Ghelspad Excerpt: Mithril
Mithril
Official or Predominant Worship: Corean
Complete Name: Corean's City of the Mithril Golem
Ruler: High Priest Emili Derigesh
Government: A high priest rules this theocracy as a spiritual
and civic leader.
Population Composition Estimate: Human 74%, Dwarf 8%,
Elf 6%, Halfling 6%, Half-elf 3%, Half-orc 3%
Allies: Hedrad, Mullis Town and Vesh
Enemies: Calastian Hegemony
The City of the Mithril Golem was founded at the conclusion
of the Divine War; it sits atop a cliff where Corean's mighty
mithril golem was deposited, supposedly for the purpose of defending
those dedicated to the god who would later build a city there.
In the 150 years since, the golem has not moved, but the priests
and people of Mithril have remained, dedicated to the golem as
a symbol of their mighty god and his victory in the war.
Mithril is somewhat divided, however, and in ways more than
merely geographical. The upper area of the city features the
golem and the great temple to Corean, but the lower portion,
called Harbor City, plays home and trading center to all manner
of people - from honest laborers to cutthroats. This dichotomy
is one that Emili Derigesh and those before him have mostly overlooked,
which is arguably a good thing. Without the trade that goes into
Mithril and thereafter onto Vesh, the ability to resist Virduk
and his ilk would be compromised.
The priests and paladins of Mithril have more pressing matters
to contend with than the unsavory side of Mithril's Harbor City.
Situated amid lands largely controlled by titanspawn, outlying
farmlands experience frequent raids, while the golem deters direct
attacks on the city proper. The pirates of the Toe Islands, a
mysterious and arcane order of Penumbral Lords, defense of the
Cordrada Corridor and provision of aid to the battle against
Virduk all serve to keep Mithril's defenders sorely taxed.
Mithril
is an excellent first sourebook from Sword and Sorcery. It gives
an exellent in-depth view of the city itself (although the city map is of
at best average quality), provides details of the church of Corean
(with new rules for paladins and monks as well as one new prestige
class), and includes some excellent regional material for the southeast
portion of Ghelspad.
The book also provides a map and description of Mullis
Town, which is on the western trade route between Hendrada and Mithril City. (as well as a few adventure hooks), and shows a map detailing
the human, titanspawn, and orcish areas of influence in Lede.
The adventure hooks are well done, as they incorporate sufficient
detail to make "filling in the blanks" easy, but remain
concise. The descriptions of the various orcish tribes and their
political/social environment is a great jumping point for a
campaign that could treat orcs as more than faceless cannon
fodder.
Equally important, Mithril itself, despite its lawful good
character. has a wide variety of options and tensions within
that can lead to all manner of adventures - ranging from exploring
the ancient catacombs beneath the city to ethnic human/half-orc
conflict to political and religious intrigue.
Overall,
a good book and a great buy. Although, like most S&S products,
the art is all monochrome (and frequently not up to the standards
of Wizards of the Coast products), this is a minor complaint
because the content is great.
Though the Sword and Sorcery books tend to be great adaption
modules for just about any game, whether in Scarn or not, they
are typically missing two important features: Good Maps, and
Indexes.
In our files section you will find a Street map for Mithril
and an Index for the Mithril book. If you know of other sorces
and extras for these great modules, please let us know about
them in the Forum area.
