Nation - Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches - Part 4

Nation - Blackmoor Land of a Thousand Witches - Part 4

The Gods still dwell in their city near the cursed Plateau of Leng and from the southern lands have come the Oerthly Gods and from the east, the Deities of the northern people such as Fray and Votan and Vili and Ve. The people of Blackmoor respect all Gods but their hearts turn always to their own who took this land from the Ancient Things and drove Iggwilv from the Cold Marshes. The Gods who have always aided them in their people and aid them today against the terror from the north.

Matar the Mother
Celene the Moon
Mikko the Father
Leng of Nightmares and Despair
Waymoinen the Smith
Ykko the Oldest
Ilmar the Builder
Ukkounian the Songmaster
Rainbow Maiden


Dark and terrible creatures have come to plague the lands of Blackmoor but the power of the Gods and the Sisterhood have driven them back to the foothills of Leng and crossed the borders of this world to fight The Grey in its own demise.

The Sisterhood and The Grey

Ancient Things skulk in the Ruins of the city, Old Blackmoor as it is called. By the people. Bestmo fights with the Manor-Lords from his town of Dantredun, but his edicts go no further than the nearby farms and many Manor-Lords possess greater numbers of warriors than the aging Baron. Monsters slither through the cold marshes and stalk the Burneal Forest. Nomads raid from the west, south and east. There are threats aplenty throughout the land, but the real danger wafts down from the north and the real power in the land is the Sisterhood.

Blackmoor is a land of mystery to outsiders. There are tales of its past with tragedies and catastrophes, heroes and common folk, great evil and great good to combat it, but still a place distant and removed from the normal commerce and happenings of the Flanaess.

Blackmoor was never a truly peaceful land. Trapped between the terrible Land of Black Ice and the nomad hordes the people of Blackmoor have always fended for themselves. But today beneath the surface and around the borders a cold grey presence can always be felt. It is a lifestealing hand that takes the sick and preys upon the newborn. Those who first took up the fight against this presence were the witches. In Blackmoor the witches healed the sick, assisted the clerics of their own Gods as well as Beory, Telchur, Velnius and Zodal, acted as mid-wives, cared for injured animals, and served as judges. They were soothsayers and diviners of fate. All of Blackmoor from the baron to the smallest village’s Elder had a witch to advise and heal. Among the Council of Women they were predominantly leaders and were the teachers of the young girls, administering the test and right of passage from girl to woman.

With the coming of the Grey, as they called the lifestealing presence, they became those who fought. Swords and spears were ineffective against the creatures of fog and mist which began to appear. Magicians were rare, clerics and priests were few, but the witches were many. Every girl who showed signs of power and ability were mentored and encouraged to pursue the arduous path of witchery. And as the Grey strengthened, the Sisterhood was formed.

The Sisterhood, in some nascent form, had existed in Blackmoor for centuries. Never had it needed the strength, discipline and organization that the fight against the Grey demanded.

Nine witches form the Nyma Urd who guide the Sisterhood. They are the most powerful witches, not necessarily the oldest. Once a year they may be challenged for their position on the Nyma Urd. There are thought to be a thousand witches in the Sisterhood, but that number has been growing. Certain events have set back the Grey and expeditions into the Land of Black Ice and beyond the very boundary of the Planes of Existence have rewarded the Sisterhood with both artifacts of power and also victories against The Grey on its own plane, that of Fog and Mist.