Minstrel Tales - Give Me Three Brave Swords Shielding

Minstrel Tales Give Me Three Brave Swords Shielding

Give Me Three Brave Swords Shielding

The minstrels and bards from the Shield Lands sing this song when raising support for their struggle against the Iuz and the Horned Society. It has become quite popular among soldiers, in their camps and the taverns they frequent.

Give Me Three Brave Swords, Shielding

Give me three brave swords, Shielding,
Only three brave swords;
They will keep the little I have
Free from Iuz's horde.

I am dying beneath Iuz's heel, Shielding,
Dying beneath Iuz's heel;
And the agony of such a death
No balm may ever heal.

Iuz has gnawed me like a wolf, Shielding,
A wolf that is fierce for blood;
All the day, and the night beside,
Lapping at my blood.

I dreamed of freedom in my sleep, Shielding,
And the sight was welcome to see;
I awoke with an eager, beating heart,
But there was no freedom for me.

How can I look to you, Shielding,
How can I look to you
For swords to give to your ravaged land,
When you are swordless too.

For I read the defeat in your graven face, Shielding,
And in your eyes so wild,
And I felt it in your shaking hand,
And in your heart so mild.

What have the Shield Lands done, Shielding,
What have the Shield Lands done
That the Oerth looks on and sees us die,
Perishing one by one?

Do the nations of the Flanaess care not, Shielding,
The great ones and the high,
For the suffering of the Shield Land's sons,
Whether they live or die?

There are many still with a brave heart, Shielding,
Dying of want and cold,
While many escaped to safer lands,
Still strong and rich in gold.

Come nearer to my side, Shielding,
Come nearer to my side,
And remember me as I was,
Your homeland before I die.

Quick, for I cannot see you, Shielding,
The seeds of death are sown;
Shielding! dear Shielding! ere I die,
Three swords for your home.

Loosely adapted from 'Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother' By Amelia Blandford Edwards

Monster - Animated Armored

Strange tales from the Shield Lands speak of wandering armored figures that kill anything in their path. These figures once defeated prove to bodiless suits of armor that quickly decay to a bloody rust, their weapons as well. An Enchanter-Mage in service to a local lord believes them to be autonmata or golems of some sort. 

Their path of destruction leads from the lands of the Horned Society. 3 so far have been encountered and there is a dread that there will be more to follow.

Unbeknowest to those outside the Horned Society is that members who have died are entombed in a great hall upright in their armor with their weapons near. The spirits of the dead are now dwellers in one of the Nine Hells but some link to their mortal shell remains. Several of the Hierarchs are using a dark ritual to animate these remains and are sending them forth against the Shield Landers, but they have no real control over these armored spirits who now find existence on the Oerth intolerable. 

The Hierarchs simply encase the armored bodies in a temporary sarcophagus and place it with the borders of the Shield Lands. At a safe distance they activate a ward which opens the sarcohagus pointing toward the Shield Lands while hoping for the best. So far the ritual allows for only one of the armored spirits to be animated at a time but plans are underway for a more powerful ceremony. 

Historical - The Origins of the Horned Society

Historical - The Origins of the Horned Society

Toszar Khan is the name the Rovers of the Barrens give to a Shaman-Chieftain from their distant past. The people of the more civilized southlands know little of him. He united the tribes of the Rovers into a single warband that dominated the central-northern lands of the Flanaess.

That the Rovers discovered a vast city of stone is undisputed. The broken towers and weed-choked streets were half-sunken in the marshy riverland on the banks of the Veng and it is here that the tale of the man Toszar Khan ends and the history of the Horned Society begins.

Within that broken city Toszar Khan found a temple and a passage that lead to a weak point between this world and the Nine Hells. What entered that temple was a man, but that which came forth was no longer Toszar Khan. The horned helm that marked him as chief was now fused to his body and seemingly empty, though the darkness that could be seen through the eye-slits was filled with an evil malevolence.

During the rule of the shaman-king the chieftains of the Rovers were dragged from their tents and adorned with the horned helms of Toszar Khan. These were his warleaders, his strongest guardians and the greatest shame of the Rovers who abandoned Toszar Khan and his city which became Molag the heart of the Horned Society.

The fate of Toszar Khan is unknown. He descened into the temple at the heart of Molag and was never seen again, but three of these horn-helmed chieftains have survived the centuries and the disappearnce of the shaman-king. They are now the guardians of the temple and the gateway to the Nine Hells. What power the present day Hierarchs have over these founders of the Horned Society is unknown but they protect the temple and drag to the Hells any unworthy who would violate its precincts.

Once their had been more than a score of these horn-helmed chieftains but now only three remain.

The Bear, the oldest of the three. His helm is topped with the skull of a bear and his face masked by a cross of bronze, His body is marked with the old symbols of his achievements and power. He was a shaman-king himself and he wields unholy magic as well as martial power. His helm not only animates his cold, dead flesh (as all the helms will do) it allows him to summon the spirits of dead beasts to fight for and serve him,

The Corpse-King, he is seen here between his fellows. The youngest and one of the last chieftains to be taken by Toszar Khan. His flesh is unmarked, though a sickly cold green-blue with the dark-slime that runs through his body instead of blood, the same as his brethren, and his helm is graven with the markings from the old pre-human foundations of the city. His face is masked by the bronzed breast-bones of a man. He is the most skilled with weapons of his brethren fighting with a southern longsword in one hand and a short-sword from the old southern empire in the other. He can summon all those he kills to fight for him though their bodies rot quickly and within a week collapse into a pile of putrid flesh and bones. Animals detest him and flee from him. Animal dead will attack him on sight unless controlled by his brethren.


The Ram. Once a Rover but in the end a Bandit-Lord, he was captured by the Rovers and given to the Shaman-King. His flesh is inscribed with the marks of a chain. Once he was enslaved by the Suel and fought in their arena of death. Somehow he returned to the north and claimed leadership among the outlaws and bandits of the northern mountains. His helm has the skull of a ram upon it and he can summon the elementals of earth and stone to serve him. 

NPC - Rackhir Hero of the Horned Society

NPC - Rackhir Hero of the Horned Society

It is said that warriors of the Horned Society once were men but are no longer. Rackhir could answer that question but he'd be more likely to kill anyone who asked the question. There are many humans in the land of the Hierarchs but most are slaves and the rest are mercenaries or agents which need to deal with other humans of others nations, such as the Bandit Kingdoms or spies and assassins posing as merchants who travel the Flanaess. The Hierarchs have agents everywhere.

Rackhir is huige in his armor and if he is awake and outside his tent or small manor he is in armor. The faded red armor is not cast from metal but shaped from the scales of some demon out of the abyss. It provides him great protection and immunity to non-magical weapons as well as fire. He rarely carrier s a weapon instead preferring to use the gauntlets of the same demonic chitin as his other armor pieces.

Rackhir is very high in the warrior caste of the Horned Society and often serves as an escort and warden for Hierarchs. Otherwise he commands the Hobgoblin Clan Golden Sun and over 500 Hobgoblin warriors. He has an estate with several hundred slaves that grows some foodstuffs but laso the addictive resin-gum Klot that the Hierarchs feed to the slave population to keep them docile.

Project - Demons and Devils of the Flanaess - Hierarchs of the Horned Society Summon a Devil

 Project - Demons and Devils of the Flanaess - Hierarchs of the Horned Society Summon a Powerful Devil

Beneath the Citadel of the Hierarchs in the capital, Molag, of the Horned Society, is the Great Summoning Pit where the link to the Nine Hells is maintained. The great portal is opened with the sacrifice of 1,000 souls and many more live offerings are cast into the fiery portal after it is awakened. From here are the greatest of Devils brought to the Oerth. Minor Devils and other denizens of the Hells may be summoned forth by individual Hierarchs in the own chambers, towers, castles or estates, but only here do the most powerful and noble rulers enter.