The Tower of Aelarda Starria

unknown artist, source

This magnificent structure is found in the Radlebb Woods of the Grand Duchy of Karameikos. Although beautiful, it is a centre of hatred, arrogance, paranoia and deep-rooted resentments. The Tower of Aelarda Starria is ruled by a band of 66 elves - they are not bound by blood but by philosophy and outlook. They call themselves  the Elvish Truebloods, and they are fierce advocates of elvish supremacy, looking down on all other races. The members of the Elvish Truebloods have come from elven settlements all over Karameikos, and there are some members who have stayed in Rifflian and Kota-Hutan to keep an eye on the situation and maybe recruit more elves who are angry or indignant about upstart humans. A few have come from Alfheim, feeling that the Alfheim elves are too tolerant and soft on human intrusions. One in particular (Aethelli Bladeslicer, see below) has traveled from a different world altogether, hailing from a like-minded group of elves called the Eldreth Veluuthra. She has been central in bringing the Elvish Purebloods together and codifying their philosophy and manifesto. 

Many other elves strongly disapprove of the Elvish Truebloods, especially those who regularly deal with humans and other races. Although not willing to openly combat their hateful kindred, these more moderate elves will certainly tell the Truebloods of their disagreement and warn human friends and acquaintences about the Elvish Truebloods and the Tower, and perhaps try to dissuade other elves from joining. In return the Elvish Truebloods view these tolerant elves as little better than traitors to their race, consorting with the enemy. Although inter-elven violence has not broken out, it is a definite risk.  

The Elvish Truebloods are elitist, keeping themselves isolated from other races and even shunning other elves who mix with lesser races. They are insistent on keeping themselves pure, both biologically, culturally and philosophically, and avoid things created by humans, dwarves and halflings. Their attitude towards halflings is contemptuous, viewing them as greedy children unable to grow up. Dwarves receive a lot of vitriol - dwarves and elves have rarely got on well together and this is amplified by the attitudes of the Elvish Truebloods. But it is humans who are seen as the real threat - short-lived, breeding fast and consuming everything they encounter - it is no wonder that many of the Elvish Truebloods nickname humans "tall rats" or "upright vermin". In Karameikos they are seen as encroaching on the elves' domains of the Radlebb and Dyrmak Forests and should be driven back by force. Half-elves in Karameikos are extremely rare (and in B/X rules are treated as humans but with slightly elven appearance), and they are made rarer due to the Elvish Truebloods' policy of exterminating these hybrid abominations, the product of disgusting interracial breeding. 

It is interesting that the elves of Aelarda Starria will blame many monstrous attacks on humans - they have a slightly disjointed view of humans where on the one hand humans are stupid and ignorant but on the other hand are frequently viewed as cunning enought to provoke or encourage orcish and gnoll attacks on the elves. Although they hate gnolls and orcs as much as any other elf, the Elvish Truebloods tend to group them in with "all other races" in a very polarized "us versus them" attitude. 

The Elvish Truebloods know they do not have numbers on their side, so instead they play to their elvish strengths - magic, individual skill and their knowledge of nature. They will use summoned and constructed creatures as allies, especially wood golems, bone golems, crystal living statues and invisible stalkers. The elven rangers among them will train various animals as pets, guards and war beasts while the woods around the tower are littered with lethal traps such as spiked pits, tripwire-activated spears and deadfalls that can crush skulls. The more thoughtful elves leave subtle but unpleasant scent markers on these traps that wild animals can detect and therefore avoid but humans and orcs cannot. Other elves just accept collateral damage among wildlife as a cost of defending their home. 

The majority of the Elvish Truebloods do not worship Chaos - they revere nature, though their behaviour is definitely chaotic and their stated alignment reflects this. Some would be quite insulted if compared to Chaos Cultists. A few however, do actually worship Chaos though they keep this discrete. 

NPCs of the Tower of Aelarda Starria

Telthion Ravenclaw (male Elf Spellsword10, align C, Str 16, Int 14, Wis 14, Dex 12, Con 11, Cha 14) is the default leader of the Elvish Purebloods. He is old enough to have seen the fall of the Traldar, the coming of the Thyatians and the constant rise of humanity and he has had enough. As far as he is concerned he is leading a pushback against urbanization, overexploitation and mindless mediocrity that he sees in humans, and if that means killing them, then that is what it takes. 

Aethelli Bladeslicer (female Elf Ranger 8, align C, Str 14, Int 12, Wis 13, Dex 16, Con 14, Cha 14) was magically transported to Karameikos from a land she calls Faerun, where she was a member of an elven society called Eldreth Veluuthra. She has inadvertently become the source of much of the Elvish Truebloods' philosophy and outlook by expounding the Eldreths' viewpoint to her new companions in Karameikos. Although she misses her homeland in the High Forest, she has now settled down in her new place in the Tower. 

Sierron Silvereye (male Elf Ranger 7, align C, Str 15, Int 13, Wis 10, Dex 17, Con 11, Cha 13) is the lead scout and spymaster of the Elvish Truebloods. Although based in the Tower of Aelarda Starria, he travels far and wide and visits both elf and human communities, and has visited Threshold, Penhaligon, Rifflian and the Vyalla elves on the border with Thyatis. He has recruited dozens of elves, some of whom have travelled to the tower, others have stayed in place as agents. He can maintain a polite veneer when dealing with other races but he still despises them. 

Balainia the Beautiful (female Elf Spellsword 5, align C, Str 15, Int 14, Wis 13, Dex 10, Con 12, Cha 18) is haunted by her previous encounters with humans, one of which was horribly traumatic though she refuses to talk about it. She is quiet and withdrawn much of the time though when she gets drunk she will rant and rave about how wicked and vile humans are. She often finds animals easier to get along with than other elves, though she has struck up a friendship with Aethelli Bladeslicer. 

Celthion Scarbearer (male Elf Spellsword 10, align C, Str 11, Int 16, Wis 11, Dex 12, Con 15, Cha 6) focuses on magic as a way of dealing with upstart humans, and has become quite skilled at creating wooden golems who help guard the tower. His second name comes from the right side of his face which has been horribly burnt and not properly healed - he and some elven adventurers got into trouble with a village of humans and the ignorant peasants tried to burn the elves as witches. Two of his colleagues were burnt to death.  

Sharrellia Ratskewer (female Elf Spellsword 8, align C, Str 13, Int 16, Wis 9, Dex 12, Con 10, Cha 11) is a rare thing - a truly psychopathic elf. She has no morals or mercy around killing anyone and anything, and some other elves within the Tower suspect her involvement in the disappearance of two other members. But it is when hunting and killing humans that she is at her most savage. She only stopped collecting the severed ears of her kills at the request of other elves in the Tower who found it repulsive (and rather scary). 

Monastery of the Iron Eagle

Image by andreasrocha, source

This fortified monastery is in Norwold, on the north coast of the Great Bay and to the east of Latela. The Alphatian authorities in Alpha don't pay much attention to it - as far as they are concerned it is home of a hardy order of neutral clerics who have come to the icy climes of Norwold to test their discipline and endurance. What the Alphatians don't know is that although the monastery is officially independent of any nation, its resident clerics worship Vanya, patron goddess of the Heldannic Knights and others who are intent on conquest and glory. Thus unofficially the Monastery of the Iron Eagle is the Heldannic Knights' northernmost toehold in Norwold. 

The residents have found themselves in something of a predicament - they came here expecting to use the monastery as the launchpad for glorious Heldannic raids and expeditions against the Alphatians and anyone else too weak and decadent to defend themselves. However, the clerics of Vanya and their Heldannic allies have found themselves frequently on the back foot, and isolated from their usual allies. 

Further to the north in the Noskumi Tundra there are the Revvak tribesmen, human but brutal savages who worship Chaos and prone to slaughter any civilized folk, whether Alphatian, Heldannic or Thyatian. The Revvak hate anything to do with culture, stability and order, and they view the monastery as an outpost of such principles that must be destroyed. The exact population and distribution of the Revvak is unknown but must number into tens of thousands. The Revvak are led by their Great Seer of Chaos, a powerful chaos cultist who claims to commune with the essence of Chaos itself. 

image by Todor Ignatov,  source

Every few months, whatever the season, the Revvak will launch some sort of attack on the monastery, whether it be an attempt to completely beseige it, stealthily climb the walls in the dead of night, or simply harry and raid any group trying to enter or leave. Both sides are constantly changing tactics and trying to learn from their mistakes. The barbarians have not won yet, though several times they have caused considerable losses to the clerics and Heldannic knights, and forced the monastery to muster every combatant they have to the battlements. 

The monastery has 260 clerics of Vanya of various levels, as well as a company of 120 Heldannic knights, 210 men-at-arms and 70 servants and maids, theoretically non-combatant but when the Revvak are at the outer walls everybody picks up a weapon (even a kitchen knife or pitchfork) to defend themselves. 

NPCs of the Monastery of the Iron Eagle

Commander Gertrune Hollerstein (Fighter 14, human female align L (LE), Str 14, Int 12, Wis 8, Dex 10, Con 16, Cha 14) Equipment: Plate mail +2, Bastard Sword +2 + 4 vs giants, Dagger +1, 
Commander Hollerstein is fervent true believer in the Heldannic cause. She is of old Hattian stock and believes she is naturally superior to everyone and is determined to prove it. Although when calm she can be tactically astute, her zeal and fanaticism can overrule good sense when making strategic decisions. At her worst she can fly into a fury at the failure of her plans and blame those who were supposed to carry them out, accusing her subordinates (such as Captain Gollering) of cowardice and lack of faith. This has made her very unpopular within the monastery, though she is still the leader of the company of knights there.  She also sees her posting here as a test set by her superiors in Frieberg, and to ask for help would be a sign of weakness and therefore failure. 

Mother Superior Karrella Bruggenhoff  (Cleric 13, human female, align L (LN), Str 11, Int 14, Wis 15, Dex 9, Con 13, Cha 14) Equipment: Plate Mail +2, Mace +2 +3 vs undead & casts light spell 1/day, Shield +1, Holy Symbol
Mother Superior Bruggenhoff is the senior cleric of Vanya in the monastery and although she believes in Vanya's principles of conquest and glory, she is level-headed about how this is achieved. Her first priority is the security of the monastery and its people. She is also pragmatic about dealing with other civilized folk - Bruggenhoff particularly wants to establish better relations with the Thyatians of Latela as she sees them as natural allies rather than just one more town to be subjugated, and is willing to ask for help from the Heldannic homeland

Captain Varnius Gollering (Fighter 9, human male, align L (LN), Str 15, Int 12, Wis 10, Dex 10, Con 14, Cha 14). Equipment: Plate mail +1, Polearm +2, Shortsword +2
Captain Gollering is in charge of the men-at-arms in the monastery. He is not a happy man, and is on the verge of losing his faith in the cause, having seen dozens of his men die in desperate and near-futile attacks on enemies ordered by Commander Hollerstein. He of course took the brunt of the blame. He hates Commander Hollerstein and would like to see her removed, either administratively or by brute force. He has a better relation with Mother Superior Bruggenhoff whom he sees as a reasonable authority. 

Krellig Stauffenburg (Magic User 10, human male, align N (NE), Str 8, Int 16, Wis 12, Dex 12, Con 10, Cha 10), Equipment: Bracers of defence AC 5, Cloak of Protection +2, Wand of Fireballs, Staff of Summoning Elementals (any type, always 8HD)
Krellig is the resident mage in the monastery, advising the clerics and knights about magical matters and casting spells when required. He is no fanatic and simply sees his time in the monastery as a stepping stone to greater ambitions. Nonetheless, he has some loyalty to the Heldannic cause (he grew up in Altendorf and learned magic in Freiberg) and also realises that at least for the moment he needs the protection of the monastery. He stays clear of Commander Hollerstein, considering her a dangerous fool. 

Notes on alignment with the Heldannic Knights: The B/X system of Law versus Chaos works fine in most circumstances but the Heldannic Knights do not fit this model very well. In AD&D terms I see the Heldannic order as a mixture of Lawful Neutral and Lawful Evil - they are ruthless, fanatical and warlike, which could all be seen as chaotic tendencies. Yet they are also rigidly disciplined and believe they are champions of civilization (or at least their idea of civilization). They would be horrified and affronted if described as chaotic, yet their behaviour can be just as destructive and nihilistically violent as any band of orcs or ogres. Thus when giving their alignments I have decided to add in brackets where they might be on the AD&D 2-axis 9-alignment system. This is probably going to be a temporary thing. 

Some philosophers believe that the Heldannic Knights are lawful, but a corrupted version of Law, perhaps a version of Law tainted by Chaos. Most of the Heldannic Knights believe they are Lawful and will describe themselves as such, but they have drifted far from the ideals and principles that the cosmic forces of Law want from mortals, becoming no better than the forces of Chaos they claim to oppose. In this regard they do not fit into the conventional Lawful/Neutral/Chaos spectrum that the vast majority of D&D sentient creatures can be found on