Three Lore Garbage facts about Albion:
- There are two secret cardinal directions in Albion, both orthogonal to the conventional four. Going Deathwise leads one closer to the Hereafters. Going there is generally a one way trip, but travelers can stop at the Sunless Lands, the miserable marches beyond the Lands of the Living where the angels, demons, and vampires make their courts. The opposite direction, Whimwards, leads into the Kingdom of Faerie, ruled by the King of Roses Red and his sprawling, decadent court.
- Death is a physical entity in Albion. It is responsible for ensuring that the deceased transition to the Hereafters properly and employs a vast, sclerotic bureaucracy of psychopomps and demigods to fulfill its duty. Known as the House of Death, it largely does its job, but history is filled with powerful magicians who extended their lives by banishing, imprisoning, or binding the psychopomps sent to collect their souls. Death always wins out in the end, however–neutralizing a psychopomp means that the House will eventually get around to sending something more powerful to find out what happened to one of their agents, and at the top of the hierarchy is Death itself. (Functionally, this means rather than a Death and Dismemberment roll, there’s a Les Petites Morts table that determines which psychopomp is coming to scoop out your soul, and what you can do to stop them)
- Hell sent the Infernal Expeditionary Army to occupy Albion centuries ago. It failed utterly, but its leaders decided to stay–the climate was lot better, and they only had an eternity of excruciating punishment to look forward to if they returned. Now their general and her officers pass their time by waging perennial war against the angels the vampire warlords in the Sunless Lands, collecting souls and sowing sin all the while.
Here’s a monster:
Vestal of Cinder
HD 10 Speed human (hover)
Armor none Attack throw Black Fire (as greataxe, see below)
Morale 12 Alignment Lawful
Vestal Virgins who blasphemously immolated themselves in the sacred flames they tended, charred skeletons in pristine white vestments. There are thirteen in all the world, and they serve Vesta Mortua, Goddess of the Cold Hearth. In their freezing temples, they endlessly perform the rituals that sustain the necromantic legacy of fallen Rome.
Vestals of Cinder can cast Necromancy spells as a 10th level magician.
Any flame ignited or tended by a Vestal of Cinder is Black Fire, which sheds cold and dark rather than heat and light. Just as true flame burns the living to death, Black Fire burns the dead back to life, raising them as malevolent undead creatures with the abilities, appearance, and knowledge they had when they lived.
When a Vestal of Cinder dies, her body reforms in the Black Fires of her home temple the following midnight. These flames can only be extinguished through supreme magical effort–a powerful Angel of Seas or a huge quantity of Clarified Water might do the job.
Inverse Revenant
HD as in life Speed human
Armor as worn Attack as wielded weapon
Morale 12 Alignment Neutral
Black Fire is inverse flame, and those burned to life by it share that quality. Inverse revenants retain the memories, abilities, and attributes they possessed in life, and appear as a mirror image of their living selves. Inverse revenants do not retain their personality–they are all malicious, albeit loyal, servants of whoever started the fire that raised them. They speak to each other backwards and will do anything to avoid the sight of their own reflection.
