The Cult of Elemental Evil Rises - Looking At Lion & Dragon & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's By This Axe

 So looking deeper into the lore of  ACK's By This Axe I Rule, where some of the Dwarven Kingdoms of  destabilized Europe are dealing with the rise of cult of elemental evil. This is something that we've covered on the blog here.  The tool of these forces of Chaos are of course the humanoid armies now under the effects of the increased spread of the temple's influence from Germany's Black Forrest.

The Old Race such as the Elves, Dwarves, and other races are acting through thier trade representives  in Europe and on the Silk Road ala Sword & Caravan. This is where the half breed races of the Old Races come into play. These are the traders, the entertainers, the courriers, the advisors, etc to all of the royal courts of Europe. And these PC's and beings are not necessarily the products of rape, or even intermarriage. They could be creatures of sorcerous origin ala the old European myths & legends of changelings. 

Alexander Marcus shared this earlier on Twitter and here we see the rules for ACK's crossbreeding of species. 

What's really important here is that for the forces of Chaos. They can literally generate pig faced Orcs, Goblins, etc. all quite nicely from thier generators. This helps to explain the rapid expansion of the humanoids found in B2 The Keep on the Borderland by Gary Gygx. The source breeds true of the alignment of the creation of the magus or arcane spell caster. 
Could these same rules also apply to shamans & the like?! They sure could if the DM wants them too! This opens up the floor for all kinds of humanoids crossbreeding  thier own champions. This coud help to explain the rising number of orges & near human horrors that Chaos armies seem to create almost over night. 

And these numbers of humanoids could be the raiders that could be cutting off the economic life blood of the Silk Blood to Europe. The forces of Chaos are literally tearing the economic life blood of the entire block of Western civilization. The edges of Western civilization might be ACK's Capital of the Borderlands. 

The edges of the Middle East could stand in for ACK's  Cyfaraun, ancient capital of the borderlands. The Roman empire is long gone and a moderate group of royals now rules the former empire of  Cyfaraun just before the Mongols take all much later on.The events after TSR's B2 Keep on the Borderlands remain. The events in Capital of the Borderlands take place as the two merge as the cult of Elemental Evil rises in both the East and the West. 
Raids along the Silk Road really begin to take thier toll as the humanoid forces wage both literal and ecnonmic warfare on all of Western & Near Eastern Europe. The Middle East takes centerstage. 

The old Roman network of fortresses becomes incredibly important and only with the Dwarven royals help can Europe be saved.

The Corruption of Europe in T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil By Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer - Looking At Lion & Dragon & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's By This Axe

 So today has been a day where T1-4 Temple of Elmental Evil by Gary Gygax & Frank Mentzer has been on my mind. We're gonna pick it up from here on the blog.  Over the last couple of days we've been going over original Dungeons & Dragons. However something remains on my mind as a DM would the rise in humanoid populations dramatically within the campaign?! Possibly especially given the fact that events would center near the line of ancient human fortresses on the Borderlands near the Black Forrests of Germany. 

Because to the Dwarven nations of  ACK's By This Axe I Rule  these fortresses are brand new lines of defenses. And they can't understand why the humans of B2 & T1 have let these defenses go soft after the fall of the Roman empire. 
Is an economic downturn really what the cult of Elemental Evil wants for Europe?! In a short answer. Yes! Fast breeding humanoid cultures fresh out of the generation pits would be a horror to anyone they run across. The cult is trying to whip up any dark energies that they can. 
And this is something we see time and again with the Caves of Chao! The rise of Chaos in ACK's based games is centered around humanoids. And this could easily apply to the Europe of Dark Albion's setting.  

And this predicates the fact that many of the horrors rising within Europe could indicate that the ancient monsters know as dragons could awaken across Europe. And be ready to blast the advancing humanoid armies to restore the balance. And this ties directly into Sword & Caravan 's commentaries. The boundry of the Silk Road is more then a mere economic life line of trade in Europe. It could well be an ancient route where history and myth meet. The Romans knew it and tried to keep the ancient Pagan forces predicated. 

The cult of elemental evil's cultists have been working hard to corrupt officials across Europe. They work behind the scenes of both peasant & king alike. They bribe, corrupt, and bring to heel those they can. 
Asassinations, distruption of infrastructure systems, etc. are all through them where and when they can. 

The other forces that are on the move are the more covert menaces. The monkey wreckers and mercenaries who are only to happy to take the elemental evil's coin. 

Little do the 'useful idiots' realize just how disposable that they are. And the 'Elvish' race has little rational of it's place in the scheme of events as some groups of cultists are from thier ranks. 

Dwarves, Elves, and The Growing Threat of The Cult of Elemental Evil - Looking At Lion & Dragon & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's By This Axe

 So let's pick this blog post up from here.  T1 The Village of Hommlet's events are happening deep with the Black Forrest of Germany. And while the rest of Europe is getting to engulf itself into war. The old races of Adventurerer,Conqueror King such as the Elves, Dwarves, and other Fey races are becoming aware that something sees it's opportunity to sieze Europe. If we go with ACK's By This Axe I Rule then the Dwarves really are one of the most advanced cultures under Europe. 

And is Europe actually in the middle of an economic downturn during the events of the Dark Albion rpg setting?! The facts presented within  Sword & Caravan might seem to indicate so. The trade of the Silk Road is helping to keep Europe's markets vitalized. And the barbarians see this as a prime opportunity. And what about the Elves?! The usual D&D Elves are not the wonderful stewards of nature that we usually associate with nobleness, goodness, and purity in ACK's or Dark Albion. 
Instead I'd say that the Elves have been literally living off the corpse of the ancient Pagan gods. God who were the original Elves that enslaved mankind eons ago. 

The Dwarves see through this ruse and so the friction that we've see over & over in popculture is solidly real. Why?! Because the Elven gods are locked out of our normal space time. The Elves of the ACK's Europe setting are ripe to be fed upon. Elves in this setting are literally a walking magical herd. 
And the cult of Elemental Evil are quite literally the Elven gods and worse waiting for the harvest. 

The Silk Road here in Europe is the literal life blood route for stopping the events of T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil. Mankind is fighting among itself for the usual reasons & the violence has awaited it. War & violence call these dark powers like a starving man to a buffet. 

And we see that sucession, bloodlines, and more play into this especially in Axioms Issue 19: Cohorts & Dynasties.This can be a critical detail for PC's who are a part of the upper royal circles. Perhaps its only the rulers who are really aware of the horror that is growing in thier own backyards. And to what end?! Next time the cost of Europe in corruption & manpower. 

Necromancers & The Power of Hell - Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook & Axioms issue 2 - Campaign Commentary

 So let's pick it up from right here on the blog and continue the deeper dive into corruption on a grand scale. If we're looking into The Heroic Fantasy Handbook then our Sword & Sorcery Adventurer, Conqueror, King rpg counterpart for the black magician is the necromancr from ACK's Barbarian Conquerors of Kanahu. Why!? Because of the fact that the Necromancer class from ACK's Barbarian Conquerors of Kanhau is perfectly suited for use for an NPC villain or association of villains to spread corruption. Warning I'm using a Biblical qoute to bring home the power of Hell below. 

Fire Demon by Frank Frazetta from 1976 which I'm using without permission hits the high notes of what's at stake when Hell comes to Earth or your ACK's campaigns. And for a moment using the Bible to illustrate what level of corruption we're talking about here. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says," 17 The wicked go down to the realm of the dead, all the nations that forget God."   That's right nations plural here folks, the necromancer & thier cults here are capable of corrupting entire cultures and nations. Forget the hoverbikes & the technological toys of BCK's here. Strip it back and look at the way the necromancer in ACK's is set up. This is a villain capable of toppling nations. Couple this with the subtle & hamfisted power of the 9 Hells & you've got a recipe for wrecking havoc on a grand scale. 

Remember yesterday I said that the Abyss was the engine & backstage of Hell?! Then the necromancers are it's literal stars of Chaos. These necromancers are leading cults that are the cysts of Hell's influence within a campaign. The demons & devils in a campaign don't want to break the yoke of the gods because each & every soul that they bring to thier masters fuels both the armies of Chaos & the fires themselves. And this is where Necromancers & thier servants begin bringing in the humanoid armies. Fuel & magical corruption allow the whole range of nasties to be generated into a campaign world. Notice I didn't say born, I said generated because the first generation are the most powerful. Axiom issue#2 goes into all of this on Beastmen & thier connection to Chaos. 

The Wages of Sin - Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook & Axioms issue 1 - Campaign Commentary

 So we're gonna pick it right up from here & we're gonna go for the jugular vein on this one a bit. Tim Brannan reads this blog & I know this is going to step on some toes here. Recently I got asked why I wasn't using Dragon issue 91 with  Ed Greenwood's Nine Hells Revisited.  The short answer is that as a DM I really don't want to. Shocking I know because of the fact that many of my players are also fellow dungeon masters. And they read Tim's The Otherside Blog. They also know that I read it as well. 

“Into the eternal darkness, into fire and into ice. ”
― Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy: The Inferno, the Purgatorio and the Paradiso
Frank Frazetta artwork used without

permission. 

So as a DM I've got to mix things up with my version of Adventurer, Conqueror, King's Hell. And this goes back to something everyone seems to forget about Dragon magazine. That ninety percent of the articles were optional as supplemental material for your game campaign. 

Hell for our games is ever changing & varied. The only things that are a constant are the levels & rings of the nine Hells. 
There are in point of fact demons & devils within this version of Hell that are not present in the 'official 'versions of Hell. Within this version the Abyss is the back stage of Hell if you will 

Demons & devils are brought in by the arch devils to fuel the enternity of torment. And Hell is wall to wall with any number of black wizards & cultists that want to bring Hell to Earth. 

The probem  is that the arch demons & devils all must bend to the will of the Gods. And though they may chaff under it's yoke they can't break this unless the word is given for a particular plane prime.

And this goes back to the Adventurer, Conqueror, King Rpg Heroic Fantasy Handbook. The demons & devils are not simply going to invade the Earth or Plane Prime at the drop of a hat. This goes back to the 

"The Shades of Magic: because power corrupts, and powerful magic corrupts magically" article in Axioms issue#1 . The power of magick may summon a horror of Hell but they want the magician completely corrupted before Hell can take him or her. 

Reposessed & Hell To Burn - Dragon Issue # 20 & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook - Campaign Commentary

 Today we're gonna pick right up from where we left off on the blog the other day here. Hell is not going to remain static at all during a Heroic Fantasy Handbook campaign in Adventurer, Conqueror, King. And the first signs of the events coming up are going to be found within the pages of The Dragon magazine issue# 20 November 1 1978. 

And if we look at Wayne's book site we've got a front row seat for this late Halloween style issue:"ARTICLES: A New Look at Witches in D&D; GenCon Photo Album; Imperium Clarifications & Addenda; D&D Death Stats; Mythos of Polynesia in D&D; Demonology in D&D; Demonic Possession in D&D; more"  We've got a plethora of demonic topics in classic Dungeons & Dragons. Everything that could make any Satanic Panic era mom salivate with demonic dread. 
Let's look at this from a completely different perspective. And that's the idea here that clerics in a classic or ACK's campaign are going to be up too thier eyeballs in signs & portents of the demonic activity to come. 
And according to the article  Demonic Possession in D&D article"  by Chas. Sagui we're going to be playing with the big boys of the Abyss; "Only demons of level IV or greater and the Princes are capable of possessing bodies of adventurers. The rule of the thumb is that only those demons that are immune to all but magical weapons and therefore exist upon two planes at once may possess. The corporeal body of the demon is sent to another plane while the spiritual essence remains in a room, cave, dungeon hall or other area. The amulet of the demon must remain on the plane and world in which the possession takes place. It need not be in the same room but must remain within one mile of the place of possession. Although the demon should be placed by the DM, the member of the party affected should be at random (First person into the room, last person, fourth person or whatever) so that any member of the party" 

Is this in line with Advnturer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook!? Yes it is because it gives high level clerics another entire advenue to deal with. 

Possessors are not simply some run of the mill demon. Nope these things are out & out spirits of Hell. And yes I know all about the "Demonology in D&D" article by Gregory Rihn in which he lays out who the wizards engaging in such nafarious doings of the black arts; "In Dungeons & Dragons®, magic users have other, more immediately rewarding enterprises to occupy their time, such as spell research and the manufacture of magic items, not to mention adventuring. However, the demonic heirarchies laid out in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual make it attractive for D & D magic users to delve into the dubious science of demonology." 

And thus its also true for the black wizards of the Heroic Fantasy Handbook as well. Here we've got a rash of heroic level demons waiting to be exploited or to exploit the population of the campaign's surrounding countryside. 

Clerics & other religious PC types are going to be key here for freeing the local governor's wife or family members from the clutches of some demonic prince or it's minions. The truth of the matter if we're looking at Hell and or the Abyss getting a foothold into reality. It's gonna be through the machinations of some black wizard's blunderings with the black arts. 

And this is where the dungeons of ACK's come into play the 'dungeon' is a 'sink of evil' with the ACK's appendix of the rule book. And these sinks could hold the artifact or verse that might free the hostage of said possession. 

How does this relate to the idea of dragging our PC's down into the depths?! Hell is not mocked nor the devil or demon cheated. That dungeon may be the NPC's salvation but the PC's doom. The forces of Hell may just come after the PC's for such an affont to Hell itself. And the gods may wait to see if the PC's mettle is up to the task. How and why we'll get into next time. 

Hell To Burn & The Lord of the Flies - Dragon Issue # 28 & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook - Campaign Commentary

 

Dragon (Issue 28 - Aug 1979) contained one of the most controversial articles by "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn covers "A history of Satan and the other fallen angels after the war against heavan and they had been cast down."  And its the unseen player that we get one of our primary antagonistic villains. Baalzebul get's his due in this article and according to Greyhawk on line; "In Dragon # 28, the article "The Politics of Hell" by Alexander von Thorn gives a different history to that detailed above, and includes statistics for Satan, Belial and Astaroth. Satan is more powerful than any other Devil, but lacks support, having been exiled from hell by Beelzebub following a revolution. Beelzebub ("Lord of the Archdevils") was himself overthrown by Asmodeus and is forever after known as Baalzebul ("Lord of the Flies," with "flies" meaning "little devils" in this context)."

"In Legions of Hell by Chris Pramas, Beelzebub (as he's called in that source) is described as a fallen throne archon. His servants in that book include Amitiel, the Archon of Truth; Flauros, who is consulted in divinations; Meresin, who controls lightning storms; Moloch, a former angelic patron of children who now welcomes child sacrifice; Murmur, who questions souls arriving in the Seventh Circle; Nergal, the Fetid Prince; Rahbad, Lord of the Lightless Seas; and Tamiel, Angel of the Deep." " 

What does Baalzebul have to do with Adventurer, Conqueror,, King rpg's Heroic Fantasy Handbook?!? Well a bit of everything really as we get write up's for new heroic style monsters and this includes cacodemons. Cacodemons range in power from imps capable of being a nuisance to ones that are capable of ripping dragons in half. 

 Baalzebul ("Lord of the Flies," with "flies" meaning "little devils" in this context)." here could easily mean Cacodemons. And if Baalzebul is in point of fact still one of the most powerful background entities within Hell. Than it stands to reason that he has a network of these horrors capable of moving between the 9 Hells. 
Now according to the Cacodemon's entry on Wik:"A cacodemon (or cacodaemon) is an evil spirit or (in the modern sense of the word) a demon. The opposite of a cacodemon is an agathodaemon or eudaemon, a good spirit or angel. The word cacodemon comes through Latin from the Ancient Greek κακοδαίμων kakodaimōn, meaning an "evil spirit", whereas daimon would be a neutral spirit in Greek. It is believed to be capable of shapeshifting.^[1] A cacodemon is also said to be a malevolent person.

"In psychology, cacodemonia (or cacodemonomania) is a form of insanity in which the patient believes that they are possessed by an evil spirit. The first known occurrence of the word cacodemon dates to 1593. In William Shakespeare's Richard III Act 1 Scene 3, Queen Margaret calls Richard a "cacodemon" for his foul deeds and manipulations.^[2] In John Fletcher's The Knight of Malta, Norandine calls Mountferrat, the play's villain, a "cacodemon" in the final scene.^[3] In The Arbatel de Magi Veterum, written in 1575, the word Cacodemon is described as one of the Seven."

"In astrology, the 12th house was once called the Cacodemon for its association with evil.^[4][5] Defined it as "a noise-making devil", Jane Davidson has noted an illustrated example of a cacodemon in editions of Ulisse Aldrovandi’s Monstrum Historia (Story of Monsters) as late as 1696.^{[6]" "} 

^{So not only are Cacodemons powerful but thier far more formable
 then thier Hero}ic Fantasy Handbook entry suggests. And this puts 

them well in a league of thier own.  And Baalezbub knew how valuble these 

members of the Falare/were as this is reflected in the 'Politics of Hell' article;"

 Beelzebub does seem to have had a point. However, Beelzebub had difficulty controlling the devils. He could not order them about the way Satan had, because he had gained power by promising more freedom of action. In fact, some of the more powerful arch-devils told him (in a roundabout way) that his authority would be in jeopardy if he tried to assert himself too much. So, the only means that Beelzebub could use to get things done in Hell were by persuasion or by doing favors for the devils. Needless to say, these were not enough, even if Beelzebub had had the time to talk to all the arch-devils in order to explain why things had to be done, or to do all the errands that he had to do to get things done. The devils ended up aiding humans against each other, with little coordination, so that they fell into disrepute because they could not fulfill their conflicting promises."  And it's this confusion that borne the influence of the cacodemons within Hell. 

Why I'm I referencing Cacodemons so much tonight?! Because these horrors were some of the main horrors that decimated our party back in '86. These horrors also caused us no end of infernal issues for us players. Why? Because they were connected with the unique devils back on the first plane of Hell. We had to defeat some of the least cacodemons & believe me those were the worst. Why?! Because these cacodemons while not hugely powerful were none the less incredibly dangerous. These horrors often masquraded as perverse magic items and other trinkets while influencing thier owners. 

Why was Baalzebul picking on our player's PC's?! Simply put we had defeated his pet black wizard who had a pact with the archdevil & was his primary agent on Earth at the time. And when we killed him the arch devil appeared and took us with him! The PC's had to deal with being lost on the first plane and events began to get worse as time went on. 
Each time we got a few steps ahead, we'd get knocked back two spaces. We recruited three slayers from the prisons of Mammon. Baalzbul however was always lurking in the background. The Forgotten Realms Wiki entry on Baalzebul hones in one of the archdevil's flaws his personality; "Of Baazelbul's numerous flaws, his most crippling was his perfectionist extremism. His unfiltered dedication to achieving physical flawlessness and greater dominion was what caused his initial fall from the Seven Heavens, as such callous ambition was more befitting of a devil.^[2][8] Seemingly incapable of realizing when he had gone too far, his utter arrogance led him to undermine his own plans by overreaching.^[1][4] He might have even been able to defeat his rival Mephistopheles if in his overconfident scheming he didn't also aim to defeat Asmodeus, causing him to fall even further than before.^{[4]" Our party of adventurers were part of an elaborate plan to reclaim his kingdom.}

Hell To Burn - Dragon Issue #75 & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's Heroic Fantasy Handbook - Campaign Commentary

t

 

Dragon issue 75 was released in July of 1983 & it featured "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: New denizens of devildom" by Gary Gygax which had a listing of the following as a mini preview for the upcoming Monster Manual II :

• Abishai
• Bael
• Belial
• Glasya
• Mammon
• Mephistopheles
• Moloch

And this issue of The Dragon magazine also featured "The Nine Hells, Part I" By Ed Greenwood which had detailed  descriptions of the first 5 layers of the Nine Hells (and their inhabitants) . Both of these articles were hugely influencial on us Eighties kids. And in fact my uncle at the time our DM sent our party  straight to Hell! There were two reasons for this one we were studying the Roman Slave Rebellions: First Servile War & Dante's Divine Comedy. But my uncle really punched those two articles up by drawing more from Dante. Each time we were killed we were put into a lower level in the nine Hells. You didn't just die you lost XP and levels. This got me thinking about ACK's & the Hells! Could an ACK's campaign survive in the Hells?! Then I started thinking about the ACK's Heroic Fantasy Handbook. The ACK's Heroic Fantasy Handbook is almost another side optional rulebook having heroic & Pulpy PC classes,alternative rules, and much more. But is it enough to survive the nine Hells?! 

We spend the first couple of months on Avernus avoiding Tiamat,her consorts, her children, and picking sport with the machinations of the unique devils. The unique devils picked us off one by one more then once; "The uppermost plane of the Nine Hells is ruled by Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragon, and serves as a home to all lesser unique devils. These are devils with individual names and characteristics, and powers of greater magnitude than those of a pit fiend (for all such unique devils of lesser power are soon destroyed by their enemies and the cruelty of their fellows), which are not otherwise placed in the hells as ruling archdevils or their direct servants."

Don't count out the unique devils because they handed more then a few PC's their behinds multiple times. We were screwing around on the first level & only made it too Dis after 5 month of game time. We spent a great deal of time as 'guests' of Mammon wading our necks up in the filth and horrors of Minauros famous swamps. 
Eventually after completing missions & combat sorties for several arch devils & their respective misstresses our party escaped from the Hells. However we each brought a piece of Hell with our PC's. The experience changed our characters we were no longer welcomed in our usual haunts. The PC's were rumored to have been dead or worse 'damned'. We carried this stigma for years as PC's and were the 'bad guys' hunted by paladins and knights because of our association with the Hells. Now my interest is peaked again to see if the players wouldn't mind a bit of time in the Hells. 

'T1 & The Elven Deception' - Lion & Dragon, Adventurer, Conqueror,King rpg, & Lamentations of the Flame Princess Rpg

 So let's pick this up from yesterday with T1 & why the adventure context is so important here. The implication in T1 is that Hommlet is tired & so are the adventurers. In point of fact thier described as haggard & down on thier last gold piece. This is a Europe ravaged by war. 
And this brings us to the Elves who surround this Dark Europe campaign. And here's where Lamentations of the Flame Princess comes into play just not in the way you might be thinking. 

In Lamentations because it's based on Frank Mentzer's B/X we have Elves who are better then you at everything. And this is as it should be. Elves are extremely long lived, they have better abilities then humans, etc. Why?! 
Because Elves are entirely alien to our space time continuum. This isn't hyperbole because within mythology they were. 
The Elven courts are trying to pass themselves as nobles & kings to heads of state of Europe. And for the most part they are correct they are. 
However the Elven gods were behind them & they were cruel. Cruel in every sense of the word. 
And the abuse continues right down the line here. The Pagan gods of old literally consumed the Elves as per the Lion & Dragon rpg. 

Here we go into the mythology of Elves and look into the Encyclopedia Britannica website's definition from here;"elf, plural Elves, in Germanic folklore, originally, a spirit of any kind, later specialized into a diminutive creature, usually in tiny human form. In the Prose, or Younger, Edda, elves were classified as light elves (who were fair) and dark elves (who were darker than pitch); these classifications are roughly equivalent to the Scottish seelie court and unseelie court. The notable characteristics of elves were mischief and volatility. They were believed at various times and in various regions to cause diseases in humans and cattle, to sit upon the breast of a sleeper and give him bad dreams (the German word for nightmare is Alpdrücken, or “elf-pressure”), and to steal human children and substitute changelings (deformed or weak elf or fairy children). In the British Isles, flint implements called elf-bolts, elf-arrows, or elf-shot (which are now known to be prehistoric tools used by the aboriginal Irish and the early Scots) were believed to be the weapons with which elves injured cattle. Elves occasionally also were benevolent and helpful. The second edition of Encyclopædia Britannica, which was published in 1777–84, calls the word elf obsolete but reports that belief in such creatures “still subsists in many parts of our own country. . . In the Highlands of Scotland, new-born children are watched till the christening is over, lest they should be stolen or changed by some of these phantastical existences.” In time, elves came to be indistinct from fairies, though both older classics—such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “Der Erlkönig” (“The Elf King”)—and such modern classics as J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings (1954–55) still treat elves as a distinct type." 

The Elves of the world's most popular rpg are literally former vessal Fairy states of the Old Gods. Royal vessals who have been filling thier ranks by switching out human babies for changlings. We know that the Elven strong holds are in England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, etc. Yet why would the Elves be interested in human conflict & war?! Brecause for all these centuries the Elven courts of Seelie & Unseelie  been filling thier ranks with humans who have become Elves. 

The answers to these and other horrors are located under the former homes of the late Roman Empire. This was all explained away as 'barbarian invasions' & 'battles of historical conflict'. Yet ACK's Secrets of the Nethercity contains some truth of what the Elven tribes were up too. 

What do the Elven courts offer the heads of Europe during these conflicts?! Besides logicistical advice, war support, & magickal assistence?! Well, they offer the supernatural element all of the while fighting proxy wars through their human puppets. And entire villages disappear amid the fog of war & yet no one questions it. Those who adventurer are not even aware of the fact that this goes on. Elven adventurers are the exception and not the rule. They are seen from time to time acting as agents along the Silk Road for the Elven nations & as traders. 

Not all Elven nations are in on the use of humanity to stoke the fires of human civilization. And these are few & far between but they have their own problems with the Fey & the Unseelie courts (BTW human definitations). And the Dwarves know of all this & hence their contempt for the Elves. Axioms Compendium Volume 2: 9 - 16 contains the "“The Fetid Crypt of Anatu the Defiler”, an ACKS adventure; 9 new monsters, including faeries, nymphs, and nosferatu; 5 new character classes, including the dread priestesses of Nasga and the Nosferatu scion". This adventure reveals some of the underlying horror of the Elves past. 

You see the Elves have a secret & that is that they live in mortal fear of their ancient Pagan god masters returning. And no I'm not talking about Odin, Shiva, etc. No we're talking about the Chthonic gods here. The gods of Chaos & horror that unleashed the orcs & the black orcs on the Earth as well as the other humanoid races of ACK's. 
And T1 & B2 Keep on the Borderlands are ground zero for their return. The cult of elemental evil is alive and within the Moathouse in the Black Forrest. Because everything centers around Hommlet & that Keep in B2. But this is merely the beginning. Stay tuned as we dive further into this. 

T1 The Evil of the Moat House - Looking At Lion & Dragon & Adventurer, Conqeuror, King's By This Axe

 

So we're going to pick it right up from here on the Lion & Dragon: Medieval Authentic OSR Roleplaying By RPG Pundit. And this post here from a couple of weeks ago on the blog.  And incorporate a few ideas from last night's T1 Village of Hommlet blog post here.  Let's just forget Greyhawk for a second & imagine for a moment that we've got a Dark Europe here with Dwarves,Elves, etc. Screw Cowards of the Coast from now on. 

Now imagine that Dwarves are real and they've been around since the time of the very beginning of the world. They've watched mankind rise and fall again then the cycle start again. The Dwarves have been there since before the Floods & the fall of Atlantis. And their still in the Adventurer,Conqueror, King rpg game version of Lion & Dragon. They have colonies within the the North Pennines & Cumbria etc. in England.

They have withdrawn from mankind but occassionally act through human agents to sell their ores and wares. They do this all along the Silk Road discussed within  Sword & Caravan. Here we have a similar situation with the Elves. And then the ACK's dynamic changes because we see that Elves, Dwarves, etc. are acting through human agents. Kings & Queens are still seek these Elder Races out because of the magical qualities of their ore. Axioms Issue 17: Ore Never Changes goes into exactly what this does to a campaign.

 

And these ores have  been sought by Roman generals, Persian princes, etc. the lines are endless. Hence another reason why the Elder Races have withdrawn. But the spectre of war never changes & the effects on weaponry is explored in issue Axioms Issue 20: of Arms and Armor.

And while the spectre of war is looming all of Europe is not even aware of the greater threat looming within the Black Forrest of Germany. And that threat is evident by the Moathouse of T1. Europe has forgotten the cult of Elemental Evil which sent the whole of Europe burning ages ago. Humanity has a very fickle brain. And before that it was the Froggy cult which might still be out there.