Province Write up: Heka-Voll

/forum

Both Po Ji the Wanderer and Akashi the Destroyer are detailed here.

Basically, Po-Ji is the wandering CG Do-Gooder the Harmonium HATES. Akashi the Destroyer is sort of an immortal troublemaker and Ortho's equivalent of Doctor Doom. He think he's the last Elf on Ortho.

I'm a little perplexed how to put in Shoryko's influence though and am open for suggestions.

I've also put in lines about pilgrims to Vollandria though.

Heka-Voll

Proper Name: The Kingdom of Voll
Provincial Government: Constitutional Monarchy
Leaders: King Flayn XI (LG H M Paladin 12/Aristocrat 2), High Wizard Flambeau (LN M Ancient Gold Dragon Wizard 18 ), Prime Minister August Cecil (LN H M Expert 12), Princess Tollandra (CG F Ranger 12)
Population: # Human 80%, Orc 10%, 5% Troll, 3% Dwarves 1%, Dragons 1%, 'Chaos Creatures' 1%
Provincial Capital: Vollandria
Major Cities & Towns: Chaos Caverns, Marshtown, Wyrmspire
Resources:
(Heka) Cattle, Gold, Iron, Silver
(Voll) Barley, Grain, Fruits
Coinage: OCA Silver Standard
Languages: Ortho Common (native), High Orthese (nobility)
Alignment (Populace):
(Heka) Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Neutral, Chaotic Evil
(Voll) Lawful Good, Neutral Good, Chaotic Good, Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Evil
Alignment (Law): Lawful Good, Lawful Evil
Faiths: Alzrius worship (outlawed), Bahamut (Dragons), The Lords of Order, The Lords of Chaos, Tiamat (Dragons)

Heka-Voll is a united pair of nations that were lumped together by the Ortho Council during the early years of its existence. This was partially due to the unsettled nature of Heka and an attempt to widen the power base of the nation of Voll. Voll was the birthplace of the Knights of Harmony and the place that their crusade began. It was, also, a small nation that had little in the way of material resources that Heka was abundant in. Heka, on the other hand, was harsh, savage country that traded more with the western continent than the eastern. While trade has increased with Voll, the expected transformation of Heka into a 'civilized' nature has never really occurred.

Currently, the two countries remain almost entirely distinct nations despite the fact that they've been united for the better part of the OCA's existence. Limited colonization efforts have been all that Voll has made into Heka. Attempts by the Voll to form the scattered populous into a disciplined society have resulted in several revolts. The Harmonium always crushes these revolutions within months but the people soon return to their independent days. With the ongoing colonization efforts of the latest King, most OCA officials are debating the possibility of a permanent large scale occupation.

The Kingdom of Voll

Voll is the very model of a picturesque Harmonium kingdom. Despite its historical ties to the Knights of Harmony, the Kingdom of Voll is rather undeveloped by the standards of Ortho. Despite efforts from the OCA to make it more integrated, the Kingdom of Voll has a strong streak of nationalism that expresses itself in giving minimal support to outsiders.

Likewise, the Kingdom's representatives have traditionally maintained a firm policy of keeping the OCA from interfering into Voll internal matters. The populous has largely supported this view and Voll has slowly moved from a major power on Ortho to becoming synonymous with 'provincial.' This irritates the citizenry of Voll to no end and reinforces the idea that they should handle their own affairs.

Large cities are not a common sight in the country and most of the land is filled with medium sized towns around vast farmland. The countryside is riddled with caves, ruins, and haunted forests that used to be home to vast numbers of monsters. Most of these were cleaned out by the Knights of Harmony but have a strange tendency to become repopulated as lingering Chaos magic clings to their walls.

The Territory of Heka

Heka is a barren, harsh, and rocky set of plains with a single Lake ridden area that turns the surrounding lands into a murky swamp. Its winters are harsh and its summers are sweltering. Rainstorms frequently cause flooding and life is extremely difficult for anyone who wants to eck out a living.

The land is, however, filled with a substantial amount of mineral resources. These used to be mined by the Gnomish cities in the area that have mostly been torn apart for construction of the current human cities in the region. Aside from pleasant stone houses, the cities are rather unpleasant and dusty places to live with a vast amount of smoke pouring from their foundries at any given time.

The Swamp regions are mostly inhabited by a mixture of Troll villages and humans that have learned to live in Marsh. Oddly, many beautiful human mansions have been built in the mire as the nobility of Voll insist on living in the one place that they could be surrounded by plant life.

Peoples:

The average citizen of Voll is law-abiding, stubborn, and opinionated. These qualities make them a bit of a headache for foreign Harmonium troops. Most foreign Harmonium members are unused to the blatant disrespect they recieve if they are doing a poor job of their duties. While plenty of citizens of Voll volunteer to join the Harmonium, usually this is to serve in the Voll branches of the military. Foreign Province born soldiers stationed in Vol are outnumbered by a factor of eight to one. The Vollites are genuinely Pro-Harmonium and OCA but consider themselves citizens of their kingdom first rather than part of a unified Ortho. This attitude mystifies many newly arrived soldiers.

The majority of Voll's citizenry are farmers and craftsmen. Most have a strong respect for tradition and very little interest in either seeing the world. Oddly, this quality has lead to a strong adventuring tradition as the ambitious almost have to join Venture companies in order to live an exciting life. Strangely, this has also made Voll one of the few countries where independent men with swords aren't greeted with automatic hostility.

Heka's citizenry is not as dissimilar as others might think. Many are born of a mixture of Thaerans, Heka, and Voll anyway. Most of the original inhabitants of Heka were slain by the Harmonium's bitterly fought Mage Wars. Indeed, Ortho's Gnomish population was entirely exterminated by the Mad King Flayn the Fourth. Hekans are hardened, rowdy, and unpleasant bunch. They are disgruntled with their lot in life and take it out on outsiders. The Harmonium is unpopular in this region and rules with a heavy fist.

The majority of Hekans live in mining towns and see very little of the tremendous wealth that they extract from the ground. Hekan towns are barely disguised independent military dictatorships but care less about how the populous behave morally than meeting their quotas. Aside from those sent to Prison Mines and Prison Farms, Hekans live relatively free lives compared to the rest of Ortho.

Wild tribes of humans that are halfway between bandits and nomads have been slowly popping up in recent years. The Harmonium has considered sending the military to deal with the problem but considers the logistical nightmare to be too much trouble. The Wild Humans know well the swamps and routing them out would be a pain with very little benefit. Many of these tribes are composed of escaped indentured servants and prisoners.

Leaders:

While it maintains a Parliament, the real power rests in the lands of local lords and the almost unchallenged power of the Flayn monarchy. Thankfully, the current King Flayn is a known champion of justice with a heart of gold. He is advised by the Ancient Gold Dragon wizard Flambeau, who is said to maintain the country's spy network and always gives good council.

The local lords of Voll tend to be almost ridiculously arrogant for their position in Ortho society. Most can trace their lineage back to a founder of the Knights of Harmony and they frequently point to their pedigree as proof of their superiority. They use this as evidence of their "obvious" superiority over democratically elected Harmonium officials. Heka contains a portion of these nobles. The Hekan nobility hold almost uncontested power of life and death over their serfs. Most Voll consider the Lords granted territory in Heka to be 'poor cousins' at best.

It is possible, albeit unlikely, to join the nobility of Heka-Voll. The easiest way to achieve this is to marry into one of the existing nobility. The King of Heka-Voll wields the power to grant knighthoods and baronies to outsiders but the number of times this has been done can be counted on two hands. Most of the nobility prefer to marry within their own ranks but are willing to accept wealthy Harmonium citizens into their houses, especially if they're from Voll to begin with. The majority of wealth in the current nobility of Heka-Voll comes from second and third sons that became Merchant-Venturers.

As Voll's star has faded in politics, a subtle undercurrent of venom has started to affect their representatives. The Ortho Council has frequently found the Voll members voting against foreign initiatives just for spite. This, the Lords of Vol believe, will help them maintain their independence by teaching the 'low borns' their place. Sir Terrance Greywords (CG H M Bard 7/Aristocrat 3) has established a powerful voting block that he manipulates for the benefit of Heka-Voll above the OCA.

Voll's Parliament is a miniature Council of Ortho in most respects. One third of the members are members of the nobility, one third of the members are members of the clergy, and one third are members of the commoner classes. Democracy provides for a third of the voters in Voll's Parliament but the candidates are almost all staunch traditionalists. This is achieved by Commoner Parliament candidates being backed by the nobility with many of them allowed to intermarry into the nobility if they vigorously support their patron Houses.

Prime Minister August Cecil is the head of Voll's Parliament. August has a relatively lax job but is frequently cited as overworked and paranoid despite this. Most attribute this to an incident a decade ago where King Flayn was nearly killed and had to spend a month with healers before he was released a new man. Cecil seems to blame himself since the incident is said to always weigh heavily on his mind as to the fragility of monarchy. Cecil is only the Speaker of Parliament's majority but wields the power to appoint its representatives to the Ortho Council.

The current scandal of the kingdom is Princess Tollandra. The headstrong young woman is the heart of countless rumors. These include that she's had an extra-marital affair with a nobleman, taken up ridiculous hunting expeditions, and that she's flirted with foreign gods. Most citizens hope that the young woman can be reigned in and married to a proper Voll noble.

Heka is almost lawless by comparison and its military governor, Countess Ommin (LE H F Wizard 9) being a stern and cruel taskmistress that appoints harsh Governors for each of the town. She considers her ruler-ship of the Heka to be a demotion and wants to get back into politics. An appointee of Duke Rastus, the most powerful nobleman in Ortho, Countess Ommin has been quietly skimming a large amount of the land's ore for the black market to enrich them both.

Dark of Heka-Voll's Leadership

Unfortunately, the nobility's arrogance has combined with their distaste for the rest of to create a thriving cult to Alzrius. Lead by Duke Rastus (LE H M Aristocrat 2/Cleric 8 ), the cult has been fostering well meaning adventurers to seek vast amounts of wealth. These adventurers split the proceeds of their heroic deeds with the nobility and are baited with the carrot of ennoblement. Most would-be-heroes never suspect they're enriching an evil brotherhood as they flout the Harmonium's authority.

Furthermore, King Flayn XI is hardly the saint that the populous thinks he is. The real Flayn was a convert to Alzrius worship and a complete scoundrel (CE H M Aristocrat 4/Rogue 2) before Flambeau the Dragon had him imprisoned in Wyrmspire. The current 'King' is a polymorphed Captain of the Guard. Flambeau has rewritten the memories of the guard captain to believe he is the actual monarch. Only the head of Parliament and a few others have been clued in. Prime Minister Cecil fears that the ruse may discovered at any time. Duke Rastus suspects and intends to blow the lid off off it at the first opportunity. Princess Tollandra doesn't realize her father is a fraud due to being raised by nannies.

As for Princess Tollandra, the irony is that the rumors show an insufficient lack of imagination to understand the reality. Princess Tollandra is a ridiculously wild young thing that has somehow managed to navigate the portals of several 'safer' Chaos caverns to travel across Ortho and the Planes. Tollandra's a complete wanton and worshiper of a goddess called Venus that she encountered in Sigil. She's had multiple partners, both male and female, plus has no respect for the Harmonium as a group. The fact she's a heroine and defender of the poor won't enter into Flamabeu's equations if he has to do something about her.

History:

In ancient times, Heka was once a seat of magical learning that was populated by great Wizard Kings, human peasants, and their gnome slaves. Snow Elves and pixies both dwelt in the blasted kingdom's Frozen North despite the wizard's best efforts to destroy them. The Lich King Harymias Khorzhoon founded the Cabal here. The Cabal's warlords were infamous for creating unimaginable horrors and magical abominations. If there was a past before the Wizard Lords, it has been eradicated by the mage's ruthless purging of their own history.

Meanwhile, The Kingdom of Voll was one routinely besieged by horrible monsters, many from Heka, throughout its history. A mad wizard of the northern land, Ulcastos The Black (CE H M Wiz 18 ) teamed with The Red Queen (CE F Marilith Cleric of Namaneil 8 ) to create a vast and interlocking series of portals underground. With the aid of countless Slaadi they brought over through the centuries, they created what would be eventually known as "The Caverns of Chaos." The Knights of Harmony were originally formed to repulse this threat and fought against Ulcastos' Orc, Goblin, Ogre, and Troll minions before slaying his fiendish allies.

Prince Rohmel was the Royal Family's youngest son but the only one willing to stand against the horror consuming their land. Eventually, both Ulcastos and his depraved consort were slain by the original Knights of Harmony but not before wiping clean the immediate Royal Household. Rohmel was crowned King of Voll and almost immediately left it in the care of his cousin, Flayn the Even Handed. Rohmel would never return from his crusade to redeem Ortho from Chaos but would eventually send his daughter to marry Flayn's son. Rohmel believed that the forces of Chaos in neighboring Iathra were a potential danger and immediately invaded it in hopes of liberating it the same way that he freed his country.

The irony of Rohmel's Crusade was that it touched Voll least amongst the many provinces he did battle in. Flayn managed, just barely, to keep the books in balance despite the tremendous levies and taxes that were required by the newly crowned King for liberating other lands. The only civil rebellions that ever occurred were done by Po Ji the Wanderer during this time. Despite Rohmel's almost deified state in Voll, many stories are still told about how the Po Ji slew numerous evil Sheriffs and tax collectors during this time. Eventually, Rohmel brought back a portion of the treasury of Iathra to Voll and the disturbances died down. This was despite the fact that Rohmel's armies then invaded the nation of Thaera.

Heka, during this time, had the Cabal finally overthrown by Jhary Etreiu of the Knights of Harmony. Jhary Etreiu was a autocratic tyrant but he seemed a positive saint by comparison to the Wizard Lords of before. Jhary Etreiu liberated the Gnomish peoples and proceeded to begin arranging his new kingdom to his liking. The first grumblings of dissent amongst the Knights of Harmony occurred when Jhary Etreiu refused most of Rohmel's demands for tribute to keep the war going. Nevertheless, Hekan legends tell of the countless soldiers that were sent off to fight and die in the conquest of Thaera.

Once the Crusades finished and most of Ortho was nominally pacified, Rohmel's heirs would cede themselves the Kingdom of Heka as part of the initial partioning of the planet amongst the Harmonium's armies. Jhary Etreiu, Prince Rohmel's immortal associate, was outraged by this since he had ruled Heka for centuries by this point. How this was passed through the early legislature of the Ortho Council is mystifying to modern historians. In truth, it has more to do with the Jhary Etreiu's caustic personality and the influence of his enemies. The Orcs of Motmurk despised Jhary Etreiu personally, The Beholders of Keln'in loathed the Wizard Lords of old that Etreiu was the last of, The Hobgoblins of North Thaera were anxious for a war to prove themselves in, and Voll's influential nobility desired the vast wealth inside Heka's mines. The Mage Wars have since been justified by a long series of Harmonium historians but most modern scholars consider it a senseless waste of men.

Less controversial is the universal horror and shame that accompanies "The Scouring." Flayn the Fourth, King Rohmel's Great Grandson, was a brutal racist and a murderous lunatic. The Voll Royal Household preferred to shield this secret from the whole of Ortho rather than lose any of their precious influence. Flayn The Fourth envisioned himself a great conqueror and leader like his father but lacked both the monetary resources or enemies to prove himself. Akashi the Destroyer, The Chosen of Alzrius, came to Flayn IV and promised to provide him the war that he required to make himself great.

A series of massive atrocities began occurring throughout the occupied Heka province with many "Forces of Chaos" conducting frequent terrorist attacks. The Harmonium was still recovering from the Mage Wars and several simultaneous provincial revolts (most likely arranged by Akashi). Thus, the Ortho Council agreed to forward Flayn the Fourth a war chest along with sufficient autonomy to conduct his own crackdown against the conflict. Under Akashi's advisement, Flayn IV ignored his disgust at humanoids and hired a massive army of unemployed Hobgoblin mercenaries from North Thaera. While maneuvering Voll's own troops to the occupied human towns in the region and out of eyesight for his intended plan, Flayn IV launched a crusade of annihilation against the Gnomish peoples of Heka.

Hundreds of thousands of Gnomes died in the resulting carnage. Flayn believed this would be viewed as a great victory by the whole of Ortho. Whether Flayn IV believed the generally loyal gnomes were secretly servants of Chaos or was simply a human supremacist with delusions of grandeur is unknown. Whatever plans he intended for dealing with the army that he'd hired that had slaughtered the Gnomish people were undone by The Burning Death. The Burning Death was a massive fiery conflaguration unleashed by Akashi the Destroyer on the packed human towns. The carnage created by Flayn's genocide provided the necessary fuel for a spell that wiped clean almost all of Heka's human populous plus a substantial portion of Voll's own people. Flayn IV did not survive Akashi's plague and some citizens suggest that he was dragged off to Alzrius' realm by a physical manifestation of the Demon Lord.

Due to the nature of the Burning Death, the actual details of The Scouring were not fully sorted out for nearly a generation. Hobgoblin and Human relations were set back tremendously due to the fact that both pointed fingers at the other for the unwarranted genocide. In truth, a great number of Hobgoblins tend to either claim that the Scouring never occurred (the gnomes destroyed by Akashi or human forces) or was actually justified against a vermin-like race. The later statement is often spread only by word of mouth amongst completely Hobgoblin forces due to the unpopularity of the sentiment amongst other races.

Since the Mage Wars, Scouring, and Burning Death; Colonization of Heka has since been half-hearted, at best. Despite these set-backs, Heka-Voll has tried to exert an incredible influence on the Harmonium in the name of their ancestors. Many Composers have been been from Heka-Voll but they were, ironically, reigns when the Harmonium's power was least expanded. Ideas of sovereignty and self-determination (used in place of the word "freedom") were important ethics in Voll but not exactly things that were high on the Harmonium's list of things to protect. Eventually, the kingdom's lack of economic muscle started to see it slowly phased out in place of the expanding city of Harmony's Glory.

Julhien was the last great Composer from Voll and a wealthy land owner that was different from the average member of the kingdom in almost every respect. Since then, the Heka-Voll representatives have been largely restricted to the Council of Ortho. Those few members of the Octave that come from Heka-Voll tend to find themselves disliked by their own people for making the compromises necessary to rise to the occasion. Conductor Ruograssa Tzuro was the former representative of Heka-Voll before Sir Terrance Greywords and is currently the most influential figure from this region in the OCA government. Oddly, most Voll view her as an outsider since she is only a noblewoman by marriage.

Notable Locations:

The Chaos Caverns of Ulcastos remain haunted by the powers of evil. A constantly shifting and endless series of tunnels that have literally hundreds of portals to other worlds. The Chaos Caverns are often filled with monsters of every type imaginable. Attempts to destroy the gates and clean out th Caverns have all resulted in failure. The Harmonium keeps several fortresses to watch over the cavern's known entrances and often hire mercenaries as cannon-fodder to go in and slaughter as many Chaos creatures as possible. It is suspected, though heretical to Harmonium doctrine, that Ulcastos long ago returned as a Lich and rules the Caverns from a Pandemonium island linked to Ortho.

Marshtown is what passes for civilization amongst the Heka. It is a swamp town that is built over the bog on stilts with drawbridges between the mud for humans while the Trolls just wander through the mire at will. The place was created by 'resettled' Thaerans and they pretty much exist as a bastion of Chaos on Ortho. The town has been burned down by the Harmonium three times but has always returned. People used to Ortho rules will find the populous openly worships the Lords of Chaos, lynch troublemakers without trial, and mind their own business. The representatives of Heka-Voll consider it a black hole that absorbs the lost of Ortho. They're right.

The Shattered City is all that remains of the former Mage Kingdom that once stood in the country of Heka. A blasted and terrible ruin, the place seems to have been of a substantially higher technological and magical nature than the rest of the world. Travel to the Shattered City is forbidden by nature of Harmonium Law, though a set of archaeologist teams continually visit with military supervision. The results are cataloged then locked away forever. It seems that a vast amount of ancient tunnels exist beneath the country in huge caverns that have been nicknamed 'The Underdark.' This is classified information and wild tales about what the original Hekans have become thanks to their magic is discounted by most who read their reports.

The Capital of Voll is Vollandria. Vollandria is a beautiful and idealized Harmonium city that, nevertheless, is rather anachronistic seeming to the rest of the world. The people are well fed, cultured, and mannered but they seem trapped in a different time. The peasants bow their heads to knights, Lords expect immediate obedience, and blood is more important than duty. It is mostly composed of white stone and the center for culture in Voll. The Castle of the Flayn Dynasty is, nevertheless, one of the greatest on Ortho.

Vollandria, and Voll as a whole, receives thousands of tourists each year. Especially noteworthy places to visit are the Tomb of Rohmel, The Grand Temple of War, and the Knights of Harmony museum that contains many relics of the original Crusade. A few of the relics are magical artifacts that are protected by vast numbers of wards.

At the base of Voll is a mountain-range that is almost a third kingdom. Wymspire is a place almost utterly divorced from both lands. That's because it's tens of thousands inhabitants are Dragons. Almost all Dragons on Ortho hail from this mountain range and live in Dragon-scale cities that few humans ever visit. The Dragons are genuinely Pro-Harmonium but consider it a relatively recent thing that may pass in time. The Dragons are polite but seemingly neutral in all things and their participation in the OCA is limited to sending diplomats along with paying their taxes.

Wyrmspire is almost a non-entity in the history of Heka-Voll. The Dragons of Ortho have never involved themselves in the affairs of the rest of the planet except on an individual level. When they do involve themselves, it is almost always in Shape changed form. The Dragons keep their history private and share only a bland oratory that few believe. The Harmonium has insisted on inspecting the region several times and have turned up nothing suspicious. Many scholars speculate on a secret civilization that is as old as the gods with power beyond imagination but the Dragons merely scoff at this. After all, how would they hide something like that?

Adventure Hooks:

+ The PCs are hired by clergy of the Gods of Order to go into numerous dangerous Dungeon Dwelves into the Chaos Caverns. After recovering several powerful chaos artifacts and turning them over to the priests to be destroyed, they discover they are now wanted by the Harmonium. It turns out that the 'Revered Sons of Ulcastos' have wanted these objects to prepare for a return of their master into the world.

+ Princess Tollandra has been kidnapped by an evil wizard! The PCs must journey into the heart of his darkened tower and rescue her! The wizard is a Clone of Ulcastos created by Flambeau that he intends to use to insert a Lawful Clone of the Princess in after the PCs heroically save the day.

Unfortunately, the problem is the real Princess has escaped and several other groups have found out inklings of the plot. It's going to be a mad dash to cover this up and the Gold Dragon is willing to use fire.

+ A vast army of spectral gnomes has poured out of Heka and have driven out a small cities' population. They've begun rebuilding their city from the ground up and the Harmonium is preparing for spectral warfare. The PCs are asked by locals to scout the event for the army.

They may discover the gnomes aren't ghosts at all but the populous of a city that went Ethereal to escape the slaughter but got stuck in the process. They're trying to phase back in. The Countess, however, won't be too welcoming...