Eisen

“We were once prosperous and full of promise. We were once a lot of things. Now we are this. But I will tell you one thing. We are still proud. And there are still monsters to fight.” —Unknown veteran of the War of the Cross,

Mention the name Eisen anywhere across Théah and people tell tales of horrifying beasts, mountains where drachen once roamed and stretches of land soaked deep with the blood of armies long since gone.

Nearly twenty years ago, the War of the Cross ravaged an entire generation of Théans, killing and traumatizing the Eisen people and marring the countryside. The nation collapsed, its monarchy destroyed and all industry driven to a halt. In its place, monsters roam with impu-nity and former soldiers fight to keep people alive against nightmares other Théans could only imagine.

Eisen struggles to unify and rebuild in an ever- modernizing world. A new generation has come into adulthood since the War, and an Eisen youth chafes under the constant reminders of a war she never fought. The respect she has for her elders mixes with frustration over the country’s focus on its past when the future seems so uncertain. The Nation looks to the seven Eisenfürsten to lead them to a better tomorrow. Too bad none of them can agree on what that tomorrow should look like, or who should rule.

And then, there are the Horrors. From every corner of Eisen, the darkest shadows give up terrifying beasts, ready to savage, corrupt and destroy. To be a child of Eisen means being born to fight, to survive the Horrors and to keep the people safe, one day at a time.

## Rebuilding a Nation

It has been a full twenty years since the War of the Cross, and Eisen still struggles to find its feet. The largest hindrance to rebuilding the Nation may be the Horrors, which ravage the countryside, but the lack of a single ruler doesn’t help. On top of that, the population of Eisen is markedly decreased, leaving land untilled and work undone. Emigration is a huge problem as the Horrors send people fleeing to safer nations, and few newcomers stay for very long.

The one thing Eisen does not lack is funding. Even the poorest Bauern has more wealth than the peas-ants in many other nations. The Adel have riches untold, with little to spend it on. Labor is a hard commodity to come by, though a worker who serves an Adel to maintain her lands can expect a hand-some payment. Many Eisenfürsten do all they can to entice people to come live under their protection, often offering great rewards just to till a small plot of Horror ridden land.

Other Théans recognize the potential of Eisen’s people and land, and try to help as best they can. The Vendel League hopes to give support to the people, but only a few Eisenfürsten bother to deal with them, making it hard for their help to make much of an impact.

Most of Eisen remains Objectionist with a few Vaticine holdouts remaining in pockets here and there. Mostly, the people of Eisen are so exhausted of religion that many of them have forsaken Theus all together.

The people who remain in Eisen are fiercely loyal to their Nation and strive to make it a safe place again, or at least to carve out islands of security for the people to live. Each and every person living in Eisen trains as a warrior by necessity. Few native-born Eisen die to Horrors after the age of ten, as by then they are fully versed in how to most efficiently kill the creatures. Their dedication and prowess could be enough to beat back the Horrors, if only they organized.

Recognizing this truth, several factions have sprung up throughout Eisen, each proposing a new Imperator to lead them to stability and safety. Unfortunately, no one can agree on the best options, and some of the candidates want nothing to do with the position.

Additionally, some Eisenfürsten are happy to continue ruling with little oversight or laws. These do all they can to prevent a new Imperator from rising, or possibly seek to take the position for themselves.

## Important People in Eisen

### The Eisenfürsten

Before the War of the Cross, Eisen had a ruler whose blood went back countless generations. When Imperator Riefenstahl died, he left a power vacuum which politi-cians have struggled to fill for the last twenty years. Devoid of a ruler, the country split into seven königre-iche, ruled by the former barons of the land. These new Eisenfürsten have since solidified their territories, and rule their portion of the country as they see fit. With the people looking for more stable leadership, each Eisenfürst presents a possible new leader.

The Eisenfürsten set the tone for their königreiche, from their political views to the way they manage the land. The people of Eisen are fiercely dedicated and stand behind their leaders, despite any qualms they may have with them. The Eisenfürsten also maintain a court of advisors around them, each with their own needs for their business and the people they represent.

A person seeking aid, information or trade of favors finds the courts of the Iron Princes the place to get what she needs. Heroes can find the Eisenfürsten embroiled in their political plays and always looking for new allies, hirelings or even enemies to push along their own agendas.

### Niklas Träge

The most enigmatic of the Eisenfürsten is also perhaps the most popular. Niklas Träge did not begin life as a baron, but the discovery of a hidden cache of dracheneisen deep in a mountain cave during the War allowed the former commoner to buy his way to a title under the Imperator. Everyone forgets to mention that Träge only found the weapons and armor after he lost his unit on the battlefield and went wandering, but the power of money and prestige can bury any dishonor in the public eye. Träge, however, never forgave himself for the loss and carries the scars of his time at war to this day.

Once the War ended, the other Eisenfürsten and the people expected Träge to care for the königreich under his domain. Instead, he spent over a decade slogging through the desecrated battlefields fighting Horrors and trying to forget his mistakes during the War. He eventually ran out of funds and returned to the wreck of a königreich to pick up the pieces. The result is Freiburg, the “Free City.” All within Träge’s territory live with no centralized law in his grand social experiment, which he watches from the top of his Watchtower with a bottle of wine and his memo-ries to keep him company.

Träge, a solitary man, remains haunted by his feel-ings of unworthiness and the tragedies he witnessed during the War. Of all the Eisenfürsten, Träge has no interest in higher political aspirations, instead focusing his time on maintaining Freiburg for its people and keeping the other Eisenfürsten from poaching resources or power. While Träge is aware many see him as a great candidate for chancellor or perhaps even a crowned leader, almost nothing on all of Terra could move him to take the position.

The management of Freiburg is about as much responsibility as Träge wants and he relies heavily on his right-hand woman, Wilma Probst, to keep the barely controlled “Free City” and the rest of the königreich from burning to the ground. A lover of poetry and learning, Träge surrounds himself with books in a library. His most prized possession is the gauntlet of the Imperator, a reminder of their great leader, tragically lost.

### Roswitha von Wirsche

Roswitha von Wirsche was a young baron’s wife when the War began, and her husband Reinhard rode off to war with her sons Edgar, Frederick and Siegrud. A beauty with Vestenmennavenjar blood, Roswitha’s world shattered when her husband and sons died in battle. Roswitha went into seclusion and many believed her husband’s brother would take over the barony. But it was Roswitha who arrived for the first meeting of the Eisenfürsten. Her husband’s brother was incidentally never heard from again. And Roswitha emerged from seclusion a different woman. Her beauty and strength returned, after the War she took up management of her lands with vigor.

In the twenty years that followed, Countess Roswitha worked tirelessly to rebuild her territory until the land once more bloomed. Wirsche became a success story for all of Eisen to see, a land protected by a division of the Iron Guard desperately loyal to their Countess. Wirsche’s success helps the rest of Eisen ignore the rumors about servants and travelers going missing at Roswitha’s manor in Siegburg, rumors that point to Roswitha as the cause.

The few bodies that do turn up are mysteriously short on blood. Moreover, many have begun to notice the Countess has not aged a day in twenty years. And anyone who knows about the monsters of Eisen whispers only one possibility in hushed tones: blood drinker. Still, without clear evidence, pointing a finger at one of the most powerful women in Eisen would be impossible, so even her growing group of detractors remains silent. Meanwhile, Roswitha keeps Wirsche growing through a healthy application of carrot and stick, offering incentives to those who work hard and threatening those who fall behind on her standard of productivity with visits by her Iron Guard.

To the world, the Countess is a ruthless, efficient ruler, dedicated to the prosperous growth of her königreich. With her territory’s growth, she leads as a frontrunner to take control of the country, a position supported by Heinrich Dray, leader of the Iron Guard in Wirsche and her passionate lover. Dray publicly issued a challenge to Niklas Träge of Freiburg: hand over the gauntlet of the Imperator so that Roswitha might wear it and rule. Whether the message came from the Countess herself, no one knows. One thing is for sure: Roswitha has been annexing territory slowly from other königreiche around her with the help of her Iron Guard, and no one seems prepared to stop her.

### Elsa Pösen

Set against the northern sea, the territory of Pösen survived the War mostly unscathed, leaving the young baroness in charge of one of the last intact homes of Eisen’s pre-War culture. The sense of peace did not stop the brave Elsa from marching south with her father’s best warriors to lend the Pösen armies to the war effort. Elsa distinguished herself as a great leader and heroic fighter, and once her father died, she was the obvious choice to take up leadership of her könig-reich. Then the real troubles began.

Once the War ended, Horrors besieged Pösen, climbing up out of the swamps that dot the land-scape. Warriors returning from war found themselves without respite, driven into a pitched battle to rescue family and home from all manner of monsters. Elsa set to work immediately bringing her Iron Guard to order and recruiting ex-soldiers to patrol her borders. A brilliant tactician, Elsa turned the rise of the Horrors into an opportunity, organizing military bands to sell their services to traveling merchants for protection traveling south from Vestenmennavenjar. With the cut she got from the endeavor, she renovated her ports to put Pösen in place to control the import and export of goods into Eisen and solidified herself and her city as paragons for the rebirth of the country.

The baroness remains a proud and arrogant warrior, at home fighting Horrors as much as arguing with the other Eisenfürsten. Below the arrogance lies a canny mind, however. Elsa has begun secretly supporting the flagging Fischler and thrown her support behind the Drachenblut in the hopes their young commander Rosamund Roth might be the Hero Eisen truly needs to pull itself back into a single, united country.

### Stefan Heilgrund

Of all the Eisenfürsten, only Stefan Heilgrund never saw the horrors of the War of the Cross firsthand. Born at the end of the War, Stefan is the youngest of Eisen’s leaders and a brash believer in setting aside the past to fight for a new, more energetic future. Stefan was the only son of the old Baron Peter Heilgrund, born in the golden years of the former military commander’s life. Young Stefan wrestled control of the barony from his elder uncles almost as soon as his father died and set about leading the territory by force of youthful energy and aggressive reform.

Stefan himself cares little for the everyday difficul-ties of ruling his königreich. Instead, he sets his sights a great deal higher: on leadership of Eisen itself.

Stefan believes he is the perfect man to unite Eisen and lead it into the future, a fact he has not bothered to keep secret from anyone, including the rest of the Eisenfürsten. Largely disliked and derided by the rest of the Iron Princes, Stefan seeks new and more radical displays of power to gain footing among his peers.

The baron splits his time between riding out with his Iron Guard in great displays of “military leadership” and studying all manner of the occult in a massive library of tombs bursting with knowledge collected from all over Terra. Stefan believes the key to winning leadership of Eisen is to discover a magical solution for the Horrors. To that end, he has funded numerous expeditions all over Eisen and the world in search of Syrneth relics and drachen bones, a combination he believes hold the key to untold power for the wielder. If he can only unlock their secrets.

### Falk Fischler

Falk Fischler represents a cautionary tale of the mistakes of youth. This fifty-two year old Eisenfürst started from humble beginnings, the second son of a struggling merchant, and ended up marrying a poor Ussuran traveler. Despite their lack of money, Falk lived happily with his wife Olga.

When War came to their town, both Falk’s father and brother, Dieter, went to fight while Falk stayed behind due to failing health. He never imagined their bravery would earn them a barony. Though Dieter died, the Fischler family received a title and land carved from Sieger and Hainzl territory. When Falk’s father died soon after, Falk inherited the title.

Falk was overwhelmed by the duties of an Eisenfürst. In one of his first decisions, he moved his family to a newly purchased villa in the mountains, something befitting a new baron. Yet, tragedy struck as Horrors attacked. Falk survived with his young daughter, Ketheryna, but the Horrors slaughtered Olga.

Fischler, intent on presenting Ketheryna with every opportunity to make up for their former poverty, wanted to build her a barony she could be proud of. Obsessed with keeping her safe, Falk seized on the opportunity to send her to foster in the court of Ussura, where she grew to catch the eye of the Czar. Excited by the prospect of his daughter becoming a queen one day, he accepted the marriage proposal without asking her permission. The decision drove a wedge between them, and the two have not spoken since.

Separated from his beloved daughter, Falk watches his königreich struggle. The fishing industry falls to near ruin, as each haul out of the Südsee grows leaner and more sickly. The nobles have divided up power among them and maneuver themselves with impunity, disre-specting his rule. Far away in Ussura, Ketheryna is now a contender to become the new Czarina—a fact that would overjoy her father if she would just speak to him.

And worse, even his own Iron Guard seems to have turned against him, taking bribes to protect the nobility over the commoners. Only the Drachenblut, a new organization out to protect Eisen, seems intent on helping defend his territory from their place in the mountains to the west. Their stirring call to the old days of Eisen pride and power is the only thing wresting the melancholy baron to action, inspiring him to heroic deeds for the first time in his life.

### Erich Sieger

Erich Sieger’s desperation has warped him into a singularly driven and ferocious man. Erich has ruled Sieger since he was a young man during the War. The young Erich started off as an idealistic and passionate follower of the Imperator and a staunch Objectionist. He believed his service to his Nation and to his ruler would earn him the Imperator’s thanks. Instead, Erich watched helplessly as Riefenstahl carved off a piece of Sieger land to make the Fischler barony.

Sieger originally stretched to the south and west, making it prime territory for invasion forces from Montaigne and Castille. Many of the worst battles of the War hopelessly ravaged the population and razed entire cities to the ground. Erich’s hope lay in peace finally restoring his land, but the Imperator had other ideas. The ruler had decided in his final days to carve off the southern edge of Sieger land to give to Castille should peace negotiations become possible, a decision honored in the Treaty of Weissburg at the end of the War.

Intent on keeping what little land he had left, Erich ordered his farmers to salt the fields to stymie invaders. Between the ruined fields and the Horrors, nobody wanted anything to do with Sieger land, even its own tenants. In the last twenty years, people have fled Sieger to all corners of Théah and across the Seas to find new lives. Only Erich and his most dedicated followers remain, eager to keep what little they have left.

Sieger is old, exhausted and out of sorts. He flies into rages and dangerous paranoia plagues him, consumed with the notion that others want to take the last of his land away. The fact that Wirsche has made overtures to annex parts of his land have not made this any better.

### Georg Hainzl

During hard times, some prefer to embrace the grim reality around them. Others choose to ignore the difficult reality. Georg Hainzl, baron of Hainzl lands in the northwest, is one of the latter. A generous and gregarious man, Georg Hainzl refuses to accept Eisen’s decrepitude and instead calls others to recog-nize the country for what it could be: a place of wild beauty and grand adventures. Some like his charming view of Eisen; most believe him simply delusional.

Georg Hainzl’s rule is based on mining the forbid-ding Dracheneisen Mountains. The historic moun-tains were the source of dracheneisen, the country’s famous iron forged into terrific weapons and armor. Though the veins of dracheneisen have long since gone dry, the mountains also possess rich deposits of silver, ore and gems which flow right into Hainzl’s coffers. Georg has used that money to spruce up his part of the Nation. While the invading armies marched west into Wirsche or east into Sieger, Hainzl remained relatively untouched in the mountains, and stockpiled wealth and welcomed refugees.

Many believe Hainzl’s focus on beauty comes from the tragedies in his life. It is no secret Georg lost his family in the War. Most believe his lost love Kurt, a musician killed by Horrors while traveling to a festival in Freiburg, drove Hainzl to his isolation. Left alone to rule with no loved ones around him, advisors whisper, Hainzl could not handle the stress of Eisen as it is now.

Instead, Hainzl buries himself in music and beauty, all in tribute to his lost Kurt and the family he strug-gles to honor. Only Hainzl’s Iron Guard and the Drachenblut, headquartered in the mountains, keep the monsters lurking in Eisen from swallowing the königreich whole. The other Eisenfürsten, especially Elsa Pösen, caution Hainzl to be wary, but Georg can hardly be bothered. Too busy spending his money on lavish parties, town beautifications and concerts, he fails to notice the dangers around him.

### DELUSIONS

Some call Träge a coward and delusional, but really he just wants to forget the Horrors he has seen. He looks inward and surrounds himself with reminders of what made Eisen great, unlike his peer, Hainzl, who clearly lives in a fairy tale. Hainzl is not happy unless everyone around him helps propagate his belief that the world is still lovely and kind.

While they both lead lives clouded by their own delusions, the people living in their königreiche have diﬀerent views. Träge is a visionary, though reclusive. He has big ideas but does not know how to enact them. Even if his seclusion seems cowardly, the people of Freiburg appreciate what he does for them. Hainzl, on the other hand, ignores real threats that his people face on a daily basis. His imaginings actively hurt his people and while it is nice to think that Eisen remains beautiful, it just is not true—and cannot be true—until the Horrors are eliminated.

### The Drachenblut

Once, Eisen was a land of warring tribes and monstrous creatures called drachen, who prowled the land and slept beneath what became known as the Dracheneisen Mountains. No one knows exactly what happened to them, but the legend of the Heroes who slew drachen in ancient days resonates across Eisen into the current difficult times. The people see the drachen as an important icon, the image of a sleeping power waiting to be reawakened in the land. In the years after the War, with no leader to bring the country together, the people of Eisen needed such a symbol to unite behind.

Enter the Drachenblut. Made up largely of errant knights, disenchanted Iron Guards and former soldiers, the Drachenblut are an organization born out of the idea that to heal Eisen, warriors must become as great and as strong as the drachen. A potential recruit travels across Eisen and braves the dangerous climb through the Horror-infested moun-tain passes to Burg Wachesherz, the home of the Drachenblut. There he trains for three years before being initiated into the organization.

Underneath the banner of a gold drachen with outstretched wings, the knights ride to protect the people of Eisen from all dangers, Horrors or other-wise. The image of these powerful warriors riding into town to save the day has inspired many to claim the Drachenblut the true saviors of Eisen and perhaps the ones to lead Eisen into the future.

They point to the organization’s leader, war veteran Rosamund Roth, as a powerful contender for chan-cellorship or even Imperator. Rosamund has never publicly denied interest in leading, but instead focuses her dedication on the Drachenblut and the suppression of monstrous threats across the country. The group otherwise takes no position or stance on politics, instead serving the greater good of all the people of Eisen.

The Drachenblut are not without their detractors. The Iron Guard bristles over what they perceive as a direct threat to their military and policing powers, and groups of Iron Guard have clashed with Drachenblut warriors over jurisdiction in several königreiche. And they are not wrong; the Drachenblut claim allegiance to Eisen as a whole and travel to any land within it to enact justice.

People are unnerved by rumors about Drachenblut initiations. Stories in which a recruit bathes in the blood of monsters, eats the hearts of animals or maybe bites into living animals with her bare teeth, just like a drachen did. Whether these are rumors to turn the people against the organization or a sinister truth, no one is certain. Burg Wachesherz is so secluded, few visit without the Drachenblut’s permis-sion and live to tell the tale. While people question their methods and intentions, everyone agrees the Drachenblut are a Heroic, powerful force for good in a weary and barely recovering Eisen.

And they are recruiting. With the ever-present prob-lems in Eisen, the Drachenblut spread the message far and wide: join the blood of the drachen, and become a force for change to shake the foundations of the world. A new member must only make pilgrimage to Burg Wachesherz after getting a member of the Drachenblut to vouch for him and survive the grueling trials before he can ride beneath the golden drachen banner.

They sometimes work with die Kruezritter, though their methods are less savory to the group of Horror hunters. Die Kruezritter fear that the Drachenblut are in danger of falling to Villainy. They also openly accept hexe into their ranks whenever they find them. Recently, the Drachenblut have announced a search for more dracheneisen weapons, an announcement met with deri-sion and rage from the Iron Princes and their Iron Guard.

### The Iron Guard

Few fighting forces in Théah command as much fear and respect as Eisen’s Iron Guard. These loyal guard-ians have existed as far back as the Nation’s inception under Stefan the Great and have served the ruler and the people of Eisen ever since. Now with the leadership of Eisen in question, the Iron Guard has been split into seven small private armies, each loyal to an Eisenfürst. Still, each unit protects its königreich under their rallying oath: Geschmiedet aus Eisen, Gehärtet in Blut.

### “Forged from Iron, Tempered in Blood.”

The Eisenfürsten take warriors from all across Eisen. A recruit can come from common or noble stock alike, with the prospect of setting aside her entire life to seek out a position in the Guard. A recruit must already know how to track, fight with a sword and ride even before entering training, which is some of the most rigorous anywhere. She must also secure a letter of introduction from a person of note from her home königreich before even being seen by the head of recruitment and division’s leaders for consideration.

Many prospects never make it through training to take the oath, but those who do are some of the most formidable fighters in the entire country. The secret to their superior fighting capability lies in their ability to work seamlessly as a unit. Iron Guard units, made up of twenty soldiers, operate as one, trained to anticipate their fellows’ movements and able to move in concert without the need for words. Iron Guard members train to protect one another or risk leaving their flanks exposed. For this reason, units histori-cally experience a low turnover rate, with every death mourned like the loss of a limb.

In previous generations, the Iron Guard stood united under the banner of a single commander who served at the side of the Imperator. Now, each of the seven individual Iron Guard units have formidable leaders, living legends whose reputations precede them all across Eisen. The most notable leaders of Iron Guard units are Kurt Valrund, a powerful but older bull of a man leading the Swamp Dogs in Pösen, as well as Selena von Hoff, a savvy and sneaky younger woman in command of the Wachhunde serving Niklas Träge. The most famous is Heinrich Dray, an Adel’s son who gave up his position of nobility and wealth to serve as commander of the Roaring Drachen under Roswitha von Wirsche.

The lack of centralized leadership has unsettled much of Eisen, and the Iron Guard have fought, bled and died to keep everything from falling to pieces. Despite supposedly being apolitical, the seven divi-sions find staying out of the political fray swirling around the Eisenfürsten impossible. A young recruit comes to see the other divisions of the Guard as his enemy rather than compatriots, and the groups have more often than not come to blows as the militant enforcers of their Eisenfürst rather than protectors of the people. This has led to a few defections from the Iron Guard when a jaded member chooses to uphold her oath to the people of Eisen alone, joining small independent bands or as a solitary mercenary. Still others have left to join the Drachenblut, seeing the new organization as a throwback to what the Iron Guard once was and should become once more: an elite fighting force, guarding Eisen with its very lives.

### Perchta

Long before Stefan the Great named Eisen for the iron found in its mountains, a powerful spirit walked the land and protected its people from harm. Perchta, a powerful fæ expelled from Avalon by her fellow Sidhe in ancient days, settled in Eisen when drachen still flew the skies.

Revered as a goddess by local tribes, she was trans-formed by their stories about her into a benevolent, if often capricious, nurturer. She remained a force for good in Eisen, until the coming of the Vaticine Church. As their influence spread, their denouncement of magic forced Perchta into hiding, ceding her many followers to the Church. Eventually she settled into the Angenehme Wald where she swore to make the Wald a haven for magic and a safe place for those in need.

All magic has its price, even for an immortal. Cut off from the Sidhe’s ancient homeland, Perchta strove to maintain her power. A person who wishes to settle in the Angenehme must swear never to leave, tying his life force to Perchta, feeding her strength to keep her magic.

To her credit, Perchta hates this arrangement. She yearns for the days when Eisen stood proud and accepting of all magic. To that end, she has set about a plan to help find a leader who might accept magic. She chose Rosamund Roth, leader of the Drachenblut, as the woman to lead Eisen ahead into the future, and appeared to the warrior to prophesy her rise to greatness.

#### Portraying Perchta

Perchta is an immortal being. She knows secrets that could destroy or raise kingdoms. She often acts the part of an ancient witch, gifting her protection to those who seek her out.

Perchta’s greatest secret is that despite her inhuman origins, she spent so long pretending to care about Eisen’s fate that the feelings may now be genuine. She knows one thing for certain: she is not content to be an invisible force in history.

#### Story Hook

* Perchta would like to see herself untethered from feeding on mortals, and seeks other avenues to replenish her magic. She charges the Heroes to help her find a new source of magic, in return for allowing them to leave the forest.

### Kevistoph “Two  Stripes Jack” Braun

Kevistoph Braun was born near Wirsche shortly before the end of the War of the Cross. Like most children his age in Eisen, he ended up an orphan. His parents were both soldiers in the War, and though they both survived the next few years, they were even-tually overcome by Horrors.

Braun grew up with other Waisen, but instead of letting the shock of war and the Horrors cow him, he learned to fight and defend himself. His large size and superior strength gave him an advantage against the other children, and he learned to use this to his advantage in most things.

Braun never liked the sea, though he grew up in a port city. He preferred standing on solid ground and the reassuring way it did not rock back and forth. For most of his life, he made his way as a mercenary. Life was good, he got paid to fight, and he spent his money drinking and spending time with jennys.

That is, until one morning, still drunk from the night before, and woefully disoriented he bargained his time for a pair of pants. He didn’t realize that his time was going to be spent on the schooner the Shoal Seeker. The first day in, and he was already arguing with the boatswain, earning him a night in the brig and eight lashes the next day. Braun was determined to prove he was tough enough to take the lashes, and remained silent through the first, which impressed the crew. Unfortunately, he passed out soundlessly after the second, earning him the nickname “Two Stripes Jack.”

Despite the rocky start, Two Stripes thrived on the ship, making his way to midshipman before the crew of the Shoal Seeker ran afoul of Roswitha von Wirsche. The Countess tapped the ship to bring goods for sale to Gottkirchen, but when they arrived, the people there had little to pay with. The captain, a pragmatic man, sold them what they could afford and brought the rest back.

The Countess, expecting the ship to simply leave the rest of the goods, grew furious and tried to imprison the entire crew. Two Stripes and a few others escaped, but not before the Iron Guard ransacked the Shoal Seeker, making it impossible to sail.

Now, Two Stripes Jack and the few remaining crew members from the Shoal Seeker are trying to find a way to rescue their captain and crew. Roswitha’s Iron Guard has warrants out for their arrest, but to this day none of them know what crime they are accused of committing.

#### Portraying Two Stripes Jack

Kevistoph “Two Stripes Jack” Braun is a big man with a kind heart. He has dark hair, cut short, and keeps himself clean shaven and presentable, even when out at sea. He enjoys a good drink and a good brawl just as much.

He’s a land lover at heart, and though he wants to help the crew of the Shoal Seeker, he isn’t much for returning to a life at sea. Right now, his priority is finding out what Countess Wirsche is up to, and possibly stopping her.

The Heroes are likely to find a friend in Two Stripes Jack, as long as they don’t ask him to get on a boat with them.

#### Story Hook

* Two Stripes Jack and the rest of the crew discovered a secret passage into the Countess’s castle dungeon. They went into the dungeon in the early hours of the morning, but instead of finding their impris-oned crew members, they found a group of Horrors behind the bars. Now, the group is looking for help to both find out what happened to the rest of the crew, and to find out why the Countess has Horrors in her dungeon.

### Knight Inquisitor Friedrich

Knight Inquisitor Friedrich was born in Sieger to a devout Vaticine family. He was old enough to join the War, and fought for three years before it finally ended. Then came the Horrors. Friedrich, always devoted to the Church and fueled by hatred for Objectionists, believed that the Imperator’s abandonment of the true faith had brought this blight onto his land.

Unlike many of the other Eisen knights who fought in the War, he did not remain to fight the Horrors, but instead traveled to Vaticine City in Castille to reaffirm his faith. There, he joined the priesthood and learned all he could to find a way to stop the Horrors in his homeland.

Quite on his own, he came to the conclusion that Hexenwerk must be the true culprit behind the Horrors, and decided Sorcery of all kinds were a blight. This line of thinking attracted Cardinal Verdugo’s attention, and he initiated Friedrich into the Inquisition. Friedrich is one of Verdugo’s staunchest supporters, and he helped as the Inquisition slowly took over leading the Vaticine Church.

Armed with a new hatred for Sorcery, monsters, and all things that hint at the unnatural, Inquisitor Friedrich returned to Eisen, hoping to defeat the scourge. In his way, he is fighting to cleanse his homeland, working diligently to root out and destroy Horrors wherever he finds them.

Now, Inquisitor Friedrich lives in Pösen and advises Elsa Pösen on dealing with the Horror threats. He has also turned her to cataloguing all the hexen in her königreiche, and possibly beyond.

#### Portraying Inquisitor Friedrich

Willful, dedicated and completely driven, Knight Inquisitor Friedrich is a man who does the wrong things for the right reasons. He is dedicated to cleansing Eisen, but he doesn’t care how many people have to die to bring around that reality.

For Friedrich, the War of the Cross is an ongoing threat to Eisen, and though it ended twenty years previously, the blight it caused is still a menace. He is committed to finally ending the war and bringing peace with a single-minded devotion that would terrify most sane people.

### Wilma Probst

In a free city with no rules like Freiburg, someone still has to keep the place running. If Freiburg survives the next morning, people in the know say a little prayer of thanks for Wilma Probst, second in command to Niklas Träge and de facto governor of Freiburg.

Wilma Probst grew up watching the War tear her country apart. Not a soldier but a common girl, Wilma learned to read at a young age. Because of that skill, she became a page to a young knight named Barhelm in service to the Imperator’s court. Fascinated by the goings-on of government, she used her free time to study not only politics but the inner bureaucratic workings of Eisen. Her position as a page let her hear and see everything as she ran messages for the government and eventually from the barons under the Imperator himself. There she met Niklas Träge just as he purchased a title after he discovered the cache of dracheneisen in the Mountains.

She saw early on that Träge, while he meant well and had many great, radical ideas, had no idea how to manage his household or his new political position. One night, Probst presented herself to Träge and laid out in no uncertain terms why he needed her. To her surprise, Träge agreed and she became his head of household, maintaining it even when he went out to fight Horrors. When Träge established Freiburg, the “Free City,” and stepped back for his hands-off approach, Wilma knew someone had to step up to manage what few rules the city did have. She has been doing the job ever since.

Wilma Probst knows everything going on in Freiburg. She has her finger on the pulse of the könig-reich and from Freiburg has watched Eisen struggle to find its identity again in the face of its near collapse and split. A devoted member of Sophia’s Daughters, Probst supports the chance for a new leader to step up in Eisen and has been using her considerable political acumen to maneuver people into supporting a chan-cellorship with equal rights for all, much like in the Sarmatian Commonwealth.

#### Portraying Wilma Probst

If something happens in Freiburg, Wilma Probst probably knows about it. Meticulous in recalling details and fastidious in appearance, Wilma remains calm in the face of even the most blustering Eisenfürst and rarely raises her voice. Her very presence cools the most heated exchanges, and many fear her anger, expressed in the most clipped, icy tones.

Get on Wilma’s bad side and someone can find himself frozen out of all business and social activity in Freiburg and beyond until he has made amends. Above all things, Probst is a dedicated daughter of Eisen, a staunch believer in women’s equal rights and a believer in a strong, central government to secure her beloved country’s future. She goes out of her way to ensure Freiburg provides a safe place for Vodacce Fate Witch refugees, a sticking point between herself and Träge.

#### Story Hooks

* Wilma’s political manipulations have brought Elsa Pösen to her side. The two secretly plan to push their support behind Eisen’s young rising star, Rosamund Roth of the Drachenblut, to see her on the throne. Probst is concerned that if Roth takes the throne, the Iron Guard and the Drachenblut may come into conflict. Are the Heroes willing to help soothe egos and get involved in this political hotbed?

* Eisen holds a seat on the Vendel League’s Council, a mostly ceremonial position that ensures continued economic and political support from Vesten. Eisen’s representative, Joseph Volker, is old and needs a replacement. With no ruler, the Eisenfürsten cannot come to a consensus. If no new representative is selected, Eisen will lose the League’s support. Wilma wishes to send someone without the counsel of the Eisenfürsten. But the other Eisenfürsten have their own ideas, and are willing to act against Probst. Can the Heroes help ensure Eisen has a seat on the League?

### Rosamund Roth

They say greatness comes from humble beginnings. Rosamund Roth was born in the small town of Grünfeld at the edge of the Wälder. Before she was born, Roth’s family rose above their station when her father rescued an Adel’s young son from being trampled by a cart. Her father asked that he be taken into the noble’s household as his reward. The Adel, Lord Hans Dieter, agreed and the family moved into the lord’s estate.

Roth’s mother served in the house as a lady’s maid. One night during a terrible storm, the Imperator, out traveling on a diplomatic mission, showed up on their doorstep in need of shelter from the weather. The storm lasted three days, during which the Imperator spent an inordinate amount of time with Rosamund’s mother. Nine months later, she was born.

The circumstances of Roth’s birth were a tightly guarded secret all her life, yet from an early age she received special treatement. When Rosamund showed aptitude as a warrior, she trained alongside Lord Dieter’s fighters and became a squire at the age of twelve. Despite her family’s concerns, she and her two elder brothers rode out with Lord Dieter to serve during the War.

Near the end of the War, she had earned her own command and rose steadily through the ranks under the watchful eye of the Imperator. His death hit her hard, and the fracture of Eisen’s government into the hands of the squabbling Eisenfürsten made Roth furious. Her Nation struggled, and her fellow veterans returned home to Horrors with no leadership and no plan for the future. Spurred to action, Rosamund began the Drachenblut—knights dedicated to protecting the people of Eisen without any political allegiance or affiliation.

Twenty years later, with no end to the political strife in sight, Rosamund has become restless about the Nation’s future. When the witch Perchta appeared to her and revealed Roth’s true parentage, she came to accept that she might need to lead Eisen. News spread of Rosamund as a good political choice, and support swells among both the youth and veterans who respect her reputation.

Roth, not sure whether she wants to rule the Nation, would rather fight to keep it in one piece. She spends her days riding out at the head of Drachenblut to defend the land, surrounded by a cadre of her most loyal warriors.

#### Portraying Rosamund Roth

Rosamund Roth is a fighter, leader and commander of the Drachenblut. She is a seasoned veteran with iron hair and a commanding yet kind voice. Roth has tried to stay out of politics her entire life. Instead, she dedicated herself to the belief that Eisen can be great through the strength of its people and the resurrec-tion of ancient practices and values.

Rosamund is practical yet quietly a romantic, desperate for a time of grand Heroes like those in the legends. She has yet to embrace that perhaps she might be one of those Heroes, and secretly harbors the scars of being branded illegitimate.

#### Story Hook

* The Drachenblut have heard rumors of corruption in Pösen’s Iron Guard. A few younger members want to destroy the Guard and replace them. Roth knows that to do so would cast the Drachenblut in a bad light, removing her own credibility. She asks the Heroes to search for evidence of the corrup-tion and show it to the Eisenfürst.

### Chaim Ledovid

The Yachidi are a religious and ethnic group whose homeland in the Crescent Empire could not be more different than Eisen. Chaim Ledovid, or Chaim ben Dovid ben Shimon of Tribe Binyomin, was born far from Eisen’s shores, but traveled north to Théah with his parents. Along with ten other families, Chaim and his parents first settled in Castille to work with some of the finest universities to share leading medical techniques from the Crescent Empire. There, the Castillian court honored Chaim’s parents for saving the daughter of a noble. They changed their name to Ledovid to appear more Castillian, and the honor included a title of land near San Cristóbal, where Chaim’s aged parents and five brothers remain to this day.

Only ten when the War of the Cross ended, Chaim felt the devastation of the War’s impact keenly. At age eighteen, he organized a group of Yachidi families from all over Théah to head to Eisen and bring aid to the wounded country. Settling in the tiny town of Heimstatt, Chaim became the founder of a small Yachidi population and brought his knowledge of medicine and healing to the renowned  Heiligherz-Krankenhaus and local Eisengeist-Universität.

Soon Ledovid was the leading spokesperson for the local Yachidi population and their community in the neighborhood of Lodz on the west side of town. He helped navigate differences between the primarily Vaticine followers and atheist population of Heimstatt in learning more about the Yachidi, and soon Heimstatt became the major stopping point for any Yachidi after coming into Théah—a home away from home for the Yachidi, a tiny outpost of their culture far from the Crescent Empire.

Chaim’s work to help integrate the Yachidi into Eisen society has not gone unnoticed. When the Eisenfürsten or any nobility needs to reach out to the Yachidi community, they seek out Ledovid in Heimstatt. When not serving as a physician or lecturing, he spends his days traveling through the country to spread knowledge from his community. He lives with his scientist wife, Batsheva, and their six children, with his son Mayron serving as his medical assistant. The two can be seen racing through the city on medical business with their Dinist associate, another transplant from the Crescent Empire, Amira.

#### Portraying Chaim Ledovid

Chaim is a quiet and thoughtful man, well-spoken and eloquent in several different languages. A man devoted to peace, Ledovid abhors carrying weapons and instead prefers to settle any conflict through communication and sharing of knowledge. Still, though well sought by more militant members of the Yachidi community for his council, he stands in staunch defense of all life, not only those of his people.

Chaim abhors ignorance and though he tolerates the persecution of those who use magic on a larger scale, he uses every resource in his power to circumvent those organizations that harm sorcerers and openly spreads ideas of accepting magic and science side by side. Ledovid loves whiskey and long nights of deep discussion as much as he loves spending time with his family.

#### Story Hooks

* Recently, several Yachidi community members have disappeared from Heimstatt. Chaim has uncovered reports of Yachidi going missing from several communities without a trace. All signs point back to the Inquisition, though he has yet to gather any proof. Ledovid asks the Heroes to help him find his fellow Yachidi, before the Chavra, a more militant Yachidi neighborhood watch group, can get involved and stir up trouble.
* The Yachidi have maintained a network of communities throughout Théah, coming upward through Castille from their home in the Crescent Empire. For that reason, Chaim is in the perfect position to smuggle those running from repressive communities and opens his home to refugees of repres-sive nations. This has brought him in direct conflict with the Inquisition, and he asks the Heroes to help find a new hiding spot for his refugees, before the Inquisition comes into his home and arrests them all.

### Heinrich Dray

Few military leaders command as much power or as much public fascination in Eisen as Heinrich Dray, captain of the Roaring Drachen division of the Iron Guard in Wirsche. Born the son of an Adel, Heinrich was the second child in a family that had far too many.

Heinrich’s family remained poor after the War, often selling off priceless heirlooms to feed themselves and their servants. Heinrich’s eldest sister Nadina intended to be the head of the household upon their parents’ passing, a fact that enraged Heinrich. He believed he was the natural choice, being a man, and aimed to showcase his leadership talents by entering military service. This opinion did not sit well with his family and led to an eventual falling out.

His father disapproved of Heinrich’s prejudices, but, happy to see his son dedicating himself to a cause, negotiated a commission in the Iron Guard for him based on his family name. Heinrich saw this as his father seeking to push him out of the spotlight and never forgave the slight, even staying away from his father’s deathbed. When Nadina and her husband Konrad took over the family lands, Heinrich swore to never return.

Rededicating himself to his military training, Heinrich distinguished himself as a powerful fighter and quickly earned his spurs as a knight. He was assigned to the königreich of Wirsche after an incur-sion of undead Horrors wiped out nearly half their Iron Guard on the southern border, the worst the area had ever seen. Heinrich arrived to see the Roaring Drachen in disrepair, without a leader, and seized the opportunity to work his way up in the ranks. He led a successful campaign to crush the undead horde and save a number of endangered towns.

In celebration, he was invited to dine with the Countess von Wirsche. Upon seeing her, Heinrich Dray knew he would love no other woman alive. The brazen young knight even dared tell the Countess so that very night. She laughed in his face and told him to prove his worth to her and she would consider his advances. Dray took up the cause and spent one year slaying every Horror he could and whipping the Roaring Drachen into shape. He returned on the anniversary of their meeting with trophies of his conquests and declared his love once more. The two have been inseparable ever since.

#### Portraying Heinrich Dray

Heinrich Dray is a terrifying figure in combat, a charming if ruthless man at court and utterly devoted to his beloved Roswitha von Wirsche. He knows more about her than anyone else, including the truth behind her connection to disappearances in her königreich and dead bodies found drained of all blood.

Heinrich doesn’t care about what anyone says about Roswitha, but instead has helped put her name forward as the potential new leader of Eisen, citing the success the Countess has had rebuilding her königreich from its previous devastation. That he will become ruler at her side is a foregone conclusion to him, as he would rather die than be parted from her side.

#### Story Hooks

* Heinrich Dray has issued a challenge to Niklas Träge: either step up and declare intent to become leader, or hand over the Imperator’s gauntlet, one of Träge’s most prized possessions. Träge has responded by asking the Heroes to go and talk some sense into Dray, but Dray readies a host to take the gauntlet by force if necessary.
* Heinrich is rising in the people’s minds as the kind of man who could stand beside Roswitha von Wirsche as a new Imperator consort, or even Imperator himself. Still, rumors fly behind the scenes that Dray knows where all Roswitha’s secrets—and more than a few bodies—are buried. Servants have spread rumors the man keeps a journal about his rise to glory, and his sister, Nadine, has quietly offered an incredible prize to anyone who can recover the diary and uncover the secrets Heinrich hides for his lady love.

## Secret Societies

### The Explorer’s Society

Though common belief holds that the mines of the Dracheneisen Mountains played out long ago, the Eisenfürsten hope the mountains have yet to give up more veins of ore or secrets, and so they have turned to the Explorer’s Society for aid. The country’s leader-ship wants dracheneisen back in circulation and pays any Explorer handsomely for taking on the dangers of the mountains to find them their answers.

An Explorer has plenty otherwise to occupy herself in Eisen, however. With the Ausgewogene Ort Syrneth ruins rising up under the swamps in Pösen and the potential Syrneth relics underneath Freiburg, an Explorer sees Eisen as a treasure trove of relic hunting.

### The Rilasciare

Few places are as exciting for a member of the Rilasciare as Eisen now in the years after the War of the Cross. With no monarchy in place and the power of the Vaticine Church broken all over Eisen, the Rilasciare see Eisen as the perfect place to kindle a new revolution featuring the people as leaders in building a better tomorrow.

Agents of the Rilasciare are everywhere, recruiting disaffected veterans and headstrong Junges Blut alike in the hopes of empowering Eisen to rise up and claim its future before the nobility can establish another monarchy.

### Sophia’s Daughters

The power of Eisen’s women is without any doubt, and Sophia’s Daughters have found powerful allies within the Nation. In the wake of the War, with so many veterans in need of a purpose, the Daughters have been hiring powerful women fighters and leaders from Eisen to help their Vodacce counterparts. They help rescue Fate Witches and remove them from their bonds, and teach women vital skills of self-defense and even how to read and write.

Many of Eisen’s finest warriors now work for Sophia’s Daughters both in Eisen and in Vodacce. Some act as guards, but many serve as instructors and confidants to rogue Fate Witches.

Within Eisen, the Daughters use the disconnection between the various königreiche to smuggle women on the run into safe communities where they can begin new lives. One of their largest camps is a tiny village called Mieben, deep in the Angenehme Wald, under the protection of the witch Perchta.

They are the only group capable of staying for long periods in her forest and still able to leave, though ten women must remain there for the rest of their lives to maintain the camp’s protection by the witch.

### The Brotherhood of the Coast

Travel and trade between Vestenmennavenjar and Eisen has been the lifeblood keeping Eisen alive ever since before the War of the Cross. Now with the War over and the Nation in such dire straits, the Brotherhood recognizes Eisen deserves a break.

The pirates of Eisen have called an unofficial truce, halting all raiding and pillaging of Eisen’s cities until such time as the Nation can get back on its feet. The Brotherhood honors this cessation of activities, and any Brotherhood ships sailing Eisen’s waters enforce the ban on any ship that dares attack an Eisen town.

Many renegade raiding vessels still sail the Maw and even travel down the Nation’s rivers despite the ban. Should they be spotted, the Brotherhood always executes swift and brutal retribution. Brotherhood members often take the cargo from said raiders and distribute it among the local villages most in need, turning over the raiders for trial and justice before sailing away.

Meanwhile, the Brotherhood recruits Eisen by the dozen ever since the War, with more ships full of sailors taking to the seas every year. Eisen make fine sailors and their strong military training makes them excellent pirates.

#### Favor in Eisen

Heroes who are members of the Brotherhood of the Coast may earn Favor in Eisen in the following way:

* Reporting a raiding vessel attacking Eisen ships is worth 3 Favor. Helping to dispatch such a ship can result in 2 Wealth from the Brotherhood.

Heroes who are members of the Brotherhood of the Coast may spend Favor in Eisen in the following way:

* Gaining safe passage from Eisen to Vestenmennavenjar or vice versa costs 2 Favor.

### Los Vagabundos

Eisen has been without a leader for too long, or at least so says Los Vagabundos. The organization is adamant about finding a new ruler for the Eisen before the country falls even further into disrepair, or worse falls into civil war.

The people of Eisen need aid in recovering from the War and in twenty years, no one has stepped up, so Los Vagabundos has decided to just intercede. The organization has selected three front-run-ning candidates: Niklas Träge of Freiburg, Elsa Pösen of Pösen and Rosamund Roth, leader of the Drachenblut. Though each leader has support from different members of Los Vagabundos, the entire society knows each leader must be tested and retested to make them worthy of leading Eisen into the future.

In the end, the Society will support any worthy leader who finds him- or herself at the head of the Nation, but until such a time, they do what they can to support their three candidates. The true test is not only getting one of them to step up, but to protect them from enemies while they unify the Nation.

#### Favor in Eisen

Heroes who are members of Los Vagabundos in Eisen can earn Favor in the following ways:

* Presenting definitive evidence either for or against one of their chosen leaders is worth 3 Favor, especially if the evidence is related to Träge or Roth’s direct actions.
* Assisting Roth, Träge or Pösen in their even-tual climb to the leadership of Eisen is worth 5 Favor. The assistance should be something substantial, such as helping form alliances between the Eisenfürsten or undermining the efforts of the Rilasciare in Eisen.

### Kinder von Morgen

Though the agents of the Rilasciare operate all across Théah, they long ago targeted Eisen as the tinder to spark a new revolution to do away with the Church, monarchies and all subjugation. While the rest of the organization is spread thin, a smaller group has broken away from the Rilasciare proper in the face of the establishment of the Sarmatian Commonwealth.

This new group, calling themselves the Kinder von Morgen or “Children of Tomorrow,” has set the Commonwealth as a blueprint for how to establish a new and free Eisen. Many members, former Rilasciare members from the Commonwealth, have brought their experience in their own country to teach and mentor the hot-blooded young Eisen.

The Kinder are highly organized, with a functional hierarch and members organizing under a common banner. They stage rallies and speeches in every könig-reiche, they print pamphlets and have criers at every city corner informing the common people about a hope of taking leadership into their own hands.

Agents also execute more daring, covert actions to hinder the rise of any new potential monarch in the country. Their main targets for action are the various Eisenfürsten, though they focus more on the Iron Princes who mistreat or ignore the needs of their people. Many hold Niklas Träge as an almost ironic figure of reverence and wish to convince him to support transforming Eisen into a Commonwealth alongside Sarmatia.

The Kinder recruit only from the disaffected and the commoners, abjuring the assistance of nobility, and rage against the Iron Guard as the militarized arm of the old leadership. Recently their eyes have also turned towards the Vaticine Church in an effort to make sure no organizations, such as the Inquisition, gain a foothold once more in the country. Their sign, the clenched fist around a drachen’s throat, symbol-izes the stranglehold the nobility has maintained on their people for far too long.

They keep a headquarters in a converted noble’s household-turned-tavern in Freiburg called the Amber Eye. The place is maintained by jennys, all members of the organization and experts at gathering and trading information.

#### Favor with the Kinder von Morgen

The Kinder von Morgen concern themselves with convincing the people that a democracy is the best way to restore Eisen. A member mostly holds rallies and demonstrations, but she keeps her eyes on those who may declare themselves as the new Imperator. While she is not fond of murder, public embarrass-ment is right up her alley.

Heroes who belong to the Kinder von Morgen may earn Favor in the following ways:

* Organizing a rally or demonstration is worth 3 Favor, especially if the event is well- attended or gains government notice.
* Destabilizing an Eisenfürst’s rule is worth 7 Favor. If that königreich ends up adopting a more democratic rule as a result it is worth 10 Favor instead.
* Publicly humiliating an Eisenfürst, or anyone else who may declare as Imperator, is worth 5 Favor.

Heroes who belong to the Kinder von Morgen may spend Favor in the following ways:

* Gaining access to the Kinder von Morgen’s libraries costs 2 Favor. The group is made up of scholars, politicians and academics, and they have amassed a huge library of scholarly works in just a short period of time.
* Requesting aid from a Kinder costs 3 Favor. A generic member is typically Strength 6, but also possesses the Academy, Lyceum or University Advantage. For each additional 2 Favor you spend, the Kinder you recruit can have an additional 4 points in one or more Advantages of your choice.

### Die Kreuzritter

The call has gone up across Eisen: now is the time to destroy the Horrors once and for all. Too long has die Kreuzritter relied on individual members and their allies wiping out monsters across the country. Now the Society prepares for a massive campaign to sweep the Horrors from Eisen, vowing to eliminate entrenched threats, such as the creatures of Rücken Island and Viktor Franzeller’s Changed in Höhenlage. They only need the support to do so.

They created die Eisensänger, or “Iron Singers,” a messenger service to carry information from one side of the country to the other. A member of die Kreuzritter carries these messages as he travels, leaving them on bulletin boards marked with the words “The Song of Eisen” at the top. He carries information about Horror attacks, successful monster hunts, political information and news of the day, in hopes of garnering support. So far, the successes against the Horrors and the organizational efforts has done the most to bring Eisen together.

### Knights of the Rose & Cross

If any country needs the Knights of the Rose & Cross, it is Eisen. The heroic Knights have seen their ranks in the country decimated by the never-ending waves of Horrors and have kept hope alive in many of the most hard-pressed areas.

After the War, the Knights saw a swelling in the ranks from Eisen veterans looking to dedicate their lives to a higher cause. But when financial support and armed assistance were slow to come to outlying areas from the Knights, many new recruits became jaded and broke off to form a new organization, the Drachenblut.

Relations between the Drachenblut and the Knights of the Rose & Cross remain strained, with the Knights seeing the Drachenblut as an upstart new organization almost sure to flame out, and the Drachenblut seeing the Knights as largely ineffectual.

### The Invisible College

Eisen is the hottest place to study monsters in all of Théah, and the members of the Invisible College have been fascinated enough to descend on the country in droves. The membership has been challenged to discover why Eisen draws so many monsters, with a member expected to share information with others while he races for an answer.

The challenge is as much about glory for the one who discovers an answer as an incentive to members to aid Eisen in its most desperate time. In fact, some members have begun circulating an alarming theory: the Horrors are not decreasing in number despite all the fighting, but in fact may be increasing.

To that end, College members embed themselves in places of learning all across Eisen to further research into the Horrors, and have become some of the leading researchers into the different kinds of Horrors out there. They often work with die Kreuzritter to share information with their monster hunters to better equip them for fighting the Horrors at hand.

### Močiutės Skara

With so much horror going on all across Eisen, the Shawl is all but swamped gathering supplies and aiding ailing communities. The organization has facilitated plenty of shipments of everything from medical supplies to food and weapons to hard-pressed communities from allies in the Sarmatian Commonwealth and Ussura.

Most recently they have reached out to the Yachidi population settling in Eisen in towns like Heimstatt to establish trade further into the Crescent Empire with a great deal of success, as the Yachidi consider helping those in need a cardinal part of their reli-gious and cultural ideals. Still, the roads from so far away into the heart of Eisen have many dangers and a member of the Shawl finds herself picking up a sword as often as she feeds the hungry these days.

They also watch the growing movements supporting the various personalities for leader, hoping no one is stupid enough to start another war over who gets to rule. The members of the Shawl are ready and willing to stop such a war before it could begin.

## Places

### Freiburg

No city in Eisen captures its beating, complicated, wounded heart as much as Freiburg, the Free City. Born as a social experiment by the newest Eisenfürst, Niklas Träge, Freiburg is a city with few rules and a mostly disinterested government to keep it func-tioning. Träge saw the horrors of the War and dreamt of a city where a person could live without a yoke around her neck, without the burden of authority, and used what power he had to establish Freiburg before sitting back to watch what happened. And what came about was perhaps the most brilliant, impossible city in all of Théah.

Freiburg existed before the War of the Cross as Güldentor, one of the Imperator’s palaces. During the war, it fell into disrepair and disfavor due to the ruling Baron’s poor choices. During the war, the Imperator stripped the Adel of his title and he died soon after, leaving the city with no one to rule. Towards the end of the War, Träge’s new title included the city, but he mostly ignored it. Flooded with veterans and refugees of the conflict, the city nearly fell in upon itself without a leader.

Years later, Träge finally returned to the city, which had fallen into near ruin. With Wilma Probst’s help, he laid the foundation for merchants, architects, thinkers, scholars, organizers and powerful individ-uals to carve the city out amongst themselves, without any religious influence.

He named his experiment Freiburg. Many imagined Freiburg would implode within a year as organizations vied for power in the vacuum. Instead, the city has remained afloat for four years, with conflicts resolved by a cobbled-together series of understood rules that are half arbitration, half street justice. Most believe the rules, known as the Freiburg code or just “the Free code,” survived as long as they have because a citizen of Freiburg understands his city is all that stands between him and destruction. Outside Freiburg’s walls lurks a country full of monsters, and the city may be a chance at growing something great in a time of such darkness.

#### City Proper

To a traveler and local alike, Freiburg has everything. The city is separated into six quarters all radiating outward from the Wachtturm, an ancient edifice held up by the power of Syrneth crystals, which once served as headquarters for the Imperator and now houses Niklas Träge in the top floor apartments. Each quarter is separated by main roads, almost like the spokes of a wheel, heading out from the center to bridges over the rivers that surround the city on all sides, and out through the main gates to the coun-tryside beyond.

The first quarter, the Griffon, centers on the gorgeous open-aired Griffon Park. The most cosmo-politan of districts, Griffon boasts shops with wares imported from all over Théah. Inns and drinking holes of all kinds dot the landscape, and travelers head here to find lodgings. Most of the population is tran-sient, so Griffon remains one of the most dangerous areas in Freiburg at night.

Cross the High Road and you arrive in the High Quarter, where the most powerful members of the town live and work. The Vendel League has a suite of houses here where they conduct business freely, and their guards protect the High Quarter from any “undesirable” influences from other parts of town. Anyone looking to seek out aristocrats and diplomats visiting Freiburg finds them in the High Quarter.

To the west of the High Quarter is the Reinhagen, named after the massive amphitheater there. The amphitheater serves as home to performances, reli-gious holiday celebrations and any kind of large public gatherings, and can be rented by any organizations. The most recent and controversial events have been gladiatorial-style combat games, run by a group called Lonely Streets. They invite all who wish to show their martial prowess to enter and hold all-day competi-tions. The rest of the quarter serves as an artistic center, with the Sylvester Playhouse run by the Montaigne philosopher, revolutionary and playwright, Jean Lemaire, acting as its creative heart. A creator looking for patrons lives in flats over the workshops, seeking nobles from the High Quarter to support his work.

Just below the Reinhagen is the Stein. This quarter is the eldest part of the city, built around the old military fortress. Nearly decimated during the War, the Stein itself has been rebuilt and serves as head-quarters for all military troops operating in Freiburg, including Träge’s Iron Guard. Many fighting acade-mies and dueling schools have sprung up in the area as well, and anyone seeking good military weapons could find them along one long street run by the Weaponsmith’s Guild, the Iron Arm.

Just south and east of the Stein is the Institutional Quarter. It is home to groups, organizations and institutions of Freiburg, like the Freiburg gaol, the town’s newspaper offices for the Freiburger Gazette and the beautiful Drachen Cathedral. This district houses all the administrative offices trying to maintain any order in the city, including the headquarters of the Eisenfürst’s staff led by Wilma Probst. Seekers of knowledge can visit Freiburg University, which boasts the freest exchange of ideas in all of Eisen, where students often explain, “All is welcomed for knowl edge’s sake.” Their library is second to none, with a quarterly pamphlet called the Wahrheitspapiere, “The Truth Papers,” circulated with new and often

heretical ideas by anonymous contributors printed for all to read.

Snug between the Institutional and the Griffon quarters is the Goldviertel, the Gold Quarter. This section serves as the hub of all commerce in Freiburg, home of its robust Marktplatz and the trade yards, where all cargo brought into Freiburg comes in off the riverboats. The Freiburg Marktplatz is a wild, uncontrolled place, and though the Iron Guard try to keep the peace, hired muscle from every orga-nization control different sections of the quarter. Criminal organizations make their home all over the Goldviertel, as do mercenaries looking for work down at the Drachen’s Toe Tavern. Recent inroads from the Atabean Trading Company to bring merchandise, including slaves, through the Goldviertel has thrown the whole quarter into an uproar, and even the Iron Guard has been having trouble keeping outrage from boiling over.

#### The Politics of Freiburg

The beauty of Freiburg lies in the heights it can reach, as well as the lows it can muster. Powerful figures in Freiburg can influence everything from trade in the region to religious and intellectual thought from the university, to criminal enterprises across Théah from the Goldviertel. But more important than anything else, Freiburg sits at the crossroads for all thought about Eisen’s political future. Everyone from diplo-mats to criminal cartels to the Eisenfürsten want to help choose who will lead Eisen into the future, and every secret society in Théah has its fingers on the pulse of this brewing tempest. The most powerful are the Rilasciare, who have pledged not to allow Freiburg and therefore Eisen to fall beneath the hands of another monarch. An offshoot of their organiza-tion, called the Kinder von Morgen, have promised to do whatever they must to see Eisen become a Commonwealth like Sarmatia, and the ferocious battles over the country’s future have already led to blood in the streets.

Meanwhile, many others believe Eisen’s future lies in understanding its past. Many believe that, as one of the country’s oldest cities, Freiburg holds the key to power long since lost in Eisen. The Explorer’s Society has the largest presence and a huge chapter house on the east side of town near the Conservatory, dedi-cated to exploring one of the city’s worst kept secrets: Freiburg is built on a wealth of Syrneth ruins.

#### Nachtblut Cemetery

No one knows exactly how deep down the Syrneth ruins beneath Freiburg lie, but every year, people become hopelessly lost sneaking into catacombs beneath the old Nachtblut Cemetery to seek out the ruins themselves. Syrneth crystals and relics can be found all across the city, including a large and ancient statue in the middle of Conservatory Gardens. A Syrneth crystal, whose power keeps the tower from toppling down, in fact holds up the Wachtturm, the current offices of Niklas Träge himself. As if all the Syrneth relics didn’t make the city odd enough, the cemetery grounds are strewn with drachen bones, leading many to believe the city was built on an ancient drachen burial ground. Quarry Lake on the south side of the city is just shallow enough that treasure seekers often dive to the bottom in search of crystals or bones, only to be pulled down below by Horrors in the depths.

In fact, though crime contributes to a lot of the dangers in Freiburg, the Horrors that walk, swim and fly through the night make Freiburg an exciting place to visit. Whether searching the Marktplatz for illegal Hexenwerk components, or visiting the Bone Bridge at the end of High Road to explore the floating contraband market operated by the orphan-run street gang the Children of the Drachen, every person in Freiburg knows one inescapable truth: the city doesn’t just belong to them. In every shadow lurks a monster. That is the way of Eisen. But in the Free City, a citizen dedicates himself to living every day like his last, until the Horrors have disappeared or wild old Freiburg falls into ruin. So far, neither has happened, and so the great experiment of the Free City goes on.

### The Dracheneisen Mountains

Some call the Dracheneisen Mountains the back-bone of Eisen itself, and they are not far off. In a country dominated by rocky cliffs and mountains, the Dracheneisen are a forbidding presence on the landscape, a long ridge separating Fischler, Wirsche and Hainzl and cutting off northwest Eisen from easy access. But these mountains are more than a geolog-ical travel impediment. Once they held one of the richest prizes in all of Théah, the dracheneisen mines. While those mines have long since stopped producing the famed metal, many still stake their claim in the hopes of discovering such treasures once more.

#### Hidden Treasures

The Dracheneisen, so named for the ore they produced, served as the roosting places of drachen themselves in ancient history. Legendary Heroes rode out to defeat drachen in their aeries high above the mountain peaks, and ancient caves dotting the mountains still hold the massive bones of drachen long gone. Some of those same caves revealed other treasures, like the hoard of dracheneisen weapons and armor discovered by Niklas Träge during the War of the Cross. That priceless find bought Träge his place as one of the Eisenfürsten. When a bard at the end of the War popularized the new baron’s rise to power in song, many treasure seekers took to the mountains in the hopes of earning a new fortune. Most were swallowed up by the deadly Dracheneisen, never to be seen again. But over twenty years later, their descendants and the inhabitants of the moun-tains have established permanent homes in the high altitudes, and developed new ways of surviving in the harsh environment.

#### Mountain Bandits

Just like every other part of Eisen, the Dracheneisen Mountains are thick with Horrors. Monsters live deep in some of the caves and haunt the passes at night to pick off travelers. A particular winged species of ghoul, capable of gliding on leathery membranes under their arms, drop down from cliff faces and rock outcroppings onto unsuspecting people, and others dig their way out of loose earth graves to pop up unexpected from below.

Cut off from any aid, an inhabitant of the Dracheneisen mining towns had to adapt quickly to her surroundings. She usually turned to banditry, stealing what she could to arm herself. She became a ruthless and swift mountaineer, capable of rappelling down the rocks to surround caravans and strip them of their goods in no time.

Still others turned to enslavement, turning tiny mining towns into chain-gang camps, kidnapping travelers and pressing them into seeking out drache-neisen deep underground. No one has yet reported finding such a treasure, but the gems and minerals brought up from the mines keep these towns in service. Most recently, they have begun unearthing the strange glowing crystals often found under Freiburg and in Syrneth ruins across Théah.

When asked about such terrible towns, the Eisenfürsten deny anyone keeps any slave towns in their königreiche. Both Fischler and Hainzl have launched multiple expeditions to investigate these allegations, prompted by concerned relatives of missing travelers, but every time they turn up nothing. Curious in her silence, however, is Roswitha von Wirsche, who consistently scoffs at the idea and refuses to send her own Iron Guard to look into the matter. The fact that her summer manor house, Klarhimmel, sits not too far north of the alleged slave towns has many wondering just how much she does know and condone.

#### Höhenlage

As if the dangers of bandits, Horrors and chain-gang servitude were not enough, a new nightmare has grown in the Dracheneisen over the last fifteen years. The large mountain town of Höhenlage used to be a major meeting place for small villages dotting the mountains and served as the only place to catch a caravan heading either north to Wirsche and the coast beyond or south to the city of Atemlos and further down to Montaigne.

Before the War, the town was a thriving community set on a flat steppe nestled in the crook of two moun-tains. But, once the Horrors rose, life in the town became a nightmare with constant attacks winnowing down the population and driving away travelers. Calls for aid from the Eisenfürsten fell on deaf ears. While those who could flee left, those who remained despaired of any way to turn back the tide. Then one day, a young nobleman arrived with a solution to the problem. His name was Viktor Franzeller, a scientist but also a hexe. He swore to the people of Höhenlage they could survive alongside the Horrors peacefully. All they needed was to listen to his every word.

A generation later, Viktor has completely trans-formed the people, using them as his personal exper-imentation pool, grafting pieces of Horrors onto the townspeople to make them stronger. He created Leibewerke Horrors, undead creatures with various limbs grafted together. Eventually, he learned how to keep the people alive after the grafts. Franzeller has adjusted nearly everyone in some way. The Changed, as they call themselves, vastly outnumber those who refused the grafting process. Obsessed with creating the perfect blend of person and Horror, Viktor’s grotesque experiments have yielded a little success. The townsfolk remain largely invisible to some Horrors, though whether due to the grafts or Franzeller’s Hexenwerk is anyone’s guess. Because of his success the townsfolk are nearly all fantastically devoted to him, and those who are not keep their opinions to themselves. Those still resisting Franzeller warn an outsider traveling through Höhenlage to keep his head down and his mouth shut if he doesn’t want any trouble, or risk facing the terror of the Changed.

Of every danger in the mountains, it is the Changed that may bring down the wrath of the outside world fastest. Rumors about Franzeller’s work have reached die Kreuzritter, and they have set their sights on ending his work once and for all. If they want him, however, they need to get into the mountains and survive its perils, no easy feat for anyone looking to challenge the dangers of the Dracheneisen.

### The Wälder

The Wälder technically falls into three separate könig-reichen: Freiburg, Fischler and Sieger, and covers nearly a third of southern Eisen. Anyone traveling from east to west in Eisen finds it almost impossible to do so without traversing the forest, and many trails and roads carve through the deep woods. However, most of those roads remain unguarded, as neither Sieger nor Fischler have the resources to patrol such a volatile and dangerous territory.

Only Freiburg has the money to even consider such an undertaking and so far, Niklas Träge seems more intent on leaving the forest alone. Instead, a merchant or caravan traveling through the territory brings his own mercenaries and hired guardians if he wishes to come out unscathed. It is not unusual to hear of entire parties entering the forest never to come out the other side. Whether from the blood drinkers to the north-east, the shapeshifting creatures seen racing through the night or the terrifying Schattenmann himself, the Wälder takes its due from Eisen’s population.

The Wälder is full of monsters, each more terri-fying than the last. Horrors, including many kinds of undead, tremendous and blighted animals, life-sucking mists, witches, ghouls and monstrous twisted creatures all call the Wälder home. These roving nightmares are only the simplest of the dangers in the woods, however. Travelers report ghosts of long-dead soldiers roaming in units along the borders of the forest, ready to reenact moments from their last battles with any unsus-pecting people in their path.

Those who sleep in the forest find themselves waking up to the sound of sobbing ghosts in their camp.

Should travelers not come prepared with Hexenwerk unguents or a good exorcist, those same ghosts may possess a member of their party, draining the life from the host as it goes. The possessed person’s compan-ions can only rescue their unfortunate associate by helping the ghost resolve its unfinished business or risk seeing their friend lost forever.

Men and women have settled in the forests along with the monsters, many just as monstrous as the rest of the denizens. Many go to the Wälder with nothing left in their lives and turn to theft as the only way to survive. Only the hardiest of these desperate people survive to become dangerous bandits; most simply fall prey to the Horrors.

Those who do survive long enough are a breed set apart from most Eisen. Some become what the locals call Wilde Kinder, a roving band ripping apart anyone they come upon in an attempt to cull the “herds” of people entering the forest. Survivors of their attacks report the Wilde Kinder are more than just forest folks: they are shapeshifters, taking on the forms of human-animal hybrids to track and hunt their prey.

Between the Horrors and the people lurking in the Wälder, few travelers make it through the forbid-ding forest unscathed. Most merchants refuse to make camp for the night, preferring to travel many long hours to avoid such a prospect. Others band together, making huge temporary settlements in the forest, and hope that their numbers deter creatures and bandits from attacking. Of course, it doesn’t stop the Horrors, but at least with a large group, the fight ends quickly.

#### Waldemar Estate

An equally terrifying threat resides in the northwest part of the forest. Under the canopy of the Wälder, built deep into an ancient set of Syrneth ruins, a crumbling manor molders. A traveler who strays off the beaten path can find herself drawn to the supposed safety of the house, only to become the guest of the Waldemar family. And while the family may seem hospitable, their appetite for drinking the blood of their guests has transformed so many grateful Eisen lives into waking nightmares.

#### Schattenmann

Schattenmann, “the Shade Man,” walks the forest with a tremendous pair of shears in his long, stick-like arms, ready to cut anyone to pieces who crosses his path. His plans are his own and while some believe him a simple Horror, survivors of encounters with the Schattenmann speak about a haunting, terrible intelligence behind his black, pit-like eyes.

Perhaps he protects the rumored prize of the Wälder, the Imperator’s Grove at the very center of the woods. Named for the first Imperator of Eisen, Stefan, a grove of bone-white trees surrounds a foun-tain purportedly able to cure any illness or repair any injury. Old stories say Imperator Stefan negotiated for use of the woods from the guardian of Eisen, a powerful spirit who wished to remain out of the king’s mortal disputes. She removed her protection from the Wälder, leaving behind her magical fountain in the rapidly darkening territory.

#### Kummerholt

Tiny hamlets dot the outer ring of the Wälder, as wood-cutters, miners, hunters and many more face certain peril to live in the forest. Kummerholt is the largest of these towns. Run by Alwin Rainer, a seventh generation son of the Wälder, this smattering of huts and cottages clustered in the outer ring of the southwest side of the Wälder is the closest to a safe haven for travelers.

The people of Kummerholt treat outsiders with weary humor, finding anyone traveling through the Wälder in the face of such obvious danger to be an arrogant fool. Anyone who survives his first trip through the forest can expect a drink at the Rosswind Inn on the house, a standing offer from the innkeeper Rolf Barkhaus and his wife, Romilde.

### Angenehme Wald

If the Wälder is the terrifying heart of Eisen, then the Angenehme Wald is a haven from the dangers of the monster-infested land. The dense forest ranges across a large section of the northeastern side of Eisen, a countryside full of trees so tall and foliage so thick it is impossible to penetrate in spots. If not for the three main roads going through the Angenehme towards the Ussura border, a person might never venture into the woods. And she would be missing a wondrous sight. There is a reason why people call the forest Angenehme, meaning pleasant, because this forest is pure magic.

Unlike the blighted lands surrounding it, the Angenehme is an almost fairytale forest, full of giant trees, beautiful flowers and healthy animals. Birds sing under the towering firs that never seem to lose their greenery, and woodland creatures of every variety travel through mossy overgrowth amid thick ferns.

Even the roads themselves seem to stay in near perfect condition, despite the fact no one has sent a repair crew to maintain them in years. Those living on the outskirts of the Angenehme have a saying for the near perfect stasis in the woods, Der Wald dauert fort. “The forest will go on.” Those who remain outside the woods keep a suspicious eye on it with a mix of wonder, wistfulness and hearty worry. Those who live in the Angenehme Wald choose to never leave, though many travel the roads through the Angenehme to Ussura and back again.

The magical perfection of the Angenehme has been a reality for as long as anyone can remember, going all the way back to the time before the War. Old stories abound about someone escaping to the Angenehme, running from one circumstance or another, only to find the very land itself welcoming her and protecting her from her enemies. Those stories always end with the Villains destroyed and the rescuing Heroes settling down to live in the beautiful forest, happily ever after. Sometimes a soldier, demoralized by the War, passed around legends about the Angenehme Wald and the life of beauty he could have there.

Many deserters tried to reach the forest, only to be caught and executed, but sometimes one did reach the Angenehme’s shelter. There he found others living in isolated hamlet communities under the tall canopy who welcomed him in. Some of these people were other displaced soldiers, running from Horrors, and sometimes an Ussuran hopping from her side of the border into Eisen. All newcomers are welcomed, but told the same thing. Perchta, the witch of the woods, protects the Angenehme. And woe to anyone who tries to upset the peace of her forest.

The people of the Angenehme lead happy, protected lives. There is only one caveat: once they settle there, they may never leave.

#### Perchta’s Cottage

Though the Angenehme falls partially under the governance of both Pösen and Freiburg, neither königreich rules the forest. Instead, those in need of aid go to a single cottage at the very heart of the forest and ask the collection of happy children, women and youths there for Perchta. Depending on her mood, the woman who emerges either looks like an old crone, stooped and bent over a cane, or a gorgeous dark-haired young woman in a simple homespun dress.

Perchta makes no attempt to conceal her power or hide the fact she is not human, and scorns any who speak out against magic in her woods. She has lived as the forest’s protector for as long as the Angenehme has existed and pledges to remain that way until the stars fall from the heavens. To listen to her tell it, she has been the protector of Eisen for longer than the land had a name. Now, she concentrates her power within the single forest and has since left the rest of the country largely to its fate. Her immortal power keeps the Angenehme always in spring and protects any who live on her land.

The forest, a virtual paradise in the middle of a nightmare, attracts many. Much like Freiburg to the south, the area is fairly lawless save the following: anything taken must be repaid, and no one leaves without Perchta’s express approval. Every bit of fire-wood must have a return to the forest in some form; every deal made under the forest branches must be completed.

Anyone trying to take without repayment in the Angenehme quickly discovers that Perchta’s power extends through every blade of grass and every living thing in the woods. Animals, trees, the very ground can turn against anyone who does not trade fairly and equally within the woods, with deadly consequences. The bones of rule-breakers can be found along the sides of the road.

Perchta is also an avid negotiator, and the price of exploring her forest is a favor. Should a person wish to visit the forest temporarily, he must do favors or trade with Perchta. The better the deal, the longer he will be allowed to stay. A person who impresses Perchta can find himself with an ally more powerful than almost anyone in all of Eisen, with knowledge going back centuries. Anger her, and the entire forest becomes a deadly enemy. A traveler who wishes to leave the forest may also try to negotiate with Perchta for her freedom, but the price for leaving her protection can be steep and even deadly.

Once a visitor has gained Perchta’s permission to explore, he discovers the Angenehme is much more than a simple hiding place for refugees. Inside its boundaries lies a venerable treasure trove of flora and fauna not seen in such abundance anywhere in Eisen. Plants and animals long since destroyed by the years of War thrive there, especially plants known for their medicinal qualities. Extremely rare ingredients for Hexenwerk can be harvested there, and there are rumors of magical relics of different ages, including Syrneth relics hidden deep in troves beneath the earth.

Rumors abound among the inhabitants about caves to the north of the Angenehme said to hold a laby-rinth of tunnels holding an underground magical river that leads to strange and wondrous lands. More than anything, the Angenehme hosts all kinds of strange magical creatures, drawn by Perchta’s power, glorious creatures almost out of storybooks. Whether real or just Perchta’s powers given form, no one entirely knows for sure.

Perchta has also involved herself directly in the poli-tics of the country, covertly backing Rosamund Roth's bid for future government control. From her cottage, she reaches out with her emissaries, loyal residents of the forest, who carry her messages to push along support for the Drachenblut commander in the ever-evolving political drama for Eisen’s leadership.

#### Kreuzweg

Anyone traveling the Angenehme’s roads must pay a toll or offer tribute to the forest, which can be paid at the crossroads at the Wald’s western border. A small town has grown up around that crossroad just inside the forest’s boundaries called Kreuzweg, where a trav-eler might resupply and rest on her journey.

An inn at the heart of the town, the Skipping Stone, serves as a warm and pleasant rest, and often hosts an Ussuran on his way west, merchants heading into Ussura and travelers between Pösen and Freiburg. Explorers looking for Syrneth artifacts in the woods, in which there are several relic sites, use the inn as a base of operations.

Though the woods are peaceful and idyllic, many over the years have found the clearly magical nature of the Wald, and its protector Perchta, disturbing. When armies loyal to the Vaticine Church marched on the woods during the War to purge it of its magical taint, they found themselves facing a battle unlike anything they had ever seen. The woods themselves ripped the troops to shreds.

A young Captain, Jakob Berlitz, sent to lead the charge, returned to his commanding officer and refused to destroy the forest, even on penalty of death. Before he could be hanged for disobeying a direct order, he escaped into the woods with his surviving soldiers, where he lives to this day as the mayor of the Kreutzung.

With the country in such dire straits, many have sought out refuge in the woods, swelling the number of people living under Perchta’s protection. When emissaries from the Eisenfürsten tried to speak with the people, they remained tight-lipped about their conditions, and instead sent the emissaries on to Perchta.

Whatever they saw apparently intrigued Niklas Träge enough that he took a special trip to visit the witch of the woods herself. Rumor says the two struck up an understanding. Perchta has since made the roads through the woods the safest way to travel to Ussura unmolested and trade has become very lucrative, provided all involved follow the laws of the Angenehme.

### Burg Wachesherz

The Castle of the Vigilant Heart lies at the foot of the Tiefstrabe Mountain deep in the Dracheneisen range. An ancient relic from before the War of the Cross, the hulking mountain stronghold fell long ago into disrepair, claimed by the elements, its history lost to time.

Legends about the castle say ancient sorcerers created the place to study the drachen who once made Eisen their home, but no one can be certain if this is true. By the time the castle was rediscovered during the last days of the War of the Cross, it had already turned into a half-collapsed heap. Only its outer walls stood unaffected, sealing the castle into a niche between two steep cliffs.

Soldiers on the run during the War discovered the castle when seeking refuge from terrible winter storms. Led by Rosamund Roth, the unit found the castle’s interior completely overrun by Horrors. They boiled up from the depths of the keep and slaughtered many of the soldiers before Roth led an excursion to seal the lower levels. The survivors left the castle when the weather cleared, but not before Rosamund swore to return and clear out the Horrors and restore Wachesherz to its former glory. She came back from the lower levels changed, as though she had discovered something both terrible and wondrous.

It took years for Rosamund Roth to return to Tiefstrabe Mountain. When she did, it was at the head of a column of warriors dedicated to a new organization known as the Drachenblut. The warriors, led by Roth, had committed themselves to becoming a new force for good in the troubled Eisen, a battle-ready small army not held back by politics and with only one goal: protect the people of Eisen from every-thing and anything.

For that, however, they needed a headquarters. The first major battle of the Drachenblut took place in Burg Wachesherz’s halls as they fought to retake the castle from its monstrous tenants. When they finished, Roth planted the flag of the Drachenblut above the castle ramparts and set about the task of rebuilding the stronghold to its former glory.

#### The Fortress

Burg Wachesherz is now a true mountain fortress. Set with its back to the Tiefstrabe Mountain’s face and hugged on both sides by its cliffs, the castle only has one narrow mountain pass. Its towering walls allow guards to stand watch and see anyone approaching, and archers stay on the battlements at all times. The forces inside Wachesherz might be small, but they are regimented and disciplined, well-staffed by crafts-people and servants who have seen the good done by the Drachenblut and made the long trek into the mountains to help the organization survive.

Where once the Drachenblut were more secretive, Rosamund has recently opened the castle up amid accusations of strange blood rituals and dark magic going on underneath. The organization has nothing to hide, and they greet guests and share their ideas with anyone who listens. They eagerly entertain anyone interested in supporting their cause with coin, weapons, favors or military might.

Trustworthy visitors to the castle may be invited to see the Drachenblut’s strategy academy, a training center teaching its finest young recruits the art of tactical action and military history, or train in the lists with the organization’s fierce warriors.

One of the castle’s greatest treasures is its growing library in the northern towers, being restored by a defrocked Vaticine priest turned historian named Diego Monsancino. The library is known to hold texts about everything from history to magic going back as far as the days of Stefan the Wise.

Anyone who wishes to stay and learn must first ride out with the Drachenblut and prove himself a worthy ally. Those who survive are counted as Blutsgeschwister, “blood-sibling,” and may stay. All who stay at the castle share the same kind of living quarters and eat together in a giant communal feasting hall. There is no head table and Rosamund Roth eats among soldiers and guests alike under a giant banner of the golden dragon.

The trip to the castle is not an easy one, as Horrors in the mountains and dangerous weather hazards take many lives before they ever reach Wachesherz. Enemies interested in curtailing the Drachenblut’s power ambush travelers on their way to the castle. Meanwhile the remoteness of the castle has served the Drachenblut well, keeping their enemies far away and their resources and secrets far away from prying eyes.

#### The Iron Caves

Strange stories have come down from the mountain about the initiation ceremonies of new Drachenblut recruits and what Rosamund Roth might have hiding in the lower levels of the castle keep. Loose lips and the Eisenfürsten’s spies carry stories about a hooded ritual where new warriors receive a goblet full of drachen blood to drink. Of course, most do not believe the organization actually has drachen blood, as the legendary creatures have not existed in Eisen for thousands of years. Still, many wonder if somewhere deep beneath Wachesherz lies a cavern holding a terrible and amazing secret.

If Rosamund Roth and the Drachenblut do indeed have a drachen in their fortress, nobody is talking.

#### The Village of Wachesherz

Along with its knights, commanders and visitors, the castle has a population of nearly two hundred, from servants to hostlers and weaponsmiths, with more arriving every year. Every day, construction continues on the castle, renovating old sections and adding new places to house the burgeoning population.

A small village, named after the castle itself, has sprung up outside of the citadel’s walls, boasting artisans and merchants from all across Théah. Those who stay outside the city barter and bargain from those uninterested in becoming blutgeschwister, and a sprawling marketplace lies in the shadow of the castle’s towers.

The most lucrative trade item is Hexenwerk parts, and merchants in the know spread rumors of Hexenwerk ingredients found at Wachesherz that can’t be found anywhere else. The town’s chief civilian, nominally its mayor, a woman named Kiva Hollitz, not only supports and sympathizes with hexe but also with many sorcerers. She even works to bring those in danger of ostracization or being hunted into her remote little village, far from prying eyes.

In the face of maintaining costly renovations to Wachesherz, the Drachenblut have solicited many noble supporters, who they entertain at the castle. Those noticing Rosamund Roth’s rise to power have also chosen to visit the castle, and an expensive and well-appointed inn has only recently opened up, protected by castle walls. Called the Drachen’s Jewel, it is run by a Vesten couple, Gertrude and Sigrun Jarlsmann. The two, known associates with the Vendel League, serve as hosts to all those higher class clientele visiting the mountain fortress.

The Burg Wachesherz, a growing power in Eisen, draws much political ire from both foreign dignitaries and the Eisenfürsten. A recent influx of weapons to the fortress also has many sitting up to take notice, as an anonymous donor gifted the organization with extremely rare dracheneisen weapons and armor.

Many point the finger at Niklas Träge, who denies the accusation. Still, the arrival of these powerful weapons continues to expand the legend of Wachesherz as the center of a great new adventure beginning in the heart of Eisen.

### Starkbrunn

On the border between Castille and Eisen lies the high-walled city of Starkbrunn. Unlike many of the older cities in Eisen, Starkbrunn is a city revitalized after the War. Ravaged by constant attacks and overrun early in the conflict, Starkbrunn suffered Castillian occupation for much of the War of the Cross until retaken in the final push by the Imperator and his troops.

During this push, the Imperator lost nearly a thousand soldiers taking the high walls around the city, earning it the nickname the Crown’s Graveyard. Outside the wall, the flower of Eisen’s youth perished by the tens of thousands in the shadow of the Dracheneisen Mountains over the course of seven days. The open ground between the Starkbrunn walls and the mountains became known as die Heulenden Ebenen, the Howling Grounds, because they say the blood of Eisen and Castille soaked through every inch of earth.

In the shadow of Starkbrunn’s walls, the two nations declared a cessation of hostilities. The battle on die Heulenden Ebenen began the road to peace, and Castille returned Starkbrunn to Eisen as a gesture of goodwill. The veterans of the battle swore an oath to guard against a return to war and many settled in Starkbrunn to rebuild. Despite their efforts, the remnants of the city fell into disrepair and remained occupied mostly by this remaining military force.

#### Die Heulenden Ebenen

The Howling Grounds outside the walled city is a blighted, wretched stretch of land spawning some of the most dangerous Horrors seen in Eisen. These creatures do not hide but instead often crawl from crags in the rocky ground to brazenly attack a traveler on her way to the city.

The last few miles to Starkbrunn are a mad dash across the flat open ground to reach the safety of the garrisons who patrol just under the walls. Anyone caught on open ground after nightfall surely faces attack. Fatalities were common when only the elder veterans held Starkbrunn, but a new generation of fighters has taken up the call to make the city strong.

#### The Junges Blut

When the garrison’s elder commander, Bruno Elkhardt, died fighting off a pack of ghouls while protecting a merchant caravan, his daughter and second-in-command Elmina Elkhardt put out the call across Eisen. She urged those young and old to take up the new war for Eisen’s future, the war against monsters who stole their Nation’s chance for pros-perity. Bards and messengers carried the letter to every corner of the country.

Soon, a fresh crop of young Eisen arrived. Though too young to have fought in the War, they have cut their teeth fighting Horrors all their lives. Tough and scrappy, these young fighters took to the task of protecting and rebuilding Starkbrunn, turning it into the leading military base in all of Eisen. Under Elmina Elkhardt’s command, these new fighters styled themselves the Junges Blut, “young bloods,” of Eisen, a new breed of monster-slayers ready to fight and die to protect their families against harm.

Though tensions run high between the elder veterans and the Junges Blut, the two groups have come together under Elkhardt’s command to become the major power in the region. The town has become so powerful many families send their young people to take a turn as a Junge Blut in Starkbrunn as a point of pride, so their children might learn what it is to truly fight for Eisen.

The surprise came when Starkbrunn declared themselves a part of the königreich of Fischler rather than original barony of Hainzl. Falk Fischler was the only Eisenfürst to respond to Starkbrunn’s call for aid, sending down supplies despite political advice to the contrary. When Commander Elkhardt sent him a letter of thanks, Fischler shocked her when he came south to meet her and tour the famous battlefields.

The Eisenfürst uncharacteristically charmed both the Junges Blut with his support and the veterans by paying tribute on the battlefield to those who fell. Since then, the city is fanatically devoted to Fischler and its Eisenfürst and follows him come what may.

With the support of Fischler and other bene-factors, Starkbrunn has been rebuilt. Behind its towering walls now lies a fairly modern city, a layer of strong new fortifications over the crum-bled and nearly destroyed infrastructure of the ancient citadel.

Still, old scars run deep. Any travelers coming up from Castille must travel through Starkbrunn for safety, and though the War ended long ago, tensions still run high should any Castillians come north.

#### Jägerviertel

Starkbrunn has become a haven for fighting men and women from all across Eisen looking for a new cause, a new home or a place to belong. Those who do not fall in with the garrison often become private soldiers, and many mercenary companies find their home in Starkbrunn. And since the War, many an Eisen has turned his martial capabilities to hunting and destroying the one thing Eisen has plenty of: monsters.

A new class of wandering monster hunter called the ungetümjäger has emerged from veteran fighters well-versed in eradicating all classes of Horrors. A person seeking work as a hired monster hunter makes her home in the southern part of the city known as the Jägerviertel, the Hunter’s Quarter. People with a particular kind of Horror problem can find special-ists in local taverns, where innkeepers keep rosters of hunters looking for work.

Additionally, the Himmel Licht Hospital at the center of the town is world renowned for treating odd afflictions contracted from monster attacks. Their head researcher, Doctor Yedidya Neiman, specializes in gathering knowledge about all magical maladies, continuing the work of his Yachidi parents whose healing knowledge and skills brought them all the way from the Crescent Empire. Doctor Neiman works closely with his husband, Samir al-Rabbah, to network with other Yachidi institutions of learning to help expand knowledge of the anatomy of monsters, as well as the uses of Hexenwerk to help those in need.

#### The Magic Trade

Starkbrunn also serves as one of the leading centers for the trade of Hexenwerk components. Considering the city’s need for resources against Horrors, most fighters turn a blind eye to concerns over using Hexenwerk, taking on a more “whatever works” mindset.

For that reason, shopkeepers across Starkbrunn sell Hexenwerk ingredients on the sly while the local constables pretend not to notice. Unlike the shops at Wachesherz, whose wares are just as likely rumor as real, the shops in Starkbrunn hold fresh ingredients at reasonable prices. A hexe can find many hard-to-locate materials in the shops, and if the shops don’t carry them, they can probably harvest the monster parts from the Horrors in die Heulenden Ebenen.

Additionally, Starkbrunn is a vital stop on the under-ground smuggling routes for sorcerers escaping from places of persecution. Many hexe, seeking to avoid signing up on Elsa Pösen’s list, make their home in the city. No one really knows how many sorcerers the city harbors, though if you are looking for someone to teach or help with a specific problem, they aren’t hard to find.

It is an open secret that Donatella Rossi, a Vodacce immigrant who serves as the best seam-stress in Starkbrunn, is also a Fate Witch allied with the Junges Blut. The seamstress is rumored to know the location of every hidden sorcerer in the city, but no one has been foolish enough to try to make her talk. She has survived three assassina-tion attempts already. Each time, the her would-be murderers found mysteriously outside the city walls after dark, where they met a gruesome fate. So is the end of anyone who stands against the rising power of Starkbrunn and its new generation of Eisen Heroes.

### The Ausgeglichene Platz

Until recently, no one knew about the strange, twisted ruins of the Ausgeglichene Platz. The Salzsumpf swamplands in the north of Eisen, deep inside Pösen, were always considered a horrible place, with thick bogs full of sinking mud, crawling Horrors and an awful infestation of sirens come down from the coast to settle in the shallows.

Before the War, people traveled carefully through the region and could largely come through unscathed, though probably miserable from the experience. In the years during the rise of the Horrors across Eisen, the Salzsumpf faced a geological shift. Strange noises escaped up from under the sucking mud and swamp, vibrating the ground and causing massive shifts in the landscape. From underneath a complex series of ruins rose to the surface, scattered for miles in every direction.

When explorers came upon the new find, they were shocked to find the ruins only represented the top portions of larger structures still buried deep beneath the earth. From openings in the towers, explorers could enter the underground to discover and map the complex’s many rooms and passages.

They found the structures each to be enormous, with multiple levels full of beautiful, if waterlogged, mosaics and carvings along the walls and ceilings. But it was the discovery of Syrneth relics and crys-tals glowing purple in the dark that put the new and mysterious ruins on the map. The first visitors named the place the Ausgeglichene Platz, or “the Balanced Place,” because the structures look precariously balanced, even while under the earth. Hallways and entire towers lie buried at an angle and in strange configurations, leading even the canniest of adven-turers to get lost or injured. That does not stop a member of the Explorer’s Society or a fortune seeker from testing her luck inside the Balanced Place.

With so many adventurers seeking the mystery of the Ausgeglichene Platz, Elsa Pösen sent a tax collector to levy a small fee from anyone who brought out treasure from the complex. Yet like the rest of Eisen, the Ausgeglichene Platz is full of undead. Attacks increased with such alarming frequency that Pösen declared the area off limits. Since then, only the bravest has taken to entering the Ausgeglichene Platz, armed to protect herself as she takes on the challenge of searching the buried palace.

### Gottkirchen and Rücken Island

Rücken Island lies off the northern coast of the könig-reich of Wirsche, a chilled and forbidding island, which changed hands many times over the centuries. The island once served as a depot for ships coming down from Vestenmennavenjar and hosted a small resupply station by the Vendel League, infrastructure which was destroyed during the War of the Cross.

During the War, pirates proclaimed it home until Castillian forces chased them off, and then Roswitha von Wirsche sent her best Iron Guard to repel the landing. Once the War ended, Wirsche hatched a plan to use the island to house excess population left landless during the War.

Called the Rücken Endeavor, Wirsche advertised free land to whomever settled this Horror-free new paradise by the sea. All told, five hundred families and almost two hundred orphans boarded boats to travel to Rücken Island, most of them Vaticine, bringing with them their meager possessions and the drive to create a new and safer home for themselves. What they found upon arrival was a wind-blasted barren land, barely arable for crops and vulnerable to attack.

Instead of creating new settlements, the people wanted to leave the island. Unfortunately, the boats that brought them there had abandoned them. The settlers sought shelter in the old Vesten town of Gottkirchen, and they might have all died out if not for a terrible pact made with the island’s sole previous inhabitants: blood drinkers.

#### The First Year

Roswitha von Wirsche proposed the Rücken Endeavor to free herself and the other Eisenfürsten of displaced populations, old veterans and refugees from Horror attacks. She, as well as Eisenfürsten Sieger, Hainzl and Pösen, promised support, including Iron Guard troops, to help the settlers create their own militia upon landing. Most were unaware of the vulnerabilities of the island.

When they learned how bad the land was, they all swore to help rebuild Gottkirchen, a burnt-out husk on the northwest coast, far from aid. Yet the Endeavor broke down almost immediately. Hainzl and Sieger withdrew the lion’s share of their funding and supplies, and Wirsche’s Iron Guard left after only three months without leaving behind enough weapons for the militia to defend themselves. As soon as the Iron Guard pulled out, raiders landed on the northern coast. Desperate for help, the settlers sent messages to Wirsche, but received only silence in return.

And still, more families arrived, seduced by the promise of safety, with no idea what a nightmare the Endeavor had become. The settlers tried to eke out what living they could, but the crops they planted performed poorly. Then, the unthinkable happened: Horrors appeared on Rücken, drawn by the influx of people. Gottkirchen became the only safe haven, and even those who had attempted to farm the land pulled back into the relative safety of the ruined city.

#### The Blood Pact

The people of Rücken might have not have survived the first year, if not for the actions of Salomon Zeller, the island’s magistrate. Zeller, selected by Wirsche to manage the island, quickly became Gottkirchen’s de facto mayor, military commander and administrator.

One day, covered in blood, Zeller returned from hunting Horrors, the sole survivor of his party. He promised the people of Gottkirchen they no longer needed to fear Horror attacks thanks to new protec-tors. And though many were suspicious, true to his word, the Horror attacks stopped.

Soon, Gottkirchen reemerged as a fishing and trading village, a refuge against the nightmares of Eisen as it was meant to be. No Horrors attacked the city, and even criminal activity dropped to almost nothing after the first few criminals met swift and bloody ends in the night. People questioned just what kind of guardians protected them so viciously, but Zeller kept it to himself.

Another year later, a carriage pulled up into Gottkirchen square. It came from a small, dilapidated manor house on the far side of Rücken, high above the eastern cliffs. Zeller met the carriage, escorting his own brother, a sickly man near to death. Zeller’s brother entered the carriage and was never seen alive again. The carriage delivered his body back, draped in a white shroud, three days later. Zeller then told everyone about the deal he had made. And after a great debate, reluctantly, the town accepted the blood pact.

Now, over fifteen years have passed and Gottkirchen remains under the protection of blood drinkers. They slaughter any Horrors who arise on the island and stalk the night to deal with any criminals in the town proper. No one knows just how many live at the old manor house across the island, and no one who has gone to challenge them has ever returned. Only Zeller speaks with them, and he is not telling.

Villagers warn merchants who land at Gottkirchen about the brutal rule of law, and so crime is nearly nonexistent. Most traders know to stay away during the summer solstice, however, when the sacrifice occurs. During the funeral for the sacrifice, the next volunteer steps up. So far, there has always been a volunteer, who spends a full year as an honored hero of the community, given anything he wishes until he steps into the carriage for his last ride. The village then takes care of the sacrifice’s family for the rest of their lives. This makes it an attractive solution for the poorest, the ill or the lost.

Everyone knows they have made a deal with the very Horrors they fled Eisen to escape. But the alternative, returning to a life haunted by monsters on the main-land, has kept the pact going.

#### St. Eugenia’s and the Resistance

Few question the town’s yearly sacrifice to the blood drinkers of the cliffs. The few adversaries of the blood pact are led by Father Alonzo Gonzalez, a Castillian priest who settled on Gottkirchen to reopen St. Eugenia’s church on the west side of town.

He believes Gottkirchen must defend itself and root out the blood drinkers of Rücken. Still, he knows the townspeople live because of the willing sacrifices made by one of their own each year.

He upkeeps a stone memorial in the town square, a tall obelisk inscribed only with the names of those who sacrificed themselves in years past. The last few years, due perhaps to his sermons, fewer and fewer people express interest in volunteering for the sacrifice and instead grumble about overthrowing Zeller as magistrate and driving out the blood drinkers once and for all.

Recently, the Resistance has sent messengers back to the mainland in search of help. Gottkirchen survives under a pall as a tiny, wind-swept town clinging to a rocky cliffside. If the Resistance managed to fight back against the blood drinkers, raiders would have easy access to the village. The town has little of its own protection, with no walls and only a small militia, and depends wholly on the blood drinkers to keep the raiders at bay.

What it does have is an abundance of people living in poor housing—shanties all built up against one another with corrals for livestock and a robust if ramshackle marketplace in the middle of the city square. Even St. Eugenia’s is a half-collapsing old relic of the ancient city. With no money for better infra-structure, and no aid to destroy the blood drinkers, the Resistance needs help from outside or will remain under the pact forever.

### Heimstatt

Just east of Freiburg near the Ussuran border lies the bustling town of Heimstatt. Once a farming and agrarian village, the tiny hamlet found itself growing by leaps and bounds when the road from Ussura leading up through the Angenehme Wald expanded to head past their town.

Soon, traders and travelers from all across Théah headed through Heimstatt, turning it into a surpris-ingly cosmopolitan stopover to anyone heading north to Vestenmennavenjar or further east. During the War, Heimstatt served as a refuge for those in need of medical care and a major army hospital annexed several farms on the outskirts of town to create a ramshackle facility to care for the wounded.

While the people of Heimstatt first resented the seizure of their land, they pitched in and soon became integral in treating so many veterans. The villagers saved thousands of lives through their hard work and dedication to their fellow Eisen.

For their service, the Imperator granted Heimstatt the title of “the home of heroes” and promised a portion of the budget raised by the government to turn the army hospital into a permanent facility for medical service and research. Upon his death, the promise would have been forgotten if not for Eisenfürst Träge. Supported by Pösen and Fischler, Träge threw the full weight of Freiburg behind building sleepy little Heimstatt into a city known for its training hospital and the small scientific Eisengeist-Universität.

Now, the little town is a bustling and productive place amid all the terrors that plague the rest of Eisen. It might be the proximity to Ussura, or just the fact that little fighting happened nearby, but the area is blessedly free of Horrors. The hospital and the Universität attract some of the best minds in Eisen.

Heimstatt now sits as a beacon of hope for the rest of Eisen. The land around the city is still lush and full of life, the people prosper through trade and the city is one of few with an influx of immigrants seeking to settle in Eisen. This spotlight of what Eisen could be like if the Horrors were finally removed lends a great deal of strength to the Eisen people.

#### Hospital and University

Heimstatt has retained its charming small town appeal, growing around the university and hospital to serve their needs. Moreover, the town has attracted some of the greatest minds in medicine and scientific thought to what might be considered the middle of nowhere.

Heiligherz-Krankenhaus not only retains its capacity for accepting mass traumas for aid, but trains some of the best field medics anywhere. Their surgical wing is second to none, and they have received aid from medical institutions all over Théah to expand their library. The Vaticine Church saw the good work done by the hospital and extended financial support, and helped send doctors from as far off as Vodacce and Castille to join the teaching staff.

The peaceful city has drawn other groups to join the community. A large contingent of Yachidi, moving north from the Crescent Empire for the purposes of business and learning, settled in Heimstatt only ten years ago. In that time, the Yachidi population has exploded, with the religious minority taking over the small neighborhood of Lodz almost entirely.

At first, the local Eisen weren’t sure what to make of the foreigners, but soon embraced the Yachidi’s diligent dedication to helping others and bettering the community. The Yachidi organization known as the Chavra was instrumental in bringing up medical supplies from the Crescent Empire to tackle a plague threatening the countryside three years ago. Since then, the Yachidi have helped to build up  Heiligherz-Krankenhaus and Eisengeist-Universität, fostering both institutions as places where science and magical knowledge could be explored side by side.

This radical approach to joint magical and scientific study for the purpose of healing has drawn the ire of some of the more militant branches of the Church. Recently, the Inquisition has made public statements against Heimstatt for welcoming the study of magic, and the townsfolk publicly expelled members of the Church for nearly coming to blows with the medical college faculty. Tensions have been running high for some time and it is only a matter of time until a crisis fully erupts.

## Hexenwerk

Eisen folklore tells of great Heroes who donned enchanted armor to defeat foes in great battles, gaining the praise of all of Théah. Reality reflects a much darker tale. One of loss and heartbreak, of witches and monsters. One where struggle brings forth a whisper that beckons you ever closer to a darkness you cannot escape.

No one person can tell you when or where Hexenwerk originated, but all can tell you why. Every story of Hexenwerk’s beginnings is just that, a story, a rumor. Each tale, similar in that all Hexenwerk tales speak of sadness and heartbreak, ends with the blight of the land. One story tells of the original hexe who used Unguents to enchant armor and weapons. In an Unguent accident, the armor and weapons brought all of the fallen warriors who touched them back to life. The hexe repurposed the Unguents to fight against the new threat and so birthed modern Hexenwerk.

Another fable invokes the witch who watched her land get taken away. A military force making camp in a forest in Eisen started destroying the woods. This also destroyed the witch’s wards and crops. After she came home to a house burnt down, she wanted to punish the interlopers. In doing so, she caused the spirits she summoned to ravage the land.

Yet another theory claims that during the War of the Cross, the Eisen military was losing in numbers. They needed reinforcements and food. Experimenting with sorcery, a few of the generals figured out a way to bring back the fallen troops. It worked, but they couldn’t control them and the undead spread and devastated the land.

Hexenwerk is grotesque, an artform of using the undead against themselves. Eating undead hearts or making a paste of rotten eyes is not pretty. Many who practice it only do so to help their Nation. A hexe has to; Eisen is his home and the undead an unwelcome presence. It is a Sorcery of desperation. The War of the Cross drained Eisen’s resources, but he still fights against a now-common enemy. He knows that someday this will be over. He just has to keep fighting.

Being a hexe is not easy. From rubbing a severed corpse tongue onto his own to eating a mix of ground liver and kidney, most cannot stomach it. Those who can, roam Eisen and clear the undead where they rise. Other Eisen fear and respect the hexe. The practice can alienate you from the ones you love while gaining you praise from those you do not know. However, a hexe believes that saving her country is a greater cause than any other. She is the reason why Eisen still prospers today.

To be a hexe you must find a mentor; very few can teach themselves this Sorcery. Learning and using the Sorcery is often shunned and in some places illegal, making finding such a mentor difficult. Most teachers insist that their students learn the proper skills for fighting the undead, and a novice hexe who attempts to teach himself does not fare well. Most hexe find the training difficult, leading to injury or death. If you do not ready your stomach for what you put in it, your Unguent can end up in a trash bin or with you in a casket.

A hexe inures herself by eating a few days old piece of meat. Then a week, then a month, and so on until she can eat year-old rotten meat without a problem. All that just to stomach the Unguents; getting the proportions just right takes months of practice. Each hexe requires a different amount of each ingredient since bodies react differently to each component. Unfortunately, hexe find trial and error the best way to find the right proportions, which is why you learn to stomach the ingredients first.

A mentor looks for a student proud of Eisen. One that would do anything for her country and is also ambitious. You have to be willing to learn even when that means doing repugnant tasks. A common task for an aspiring student is to find an animal corpse and properly dispose of the body without tools. This means removing all the organs, destroying each of them and then burning the rest of the body. Learning to completely destroy a corpse is a very important piece of knowledge for a hexe. Doing it without tools can be tough for a new student, especially those sensi-tive to smells.

### The Apostat

Elsa Pösen has tasked a group called the Hexenjäger (Witch Hunters) with registering all hexe. Elsa’s goal is to send untethered hexe to the Drachenblut to help fight Horrors. If a hexe does not register, the Hexenjäger banishes or kills him, because according to the Witch Hunters, only an enemy of Eisen refuses to sign. Many hexe do not trust Pösen’s list and fear she has something terrible planned for them. A hexe may even leave Eisen rather than risk running afoul of the Hexenjäger. If the Hexenjäger finds a hexe in hiding, he brands her with a symbol, a circle with an “X” in it, thus marking her an Apostat. If she continues

to use Sorcery within Eisen, he hunts and kills her.

When a hexe leaves Eisen, she usually struggles to put her skills to use. Undead wander everywhere in Théah, but nowhere near as concentrated as in Eisen. Though free from the Horrors and from persecu-tion, a hexe paradoxically finds herself abandoning Hexenwerk from lack of use or modifying and changing her knowledge. A struggling hexe hears of ways to adapt by taking Hexenwerk and converting it to affect monsters other than the undead.

An Apostat uses similar techniques to a normal hexe—instead of undead brain matter, he eats a Monster’s brain and instead of an undead eye, he smears paste made from Monsters’ eyes. You have to be careful though; Hexenwerk used on Monsters can be easier to swallow. Monster parts taste better overall than rotten and undead flesh, and an Apostat, susceptible to overeating, can fall into madness or contract a strange illness. An Apostat may be lured into thinking that fighting Monsters is a better path, but he would be wrong.

Outside of Eisen, it can be difficult to find tute-lage. Apostaten created a way to contact each other. It isn’t perfect, but it works. They have repurposed the symbol used to banish them into one of shelter and community. Apostaten find creative uses for this symbol, marking territory, offering or asking for help or just letting people know they are there. Some carve it into trees for a more permanent symbol or get it tattooed somewhere visible. This can help when trying to find a mentor or to help a hexe fine-tune techniques. She has to be careful, however; the symbol can be emulated. There have been instances where a hexe walked into a trap, because she thought herself safe in another Apostat’s territory. In some cases, intelligent Monsters have used this symbol against their own hunters.

### HEXENJÄGER

In the interest of creating a registry of hexe to keep tabs on who could possibly create—and thereby ﬁght—undead horrors, Elsa Pösen created the Hexenjäger, a subset of her Iron Guard. She hopes to focus the hexe by placing them within military units, and eliminate those who act outside of the command structure.

Elsa believes that a Witch Hunter must have an understanding of Sorcery to register hexe; if one of her Iron Guard shows any sort of magical capability, he begins training as a Hexenjäger. After training, a Hexenjäger receives a sword and a registry book. Once he ﬁlls his 26-page book, with each page representing a hexe, he reports back to Elsa. After this initial mission, Pösen sends him out again or returns him to the Iron Guard.

#### How It Works

An Apostat’s Hexenwerk works exactly like normal Hexenwerk. Each time you purchase the Sorcery, you learn the recipe for one Major Unguent and two Minor Unguents. You can choose from either the Hexenwerk or the Apostat lists when choosing Unguents.

Creating an Unguent requires time (at least an hour) and a workspace (a kitchen or a lab). A hexe spends a Hero Point, combining the Materials to create 1 Major Unguent for which she has the recipe. In addition, she also creates 1 Minor Unguent for each time she has purchased the Sorcery Advantage. These can be multiple doses of the same Minor Unguent or single doses of different ones.

Once created, an Unguent can be used by anyone. Activating an Unguent costs a single Raise if during an Action Sequence, but requires nothing otherwise. Unguents are unstable; each Hero can only keep one unused Major Unguent or one unused Minor Unguent at the end of each Episode—all others spoil, melt through their containers or become other-wise unusable.

#### Major Unguents

A major Unguent’s effects last until the end of the Scene, unless otherwise noted. Many of the Major Unguents from the Hexenwerk list can justifiably be used on Monsters, with some ingredient changes. For example, with Dead Man’s Blood, by changing the fresh corpse blood to blood from a live Monster and poisons to sedatives, you can use this Unguent on a non-undead Monster. Talk with your Game Master about what Unguents she will allow to use on Monsters. Remember to think about good ways to change the ingredients (and the application of the Unguent if necessary) so it makes sense.

#### Anosmia Oil

A clump of fur and a drop of urine from a Monster, boiled in herbs, essential oils and acid, then reduced to an oily paste. This oil can then be rubbed on a person’s body, to prevent all Monsters—for a single Scene—from tracking that person through smell. A Monster must spend an extra Raise to try to find you.

#### Ferocious Mobility

A Monster’s tooth, a dried frog and a crow’s feather ground into a powder and added to goat’s milk. Once swallowed a person gains the ability to run and jump like a wild beast. A hexe can use this Unguent to complete an athletic task that he could not normally perform. An example would be using the Unguent to jump across a twenty-foot crevasse. It does not allow the hexe to complete a task the Monster wouldn’t be able to perform itself.

#### Fugue Powder

Demon horn, mushrooms and bone meal cooked dry, ground into a powder and added to a tea. When consumed can make the person forget everything about the last day. Fugue powder is very hard to procure as demon horns are not often found lying around. It takes a large amount of tea for this to work.

#### Wild Sight

A sharpened blackwood branch, burnt, then rolled in berries, mud and something from the target Monster (fur, blood, etc.). Using the branch to scratch the target’s own body—taking 1 Dramatic Wound—that person goes into a trance. In the trance, she sees what the target Monster sees. This may be out of context but can give the user a better idea of the Monster’s location and what it is doing. This connection is very weak and can be lost easily. If the Monster goes to sleep or takes a Wound, the connection is lost. If the user takes a Wound, the connection is severed. Wild Sight only lasts one Scene. While in the Wild Sight state, a person can spend 1 Hero Point to then perform a Notice Risk to gain additional information about the Monster.

#### Minor Unguents

Minor Unguents’ effects last until the end of the Round unless otherwise noted. Just like with the Major Unguents, most of the Minor Unguents from the Hexenwerk list can be used on Monsters, with some ingredient changes. For example with Red Thirst, by replacing the rotten meat with fresh meat this can be used on non-undead Monsters. Make sure to talk to your Game Master about converting Minor Unguents.

## Legenden of Eisen

Eisen has always been a land of Horrors. Stories of dead soldiers and graveyards rising back to life form the basis of many of the oldest legends. Whether a few ancient hexe began Eisen’s problem with undead, or people started studying Hexenwerk in response to the undead is not clear. Blame the War or Eisen’s haunted past, one thing cannot be denied: Eisen is a land of undead Horrors unlike any seen in other parts of the world.

The War of the Cross brought a proliferation of modern Hexenwerk across all of Eisen. A hexe back then did not study out of a love of things macabre or a need for personal power, but in a desperate attempt to defend her home, her people and her beloved land. This did not make the work any less grotesque or powerful. The hexe created a wide plethora of creatures locked in life-beyond-life to help defend the lands. Most highly experienced hexe laid the Monsters back to rest after their use in the War—that is how it was supposed to be done. However, it did not always work that way. In times of desperation, many poorly trained, inexperienced hexe let loose all manner of beings still roaming the lands of Eisen without control.

### Zombies

Poorly held together by rotting sinew, broken bones and decaying flesh, zombies move barely faster than a stumble and seem drawn by the scent of living flesh without needing to see their prey. However, finding a single zombie is a rarity. Hexe took advantage of the freshly dead masses on the battlefields during the War of the Cross and often raised scores of these creatures at the same time. The plan was to throw them back against the enemies that killed them, giving the noble soldiers their last revenge. However, after winning the battles, many unskilled hexe found they had poured too much power into their creations. They lost control of their undead minions and packs of zombies began to roam the land.

Zombies are weak individually, but powerful in groups. Depending on the size of the group, zombies can range in Strength. An average Monster Squad of zombies is Strength 4 with the Unliving Monstrous Quality.

### Revenants

A zombie rarely kills a person unless he is alone or highly unlucky. Revenants, however, murder with savage speed and skill. A Revenant is still an undead creature—they have no breath, no moving blood and are creations of Hexenwerk—but they are many times faster, stronger and better put together than a zombie. Most Revenants still maintain their skin and the muscle structure beneath. The best identi-fying features of a Revenant are sunken, shriveled eye sockets and skin, which has sloughed off their fingertips. They kill and eat so viciously with their hands that, while the rest of their body maintains its form, a Revenant’s palms are stripped down to nothing but skeleton and sinew. Still, that skeleton is dangerously strong, even to a trained Hero. It is not clear exactly what makes a Revenant—some say they are simply zombies which had a bit more power poured into them. Others believe that Revenants had been specifically created after the War by hexe who captured zombies and turned them into better killing machines. While Revenants do not have human thought processes, they do seem better at following orders and are able to focus on specific targets. They do not kill with the mindlessness of zombies—they are a targeted, dangerous threat.

The average Revenant is a Strength 5 Monster with the Monstrous Qualities Relentless and Swift.

### Leibewerke Horrors

Four impossibly muscular arms, six spindly legs like some sort of centipede, two heads (sewn on opposite directions), two torsos stacked atop each other to support the extra limbs—this Monster was one of the first Leibewerke creations to have roamed the lands. Originally created during the War of the Cross, a Leibewerke is a type of Horror created from the choicest parts of various dead to make one giant nearly unstop-pable creature. Leibewerke Horrors are the result of a hexe who has fallen to the dark temptations of her work and wishes to push it to the absolute limits.

The increase in Hexenwerk acceptance towards the end of the War allowed less moral hexe to flourish. These creations are larger, stronger and more versatile than zombies or Revenants. A particularly skilled hexe could create Leibewerke geared for certain situations: an oddly long, thin, multi-limbed creature for climbing difficult places or a multi-bodied massive beast made to roll across battlefields. The people of Eisen rose up in protest when they learned of the creatures, but the work had already been done and Leibewerke joined the roaming Horrors.

Leibewerke range in Strength from 5 to 7, depending on the reason for creation, and have the Monstrous Qualities Fearsome and Powerful.

#### Hexe’s Artform

There are still hexe who specialize in making Leibewerke and even seem to get a great joy in each Horror they produce. Most of these hexe have gone underground since the War, but among some, it is still considered a unique art and they cannot give up their chosen form of expression. Viktor Franzeller is one of these infamous hexe; he has transformed the entire small town of Höhenlage into a test pool for his dark Henenwerk, calling them his Changed. He has learned how to keep his test subjects, townsfolk with grafts, alive, making sick copies of the Horrors.

A small section of die Kreuzritter have devoted themselves to seeking out hexe who still make these creatures, and Viktor’s name is on the top of their list. Sadly, the hunt has become an arms race—every time die Kreuzritter attacks, Viktor creates something more horrid to fend them off. More than a few of these creatures have escaped their master and now roam the lands, leaving destruction in their wake.

### Blood Drinkers

In the greater lands of Eisen, there are creatures only known as the blood drinkers. A sect dwells on the cliffs of Rücken Island, helping protect the small territory in return for a blood sacrifice once a year. The life of a single, willing townsperson is worth the protection from the greater Horrors in the world. The town does not know exactly what the blood drinkers do with the sacrifice, only that they return him blood-less and dead three days later.

It is a common assumption that the Monsters on the cliffs drink him to death, hence the colloquial name. In other places, people find the dessicated husks of animals, and sometimes people, which they attribute to the blood drinkers, though no one has ever caught one in the act.

#### The Truth: Vampir

The townsfolk are right about the assumption, but wrong that a death of a single mortal a year sustains any Vampir for such a time. The most frightening and most human of the undead, a Vampir can speak, act, think and go about life like any breathing mortal—but she does not breathe and her heart does not beat. The Vampir began when a single hexe dared to test the very limits of immortality, and succeeded, ages before the War of the Cross.

It seems the key to living forever is to not be alive; immensely powerful Hexenwerk and the sacrifice of

one’s mortality can lead to immortality in the brain and “soul.” However, to sustain the Hexenwerk, the Vampir must steal ten gallons of human blood a month. The blood can be consumed, bathed in or even simply worn like make-up. The use of the blood actually powers the Hexenwerk that sustains the Vampir in his state. Vampir rarely make more of themselves as they highly dislike teaching the secrets of their lifestyle. However, they do dwell in little pockets across Eisen. Several are quite unhappy with the publicity of Rücken Island and—even as the mortals plot to do something—they discuss if they should remove their too well-known brethren.

A Vampir is a Monstrous Villain and has access to Influence and Advantages just as a human Villain does. They use their Influence to control lesser undead, such as zombie Monster Squads. Vampirs have the Monstrous Quality Nocturnal and always have access to Hexenwerk.

### Werwolf

There is one way to die in Eisen and return to life, but it is not a life that anyone wishes. Rumors of humans who turn into massive furred and clawed beasts at the height of the full moon have been around for centuries. While some wild storytellers spin tales of a Werwolf relenting to his human side when close to his near and dear, no one has ever seen proof of such actions. Everyone in Eisen, however, knows someone who witnessed one of these beasts on a full moon. This makes travel severely limited when the moon is full; a person needing to take a journey on such evenings often hires a highly skilled hunter to guard her for the perilous trip.

#### The Truth

While injury by Werwolf bite is not automatically deadly, if the attack is lethal, the victim returns as one of these creatures. The only way to transmit the condition is through death and rebirth as a Monster. This factor leads some highly studied hexe to believe that the “curse” of the Werwolf is an ancient and early form of Hexenwerk, as it requires death as a trigger. However, this Monster is not undead, as she still breathes, eats, walks and talks as a mortal in her normal life. Only during the full moon does the other side of this transformation take over.

Werwölfe are vicious and can easily kill a lone Hero. They stand nearly twice the height of most humans but generally hunch over so they have easy use of both their front and hind legs. Their hands and feet transform into massive paws with lethally long claws. They carry more strength than any known, natural animal on the continent and heal at a rapid rate. Regular weapons only injure them for moments before their body heals to their regular, dangerous vitality. Dracheneisen seems entirely ineffective on Werwölfe. However, they do have weaknesses. Silver has been proven to injure them grievously. Not only can they not heal silver wounds, but it seems to be poisonous to their blood. They also only have an animal mentality when in Werwolf form and seem driven by nothing but a maddened bloodlust.

Outside of a full moon, the Werwolf is a normal person, with little knowledge of his alternate personality. During the full moon, a Werwolf has a Strength of 6 with Monstrous Qualities of Nocturnal, Powerful and Regenerating. It does not regenerate against silver.

### Grundylow

Since the War of the Cross, Grundylow sightings have dramatically increased throughout Eisen. The reason for this is unclear. Some believe that the Grundylows have always been numerous, but people had a harder time believing in them before the rest of the Horrors surfaced.

The legend of Grundylows is one as old as time in Eisen. They are creatures of swamps, marshes, bogs and low water lands. Originally, many thought the creatures old wives tales used to warn the young away from dangerous pools of water. No one can dismiss them any longer, as at least a dozen children and small animals have gone missing to the boney white arms and sunken faces in the last year alone. Legends say they feast on living flesh but prefer the young. No one knows why, since this seems true for animals as well. They are most prominently found in the Salzsumpf swamplands and the ruins they contain.

#### The Proof

A team of highly adventurous Heroes investi-gated the Ausgeglichene Platz in an attempt to catalogue what Horrors lay in the depths of its ruins. Three of the team were lost to the Horrors. Before they decided to withdraw, they managed to capture one wailing, horrific creature for study. It survived six hours outside the murky depths of its swampy home and researchers confirmed it as an actual Grundylow.

The academic described it as if someone had taken a body and stretched it longer by a foot. Its arms were as long as its legs and the body nothing but skin and bones. The hands contained seven fingers on each elongated palm and extra joints for a tighter grasp. The mouth had a double row of jagged teeth, clearly meant for the rending of flesh from bones. It had hair like kelp, which began to dry and break off within an hour of being on land.

Grundylows have Strength 5 and the Aquatic Monstrous Quality.

### House Wights

Despite the often horrific nature of Eisen’s history, not all legends are of monstrous beings. In a land of great darkness, light shines all the brighter. Many legends pre-date the War of the Cross, but were mostly consid-ered folktales until Hexenwerk became a regular practice. Now, most of Eisen’s citizens indulge in some show of respect for the old myths. These indulgences are seen most prevalently in the deference given to House Wights.

Across Eisen, a large swath of the populace call on spirits called Wights to keep their houses safe, clean and calm. The average person performs tiny acts to bring him in touch with the mythical elements of the land, and gain protection. Like many spirits, Wights gain power through belief, and now there are more Wights taking care of Eisen than ever before.

A family must leave small gifts out for the creatures to receive their protection. These gifts include minor bits of food, hand-written tales or handmade scarves. As long as a gift is from the heart, the House Wights accept it. Once active in a house, Wights give varied blessings, adapting to what the family needs. For example, they can keep a roof intact through a partic-ularly rough winter, ensure the sickly child of a house-hold does not catch the flu or prevent forgotten food crumbs from attracting plague-carrying rodents.

#### Other Wights

The people of Eisen give homage to a wide variety of Wights for their varied, small blessings. Wights of the Land are often paid with a small patch of a garden or farm to do with as they please. The Wights watch over the rest of the farm and livestock in exchange. They keep vicious animals away from sheep and blight from the corn. Almost every type of lifestyle has its own little Wight unique to its protection.

Once a family invites a Wight into their lives, they are stuck with that spirit as long as they maintain the place. Wights are not reasonable creatures, however. Should the regular gifts stop, a nasty relative move into the house or the family turn their back on the creature, a Wight can curse as much as it blesses. Homes who anger their Wights often find their food routinely spoiling or things catching fire far too quickly. Farms who anger their Wights end up with mysteriously infertile soil come the next planting season. Needless to say, inviting a Wight into one’s life is a decision not taken lightly.

### Weise Frauen

About the farthest northwest point of the Dracheneisen Mountains, a humble, tiny house stands. While it may seem unassuming on the outside and barely strong enough to withstand the violent mountain winters, it contains a vast and ancient amount of wisdom inside. The Weise Frauen live in this house and always have, as long as legends have existed in Eisen.

The three ancient crones, while seemingly aged, never actually manage to die. They have watched the history of Eisen over centuries, recorded it all and have given guidance like no others. They are consid-ered the wisest people in the lands, and while the journey to their doorstep is a perilous one, it is also an incredibly worthy quest.

A Hero must cross mountains and survive bandits, Horrors and weather to reach the three crones. If she survives the journey, they invite her into the house for exactly three days. Often, the first day she spends recovering, the second day she spends learning how to ask the right questions and on the third day, the Hero actually finds answers. No Hero has ever said she took the perilous journey in vain.

#### The Order of Wisdom

The Weise Frauen are considered magical people of legend. They have cultivated this reputation over a thousand years, and the perception has only deepened as Eisen returns to believing in magic. In truth, not a single bit of anything other than hard work and study goes into the Weise Frauen. They call themselves the Order of Wisdom; hundreds of women have pledged themselves to keep the eternal knowledge of the lands. While the small house remains publicly visible, built into the mountain beneath that dwelling is a great and ancient temple.

Dozens of women occupy the space, keeping up its library, the history of the lands, an indoor farming facility and training the next generation. Not every member of the Order of Wisdom becomes a Weise Frau, but they have all dedicated themselves to trying. A woman studies for all of her life, until her hair is white and skin wrinkled, before she can be elevated to living in The House. Then, as one of the other Weisen Frauen finally passes of age, she silently replaces her sister in the night, and the cycle continues.