Friday Encounter: Dueling Stylites

This encounter is best suited either on the road or in the wilderness. It was written under the assumption of being set in Golnir, where the practice of stylitism is at its strongest, but it could easily fit in other settings with character names and details being modified accordingly. Though the Byzantine stylites were the most famous, there is certainly evidence that the practice was carried on elsewhere.

Background

The party should come upon a region watched over by two stylites - members of a peculiar monastic tradition. The stylites live as hermits, climbing to the top of a pillar and living their life in lonely meditation, without the distractions of worldly life to keep them from focusing on the divine. Stylites survive off of rainwater, insects, and the donations of the faithful, and many have become sought after for their wisdom, with some attracting pilgrims who seek out these sagely masters for spiritual guidance.

At least, stylites are supposed to live in solitude. But sometimes, things don't go according to plan. This particular stretch of ground happened to be the site of a ruined Fedreline city, with many pillars left over from where the foundations crumbled. By sheer coincidence, two stylites each happened to find a pillar at either end of the city and claimed it as their station. The only issue is, they have rather different, and incompatible, theological outlooks on things...

The Encounter

There are a number of different ways the PCs might encounter the stylites. They might come upon them by happenstance, or they might be sent to seek them for guidance on a quest, or perhaps from following a rumor. If the PCs enter the ruin without looking for a specific stylite, they have a 50-50 chance of encountering one or the other first (alternatively, the DM can decide which monk seems more interesting for a first impression).

Abreas is a stoic old monk who has watched over his pillar for many years. In his years of deprivation, he has grown a long beard, which he wraps around his neck like a scarf. He sits atop a pillar that has broken in half, the capital laying on the ground beneath its foot. Abreas is a staunchly faithful man who entrusts himself fully to the whims of the gods, and he refuses any ideas that do not come from his visions. In particular, he believes that the gods are perfect beings, and thus incapable of creating evil. Therefore, if the universe and the creatures in it were created by the gods, evil must have been introduced by an outside force. Abreas holds that anything that causes harm to others must have been influenced by demons, and a proper devotee of the gods must refuse any such temptation. He sternly cautions others that they must only live a life of perfect virtue.

Leosthenes is a younger monk, but in cutting off all earthly desires, he has let his body wither away and appears much older, with a gaunt frame and hair that is falling out of his scalp. He sits atop the capital of a pillar that is decorated with the carved heads of lions. Leosthenes believes that all things in this world - good and evil - were created by the same gods; he holds that demons are not enemies of the gods, but in fact they work in tandem to achieve a predestined end. Because of this, he has come to the conclusion that whatever happens is a part of the divine plan - even if misfortune may befall innocent people, it is because the gods will it so. As such, he takes a lenient approach to morality; he thinks that if one is tempted to indulge in the pleasures of the flesh, steal, or even murder, it is because the gods want that to happen, and to try to avert that path is to invite their wrath.

The two pillars are far apart enough so that from the ground, one cannot be seen from the location of the other. However, the two hermits can see each other in the distance from their heights, and they can speak to one another if they project their voices. They have long known about their differences and have taken to trying to convert one another - in fact, they have a habit of loudly announcing any visions they receive to one another, always insisting the gods have delivered them revelations in defense of their viewpoints. Abreas believes Leosthenes is a dishonorable cad who makes excuses for sin, while Leosthenes believes that Abreas is a stick in the mud at best and actively meddling against the gods' intentions at worst. However, they are too firm in their viewpoints to change. Whenever the PCs arrive at the ruins, there is a 25% chance they can hear the two hermits engrossed in another argument. Each stylite would be happy to see the other driven off, but neither is willing to step down from their pillar in order to do anything about them.

If the PCs seek guidance from either of the stylites, the monks will try to use them as pawns in their debate, trying to use their actions to prove each other wrong. For instance, Abreas may send the party on a quest to prove their incorruptibility, hoping that if they succeed, it will prove to Leosthenes that virtue is a strength. Leosthenes, on the other hand, might point them to treasure if they express any interest in it, feeling that their greed is what the gods want of them, and that their success will prove his point, for why would the gods allow mortals to steal if they truly did not want it?

Of course, even if the PCs do succeed in a particular stylite's tasks, the other hermit will try to spin the results in defense of their point - for instance, Leosthenes might reject Abreas's quest as merely proving that the gods wanted the PCs to refuse temptation in this particular instance, and Abreas might slam Leosthenes's directions to the treasure as a blatant show of hypocrisy when he has rejected the pleasures of the flesh, undermining his position.

Ultimately, the stylites hope that they may be able to sway the PCs to their side so that the tasks they send them on may lead to their rival conceding to their points - or, failing that, to ensure they disappear. They might not be able to act directly, but if the PCs' actions end up serving their goals they certainly wouldn't complain...

Golniri Fire

Golnir may not have needed to wage a major war in years, but that does not mean it is without a military. The wealth brought in by its trade routes attracts no small amount of piracy, and the nobles with holdings on the coasts command great fleets to protect themselves - and their investments. Inland, the ruins of the Fedrelines have been adopted as hideouts by bandit gangs and marauding orcs. And the feuding of rival nobles inevitably leads to conflicts ranging from border skirmishes to the odd civil war. Every Golniri noble of any respectable power commands an army, and they are a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

One important innovation that has given Golnir an edge in battle is the development of Golniri fire. Devised by the royal alchemist centuries ago, this compound has seen uses in many a conflict. A combination of pine resins and sulfur is loaded into a vessel of some sort - such as a small clay pot either wrapped in burning cloth or with a wick attached, or a siphon linked to a pump that blows the resin past a flame (these are often built into the figureheads of warships, but handheld examples exist). When the resin is ignited, it produces a potent flame. So great is the power of Golniri fire that it even burns on water - it can only be put out by packing it with sand, or using an acidic substance like vinegar.

The Golniri typically spray fire from specially-made ships built to accompany siphons, though it is used on land as well, often in siege warfare. It is a weapon of great power, and has made the Golniri navy rightfully feared. Because of its destructive potential, the crown of Golnir takes great pains to ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands. The ingredients necessary to manufacture Golniri fire are a closely guarded secret, as is the construction of the siphons used to blow it - in fact, it is policy that those entrusted with the making of each component of the apparatus never have contact with one another, so that capturing one would not compromise the entire secret. Only the royal household is trusted with the manufacture of Golniri fire, and they rent it out to trusted allies - though, the fluid nature of Golniri ambitions means that those allies do not always stay loyal, and many noble houses that rival the crown have stockpiles of Golniri fire.

Nevertheless, a few treatises on making Golniri fire have slipped out of Golnir and found their way into the hands of alchemists elsewhere. Some of these are forgeries and won't work at all, but in other cases, alchemists have managed to successfully reverse-engineer weapons that work similarly to Golniri fire, though not always possessing the same properties. It is no secret that Golniri fire has made the kingdom's navy the envy of other powers, and surely they would pay handsomely to have the secrets shared.

New Items

Note that Golniri fire is not the same as alchemist's fire. In the Lunar Lands, alchemist's fire is a catch-all term that describes all other incendiary weapons - most of them were created as an attempt to reproduce Golniri fire, to varying degrees of success.

Golniri Fire, Flask

This sticky, adhesive fluid ignites when exposed to air. As an action, you can throw this flask up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. Make a ranged attack against a creature or object, treating the Golniri fire as an improvised weapon. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 fire damage at the start of each of its turns. A creature can end this damage by using its action to make a DC 10 Dexterity check to extinguish the flames. Dousing an affected creature in water will not put the fire out.

 Weight: 1 pound.

Golniri Cheirosiphon 

A cheirosiphon is a handheld version of a ship-mounted siphon used to project Golniri fire. It cannot be bought at stores and must be obtained from a quartermaster or looted from enemies. Using a cheirosiphon requires its own proficiency; characters must be trained in order to use it. With a DM's permission, a character may replace any of their starting weapon proficiencies with proficiencies in cheirosiphones. If you wish to use a cheirosiphon for a character's starting equipment, get your DM's permission in order to do so.

Damage: This weapon fires in a 10-foot cube area within a 30-foot range. Every creature in the area must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or take 3d6 fire damage. Additionally, on a failed save, they catch fire and take 1d6 fire damage at the start of each of their turns. A creature can end this damage by using its action to make a DC 10 Dexterity check to extinguish the flames. Dousing an affected creature in water will not put the fire out.

Weight: 10 pounds.

Properties: Ammunition (Golniri fire), Reload (3 shots), Two-Handed.

Golniri Siphon

This weapon is designed to work with the rules for ships found in Ghosts of Saltmarsh. It was, in fact, created in response to something I pointed out on the Ghosts of Saltmarsh subreddit on the lack of rules for alchemist's fire siphons. All credit to Reddit user level3kobold for this one, hope you're doing well out there.

This rotating nozzle is mounted on your ship's deck, and has room for a pressurized tank of alchemist's or Golniri fire. As an action, a creature may aim the nozzle and throw a lever, causing the tank to shoot a 60 ft long, 5 ft wide line of fire. Any creature caught in this line must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 14) or be set on fire. Objects automatically fail their saving throw. While on fire, creatures and objects take 2d4 (for alchemist's fire) or 2d6 (for Golniri fire) fire damage at the start of each turn. A creature can extinguish themselves or a 5 foot square within their reach by spending an action to make a DC10 Dexterity check to extinguish the flames. Large objects take damage for each 5 foot square that is ignited. Golniri fire cannot be extinguished by water.

By itself, this ship-mounted nozzle costs 1,000 gold to construct and install.

Each pressurized tank for this weapon also costs 1,000 gold. In between firing, the old tank must be unloaded, requiring an action, and a new tank must be loaded, requiring another action. Empty tanks weigh 8 lbs, while full tanks weigh 32 lbs. Refilling a tank requires 1,000 gold worth of alchemist's fire or Golniri fire.

You'll notice this is an extremely expensive weapon to use. Still, it's a deadly weapon in ship-to-ship combat, as it deal massive continuous damage to ships, as well as burning low-level shiphands to a crisp.

Compared to regular alchemist's fire, it deals twice the damage and covers twelve times the potential targets (reaching our goal of 24x strength). The cost works out so that it's more expensive until you use the weapon 5 times, at which point it starts to pay off and become less expensive.

As a bonus, players might get creative and try filling the empty tanks with liquids other than alchemist's fire...

Barbarians in Golnir

The term barbarian, in much of the settled world, is understood to refer to any number of pastoral peoples living outside of feudal society who are perceived to be rough and brutish in character - Northmen, Ukians, Levics, orcs, hillfolk, and Sonderlunding Highlanders, to name a few. In Golnir, however, the term refers more generally to foreigners of any sort, or more specifically, anyone who does not speak Golniri - early traders noted that foreign languages sounded like "bar-bar-bar" noises. The Golniri elite hold that their kingdom is the epicenter of splendor, culture, and sophistication in all the known world, and have come to look down on outsiders as backwards and crude - it is this attitude that gave rise to the negative connotations of the term.

Despite this, barbarians have their place in Golnir. The kingdom has not needed to fight a large-scale foreign war in many years (civil wars are another story, of course), and the nobility has grown lax in enforcing their borders, believing that they have attained such a glorious peace through their wealth and unity as to make further military action unnecessary. As such, standing armies are rare and small in size, paling in comparison to those of their neighbors. But the strife between Golnir's feuding nobles is well-attested, and no Golniri of any notable power would be so foolish as to leave their holdings unguarded. Many have thus turned to the barbarians to supplement their ranks. Foreign mercenaries may come from far afield to enjoy respected careers in Golnir, and many bands have found steady employment under Golniri masters. For some nobles, barbarians form an important component of their forces. Some have entire companies from foreign crowns in their service, and more than one noble has found that it was more efficient to pay the neighboring clan of orcs to raid their rivals on their behalf than to deal with them themselves.

In Golnir, it is understood that there are some tasks too unsightly for the nobility to sully their hands with. They may be too dangerous, like clearing bandits from a pass, and threaten the safety of important officials should they get involved. They may be considered too lowly and dishonorable for the upper classes, like thievery, blackmail, and assassination, and it would surely be a scandal if word of such deeds got out, no matter how well they may advance one's standing (in Golnir, it is considered acceptable to go the low road to get ahead, but it is shameful if you are found out). They may be both, such as recovering loot from the catacombs of the Fedrelines. In any case, it is preferable to turn to foreigners to handle the dirty work. There is no risk to the noble Golniri sorts that way, and who cares if a couple of barbarians die in the process?

In effect, the customs of Golnir have given rise to a strange sort of economy, where barbarians are sought out to do the kind of work that the elite cannot or will not engage in openly, and this has led to many wandering mercenaries and landless knights-errant in seek of work and a roof over their heads flocking to Golnir to find a patron. Many large Golniri cities have sizeable communities of barbarians, descendants of those who came to the kingdom under such pretenses.

Another benefit of hiring barbarians is that foreigners have no stake in the cutthroat politics of Golniri nobility. Golniri citizens may be loyal to a particular count or prince, and this may prove troublesome if the nobles they are in service to develop competing interests with those whom they support. But barbarians only need to care about who is paying them, which is usually a matter where allegiances are far less fluid and there is less worry about people climbing over each other. The personal bodyguard of the queen of Golnir is made up of Northman mercenaries, chosen not only for their ferocity in battle but because there is little worry of putting people with axes so close to the head of state if they can't possibly come from families with royal ambitions.

Kingdom Among the Ruins

In ancient times, the lands now known as Golnir were conquered by the Fedreline Empire. Where such an empire came from, and why, is a matter that is lost to time - what is known is that they settled the lands well, and waged war against the Nuwapians of Quel'Ahma to the south, becoming a fierce rival of the lich-lords of the desert. However, centuries pass, and empires crumble. All things must come to pass. Eventually, spent by war and internal strife, the Fedreline Empire collapsed, leaving behind the ruins of its great halls across the lands they once ruled over.

In the years to come, what would emerge in the shadow of the bygone empire was the Kingdom of Golnir. The descendants of the Fedrelines moved into the ruins of their forefathers, taking crumbling stone and toppled pillars and using them to construct homes, walls, and cities. Soon, the regional chieftains and petty nobles squabbling among the ruins saw fit to elevate themselves. They wished to become worthy successors to whatever power could possibly be great enough as to leave its mark on the world so thoroughly. Many ambitious powers set their sights on such a position, but Golnir - already among the wealthiest and most powerful of the local city-states thanks to its control of a strategic harbor at its capital of Lygos, and the trade routes that entailed - was the one to unite the realm and bring its rivals to heel.

Golnir is a land of wealth and opulence. Thanks to its proximity with Quel'Ahma, it enjoys close trade with the southern land, and the palaces of its nobles are awash in incense and draped in silks. Its temples are splendorous in gold leaf, and wine flows freely in the taverns. However, for all the prosperity Golnir claims, it can only hope to be a pale shadow of the magnificence of the Fedrelines. Many of that empire's arcane secrets are lost to time, and even to this day their ruins dot the landscape. Some of Golnir's greatest cities sit at the center of ruins that far eclipse them in size, with more ruined buildings than ones currently in use.

Golnir prides itself on its hard-fought unity. It holds itself as a bastion of peace, having conquered its rivals and brought its people together under a single banner. The Golniri have not needed to fight a large-scale land war against another kingdom in generations. However, though Golnir may look stable from the outside, it is a hotbed of intrigue, backstabbing, and conspiracy within. Many of its dukes and counts exert considerable power, relics of the autonomy of the old city-states, and they plot against each other for control over their own little empires. Even within the courts, powerful families compete against one another for a claim to the throne - or, sometimes more importantly, the influence to sway the head of the household's word while staying behind the scenes safe from the assassin's blade. The nobility of Golnir is renowned for their cruelty and ruthlessness, and it is not uncommon - even accepted - for political rivals to be exiled, castrated, blinded, or any combination of the above, should their fortunes turn.

To outsiders, Golnir may seem a paradise, where gold is as plentiful as water. To those in the courts, the life of a noble can prove even more dangerous than that of the commoner. And even through the ages, there are still secrets to be revealed beneath yet-unturned stones...

Levic Marches Hex Map

With the end of another month comes another hex map for the Year of the Gazetteer! Each hex equals six miles.

Click here to enlarge