Coffee, Code, and Chronicles

Zentrem and his wife, Suella, and daughter, Malora run a sweetshop in Nulb, a dirty, “ramshackle," village on the Imredys Run, a small river that is deep enough for trade traffic. Zentrem is a retired busker and carries himself with a jolly, round, and bearded grin that matches his profession of baking “cookies, pastries, and sweet cakes." This profession has contributed to the family's portly first impressions. Zentrem sells to any customer, but a great deal of his product is sold to the Waterside Hotel. Zentrem is also an accomplished poisoner. This skill is in demand by the management of the Waterside Hotel. Zentrem's skill has a reputation beyond Nulb with his poisoned sweetcakes rumored to be used in the heart of Greyhawk in Verbobonc and even in Dyvers, many hundreds of leagues away. His poison of choice is a Sleeping poison made from local berries. The management of the Waterside Hotel often uses his cakes to rob patrons. Zentrem's skill has deadly results ...

Ymir. E-mir? Yee-mir? The pronunciation is something of mystery in the Empire's colleges. Scholars debate the creature's very existence not just the name's sound. Many take the side that this creature is just a garden variety “abominable snowman," or Yeti. In fact, the Ymir is a distinct creature akin to the foul Beastman of the Empire’s dark, and often corrupted, forests. Yet those that have traveled the lands of Norsca write that the Ymir has a specific diet: human flesh. Contrast, the scholars will point out, the varied diet of a beastman horde. Norscian skalds tell travelers that Ymir is largely a solitary creature, mating briefly for “litter of whelps." If they speak any language, it is one of grunts and low moans. Standing taller than a human by a foot or two and weighing more than 21 stones, Ymir are covered in a thick, matted white fur—lending much to the debate of Yeti or not Yeti—fouled not just by excrement, but also frozen blut und fleisch  that is oft...

Xe'ddu has many names to mortals. As all daemons fail to grasp the purposes for which they are summoned, pulled to the material planes by rituals old and new, and often in service of Greater daemons or the Dark Prince and Lord of Pleasure and Excess, Slaanesh. The One of Whips, Holder of the Lash, Nine Tails, and many other names have been used in mortal rituals. These names are quite literal in that they recognize Xe'ddu's favored instrument in her service to Slaanesh: the whip.  She cares not what the mortals call her. Though she would never reveal her true name. For a mortal to know her true name would be to cede control on the mortal plane. And yet a mortal may bargain with Xe'ddu's masters to learn her true name. Such a bargain would carry a cost, but Xe'ddu knows that for the right sacrifice to her whips, perhaps a new cultist that imagines divine pleasure at the end of her untiring lashes, Xe'ddu may offer the name of other lesser daemons. Of course, ...

The Free Town of Übersreik sits astride the River Teufel in the Principality of Reikland in the Empire. Its high stone walls, the work of many dwarves from nearby holds in the Grey Mountains also serve as a defense from invasion through the Grey Lady Pass. Known for its master stone masons, Übersreik residents enjoy construction on stone foundations, but no landmark is more important than the bridge over the Teufel. The great stone bridge is a feat of Dwarven engineering unmatched in the Empire. The bridge is a major thoroughfare in the town, carrying trade north to Bögenhafen and Nuln to the south. The river is choked with boats and barges carrying quarried stone to Altdorf and ore south on the River Reik, via the Teufel, to the forges of Nuln. This trade results in great warehouse districts on the shores and docks of the river and the accompanying accommodations for guilds, trade unions, porters, sailors, boatmen, brothels, taverns, drug dens, and much more. Editor's Note This wa...

The Winds of Magic envelop the Old World. Invisible to all save Elves or Man—touched in the womb by their unstoppable influence—the Winds have 10 “colors." The Elves have mastered the Winds. Master Elven wizards came with Elven traders millennia ago to the Old World and spoke of great “gates" in their ancestral lands. Spewing from these gates were the Winds of Magic, carried aloft to wrap the world. From beyond these gates dark beings—daemons and beasts—came to roam the world. The Elves, in time and at great societal cost, had reversed the gates to drain the world of the Winds influence. This may continue today and some heretical scholars believe it is why there are “convulsions" in the Old World as the Winds diminish and the influence of the gods with them. The Elves are master's of all 10 colors. Man is wielder of nine, but never a master. There are eight widely used colors by Man. A ninth “color,"  Dhar —the “Dark Wind"—influences and corrupts the eight....

Religious scholars quietly hold debate on the nature of the gods. Sometimes these debates are written down and collected, immediately becoming heretical texts that can find those possessing them in some very serious extra judicial trouble. One such work that circulated in history studies on Bretonnia is On the Viydagg and The Lady of the Lake, look at daemons of law in Bretonnia  by Merovech De Boutellier. Unlike some “heretical" texts, passages of this work are rumored to have been read to the Emperor, who allegedly said of the kingdom to the west after the reading, “It is a silly place." The book, religious in tone, is understood  in the Empire  to be a critical work on Bretonnia's ruling class of Knights. To possess a copy in Bretonnia however is to be fed alive to the truffle hounds. The Viydagg is said to be a daemon of light, created by the gods, and sometimes called a “Life Elemental." The Viydagg appears as a beautiful maiden standing 10 feet tall in flowing ...

The Old World is both blessed and fouled by the Winds of Magic. In the latter, the Winds can be manipulated and corrupted into Dhar , the Dark Wind. Dhar  fuels Dark Magic. Dark Magic is the tool of those that serve Chaos in all its manifestations: disease, indulgence, murder, and change. But necromancy holds a special attraction to the wielders of Dhar : to fuel the armies of undead mustered by power hungry and vengeful Necromancers. The Vampire Counts are also skilled necromancers and their subjects are often slaves in life and death. The Undead in fact includes many forms that, on casual inspection, may appear to be alive. Vampires are the most common form of Undead in this category. It is said that many “upstanding" nobles of the Empire may be Vampires. Ghouls are often placed in the category, but ghouls have been observed in “social groups" and often act alone without a Necromancer master. The greatest number of Undead are what we call “zombies" or the skeletal men,...

So many minor, backwater gods. This author could not begin to name them all. Most are tolerated by all the cults. As all the sanctioned cults acknowledge the other gods, and by all accounts most upstanding citizens will pay respects to them all in due course. Minor gods are also commonly called the “penny gods." These minor gods may  earn a penny saved in their evocation and are, by most religious scholars, nothing more than a peasant's superstition given embodiment in the mind of the evoker. Certain zealots might see this as heresy, but these same peasants are always shown under interrogation to be true to Sigmar and the other gods. Tahrveg is also known as the The Keen Arrow. Honored by archers of the Empire's armies, Tahrveg is one minor god that may earn an archer court martial. And as most peasants are conscripted, court-martial can mean serious punishment. What act would earn such harsh punishment? A blood sacrifice. Some archers have been known to cut their last fi...

Names have power. It is said that Daemonologists pay great costs of earthly and spiritual forms to learn the true name of the foul spirits they summon. To learn the true name of a summoned, often a foul bargain may be struck with another spirit. These rituals are not known to the author and only speculation. The cults of the Empire, save the Verenans, believe that names carry power over the named. Many miracles, hermetic magics, and the rituals of the same must use the name of the receiver for effectiveness, demonstrating the power in a name. Save the Venenans, as mentioned lest forgotten, cults bestow upon their priesthood sacred names . These names may not be secret, but may often be used in ceremony or in correspondence. To the acquaintances of the priests, the use of the name may create confusion. As many cults will bestow a new sacred name  with each higher appointment—the first given as an Initiate to a cult—the same acquaintances, accustomed to one sacred name, must learn an...

Magic in the Old World is dangerous. For those targeted and for those wielding the power of the Winds. Especially for those wielding the power.  T his errant or intentional use of the Winds may produce Rotwyrms.  Rotwyrms seem to be reported by  wizards of the Jade and Amethyst winds. Some reports say that those wielding magic dealing with flesh, such as dark wizards of the Ruinous god Slaanesh or necromancers summon Rotwyrms as a counter spell . Empire wizards employed on the battlefield have encountered Rotwyrms emerging from the bodies of dead allies or enemies due to a faulty casting. In all reports, it may simply be the  presence of dead flesh. Rotwyrms are not of this world. They possess the ability to pass through shield or armor, consuming metal, wood, and cloth with a singular goal: to consume the living flesh of their summoner. Wizards encountering Rotwyrms may suddenly turn from the battlefield in terror. Allies near a battlefield wizard have testified in ...

The Old World is full of tradition and ritual. Whether in a cosmopolitan city or a frigid village in the northern reaches of the Empire The Quickening remains practiced and is observed by all the sanctioned cults (and some not sanctioned, but tolerated). The Quickening is the tradition that occurs on the 11th birthday of a boy or girl. On the day of The Quickening it is common law that the child is officially an adult. Many of the rights granted on this day include: inheritance, apprenticeship, liability, and marriage.  Common ceremonies include “The Dooming." This practice is more superstition than certainty and  involves a wise woman of the family, a grandmother or older matriarch, observing some tick or behavior of the child and declaring the thing to be the child's fateful end. Doomings have been recorded for centuries and include: Thy last meal shall be at an inn or tavern Terrible things will happen to thy fingers if thou dippest them into too many pies Thou shalt know a...

From a letter written by Heineman Weber to his friend, Hellenbrecht Dorfbacher, and presented at their trials for heresy.      The gods of the Old World, and speaking strictly from a scholarly position, have many aspects. There are some heretics that believe there are only the gods and all other gods, be they Elven, Dwarven, Human, or other, are the same gods. These heretics point to the Nehekhara gods described in the ruins of found littered throughout the "Border Princes."      Phakth is one of several Nehekhara gods that lets these heresies find root in the Empire. Described by scholars that read the dead language say that Verena, the goddess of Learning, Knowledge, and Justice, and through the Azyr , the blue wind of majick of the Astromancers, is an aspect of the wind itself. Heresy indeed, and written strictly to you as commentary on these heresies. To say that the gods themselves are simply expressions of the Winds of Magic is a sign of corrupti...

A bit of a meta post.  The theme has been Table Top Roleplaying Games (TTRPGs) and their settings and the fiction that can be seeded by and created in and around it. TTRPGs come in a lot settings and systems today. None appeal to me more than the Old School Renaissance or Old School Revival—I prefer the former over the latter, but both are acceptable—games that lean into the medieval fantasy settings and systems building on the original Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) games of the 1970s and 1980s. OSR games build on the original “white box" D&D release (0e) and often include work that builds on the play style prominent in the 1970s: “Player Skill, not Character Abilities." This style breaks the fourth wall using the fact that you are playing a game. The dice provide friction and prevent the game from becoming just “playing pretend," and the situations are challenges presented by the Dungeon Master, a friend at the table, but not necessarily cheering you or your chara...

The small town of Nachthafen—depending on the translation, Night Harbor or Night Port—lies on a tributary of the River Stir in the eastern reaches of the Grand County of Stirland, sometimes also called Sylvania. Sylvania is synonymous with the dead. These eastern parts of Stirland are haunted by ruins and the undead. For almost a century the major towns of Sylvania have lacked a priest of Morr and not for the attempts of the cult to place a resident priest in the area. Nachthafen lies on the Old Road from Stirfähre on the River Stir in the north through Pfaffbach. The Old Road passes through Nachthafen passed the ruins of Vanhaldenschlosse and terminating in Templehof, the location of the nearest Temple of Morr in the area. Nachthafen is the last point on the river than is navigable for trade at the edge of the Haunted Hills. It's location between the ruins of Vanhaldenschlosse and Castle Drakenhof on the steps of the World's Edge Mountains lends a certain reputation of dread a...

In the Empire the first house of a noble's estates is the Manse. Often thought to be a colloquial form of “mansion"—apropos of many nobles and their walled estates—it is, to the educated, the first house of what may be many homes across the Empire, depending on the noblesse oblige of the Emperor. But as many manses may be occupied by the living, so may others be ruins. A noble may fall out of favor with the Emperor or his court and thus be unable to keep his or her homes in the glory they may once have been. Or more sinisterly, the noble may have committed crimes against the Emperor or may be guilty of foul acts of heresy or tempted by the Ruinous Powers into corruption for power. These estates may be a collection of burnt walls, collapsing roofs, and forgotten basements and cellars. The result of the noble's peasants in horror rising to dreadful action or retribution, the Cults divine actions against the heresy and corruption, or the Emperor's knights and armies putti...

Litigants are well-born individuals of the merchant classes and are equally well schooled in law throughout the Empire and beyond. The reputation of a Litigant is somewhat mixed across society. At the far ends they may be reviled for the fees that they command, but for different reasons. To be wrongfully accused for an act and unable to afford the skills of even the newest and least skilled Litigant will impart an opinion of mercilessness. To be able to afford the services of a litigant often means that their specific skills and the rates they charge for representation is "robbery." Litigants must be well studied in Empire, regional, and ecclesiastical law. This means that the truly sought after Litigant is also well connected. Many are affiliated with the Cult of Verena, the god of "just decisions and balance," and thought by some religious scholars to be the wife of Morr, the god of death and dreams. Both gods standing in judgement: one in life, the other in death...

Much of the art for my A to Z challenge has been generated by "AI." This is commonly called Generative AI, or GenAI. How it works is well understood. Some great primers on AI art are below and I highly recommend taking a look at them. If for nothing else than to dispel the fear, uncertainty, and doubt generated by the hype cycle. As a professional software engineer with almost 40 years using computers—we had an Apple IIc in my high school—I can say this without being too dismissive. GenAI is a sophisticated random number machine with a lot of dials to "dial in" a result. Take many, no... all, of the images I've used in the A to Z challenge. I provide a "prompt" and the "machine" sort of reverse engineers key words and phrases to get to the result. I often have to refine, add, subtract, and "punch" the prompt for what I'm after, and I often have to settle. But I'm also artistically inclined, so what might look awesome to the ...

In the Empire, and beyond its borders throughout the Old World, a traveler will encounter vagabonds, thieves, beggars, anchorites, hermits, and many more broken men and women. Some by choice, such as the hermit or anchorite, and it is often that a Killer of the Dead is mistaken for either, or both. Like the hermit or anchorite, to chose the path of a Killer of the Dead often begins with being broken by the horrors that prowl the nights of the Old World. Often survivors of a life of Vampire hunting or broken by an event as a Grave Warden, the Killer of the Dead outwardly may appear to be a loner or outlaw and often resorts to theft to continue a life pursuing the relentless, uncountable hordes of undead. Killers of the Dead sleep during the day, knowing that the day is anathema to the Vampire or to the undead. A crawl space or basement, more often a cave in the hillside overlooking a graveyard—Morr's Garden—near a prominent temple to Morr or a large cemetery in a city or town. Some ...

The Jabberwock stands over 10 feet tall by all accounts. To hear a survivor tell the story again, the creature stands over 15, 20 or more feet tall. Specimens that have been inspected by scholars all agree the true height of a Jabberwork is 12 to 15 feet tall. Seen to run on all four limbs in a charge that often ends in a leap to take down one or more victims, the Jabberwork may appear to momentarily fly on their vestigial wings—though it is universally accepted that Jabberworks are flightless. Jabberwocks will then use their forearms to kill their victim swiftly with violence fed by pure Chaos. The appearance of a Jabberwock is such that many peasants and many men baptized in war will freeze in fear. Thundering across a field of battle, between the trees of a dark forest, or on an isolated Empire road, the Jabberwock will position their wings to emit an eerie hum from the air moving around them. These creatures are the result of the all corrupting influence of Chaos in the Old Wor...

“Three to five times" in a typical week around and in the heart of the Industrialplatz of Nuln, the Silence Bells ring and the district comes to a halt. Wagons and carts halt in place, conversations become whispers, and gunnery practice ceases for a full hour. The bells ring just as new guns emerge from the forges to cool. These special bells ring in a well known tone and the reaction to the Silence Bells has become a tradition known as the Iron Silence. It is said that a loud noise can cause imperfections in cooling metal. Hairline fractures or “cysts" that become holes, each bringing ruin to the gun and often the crew test firing the gun for the first time. The period of cooling lasts typically an hour. Many working and living around the Industrialplatz and the Gunnery school are used to the Bells and range testing. To complain about either is to identify yourself as an outsider to be dismissed. During war the bells may ring several times a day. Editor's Notes The idea ...

Hedge Witches, Wise, and Masters, or collectively the Cunning Folk, live at the outskirts of the Empire's many remote and rural villages. These communities of wise men and women offer salves, tinctures, draughts, and herbs for cooking and often serve as midwives and healers thus making them well liked by the communities near them. They live at the edges of these communities for many reasons, the greatest of which is for the protection it provides from visiting Magisters and Witch Hunters of the  Cult of Sigmar . But to the “hedge folk" their seclusion puts them closer to the source of their “powers" and center of their beliefs: The Hedge. As a hedge may separate fiefs and parcels of land granted to the peasants with working rights, so The Hedge separates the seen and unseen worlds of nature itself. The hedgefolk seek to commune with this veil and through this communion of herbs, gardens, and game, they unlock the secrets and power of nature. To the Cult of Taal, the hedge...

Always standing against the opportunistic grave robber is the Grave Warden. Employed by the smallest village—often a stipend to the head of the village militia or inn keep—and largest city, the Grave Warden's singular task is to assist the priests of Morr* in burying the dead properly: “six feet deep in the cold, hard ground." But Grave Wardens have a second and equally important role: watch over the graves of the recently buried. The Grave Warden has a singular nemesis: the grave robber. The grave robber can be anyone. They can be other members of the militia, friends of the Grave Warden!, or just common thieves. All often arrive to secure the body of the recently dead to fulfill a contract from unsavory barber-chirurgeons, mad scholars, even dark wizards collecting bodies for foul experiments or fodder in growing armies of undead. A Grave Warden is charged by the Cult of Morr to use any force necessary to protect those that have been laid to rest. This means that grave robbe...

The Friendly Rat is a tavern in a small village at the edge of the Empire. The village's name is not recorded in the journal of Luther Wuppert. The journal was found tossed in a ditch along an Empire road, detritus of a robbery or murder. Most bandits won't find value in such a thing: they can't read. It had not rained in some time and the leather bound journal was recovered by Odmar Ruhgsdorf, a priest of Verena, in a fortuitous need to relive himself on the side of the road. Verenan's are scholars, lawyers, notaries, and scribes. The journal was soon be lost in a temple's basement stacks when Odmar got to town sufficiently large enough to have a temple to Verena. Odmar copied the following entry in his own diary, recounting Herr Wuppert's description of the Friendly Rat: “The date was illegible. If there was a place, Herr Wuppert never stated it. He wrote: “The Friendly Rat was a indeed living up to its name. A raucous crowd of travelers had already taken up a...

I asked the Grok, a generative AI, the following: Imagine a couple of outrageous and humorous medieval methods of removing a curse that might involve nakedness, mud, or animals. All generative AI is non-determinative and largely a sophisticated random number machine. I was pleased with the “absurd and comical medieval" methods of curse breaking. Enjoy. The Naked Mud-Wallowing Goat Dance To lift a curse, the afflicted soul must strip bare under a full moon, slather themselves head to toe in thick, stinking bog mud, and then chase a particularly ornery goat around a village square. The trick? You’ve got to wrestle the goat into the mud with you, roll around together three times, and bleat loudly to “confuse the curse spirits" into fleeing. The villagers would probably gather with torches, half to cheer, half to laugh, as you and the goat emerge looking like swamp monsters—curse hopefully gone, dignity definitely lost. The Bare-Bottomed Chicken Smack Picture this: the cursed i...

One's bad luck can often be tied directly to the curse of the Evil Eye. Any unfortunate occurrence can be directly tied to the sinister glare, whether the accursed is aware of the individual that bestowed the Evil Eye or not. A bad card game in the tavern. Tripping on the curb and spoiling a mark as you pick his belt pocket. Spilling your ale. Each may be the Evil Eye at work. Evil Eyes are thought to be commonly the act of the bitter old crone slighted in the street as she lifts her arthritic finger in your direction. But the curse can be scratched into door thresholds or the dirt of the path to the privy. The act of observing the curse transfers its effects. Once cursed, only the most fraught undertakings can lift an Evil Eye. Old Worlders will undertake the most outrageous efforts to remove an Evil Eye. The Naked Mud-Wallowing Goat Dance or The Bare-Bottomed Chicken Smack are two cited methods in the works of the heretic cunning woman Ingrun Frolich. Both so popular as to b...

D&D. Dungeons and Dragons. A game of Dungeons. And Dragons. The game has something of a history that most published modules—scenarios— didn't feature a lot of dragons, but a lot of dungeons. There is some credit to the story that the property of Dragonlance  was created in response to this lack of representation. But this is about dungeons.  Jason Cone released Philotomy's Musings,  a free “collection of interpretations, house rulings, expansions, and general pontification on the nature of the Original Dungeons & Dragons rules by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson" in 2007. I stumbled on this PDF probably on the blog Grognardia  in 2008. Grognardia  is a play on the word  grognard , something of a slur in the Napoleon army for “grumbler" and an affectation used to describe D&D players of a certain age. In Philotomy's Musings Jason offers the idea of the dungeon “as a mythic underworld." I have always loved this idea. It sticks with me. Not merely ...

I love a cigar. I thought about holding this topic for V is for ... Vices —and that still may be the topic—but I made a snap call this evening. All the smoking warnings aside—and considered—the often quiet and reflective moments of an hour or more cannot be discounted. I've developed a few of my own rituals. And there are many varied rituals in the cigar smoking community. My first ritual is removing the slender cellophane tube that holds many mid-market “sticks." Many up-market cigars do not, but some do.  I fold the wrapper then roll it on my finger and tighten it into a squat roll and hold it for a between my forefinger and thumb for a minute or two while I inspect the cigar. I set the cellophane in my ash bowl where it will spring open into a loose curl. Cigars come with a distinctive label that wraps the body of the cigar. Decorative, often evocative of a forgotten moment in the 19th century, but some modern, and many in-between. I really strive to remove this label in a ...

“We knew our place on the field as the Shield Wall. Behind us the halberdiers would line up and behind them another line of halberdiers. We were a spiny pig, nay, spiny linked pig sausages, plodding across the low hill to the thick hedge separating the fiefs. On the shield wall we pissed, vomited, or cursed our neighbor front or back for stepping on boots or pushing to fast. “We were all going to get to the same place at the same time, more or less, why rush it. I, myself, prayed to Sigmar for strength. His hammer was prominently placed on my sweating forehead by the warrior priest just hours ago. I knew that on the other side of that hedge was a spiny pig line just like mine and soon we would crash into each other. “My short sword was tied to my wrist by a leather strap. If I dropped it, it would be lost. Shield bashing was a tactic, but it only got you so far. Best to have sharp, pointed steel following your shield; high, low, or right into the greenskin in front of you. “I can say t...

In the journals of many learned men and women, if few, there are observations of amphibious, jelly-like creatures called Amoebae, or Ameba, when encountered individually. The shapeless “blob," as described by Saissa Denot in her Observations of a Cursed Swamp , can be seen on the edges of fouled, stagnate water in “the lowest parts of farmland and tree dammed creeks, the smell of manure after a rain or the rot of dead cows can often be a sign an ameba is not far. Tread carefully and recall your steps lest you trip in a hasty retreat." Observed by many, the Ameba crawls slowly across rotting trees, leaves, and carcasses, leaving a slick wake behind it. Ameba have been seen as wide and as a tall man and larger. The Ameba moves by throwing a portion of its shapeless form ahead of it, stopping to consume whatever is beneath it at the moment. Saissa writes, “...a beaver, covered in recent shavings, observed the Ameba for an hour. The beaver finally decided to move across the path ...