Rime Lords
In the utmost north, the Rime Lords made their domain. They spread through the Whitefang Mountains and the tundra beyond, embracing the ice and the cold and the terrible howling emptiness.
The Rime Lords developed all manner of ascetic disciplines and esoteric arts. They inured their bodies to the cold.
They sent their minds wandering through spirit realms.
They shaped matter and energy with their will, imposed stillness on the world, froze pockets of reality in timeless stasis.
Disciples came from the farm-valleys and the mammoth herders, to study at the feet of these living gods. Their teachings were harsh, rigorous, and demanding. But for a time, monasteries dotted the north and the ways of the Rime Lords flourished.
But then the servants of the Stone Lords rebelled and set loose the Things Below.
Something cracked open at the very roof of the world, and the voice of Y'aaw'kara (the Howling Wind, the Flayer of Flesh) was unleashed.
Bloodthirst and madness spread.
Some Rime Lords fell to the Howling Curse. Others were brought low by mortal mobs run rampant. The thirteen survivors agreed that something must be done. They each retreated to a place of power, sent forth their minds, and together sealed the rift beneath a glacier of dark ice, quieting Y'aaw'kara's voice.
The Howling Curse dulled to a constant whisper. But the last thirteen Rime Lords had sacrificed themselves. Their bodies remain encased in ice, their minds working the magic intended to keep Y'aaw'kara's voice at bay for eternity.
Names
Sanskrit-inspired: Akativet, Artarapishi, Dahishika, Goranat, Kanishanu, Mamaranu, Marash, Nilani, Prayanavi, Ralananan, Ranaji, Shayand, Supnam, Vitatana
Often combined with a title of "Gar"
("teacher") or appellations of "Div" ("the holy") or Kav ("the wise"). For example "Gar Akativet," "Kanishanu Div," or "Ranaji Kav."
Hooks
- A rogue has some dark ice to trade, and knows where to find more
- Timber-cutters in the Foothills disturb a Rime Lord-era ruin
- Prospectors from Gordin's Delve find one of the last thirteen Rime Lords, still in stasis, encased in ice
- A new glacier starts to form in the Whitefang Mountains, spreading into the Great Wood and upsetting the spirits there
Themes
Pick, or roll .
| 1 | Ice: shaped into grand and intricate designs |
|---|---|
| 2 | The all-pervasive cold: bone-chilling, shivering, numbing, desperate |
| 3 | Stasis/stillness/silence/permanence/ preservation |
| 4 | Ascetic practice: the ruthless perfection of mind/body/will |
| 5 | Chants/gestures/rituals: to focus the will, to tame reality/chaos/entropy |
| 6 | The mind set free: spirit-sight, spirit-walking, thought-crafting |
| 7 | Writing and records: the preservation of the past |
| 8 | Mortal servants/disciples, with their sects, schisms, and rivalries |
| 9-12 | Sized for giants, and roll again |
Sites
Pick, or have someone roll the Die of Fate.
| 1-3 | lingering signs of their presence and influence (see below) |
|---|---|
| 4-6 | A ruin |
Lingering signs
Pick, or have someone roll the Die of Fate.
| 1 | Something preserved in ice/cold/ stasis (next column) |
|---|---|
| 2 | An entity, pacified by the Rime Lords or their disciples (next column) |
| 3 | Fragments of old construction (roads, stairs, walls, foundations, chimneys, etc.), built by their disciples, barely visible after centuries of wind, snow, and ice |
| 4 | A thoughtform (next page) |
| 5 | A monument, or marker (next page) |
| 6 | A formation of dark ice |
Something preserved
For example:
- Mortal disciples, frozen in a remote cave, mummified by dry, cold air
- An entire valley—fields, houses, livestock, and villagers—encased in ice
- A trove of scrolls in some dry mountain cave, chronicling the fall of the Rime Lords and the plight of their surviving disciples
- A meadow in spring bloom, trapped in stasis, the grass and flowers never fading, never growing
- One of the last thirteen Rime Lords, alive but in stasis, their spirit perpetuating the glacier that keeps Y'aaw'kara contained
An entity, pacified
For example:
- Some monster, encased in dark ice
- A spirit of the wild or Fae, itself a disciple of the Rime Lords, found meditating
- A specter, compelled to perform an endless task (counting the snowflakes on a mountain, emptying a river with a thimble, etc.)
- An emanation of the Things Below, terrible and powerful, held in stasis by the will of an ageless, meditating adept
- A feral Rime Lord, held in a stasis field and ringed by glyphs, its wolfen eyes open and hate-filled
Thoughtform
Objects, sensations, or vignettes of manifest will, formed of base matter or energy, like how a spirit manifests a body. Not real, but real enough.
- A grand tree, growing in a lightless cave. Its bark and wood are shaped of stone, but its petals/leaves/fruits crumble to dust and water when shed.
- A bubble of stillness on a wind-swept summit, boasting an elaborately decorated altar. The altar is flimsy as frost, dissolving if touched.
- A chant that fills a valley, echoing endlessly from the mountainsides.
- A spring in a low valley, the water never freezing. Drinking vessels are found at the water's edge, impossibly beautiful, but melting into water if removed.
A monument, or marker
For example:
- An enormous, stylized statue of a Rime Lord, carved from the mountainside
- A vast cave, its walls plastered over, bearing a vivid painting of a Rime Lord radiating power and mortals/spirits/demons bowing before it
- A column of dark ice, tall as a tower, embossed with symbols and glyphs
- A 50-foot statue of a Rime Lord atop a mountain, made of pebbles held impossibly in place
A ruin
Pick or roll for themes, structure, purpose, architectural elements, and condition. Place the ruin in an appropriate terrain (see The Whitefang Mountains for the Whitefang Mountains, The Foothills for the Foothills). Populate it with lingering signs, artifacts and/or dangers of the Rime Lords or the appropriate region.
| 1 | Terraced compound of smaller buildings |
|---|---|
| 2 | Single, block-like building |
| 3 | Large, open space |
| 4 | Natural cavern(s), partially worked/ carved |
| 5 | Chambers dug into the stone itself |
| 6 | Dome/hall/tower |
| 1 | Dwelling (home, dormitory, barracks, etc.) |
|---|---|
| 2 | Infrastructure (stepwell, aqueduct, road, bridge, etc.) |
| 3 | Storage (cellar, vault, library, granary, cemetery, etc.) |
| 4 | Production (workshop, kitchen, farm, abattoir, mine, etc.) |
| 5 | Fortification (wall, rampart, gatehouse, tower, etc.) |
| 6 | Study/practice (shrine, meditation chamber, prayer hall, training hall, etc.) The PCs have sent a logging crew up to the Foothills, but there's trouble! I think they stumbled on a Rime Lord ruin and upset whatever dwells there. I roll on the terrain table and get "ravine/gorge/gully/ canyon." I get a theme of "mortal servants/ disciples, with their sects/schisms/rivalries." For structure I get "chambers dug into the stone itself," and the purpose is "storage (cellar, vault, library, granary, cemetery, etc.)." It features "elaborate decorations" and is "buried, submerged and/or overgrown, but mostly intact." I ponder and come up with this: A series of tombs, carved into the side of a ravine, containing the remains of a Rime Lord's mortal disciples. The lower tombs are obscured by brush and debris, but the upper tombs are still visible, their entrances carved with guardians and ice-crystal patterns. I suspect someone from the logging crew stumbled in here and upset a guardian spirit. |
| 1 | Trapezoidal building(s), prominent eaves, windows on upper stories |
|---|---|
| 2 | Elaborate decorations: geometric/ crystalline patterns, glyphs, carvings of spirits/monsters/teachers |
| 3 | Walls/floors/ceilings of dark ice, perhaps in impossible shapes |
| 4 | Statues formed of ice/snow/sand/ gravel, held in stasis |
| 5 | Large, empty, spacious places |
| 6 | Sound and light behaving strangely (endlessly echoing/reflecting, emanating from nowhere, strangely muffled/dimmed, changing/warping, etc.) Most Maker-ruins are sized for giants—people two or even three times as tall as humans—but often with smaller-scale rooms, passages, and so forth for their servants. |
| 1-2 | Shattered and laid waste by time, war, or vandalism; mostly buried, overgrown, collapsed; its purpose unrecognizable |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | Crumbling, largely buried, overgrown, or hidden away |
| 5 | Buried, overgrown, or hidden, but mostly intact |
| 6 | Fully visible and strangely well-preserved |
Dark ice
Purplish ice, which stays cold and frozen except in the hottest furnace. The Rime Lords could form and shape it at will.
Some of their disciples learned the trick, too, but the art has largely been lost.
Pick or roll for form and characteristic.
| 1-3 | Fragment (chip/shard/chunk/etc.), from something larger |
|---|---|
| 4-5 | Enigmatic shape (cube/sphere/spiral/etc.), its purpose unclear |
| 6-7 | Mundane object (tool/utensil/ container/etc.), though perhaps not easily recognized as such |
| 8-9 | Art or decoration (jewel/statue/ tiles/torc/amulet/ring/etc.) |
| 10-12 | Construction (door/stairway/arch/ bricks/walls/etc.), likely immobile Consider rolling to inform size/scale. |
| 1 | Breathtakingly beautiful |
|---|---|
| 2 | Dims light/color in its presence |
| 3 | Absorbs/baffles sound |
| 4 | Exceptionally hard, roll for degree (otherwise, hard as mundane ice) |
| 5 | Presents a tangible barrier to spirits, even when unmanifest |
| 6 | Pieces persist when removed, instead of melting like normal ice |
| 7-8 | Roll twice and combine |
| 9-12 | Just (just) a bit of never-melting ice Consider rolling to inform how pristine the dark ice is. |
Artifacts
Various treasures
- A ◇◇ drum, wood and stretched skin, impossibly preserved (loud, fragile)
- A 1-inch cube of dark ice (magical, Value 1)
- A 2-foot length of chain, the links ◇ made of stone-hard dark ice, bronze clasps at either end (magical, Value 1)
- A thumb-sized topaz, set in bronze on a… belt (?); fills you with dread to look at it (magical, terrifying, Value 2) ◇◇ Giant-sized robes of strange silk that's almost impossible to cut/tear; quickly frays and unravels with even minor damage (warm, clumsy, Value 2)
- A deep, round brass bowl, strangely ◇ resonant, the outer edges adorned with sapphires (Value 3)
- A child-sized golden statue (immobile, magical, Value 4) of a meditating Rime Lord, the head radiating cold light
A Column of Ice
Amidst a high, lonely meadow stands a pillar of dark purple ice, 12 feet tall and 2 feet thick. It rests on a circular slab of rune-etched stone, a dozen paces across, untouched by time or nature. There's a stillness to the place, a tension in the air.
Something interesting: The runes appear to be some sort of spell, waiting to be triggered; it'd take days of study to puzzle out the command word (and you risk triggering it accidentally).
Something useful: You can determine the command word with a few hours of study (less if you're versed in Rime Lord script).
When you speak the command word near the column, the dark ice expands in a flash, encasing the stone slab and anything on it.
The ice traps even spirits (manifest or not).
Mortal prisoners soon perish, their souls ensnared. The dark ice never melts and resists all but the mightiest magic and blows.
A Dark Ice Knife
A hilt of bone, with a spike of dark ice tapering to a sharp point. The ice is hard as stone, and not especially sharp.
When you stab an undead entity with the knife, ask the GM whether it is driven by obsession, hunger, and/or vengeance. If the answer is "yes," then deal + damage (ignores armor), and leave the entity briefly disoriented. Should this reduce the entity to 0 HP, the dark ice knife melts away along with whatever bound the entity to this world.
A Small Black Sphere
Found in or near some Rime Lord ruin, this… thing… appears to be a perfect sphere of lead, maybe 2 inches across. It hovers motionless in the air. No amount of physical force can mar it, nor move it from its relative position.
When you focus all your will upon the black sphere, roll +WIS: on a 10+, you can slowly move the sphere with your mind, so long as you keep your attention fixed upon the task; on a 7-9, pick 1:
- Mark a debility and move the sphere as per a 10+
- Move the sphere, but only a few inches
- Fling the sphere in a random vector (if it matters: damage, forceful, messy)
Minor Arcana
Pick 1 or have someone roll.
| 1 | An oversized codex |
|---|---|
| 2 | A sealed cave |
| 3 | A timeless vault |
| 4 | A length of prayer beads |
| 5 | A beautiful scroll |
| 6 | A gold butter lamp |
Major arcana
These might very well be associated with the Rime Lords or their disciples.
Tulpa
A tulpa is a constructed spirit, created by the powerful will of another. The Rime Lords crafted many such entities, which linger on in their creators' wake.
A tulpa has the spirit and construct tags, with a move that reflects them manifesting or possessing a physical form. They are animated by more than biology (+4 HP) and usually lack vital organs (+3 HP, +1 Armor). Pick or roll a purpose, size, ability, tether, and disposition. Use these elements to inform how it manifests and behaves.
| 1-2 | Battle/sparring/protection |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | Companionship/advice/diplomacy/ subterfuge |
| 5-6 | Labor/mundane tasks/convenience |
| 7-8 | Curiosity/instruction/assistance/ practice |
| 9-10 | Something obscure, or very specific |
| 11-12 | Roll twice, combine |
| 1 | Cat-sized or smaller (tiny) |
|---|---|
| 2-3 | Like a human child (small) |
| 4-7 | Human-sized |
| 8-10 | Like a horse, a cart, etc. (large) |
| 11-12 | Like an elephant, or bigger (huge) |
| 1 | Possession (people and/or things) |
|---|---|
| 2 | Emotional influence/control |
| 3 | Elemental manipulation (ice/wind/ water/etc.) |
| 4 | Energy manipulation (light/heat/ cold/darkness/etc.) |
| 5 | Invisibility/stealth/observation/ tracking |
| 6 | Depths of knowledge/lore/ experience |
| 7 | Mind-reading/aura-sense/ true-seeing |
| 8 | Illusions/false senses/thoughtforms |
| 9 | Strength/speed/prowess/mobility |
| 10 | Dangerous physical attack(s) |
| 11-12 | Roll twice, combine |
| 1-2 | Immobile object: unable to leave its presence |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | Small, portable object: unable to manipulate it or leave its presence |
| 5-6 | Sculpture or construct: can animate it, but cannot leave its presence |
| 7-8 | Building or complex: can freely move about within, but cannot leave |
| 9-10 | Place or object (roll for size/ scale): can travel but must periodically return |
| 11 | Living creature/person: can leave their presence for short periods |
| 12 | Untethered: free-roaming, independent |
| 1 | Friendly/polite/helpful |
|---|---|
| 2 | Apathetic/bored/lonely |
| 3 | Curious/playful/fickle |
| 4 | Resentful/duty-bound/compelled |
| 5 | Proud/dedicated/honorable |
| 6 | Confused/erratic/distraught |
| 7 | Boastful/aggressive/hostile |
| 8 | Malicious/cruel/devious |
| 9 | Timid/shy/meek |
| 10 | Focused/obsessive/anxious |
| 11 | Roll , but make it extreme |
| 12 | Roll twice, combine |
Gingkara
HP 10; Armor 1 (lacks organs) or 4 vs.
Damage bony fingers (hand, grabby)
Special qualities tethered to one specific bone
Instinct to keep their master's house in order
- Animate its particular skeleton
- Grab on and pull them down with numbers
- Reassemble themselves (regaining HP), unless their tether is shattered
stabbing (just bones)
Some of the simplest tulpas to create, each of these spirits is bound to a skeleton that's been stripped of flesh and intricately carved. The Rime Lords and their disciples used them as domestic servants, tending to material needs and serving as guardians when needed. Gingkara still attempt to preserve their master's homes, for what else should they do with their existence?
Khyagseng
HP 13; Armor 2 (icy "skin," lacks organs)
Damage icy jaws and paws with advantage (hand, close, grabby, forceful)
Special qualities tethered to its pedestal; body made of dark ice; cold-proof
Instinct to repel intruders
- See through illusions and deceptions
- Offer a rumbling (though polite) warning
- Repair itself while on its pedestal
These tulpas inhabit dark-ice sculptures of three-eyed, stylized lions—muscular, proud, fierce—standing atop decorated pedestals. Always found in pairs, guarding doorways or thresholds. They dutifully challenge any who approach without an invitation from their master. Never mind that their masters are all long gone.
Some of the grander Rime Lord ruins boast large khyagseng made of dark ice that is strong as stone (+8 HP, +1 Armor, +1 damage). These greater guardians can also unleash a thunderous roar, deafening and terrifying, likely to trigger avalanches.
Mkhalang
HP 27; Armor 1 (lacks organs)
Damage trample with disadvantage (hand, close) or ice-tusks with disadvantage (reach, forceful, messy, crude, 1 piercing)
Special qualities tethered to its dome but far-ranging; perfect memory; unable to lie
Instinct to amuse itself at the expense of others
- Fly quickly across the skies
- Manifest a mammoth-like form of freezing mist and ice (harmed only by salt, fire, heat)
- Suck the strength and warmth from anyone they trample
- Reveal just enough to cause trouble
The Rime Lords created these mighty spirits to act as emissaries and spies. A few still remain, tethered to the meditation-halls in which they were made but roaming the Whitefangs in search of novelty and diversion. They have grown bored in their masters' absence, and from boredom has grown a subtle cruelty.
The people of the Whitefangs treat them with respect, for they are still the emissaries of the Rime Lords. But they also know better than to trust their counsel.
Shaksa
HP 19; Armor 1 (lacks organs)
Damage antler of jagged bone (close, messy, 1 piercing) or stone hooves (hand)
Special qualities tethered to its cemetery, can only leave to track looters/vandals
Instinct to preserve the sanctity of the dead
- Fill an intruder with dread
- Manifest a form of bone and gravedirt (unharmed by stabbing; vulnerable to rain/running water)
- Track a looter or vandal, unerringly
The Rime Lords and their disciples created shaksa to guard over cemeteries and charnel grounds. They usually watch, unseen and unmanifest.
A shaksa manifests only within its cemetery, appearing as a powerful goat made of rock and soil, with a human (?) skull for a head, three eyes of floating light, and a single great antler of jagged bone. Once manifest, it can leave the cemetery in pursuit of looters or vandals. Should this form be destroyed, the spirit returns to the cemetery and cannot remanifest until the next sunset.
Dangers
Entities
- Spirits of the wild, following the Rime Lord's teachings and/or acting as guardians
- Spirits, beasts, and people corrupted by the Things Below: encased in dark ice, bound by glyphs, and/or trapped in stasis
- Wraiths of the Rime Lord's disciples, who failed to tame their body's needs and succumbed to eternal hunger
- Ghosts of the Rime Lord's disciples, who pushed themselves too far and cannot accept their failure
Hazards
- Altitude sickness
- Avalanches
- Hypothermia & frostbite
- Ice: slippery, jagged, unstable, very cold
- Pools of liquid air, so cold it burns ( damage, messy, ignores armor)
- Pockets of frozen time, ensnaring any who enter; or fragile and holding something dangerous in place
- Thoughtforms composed of dense particulate matter on the verge of collapse or hiding some danger
Deadly Cold
Rime Lord ruins sometimes include areas that are much, much colder than even the surrounding mountains. Dangerously, lethally cold.
- Show a warning: a subtle change in light/sound, breath or smoke condensing/freezing, hoarfrost
- Weigh them down with frost
- Have gear stick/freeze/break
- Inflict hypothermia & frostbite, quickly and with little warning
Adept
HP 16; Armor 2 (toughness, skill)
Damage freezing touch or aura (hand or reach, area, ignores armor)
Special qualities cold-proof; spirit sight; no longer ages; needs little food/drink/ sleep; powerful will
Instinct see below
- Send their mind forth into the spirit world, their bodies in stasis
- Reveal a teaching/technique of the
- 1-4 additional moves (next page)
The Rime Lords taught that the self could be perfected. That the needs and frailties of the body could be purged. That the mind could free itself of the flesh and know the unseen world of spirits and fundamental forces. That the will could conquer all. The goal was nothing short of immortality, the preservation of the perfect self.
For most of the Rime Lords' mortal disciples, these teachings did little more than strengthen the body and clear the mind. But for some—the adepts—these teachings unlocked a fragment of their masters' power.
Rivalries were fierce among the adepts even when the Rime Lords walked the land.
When the last Rime Lords disappeared, these rivalries flourished into schisms, sects, and violent purges. Some of the adepts fell.
Others went into hiding. Still others passed their knowledge on, building schools and monasteries around them.
To create an adept, start with the stats above. Pick or roll for an instinct and 1-4 moves to represent their capabilities.
| 1-2 | To atone |
|---|---|
| 3-4 | To avoid disruption or distraction |
| 5-6 | To drive their students towards perfection |
| 7-8 | To prove their superiority |
| 9-10 | To tame chaos |
| 11-12 | To test themselves or their students |
| 1 | As a spirit: animate a large mass of ice (large, +8 HP, +2 armor, +3 damage, forceful) |
|---|---|
| 2 | As a spirit: manifest a body from snow/frost/mist (+4 HP, +1 armor, unharmed by stabbing or cutting) |
| 3 | Calm/diminish/suppress the elements |
| 4 | Conjure ice/dark ice (near, area, grabby), but lose HP |
| 5 | Craft thoughtforms from base matter/light/energy |
| 6 | Create a minor tulpa (tiny, 8 HP, |
| 1 | armor, damage), or a more potent one with some sacrifice |
| 7 | Dismiss/suppress magic with a touch |
| 8 | Exert great force with their mind (near, forceful) |
| 9 | Impose a compulsion/command/ taboo upon a spirit |
| 10 | Slow/stop time in an area |
| 11 | Calm/suppress emotions |
| 12 | Absorb intense heat/energy/ power/force unharmed |
False Adept
HP 19; Armor 1 (lacks organs)
Damage life-draining touch (hand, ignores armor)
Special qualities tethered to some object; telepathic; powerful will
Instinct to amass more followers, more power
- Attract followers with promises of greatness, easily achieved
- Eat away at someone's emotions/ memories/will
- Possess a follower (or one's corpse)
- Siphon a follower's lifeforce to mimic some art of the Rime Lords
Some who practice the Rime Lord's teachings push themselves beyond their limits.
Their bodies fail but they become ragefilled specters or ever-hungry wraiths. The Rime Lords had many techniques for dealing with such abominations.
Imagine, though, an adept who saw their body and their life as a resource to expend rather than a liability to overcome. One who burned health and vitality to empower their practice. One who saw vast, unused potential in those around them. Such an adept might deliberately sever their mind and spirit from their body and gather a herd of followers (victims) around them, to serve as fuel for their mighty arts.
Rime Lord
HP 26; Armor 5 (potent wards, skill)
Damage conjured ice (any range, area forceful) or heat-drain (reach
Special Qualities spirit sight; telepathic; cold-proof; ageless; no need to eat/drink/sleep/breathe; aura of bitter cold
Instinct to seek perfection (in themselves, in their surroundings, in others) Only thirteen Rime Lords survive; each remains in stasis in some key place of power. Their spirits are merged in an eternal dance and song, continuously weaving the dark ice glacier that keeps the voice of Y'aaw'kara bound and prevents madness from spreading unchecked across the world. Pray, o mortal. Pray that they continue their vigil. Pray that their wills do not falter. Pray that no interloper is so foolish as to disturb them. Pray for your family, your friends, and all that you know. Pray that they do not wake. , organized, , grabby, , ignores armor)
- Overawe those in its presence
- Act simultaneously in both the physical and spirit worlds
- Impose its mighty will on the world: stilling emotions, freezing time, dismissing magic, reshaping reality, etc.
- Create a tulpa or thoughtform