HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Happy Holidays!

ELVES & Scyrah

The Iron Kingdoms Player's Handbook says: The Elves, once the world's dominant race, builders of the first civilization, are now concealing a terrible secret. Deep within the Elven homeland of Ios, a score of jeweled cities lie in ruins and decay. Only the ancient capital, Shyrr, still remains as anything other than a crumbling shell. Under the last Elven city, in their most holy shrine, rests the weary form of the goddess who gave them life... and she is dying. Scyrah, the protean spirit of the Elvenkind, beloved race-mother and last of the Elven patrons, has no more than a century to live. Elven holy men know this with certainty, for they have seen it happen before... all of their gods, around whom they built their magnificent cities, have withered and died over the last half-millennium.
The cause of the gods' death is mysterious, but the effects have been profound. The formerly proud and powerful race has withdrawn into itself. The lands of Ios, once legendary for their beauty, now are shadowed and dying. The Elves have become a race of orphans, adrift in fear and self-doubt. Their numbers are dwindling, and when the last goddess Scyrah finally passes on, no more Elf-children will be born at all. It is twilight for the Elves, and there is no relief in sight.
Scyrah's clerics have a gut-churning dilemma before them. Each time they channel their patron's power, they take a bit of her strength and hasten her demise – and the demise of their entire race. At the same time, it is their duty as holy men to help those in need, and they know that Elven society must be strong and faithful if Scyrah is to have any chance of survival. They agonize over each spell cast, trying to evaluate where the greater good lies. The priesthood has become fragmented in the last two centuries into three distinct sects, a reflection of the desperation of the Elven people. The traditional Fane of Scyrah attends to the goddess in her last days, and encourages the elves to stay isolated and secretive. The radical and militant Retribution of Scyrah believes the vanishing of the gods and Scyrah's illness are a result of an attack upon them and wish to strike back against perceived enemies. Most hopeful is the somewhat naive Seekers sect, who thinks all is not yet lost and a solution to their doom awaits them if they look hard enough for it, perhaps with help from the other races.

THE DRAGONFATHER

Toruk, the Dragonfather, founded the Cryxian Empire from the inhabitants of the archipelago known as the Schardes thousands of years ago. Of the fourteen Pirate Kings that ruled the Schardes, twelve made a pact with him, swearing their loyalty in exchange for immortality and power, and were transformed into the first Lich Lords, while the remaining two were slain by the dragon for refusing to bow to his supremacy. They would later serve as the generals of his army and as one fell, another would replace him to pick up the pieces. Although the Dragonfather rarely takes an interest in the affairs of his followers, the entire Cryxian Empire exists for only one purpose: to consolidate his power and serve as a bulwark and weapon against the forces of his children, who tried to claim his powers once before and will certainly try again.
Through the machinations of the Lich Lords, Cryx became an empire of death and it is not uncommon to see a thrall delivering corpses to its master for use in his numerous experiments. The people of Cryx accept this and understand the relationship between predator and prey very well, for they are largely outcasts and rogues exiled from societies on the mainland. Many become pirates and return to plague the other nations, forming a fleet of living troops to hide the true nature of the undead Cryxian armies. Surprise and secrecy have become the main assets of Cryx as the Lich Lords do not wish to begin killing the Dragonfather's offspring until they are truly ready.

ELVES

Though present in the Iron Kingdoms, Elves are rare, reclusive, and xenophobic. There are two main groups of Elves, the Iosans (who maintain a strictly-guarded forest kingdom with no trade or contact with the outside world) and the Nyss (a small population of arctic Elves that engage in little commerce with other races, including the Iosans). As a consequence of their xenophobia, half-elves are almost non-existent. Both forms of elves originally descend from a much more ancient elven civilization that was destroyed several thousand years before human recorded history. The majority of the Nyss Elves have recently become corrupted by the Dragon EverBlight and the survival of the race is in question.

The Elves of Ios have a set of gods, each governing particular aspects of the calendar, with spheres of influence such as day, night, and the individual seasons. The ancient elven kingdom of Lyoss attempted to create a bridge to the realm of the elven gods and thus bring them to Caen physically, so that they might better aid the elven people. The Bridge of Worlds allowed the elven gods to traverse the boundary between Caen and Urcaen. In so doing, a great disaster struck the world and the Gate is assumed to have exploded destroying the elven kingdom and many of its' inhabitants. The gods ushered their surviving people to another place but being unable to return to their celestial realm were rapidly losing their powers. The gods eventually departed their people to seek a way to return home. A long time passed without word until a terrible accident occurred, the nature of which is unknown, which caused most of the elven clerics to lose communication with their gods. Only worshipers of Nyssor and Scyrah, goddess of spring, continue to receive spells and the blessing of their Deity.

O SCALE FARM OUT BUILDINGS

http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/bac/bac45604.htm

If you're looking for some out buildings for your HORDES terrain, or maybe to make into some Blacksmithy shops or something for WARMACHINE then check out the farm buildings that are on sale at Hobbylinc right now. Not bad. They are O scale, and snap together. (Glue them if you wish.) Easy to convert into Iron Kingdom buildings.

THE LADDERMORES

The Laddermore family supported Vinter, but grudgingly swore alleigance to Leto. The Laddermore estate and their lands are located a hundred miles north of Caspia.

The Laddermore family is directly related to the Raelthorne bloodline, however land disputes have constantly caused tension within the extended family.

BUCCANEER BASS WEBSITE

Buccaneer Bass is an unofficial fansite for the Iron Kingdoms RPG. It has adventure seeds, scenarios, pictures, and a searchable index of Iron Kingdom terms.

NEW FACTION? Probably Not...

New Faction? Who knows...

THE RETRIBUTION OF SCYRAH

Ios closes their borders in 581 Ar, so maybe that will be one of the "borders that fall" in LEGENDS.

Iron Kingdoms World Guide page 259

If found this interesting. I ran across it while flipping through the Llael section today.

Using this as a basis for a faction would allow Privateer Press to introduce some Elves into a full army but also allow them to introduce stuff that is working for or allied with the Elves.

Who knows. Just found it interesting.

Modelling A Brick Factory

I am building a brick structure for use with WARMACHINE games. I am loosely basing this building on a brick building that Megan snapped a picture of during one of our trips.

Date on the picture is wrong due to my having removed batteries from camera.

ADD TO THE FRAPPR MAP

I know that not a lot of people read this blog.

However, if you do read it please take a moment to add yourself to the Frappr map.

It's located at the bottom of the page.

Please include a nickname, location, and if possible a picture.

Thanks!