Highlands Hex Map

With another month finished in the Year of the Gazetteer, it's time for another hex map, this one detailing a part of the Sonderlunding Highlands. Each hex equals six miles.

Click here to enlarge

Outlaws of Sonderlund

In Sonderlunding culture, there are some crimes so severe, it is deemed that not even execution will suffice.. Murder of a kinsman, the breaking of an ancestral oath - there is no codified set of circumstances for when such punishments may apply, as they are often meted out in an ad hoc fashion as an individual ruler sees fit, particularly in the disorganized Highlands, where thanes and kings rule by tradition and force of arms. But everywhere in Sonderlund is the concept of an outlaw understood, and the threat of being outlawed known and feared.

In most lands, to be declared an outlaw means that one can expect no protection from the law of the land, and that any matter of crimes directed against them shall go unpunished. In Sonderlund, however, there is more to the idea than that. Because of Sonderlund's long tradition of ancestor worship, it is believed that if an outlaw cannot be forgiven in this life, they may at least do something worth remembering with their dying breath, so that their progeny may still look back on them with honor. To this end, the greatest honor for an outlawed Sonderlunding is to die valiantly in battle against a worthy foe.

Sonderlunding outlaws roam the roads in search of a glorious death - their sentence is not the executioner's axe, but the battlefield, and they may never know peace. To die of natural causes, in fact, is considered a grave dishonor, and a sign that the outlaw was too much of a coward to face their fate, or else that they lacked the drive to redeem themselves with a death that may live on in the annals of history. So too, it is dishonorable for an outlaw to meet death at their own hand. Their dying breath must be made with a heroic effort, against an opponent that they must give all their effort against. It is even more honorable if they die while inflicting mortal wounds on their foe, but this is not necessary - only dying in battle is.

The life of an outlaw is not an easy one. While in the domains of their kin, they can expect no mercy or hospitality, for to aid an outlaw is believed to bring ill fortune upon one's household - the outlaw must meet their destiny by their own efforts. This leads to them being rather itinerant, going from place to place to seek new challenges and to avoid persecution. All the same, outlaws often acquire somewhat of a fearsome reputation, both for the nature of their crimes as so severe as to warrant their punishment and for the rugged sensibilities that allow them to survive on the road. Many petty thieves and brigands have actually given outlaws a wide berth, either out of fear of retribution, or because they know that it would dishonor the outlaw to fall victim to such an ignoble fate.

The travels of an outlaw may even take them beyond the lands of their people, or even beyond Sonderlund, and many outlaws have become great heroes in other lands, whether as slayers of monsters or generals on the battlefield. Beyond their homelands, outlaws are not necessarily shunned, but it is rare for them to lie about their status as an outlaw if they believe they will not be recognized, as this is seen as incredibly dishonorable. The pursuit of a heroic death is a solemn and important one, and one that outlaws are wont to accept as their fate, grim as it may be.

A quirk of this practice is that an outlaw who has slain many foes and survived to tell the tale is, technically speaking, not very successful as an outlaw. It means they are a mighty warrior and warranting of respect, but also that they have not been able to find an enemy that will grant them the death they seek. If an outlaw manages to best a foe without dying in the process, they often set their sights on an even greater challenge, hoping this will be the one. After all, they do not merely want to die, but to die heroically, and there is not much heroic about dying to rabid rats when you have slain dragons in the past. Though Sonderlunding honor culture may seem primitive and barbaric to outsiders, they have a great reckoning of the merits of many deeds and how they should be ranked, and this is not to be taken lightly.

For an encounter with a Sonderlunding outlaw, see here.

Art by Roman Zawadzki

Background: Sonderlunding Outlaw

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: One set of artisan's tools of your choice (your trade before being outlawed) and one musical instrument of your choice (a hobby you picked up to pass the time on the road).

Languages: Sonderlunding, one other language of your choice.

Equipment: A cloak with the tartan of your former clan, a dungeoneer's pack or an explorer's pack, a musical instrument of your choice, and a pouch containing 25 GP.

Feature: Worthy Foe. You seek a glorious death in battle, and you have an eye out for a foe worthy of doing the deed. You can issue a challenge with the effects of the compelled duel spell, so long as the target's challenge rating is equal to or higher than your level. If the target of this effect is a Sonderlunding, it has Disadvantage on the saving throw. If you drop to 0 HP during this duel, you have Disadvantage on all death saves made and cannot cheat Death.

Reasons for Being Outlawed (d12)

1. Committed murder against a member of your clan.

2. Broke an ancestral oath issued by one of your ancestors.

3. Partook in an affair with the spouse of your thane.

4. Toppled an important runestone.

5. Committed treason against your clan during a time of war.

6. Defiled a sacred grove.

7. Killed a sacred beast revered by your clan.

8. Lost an heirloom belonging to an important ancestor. 

9. Neglected a task entrusted to you by your thane. 

10. Killed a druid your clan was in service to.

11. Brought a fey curse upon your people.

12. Aided a necromancer.

Honor in Sonderlund

Sonderlunding culture puts a great importance on honor. Sonderlundings strive to live honorably and perform heroic deeds, both for their own standing and to advance their legacy so that they may be remembered as worthy ancestors. Here's an optional house rule to model the consequences of Sonderlunding honor culture. While these rules are geared toward Sonderlunding characters, they could easily be adjusted to suit similar cultures in the Lunar Lands, such as those of orcs or Northmen, or in other settings.

A character using these rules should write an additional stat on their character sheet called Honor. All characters start with 10 Honor, except characters with the Criminal background, who start at 5 Honor. These starting values may be adjusted based on character backstory, with permission of the DM.

During a campaign, a character's actions or conduct may cause them to gain or lose Honor. The DM should tell the player to adjust their character's Honor up or down when they perform such deeds, assuming that they have a witness to verify their account or provide evidence of their doings. A list of some common situations that may cause a character to gain or lose Honor can be found below. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, and a DM may need to use their judgment to determine the impact of actions not listed here on a character's Honor.

Performing necromancy: -100

Breaking an ancestral oath: -25 

Breaking an oath: -10

Attempting a quest with special circumstances (ex. defeating an opponent without weapons or armor) and failing: -7 

Attempting a quest and failing: -5

Being defeated by a weaker foe: -5 

Being taken captive: -5 

Committing murder: -5

Disrespecting a thane, king, or druid: -5

Fleeing battle: -5 

Refusing to pay weregild if requested: -5

Committing theft: -2 

Willfully lying: -2

Making a pilgrimage to a sacred place: +2

Recording your deeds in a runestone: +2 

Attempting a quest and succeeding: +5 

Avenging a fallen ally: +5

Defeating a member of a rival clan: +5 

Following in an ancestor's footsteps: +5

Making an ancestral oath: +5 

Attempting a quest with special circumstances (ex. defeating an opponent without weapons or armor) and succeeding: +7

Slaying a foe in battle: +enemy's CR minus PC's level (minimum 0)

Offering treasure to your liege: +1 for every 100 GP in value. 

Offering a magic item to your liege: +2 for Uncommon, +5 for Rare, +7 for Very Rare, +10 for Legendary, +20 for Artifact.

A character can boast of their heroic deeds to impress others. They may roll 1d100 if confronted by a non-hostile NPC; if the result is less than their Honor, that NPC becomes friendly. If using a reaction roll, you gain a +5% bonus to reaction rolls for every 10 Honor above 10, and a -5% penalty to reaction rolls for every 3 Honor below 10.

If a character's Honor ever goes below 0, they are declared an outlaw. Members of their clan may perform any crime against them (up to and including murder) with impunity, and they may not receive any benefits from members of their clan (for instance, they will be turned away if they attempt to visit stores or inns run by a clansman). They may or may not be considered redeemed if their Honor goes back above 1; DM's choice.

At 70 Honor, a character will receive a gift from their liege - usually a magic item or other such treasure suited to the character. They will be expected to pay the gift back in service or with another gift of a similar value.

At 80 Honor or above, every week, there is a 10% chance a character will be challenged to a duel by an opponent of similar strength. If this duel is refused, they lose 10 Honor.

At 90 Honor, a character will receive an invitation to the court of their liege, who may serve as a benefactor or quest-giver. If they refuse this invitation, they do not lose any Honor, but their liege may be insulted.

A character may not have greater than 100 Honor, or less than -100 Honor.

These rules were adapted from those given in the HR3: Celts Campaign Sourcebook for 2e D&D, by Graeme Davis.

Sonderlunding Ancestor Worship

Although Sonderlund practices the Old Faith, its Old Faith is a different kind than that observed by the elves or the hillfolk of Vardessy, Kvesland, and Togarmah. Although there is obviously overlap between all these groups, what characterizes Sonderlunding religion is a belief in ancestral spirits as the chief forces that must be obeyed and appeased, and that allegiances are sworn to.

Many Sonderlundings can trace their lineage back to ancient times, and they maintain extensive genealogies, often recounted through a long and unbroken oral tradition. They do this to recount the heroic deeds of great ancestors, reiterating their glories and attesting to the reasons as to why they must be honored. Though Sonderlunding religion does not deny the existence of gods, demons, and other spirits, it asserts that their intentions are not as important as those of the ancestors - after all, they are distant creatures, existing on a level beyond mortal comprehension, whereas the ancestors were once men and know of earthly concerns. Surely, then, they would have the intentions of their descendants closer at hand.

Sonderlundings believe that one must respect the word of their ancestors and live by it. This reinforces the stratification of societal roles; if one had an ancestor renowned for great deeds in a particular field, it is held that their descendants must follow in their footsteps to honor their ancestor's contributions, and thus, Sonderlunding traditions tend to be a family affair - warriors beget warriors, artisans beget artisans, druids beget druids. Even more important, of course, is the ancestral oath. A Sonderlunding may make an official declaration that is to be recorded in history, and their descendants are expected to live by it and honor it throughout the generations. Much of Sonderlunding law is codified through the ancestral oaths of past thanes and kings, which are held to be permanent and binding, and a not insignificant task of the druids is to interpret these oaths, the situations in which they apply, and when, if ever, it is acceptable to act against them. To a Sonderlunding, defying the word of an ancestor is seen as the ultimate form of disrespect and dishonor, and is never taken lightly.

Sonderlunding tradition holds that the ancestors build great palaces in the Land of the Dead, and that when Death takes one's soul, they join the ranks of their forefathers, where they feast and rejoice together. However, the spirits of the ancestors may be called upon to affect some change, however limited, upon the mortal realm. Many villages in Sonderlund have a shrine devoted to a past ancestor that the people make offerings to so that their spirit is appeased and grants them guidance in their particular field, and Sonderlunding druids often invoke their ancestors to grant them power while casting spells. This means that one's ancestry is important in determining what prayers may be made - it is considered rude to call on someone else's ancestors, so ideally, ones' own lineage should have ancestors suitable for a given prayer. For instance, if one's great-great-grandmother was a forester, her spirit will be a better one to call upon for aid in tracking game than one's great-grand-uncle who was a shipwright. If all else fails, however, it is considered acceptable to make a general invocation to the ancestors for aid in a given task, if one does not know of a particular ancestor that applies.

All this carries a particular implication. Unlike in Pantheonism or Elementalism, where the most honorable cosmic forces are beyond mortals, it is possible - rather, inevitable - for mortals to become ancestors. Thus, Sonderlunding culture places a great deal of importance on achieving glory in one's field to ensure that one may become an ancestor worth praising and invoking, and to ensure one's deeds live on in history. One who dies without accomplishing anything particularly impressive is doomed to be forgotten - but a great hero is remembered. It is not uncommon for old Sonderlundings who believe they have not accomplished anything in life to go out and seek one last glorious deed to accomplish (or die trying) before their time is up, in order to ensure they may be venerated by future generations.

As a material consequence of ancestor worship, Sonderlund's landscape is dotted by graves, barrows, and runestones commemorating historic deeds. As much of the populace is illiterate, these markers serve as a means to record the stories of their ancestors, and they are deeply woven into oral tradition, to the point where directions in Sonderlund often make mention of a particular barrow or shrine as a point of reference (because of course everyone knows which barrow Colum mac Dubh the Slayer of Men is buried in).

It also means that in Sonderlunding culture, it is important to respect the dead. In most lands, necromancy is not strictly illegal in and of itself, but it does carry the unsavory connotations that go hand in hand with grave robbery and meddling with corpses. In Sonderlund, however, to defile a tomb is a grave sin, and one that will bring down the anger of the ancestors. Necromancy is almost always punished by death, though some have gotten around this by issuing an ancestral oath that their bodies may be reanimated after death if any descendants should wish to perform such experiments.

Lastly, it is a consequence of ancestor worship that progress in Sonderlund - particularly in the isolated Highlands - moves slowly. Technologies like plate armor and gunpowder, as rare and expensive as they are elsewhere, are practically unheard of in parts of Sonderlund, as people are wary of new and unfamiliar things that their ancestors did not know of. Sonderlunding culture has remained largely the same for centuries, in no small part due to the traditions of ancestor worship and ancestral oaths.

The Old Faith

In ancient times - before the times of great kingdoms - much of the western part of the continent was settled by small and secluded tribal villages, and these people followed what is now known as the Old Faith. Over the centuries, owing to migrations from the east and chieftains realizing that claiming the favor of divine beings was good for politics, the traditions of Pantheonism steadily took hold. Yet, the Old Faith still persists, in lonely villages, distant islands, and among the rough hillfolk who maintain their old existence in the deep valleys where the trade routes do not reach. The Sonderlundings, too, honor the Old Faith, bound as they are to follow the wishes of their ancestors, though the closer one gets to Vardessy the more influence there can be found from their Pantheonist neighbors. In the Highlands, however, the Old Faith is at its strongest. Many a Highlander will scoff at the Pantheonist's ways as those of soft and cowardly folk who must rely on foreign gods to protect them - though Pantheonists, in turn, often regard those of the Old Faith as backwards, superstitious barbarians, if not outright demon worshipers.

To consider the Old Faith as its own religion is a bit of a misnomer. While the cults of the gods have defined holy texts and formal officials, the Old Faith does not. It is rather a collection of various folk traditions, and no two communities share exactly the same beliefs. There are, however, a few common features among Old Faith cults that define them as belonging to such traditions, often by means of setting them apart from Pantheonist customs.

While Pantheonist temples are staffed by priests, monks, and nuns, followers of the Old Faith look to druids as their spiritual leaders - those who can commune with the natural world; who know secrets that other mortals do not, and who can serve as a go-between to bridge the gap between the worldly concerns of mortals and the machinations of higher beings. Rather than belonging to a specific order or creed, druids are often those with particular skills to make them well-suited for the job, and they may be mentored by elder druids to prepare them to step into the role when their time comes. They know many spells and rituals passed down from one generation to the next, ones that help them communicate with the spirits of all things, or to call upon their aid in times of need. As a part of their initiation, an apprentice druid may be sent out into the world on a journey, such that they may come to know and understand the land and accept their place in life.

Followers of the Old Faith do not have temples in the way Pantheonists do. They recognize the concept of holy ground, but often this is not land that is so sanctified through rituals or divine acts; rather, sacredness is something inherent to the land itself. A given hill or lake or tree may house a particularly powerful spirit, for instance, and the power of that spirit becomes the subject of reverence. Rather than building structures to gather and perform rituals, those of the Old Faith tend to perform much of their worship in the open air at these sacred places. To build a temple there, it is said, would be an act of disrespect to the spirits, as it would be to attribute importance to the works of mortal hands rather than to the sacred place itself. They do, however, mark sacred places with altars, cairns, and stone circles, many of which have stood for millennia.

Lastly, not all followers of the Old Faith worship gods as discrete entities. All things in the Lunar Lands have some degree of life force to them - even rocks and plants down to the last blade of grass or grain of sand - and many Old Faith traditions direct their worship to these spirits of the land. Others, particularly in Sonderlund, worship their ancestors, and some cults recognize deities of their own, though these tend to be strange gods specific to a given locality, many taking the form of animals, that are regarded as belonging to the community, if with much greater powers. Pantheonist theologians argue that these are in fact manifestations of their own gods, but many Old Faith believers scoff at such allegations, insisting that their gods are closer than the distant gods of foreigners, who must surely have greater problems to concern themselves with and would never heed the word of a mortal. Other Old Faith traditions direct their veneration to the Fair Folk, though less out of admiration, and more to appease these capricious spirits with offerings and placatory rituals so that their mischief does not bring ruin upon them. And others still worship the elves, who are seen as being closer to nature and to their fey forebears - in fact, many Old Faith traditions grew out of elvish customs, and almost all elven communities practice some form of the Old Faith, though they regard the traditions of humans as embarrassing corruptions of the true way.

Though largely supplanted by Pantheonism in more settled lands, the relationship the Old Faith has with the Pantheonists is not one of adversity or persecution. Worship of the Old Faith is not considered immoral, and it is not as a whole held as a ruse by demons (though some individual cults may be demonic in nature) except by the most fanatical of Pantheonists; as Hell is the domain of demons, mortal souls can only be sent there by directly selling their souls, not by following the wrong creed. Most Pantheonists simply regard followers of the Old Faith as backwards and parochial, whereas the worship of the gods is the path of modernity and embracing the brotherhood of one's fellow man instead of clinging to insularism and tradition - their worship is something to be laughed at rather than hated and feared. Though many Pantheonist saints are celebrated for introducing worship of the gods to lands once held by the Old Faith, this is not a victory over evil, but merely an advancement of the divine plan.

Ironically, in many regions that have long since embraced Pantheonism, the legacy of the Old Faith is not forgotten. There are many local rituals that can be traced back to origins in the Old Faith, and many folk saints may well be ancestral or nature spirits that were subsumed into Pantheonist traditions. If one is used to practicing the rituals of the Old Faith, after all, it is easier to simply claim that one's god was in fact an aspect of one of the Pantheon or one of their saints than it is to adopt an entirely new philosophy and traditions. There are many small villages where the local shrine is built over or nearby a sacred place of the Old Faith, and the ways in which locals conduct worship there are hardly any different from those of their ancestors.

Old Faith Cult Generator

This cult worships... (d6)

1. a local god

2. the spirit of a long-dead leader

3. the land itself

4. the fairies

5. a nearby clan of elves

6. a demon in disguise; roll again to determine what it masquerades as

...and meets at... (d6)

1. a sacred tree

2. an ancient stone circle

3. the summit of a holy mountain

4. the shore of a sacred lake

5. the homes of the faithful

6. a sacred cave

...to practice rites involving... (d10)

1. dancing and chanting

2. the sacrifice of crops

3. the sacrifice of animals

4. the sacrifice of humans

5. offering libations

6. designating a member of the congregation to marry the spirit and live as a hermit

7. ritual combat

8. assuming the forms of animals

9. hunting game to offer to the spirits

10. entering trances to consult with the spirits

...in order to... (d8)

1. obtain good harvests

2. ensure favorable weather

3. have victory in battle

4. placate otherwise harmful spirits

5. be blessed with prophetic visions

6. heal the sick and wounded

7. inflict curses upon one's enemies

8. come closer to understanding their cosmic purpose

The Ancestral Lands

Starting to the southwest of Vardessy and stretching far out into the western ocean, Sonderlund is often described as a land out of time. It is a place of deep, dense forests, misty moors, and rugged hills, and it is perhaps the strongest holdout of the Old Faith, a remnant of the many tribal ancestor-worshiping cultures that once dominated the western part of the continent before the introduction of Pantheonism. The Sonderlundings are a stubborn sort that are reluctant to turn their back on tradition, and many still practice the Old Faith, honoring ancestors, nature spirits, and the fair folk and living by the oaths they swear to such powers and to one another.

Yet, even Sonderlund is not untouched by the hand of civilization. The eastern part of the peninsula is dominated by a confederation of fourteen thanages; the territories of powerful nobles who have managed to unite the varied clans into kingdoms of their own. These thanes meet as a council to determine matters of policy through common consensus, and this has allowed them, as a unit, to deal with the Imperial powers of Vardessy and the wealthy City-States as equals when they could never measure up on their own. Though the thanages still officially practice the Old Faith, there are many Pantheonist temples to be found within their borders, and many rituals once known only to the druids have been adopted into local cults of varied gods. In turn, Sonderlunding tribal customs were tempered, and the thanes adopted a form of feudalism more akin to that found in Vardessy.

That is, except for in the Highlands. Although much of the land under such a name is indeed hilly, the term "Sonderlunding Highlands" formally refers to any part of Sonderlund not under control of one of the thanes. Some thanages were unable to expand further into the difficult hill country, others were repelled by hostile tribes unwilling to surrender their arms to foreign rulers, and others still fell victim to the roving bands of orcs, elves, and even deadlier things that called the Highlands their home. Whatever the case was, a sizeable part of Sonderlund remains a wild frontier, one that outsiders often perceive as lawless (though this perception owes more to the distinct culture of the region). And, through a combination of isolation and the bitter refusal of the people to accept change, the Highlands have held onto their traditional customs for centuries.

Here, the druids of the Old Faith enjoy places of authority in noble courts. Here, honor is everything, and one is expected to swear by the word of their ancestors just as much as they would to a worldly liege, even long after their forefathers have passed. Here, to break a blood oath is a greater sin than even murder, and one punished more harshly. Here, mankind holds to small and scattered villages under the banners of petty chieftains, and borders are constantly drawn and redrawn with skirmish and bloodshed. These are the Highlands - the lands some might call barbaric, and others might call truer to themselves than any other.