Piskaro

We're moving from the Karthax Mountains down to Krevborna's coast, stopping for a while in Piskaro--Krevborna's second-largest city and busiest port. Piskaro is the gateway for nautical horrors in the setting, but it also has variety of other Gothic nonsense going on.

Piskaro

A Dangerous Seaport Fallen From Grace

Piskaro is a densely populated port city of teetering buildings crowded together like crooked teeth atop canals at the mouth of the River Krev. Piskaro is a center of thriving maritime trade and a haven for pirates. Its wharves bustle with the lading and unloading of full-rigged ships, prison hulks are moored offshore, and dangerous quayside taverns are frequented by cutthroats and whalers who call exotic ports home. 

Piskaro is governed by whichever pirate captain has recently intimidated the others into submission. The exercise of law and order in Piskaro falls on parish beadles and constables. Piskaro's authorities turn a blind eye to the activities of the buccaneers operating out of its wharves, but the city’s pirates do make examples of those they consider traitors—as the number of gibbeted skeletons hanging wharfside attest.

Perhaps because of its proximity to the strange and unknowable sea, life in Piskaro is subject to persistent oddities. Those who sleep in Piskaro often find their slumber disturbed by hallucinatory nightmares, prophetic dreams, and foreboding omens. The deformed and reeking remains of unnatural aberrations occasionally wash up on shore. Sigils and runes are scrawled onto the sides of buildings with chalk to ward off violent crime. Also, it is obvious to all that some of Piskaro’s native population possess bulging eyes, a marked lack of hair, and fish-like visages that hint at an inhuman heritage.

Hallmarks

The following elements and aesthetic notes define Piskaro:

    • Piskaro, Krevborna’s largest port, is controlled by pirate captains and their crews.

    • The city sits atop a labyrinth of canals, bridges, and islands at the mouth of the River Krev.

    • The city smells of the briny deep and the sea’s unfathomable secrets.

    • Many of the seafaring folk of Piskaro place their faith in the Lady of the Drowned, a cruel sea goddess regarded as a grim heresy by the Church of Holy Blood.

 • The taverns near Piskaro’s wharves are notoriously violent.

Hellraiser #3

This blog post continues my journey through the Hellraiser comics published by Epic that ran in the late 80s into the early 90s. As I stated in earlier installments of this series, these initial issues are all about the series finding its rhythm and discovering what kind of comic this is going to be. It's an anthology-style comic, collecting the work of diverse hands, but as the run progresses certain through-lines emerge that give the comic its own special character.

In issue three of Hellraiser, they're experimenting with the notion of running fewer stories, but allowing the stories present to run to greater length. All in all, I'd say the experiment is a success because there really isn't an even slightly below-par story in the lot. Here's what the third issue has on offer:

"The Crystal Precipice"

Jan Strnad, Steve Buccellato, Stan Drakes, Sherilyn Van Valkenburg, Michael Heisler 

As with all long-running horror franchises, it was only a matter of time until Hellraiser ended up in space. "The Crystal Precipice" even predates Hellraiser: Bloodlines by eight or so years! This story takes place on an alien planet being surveyed by four explorers. As they look through their binoculars at a mysterious crystal city on the horizon, they see a human-shaped figure waving to them.

Of course, that's not a man--that's a Cenobite. In fact, it's Face. Remember when I said he would be one of the break-out original characters of the comic? Face loves this strange alien world, calling it an "Eden of rock and dust and crystal." In fact, he has a great admiration for the floating crystalline entities that inhabit this world because they have left all the impurities of the flesh behind for lives of strict geometric order.

One member of the explorers is a great example of the unruly flesh of mankind: Ernest is a violent rapist who has been assaulting one of the women in the party. He's caught in the act and banished into the alien waste. Unfortunately, that simply drives him into the hands of Face, who uses him to lure the rest of the group to their dooms.

Ernest's revenge trip is thwarted when he accidentally hits an alien crystal while firing a gun at one of his former compatriots. Face allows for no accidents; unworthy of transformation into a crystalline entity, Ernest is instead taken to Hell and refashioned as one of the mongrel pets the Cenobites keep. 

As far as stories go, this is a strange one, but what I appreciate most about it is that the art style and characterization is heavily reminiscent of the horror comics put out by Warren back in the day. There's a wonderful throwback quality to "The Crystal Precipice" in its blending of weird science and horror that is particularly pleasing even if there isn't much depth to the story. Which is fine, as this one functions like an appetizer for the longer tales to come in this issue.

"The Blood of a Poet"

R. J. M. Lofficier, John Ridgway, Gaspar Saladino, Steve Oliff

In "The Blood of  Poet," a naive would-be poet from Kansas finds himself in 1920s Paris, hoping to find his way in the invigorated European art scene between the wars. Following a tip he gleans at an occult bookstore, which happens to have a cute employee who catches his eye, he seeks a room at the Pension Veneur--a rooming house where artists are allowed free residence. The only terms at the Pension Veneur is that any artist in residence is required to create and they must attend formal dinners within the house every night.

The formal dinners are a nightmare of rehashed arguments, recriminations, and general antisociality, punctuated by what appear to be epileptic fits. During his first night within the Pension Veneur, our poet has horrific dreams--rendered in a way that delightfully reminded me a bit of the work of Basil Wolverton--and discovers upon awakening that he has penned lines of truly decadent verse. His experience at the rooming house never improves; his fellow residents are secretive, combative, and their ways are shocking to a young man fresh from the Midwest. When he's invited to join in a sadomasochistic sex act, he demurs with great haste.

When he takes the cutie from the bookstore out on a date, he learns that her boss probably steered him to the Pension Veneur under a malign ulterior motive. That ulterior motive creeps into the picture when several small details converge: the protagonist learns that Lemarchand had a hand in the Pension Veneur and several former residents of the room house have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Things come to a head when the main character is accosted by the other residents and chained to a wall as they operate a phallic-looking clockwork contraption that summons the Cenobites. (And they're the original movie Cenobites!) It is revealed that the Cenobites allow the Pension Veneur to exist in hopes that the artists they patronize will create works that capture their hellish ideas and translate them into artistic mediums. Those who fail are sacrificed to make way for the next batch of prospects. As the Cenobites approach, the protagonist declaims his infernal-inspired verses, impressing the Order of the Gash. They take one of the other residents to Hell instead.

The main character attempts to flee the house and the horrible bargain he has struck within it, but when he finds out that his lady love from the bookstore was slain in a random mugging he returns to the Pension Veneur, dejected but ready to accept his damnation. The artwork, and especially the color choices, in this story give it a lurid, sullen atmosphere that perfectly fits the subject matter. It's a longer story, in terms of the usual page lengths for the comic, but it uses that space to be languid rather than packed with frenetic plotting.

"Songs of Metal and Flesh"

Peter Akins, Dave Dorman, Lurene Haines, Phil Felix

"Songs of Metal and Flesh" is another story that has remained with me over the years; in my estimation, it ranks among the acknowledged classics of Epic's Hellraiser run. Like "The Blood of a Poet," this story concerns art--in this case, classical music. Since childhood, Jason Marlowe has been blind. True to the trope, Jason's "other senses" compensate for his lack of vision and he becomes a musical prodigy. He wins a scholarship to a musical academy where he not only excels, but meets a woman named Deborah who will change his life.

His sexual experiences with Deborah put all those heightened sense to good use. In their pleasure, he finds access to the "hidden melodies and mysterious harmonies" that had alluded him. However, Jason Marlowe also discovers a rival in fellow student Stephen Middleton. Unsatisfied with competing against Jason musically, Stephen also seduces Deborah. Stephen assumes that because Jason cannot see Deborah's infidelity he is incapable of detecting it, but he can feel it, smell it, and hear their "cruel excitement."

Deborah introduces sadomasochism into her relationship with Jason, tying him to the bed and slashing his chest with a knife. This not only brings a new flavor of sexual pleasure into Jason's life, but gives him another way to access "the hidden sonatas." Meanwhile, Stephen breaks into Jason's home and places razor blades between the keys of his piano so that the next time he plays he maims his hand. 

Stephen exits to a successful career as a touring musician. The story notes, with cold cruelty, that he cheats on Deborah in every city and that she eventually dies, unloved, of a cancer that eats away at her.

Jason is forced to pivot from performer to composer, but his experiences with Stephen and Deborah have fueled him to creative heights he would not have reached otherwise. Music becomes a puzzle to solve and--well, you see where this is going, right? At the cresendo of his composition, he drags his naked body along a wall studded with razor blades, then spins en pointe, sending droplets of his blood to complete the sheet music he has scattered before him on the ground.

At the debut of Jason's piece everything goes to Hell--literally. Stephen is the pianist entrusted to bring the music to life, of course, and when he does he finds himself snared on hooked chains, the Cenobites now part of the audience. What follows is pure Grand Guignol style theatrics: headless violinists saw at their instruments and the audience is flayed alive. In the end, Jason finds himself in Leviathan's realm. His vision has been restored, so that he might see the horrors around him, but he has now lost his senses of touch, smell, taste, and hearing. Once an instrument for producing Hell's music, he is now a physical instrument plucked and drummed upon for eternity.

As I said at the start, I consider "Songs of Metal and Flesh" to be a Hellraiser classic--and for good reason. It is an exceedingly cruel story, and the way it combines desire, beauty, and pain into a heady mix is entirely on theme. I also love the art style. There is a certain naivety to the coloring (colored pencils, I think) that mirrors Jason's lack of experience and unguarded descent. This one is hard to beat.

Thronzeker

One common complaint about fantasy games is that they don't feature enough dragons, even if the game has "dragon" in its name. Well, here's one from Krevbrona.

The Karthax Mountain’s most powerful villain is Thronzeker, a regicidal undead dragon.

Thronzeker

Thronzeker is an undead dragon obsessed with regicide. Indeed, it was Thronzeker who whispered of treason in the dreams of the conspirators who overthrew and executed Krevborna’s royal family. Without a tsar on which to focus his bloody ire, Thronzeker has grown restless over the intervening years. As the Church of Holy Blood has grown in secular power, his thoughts have turned toward demolishing the faith as a bastion of nascent political power.

    • Appearance: Although the bleached bones of his skeleton comprise the majority of his form, gobs of nauseating rotten flesh still adhere to his frame. 

    • Personality: He still dreams of the death of kings.

    • Motive: He hopes to render the people of Krevborna weak, vulnerable, and afraid by removing their protectors.

    • Flaw: Without a downfall to plot, he finds himself growing erratic and unstable.

Sanctum Sabbathi and Valpurga

Today's post contains two more adventure locations in the Karthax Mountains. The first is the lair of Krevborna's foremost criminal syndicate based on the fabled mountain dwellings of the Order of Assassins. The second is an eldritch library presided over by the legendary nosferatu.

Sanctum Sabbathi

Sanctum Sabbathi is a concealed fortress used as the headquarters of the Skarabasca criminal organization.

    • Sanctum Sabbathi is veiled by powerful illusions—only those who hold one of the magical keys to the fortress can perceive it. It is otherwise invisible.

    • Within Sanctum Sabbathi are vast alchemical laboratories used to create the magical intoxicants that the Skarabasca’s agents peddle throughout Krevborna.  

    • The alchemists of the Skarabasca are not adverse to dipping into their own supply; the members of the Skarabasca at Sanctum Sabbathi exist in states of paranoia, mania, and heightened aggression.

    • Sanctum Sabbathi is also home to the many seers, oracles, and diviners that the Skarabasca use to spy upon rival criminal organizations.

    • The inner chambers of Sanctum Sabbathi contain the summoning circles the Skarabasca rely upon to conjure the demons they employ as supernatural assassins.  

Valpurga

Valpurga is a lonely clock tower constructed from a weathered material that appears to be stone, but is in fact the petrified flesh of a sleeping eldritch creature. No matter the state of the weather, the tower’s “stone” is uncannily warm to the touch. 

    • The interior of Valpurga is dominated by floor after floor of library shelves, all of which are tightly packed with rare and ancient tomes. 

    • Valpurga is a repository of knowledge that has been preserved for posterity via magical means. 

    • Valpurga is also decorated by a startling amount of grandfather clocks, each of which is actually a portal leading to a different location within Krevborna.

    • The surest way to find what you seek in Valpurga is to consult Count Orlok, the librarian residing within it; Orlok is a nosferatu who is only lucid for a few hours after he has fed on fresh blood.

    • Count Orlok’s arms and legs are laden with heavy iron chains as a sign of his devotion to the otherworldly entity known as the Chained Scholar.

The Sisters Carnifexa and The Skarabasca

Two more factions and organizations you can drop into a Krevborna game. Look, if you think I wasn't going to add battle nuns you don't get the setting at all. And of course you need a clandestine criminal organization.

The Sisters Carnifexa

The members of the Sisters Carnifexa are battle-ready nuns professional monster hunters who have been trained for combat at Kairn Volkov, an ancient mountain fortress in the Karthax Mountains. 

    • The Sisters Carnifexa recruit new members exclusively from Krevborna’s population of orphaned and unwanted female children. 

    • Originally a branch of the Church who specialized in slaying unclean monstrosities, the Sisters still wear clerical vestments common to militant nuns.

    • According to hearsay, some of the children collected by the Sisters Carnifexa are experimented upon in the Vlaak laboratories they discovered in the depths of their fortress. 

    • The purpose of the Sisters Carnifexa’s experiments is to mold them into “perfect warriors” to be used as weapons against supernatural threats; those who survive these experiments are rendered stronger and more resilient, and they often possess strange powers.

The Skarabasca

The Skarabasca is a powerful, shadowy criminal syndicate operating throughout Krevborna. 

    • The Skarabasca executes mundane crimes, such as heists, robberies, and assassinations, but the organization’s true specialty is dealing in alchemically enhanced intoxicants.

    • The goal of the Skarabasca is to either destroy or assimilate all rival gangs and criminal organizations in Krevborna. 

    • Upon joining the Skarabasca, a new member chooses a grandiose or fanciful name for themselves, such as Broken Sword, Mirthless Daughter, Steel Serpent, or Omen of the Seven Sorrows. 

    • The members of the Skarabasca revere Cain, the immortal first murderer, as their spiritual patron.

    • Each murder committed by the Skarabasca is dedicated to Cain in hopes that, like him, they will remain uncaught and unpunished for their crimes.

The Mote of Sycorax and the Needle of Golgotha

Two adventure locations in the Karthax Mountains. In this installment of our tour of the mountains things are getting eldritch and strange. Of course, both the artificial sky-island and sinister obelisk described here are connected to the Vlaak.

The Mote of Sycorax

Hidden behind the perpetual cloud cover surrounding one of the Karthax Mountains’ highest peaks floats the Mote of Sycorax, an artificial island held aloft by eldritch machinery.

    • The Mote of Sycorax was created by the aberrations who once kept the inhuman Vlaak as slaves.

    • Sycorax was created as a monitoring station meant to analyze the Vlaak Empire’s rise and eventual fall.

    • The Mote of Sycorax contains magical and technological marvels unseen in this or any age.

The Needle of Golgotha

The Needle of Golgotha is a magical obelisk erected by the Vlaak.

    • The Needle of Golgotha is a narrow, towering pillar of unnatural black stone; embedded within its surface are a multitude of yellowed Vlaakish skulls.

    • Cultists of the otherworldly abominations of the Outer Dark believe that the Needle allows direct communion with the eldritch monstrosities they serve. 

    • If the Needle of Golgotha truly allows for contact between the “eldritch gods” and their cultists, it is theorized that the use of certain obscure rituals performed at the base of the obelisk may enable travel from the mortal plane to the nearest reaches of the Outer Dark.

The Requiem and The Rooks

Two factions in Krevborna! One is an order of magical math monks and the other is the setting's equivalent of the Pinkertons. 

The Requiem gives an organization for characters to belong to for people who like to play D&D-ish monks in the setting, which has proven to be a surprisingly popular option over the years. 

Nobody in my games ever seems to trust the Rooks, but unlike the real-world Pinkertons WotC can't send them to your house over some illicit Magic cards.

The Requiem

The Requiem is a monastic order of warrior ascetics who believe that study and contemplation of the divine mathematics underlying all creation is the true path to spiritual redemption. 

    • Each monk of the Requiem inscribes their body with angelic seals and complex mathematical formulae to channel the power of the divine. 

    • The ascetics of the Requiem prize cold, passionless logic.

    • Monks of the order venture into the world to obtain evil or accursed magical artifacts to be taken for safekeeping in the well-protected vaults below the Monastery of Saint Menoch.

The Rooks

The Rooks are a guild that engage in “night work”—clandestine investigations, strike breaking, and bounty hunting.

    • The Rooks maintain guildhalls throughout Krevborna where they can be contracted as private detectives, hired muscle, spies, discreet couriers, bodyguards, and manhunters. 

    • Over the years, the Rooks have gained renown for disrupting the illegal slave trade in Piskaro, capturing several bandit chiefs, and solving a number of mysterious murder cases. 

    • However, rumors that the Rooks will take innocent lives for the right handful of coins continue to dog the organization and tarnish its reputation. 

    • The Rooks have established routes upon which specialized agents deliver mail and parcels sent through their guildhalls.

The Malcovat and the Monastery of Saint Menoch

Two adventure locations in the Karthax Mountains. The Malcovat is a school of dark magic based on the folklore of the Scholamance. The Monastery of Saint Menoch was inspired by the Ravenloft novel Tapestry of Souls and my desire to add something to the setting that would allow for the sort of militant "monk" characters that some people like to play.

The Malcovat

The Malcovat, a school of black magic, is hidden within the Karthax Mountains. Though the Malcovat is largely thought to be a thing of legend, the rumors of its existence are all too true.

    • Students at the Malcovat are taught by warlocks and wizards who have extensively studied arcane magic.

    • Some classes at the Malcovat are presided over by devils summoned from Hell to provide instruction in the darkest arts of magic. 

    • Out of every cohort, the student who advances the least in their studies is forfeit to the school’s diabolic masters; their soul is taken as Hell’s due. 

    • Graduates of the Malcovat can be found throughout Krevborna, though they keep their alma mater a closely guarded secret.

    • When encountered in Krevborna, former students of the Malcovat’s infernal curriculum are almost always pursuing unholy routes to power.

The Monastery of Saint Menoch

The Monastery of Saint Menoch is a mountainous spiritual refuge maintained by the warrior monks and nuns of the Requiem order. 

    • Though the Monastery of Saint Menoch is known for the tutelage in celestial mathematics and the rigorous physical and mental training it provides to acolytes, there is a secret hidden beneath the well-protected edifice.

    • Hidden below the monastery is a vault in which the Requiem safeguards evil and accursed magical artifacts. 

    • As part of their spiritual mission, the monks and nuns of the Requiem search out and obtain baleful magic items, which they then transport to the vaults of Saint Menoch to be secreted away and kept out of the hands of those who would be tempted by the corrupting power they offer.