Background Information

Theme: Slow, inexorable corruption in a world where dark powers are real and have a hold over the mortal population

Mood: Dark, brooding, hopeless, corrupt, perverse, ray of light somewhere...

Setting: Dark Renaissance: technology and society similar to that found between the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, with one notable exception: Laran.

The bloodline properties that enable Magi to work their magics. Laran is carried through the genes like many racial traits, and great families have been formed over centuries where children are merely breeding stock and pawns in political games. There are several main forms of Laran that give specific powers to those of the bloodlines that carry it. Note that these names are only used to designate different Laran for use by writers who want to take this world on: the characters NEVER use such names for the differing types of Laran.

Atmos: Control of the weather and the earth are the mainstays of this form of Laran, from creating good weather for growing crops to creating deadly storms and earthquakes in the middle of a battlefield.

Bios: A form of Laran that concentrates in monitoring and repairing biological systems. Basically, bloodlines that carry this form of Laran are known as compassionate healers. Or terrible torturers.

Caitiff: A mongrel form of Laran that carries several traits [randomly] of the other forms, but with no great power behind any of them. Someone with Caitiff Laran might be able to see ghosts on occasions and throw objects when angry. Caitiff is what you get if you cross breed different Laran traits too often over several generations, hence most bloodlines carry a maximum of two forms with purely singular carriers being the most powerful members within the clans. Communicant and Dhampyr together in one bloodline can make for a very powerful clan, as is the case with Transpart and Ignatius. There are no major clans associated with this form of Laran, as it would immediately cause a clan to fall from power and status if they became known for carrying Caitiff Laran. However, many minor clans carry Caitiff Laran, and once in a while someone would be born to one of these clans who carries a purer form of Laran.

Cognis: Extremely high intelligence and cognitive / logical mental powers are the mainstay of this form of Laran. Savants and scientists are usually created through this Laran. Think 'Mentats' out of Dune.

Communicant: Telepathy. Civil uses include carrying messages over great distances, while martial uses might include intercepting or blocking such messages in transit. Also, bloodlines carrying this form of Laran can communicate with animals psychically.

Dhampyr: Necromancers and flesh-workers. The most depraved form of Laran which enables those who carry it in their veins to speak with the dead, raise the dead, carve mortal flesh [animal and human], and create monsters.

Ignatius: Heat, fire and energy are the tools of this form of Laran, and are primarily used for martial purposes: should a martial family carrying Ignatius unite with another carrying Transpart, all hell could be let loose. Civil uses include providing energy forms created through their powers that are long lasting and immense.

Transpart: Telekinetic powers are their mainstay, and the most powerful Magi of that form of Laran can move immense objects with the power of their mind alone. Some bloodlines with that form of Laran use it for martial purposes, and can wield terrible powers against their foes.

Major Clans are families that have one or two forms of Laran flowing through their bloodlines, and as such, have status, wealth, and power beyond that of the minor, Caitiff, clans.

Ashkaska

Pronunciation: Ash-kas-KA
Primary Laran: Bios
Secondary Laran: Dhampyr

Clan Ashkaska is related to Clan Borgir by marriage contract at the bare minimum, although rumour has it that the clan founders of ancient times were either siblings or cousins, and some unkind rumours speak of incest between the two. Due to their Bios Laran, and the darker uses that they put it to, it is not uncommon for a member of clan Ashkaska to serve a period of apprenticeship within clan Borgir as torturers and interrogators. In turn, due to their intermarriage, some of their number carry the Dhampyr Laran like their erstwhile cousins. The clan is a matriarchy, and succession is always through the female line. Clan Ashkaska also worships Ahkmet, like clan Borgir. Some savants admit that they are hard pressed to tell the two clans apart.

Autraeu

Pronunciation: AW-tray-oo
Primary Laran: Cognis
Secondary Laran: Communicant

Clan Autraeu make up the Savants and Telepaths of Winternacht, and as such are known for their wisdom and their ability to hold confidences. Their knowledge of the other clans make them implacable enemies of both clan Ashkaska and clan Borgir, and it is fortunate [for clan Autraeu] that none of the borders of their territory touches any part of Ashkaska or Borgir lands, as it would be an open invite for invasion from both of these clans and it is certain that should this ever happen then Autraeu is unlikely to remain standing once the dust settles. Their society is gender-neutral, and succession is through both lines. They have no religion as they are too logical to entertain such notions.

Borgir

Pronunciation: Bor-gr
Primary Laran: Dhampyr
Secondary Laran: Ignatius

Clan Borgir, like its real-world historical namesake, is a clan known for depravity, perversion, politics and the brutal wielding of power over its vassals. Its domains are an example of how power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The gap between rich and poor is heavily pronounced, especially since they don't have a middle class of any description. The rich rulers of the clan live in the lap of luxury, while their vassals live in grinding poverty and fear of the predations of their unholy masters. The clan is matriarchal in nature, and succession is carried solely through the female line.

Their religious life is based upon the worship of themselves as being dark gods/goddesses with the power of life and death over their inferiors, and rumour has it that some of their rituals involve human sacrifice, although none have ever been an eyewitness to this and have spoken about it. They also serve a deity known as Ahkmet, a bloodthirsty goddess from the underworld that concerns herself with corruption.

Feras

Pronunciation: Fair-AS
Primary Laran: Communicant
Secondary Laran: None

Clan Feras has lands that border the territories of clan Borgir, and as such, they are always on a heightened state of alert. The entire clan have to do military service from the age of eighteen because of the threat that the two dark clans pose. Their lands are all that stand between the dark clans' territories and that of clan Autraeu, so allegiances with the latter clan is of primary importance. The clan is known for their abilities to communicate with animals, as well as the usual telepathic skills gained from Communicant Laran.

Meritas

Pronunciation: Mare-it-AS
Primary Laran: Bios
Secondary Laran: Atmos

Clan Meritas are known as country bumpkins whose territories are far away from the dark lands as one can get without sinking below the Great Oceans to the East. Farmers and weather-mages all, this clan appears to produce far more food than they can use, but still, only half of their annual excess crops make it out of their territories in way of foreign trade. Maybe they are aware that war may one day come to their lands.

Seigneur

Pronunciation: Seeg-nee-ur
Primary Laran: Ignatius
Secondary Laran: Transpart

Clan Seigneur are the primary martial clan of Winternacht, being that they carry both Ignatius and Transpart Laran, and as such, act as a threat to the dark clans should they ever decide to try to wage another war in Winternacht. Like clan Feras, their territories border the Dark Lands to the West.

Toghair

Pronunciation: Toh-ghare
Primary Laran: Transpart
Secondary Laran: None

Vergris

Pronunciation: Ver-griss
Primary Laran: Atmos
Secondary Laran: None

The land of Winternacht is a far northern land that spends half the year in almost perpetual night that is surrounded on three sides by mountain ranges with few passes through them. On the fourth side is the Great Eastern Ocean, which is one of the few routes out of the land. Foreign visitors are rare, so the local population can seem somewhat xenophobic and parochial at times, especially in the lands held by the two dark clans in the west. Being so far north the summers are very short, and this makes the diet very heavy in meats and tubers, as well as fruit and vegetables that can be grown in such poor soil. Citrus fruits and spices are so rare, being imported from afar, that only the richest clan members can afford them at all.

The land is split up into eight territories, each one held by a major clan. The lesser clans live wherever the major clans allow them to [usually where there is work to be done that the major clans won't do themselves, like subsistence farming], and they make up the peasantry. Despite this, the major clans do not, as a rule, lord it over the lesser clans, and some intermarriage has been known between the two. The only major exception to this are clans Ashkaska and Borgir, who treat the peasantry there as mere vassals to be used and abused as they see fit.

Winternacht has no central government. Each territory is a separate and independent state which may or may not be linked by treaty with other territories. As such, Winternacht has a capitol city in each territory, each one usually located where the ruling clan has its base. The only exception to this rule is within the territory of Clan Borgir, where the capitol moves with the Court as the Witch Queen decrees. Each territory is marked by standing stones along its borders, known as Menhirs.

Nachtlich

Nachtlich are very rarely seen in the underground caverns and tunnel systems of the Black Mountains, as their natural shyness and reluctance to be communicated with by "upper dwellers" (the name they have for humans) means that apart from the occasional savant that seeks them out for knowledge or the lost cave explorer, they are often unknown to the population at large. Some savants believe that they were once human, but for some reason were driven underground in ancient times where they then mutated into what they are now. Those in the know have realised that they were never human to begin with, and have always lived their nocturnal, underground lives since time immemorial.

Those few who have met with the Nachtlich describe them as being tall, lithe, with pallid skin and saucer eyes. Pointed ears are also a feature remarked upon by some, and it is believed that this enables them to hear the exact direction a sound is coming from even within large caverns or narrow tunnels underground. Their diet is omnivorous, consisting mainly of fungi and lichens and other plants that can survive underground with the occasional flesh provided by insects, worms, small mammals, and the such like. Rumours about their eating human flesh when available are unfounded: they value sentient life, even if only as forced labour. Those captured by the Nachtlich are more likely to find themselves employed in mining and other such industries than eaten for dinner. Still, the rumour persists, and the Nachtlich are not about to correct it.

Legendary:

Ancient legend concerning the Nachtlich says that when clan Borgir first inhabited the lands just to the east of the Black Mountains that they came into contact with these enigmatic beings and made treaties with them that were sealed in marriages. It is said that it was through the offspring of these unions that Dhampyr Laran first came into the Borgir bloodlines, as the Nachtlich already carried it in their genes, and that the Witch Queen's line has a purer link with the Nachtlich than most lines. The matriarchal system keeps these blood ties strong as the male suitors for each Witch Queen down the generations have either come from the mortal population of clan Borgir, or from the Nachtlich themselves.

Details

Clan Borgir was formed approximately a thousand years ago during the period of history known as the Founding, when all the major clans rose out of the minor feudal kingdoms that previously ruled Winternacht. The first Witch Queen, whose name is lost to antiquity, brought her clan to the north-west corner of the land below the Black Mountains, where they settled and began building their towns and communities.

It was at this time that so-called gods walked the earth and taught the human population about Laran and how to breed it into their clans and bloodlines, and the old order of humanity there was changing irrevocably. The Witch Queen set up her capitol in a fortress city built in the foothills of the mountains, where legend has it that she found underground passageways carved into the rock beneath the keep.

Over the years the clan changed and became more powerful with a new form of Laran that became known as Dhampyr Laran. The legends of clan Borgir meeting and breeding with the Nächtlich may or may not be true, but it was certainly the Nachtlich that taught them this form of Laran that coursed through their veins. The Witch Queen became a powerful sorceress and necromancer, and clan Borgir was changed forever.

Religious Life

The main religion of clan Borgir concerns the worship of the self as gods/goddesses in ones own right, with the Witch Queen being the top mortal "goddess." Above this is the goddess Ahkmet, who some savants believe is an ancient Nächtlich who first taught [or bred into] humans the Dhampyr Laran. She is revered as a violent and sexually sensual goddess who demands subservience from her worshippers. The rumours of human sacrifice are not entirely unfounded, as on occasions slaves and war captives are ritually slaughtered to Ahkmet, but Ahkmet herself does not demand such sacrifices: the occasional sacrifice is done by those who are a little too into their religion of self. Human sacrifice is not illegal, but it is frowned upon as being in excess.

The one religious taboo that is known to be observed by clan Borgir as a whole is the abhorrence of suicide: "you are a god/goddess, and to commit suicide is a sign of extreme weakness" is the rational behind this taboo.

The ritual life of clan Borgir includes the celebration of depravity: if you are your own god/goddess, then everything and anything is permitted to you and there is no right or wrong. Cults and covens are usually an excuse to engage in such depravities [just use your imagination].

Courtly Life

Unlike the other major Clans, clan Borgir does not keep a static capitol city as such, but rather, the Court moves around the territory as the Witch Queen desires. Every so often the whole government and hangers-on uproots themselves from the city they are currently residing in and moves to another: cities that are known to host the Court upon a regular basis have buildings set aside for this purpose that are closed down when the Court is not in town.

The purpose of the Court is to provide distraction for the Witch Queen, as she is the sole ruler of clan Borgir, and can get bored doing nothing but issuing decrees and authorising treaties. Members of Court are split up into various roles, and a smart, politically minded clan member can move up through the ranks if she plays her cards right. She can also be shamed in Court and lose status just as easily.

The natural top of Court is the Witch Queen herself, although she is only seen during official times. When she is otherwise indisposed, her Grand Vizier leads the Court. Her role is to act as advisor to the Witch Queen and mistress of ceremonies.

Below the Grand Vizier are the Harpies, who decide who are in or out of favour with the Court. They are petty, bitchy, small-minded but very important to the running of the Court [even if they sometimes have a grandiose view of their own self-importance]. They act as a kind of filter to decide who gets to stay in Court and who does not, to prevent the Witch Queen being overwhelmed with supplicants, and to get rid of useless hangers on.

Below the Harpies are the various offices of the Court, including the Keeper of the Court. His role is to make sure that the fabric of the Court functions smoothly, whether it be maintaining the standards and security of its current location, or announcing visitors to Court before the Witch Queen and the Harpies.

Below this are various functionaries concerned with the social setting of the Court, including diplomats from other clans, senior clan members whose presence is required at Court for some reason or other [usually to provide entertainment for the Witch Queen in some form], and assistants to the Keeper of the Court and the Grand Vizier. Finally, there are all the visitors and petitioners to the Courts.

The city of Mehket in the foothills of the Black Mountains is deemed to be the nominal capitol, as it is to this city that the Court winters or retreats to when the territory is at war or in danger of invasion. It is literally a fortress city carved into the side of a small mountain with its own underground water supply and plenty of storage space for emergency supplies. It is useless laying siege to Mehket as the citizens can hold out indefinitely. The only way to overthrow the city is to find a route underground into it and sack it from within, but because of treaties made with the Nachtlich for the defence of Mehket, this is also deemed to be extremely difficult to do, if not impossible. Mehket has room for about one hundred thousand people to reside during times of siege, but the usual population numbers around twenty thousand.

The current Witch Queen only recently ascended to the throne in the past ten years. Her name was once Lucretia Borgir, but now she is merely known as Your Majesty or the Witch Queen – the office is more important than the person holding it, after all. She is descended from the first Witch Queen through an unbroken maternal line stretching back centuries. Oddly enough, no matter who Witch Queens choose as mates, whether they be fellow clan members or the occasional Nachtlich, the first child is always female: either they have found a way to choose the sex of their children through Laran, or it is some peculiarity of the line [some theories include autogenesis]. Witch Queens always "marry" once and bare at least one child, but after that they are deemed free to take as many lovers and consorts as they choose, of whichever sex they prefer at the time they choose them.