty well stuck beyond the Wall. Moral of the story? Don't go over the Wall.
The Queen of the Fairies is beautiful and terrible. They say she takes a different mortal man as a lover every night and murders him in the morning.
The Queen of the Fairies is beautiful and peverted. They say she takes the same mortal man as a lover every night and murders him in the morning.
The Queen of the Fairies is sad because her love has left her and will never return.
If you think bad thoughts and don't eat your vegetables, the fairies can get into your dreams. Then they'll take you away and no one will ever see you again.
There are paths from the Kingdom of the Fae into the True Lands. They are marked by a standing stone, or a barrow, or by a perfectly circular pond. You could use the paths as a way into the Treacherous Lands, if you really wanted to.
Fae know perfectly well how to get past the Wall. They didn't before because they were scared of the Emperor. Now he's gone and they're slipping back in, under and over and through the cracks. There's interesting times coming.
Last time I went to the pub I stopped on the way home for a snooze and fairies stole my trousers and shaved my left eyebrow off. Godsdamn fairies. Every Godsdamn Saturday.
Fairies may be fun-loving but they're religious, too. They hate the gods, just the same as us.
Fae visit the True Lands alright, and they visit the True Lands to get some action. Take a look around you, and it won't be long before you see someone with an interesting ancestery.
The Kraelings
In olden times, soldiers of the Empire would come back from beyond the wall with tales of the horrors they had fought and conquered. The worst stories were of the Kraelings.Rumours
They consider human flesh a delicacy.Born of the Powers as a kind of hideous mirror image of humanity, they have a civilization that far exceeds our own, out there in the Treacherous Lands.
Kraelings are shapeshifters. They lure people into the wilderness, kill them and eat them, take their shape, then introduce themself into the victim's life. Then they eat his friends. Out in the Treacherous Lands, a Kraeling could become anyone; your comrades, your best friend, your commander.
Kraelings aren't shapeshifters; what they are is seven foot killing machines of fur and fang that can tear a fully armed soldier apart in seconds.
The Empire exterminated all the Kraelings years ago.
They are ancestral enemies of the Ghouls.
'Kraelings' are humans with a primitive culture who practice occasional cannabalism on a religious basis. They honour the Powers rather than gods or the Intercessor.
Strange Lands and Weird Creatures
Apart from the two races we've just described, pretty much anything known in modern-day Horizon about the Treacherous Lands comes from old stories and songs. The Empire supposedly had a presence in the Treacherous Lands for hundreds of years, and at least at first the Emperor allowed people back to tell their tales; most of the material below probably ultimately originates from this time. These bits and pieces concern various places in the Treacherous Lands, and the things that live in them. Anyone could come across this sort of thing in-character, but as with any story of long gone days, their accuracy should not be taken for granted.Dragons
"Sir, I do not know which administration issues this 'poetic licence' of which you speak, but I do know that the Faculty of Cartography has not yet been granted one. When we show something on a map, it is because it is there."- overheard at an Imperial University formal dinner.
"All the officers knew that you need twenty five pikemen to stand a chance against a dragon. That morning, Captain Jonard had gone on patrol with ten. The men knew better, though - anyone needs twenty five pikemen to stand a chance against a dragon; anyone, that is, except Captain Jake Jonard..."
- from Beasts in the Hills!, #4 in the series Thrilling Tales for Boys!
... the dragon said, "With that little pin, you will cut me open, will you?" and he laughed mightily.- Part of a folk story.Sir Adelas, who thought of the juice from the flowers by the dark brook, under the crying tree, which he had rubbed on his sword, answered the dragon, "Yes, with this little pin! But we can save ourselves the trouble. Give me one chance to hurt you with the pin. If you feel like fighting afterwards, then we will, and you will devour me. If not, you will go away, and you will not eat Lady Sophia." The dragon chuckled a little more.
"Very well, midget. Do your worst!" And with that Sir Adelas plunged his sword into the dragon, right up to the hilt. He waited for the little flowers to do their work. The dragon's smile faded. He became very downcast.
"Why... midget!"
"Yes?" asked Sir Adelas, casually.
"That... that... tickles!" and the dragon roared again with laughter. And before Sir Adelas could reclaim his sword, or think of another of his ingenious schemes, the dragon swiped him up in one claw.
"But... don't you even feel ill?" protested Sir Adelas.
"I think," said the dragon, "that I will shortly have a mild case of indigestion." And he ate Sir Adelas all in one gulp. Then the dragon turned to Lady Sophia, snorting smoke from its nostrils. Lady Sophia, who had known for years about the flowers by the dark brook, under the crying tree, smiled at the dragon. And the dragon, who had never had any intention of eating Lady Sophia, smiled back."
Spirits
"In the old days, when the Ghouls first came through the Wall, they were surprised that we did not talk with the wind, and the soil, and the hearth. They told us they would show the people how, for this was a simple thing that even a child could do. But to their horror they found that they could no longer talk to the wind, or the soil, or the hearth. At this the Ghouls were much downcast."- A story about the Ghouls.
"... and I stood there with his blood on my hands, and watched as he tried to say something. But I had to think of something of my own to say; something to say to Jane. Something to say to our father. He gave a sort of sigh, and I thought it was over. Then the burning man came. I don't know where from. All I could see was light, so much light it hurt, but there was something back in there, I think it was a man. And it screamed, and all I could hear was the screaming, and all I could see was the light, on and on. When it stopped, I had to wait a while before I could see. And what I saw was that the blood was still dripping from my hands. Still dripping... more than he could have had in him... from my bloody hands... these hands... I wear the gloves to cover it up."
- From The Confession of a Frontiersman, a short story by Zalachem Pritchard. Pritchard claimed to have based this story on a conversation with a stranger in Horizon's Riverview Inn.
The Infested
"All corpses will be disposed of thoroughly within twelve hours, by burning if ghouls are unavailable. A man must be detailed to watch over the dead."- Imperial Army Regulation #462.
Tamathin's Wood
"... many of the expeditions lost in recent years have demonstratably been made up of men lacking in many vital survival skills, and worse yet were possessed of inexperienced commanders. As we have already shown, this will not be the case in the proposed expedition. The high quality of the timber and soil samples show that this area is ripe for logging followed by settlement. Within the first three months we hope to..."- From a petitiion to the Emperor for funding for an expedition to the Tamathin's Wood area, preserved in the Imperial University museum. Stamped REJECT.
New Vegdarbarra
"... although referred to as 'new', it is generally thought that both Vegdarbarras are part of the same ancient land, divided in times long gone by the Wall of the Gods. Although the locals are at first unfriendly, they can prove quite playful on further acquaintance. Further they are less given to hard liquor than the inhabitants of 'old'..."- From A Journey in His Imperial Majesty's New Domains by Arthur Cheeley.
Fields of Duenna
"'North, south, or west," said the merchant from the True Lands to Selena, "those ways might take you to fortune. But east...," and he shook his head, "...east will only take you to the Queen." Selena nodded and thanked the merchant. But she had always been an inquisitive girl..."- From a folk story.
The crops grow fast, the animals are fat, the beer is strong, and the women pretty. "But," asked your correspondent of the mayor, "don't the dragons give you grief?""A bit, some years," he conceded, "But we've got watching posts, we've got warning bells, and we've got strong folk with sharp steel. And believe me, they don't come back for another bite of *that*." I believed him...
- From A Journey in His Imperial Majesty's New Domains by Arthur Cheeley.
The Valley of Kessereth
"Posted to Kessereth."- A saying in the Mayoral Legion. Meaning similar to 'sent to Coventry'.
"Stab Kessereth, lads,
And his telling tales,
That never should have been,
So save me, lads,
from the Bleeding Vale,
And the sights that I have seen."
- Part of a traditional army song.
Shadows' Keeping
"Captain of Scouts (2nd class) Valentine Jones. Report. Today the expedition arrived where it should not have been. There is no point of reference because everything, trees everything mud everything sky everything, is interchangeably sectioned. There is no defensible position because you cannot defend yourself. There is no point to walking because the real roads are not the ones beneath your feet."Captain Jones, Valentine of Scouts, report (2nd class). Now the men are dead or dying. I myself am near to death. Their hungry eyes are devouring me, all accusing glances, and they're not the only ones, oh no. I look up to see the stars but this isn't any order I ordered.
"Valentine Captain, Jones you 2nd class scum, report this. Wretched this your mad is place not, 'you', for. Emperor tell. Desperate, moving, grant them still. Please. Never.
"Report at (2nd class) last, Captain of Valentine Scout. Jones there is no hope now. We are given over to the shadows' keeping. Walls and Walls about; there is no way out. No way out."
- Graffitti on the Wall. Provenance unknown.