Secrets of the Steppes

Credits Contents

Original AuthorJohn R White

EditorCharlotte Law

Cover IllustrationIgor Kieryluk

LayoutWill Chapman

Interior IllustrationsMatt Morrow and Gill Pearce

Playtesting Jim Abbott, Andras Furness

Special Thanks Lawrence Whitaker & Michael Moorcock

Additional Thanks

James Biltcliffe, Simon Clements, Charles Green,

Michael Moriarty, Pete Nash, Nick Robinson, Dan

Voyce & Richard Watts

Secrets of the Steppes 2

Adventures in the Dakwinsi Steppe 3

The Roof of the World 9

Shad 14

Cruel Waters, Harsh Lands 69

Hunters of the Snows 83

Xiombarg’s Children 101

The Green Peaks Forest 118

Copyright InformationSecrets of the Steppes ©2012 Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. All other significant characters, names, places,

items, art and text herein are copyrighted by Mongoose Publishing. All rights reserved. Printed in USA

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i n t ro d u c t i o n

Secrets of the Steppes

Secrets of the Steppes is written as a volume that will require only the Legend and Elric of Melniboné core rulebooks to enable a Games Master to run a series of separate Young Kingdoms adventures or devise a linked campaign. This volume is intended to compliment Talons of Winter, a future Mongoose Elric Source Book that will describe other civilisations of the Dakwinsi Steppe in the Young Kingdoms Northern Continent. Besides incorporating a variety of scenario seeds it will feature a flexible ‘sandbox’ campaign where material from both books can be utilised.

Other Mongoose books are highly recommended as useful resources. Cults of the Young Kingdoms expands on the nature and powers of some of the deities covered in this volume. Cities of the Young Kingdoms: The South, besides being an excellent source of adventures, has an invaluable guide to the potential range of Non-Player Character hirelings and professionals, and their skills. Furthermore, it has a detailed feature on the composition and organisation of trade guilds.

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C H A P T E R O N E

Adventures in the Dakwinsi Steppe

The Talons of Winter CampaignThis volume, although giving information for the general geography and inhabitants of the Dakwinsi Steppe, does not include a description of the Xanardwys Valley and its fabled city. Volume Two of the Talons of Winter campaign will provide details of the city, its local environment and its unusual climate. Besides including some of Xanardwys most important citizens, it will include generic Non-Player Character statistics and also a selection of scenario seeds. In addition, a chapter is devoted to the remnants of a race of giants who dwell amongst the Fire Mountains. A sandbox campaign titled Revenge Served Cold will be included in the next volume and features a deadly threat to the existence of Xanardwys. The Adventurers will have the chance to act as true heroes and hopefully prolong the existence of entire nations and races, for if the malign crusade that sweeps through the steppe lands is unchecked then all life in the Northern Continent might face extinction!

A Games Master wishing to play through the Talons of Winter campaign can decide to run a series of role-playing sessions using the locations and scenarios in Secrets of the Steppes as preliminary adventures. Ideally the Adventurers will establish a range of allies and enemies who can be used by the Games Master to aid, complicate and frustrate his Adventurers’ activities when they find themselves involved in the mad schemes of the legendary Snow Hag.

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Adventuring to the Northern Coastlands The Adventurers can be hired to accompany a trader or ambassador to Alofia. Alternatively, they might be hired by a nation, city-state or perhaps a private individual to recover a person from the cruel toil of slavery in the mines of the Yellow Mountain, Worse yet, they might be sent to labour there themselves as slaves! The cruel, northern weather, or perhaps the activities of pirates or monstrous beasts, might well force a party voyaging on the Pale Sea to seek sanctuary, or suffer shipwreck on the coastline of the Northern Continent. A party of Adventurers down on their luck in Ilmiora might be tempted to take passage with a whaler bound for the northern waters or else take on a job as guards at a whaling station or the Yellow Mountain. Long journeys to these realms will typically be undertaken by hiring a vessel to travel to the shores of Alofia. The few merchant vessels that visit the whaling stations and Alofian coast are usually from the Ilmioran City State of Shad or the Kingdom of Tarkesh.

Adventuring through the Steppe LandsThe presence of Xanardwys is a lure that will draw explorers and traders across the Dakwinsi Steppe. Adventurers travelling eastwards from the coastline of Alofia or northwards through the Sighing Desert might be in the employment of a patron with a private agenda or a trader seeking to gain a fortune at the fabled city. The renowned explorer, Duke Avan Astran, might well lead such an expedition (Elric of Melniboné Core Rulebook, page 178). Possibly, a rival cartel of merchants seek to sabotage such a mission.

Another potential lure is the existence of rare and potent herbs which bloom for a very small period of time in the climes of the steppe or Xanardwys, and which are avidly sought by alchemists and apothecaries such as Horat Stames who features in Talons of Winter.

Given the sparse population of the northern lands above the Sighing Desert it is quite conceivable that enclaves of other races still exist in these regions, albeit in obscurity.

Some have already been hypothesised within the Talons of Winter campaign, although Games Masters might like to consider whether any survivors of the Dharzi can be found in the reaches of the Dakwinsi Steppe lands. Alternatively a campaign might utilise other races, possibly ones created by the Games Master himself.

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It is conceivable that a party who anger the Alofians might, like Elric, find that the safest way to flee from their vengeance is to head deep inland and look for shelter with the nomads ,or else find a trail that leads towards Xanardwys or another civilisation. Perhaps an ancient enmity against one of the tribes of the Bastanissi festers in the heart of one of the Council of Six and One Other in Quazhasaat, and a scheming politician decides to hire or coerce the Adventurers into recovering a coveted heirloom from one of the Steppe tribes.

The Urging of Priests and the Games of the GodsThose Adventurers who are pledged to the service of Gods, or who have incurred their enmity, might find themselves persuaded or compelled to travel to the Dakwinsi Steppe.

Cultists of Mabelode might be sent on a mission to defeat the warriors of Alofia in challenges of combat. Alternatively, the Goddess Eequor, who despises the cult of Xiombarg’s Children, sends an agent to subvert the race to her own cause.

The fanatical elements of the cults devoted to the Lords of Law such as Donblas and Miggea, decide to wipe out the ‘abominable savages’ of Alofia. They proceed to recruit a force of zealots to embark on a war and pogrom against the Children of Xiombarg.

KINGDOMS OF THE NORTHAdventurers might originate from any of the following regions located in the steppe or on its borders. The city of Shad has been included as, despite its distance from the Steppe, it has significant trade links with some of these cultures. Further information relating to creating Adventurers from Alofian, the Dakwinsi Steppe or the Green Peak Mountains can be found in the chapters covering these locations.

New ProfessionsProfession Cultural Background NotesBeach Comber Civilised, Primitive —Caravan Guard Barbarian, Civilised, Nomad —Civic Messenger Civilised Ilmiora onlyCoachman Civilised Eshmir, Ilmiora, ValderiaJockey Civilised Ilmiora or EshmirPilgrim Civilised Lawful nations onlyPirate Civilised —Whaler Civilised Maritime nation. Not

Melniboné or Pan Tang

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Kingdom CulturesAlofia BarbarianDakwinsi Steppe NomadGreen Peaks Forest PrimitiveIlmiora, Shad Civilised

Beach ComberThe individual has adapted himself, through necessity or choice, to becoming self reliant on the shoreline of a sea or lake. The individual might have spent a long duration involuntarily marooned or might actually have jumped ship at an inviting and uncivilised location. It also includes successive generations of coastal dwellers who scavenge along the shore and shallows for food and fuel whilst praying that their inspection of flotsam and jetsam might yield valued treasures such as amber, ambergris, precious shells and shipwrecked goods.

Common Skills: Lore (regional) +5%, Perception +5%, Resilience +10%. Select Two from: Athletics +10%, Combat Style (sling) +10%, Swim +10%.Advanced Skills: Pick One from Boating, Craft, Culture (other), Survival.

Caravan GuardThe safest way for a merchant to transport his goods overland is usually in the company of other merchants and travellers. Such an accumulation of wealth is a temptation for bands of outlaws and raiders. In consequence, it is common for competent individuals to be hired as scouts and guards for the duration of a journey. If well paid they can also prove a good deterrent to troublesome slaves and animal handlers in a caravan.

Common Skills: Lore (regional) +5%, Perception +10%, Resilience +10%, Ride +5%.One Combat Style appropriate to your culture +10%. Advanced Skills: Select One from: Survival, Track.

Civic MessengerThe City States of Ilmiora maintain a service of mounted couriers who wear bright tabards in the distinctive heraldry of their particular cities. Generally tasked with carrying documents, they are also expected to memorise short verbal messages word perfectly. They must also be able to show due deference or authority in their dealings. Missions usually require having to travel fast in all weathers and they must be as hardy and skilled a rider as the herdsmen of their native country. Generally they trust to the quality of their mounts to evade bandits, rather than risk the interception of their message.

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