Barbarian Conqueror King (Dinosaurs & Sorcery ACKS)

Not yet, she’s still thinking about what to play, I’ll give her the ACKS book and the Companion to thumb through today :slight_smile:

I’m thinking about using the ancient Levant, Egypt and Mesopotamia as inspiration to the Human city-states of this setting (while the more civilizaed of the Lizardmen will have Mesoamerican inspiration). This does fit very well with sword and sorcery. Both sword&sandal and sword&sorcery go hand-in-hand with this ancient world of city-states, commerce, vengeful gods and towering ziggurats.

This setting’s equivalent of ACKS’ Zahar would be an Egyptian-style kingdom with pyramids, undead and huge opulence coupled with enormous stagnation. Now all that remains of them are tombs to loot, guarded by undead!

The setting’s history goes roughly like this:

First were the Serpentmen, who worshipped terrible Cthonic gods. They made the Lizardmen as slaves by crossing their own blood with that of giant lizards. Then the Lizardmen, led by a messiah of a new, Lawful goddess, rebelled, smashed their old rulers, and built a sprawling civilization in the tropical south.

But then came Men, from across the sky, and their arrival upon a shooting star shattered the Lizardmen Empire. Men also arrived in bad shape, and, at first, regressed to savage nomadism, sometimes used as slaves or mercenaries by the Lizardmen city-states which rose after of the Great Cataclysm. But some Lizardmen and many men, without the guidance of the old Lizard Empire’s Matriarch, turned back to the Serpentmen’s dead gods, and their bloody rituals.

Out of the chaos then rose the great Empire of Man, upon the River of the Desert, worshipping Chaotic gods from beyond the grave and investing their resources in their immortal dead kings much more than in their living subjects. But the empire, after a millennium, eventually stagnated and fell back into barbarism, leaving behind ruined temple-yards and ancient tombs filled with gold and peril.

Finally, in the more temperate North, beyond the Great Desert and its River, tribes once subjugated by the Empire of Man won their freedom, establishing their city-states. Some worship the Lawful gods of Man, while others pay homage to the blood-soaked idols of the long-dead Lizardmen.

Let’s start naming stuff:

Human name for the Lizardman tropical region (south third of the map): Punt
Old Human empire: Sakkara
Human City-States: Irem (in the desert), Yimara, Khishron, Zarnas (only remaining city in Sakkara)
Lizardman City-States: Cibola (Human name for the richest city), Tollan (ruined old capital), City of the Sunken Moon (Chaotic! Beware), City of the Crescent Sun

Lawful Gods:
Anat: Goddess of Love and War (followed by Blade-Dancers)
Ashera: Mother Goddess; Goddess of Nature, Birth and Fertility
Eshmun: God of Medicine, Herbs and Healing
Hadad: God of Rains, Storms, Lightning and Agriculture
Ixchala: Lizardman quasi-monotheistic goddess of birth, death and rebirth
Khasis: God of Craftmen
Nikkal: Goddess of Agriculture
Shalim: God of Dawn and Dusk
Shapashu: Sun Goddess
Yam: God of Seas and Rivers
Yarkhibol: Moon God

Neutral Gods:
Mawat: God of Death

Chtonic Gods:
Atlach-Nacha: Chaotic God of Spiders
Bokrug: Chaotic god of Lizards
Cthugha AKA Moloch: Chaotic god of Fire; Lizardmen call him Xiutecutli
Dagon: Chaotic god of Fish and Fish-Men
Hastur: Chaotic god of Sorcery
K’tulu: Chaotic god of Oceans and Rains; Lizardmen call him Kutlaloc
Shubbniggurath: Chaotic Fertility/Nature goddess; Lizardmen call her Tocia
Yig: Chaotic Father of Serpents; chief god of the Serpentmen; Lizardmen call him Mexcoatl
Yogsothoth: Chaotic god of Knowledge; Lizardmen call him Xolotal

History in four paragraphs:

First were the Serpentmen, who worshipped terrible Cthonic gods. Their empire was forged in eons before the dawn of history and lasted for millennia. In search for slaves, they bred themselves with giant lizards to produce the hardy Lizardmen, and, for ages, lorded over the Lizardmen masses while constantly honing their blasphemous sorcery. But then, millennia before our time, the great goddess Ixchala revealed herself to a Lizardwoman known only as the Prophetess. With her Lawful divine inspiration, the Prophetess roused the Lizardmen masses in rebellion, shattering their chains of old and overthrowing their masters into oblivion. Freedom was won; and the great Lizard Empire arouse in the jungles, with the Matriarch ruling it with an iron fist from the top of the Great Pyramid in fabled Tollan.

But then came Men, from across the sky, and their arrival upon a shooting star shattered the Lizard Empire. Men also arrived in disarray, and, at first, regressed to savage nomadism, sometimes used as slaves or mercenaries by the Lizardmen city-states which arose from the ashes of the Great Cataclysm. But some Lizardmen and many men, without the guidance of the old Lizard Empire’s Matriarch, turned back to the dead gods of the Serpentmen, and their bloody rituals.

Out of the chaos then rose Sakkara, the great Empire of Man. It grew upon the River of the Desert, worshipping Chaotic gods from beyond the grave and investing their resources in their immortal dead kings much more than in their living subjects. But even great Sakkara, after three thousand years, eventually stagnated and fell back into barbarism, leaving behind ruined temple-yards and ancient tombs filled with gold and peril, as well as the dying city of Zarnas, where the immortal Last Pharaoh rules, in name only, over his ruined empire.

When Sakkara fell, its former vassals to the North, beyond the Great Desert and its River, won their freedom, establishing the new City-States, a mere shadow of Sakkara’s old glory. Some worship the Lawful Gods of Man, while others pay homage to the blood-soaked idols of the long-dead Serpentmen. Meanwhile, the ancient Lizardmen Cities of the tropical South squabble and scheme, some worshipping the Lawful Ixchala, others following the dark Cthonic path of the Serpentmen gods of old.

Updated List:

Lawful Human Gods:
Anat: Goddess of Love and War* (followed by Blade-Dancers)
Ashera: Mother Goddess; Goddess of Nature, Birth and Fertility; El-Elyon’s consort
El-Elyon: Father of the Gods; God of Mankind and Civilization; Ashera’s husband
Eshmun: God of Medicine, Herbs and Healing
Hadad: God of Rains, Storms, Lightning and Agriculture
Ishtar: Goddess of Love
Khasis: God of Craftmen
Nikkal: Goddess of Agriculture
Shalim: God of Dawn and Dusk
Shapashu: Sun Goddess
Yarkhibol: Moon God

Lawful Lizardman Goddess:
Ixchala: Lizardman quasi-monotheistic goddess of lizards, dinosaurs, birth, death and rebirth

Neutral Gods:
Mawat: God of Death and Judgement
Yam: God of Seas and Rivers; also God of Judges

Chtonic Gods:
Atlach-Nacha: Chaotic God of Spiders
Bokrug: Chaotic god of Lizards
Moloch AKA Cthugha: Chaotic god of Fire and Wealth; Lizardmen call him Xiutecutli
Dagon: Chaotic god of Fish and Fish-Men
Hastur: Chaotic god of Sorcery and Undeath
Rahab AKA K’tulu: Chaotic god of Oceans and Rains; Lizardmen call him Kutlaloc
Shubbniggurath: Chaotic Fertility/Nature goddess; Lizardmen call her Tocia
Yig: Chaotic Father of Serpents; chief god of the Serpentmen; Lizardmen call him Mexcoatl
Yogsothoth: Chaotic god of Knowledge; Lizardmen call him Xolotal

Some initial thoughts on classes in this setting:

Allowed Classes:
Anti-Paladin
Assassin
Barbarian
Bard
Bladedancer (follows Anat)
Explorer
Cleric
Fighter
Lizardman Gladiator (AKA Thrassian Gladiator)
Mage
Mystic
Paladin
Priestess
Sakkaran Ruinguard (AKA Zaharan Ruinguard BUt with an Egyptian flavour)
Shaman
Thief
Venturer
Warlock
Witch

Disallowed Classes:
Dwarven Craftpriest (no Dwarves in this setting)
Dwarven Delver (no Dwarves in this setting)
Dwarven Fury (no Dwarves in this setting)
Dwarven Machinist (no Dwarves in this setting)
Dwarven Vaultguard (no Dwarves in this setting)
Elven Courtier (no Elves in this setting)
Elven Enchanter (no Elves in this setting)
Elven Nightblade (no Elves in this setting)
Elven Ranger (no Elves in this setting)
Elven Spellsword (no Elves in this setting)
Gnomish Trickster (no Gnomes in this setting)
Nobiran Wonderworker (no Nobirans in this setting)

New Classes:
Lizardman Hunter
Lizardman Priest
Lizardman Warrior
Lizardman Witch-Doctor

Here is my blog post about Lizardmen in this setting:
http://spacecockroach.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/lizardmen-in-barbarian-conqueror-king.html

Areas on the map:
Enyom (rocky badlands to the northwest)
Punt (fertile Lizardman lands in the south)
Mala (jungles southeast of the Lizardman lands)
Kanahu (civilized Human lands in the north)
Sakkara (dead desert empire in the middle)
Queddar (deeper desert away from the Desert River)

Languages:
Kinhan, spoken in Kanahu, uses the Lower Sakkaran alphabet
Common Sakkaran, still spoken in Sakkara, has alphabetic writing
Ancient Sakkaran, used by necromancers and Sakkaran nobles, uses hiroglyphs
Queddari, spoken by nomads on Queddar, uses the Lower Sakkaran alphabet
Lizardman, spoken in Punt and by most Lizardmen, uses pictographs
Serpentine, once used by the Serpentmen and now rare, uses pictographs
Chaos-Tongue, used by various Beastmen & cultists, has no written equivalent

Hmmm… I’ve been tossing around the idea of converting the Wilderlands of High Fantasy (OD&D version) to ACKS, and the centralized settlement pattern is just the right tool, methinks.

This setting sounds awesome! I love sword and sorcery. I love humanocentric settings with hideous ancient races and lost technology. You also clearly draw inspiration from the Mesapotamian myths I do.

 

 

Thanks!

The specific myth I draw upon is the Levantine myth - which is related to the Mesopotamian myth, of course.

Oh, and Sakkara, this setting equivalent of Zahar, is Egyptian-inspired - complete with an obssession with death and afterlife (and undeath) and a lot of tombs to loot (with undead guardians and traps).

I’m thinking about adding some “normal” Earth animals to my Human areas, especially domesticated beasts and some pests (cats, dogs, mice, rats, sheep, goats, cattle and horses). They probably came with the Humans when they “fell upon a shooting star”. Native fauna of this world is reptilian and/or insectile, though… And almost all predators, except for cats and feral dogs are reptilian or insectile.

Given that your setting is based on Levantine myth and your handle is Golan, can I safely guess you live in Israel somewhere?...

Yes, I do, in Rehovot (20 minutes by train from Tel-Aviv).

Ah, cool! As an undergraduate I studied military history with a lot of work on the Arab-Israeli Wars. My senior project was a wargame to assess what would happen if Israel abandoned the Golan Heights and was invaded. I've always wanted to get out and see the land for real, but haven't quite managed to do so...

 

What did your war game turned out?

I have decided, for the sake of flavour - no mammals except for Humans and Cats, There rest were killed when the Shooting Star crashed…

As someone interested in history (and probably archaeology), you should definitely visit Israel. So many archaeological and historical sites to visit, dating from the Stone Age to modern times. Even better, you might want to combine this with a tour of Jordan and Egypt (political situation permitting, of course) as well for more archaeology. Or send in some of the ACKS artists for some inspiration.

Here is the Lizardman Hunter class I made using the Companion:

http://spacecockroach.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/barbarian-conqueror-king-lizardman.html

Here is the Campaign map for Barbarian Conqueror King:
http://spacecockroach.blogspot.co.il/2013/02/barbarian-conqueror-king-campaign-map.html