Friday, 2 August 2013

Kickstarter Update: Myths & Legends Preview

Yet again a big thank you to everyone who's backed this project or supported it by spreading the word, you guys are really really awesome!

We're now getting towards the end of Week Three, but there is still a ways to go until the project is fully funded. So again I must ask you to continue to promote this project and harass friends and gaming groups into back this project, even if its just couple of pounds/dollars which will still get them a bunch of RPG maps. £3,000 isn't much by Kickstarter standards and can easily be reached in under an hour, so all that is needed is to continue pushing the project.

Anyway, over a week ago posted a preview of some Places of Interest from the book. Today I'll be posting another preview in the form of myths & legends related to those places.

Chapter Seven: Myths, Legends & Folklore


Alyeska has its fair share of myths and legends. Some stem from hearsay and drunken bar-room tales, while others are stories of ancient events retold countless times and thus kept alive, mainly as bedtime stories to scare young children. In truth, the Alyeskan Wilderness is a weirder place than most folk care to admit.

Whispers on the Wind and a Sleeper in the Dark

Throughout Alyeska the Chillwynd Marches are regarded as the strangest and most unsettling places in the Territory. The unnaturally flat plains, the ring of standing stones marking its boundaries and the Monolith which sits in the heart of the Marches, all go hand-in-hand to create an eerie reputation. The most common tale originating from the Marches is the fabled 'Whispers on the Wind'. Whilst simply dismissed as just the howling of the wind, many have claimed to have heard the dead calling out for help whenever the wind blows. A Professor Davidson once recorded the so-called 'Whispers' with the intent of deciphering them. It is said he was driven insane by what he heard, and the sole recording he made was destroyed.

The Chillwynd Marches are also commonly known for the disappearances which occur every year; camp sites are abandoned with no trace of their inhabitants ever found. Investigations and searches are carried out by the Air Police, however after a month, the missing persons are declared as 'vanished without a trace', and the report filed away. As a result of all the disappearances, lone prospectors have ended up banding together into large, well-armed groups for mutual protection whenever they work the Marches. Even safety in numbers offers little actual protection. The occasional soul still vanishes during the night, and there is one famous incident of an entire expedition disappearing.

Another tale linked to the Marches, but generally only ever told in hush tones, is that of a Windryder myth concerning the Monolith. It is said that a great being known as the Sleeper in the Dark, dwells beneath the ruins in deep slumber awaiting the return of the Elder Ones. When the Sleeper awakens, he will bring death and destruction across the world, sparing no-one as he prepares for the return of his masters. Little evidence has been found to support this myth, only a few translated glyphs which make continuous reference to a 'Sleeper'. Many have dismissed it as nonsense made up by the Windryders to scare people away, though some have become somewhat...obsessed with the myth.

Gorwell's Lost Gold

Twenty-five years ago a prospector named Lious Gorwell claimed to have found a gold mine deep within the Alyeskan Interior. Every few weeks the grubby prospector would sneak into Tay River with a load of crudely minted ingots. After a year of stashing his hoard in the town's bank, Gorwell vanished. To this day no one has found the mine, and it remains one of Alyeska's well-known legends.

Some maintain he fell afoul of some beast, others blame bandits. Regardless, Gorwell's gold remains in storage at the bank.

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