The

Curse of Xiogru

Campaign Primer & House Rules

1. Geography & Societies

A. Natural Features

At the outset of the campaign, each of the player characters hails from the region along an east-
west oriented mountain range at the center of a nameless continent. While each culture has its
own name (or names) for the mountain range, the peaks are most widely known in the common
tongue as the Qin Mountains [pronounced KEY-in], after the ancient religious redoubt at the
approximate center of the expanse. Among the western elves, the mountains are dubbed the
Larrange [Luh-RON-jeh], a very old term of unknown origins. The southern dwarves have no
known word for the entire mountain range, but refer to its eastern arm as the Decaynes and its
western peaks as the Zints. And along the coast, in the port city of Balvin, locals have taken to
calling the range the Amalos [Ah-MAHL-ohz] after the tallest nearby peak. Still other bands
and cultures undoubtedly use other terms, of course.

Climate patterns here are predominately temperate, but the quirks of mountain weather and the
ocean shore to the east combine to produce no end of local micro-climates. Areas north and
west of the mountains receive ample precipitation, and are covered by vast forests and swamps.
The mountains themselves are young and vast, with high ridges and active stratovolcanoes
topping 25,000 in elevation. Major peaks include Mt. Marvell (18,000), Mt. Amalio (20,500),
Mt. Decayne (24,000), and the enormous black mountain Mt. Zind (25,250). The snows at the
mountaintops feed several fast-flowing rivers that run to the north through the woods and
marshesthe most famous of which include the Marvell, the Sampao, the pedestrianly-named
North River, and the dirty River Trager.

Areas east and south of the mountains are much drier, and feature savannah-like coastal plains
and rocky inland deserts. This includes the infamous Zind Desolationa dark land of ash and
ruin, home only to fell beasts and corrupted vegetation, that lies in the shadow of towering Mt.
Zind. Closer to the coast, the milder, Mediterranean weather patterns enable some of the only
intense agriculture in the region, which enables the one true city-stateBalvin Portto achieve
a meaningful level of urbanization.

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B. Races

Additional Races

The major races within the Qin Mountains

include humans, of course, as well as the
High Elves of Larsong, the Wood Elves of
Tragerwood, the eastern Mountain Dwarves
of Decayne, and the Marsh Hobbits of Tivitin
Shire. Gnomes are also present, however
raremany coming as immigrants through
Balvin on ships from the east, or being
descended from such immigrant gnomes.
The exception are Zind Duergara clan of
deep gnomes from within Mt. Zind, whose
members occasionally tire of the gloomy
underdark and seek out lives upon the
surface. And half-orcs commonly appear,
mostly from the south or eastern fringes of
the Zind Desolation.

Another somewhat common race, the half-

trogs, appear in the western forests of the
Qin Mountains region. Trogs are a greyish-
green humanoid race that resemble small
ogres or, perhaps, orcs without the porcine
corruptions. Like orcs or ogres, true trogs
are brutish and inclined to savagerybut
occasionally produce half-human offspring
that reject the bleaker ways of those foul
ancestors.

C. Civilizations/Peoples

Much of the countryside in and around the

Qin Mountains region consists of wild,
untamed wilderness. But an old wagon
trail, the Central Road, cuts through the
passes from west to eastconnecting the
major dots of human and demi-human
civilization.

Marsh Hobbit

The long-enduring Halfling civilization at Tivitin

Shire has given rise to a new variant o f Halfling
who is most at home among the mud and vines in
the watery banks of the River Trager. The natural
challenges of their amphibian environment have
given Marsh Hobbits uncommon natural agility
and an affinity for its creatures.
Uncommon Agility: Marsh hobbit gain an
additional +1 to Dexterity
Swamp Charm: Marsh hobbits can charm beasts
that are indigenous to swamps and marshes, such
as alligators, snakes, or panthers. The charm is a
contest between the beast and the hobbit, with the
hobbit adding his or her WIS modifier. The ability
is restored after a short rest.

Half-Trog
The greenish-gray race of trogs that inhabit the
western forests and often raid human, elven, or
hobbit travelers and settlements sometimes
impregnate women taken as slaves or captured in
brutal attacks. For those unable or unwilling to
terminate their pregnancies, the results are half-
trogs: mottled children on the margins of both
these worlds.
Size: Average size for a half-trog is 66 tall ( 10)
and 250 lbs. (80 lbs.). (Medium)
Ability Score Increase: Half-trogs gain +2 to
Strength and +1 to Constitution
Alignment: half-trogs can be of any alignment, but
most find the customs and rules of their conflicted
ancestry burdensome, and reject the same to
follow their own paths. Half-trogs thus tend
toward chaotic alignments.
Speed: base walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision: Like elves, half-trogs are accustomed
to twilit forests and moonlight. They can see in
dim light within 60 feet as if bright light, and in
darkness as if dim light, without discerning color.
Languages: Common, Giant
Anguished Heritage: Most half-trogs who choose
human o r demi-human settlements resent the
circumstances of their conception, and gain a +2 to
attack rolls against medium humanoid enemies,
such as true Trogs, Orcs, Gnolls, and Goblins.

On the coast, the walled port of Balvin

constitutes the only true city in the region,
and boasts a small standing army and even
a modest fleet of vessels that patrol the
eastern shore. The citys reputation is
coarsecentering as it does on trade, with
the port a conduit for all matter of alien
beings and religions and morals of the most fundamental nature subjugated to the almighty gold
piece. Even the language there is tainted, with locals speaking a sharp dialect (Balvin) of the
common tongue, and experimenting with dangerous new scripts and characters.

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Roughly 300 miles west (as the crow flies) of Balvin is the high mountain settlement of Qin. As
the center of the popular Di-Theist religion, many throughout the region count a pilgrimage to
Qin among their highest aspirationsthough few ever come upon the opportunity and fewer
still hold the nerve to attempt it. Qin lies several thousand feet above the oceans level, in a bowl
between several peaks at the end of a brutal climb through terraced farms and pastures.
Perched on a major fault line, Qin is known to have been destroyed and rebuilt countless times
through history, and is thus said to now resemble a veritable museum of architectural styles and
techniques spanning from ancient times through the most modern.

Far to the west, the once-great elven city of Larsong stands against the shadow of fearsome Mt.
Zind. The High Elves founded Larsong as a bastion against the rapacious tribes of the south, and
welcomed the High Oracle of Larsong to a brilliant elven temple on a high bluff over the city. But
Larsong was largely leveled in the Darkfall and what remains today is but a fragment of its
former glory. To the ruins have come the human cattlemen, who have reportedly turned
Larsongs southwest quarter into a thriving livestock market. The stockyard stench and squalor
has naturally driven the remaining elves to an enclave within the settlement, such that you now
picture Larsong as resembling two citiesa bustling stockyards district dominated by dirty men
and their commerce, beside a cloistered artisanal district populated by elves, craftsmen, and
priests.

Other noteworthy settlements in the Qin Range include the Marsh Hobbit shire at Tivitinsaid
to be a genuine oasis amid the Tivitin Swampsand the famed undermountain dwarven halls at
Mt. Decayne. Otherwise, only scattered bergs and hamlets that dot the countryside, as obscure
as they are uncommon. Many are dominated by local warlords or strongmenwith slavery an
all-too-common existence for the dominated. Several roaming bands, such as the Te-Hok and
Sikk-See horsemen of the eastern plains, the alpine Mirk-Wen hunters, and the fearsome Lono-
Knollen marauders, roam the wilderness.

D. Technology

Much of the Qin Mountain region is decidedly low-tech. Agriculture and ranching are dominant
lifestyles, but occur on largely unimproved and unenclosed lands. Leather and various types of
woven cloth are frequent, as are wooden and stone implements of many varieties. But
metalwork is an uncommon skill upon the surface, and mining an even less frequent occupation.
Much of what metal items are available come from the dwarves of Mt. Decayne or the gnomes of
Mt. Zind, though blacksmiths and other metalwork infrastructure actually does exist in larger
villages and, of course, population centers like Balvin and the Tivitin shire.

Another frequent source of metal throughout the region are ruin sites, particularly from the
south. There are no smiths among orcs and goblins and the like, but they loot heaps of salvage
from cities razed in the Darkfall.

2. Deities

Even in a region as small as the Qin Mountains, the deities that people and humanoids follow are
too numerous to count. But substantially everyone in the region is acquainted with the areas
two dominant religionsthe Di-Theisms of Qin, and the centaur religion of Cygnivaland has
at least heard of a few others.

A. Di-Theisms of Qin

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Far and away the most popular religion in the Qin Mountains is the so-called Di-Theisms of Qin,
which centers around five pairs of oppositional deities. In the most orthodox form of the
religion, associated with the high priests of Qin itself, these then deities are:

Sol/ Ln (Sun/Moon, Light/Dark)

Zoe/Morto: Life/Death, Creation/Destruction
Lin/Entropo: Order/Chaos, Numbers/Art
Demos/Isola: Community/Isolation, Many/One
Lucre/Wann: Wealth/poverty

The high Qin priests are said to pray for balance, and attribute disasters and misfortunes to
imbalances produced by mortal beings. In Orthodox Qin Di-Theism, the (inherently virtuous)
human and demi-human races produce balance by countering the (supposedly) much greater
forces of evil and destruction represented by orcs, trogs, and other fell creatures. Evil among
people is acknowledged, but deemphasized as a cause of imbalance.

In some common adaptations of Qin Di-Theism, the ten oppositional deities are collapsed into a
single pair, usually Sol & Ln, who represent the opposing sides of every possible pairing. In
other adaptations, the acts of evil humans and demi-humans are attributed much greater
significance to the cosmic balanceand the acts of beasts and outlandish races are downplayed
or made irrelevant. In the past, significant religious discord has centered on the conflicts
inherent in these divergent viewsand feelings of suspicion and distrust persist across the
denominations to date.

B. Cygnival

Along the coastal plains and in the port city of Balvin, the centaur god Cygnival is ascendant. A
much simpler and unified faith, Cygnival is associated with forests, life, and breathwith his
temples commonly erected around standing evergreens. Many of the Qin religion view the
Cygnival adherents as merely an overgrown cult, but the breadth and influence of Cygnival is by
now undeniable: forest chapels to the centaur god are frequent along the Central Road, as are
rough groups of pilgrims marching under the familiar Tree of Cygnival.



C. Other deities of note

Salomirak, the toxic god, appears as a fearsome snake or reptile. He is popular with northern
cultists and woodsmen, not so much worshipped as feared. To your understanding, adherents of
Salomirak must adopt and follow lives of pure virtue, for which Salomirak rewards them by not
afflicting disease or contagion.

Scaol, the harsh war god of the Lono-Konollen, appears as armored figure of an ambiguous but
humanoid race, bearing a wavy sword and a stern, ominous face. Scaol is associated with cold,
hardness, and austerity, his symbol being a plain iron X at the end of a rope or chain.

Paomeoer is the well-known dwarven god of weather and heavenly bodies, and widely in favor
under Mt. Decayne. Indeed, Paomoers symbol, the triple lighting bolt, appears on so many
shields, helms, and other items of dwarven metalcraft that the symbol is often presumed a mere
dwarven mark, rather than the symbol of a deity.

No one knows if the Encrod water deity, ToaToboh, still exists. Many believe the god to have
been destroyed entirely in the Darkfall. Others believe ToaToboh merely lies asleep and will
someday awaken to have his vengeance on Xiogru, while still others insist he assumed a mortal
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form in penance for the failure of Xiogru and walks the realms of men as pauper or slave. No
matter the form, ToaToboh is unquestionably regarded as a fallen god, at leastone that once
appeared as an animated wave or beast of living water. As the dominant god of fish, lakes, and
rivers, his symbol was once a raindrop with a fisheye in the center. These days, different sects of
the Encrod religion dress in rags or depict their deity as a beggar, while others have taken on a
darker cultish aspectadopting skulls, horns, and other symbols of undeath and dablling in
black arts.

3. History/Lore

Everyone knows the name of Xiogru. Once a high archmage of the Encrod whose powers rivaled
those of ToaToboh himself, Xiogru famously came upon an otherworldy artifact deep in the
underdark beneath Mt. Zind. The device, a rod or wand of some kind that Xiogru called The
Grimrod, carried truly unspeakable powers. Elders speak of the Grimrod calling acid from the
clouds, pulling avalanches down the mountain sides, or raising vast armies straight from the
ether. Some even say the Grimrod could have blacked out the sun, had its bearer so desired.

It has never been said, however, that Xiogru actually sought to black out the sun. What he did
desire was an immortal existence. And so he raised an army from the soil beneath Mt. Zind
transforming that once fertile plain into a corrupted terrain of dust and decayand marched on
Larsong bearing the flag of the Encrod. Farms and villages burned in his wake, and even the
very land shriveled to death, while Xiogru himself became something inhuman.

On reaching Larsong, Xiogruby now horned and fully black-complected, brought the Grimrod
before the High Oracle of Larsong. In the courtyard before the old elven church he did so, and
Xiogru delivered his ultimatum: Your gods shall make me immortal, Xiogru demanded. Or the
Grimrod shall destroy your gods along with you!

At his words, the very sky erupted with an indescribable light. Three angels appeared, joined
hands, and banished Xiogru to the watery plane of ToaToboh. There, before his master, the
Xiogru no longer resembled the bookish mage who had long served the Encrod people. His eyes
had darkened, his flesh grown black, and scaly. Horms protruded from Xiogrus skill, and a
ripple of spikes along his back. Atone, devil! ToaToboh commanded. But Xiogru, having
secured the immortality hed so terribly cravedeven if in such a badly corrupted formhad no
thought of atonement. In anger he battled the god, in an epic firestorm of rage that tore at the
fabric of the multiverse.

Accounts vary as to the outcome of Xiogrus battle with ToaToboh. Some insist Xiogru destroyed
the water god, but most presume the diety to have survived the confrontationeither to recover
in a rest of celestial duration, or possibly to have given up the celestial realms altogether for a
trying mortal existence. Xiogru, it is said, traveled to the infernal realms and made his lair on a
plane of absolute blackness.

In a flash was Xiogru gone from Qin, yet his army remained behindhundreds of foul raiders,
each with a mind for nothing but blood, to run amok through Larsong. Their violence brought
the once grand elven city to a low from which it has never recoveredand for which the High
Oracle lamented from his loft that the Encrod shall be a cursed people, and shall know no peace
for so long as the Grimrod and its infernal bearer hold sway in this land. Centuries of religious
strife have ensued, as the despised Encrod have been chased from their lands and driven
underground, the remnants of their faith splintered and broken. The persecution has turned
many hearts black, as countless Encrod have perished and too many that remain have become
slaves. And so they waitfor one day, the greatest among them shall return.
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4. Rules/Technical

This is a Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition (5e) campaign. We all love first edition, myself
included, but lets face it: the first edition rules are long, confusing, and unwieldy, and cause too
much time to be consumed on boring administrative matters (like managing rations or
calculating encumbrance). The 5e rules are lighter, simpler, and hopefully more fun.

Players can obtain the 5e basic rules for free through the Wizards of the Coast website. The
basic rules only contain a limited number of races (elf, dwarf, halfling, human) and classes (the
traditional fighter, cleric, thief, and wizard), however, so players wishing to utilize a gnomes,
half-orcs, or any of the more sophisticated character classes may wish to obtain a copy of the
Players Handbook.

On-line sessions will utilize the Roll20.net virtual tabletop. The program provides for video-
conferencing, text-chat, on-line character sheets, and the whole nine. Its also free, and runs in a
web browserso there is nothing to download or install. The one drawback, however, is that
the video-conferencing feature does not work on Safarimeaning Mac users will need to install
Chrome or another supported browser.

A. PC Races:
Permitted: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, Gnome, Half-Orc, Half-Trog, Half-Elf
(all subraces including Drow)
Under Consideration/Development: Tiefling, Half-Dwarf
Not Permitted: Dragonborn
B. Character aging: All human and demi-human races have a normal human life
expectancy (d20+70 years). This applies to both player characters and NPCs.

C. Multi-classing: Multi-classing is disfavored. Nonetheless, PCs can multi-class under

the Players Handbook (5e) rules, but with the following additional requirements:

(i)

Combinations that pair multiple classes of primary spellcasters (clerics, druids,

wizards, sorcerers, warlocks) are not permitted. Bards, monks, paladins, and
rangers may not multiclass.

(ii) A PC that wishes to multi-class must locate a mentor to train him or her in the new
class; the mentor will charge a significant fee;

(iii) The PC must declare the second class he or she wishes to add while at least one full
experience level from being able to add it. (For example, Thor, a 4th level fighter
with 3,000 XP, wants to multiclass to become a fighter-sorcerer. Under the Players
Handbook rules, on reaching 6,500 XP Thor would have the option of either
advancing to level 5 as a fighter or level 1 as a sorcerer. Under the CoX House Rules,
however, Thor must declare his intention to become a sorcerer while at least a full
experience level away. Since Thor is less than a full level from advancement, he
must declare his intention to become a sorcerer before reaching 6,500 XP, and can
then add the sorcerer level once he reaches 14,000 XP (level 6).

D. Feats: The optional rules for feats are not utilized but remain under consideration
for future implementation

E. 5e Homebrew: The Runeblade and Swashbuckler character classes from the D&D
Wiki 5e Homebrew are permitted.
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