Aysle Revised: The Realm of Euro-Asian FantasyLament of the Monks of Dunad

The Mandate of Heaven has fallen. For centuries, we thought we lived in an age of shining heroism, purging the darkness from other worlds and extending the sway of Heaven. Guided by Empress Ardinay, we brought the Light to other worlds and smote the forces of Corruption there, setting all their lands in order. Or so we thought.

The Empress has abandoned her throne, cast off her mask of rule, revealed she was naught but a puppet of Angar Uthorion, the Dark Lord, who all thought she once defeated. The Mandate of Heaven can no longer be trusted, for a shining visage may hide corruption and a dark visage may be only a victim of others who serve the Dark.

Our purpose shattered, every man looks to his own kingdom and cries out to Heaven for an answer. But Heaven does not speak, and many of the Avatars stand revealed as servants of Darkness like their masters. And the Kings war upon one another, as is inevitable when Heaven is silent.

The Throne of Light sits empty. The halls of the Delegate Legacy are filled with anger and accusations. The things which lurk beyond the frozen lands rise up and come again, as they did in ancient times, in the time of Dunad. The Light falters and the Night rises against it.

In this age of chaos, will you stand by your kingdom or stand for something more? Strive for the light or settle for the twilight? Will Heaven lay down a new Mandate or will a new Age of Darkness begin? This is an age in need of heros.

Speech of Thorfinn Bjanni to his raiders

The Reign of Ardinay is over! No longer need we lurk in the shadow and restrain our warrior hearts! The lands of the civilized weaklings are ripe for the plucking and we shall eat and drink our fill from the pantries of those we conquer. We will claim her Mask, and then the Celestial Highways will be open to us. All the worlds will burn and all the plunder will be ours!

Mighty Endrak, bless our weapons and guide our boats! We go to conquer in your name!

Introduction:

For five hundred years, Angar Uthorion ruled over Aysle, amusing himself by corrupting all its high and holy institutions and turning it into a vicious parody of itself, in which the unjust hid behind the mask of justice, and the good and righteous burned and savaged other worlds in the name of extending the Mandate of Heaven. It became a world of masks and hidden intentions, of evil disguised as good. He was well on his way to corrupting the entire lands of honor irrevocably when things went wrong.

But Heaven cannot be forever mocked, not even by a High Lord and his Darkness Device, the Opalescent Mask. For Ardinay's final act of her own free will had been to read the skein of destiny and fling forward through time and space her greatest champions, the Knight Protectors of Aysle, to be reborn in some future worlds to stand against Uthorion. And so it came to pass that they were reborn in many worlds, drawn together by Heaven's will to end the Age of Masks, and to cast down Uthorion. He was cast out of Ardinay's stolen body, his weakened spirit forced to flee and possess the body of one his lieutenants, the contingency he had prepared in case some other High Lord rose against him.

And yet, as is too often the case now in the Age of the Twelve Kingdoms, Heaven's stroke came too late. Uthorion had already joined the invasion of Earth and begun to bend the lands of Korea, China, and Japan to his will. Now the invaders are stalled and the old order shattered in the lands he claimed; new gods and kings have arisen to claim the Realm of Aysle on Earth. The ancient legends of East Asia awake; the ancient heros arise, along with new myths. War arises, and it is not yet clear who will sit on the Golden Throne and claim the Opalescent Mask or whether the Mask itself will be destroyed and a new Age of Peace begun.

Who will gain the Mandate of Heaven?

Axioms:

Magic Axiom: 20Dunad's victory over the Dark brought some of the power of the Light into all. Everyone is born knowing some degree of magic, possessing an astrologically determined magical Skill and a single Arcane Knowledge from the Elements and the Kindred. Many people only slightly expand their knowledge beyond this point, but there are a fair number of dabblers who have two or three skills and a fair number of knowledges. There is also a strong class of expert magicians who learn all four skills and expand magical knowledge by developing more spells, which they record in tomes known as grimoires. These tomes may be used by anyone to cast or learn the spells within. Some rare grimoires have extremely polished spells; these are prized greatly, allowing strong magics more easily.

The spellcasting of the sentient races is very sophisticated. It is possible to create permanent and charged magical items which can be programmed to use their powers according to preset conditions. A universal notation system allows anyone to easily read each other's grimoires if allowed, making for easier transmission of knowledge. Spells can do almost anything if you have the right knowledges; you can even open portals to alternate planes of existence within the Realm. (It is rumored some wizards have even invaded Heaven, Hell, and the Great Scales). A variety of servitor creatures can be summoned from these planes and bound to the service of wizards.

Magic forms the basis of the Aysle economy; those metals precious on Earth have little value in Aysle where so many can turn bread into gold, conjure silver from nothing, and

so on. While Aysle uses a variety of solid coins and paper money for convenience, all money is enchanted using Conjuration/Magic to give it a special magical aura appropriate for its denomination. In theory, the Conj has a value equal to the cost of a Conjuration/Magic spell with a duration of one hour. In practice, the value of money fluctuates with the various fiscal policies of the kingdoms, local conditions, etc.

But not only humans benefit from all this magic. Magic suffuses all living creatures and even the inanimate. There are dozens of sentient species, humanoids and animals, who possess various degrees of magical mastery, and thousands of species of animals and monsters and plants which tap magic in various ways. A variety of kinds of chimera exist; creatures which combine aspects of many animals; those which combine humanoid components with animal ones are known as Half-Folk, and face a rough time of it. Many creatures defy mundane physics with magic, from giants to dragons to ghosts and elementals. Indeed, the more mundane species, unable to consciously master wizardry, are gradually being replaced by creatures with inherent magical abilities, from cows that conjure extra milk to deer that fire lightning bolts at predators.

Twelve major and many minor magical substances exist (In fact, there is a thirteenth, but Entity-related things tend to make people...uncomfortable.) Such substances can be used to substitute for Arcane Knowledges (Kindred or Elements), enabling the casting of spells normally beyond one's skill. The more sacrificed, the more skill it can substitute for. Rarer, but extant, are substances which can substitute for the Mixed Forces, Principles, and rarest of all, the Essences. Certain substances can be ritually used to produce specific magical effects, from explosive powders to healing herbs to bushes which grow towards sources of magic. In addition, some locations can be evoked to provide magical effects.

Social Axiom: 15The most advanced regions of Aysle are socially equivalent to the level of development of seventeenth to early eighteenth century Europe. It is possible for absolute monarchies to arise in which the nobility is forced to submit to the King, who can rule without necessity to kowtow to an assembly of nobles or a parliament, so long as he is careful to avoid being utterly tyrannical. Such rule is sustained through permanent taxes which support a standing army that enforces the royal will. They also provide enough money for the King to crush nobles who step out of line and to bribe the nobility into becoming courtiers instead of warriors. The most common way in which this has been done in Aysle is to require those who would hold positions of power to pass a difficult civil service exam which can only be passed through years of expensive study which saps away some of the wealth of the great houses. It also results in higher quality royal servants and has promoted the rise of higher levels of education, though most people below the elites remain trained by a master-apprentice system or by their parents. This system also enables the most intelligent of the middling classes to rise into the nobility, preventing them becoming resentful of the monarchy and nobles.Aysle has sophisticated economics, though not nearly so much as a modern state. Joint-stock companies, financial speculation, commodities trading, and long-distance

commerce flourish, marking the beginning of commercial capitalism, if not industrial. The guild system is beginning to decline as the rising merchant class bypasses it through the putting-out system (in which farm families supplement their income with craftwork). Agriculture remains the heart of economic activity, though, and most people still work on the farm, either as tenant farmers or free farmers, though some must work as farm hands on other people's farms, usually for wages. Aylish economists tend to be mercantilist--they seek to maximize exports and minimize imports. The great houses see their colonies on Earth as a useful source of raw materials to fund the more lucrative craft manufacturing carried on at home in Aysle. Protectionism and the granting of trade monopolies are common.

The civil service exam system for governmental service has encouraged a strong level of education for the elites, though this education is 'classical', rather than 'technical' in nature, tending to create people with a knack for expressing themselves fluently and with a strong grounding in religion and philosophy, rather than in the technical knowledge of government, economics, etc. A mixture of tutors and schools which charge the parents for education provide for primary education for the merchant and noble classes; several specialized secondary schools exist to prepare students for the civil service exams or to provide various kinds of technical training. Several secondary schools of wizardry exist, teaching the magical schools and arcane knowledges and the theorems; a single wizarding university exists on the Mage Isles, home to the most advanced research and the best teachers. A handful of religious and secular universities exist, providing the highest level of training in the major educational fields and in the theology and miracles of the various faiths.

Most people, however, if they receive an education, it is essentially vocational training through families and master-apprentice relations.

Personal identity tends to be local; most people identify most strongly with their home village or town, then with the Kingdom they belong to; their sense of Aylish identity is not very strong, unless largely surrounded by non-Aylish folk. Furthermore, inter-species relationships are difficult, hampered by the prevailance of racial sterotypes which cloud perception. There is a hefty prejudice especially against the half-folk.

Spiritual Axiom: 14Religion and faith are alive and well in Aysle. Heaven is a celestial bureaucracy, while Hell is an infernal bureaucracy. The Celestial Emperor Dunad, creator of Magic, rules over Heaven and Upper Aysle, aided by many lesser gods, while Arthuk the Giant-King rules over Hell and Lower Aysle and Minthod the Minotaur rules over Nature and Inner Asyle. Priests are the ministers of the Gods and Demons on earth. There are also the Kamis, the neutral spirits of the world, who stand for Balance, where Heaven stands for Ji and Te, Honor and Duty, while Hell stands for Corruption and Desire. A handful of representatives of all three walk the world, most notably the Avatars who advise the rulers chosen by Heaven or Hell.

In Aysle, the difference between a King and a mere Noble is that a King has a divine spiritual advisor. Heaven (or Hell or Nature) appoint each Kingdom an advisor, who is supposed to advise the monarch when his actions move out of accordance with his chosen path. Should he abandon the path, his advisor abandons him, and he will likely soon find himself with one more suited to his new fate. These advisors appear as a member of the monarch's own race, usually of the opposite gender of the ruler. They are fairly potent, but not beyond the limits of what a mortal can accomplish. It is believed that Heaven (or Hell or Nature) blesses the land so long as the ruler follows its ways; should he abandon them, he loses the Mandate of Heaven and disaster ensues. However, Uthorion's tamperings have interfered with this...

Spiritual entities beyond these advisors are rare. Each of the three pantheons has its own spirit realm, but visits to such are a thing for myth and legend, not to be expected.

Each kingdom has a patron deity, a lesser member of the appropriate pantheon, and pays homage to the main dieties of that pantheon, whose followers maintain hierarchical priesthoods and temples. Their priests have strong miraculous powers. The power of Heaven, Nature, and Hell is quite strong, able to work irrefutable miracles which prove the Celestial, Natural, and Infernal powers exist. It is possible to alter life forms with miracles; diseases can be rendered stronger or weaker, animals can be given the gift of speech permanently, people can be struck blind. It is also possible to use miracles to communicate with animals temporarily.

The Dwarves are an unusually secular race; they have become only moreso with the revelation of the failure of Heaven to expose the corrupt during Uthorion's reign. Dwarves are not so crazy as to disbelieve in the gods; they simply reject them. Those dwarves who reject religion can learn to resist miracles by buying up Faith (Secular Dwarvenism). Unlike Faith (Atheism), this can only be used to make miracles fail which are directed at you.

Tech Axiom: 14The technology of Aysle is that of Earth in the fifteenth century. Armor, castles, and medieval weaponry are at the peak of their effectiveness, with gunpowder weapons only just beginning to arise to subvert them all. Naval innovations make long distance trade viable, especially when augmented by the abundant magic. The printing press has facilitated the improvement of education and the work of government and the spread of information. Improvements in glass working make cut-glass and superior lenses possible, which enables microscopes and telescopes to be invented. The use of the telescope leads to new breakthroughs in astronomy. Barometers are developed and weather prediction is crudely possible (though usually done with magic, unless you're a dwarf).

The Dwarves have tended to be the great technological innovators of Aysle, though centuries of High Crusading has tended to also push the development of Aylish weaponry. The easy availability of magic, however, has tended to retard further technological development, and the Law of Observation, by erasing that which cannot be

observed, has obliterated the phenomena on which much of the highest levels of technology is based...

World Laws: The Mandate of Heaven and HellHeaven blesses the just. Hell blesses the wicked. Each leaves their mark on those they love. Those who walk the Paths of Righteousness grow in power and shine with Heaven's blessed light. Those who walk the Path of the Thirteen Hells descend into darkness, growing stronger as they spiral into the darkness. They become twisted and dark, made handsome by Hell's standards, but not by those of men and elves and dwarves.

This law creates two skills, Honor (Ji) and Corruption (Darakufuhai). You cannot have both, only one at a time. Both are Spirit skills.

They can be bought as normal at character creation.Possibilities cannot raise either of them over 11; anything beyond that must be

earned by appropriate deeds.Every time you do a particularly honorable or corrupt act, make a check on Spirit

if you have neither or on whichever one you have at a difficulty of 20. If you make the check, you move one add towards the appropriate pole. (If you have Honor and do something honorable, you gain 1 honor. If you have Honor and do something corrupt, you lose one add. And so on). It takes more and more spectacular feats to raise your Honor or Corruption as it grows larger (ie, to gain you a chance to make the diff. 20 check).Signs:

At 3 Adds, you are abandoned by the opposite pantheon until you lower your Honor or Corruption as appropriate. Priests lose the use of their Focus skill.At four adds, if you don't already follow the gods of that pantheon, one of them chooses you as a follower. Priests' Focus switches over to that diety.At seven adds, you begin to show physical signs of your moral state.At twelve adds, you are completely unmistakably honorable or corrupt, right down to the sign of your god shining from your forehead.

This world law also influences the political structure of states. Every state's ruler is theoretically chosen by the nation's patron diety, who sends an Avatar to advise him or her. Should the ruler stray from the path of Honor or Balance or Corruption they originally walked, the Avatar will be withdrawn as a warning to turn back before it is too late. Every state ruler also gains the Faith and Focus skills so long as they rule, drawing power from their patron deity. A ruler who sinks too far finds themselves recieving a messenger from the other side...

The Mask of Cor'baalMuch to the horror of the people, it has now become apparent that some force is enabling Corrupt individuals to mask their corruption by deferring it into the lands around them.

This only seems to work in some regions, and it is unclear why or how. But such regions quickly turn into blasted heaths while the Corrupt shine like the Just inside them. This fills many with fear and has lent some credence to Ardinay's claims about Uthorion controlling her and the cosm itself all these years.

The Law of Observation:The Law of Observation states that What is Seen is Real and What is Real is Seen. If it cannot be observed, it does not exist. It is not necessary that everyone be able to observe something or that it be observable continuously, only that someone can observe it at least some of the time. This law has several effects.

First of all, it causes the strange geography of Aysle. Things like the sun rising and falling in the middle of the planet, the donut shape, and other features are the result of past observations which came to dictate reality.Secondly, it means that Aylish folk are empiricists and pragmaticians who expect

that anything real ought to be easily observed. They are not particularly theoretical thinkers, which has somewhat hampered developing the Social and Tech axioms. Empirical experimentation will only take you so far in technical development, especially when...Thirdly, various scientific phenomena do not exist in Aysle. It's not just that the

Tech axiom doesn't support items using those principles. It's that any phenomena which can't be observed with the naked eye, very simple tools, or with fairly simple magic and can't observe itself does not exist. No radioactive materials exist in Aysle, not even naturally occuring ones. The sun of Aysle is a literal ball of fire, not a nuclear phenomenon. There are no bacteria because they couldn't be observed, and so disease has other causes. Even if you go looking with a microscope with a reality bubble, you'll only find any micro-organisms you brought with you. This will likely eventually paralzye the tech axiom, because quantum phenomena not exist, and thus the electronic revolution can never happen. Nuclear phenomena do not exist and so nuclear energy will never be developed. And so on.Fourthly, Aylish folk are somewhat more vulnerable to con jobs which involve

skillful faking of things than in other cosms, because they expect what they observe must be real. Any sort of con job which involves faking some phenomena, if not seen through, gains a +3 bonus modifier. Persuasion backed by concrete proofs gain a +3 bonus.Conversely, however, Aylish folk are very resistant to abstract argument, and

gain a +3 bonus modifier to resist any sort of deception or persuasion based on abstract theories.The Aylish are keen observers, since what you see is what you get; they receive a +3 bonus to Find and Evidence Analysis.

The Law of MagicThe Law of Magic states that Magic is Real and can be Observed. This observability is what keeps Magic, which can't be observed with the mundane senses, from going poof. It also makes it possible to use Magic to observe things.

This law also tends to privilege Magic over other Axioms; Aysle is unlikely to ever raise another axiom higher than the magic axiom.

Because magic is real, it is possible for people from other cosms to observe it with technology (or miracles), even if their own magic axiom would normally prevent that.

Magical Creatures and Attribute Limits:

Aysle has slightly higher Attribute limits than Core Earth, due to being a highly magical Cosm:

Dex 14Str 15Tou 15Per 14Mind 14Cha 13Spi 13

Some races (Elves and Giants) are magical races; they require Magic Axiom 9 to function without getting sick due to magic deprivation. They also can buy enhancement packages which raise their attributes. Elves can buy up to two; Giants can buy up to three. Each package costs 1 possibility point per adventure.

Aylish History in BriefThe Aylish divide history into Ages, periods which share a common nature, usually believed to be dictated by the ascendency of a particular star. Many Aylish believe that the movement of the stars dictate history; they fail to understand that the Law of Observation can itself rewrite these movements to fit the historical patterns perceived by Aylish scholars.

Most such ages are nevertheless designated by a title and a star name. The earliest recorded history of humanity begins with the Age of Darkness. The forces of Corruption reigned unchecked, for the Celestial Bureaucracy had not yet been created nor the laws of heaven written. In time, they mastered all the lands, enslaving the folk of the Three Aysles.

It is unclear how long Corruption reigned unchecked, but in time a hero arose, the hero Dunad, who united the Elves, Dwarves, and Humans against the forces of Corruption. He it was who found the secret path to Heaven and found it abandoned, the creators of the world having moved on, their work completed. And there he found the gifts left behind by the Creators for their creation--Auriel, the Sword of Magic, Nimrodel, the Orb of Magic, and Shalel, the Mirror of Magic. Dunad took the sword for himself, passing the orb to his ally Elmiir and the mirror to his wife, Shali. Between them, these artifacts contained all the power of Magic itself.

With them, they drove back the forces of Corruption, and yet it was not enough, for the three of them could not be everywhere at once. And so it was that Dunad hit upon a desperate measure, the destruction of the three items. Using Auriel, he shattered Nimrodel and Shalel, then broke Auriel itself upon the skull of Arthuk, leader of the Giants, as he attacked them. It is generally believed that the energies released transformed all four into the first native gods of Aysle, along with several of Arthuk's followers. But furthermore, it imbued all the folk of Aysle with magical potential. Armed with magic, they defeated the giants and ended the Age of Darkness.

Ascending to the heavens, Dunad and his companions created the Celestial Bureaucracy and established a new order to the world, even as Arthuk and his allies created the rival Infernal Bureaucracy. Dunad established kingdoms for all the folk and set the world in order, establishing the system of divine advisors, and appointing one King to lead the others, a Terrestrial Emperor to rule as his lieutenant on Aysle. So long as the Emperor's line ruled wisely, they would have the Mandate of Heaven, to keep the lands in order. When rulers strayed from the path, their land would fall under the sway of corruption, and their failure would become easily visible.

Then a new ruler would rise up and overthrow them, gaining Heaven's Mandate. And thus, many ages passed, not relevant to this short account.

House Ardinay held the throne of the Terrestrial Empire five hundred years ago; Empress Ardinay was regarded as a good and just Queen. All the Kingdoms united under her rule sent delegates to her council, the Delegate Legacy, giving them a voice in the affairs of the nation. Not all these Kingdoms extended such a privilege to their own subjects, but she hoped for the best.

Instead, the Age of Plants, marked by the peaceful rule of the Ardinays, ended with Uthorion's invasion. Uthorion defeated her in the hour of the Entity and stole her soul; most observers believed the Age of Plants continued on, but he knew the Age of the Entity Star, the Age of Masks, had begun.

By her command, all monarchs donned masks to honor the fallen of this great battle, chosing some hero or heroine's visage. Uthorion took on the mask of Tolwyn of House Tancred to 'honor' her. His Darkness Device took on the form of an Opalescent Mask which he wore while riding in Ardinay's body; it became the focus for the grand working by which he corrupted Heaven itself and its mandate.

She began the High Crusade, by which the forces of Aysle would invade other worlds and 'purge them of corruption', using these wars to drain possibilities from other cosms. A variety of excuses had to be found as to why these worlds tended to end up wrecked, though, and by the time of the Possibility Wars, Uthorion was having a hard time avoiding exposure, especially as evidence of the malfunctioning of the Mandate began to mount. Increasingly she/he relied on the various wilder folks of Aysle to conquer other worlds and bring him possibilities and the more corrupt noble houses. At the same time, he sought ways to keep some worlds alive to use their resources and reward his followers.

Given enough time, he might have managed to duplicate the Gaunt Man's success with the Economy of Fear.

And then, during his invasion of Earth, he was attacked by Ardinay's Knight Protectors, the band of heroes she had scattered across the Cosmverse to be reborn to fight him once more, when the time was ripe. Led by the reincarnated Tolwyn of Tancred, who had been reborn in anticipation of the invasion as a young American, Wendy Miller, the Knight Protectors, a rag bag alliance of heroes from many realities, defeated Uthorion, casting him out of Ardinay's body. Cut off from his Opalescent Mask, he must reclaim it before it finds a new master or corrupts Ardinay herself, for she sees so much needs to be done, yet lacks the power to do it...

The Invasion of Earth, Status Quo:Aysle first struck in the nation of Japan, quickly overrunning it as the JSDF found its weapons failing and was quickly wiped out. Aylish forces then poured into eastern China and Korea. However, at this point, the leader of the invasion, Queen Pella Ardinary, suddenly renounced the goal of conquest of Earth and claimed she had been possessed by someone named 'Uthorion' for the last five hundred years. The result was that her alliance of states suddenly disintegrated into abject chaos. She has since tried to build a new alliance to stop the Chaos, but has found that few will trust or listen to her, inside Aysle or outside of it.

Regions of the Realm:

A mysterious island has risen in the Sea of Japan, a roughly rectangular island known as 'Lodoss' (known to the ancients as Lemuria, or Mu). It is divided among three major kingdoms, listed below in the Light and Dark Kingdom listings.

Lands of Light:

Eastern and Central Honshu (the main island) is now under control of a mysterious woman known as 'Neo-Queen Serenity', who rules from Tokyo, which has now become a crystalline wonderland and is referred to as 'Crystal Tokyo'. She controls a cadre of potent sorceresses who enforce her apparently benevolent regime. She has seized control of one of the maelstrom bridges, which descends into Tokyo.

Western Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku are under the rule of Emperor Akihito, who rules from Kyoto. He is a fairly benevolent ruler, but seems rather displeased to see half of Japan fallen into the hands of other rulers. Some fear he is just a puppet of Pella Ardinay, as she makes her headquarters in Kyoto as well, and there is a malestrom bridge there. He has granted bases to House Liandar on Shikoku and House Gerrik on Kyushu.

Southern Korea is now the Kingdom of Korea, a constitutional Monarchy torn by heavy conflict between its King and the Parliament.

The state of Jin controls the region around Beijing and rules from the old Imperial Palace. It is controlled by Emperor Mao Jin, who claimed the throne by right of descent from Mao Tse Tung, though most people are pretty sure he's lying.

The city of Shanghai has become a free city ruled by a council of guilds. The elected head of the council, the Guildmaster, is advised by Admiral Dolphin, who is one of the most famous of the various spiritual advisors of the rulers of Aysle.

Northern Taiwan is now the Kingdom of Tai, a struggling constitutional monarchy trying to preserve democracy (such as it was) as best they can.

The Free City of Hong Kong is now overrun with magical martial artists and more monsters than you can shake a stick at. Using this army, Hong Kong has seized control of the mainland areas adjacent to it.

West of Shanghai, the Kindom of Wu controls Wuhan and Nanking along the Yangtze; it is a peaceful and benevolent land, closely allied to Shanhai and Kei.

South of Wu, around Changsha is the Kingdom of Kei, ruled by a transformed Japanese teenager, Queen Yohko. It is currently at war with the paranoid King of Kou.

Lands of Darkness:

Hokkaido has fallen under the control of dark forces and become a howling wilderness oppressed by monsters. The coastal cities have become home to naval marauders who spread death and destruction to everything they can sail to. Certain rumors claim that if Uthorion really exists, he controls Hokkaido.

The south-easternmost tip of the USSR which borders Korea is now under the control of House Valeron, an evil Dwarven house from Aysle.

Northern Korea is now the Kim Empire, ruled by its fanatical, mad emperor Kim Il Jung II. He rules with an iron hand, but rumor has it that he will be overthrown by a set of heroic triplets, if they can manage to climb Mount Nataka and recover the Sword of the Winds... He is known to be gearing up his military to invade everything in reach.

The Manchu Empire is the most potent of the states to arise out of the wreckage of Ardinay's onslaught, controlled from the Invisible Palace, a mystical palace believed to move around at the will of its ruler, Fu Manchu. It is believed to have intent to conquer everything that moves, which may be a problem for the Kim Empire...The Manchu Empire controls one of the Malestrom bridges and has begun to expand up it into House Tancred's lands in Aysle...

There are rumors of a new Khan arising in Eastern Mongolia.

South of Jin, the Kingdom of Wei rules the area around Jinan and Zhangzhou on the lower Yellow River. It is ruled by the former Party Chairman of Jinan, who has declared himself King and is currently pressing south, towards the Yangtze.

South of Wei and north of the Yangtze, and also northwest of Wu, are the Bandit Kings, a great fringe of petty kingdoms ruled by a mixture of Aylish folk and local notables. Many monsters roam here.

West of Wei is the lands of House Tancred. They struggle to hold their lands against Wei, the PRC, and Jin, being cut off from any Malestrom bridges.

North of Hong Kong, West of Kei and south of Wu is the Kingdom of Kou. Its paranoid ruler hates all foreigners, Aylish and Japanese alike.

House Daleron now controls the lands in southeastern china along the coast between Hangzhou and Fuzhou, and is rumored to be planning a push against Shanghai. House Daleron controls the Hangzhou Malestrom Bridge and is the best positioned of any great house to bring itself reinforcements.

Southern Taiwan is now the Wilderness of Wan, a dark zone ruled by monsters.

Figures of Note:Queen Pella Ardinay: Once the High Lord of Aysle (or at least apparently such), she has since renounced the invasion of Earth and is now preoccupied with trying to restore order in the wake of the collapse of her former bloc of allies who invaded other worlds. She claims to have been possessed by 'Uthorion', the leader of an invasion of Aysle 500 years ago by means of an Opalescent Mask. She no longer wears her old crown, instead wearing a simple coronet. Pella's old powerbase has collapsed, but she has several strong allies who have enabled her to set up a base in Kyoto.

Lady Tolwin of House Tancred. Believed slain in the invasion of Aysle 500 years ago, she has since been reincarnated and her old memories awakened. She has made her way to Japan to become the strong right arm of Pella Ardinay. She is a Paladin of Dunad and one of the greatest swordswomen in all of Aysle.

Father Christopher Bryce: He is a Catholic priest, said to be more a man of reason and philosophy than faith, which speaks well for his rationality, given that his faith can produce potent miracles. He is Tolwin's constant companion, and rumors persist that he has violated his oath of celibacy with her. They are, at the very least, very close.

Queen Serenity: Queen Serenity and her Senshi surfaced in the first hours of the invasion, battling the monsters which invaded the city. It remains unclear whether she is a transformed Earther or Aylish in origin. She eventually slew Queen Beryl, whose forces had seized Tokyo as their domain, and took control over the Kanto plain, swiftly extending her rule to northern Japan by defeating a pair of elves, Ail and Ann, who had

taken control of it. She is a sorceress of great power, and is thought to be planning to invade Hokkaido and drive out the monsters.

Queen Youko: Queen Youko is actually Japanese, but is now ruling part of China; how exactly she ended up there is unclear, but the Kingdom of Kei is flourishing under her care. She is quite unusual in appearance for the region, with bright red hair and much more deeply tanned skin than most folk, and is often accompanied by her kingdom's avatar, Keiki.

'Angar Uthorion': (Public Knowledge) It remains unclear whether he really still exists. Five hundred years ago, he tried to conquer Aysle from another universe and died at the hands of Pella Ardinay. She now claims he stole her body and became High Lord of Aysle then. If his soul is out there, somewhere, it remains unclear where he might be living or what he is doing, though rumors persist he has a fortress on Hokkaido.

'Angar Uthorion': (GM Knowledge) Angar has fled to the body of one of his lieutenants, Thorfinn Bjanni, who has seized the northeastern end of Lodoss and turned it into a great nest of Vikings, who can raid the entire China Sea and the Sea of Japan from it. He plans to build up his wealth and strength, then invade Japa and try to take control of Kyoto, Ardinay's HQ.

Cultures of Aysle

The "Twelve Kingdoms"

Dunad originally divided all the lands of humanity into twelve kingdoms, one for each of the Kindred and Elements. Centuries of warfare, divisions, inheritances, civil wars, and barbarian invasions have reshaped the kingdoms, destroying some and creating new ones. Only about a third of the land mass of Aysle is controlled by the Kingdoms now, each kingdom owing allegiance to the Terrestrial Emperor (or Empress in Ardinay's case). Each Kingdom pledged to the Emperor sends a delegate to the Delegate Legacy, which forms the royal council and the legislature of the Kingdoms. Each possesses an advisor given by the Gods as well.

Each Kingdom is ruled by a King or Queen, most of them hereditary, though a few city states have an elected monarch. They range in governing style from absolute monarchies to city councils to constitutional monarchies. Most tend towards absolutism, though some adopted Ardinay's ideals. Their governments are staffed by those who pass the civil service exams; most of these are members of the nobility, merchants, sorcerors, or very wealthy craftsmen elites. A fair number of civil servants are corrupt, demanding bribes. Some monarchs sell offices to raise money; the kingdoms constantly struggle to stay afloat financially, especially in wartime.

Nobility is a semi-permanent state in the Twelve Kingdoms; anyone who passes the civil service exams receives the benefits of nobility. In general, only the wealthy and the

children of nobles can get the right kind of education to pass the exams. Most schools have a handful of scholarship seats for the poor; just enough to drain off the cream of the intellectual crop without seriously threatening the nobility.

The civil service exams are alleged to have originally been created for the Elves by Elmiir, thus explaining the difficulties that humans have with them. Many humans dispute this. The exams test your skill with languages, painting, poetry, literature analysis, astrology, magic, oratory, history, music, moral philosophy, and theology. To get a perfect score, one needs at least one of each kind of area knowledge, all four magical skills, and one or more process theorems. Only a minor knowledge of magic is necessary for the lowest level pass which qualifies one for the lowest level positions, but all require a rigorous level of skill in the other areas. You may try the exams once per year, and exam is 6 hours long.

In game terms, the civil service exam has a difficulty of 12. One makes checks on one's Languages, Artist (Painting), Artist (Poetry), Scholar (Literature), Science (Astrology), Persuasion, Scholar (History), Artist (Music), Scholar (Moral Philosophy), Scholar (Theology).

Most of the Kingdoms share a lot of culture, having a generally Renaissance era standard of living, but with some improvements due to magic. Thanks to magical agriculture, about 20% of the population is able to live in fair to large sized cities which are much cleaner than the Earth cities of an equivalent tech and social level, though the slums inhabited by half-folk and lesser folk may be more run down. There is a tendency for the nicest regions of cities to lie sunward and the poorest rimward. Most cities are walled and the walls are magically reinforced; towns may have a magically strengthened wooden stockade. Suburbs spill outside the walls, risking death for space.

Urban culture is dominated by the guilds; almost all artisans belong to a guild, which combines functions of social club, trade organization, and union for its members. A substantial number of people get by on day labor of various kinds, usually construction, repair, and transportation work.

Cities often have a charter from the king, granting them a certain amount of independence. Most cities are governed by a council elected by property owners and have a city watch which maintains order. Cities are centers of education, home to universities, primary, and secondary schools.

Grains, corn, rice, beans, peppers, and fruit are the predominant food crops of the Twelve Kingdoms. Food is often heavily spiced and smothered in sauces; those kingdoms able to grow spices make a huge amount of money. Most people do not eat huge amounts of meat, not because of any compunction, but because it is expensive, although coastal areas go crazy for seafood.

Most of the Twelve Kingdoms are divided into huge farms owned by nobles and merchants, divided into lots rented on long term leases to tenant farmers. The border

zones between kingdoms tend to revert to wilderness periodically as wars devastate them; the wilderness is spreading these days, since the fall of Uthorion. Hilly regions of the Twelve Kingdoms tend to have crops on the sunward side of hills and grazing lands on the rimward side. In the country side, law and order is usually maintained by the retainers of major landowners, or by royal troops if things really go downhill.

Each of the Kingdoms maintains its own central army with an officer corps chosen by the King. In less centralized kingdoms, feudal levies, knights, and personal retainers of the major nobles supplement this, though most kings try to keep the Sword firmly in their hands, so to speak. The upper ranks of the officer corps are mostly children of merchants and petty nobles.

Most citizens are free in the Twelve Kingdoms; feudalism has mostly died out, replaced by the system of tenant farming and the professionalized army. Slavery is not illegal; it simply isn't profitable in much of the region and is little practiced. Some of the Kingdoms in semi-tropical to tropical zones do have slavery, however. Many of them are also fairly Corrupt.

There are too many of the Kingdoms, varying in size from huge nations to free cities, to describe them all, but the most significant and potent ones are described below:

The Corsairs

The Corsairs are the youngest of the cultures of Aysle. Improvements in naval technology introduced during the reign of Ardinay made it possible to explore regions of the world further away from the home continent. Colonies were founded in some of the semi-tropical islands known as the Courso. The natives were typically enslaved and put to work on plantations. Bands of pirates, a mixture of natives and colonists, emerged, who began raiding the great ship convoys which hauled the produce back to the homeland.

The Corsairs endure today, acting as explorers and pirates across the world, and some have now extended their operations to Earth, fighting for control of the Sea of Japan and the Sea of China with the Vikings and the natives of Earth.

Certain islands in the Courso are laden with jungle and shrouded by perpetual magical fogs and guarded by coral reefs. These contain the villages and cities of the Corsairs, who farm the land, growing pineapples, rice, beets, sweet potatos, corn, and tomatoes to supplement their fishing, and using the jungle timber to build their elite raiding vessels.

There are many small Corsair ports, but the largest is Haven, home to some 25,000 people; it is a major center for the resale of fenced goods and the production of all the crafts which are necessary to Corsair life. Corsair towns are usually governed by a democratically elected 'Admiral', with an advisory council of the local ship captains.

Corsair ports tend to be ugly, crude, and ramshackle; even the wealthiest captains don't have great looking houses, though they may have a lot of beautiful art in them.

Corsair ships, on the other hand, are autocratic, tiny absolute monarchies at sea, though traditions and the threat of mutiny keep captains in check. Custom dictates the exact division of plunder gained by raiding.

Corsairs like to wear magically armored light clothing and fight with light weapons, emphasizing speed over toughness or strength. Some of them study magic in detail, building magical weaponry and focusing on weather magics.

The Barbarians

Not every nation said, 'Yeah, let's be part of the Empire!' when the forces of Lower Aysle were defeated. The old civilization had largely collapsed, and many treasured their independence. Other groups wanted to be in charge. The Wars of Harmony are often forgotten today; the losers of the wars fled into the wild spaces depopulated by the struggle against the Lower Ayslish.

Some of them became the Barbarians; there are dozens of barbarian cultures. Those closest to the Empire have become semi-civilized, mimicing its customs badly. Many others fiercely oppose the empire. Most follow the gods of Balance, but some follow Honor or Corruption.

There are several distinct groups of barbarians. The mountains of North and South Aysle proper contain a variety of tribes which live in small valleys and farm, raiding the lowlanders to gain various supplies. Some of them do mining or ally with dwarf clans who trade them ores and metalworking for food and aid against threats. They must compete with the goblinoids who lurk in the mountains. They typically fight in light metal armor with large shields; they favor spear and shield circle tactics to deal with the cavalry of the Twelve Kingdoms. They prefer melee to missile weapons and are skilled at fighting underground.

The continent of Wilderland contains several kinds of barbarians. The temperate forests are full of small competing tribes who claim vast tracts of forest for hunting and periodically cut and burn swathes of forest, using the ashes as fertilizer. They then grow foodstuffs and tobacco on the ash-laden ground until it is used up, building a village on the spot out of special disassemblable segments. Once the area is used up, they take the village apart and move it to a new location, burning again. These tribes fight to rob foes and to drive them away, not to kill, and tend to use a mix of knockout poisons with their bows and blunt weapons in warfare, wearing minimal armor. They also hunt various fur bearing animals who they trade to the Elves and Aylish for manufactured goods.

The grasslands of Wilderland are home to tribes of horse nomads; some of them practice limited agriculture; the rest hunt and herd livestock and harvest fruits and wild vegetables in the river valleys which gently cut the softly rolling lands. They frequently raid each

other for prestige, cattle, and wives, having a custom of wife-stealing (which ranges from real stealing to highly ritualized 'raids' which seal pre-arranged marriages). They are all expert archers, but stick to spears and axes for deadly war, and blunter weapons for cattle raiding. They meet each fall at certain spots to trade with other tribes and to scope out possible spouses, as you are required to marry someone outside your tribe. These tribes only use armor in the wintertime, where they use various kinds of leather armor.

Some barbarian tribes dwell among the various half-frozen islands of the arctic zones or in the frozen parts of Wilderland and the Aysles. They cling to the coasts and take to the sea in special magical ice boats and in various sorts of boats made from hides. They largely live by fishing, though they gather special arctic edible plants and some use a little magic to help grow other food. They are expert hunters of whales, and trade with those of warmer climates, supplying sea food and whale oil in return for metalworking, food, wood, and other necessities. They wear thick fur coats and tend to fight with spears, javelins, and tridents when they must. Some learn to fight with weighted nets.

The Course Islands inside the tropical zone are home to yet another band of barbarians. They have very limited skills at ocean going, able only to make crude rafts and outriggers. This is enough for them to do some fishing and travel island to island. They have an especial liking for lobster and crab. The Course Islanders are the darkest skinned folk in Aysle, the result, they say, of a god's blessing to help them survive in their hot climate. They seem immune to the diseases which slay many outsiders.

Many now have been enslaved to work in the plantations of the islands; the free ones fight back with ambushes, poison and murder; they fight like shadows in the night. They rarely wear armor and tend to fight with blowguns, thrown axes and knives, and spears or daggers at close quarters. Their priests often lead the war parties.

The Free Traders

Over the centuries, many of Aysle's folk have taken to the sea. The Free Traders are a guild of sea merchants who banded together in the face of Corsair and Viking raids on their shipping; they control part of the Courso Islands, growing a variety of crops for export back to North and South Aysle; they also trade with the Wilderland tribes, maintaining a chain of trading posts along the coasts. Finally, they trade with the Elves as well at Elvenport (and it is rumored at hidden havens along the coast.)

They control little land directly, but they maintain Freeport on the southeastern tip of Wilderland as a headquarters; from here, one can trade with Elveim, South Aysle, or Wilderland with equal facility. Freeport has an earned reputation as a place where everything is for sale, from slaves to drugs to spices to arcane objects. Home to nearly 15,000 people, the Vikings avoid it after several unpleasant experiences, despite the proximity of the western Viking kingdoms to it.

Most Freetraders follow the ways of Balance, though some sink into Corruption or rise into Honor.

The Sea Peoples

The Sea Peoples follow the Gods of Balance and have organized themselves into a collection of squabbling theocracies. Believers in reincarnation, the religion of the Sea Peoples is based on the idea of enlightenment through balancing yourself with regard to the two great cosmic forces of Honor and Corruption. This produces a lot of strange behavior among the devout.

In general, each island is devoted to some particular god or cult, ruled by the orange, green, and purple robed priests of various Balance Gods. Commoners wear the Primary Colors: Red, Yellow, Blue. Different patterns have complex meanings that convey one's place in society, birth ranking, cult affiliations, etc.

The elite warriors of the Sea Folk tend to be expert unarmed combatants, though less trained warriors rely on pole-arms, staves, spears, swords, and axes. Metal armors are treasured but rare; many rely, however, on special suits of bamboo woven together into plates.

Most Sea Folk live in small fishing villages or rice-growing villages, though on some islands, mining communities exist, all having their own temple and attentive monks.

Elves and Elveim

The bulk of the Elven population dwells in splendid isolation on Elveim. Ancient magics capture the light of the sun along the sunward slopes of the mountains of Elveim and pump it through long tubes to the far side and redistributing it. This makes Elveim spooky and creepy to outsiders because the trees grow straight up instead of tilted sunwards, they grow evenly on all sides, sunlight comes from RIMWARD during the day, and so on. Non-Aylish folk will find it the most normal place on Aysle in some ways.

The elves dwell in elevated cities, on great platforms strung between and magically woven from vast trees which grow in the heart of the forest. Elves prefer living art of various kinds, plants and animals urged into unusual shapes and colors. They keep many unusual pets, especially the spiders who produce the famous elven silk. Most elves live lives of creative activity, sustained by the bountiful forest, trading with each other for needed supplies. Elves maintain careful population control so as to insure they can keep the standard of living up.

Dragons lair in the mountains, allied to the Elves. The dragons use goblinoid slave labor in their mines to extract ores; the precious metals enter their hordes; the iron and other metals are traded to the Elves in return for magical assistance; these goblinoids are descendents of war captives from the ancient war with Arthuk.

Elveim is divided into districts, each of which elects a Duke from the children of the old Duke when an old Duke dies; they all owe fealty to the Elf King, who resides in the royal fortress of Elfheim. The Elf kings are, at least in theory, descended of Elmiir, and elected by the Dukes.

Elvenport resembles a human port city; humans are allowed to come here and trade, but can't go elsewhere in the Kingdom. Many adventurers come here to do jobs which involve recovering things from outside Elveim for the Elven nobility.

Not all elves live in Elveim; some find it too confining or seek other experiences. Bands of elves live in most major forests outside Elveim and there are even a few Elven Kingdoms among the Twelve Kingdoms. These elves often refer to themselves as Free Elves; the homelanders call them the Exiles and urge them to come home.

Uthorion liked to amuse himself by unleashing horrors from other worlds on Elveim to punish them for their refusal to serve him. He also worked to corrupt the nobility and was on his way to subverting the Kingdom when he lost his Mask.

Dwarves and the Land Between

Most Dwarves live in various kingdoms in the Land Between, but some like living in the surface world; they tend to become the mechanics, miners, and engineers for the human kingdoms; there are also several Dwarven Kingdoms in the Land Above. House Vareth controls the largest of the Dwarven surface kingdoms.

Underground dwarven cities are hyper-planned, highly organized, carefully designed masterpieces of efficiency, using magic (and technology so far as Aysle's tech axiom is much use) to recycle water, air, wastes, etc. The abundant natural waters are tapped to conduct magical hydroponic gardening, largely involving various kinds of mushrooms and other fungi.

Slave raiding has been an increasing problem for the Land Between since the rise of Uthorion; his interventions rendered the Land Betweeners largely unable to retaliate. With him eliminated, however, it is likely that House Vareth will soon find itself the victim of a Betweener Jihad.

If they can make it through the defenses Vareth has put on the tunnels up to its lands, anyway...

The Gods of Aysle:

The Gods of Honor

Celestial Emperor Dunad: Dunad it was who ended the reign of Giantkind. Dunad it was who released magic into the world. And Dunad it is who now rules over the world from Heaven. His priests advise the kings and rulers of the world, and it is he who ensures every land has its own god. He leads the pantheon of Honor.

Celestial Empress Shali: Wife of Dunad, she is the great patron of magic, the first to master the power he granted to the world. She especially concerns herself with sorcerors and sorceresses and is the patron of the Mage Isles in Aysle itself.

Argon the Hunter: He is the Huntmaster of Heaven, who wanders the world hunting the followers of Harang, accompanied by an Earth Elemental and a hawk. He is the patron of honorable barbarian tribes.

Mesus the Centaur: She is the Minister of Half-Folk in the Celestial Bureaucracy, watching over and guiding them gently. She is a very peaceable woman.

Elmiir: He is Minister of Elvenkind in the Celestial Bureaucracy, an enigmatic figure whose motives and actions are often obscure until they come to full fruit. He acts to keep the Elves apart from other Folk.

Asten: Wife of Elmiir, she acts to counterbalance his isolationism and build contact between Elves and other Folk.

Amaterasu: The Minister of Japan, she is the goddess of the isles of Japan. She acts as patron to the current Japanese emperor.

The Rabbit of the Moon: The Moon Goddess goes by many names, but favors that one in the Kingdom of Serenity, whose patron she is. She is a kindly soul, who is noted for giving out gifts of food to her faithful when they are in need.

Kuan Yin: The goddess of mercy, she comes to aid and heal the helpless and those who have suffered.

Confucious: Ancient Chinese sage and preserver of the ancient ways, he teaches the path of honor and duty and encourages those who rule to be scholars. He is patron of the state of Jin.

The Gods of Corruption:

Yomi King Arthuk: The Giant King, Arthuk is the ruler of Hell, to which he descended and conquered after being slain by Dunad. He seeks to regain rule of the world by dragging the whole thing down to Hell. His priests tend to be great, fierce warriors.

Yomi Queen Borl: Giantess-wife of Arthuk, she seeks to corrupt the green things which grow and the creatures which dwell on the land among them, rendering the wilderness dark and dangerous.

Yomi Duchess Harang: She rules over corrupt half-folk, encouraging them to strike back and slay their tormentors and to torture those who fall into their hands. She is the great enemy of Argon the Hunter. She is a Harpy.

Yomi Duke Estar: Yomi Duke Estar rules over corrupted Elves, encouraging them to exploit the other races and use them as cannon fodder in their own schemes.

Yomi Duke Endrak: Yomi Duke Endrak teaches that one day, civilization will be burned from the face of Aysle; he encourages barbarian tribes to rampage and maraud across civilized lands.

Yomi Duke Kalim: He rules over the lesser folk, encouraging them to rampage and maraud and tear down the schemes of the greater folk (humans, dwarves, giants, elves, etc). He and Duke Endrak often work together, but also sometimes compete violently as their followers tend to fight for the same ecological niches.

Yomi Duke Corba'al: He is the great god of the undead and demons and other things which should not be, ruling over the Entity Hour.

Yomi Duke Ch'in: Once the ruthless uniter of China, now he is the patron of the Manchus, for they represent the stern and oppressive rule which he tried to institute in his own time.

Yomi Duchess Mara: Goddess of deceptive illusion and temptation, she devotes herself to corrupting and destroying the priests of Honor.

The Gods of Balance:

Minthod: He is a great minotaur who watches over balanced half-folk. He encourages them to take up the adventuring lifestyle and make something of themselves. He also encourages the study of magic, for it can make all races equal.

Celay: She is a gnome who watches over the lesser folk, trying to help them to make their own path and avoid being enslaved by the Greater Folk. She has an on-going feud with Yomi Duke Kalim, in which he has tended to get the upper hand.

Darsot: He is the god of peacemakers and diplomats, a human god who teaches his followers the art of give and take.

Areel: Wife of Darsot, she works to maintain stability by pitching into battles to aid the losers. Then Darsot goes in to make peace once both sides give up.

Ugorl: She is the goddess of balanced giants, teaching them to control their urges so that they can live with other races in peace. Yomi King Arthuk hates her, while she tends to find him amusing.

Rak: Rak is a god of nature, of forests and of the cycle of life; his followers try to live in harmony with nature, obeying their instincts. It is unclear as to his true race.

Sun Tzu: No one is quite sure who Sun Tzu is the patron of, but he's been seen all over the place and everyone wants this famous god of war...

Lao Tze: Empty your mind and fill your belly, that is the way of the Tao. Achieve harmony and do without doing, live without striving. That is the way. Empty your mind and be.

Shopping in Aysle

Aylish Money:

The basis of the Aylish economy is a unit of exchange, the Standard Spell. This is considered to be a Conjuration / Magic spell with a duration of one hour. It is equivalent to:

60 Conjs (1 Conj = 1 minute duration Conjuration/Magic = 5 Dollars)300 Lemays (1 Lemay = 12 second duration Conjuration/Magic = 1 Dollar)600 Trades (1 Trade = 6 second duration Conjuration/Magic = 50 Cents )1200 Wolacs (1 Wolac = 3 second duration Conjuration/Magic = 25 Cents)

3600 Groznacs (1 Groznac = 1 second duration Conjuration/Magic= 8.3 cents)300 Dollars..5 ounces of Platinum1 ounce of Gold1.85 ounces of Silver

Most Aylish money is usually paper currency, authenticated by magic. Wolacs and Groznacs are often copper coins with a hole in the middle so they can be put on long strings of money.

Certain kingdoms also use gold, silver, and copper coinage, especially in the more barbaric regions or in the realm on Earth.

The Trade is the most commonly exchanged unit of currency. It is about the size of a dollar bill and usually depicts the local Minister of Trade or equivalent bureaucrat. The Trade is equal in value to 50 cents of US money.

Buying Goods:

Goods made by craftsmen can typically be ordered or purchased in their private workshops; in some cities, the craftsmen of a given trade will cluster together. Most

towns also have a marketplace where on market days, many booths will be set up selling things. Haggling tends to be expected.

Low-powered magical items are usually sold by the crafters who make them; higher powered ones, along with Grimoires, are usually sold by wizards of notes out of their homes. Larger cities may have a guild for wizards with items for sale.

Sometimes, goods can be bought on credit, especially if you are wealthy yourself. Interest rates tend to be high. One may also be able to write a personal check if you have a bank account. Merchants rely heavily on credit to facilitate trade.

A variety of peddlars and small scale merchants with wagons walk circuits in the countryside, bringing goods to the smaller towns. Large scale trade is conducted by wealthy merchants (possibly organized into guilds) and by joint-stock companies.

Guilds and Joint-Stock companies often purchase monopolies from local or national governments; violating their monopoly through unauthorized manufacture or sale may result in going to jail or heavy fines.

In barbarian lands, trade is usually carried out by barter instead of money. The vikings use both as appropriate; they are noteworthy as both raiders and merchants.