Elric of Melnibone Cults of the Young Kingdoms.pdf

CULTS OF THE

YOUNG KINGDOMS

Credits

Contents

Author

Lawrence Whitaker

Editor

Charlotte Law

Interior

Illustrations

Chad Sergesketter,

Furman, Leonardo

Borazio and Phil

Renne

Introduction 2

Law and Chaos 4

The Elementals 9

The Powers of Growth 13

Cult Nomenclature 15

Cults of Chaos 26

Cults of Law 74

Cults of the Elements 98

Ancestor and Personality Cults 117

Societies and Secrets

Layout

Will Chapman

Cover Art

Pascal Quidault

Logo

Iordanis Lazaridis

Special Thanks

Michael Moorcock &

Richard Watts

Additional

Thanks

Ian Kaufman & John

White

137

Grand Passions

150

Index

153

by any means without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden. All art and text herein are copyrighted by

Mongoose Publishing. All signiﬁ cant characters, names, places and items featured in Elric of Melnibone; Cults of the Young Kingdoms

the distinctive likenesses thereof and related elements are trademarks of Michael Moorcock and Multiverse Inc.

This game product contains no Open Game Content. No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without written

permission. To learn more about the Open Game License, please go to www.mongoosepublishing.com.

This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United Kingdom. This product is a work of ﬁ ction. Any similarity to

actual people, organisations, places or events is purely coincidental.

INTRODUCTION

supernatural forces abroad in the Young Kingdoms. It aims

to extrapolate material from the Elric saga, adding depth

to the intrigue Michael Moorcock has created, allowing

Games Masters and Players to become greater exponents of

the higher powers as they characters struggle to make sense

of the world around them.

While the Gods Laugh

Contents

Elric, most astute of the scholars of the Young Kingdoms,

mires himself in hopelessness but shrieks the truth –

perhaps to the mirth of the gods. There is no salvation in

this world. Only malevolent doom. Aye, Elric understands

the truth of it but his knowledge and understanding are

unique. Around him, throughout the Young Kingdoms,

humans search for what Elric knows can never exist:

salvation; hope; a meaning for existence; a reason for why

they struggle and toil.

Chapter One – Law and

Chaos: The

Eternal Struggle

This important chapter outlines the nature of the Eternal

Struggle between Law and Chaos. It lays the foundations

for the way the cults of the Young Kingdoms work and

provides context for the philosophies that they embody.

To answer these questions, the most ardent searchers look

to the higher powers; the Lords of Law and Entropy; the

Elemental Lords and Lords of Beasts and Plants. Ancestors

and demons are summoned from the abyss to offer hints

and clues as to the meaning of existence. In his bid to

understand – in his futile bid to gain some control – man

places his faith in these higher powers believing that,

through veneration, devotion and sacriﬁ ce, they will share

some of their knowledge with his frail, mortal mind. In

his folly man pledges his very soul to serve one Lord or

another, attempting to surround their primeval, essential

natures in ritual, oath and ceremony. The greater the mortal

demonstration, it is hoped, then the greater the glory and

recognition. The men of the Young Kingdoms continue

to plough this futile furrow, blissfully ignorant of the fact

that one man, Elric of Melniboné, has already deduced the

answer – and it has driven him to despair.

Chapter Two – The

Elemental Powers:

Battle for the

Form of the Earth

The role of the Elemental Lords in the formation of the

Young Kingdoms and politics of the Higher Planes

Chapter Three –

The Powers of Growth;

Beast Lords

and Plant Lords

An overview of how the Lords of Nature are engaged in the

Eternal Struggle.

Chapter Four – Cult

Nomenclature and

Structure

Presenting the format used for the cult descriptions, advice

on what makes for a Player Character cultist and a complete

listing of Gifts and Compulsions along with how these can

be used as part of cult beneﬁ ts.

This book expands upon the material found in the Lord of

the Million Spheres chapter of the Elric of Melniboné rules.

Herein you will ﬁ nd more information concerning the

natures of the Lords of the Higher Planes, new cults, new

Gifts and Compulsions, new religious approaches and new

professions related to them. Essentially, this book is for those

Elric Games Masters and characters who wish to immerse

themselves in the ways of Law, Chaos, Elements and other

Chapter Five –

Cults of Chaos

Expansions to the each of the cults of Chaos, with

detailed myths, reasons for being and the agendas of the

Lords of Chaos.

‘Would that we’d never met, Shaarilla of the Dancing Mist.

For a while, you gave me hope - I had thought to be at last

at peace with myself. But, because of you. I am left more

hopeless than before. There is no salvation in this world - only

malevolent doom!’

Chapter Six –

Cults of Law

Expanded descriptions of the cults of Order, with detailed

myths for the Lords of Law and the addition of Pozz-man-

Llyr, Lord of the Sea.

Chapter Ten – Grand

Passions

Love and Hate and how to use them as part of the Elric of

Melniboné game mechanics.

Chapter Seven –

Cults of the Elements

Expanded treatments of the Elemental Cults, their

interactions and detail on their views of each other.

What Else Do I Need

to Use This Book?

Aside from the Elric of Melniboné rulebook, the most

useful supplementary book is Magic of the Young

Kingdoms . The Elric of Melniboné Companion may

also prove to be of use but is by no means essential.

Chapter Eight – Ancestor

and Personality Cults

Several new cults of both Law and Chaos: Aubec, Terhali

and the Ancestor Worship of Oin and Yu.

However the chief adjunct is your own imagination –

and the willingness of the characters to risk their souls

in the pursuit of the veneration of the Higher Powers.

Chapter Nine – Secret

and Esoteric Societies

Introducing the Mereghn – spies and assassins of

Ilmiora; and the Sorcerer Adventurers of Quarzhasaat.

Not cults per se but useful new societies to help and

hinder adventuring characters.

LAW AND CHAOS:

THE ETERNAL STRUGGLE

‘I seek in it the Truth,’ Elric said guardedly.

For the Eternal Struggle is little more than an Eternal Game.

Mortals are playing pieces and the rules are both ﬁ xed and

uncertain. For most, the game is removed and remote from

their lives. Things happen and people accept it. Across the

Young Kingdoms countless individuals are born, live and

die, completely ignorant of the cosmic game that goes on

about them. However those who seek to understand the

nature of the board, the pieces and the rules of the game

mark themselves out as willing pawns to manipulated by the

Higher Power they choose to favour. The Eternal Struggle is

never to the advantage of the human condition. The Lords

of Law and Chaos will argue passionately otherwise but they

are lying (or merely playing the game). The Eternal Struggle

serves only those supernatural entities that represent and

personify the essential nature of the two forces. Human life

– all life – is secondary, abstract and expendable.

‘There is no Truth but that of Eternal struggle,’ the scarlet-

ﬂ amed giant said with conviction.

‘What rules above the forces of Law and Chaos?’ Elric asked.

‘What controls your destinies as it controls mine?’

The giant frowned. ‘That question, I cannot answer. I do not

know, There is only the Balance.’

While the Gods Laugh

The Multiverse is the province of two, diametrically opposed

powers: Law, which seeks stability and rational progression,

ultimately to stagnation; and Chaos, which perpetuates

continual, incessant, ungovernable change. These two

forces, represented and personiﬁ ed by the Lords of Law and

Chaos, are locked in a perpetual battle for supremacy. The

mortal worlds about them are the spoils; the ultimate prize

the ability to manipulate, mould and assert their will over

what has been and what can be, created.

Perspective:

Fighting, Not

Winning

Left unchecked, either of these powers results in destruction

and doom. Chaos continually dissembles, mutates and

corrupts. Law represses, codiﬁ es, machinates and strangles.

Singularly, neither force ultimately sustains life but when

held in equilibrium, life ﬂ ourishes and prospers. A stable

universe requires balanced amounts of Law and Chaos if it

is to function. So it is that the Cosmic Balance stands above

Law and Chaos, checking the sway and list of each across

a million spheres, attempting to ensure that neither side

fatally overbalances the scales.

‘I have been told that the knowledge contained in the Book

could swing the balance on the side of the forces of Law. This

disturbs me - but, it appears, there is another possibility which

disturbs me even more.’

‘What is that?’ Elric said.

‘It could create such a tremendous impact on the Multiverse

that complete entropy would result. My Masters do not desire

that, for it could mean the destruction of all matter in the

end. We exist only to ﬁ ght - not to win, but to preserve the

eternal struggle.’

In some realms one of the forces dominates completely and

in such realms, life is secondary to the whims and natures

of the Lord or Lords who rule. However, in worlds such as

the Young Kingdoms, neither Law nor Chaos has the upper

hand; and in worlds such as the Young Kingdoms, where

minds, souls and beliefs are malleable, the plane becomes a

battleground – a cosmic chessboard – where the Lord of the

Higher Powers joust for position, inﬂ uence and control.

While the Gods Laugh

Orunlu the Keeper, the Guardian of a book that, so

Elric is led to believe, deﬁ nes the nature of the cosmic

struggle, encapsulates the philosophy and game-plan of

Chaos perfectly. Its true intention is not to defeat Law

completely but to continue the game and preserve the

The Chaos

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: