Raveloft Archive Part 10: KÔR

[brothersale]

Final one for a while and one of my favs:

KÔR

by R. Harper

Website: Alanik Ray's Library



The Land:

Kôr is a large ruined city located on a plateau in a mountainous tropical region [in MotRD, a lost African kingdom between Kenya and Somaliland]. The surrounding area is swamp and jungle.

The ruin is 6000 years old, its original builders destroyed by plague although some survivors fled and brought the first civilization to Har'Akir [the Nile]). As a result the ruin houses mummies and inscriptions with a similar flavour (Egyptian) but subtly odd (the mummies, for example, are perfectly preserved corpses).

[In a MotRD campaign, Kôr represents an archaeological treasure trove - a pre-Egyptian civilization of great accomplishment, like Mu or Atlantis, a subject for crackpots but if proven a ticket to greatness and for occultists it could contain secret lore predating the Red Death's entry to the world].

The plateau of Kôr is reached through a series of caves that reach up through the mountain to the fertile plateau. Anyone taken through by the Amahagger will be blindfolded so they do not learn the way.

The plateau is dotted with fields and villages of farmers, and at its centre stands the ruined city - an area of 30 square kilometres, although smothered at its edges by encroaching vegetation. Its ruined wall stands 12 metres high. The city contains temples and palaces, columned streets and statuary - - it looks like a capital, religious centre or some other 'showpiece' city more than a normal one.

The main street is broad and paved with massive stones, leading to a great temple. The temple is a series of courtyards, one inside the other and at the centre a winged statue of a woman with a veiled face, standing atop a great ball (globe) inscribed "Is there no man that will draw my veil and look upon my face, for it is very fair? Unto him who draws my veil shall I be, and peace will I give him, and sweet children of knowledge and good works. And a voice cried, 'Though all those who seek after thee desire thee, behold! Virgin art thou, and Virgin shalt thou go till Time be done. No man is there born of woman who may draw thy veil and live, nor shall be. By Death only can thy veil be drawn, oh Truth!' And Truth stretched out her arms and wept, because those who sought her might not find her, nor look upon her face to face.' (The statue represents the Goddess of Truth, the deity of the ancient people of Kôr).

The body of Kallikrates, perfectly preserved, lies in Ayesha's chambers (which can be quite a startling discovery for his reborn self to see when such returns - they are twins).



Cultural Level:

Bronze Age. The Amahagger have only simple crafts and few 'treasures'.

Their warriors are fierce and skilled, armed with spears. The ruins of Kôr also hold bronze-age artifacts including modest grave goods.



The Folk:

The present people of Kôr's region are the Amahagger (people of the rocks), 6'+ tall and slender with fine-chiselled features, with something cold, cruel and sullen in their expressions. Although their daily conduct and personal habits are civilized, some of their customs that will alarm a captive or visitor. Their origin is uncertain, but they may be mixed-blood descendants of a few survivors of the plague that destroyed ancient Kôr and other peoples.

The Amahagger consist of ten 'Households' of 4000 - 8000 each, including the largest where the Queen is. Each is ruled by a single "Father" (their loose marriage customs make actual paternity frequently uncertain).

The Amahagger know they are ruled by the immortal Queen, although some of the more educated among them believe it is a succession of women who assume the title of She Who Must Be Obeyed. They never see her true face and do not know her except as She or She Who Must Be Obeyed.

Unlike most societies (of Ravenloft or the 1800's), women in Kor enjoy great freedom. Property passes in the female line, and women choose and divorce their mates at will (a simple public embrace by a woman, if returned by a male, signifies a union). Except for female dominance in inheritance and control over marriage, male and female have equal rights.

Men honour and worship women "up to a certain point, till at last they get unbearable, which, they do about every second generation. Then we rise, and kill the old ones as an example to the young ones, and to show them that we are the strongest." (PC's may notice the absence of old women among the locals, this can be explained by such an episode occurring a few years earlier).

Often the `Households' make war on each other until She sends word that it has to stop, and then they instantly cease. She tend judges whatever the dispute is over and it is settled.

Most intruders are slain unless word comes from the Queen to bring them to her (she always knows when anyone enters her land) - this she will do if she believes the reborn Kallikrates is among them, she believes they may have news of him, or if a learned man or woman is among them with whom she can discuss philosophy.

The Amahagger are called by others "The People who Put Pots on the Heads of Strangers". They kill captives by heating clay pots white hot and placing them on the victim's head; this is prepatory to a cannibal feast. The intended 'meals' of such a feast are treated quite hospitably and fondly (moreso than is usual by these sullen folk) before being seized and 'potted'.

If anyone questions Ayesha about the 'wickedness' of the Amahagger she will make clear she is not of these people, and that but for her restraint upon them they would have destroyed themselves long ago. She holds them in some contempt, and does not concern herself with their petty affairs.

As she said to one civilized observer who saw her condemn rebellious subjects to death by torture, "How thinkest thou that I rule this people? I have but a regiment of guards to do my bidding, therefore it is not by force. It is by terror. My empire is of the imagination. Once in a generation mayhap I do as I have done but now, and slay a score by torture.

Believe not that I would be cruel, or take vengeance on anything so low.

What can it profit me to be avenged on such as these? Those who live long have no passions, save where they have interests. Though I may seem to slay in wrath, or because my mood is crossed, it is not so. Thou hast seen how in the heavens the little clouds blow this way and that without a cause, yet behind them is the great wind sweeping on its path whither it listeth. So is it with me. My moods and changes are the little clouds, and fitfully these seem to turn; but behind them ever blows the great wind of my purpose."



Closing the Borders:

The swamps that surround the mountain in which Kôr is located are a labyrinthine quagmire at the best of times, and anyone passing through them must also make a Constitution check to avoid contracting a lethal fever (it takes several days to kill, clerical cures can be effective and Ayesha can cure it).

When Ayesha wishes to close the borders, the swamps become impenetrable - anyone entering wanders lost until emerging (if lucky) near where they tried to exit.





Ayesha

(She Who Must Be Obeyed)



Foreword

Ayesha (pronounced Assha), Queen of Kôr, She Who Must Be Obeyed, Wisdom's Daughter is a recurring character in several books by H. Rider Haggard, and the subject of one or two awful movies. She is a case of doomed and eternal self-inflicted tragedy and supernatural bargains gone awry that typifies Darklords. Her curse is also ready made for adventurers to fall into (the books themselves are set in the late 1800's and provide material that could fit into a MotRD campaign; I recommend Haggard's writing to any MotRD GM's).

A major aspect of the story is the ambiguity of characters and facts, that will confuse adventurers and give a DM latitude to put a unique interpretation on events even if players know the story. Even through the books, the motivation and history of the characters is expanded and conflicting versions offered.

So, while I have written this up with Ayesha as a Darklord - there are actually two other candidates for Darklord in the story. Players should not be certain of who it is (anyone familiar with the book or movie will leap to a conclusion that it's Ayesha - don't let them rest easy in it). Whether or not she's a Darklord, her personal abilities are unchanged due to the Flame of Life - it's only Darklord powers (borders etc.) that differ.



Ayesha, She Who Must Be Obeyed

20th Level Human Priestess



AC: 0

MV: 14

Hp: 80

THAC0: 8

Attacks: 1

Damage: by weapon (1d4 with dagger) or SA

Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 20, Cha 18

Special Attack: Slay Living (see below)

Special Defenses - Awe (see below), Regenerates 3hp/mr, will recover from any damage, can possess and regenerate another corpse if her own body destroyed.

Magic Resistance: 100%

Spells: 12/12/11/10/7/5/2



Background:

The story of Ayesha's beginning is also the story of her future, replayed over and over as the principal characters are reincarnated. Although events play out differently - for Amenartas is as capable of being a vengeful woman when spurned as is Ayesha - they never play out well.

The following story of how Ayesha's curse began can fall into the hands of PC's (to truly draw them in, it should appear as a writing from the ancestor of a PC):



"I, Amenartas, of the Royal House of the Pharaohs of Har'Akir [Egypt in MOTRD], wife of Kallikrates (the Beautiful in Strength), a Priest of Isis whom the gods cherish and the demons obey, being about to die, to my little son Tisisthenes (the Mighty Avenger). I fled with thy father from Har'Akir [Egypt] in the days of Nectanebes, causing him through love to break the vows that he had vowed. We fled southward, across the waters, and we wandered for twice twelve moons on the coast of The Dark Land [Africa] that looks towards the rising sun, where by a river is a great rock carven like the head of a southerner [Ethiopian]. Four days on the water from the mouth of a mighty river were we cast away, and some were drowned and some died of sickness. But us wild men took through wastes and marshes, where the sea fowl hid the sky, bearing us ten day's journey till we came to a hollow mountain, where a great city had been and fallen, and where there are caves of which no man hath seen the end; and they brought us to the Queen of the people who place pots upon the heads of strangers, who is a magician having a knowledge of all things, and life and loveliness that does not die. And she cast eyes of love upon thy father, Kallikrates, and would have slain me, and taken him to husband, but he loved me and feared her, and would not.

Then did she take us, and lead us by terrible ways, by means of dark magic, to where the great pit is, in the mouth of which the old philosopher lay dead, and showed to us the rolling Pillar of Life that dies not, whereof the voice is as the voice of thunder; and she did stand in the flames, and come forth unharmed, and yet more beautiful. Then did she swear to make thy father undying even as she is, if he would but slay me, and give himself to her, for me she could not slay because of the magic of my own people that I have, and that prevailed thus far against her. And he held his hand before his eyes to hide her beauty, and would not. Then in her rage did she smite him by her magic, and he died; but she wept over him, and bore him thence with lamentations: and being afraid, me she sent to the mouth of the great river where the ships come, and I was carried far away on the ships where I gave thee birth, and hither to [the birthplace of the character's remote ancestors - Athens] I came at last after many wanderings. Now I say to thee, my son, Tisisthenes, seek out the woman, and learn the secret of Life, and if thou mayest find a way slay her, because of thy father Kallikrates; and if thou dost fear or fail, this I say to all of thy seed who come after thee, till at last a brave man be found among them who shall bathe in the fire and sit in the place of the Pharaohs. I speak of those things, that though they be past belief, yet I have known, and I lie not."



As told above, the exiled lovers Amenartas and Kallikrates came to the ruined city of Kôr where they met Ayesha (her version makes Amenartas out to be a witch who bewitched Kallikrates into breaking his vows).

Ayesha was a former priestess and now accomplished mystic seeking the secret of immortality. A beautiful and brilliant woman, she could not bear the thought of her mind and body being destroyed by time. She had come to Kôr seeking the secret from Noor, a mystic and hermit. He had learned it but not used it for he thought it unnatural to escape the wheel of rebirth. The secret involved exposing oneself to an eternal sacred fire that burned within the depths of Kôr, the path to which Noor guarded. This much Ayesha learned by beguiling the hermit, but she would not confront him to gain access to the Fire of Life out of fear of him. She had pacified the locals and was debating her next step, also waiting for the old man to die, when Amenartas and Kallikrates came to the city.

She fell in love with Kallikrates, and when Noor died (within a few days of the lovers arriving - his remains still lie in the cavern path to the Flame), she offered to bring them with her to the Flame, seeking to win Kallikrates and make him immortal. Her version of the story is mostly the same as Amenartas' - when she stepped from the flames, and offered Kallikrates immortality, he turned from her to Amenartas (perhaps making a choice, perhaps simply because her supernaturally-enhanced beauty was too much to behold) and she slew him in jealous anger. There are some differences - she admits to killing him but says it was with a javelin, not by magic (the body of Kallikrates does have a stab wound suggesting in this detail, at least, Ayesha's story is truer). She denies attacking Amenartas and says Amenartas tried to slay her with magic but could not - although she cursed her - this was the point of her transition to Darklord status and the transition to Ravenloft (this can be dispensed in a MotRD setting) - her slaying of Kallikrates combined with Amenartas' curse.

In another version Ayesha was originally also a priestess of Isis and was cursed/compelled by Isis both to execute her judgement on the wayward Kallikrates and to suffer love for him as her own punishment for deserting the goddess in her quest for immortality. Yet another version suggests Ayesha was a spirit (deva) guarding the flame, who fell in love with the mortal and became mortal to be with him - seeking to regain immortality for them both in the flame but being cursed for her betrayal of her duty to live forever without him.

Whatever her prior history, it is certain Ayesha was a beautiful woman of great magical power, who loves Kallikrates. Knowing that all souls are reincarnated again and again, Ayesha knew that Kallikrates would be reborn.

She is certain he will find his way to her again.



Current Sketch:

Ayesha is beautiful, imperious and merciless but also fiercely loving and just in an despotic, Old Testament fashion. She has the impatience and intolerance of a 2000 year old being who does not deign to explain or discuss trivia - although she is fascinated with philosophy and news of current events.

She is bored, spending her time in alchemical experiments of various types.

She is served by race of specially bred deaf-mutes (she destroyed an earlier servant race as being too ugly, and a race of giants she bred was destroyed by illness).

Her appearance and words have an overwhelming affect on men. A beautiful equisitely feminine woman in her late 20's, who speaks eloquently if archaically and avoids meat and strong drink. She dresses in simply in private. When in public she appears swathed in white, her face concealed.

She is a Force cleric in AD&D terms, following a belief system based on reincarnation, and not a deity. Her Spheres of Access are All, Charm, Divination, Healing, Necromantic, Protection (Reincarnate instead of Resurrection), Plant, Summoning & Weather (Minor Access to Animal, Astral, Creation, Elemental, Sun, Time) [as a priest she also has Armour Class Improvement, hence her AC].

The Fires of Life gave Ayesha near immortality and enhanced her beauty. It is not true immortality, eventually she will die but not until thousands of years pass. She herself also knows that when she bathed in the Flame, her heart was consumed with love of Kallikrates and hatred of Amenartas and these two passions have also been increased in strength and made everlasting.

As described by an observer "The fruit of her wisdom was this, that there was but one thing worth living for, and that was Love in its highest sense, and to gain that good thing she was not prepared to stop at trifles. This is really the sum of her evil doings, and it must be remembered on the other hand that whatever may be thought of them she had some virtues developed to a degree very uncommon in either sex--constancy, for instance."



Combat:

Ayesha is brave, but physical combat is beneath a Queen. Her loyal subjects are fanatical in their devotion to her - nearby servants, maids or guards are always willing to throw themselves in the way of harm to save her (any spell that does not target automatically may find itself blocked in this fashion - players may feel guilty about killing 'innocents' whose crime is devotion).

Anyone who dares attack her will be slain by her magic or overpowered by guards for later execution, as an example.

She never appears among her subjects without muffling clothes that conceal her true appearance (any assassination attempt will have been foreseen and on that occasion the body will be a slave's).

It would take a major feat of stealth to enter her presence armed, without her guards and servants around her; she makes great use of Divination magics to observe strangers. Only "Kallikrates" is ever likely to find himself alone with her - and even then aid will be nearby, and it would require persuasion on his part to keep his weapons.

Anyone confronting her directly must first overcome her beguiling powers.

Any male intending her harm must make a Wisdom check to maintain the belief that violence against her is necessary.

Ayesha's exposure to the Flame has given her a power to slay by will any target she can see (this duplicates the spell Slay Living [reverse of Raise Dead] but as an innate ability that cannot be interrupted and has a CT of 4 or Fast). She can do this at will, but anyone who resists this power once (through a saving throw, not some other means) is immune to it.

Ayesha will regenerate from any damage, even taking a new body. If exposed again to the Flame, Ayesha's physical body will be destroyed - its original affects undone, she will age to dust in seconds. She does not know this, but she has no reason to expose herself again (in the book she did so to prove to a doubting reborn Kallikrates that it was safe).







Adventure Hooks:

Amenartas is reborn, and usually meets and falls in love with the reborn Kallikrates before he comes to Ayesha - setting the stage (i.e., she could be an Amahagger woman who saves strangers from death and falls in love with one). She is a strong willed, powerful woman in any life and ruthless in her fashion (if she doesn't win, no one wins). In another version of the tale, she may even be the true Darklord - at least players doing a "spot the Darklord" hunt could be made to wonder which of the two are the Darklord and which the poor, if not quite innocent, soul trapped in the Darklord's curse (if you want to be really perverse they could both be Darklords).



As a one off adventure, Kallikrates could also be the darklord. It was his betrayal of his vows and constant changing of affections, then cowardice, that underpinned the whole tragedy. His evil was the passive evil of someone who seems innocent but is in fact to blame for the destruction of stronger and nobler spirits. Imagine the nasty discovery of adventurers that one of them is a Darklord - a special one whose curse is to be reborn and experience over and over the tragedy he caused without knowing it!



Note: The original book was published around 1887, a copy of the text is located at: http://www.bibliomania.com/Fiction/Haggard/She/



Robert Harper