The capital of Vralk and home of Queen Auster, Morlash Kor is as old a Ninth World city as any in the Steadfast or the Beyond. This large stone city lies in the shadow of the Crimson Gallows mountains at the edge of the Ghastlov wasteland and is home to more than 30,000 people. The city is protected by a stone wall of fairly recent construction. Inside is a much older wall that the city outgrew almost a hundred years ago. The portion within the older wall is known as the First City, and the rest as the Outer City.
The First City contains the Obstinate Palace (home of the queen and the arena for battles, tests, and competitions), the
GHASTLOV
The barren wasteland called Ghastlov is the empty, callous heart of Vralk. Red and brown stone and sand fill this region, although spiky stone formations are common, formed by the terrible winds that blow, sometimes for weeks at a time. Even if it weren’t so dry and hot, the ashfall from the surrounding volcanoes would choke most living things, and the dark clouds of smoke and ash would keep the sun from reaching most places.
Still, some things manage to squeeze out an existence here. Vralkans interested in proving themselves for advancement are sent to Ghastlov to see if they can survive— and the ash-covered bones and skulls that litter the edges of the wasteland offer testimony that many cannot.
The abhuman igothus dwell in small numbers in Ghastlov, able to sustain themselves without food or water for long periods. They operate in small bands, although not in the numbers they once did, as the Vralkans enjoy capturing and enslaving them. A few mind-controlling
sarraks and small groups of ferno walkers
also somehow survive in the wasteland. Ferno walkers are heat-resistant, six-limbed mammals with a pair of usable hands. These predators supplement their diet of meat by ingesting large stones that sit in a special portion of their gut. Through an unknown process, this organ produces extreme temperatures, heating the rocks so that ferno walkers have literal furnaces in their belly at all times.
The lagliard is a creature that actually thrives in the hot barrens, as it feeds on ash. It provides a source of food and water to others in the desert, but like so much in Vralk, it can defend itself admirably.
THE GHASTS
There are people who live in the Ghastlov, if you can call them that. Scrabbling about, mostly at night, they are the Ghasts, and they are cannibals of the worst kind. Since food is so scarce, they eat many of their own young and all of their old and feeble, but they prefer to murder non-Ghasts in the wasteland and feed upon them. Like jackals
Ferno walker: level 6, perception as level 7, uses tools and weapons as level 5; bites for 7 points of damage; spits hot liquid at all within immediate range; see The Ninth World
Bestiary, page 52
Lagliard, page 233 Queen Auster, page 129 Igothus, page 231 The Iron Wind is unknown in Vralk.
The Obstinate Palace: The queen dwells within a palace of volcanic stone and glass. The central portion is a single black tower called, of late, the “Lesser Spike,” in deference to the Queen’s Spike in the Firefang Mountains. A large garrison of troops is stationed at the palace, but there is a far larger force of soldiers and selectors in the Outer City.
Since the queen lives in Morlash Kor, she is, in effect, its ruler as well. However, an appointed administrator named Tasthau
oversees most of the city’s affairs. She occasionally clashes with General Forlarren, who oversees the troops stationed in the city. Neither agrees on who is superior to whom, although the queen seems to favor Tasthau.
The Arena: Although most Vralkan towns and cities have an arena, the one in Morlash Kor is larger and more elaborate than most, a proper site for battles, races, and contests. It uses a wide variety of numenera to provide challenges such as pits of acid, geysers of flame, and nearly impenetrable walls of force.
main temple, known as the Bloody Sacristy, and other places of note. This older section of Morlash Kor has a fully functioning sewer system and, thanks to hot springs, has hot and cold water on demand. Some, but not all, locations in the Outer City have these conveniences.
The Bloody Sacristy: The temple of the Red Gods in Morlash Kor is a huge structure covered in trellises with entwined thorny black and brown vines. It is set up as a ring that surrounds an inner chamber in which dozens of blood sacrifices are conducted each week. The blood flows in such quantity that metal drains in the floors collect it and turn it into blood meal to fertilize the crops around the city.
The nearly seventy-five priests and priestesses of the Red Gods that serve the Bloody Sacristy are called the Thorned Ones. Each wears a crown or helm of thorns that digs into the scalp, with blood running down their face and neck in small rivulets. Their entire bodies bear extensive tattoos of entwined thorns and the dripping wounds that they would create.
The Red Gods, page 126 Tasthau: level 5, administrative duties and all interactions as level 6; health 20; Armor 2 General Forlarren: level 5; health 25; Armor 3; 7 points of damage
conforms to the wearer’s desires, allowing her to appear as anyone she wishes.
“The mud-faced people of Dahr” isn’t an insult about the residents’ cleanliness, but a warning to those who visit the town. Being Vralkan, the people of Dahr use mud masks to show their prowess and worth by becoming the kingdom’s primary spies and assassins. Chief among them is a woman named Illanan, who frequently travels abroad to gather intelligence in lands few Vralkans have ever heard of. It is thanks to Illanan that the Vralkans know as much as they do about much of the Steadfast.
AGGAN
Aggan is known as the Hunters’ Fastness. Hunting dangerous game is an important part of Vralkan culture, and the hunters of Aggan are renowned throughout the land.
Aggan is a small village of just under a thousand people next to a walled fortress of black basalt. The hunters gather in the fortress—the “fastness”—like a hunting lodge. Ostensibly any hunter is allowed to use the fastness, but only the greatest hunters of the land are made The School of the Sun: Located in the Outer
City, this university offers all areas of study to anyone who shows an aptitude for learning and its practical application. No learning in Vralk is recondite, impractical, or purely academic. The School of the Sun is the largest university in Vralk and focuses entirely on physical sciences, tactics and strategy, and similar topics, rather than splitting its focus between scholarship and physical performance the way other Vralkan schools do.
DAHR
Near a small mountain runoff collection known as Dahr Lake, the town of Dahr is home to about 5,000 residents. Most are herders and farmers in the foothills, struggling to eke out a living in the inhospitable land. The leader of Dahr is a woman named Planai, a particularly ruthless individual who enjoys meting out suffering first hand.
Mud Masks: In Dahr, some numenera experts have perfected a process of creating a type of mud paste that can be applied to a human’s face. Once dried, the mud mask
Planai: level 5, all pleasant interactions as level 4; Armor 3
Dahr mud mask: level 4. Allows the user to take on any appearance desired, although it affects only the face. Serves as a two-step asset for disguise tasks in attempts to impersonate a human, or a single-step asset in attempts to impersonate a nonhuman humanoid. Lasts for one hour. Anoetic. Illanan: level 8, disguise
and subterfuge as level 10; uses level 8 poison on her blade that inflicts 8 points of additional Speed damage
the fastness. But in Vralk, one does not rest on one’s laurels. Strength is strength, and reputation and past accomplishments are only as valuable as one’s ability to back them up. Nurant is a tough old man, still capable of gutting a living ravage bear with his bare hands, so he remains on top—for now.
Aggan exists to support the fortress and the hunters, producing food and other goods to supply their endeavors. Whenever a hunter brings down a particularly
impressive kill, the village throws a feast in her honor.
to feel welcome. The group is insular and elitist. Like all Vralkans, they have established a hierarchy based on skill and accomplishments. Spine dragons,
cragworms, melliks (desert-dwelling flying beasts more or less identical to rasters), and erynth grask are frequent challenges for these hunters, so all are highly skilled, to say the least.
The greatest of all the hunters is Nurant, a one-eyed, eight-fingered man covered in scars and wounds who walks with a limp. His hunting trophies alone fill one room in
GHASTLOV HEARSAY
Plague of Serpents: It’s no secret that almost everything in Vralk wants to kill you. This is especially true in the area immediately to the south of Dahr, which is filled with horrifically poisonous serpents. These squirming masses are so prevalent that some say the ground appears to be in constant motion. Anyone who can do something about this threat to the few tiny villages in the affected area would certainly show their worth.
Hidden Oasis: Rumors have begun to circulate of a clear spring in the wasteland, covered by an ancient structure that has kept it free of dust and ash over the years. If true, the location of this water source deep in Ghastlov would be extremely valuable, particularly to the military, which often has to move large numbers of troops from one side of Vralk to the other. Finding it would be difficult, as the structure is likely covered in years’ worth of ash and sand.
Buried Machine: While digging the foundation for a building in the Outer City of Morlash Kor, workers uncovered a machine of mysterious purpose. Word is that it will soon be dismantled and any valuable parts shipped to Thorash, but anyone who gets to it before that happens might have access to a wealth of cyphers.
THE WEIRD OF GHASTLOV
Wasteland Preachers: A pair of figures wanders the wilderness, preaching to whomever they can find about the evils of the Vralkan ways. These mysterious, unnamed figures—a man and a woman—speak of the virtues of peace, mercy, and love for humanity. If they encounter a threat, they instantly disappear, as if they were just shimmering mirages in the heat. Some people call these wasteland preachers “The Prophesied Ones,” but it is unclear as to why.
The Flattened Orb: Every eighteen days, something appears in the sky above a particular outcropping of rock in the middle of the wasteland. Witnesses have reported spotting a hovering object, spherical except that it is slightly wider than it is high. They say that it is at least 200 feet (61 m) across, with scintillating lights, or perhaps it is made of ever- changing lights. Reports differ. Sewer Creatures: In the sewers of Morlash Kor, humanoid creatures of what would seem to be solid slime lurk and hide from the humans above. Sometimes, however, these creatures skulk to the surface at night to steal miscellaneous objects or food. Anyone who confronts a slime creature hears it speak in his mother’s voice, and it talks about some event from his childhood.
Cragworm, page 236 Raster, page 253 Erynth grask, page 240
Ravage bear, page 254 Spine dragon: level 5, stealth as level 6; health 36; Armor 4; spikes on armored flesh carry a paralysis poison that affects all who fail a Might defense roll for one minute
Nurant: level 7, perception and stealth as level 8, all other Speed-based tasks as level 6; Armor 3
The heat of Hellsfont can interact with multiple creatures at once.
The entire area is a single entity, but it hosts other fire-dwelling creatures too. Eleven “cinder giants” can be found amid the scorched rocks and earth. These appear to be 9-foot-tall (3 m) human skeletons in some kind of numenera armor, blackened and petrified so that they are almost metallic statues, covered in a fine layer of white ash. They show signs of once having been living creatures. No one has been able to pry off the armor or any of its components.
Hellsfont is also the home of ancient, beast-faced humanoids known as ember scions. These engineered biomechanical creatures have flame-shrouded bodies and white-hot claws. They are playful and devilish, killing and tormenting for fun. They do not seem to require normal sustenance, water, or air. Particularly powerful Vralkan warriors come to Hellsfont to hunt the ember scions, although sometimes it is difficult to know who is hunting whom. First, however, the Vralkans must come prepared to deal with the heat or convince