The Rainlands
Introduction
I love Mythic Bastionland. It's one of the only games I've played but not GMed, and I'm currently in an awesome long-running campaign. I've actually gone to great lengths to avoid learning anything about the referee-facing procedures, in order to preserve my own sense of wonder and uncertainty when things happen in-game. Obviously, that makes what I'm about to do a little bit more difficult, but the idea of contributing to a game I really, really love convinced me to make the effort.
I volunteered to join the Woland Collaborative Mythic Bastionland Realm, where different blogs are dividing up little subregions of a common realm and discussing how they populated the hexes.
Preparation
I picked the bottom-right corner of Woland because there's a Seer there, and because I'm the kind of person who always goes for the corner piece of cake. Then, I read through the other blog posts about the regions created so far. Interestingly, the two regions neighboring mine are heavily forested regions that have some elements crossing over between them. Maybe my region will be forest, also. Maybe it'll include features of those two regions. Or maybe not. We'll just have to see.
Oracles
One of the coolest things about this project was seeing some of the neat ways other contributors came up with ideas. A couple people used books. One person used the board game Root. Surprisingly (but luckily for me), nobody has yet used Tarot cards, so I decided to use those. I'm also going to use a piece of art as inspiration, but I'll keep that a secret until I reveal it at the end. I love the symbolism of the Tarot and the idea of "archetypes" and such, so I'm excited to see what ideas the cards produce. Because the Tarot is also a means of divination, I thought the Seer must naturally have a connection to them. I looked to find if there was a "Card Seer," but it doesn't seem like there is1. I decided to make a new seer, the "Paper Seer." I already have a pretty strong vision of them in my head, but I'll pull my cards first to see if I get any further inspiration.
The Draw
I'm using the classic Rider-Waite Tarot deck with the oversized cards. I shuffled a bunch and randomly flipped some over to get reversed cards. I'll be pulling two cards for each hex. Obviously, I'll be looking at the divinatory and symbolic meanings, but one of the strengths of Rider-Waite is that the cards are full of little details that can be directly placed into the hex in various ways.
Hex 1
Queen of Wands: The card shows a queen with a large staff on a throne with a lion motif in front of a tapestry. She is holding a sunflower and there is a black cat at her feet.
Wheel of Fortune: The card shows a wheel with a sphinx, a jackal(?), and a serpent clinging to it. In the corners of the image, an angel, a phoenix, a flying bull, and a griffon are studying books. The wheel is inscribed with the letters "TARO" as well as the Tetragrammaton, the Hebrew name of God.
Hex 2
VII of Pentacles: The card shows a young man looking at some pentacles growing on a bush. He may be taking a break, or trying to decide which pentacles to take. He's also toting a stave (Wand imagery).
II of Swords: The card shows a blindfolded woman with two giant swords sitting on a beach. The crescent moon hangs in the background.
Hex 3
The High Priestess: A robed priestess sits between the pillars of Solomon's Temple, holding a scroll which says "TORA." A tapestry behind her depicts pomegranates. She wears a moon headdress and a cross necklace, and there is a crescent moon on the floor.
II of Cups: A man and a woman share cups, and the caduceus rises between them as well as lion's head.
Hex 4
Queen of Swords (Reversed): In profile, a woman lifts up a sword seated on a throne with cherub imagery.
X of Swords (Reversed): A corpse bleeds from 10 swords in their back. In the background, the sky is yellow and black (possibly sunset, possibly smog or smoke).
Hex 5
King of Pentacles (Reversed): An elaborately dressed man holds a sceptre and a pentacle sitting on a throne in front of a castle. Grapes seem to grow from his clothes, and the corners of his throne have bull heads.
The Emperor: An old man wears a crown and holds a sceptre on a ram throne in front of a mountain range.
Hex 6
Justice: A crowned, enthroned woman holds a pair of scales and a sword.
King of Cups: A man sits on a throne and holds a chalice and sceptre. His shoes are snakeskin, and he sits on a dais in the middle of a body of water.
Hex 7
Judgement: People rise out of coffins in the middle of a body of water, as an angel blows a trumpet from the sky.
VI of Swords (Reversed): A man rows a woman and child across a body of water. On one side, the water is troubled; on the other, it is still.
Putting It Together
A couple things I noticed: Chris McDowall's region creation guidelines talk about putting bodies of water in the region, but there don't seem to be any large lakes or long rivers in Woland. A number of our cards contain water imagery, so I think we should throw some lakes and rivers in here.
We have 4 Monarchs: 2 Queens and 2 Kings, one reversed and one upright, spanning all 4 Suits. These seem like the "movers and shakers" of our region.
First, the Queen of Wands represents the nourishment of spiritual or mystical pursuits. Combined with the Wheel of Fortune, I think this must represent the Seer, so we'll make Hex 1 the location of the Seer's Sanctum.
The combination of the King of Pentacles and the Emperor screams authority figure to me, and the Reversed King of Pentacles suggests this is a greedy and domineering individual. I think this should be a Dwelling, and I'm imagining a village with an avaricious and controlling headman.
This leaves the Reversed Queen of Swords and the King of Cups. When I was looking at the VI of Swords, I was thinking about a ferryman, but the Reversed nature of the card made me think this was some kind of scam or stick-up. Connecting this card to the other Swords cards, the Queen of Swords could be a Bandit Queen leading a group of bandits in this region, perhaps preying on the residents of the Dwelling in Hex 5.
The King of Cups, then, being associated with Justice, might be hunting the Bandit Queen and her associates. Luckily, we have a conflict between factions in two neighboring realms, with the Vagabonds in Deeproot Forest opposing the Cawler in Barrowode. I think the Bandit Queen should be a high-up figure in the Vagabonds, while the "King of Cups" represents a commander in the Marten Pykes sent to this region to hunt down these Vagabonds.
For hexes that don't have any Landmarks, we can use the cards we've drawn to give us inspiration for optional encounters, but I do want to put one last Landmark in the hex, a Monument in hex 7. Judgement and the Reversed VI of Swords both have an aquatic element, and I'm imagining a temple in the middle of a large lake (also explaining what the ferrymen are doing: they're ferrying people to and from the Monument). What is this monument memorializing? Well, why not connect this to our water element? This region was once arid, but became wet and tropical. This gives us a name for the region as well: The Rainlands.
The Rainlands
New Rules
While in the Rainlands, if the first weather roll for the day does not refer to rain, mist, etc., reroll and keep the second result.
"Unoccupied" hexes contain optional encounters. The PCs may encounter these automatically when entering the Hex, on a roll of 4-6 on the Wilderness Roll, or only on a roll of 6 (GM's discretion).
Hex 1 - Overgrown Hills, Landmark (Sanctum)
The Paper Seer resides here, within a cave on a large hill. If raining in the rest of the region, the clouds seem to part at the apex of the hill, and a field of sunflowers surrounds the cave.
Within, a trio of blind seamstresses sew robes from torn-out pages of illuminated manuscripts. A black cat ensures nibbling mice cannot undo the acolytes' work. One of these shrouds adorns the Paper Seer, completely concealing her face and body. Only her spindly, withered fingers can be seen peeking from the sleeves as she does her divination.
The Paper Seer does not speak. She communicates by drawing from a deck of 72 cards.2 These cards contain Tarot-like archetypes: the Prisoner, the Disinherited Prince, etc. The designs on the cards shift and change between dealings, meaning there are an effectively limitless number of possible draws, though there are always exactly 72 cards in the deck.
The Paper Seer VIG 6 CLA 17 SPI 14 1 GD
Hex 2 - Soft Heath
Optional Encounter 1: A hunter from the town of Ramblevine (Hex 5) has brought down a huge elk, so big he's unable to transport it back to town. He will offer up some of his kill to PCs who help him port it back to town, especially if they have horses to make the journey quicker. This counts as a Remedy.
Optional Encounter 2: A Vagabond returns to the Vagabonds' camp in Hex 4. She is porting the armor and weapons of a fallen comrade; her wolf mask is destroyed, and she has a bandage over one eye.
Hex 3 - Lush Heath
Optional Encounter: A man and a woman are looking for a local woods witch. They are in love, but the woman's father (Yildibesh, the headman of Ramblevine in Hex 5) does not approve of the match. They want the witch to make a potion or cast a spell to convince him. A thorough search of the hex will reveal the woods witch's cottage in the middle of a pomegranate field. Unbeknownst to the young lovers, the witch's powers are limited to herb lore and social engineering.
Hex 4 - Sharp Forest
Optional Encounter: 2d12 Vagabonds are camped in a hidden spot in the woods, behind primitive palisades. A Marten Pyke has been strung up and impaled by 10 swords. The Vagabonds' leader, Vezkili, makes plans for how to distribute their forces throughout the region. In battle, Vezkili wears the mask of a snow leopard.
Hex 5 - Sharp Valley, Landmark (Dwelling)
The town of Ramblevine is found here, governed by its headman and village elder, Yildibesh. The town is prosperous from its fertile vineyards which make some of the Realm's finest wine. Yildibesh is stern and avaricious, and the people of Ramblevine spend most of their days toiling towards the perfect harvest. On the other hand, Ramblevine is extremely prosperous, though the townsfolk have little opportunity to enjoy their fortune.
Hex 6 - Still Forest
Optional Encounter: Bardak, the commander of a detachment of Marten Pykes, has come to the Rainlands to investigate reports of banditry among the Cawler's vassals in Ramblevine. The Pykes keep a camp here, where 2d12 Pykes can be found.
Hex 7 - Vivid Valley, Landmark (Monument)
Most of this hex is dominated by a large lake, at the middle of which is an island. A pair of ferrymen on the shore offer trips to the island. In fact, these ferrymen are disguised Vagabonds who rob travelers at swordpoint. Four more Vagabonds watch from a hidden vantage point in the event of meaningful opposition.
The island contains a monument to the tragic past of the Rainlands. It is a mausoleum for many of those who died in the region's droughts and famines. One wall is dominated by a large fresco showing an angelic nymph descending from a rain-cloud to take a young girl by the hand.3 The tranquility and peace of this scene allows anyone who spends a phase here to restore their SPI.
Footnotes
It's very possible I'm mistaken. Again, it was a cursory search so as not to "spoil" myself.↩
For visual inspiration, check out ancient Chinese and Mamluk playing cards in this Wikipedia article.↩
This artwork isn't mine, it's a collage my partner made a while back that I've always liked. I put my thumb on the scales slightly to justify its inclusion, but serendipitously, the cards worked out so it wasn't too much of a stretch (especially pulling Judgement, which also depicts an angel descending from a cloud).↩