bonus001.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/bonus001/
Title: Bonus Podcast #001: Out of the Frying Pan
Date: JUNE 29, 2016 

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Observatory

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Bonus 001

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episode037.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/episode037/
Title: Episode #037: The History of Godsfall (Part 3)
Date: MAY 1, 2016

We continue to explore the world of Godsfall as we take a deep dive into the continent of Kadar, and a close look at Wessel's thirteen independent Republics.

We continue to explore the world of Godsfall as we take a deep dive into the continent of Kadar, and a close look at Wessel's thirteen independent Republics.
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Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fantasy_castle_by_jbrown67-d7mu200-1-1024x531.jpg
Southern Shield
The Southern Shield, the old capital of Kadar.

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More History of Godsfall (Part 1 | Part 2)
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DM Aram
Doug (Dorro)
Michael (Xion)
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Kelly (Rina)
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The History of Godsfall: Part Three

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Kadar-1024x949.jpg
Kadar
The Empire of Kadar

The Empire of Kadar was once five nations of its own, split along racial lines to the North and long-standing family blood feuds to the South. Centuries of internal conflict kept the massive continent fractured until the heart of her vast grain fields were charred to the very bedrock by Siffor.

The people who lived in this central valley of rich farmland were obliterated along with their lands, leaving only a few thousand survivors. Less than five hundred remain, scraping by a meager existence by collecting salt from the gaping Maw of Mordakai.

As the God of Death fought with Siffor to defend his lover Zavan in the great Godswar a chasm was torn through the entirety of Kadar, splitting the nation in two. Saltwater sloshes over the edges of the canyon at high tide and mixes with thermal vents to form a bubbling, alkaline brew.

http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/impassable_chasm_by_noahbradley-d475g15.jpg
Maw of Mordukai
The broken chasm of the Maw of Mordukai.

The seawater evaporates constantly, coating the walls and mouth of the chasm in a thick, crimson paste that is rich in salt and highly prized throughout the kingdom. Collecting the salt is no easy task – those working the chasm must wait until winds shift the toxic clouds away before rushing in to break off as many chunks as they can carry.

Even with these precautions, most salt collectors bear deep, angry scars and bleached skin, its pigment drained by the toxic clouds. Others have been torn apart (or worse) by aftershocks of powerful wild magic that explode into reality across the broken ridge of the maw, remnants of the terrifying Divine forces unleashed in the Godswar.

The largest of these communities sits between the hissing maw and the Glassea, a huge flat that covers a pool of brine in a crusty layer of compacted salt a few meters deep. The Glassea is virtually devoid of any wildlife or vegetation, save for a large, pale-green cactus that grows quickly around the edge of the lakes. The thin, clear water held within the plants is rich with aloe and stained a sickly yellow. When boiled down to a paste, it is used to sooth the sores incurred by salt harvesters.

It is said the Glassea was formed when Letaria, the Demigoddess child of Ius, had her own children torn away from her and smashed against rocks, as was Divine law for any creature born of less than half Godly blood. Her tears are said to have mixed with her milk to form the vastness that is the Glassea, known to local’s as Letaria’s Sorrow.

In daylight, the surface of the Glassea acts as a highly reflective mirror that attracted worshipers from many Deities who saw the flats as a way for mortals to walk and dance among the very heavens. To this day, makeshift shrines of bleached bone and dried flowers are regularly found by regular sweeps of the local Kadarian Antitheots who have stood watch over the flats since the Godswar.

The Southern lands of Kadar were once know as the Shining Plain, a name still used by many locals to this day. It is a land of horsemen and ranchers who drive vast herds across her rolling hills. The hills are covered in a thick, blue-green grass that grows quickly and springs back from even the roughest hoof.

The broken shore along her southeastern border is dominated by the Southern Shield, a vast slab of pale gray stone cut in clean, simple lines that rises from the grassland in a huge ramp leading to the top of her fortress-like castle. Like the capitals of every nation, the Southern Shield sits on the Kingsea. Once Kadar was founded her Capital was moved North to the lush islands formed from the Burning Eye, a volcano summoned by Siffor in his battle with Mordukai.

http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/volcanic_island_by_noahbradley-d4xfdke.jpg
volcanic_island_by_noahbradley-d4xfdke
The Burning Eye, called forth by Siffor is his battle with Morduki.

After the war, these islands were claimed by General Kadar as public fields to feed his starving people. With them, a fleet of over a hundred ships and a new grain valley formed from the ashes that fell from the Burning Eye, his people were saved. The largest of these islands was named for the new Kadarian Royalty and became the home for the Empire’s new Capitol.

Antalya is an island covered is lush farmland and orchards which produce some of the finest produce in all the five kingdoms. The great northern mellon that grows only here, an ivory orb filled with a tangy, bright yellow pulp and seeds the size of a man’s thumb, is one of her most prized. The powdered seeds from the fruit once served as the base for many bubbling cauldrons of magical brew.

The palace sits on the northwestern edge of the island, a stately castle of clean lines wrapped within a cocoon of five separate walls, each progressively taller as the land marches upward to meet the conical towers of the castle within. The western edge of the castle opens into a hedge maze with leafy walls some fifteen feet high and five feet thick. In the center of this maze is a long, wide pool with a series of lazy, quiet fountains slowly churning the water. A flock of a several dozen peacocks strut about this inner garden, warmed by thermal vents and underground springs, all year long.

http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/51bae0f1f0f3880634-1024x576.jpg
51bae0f1f0f3880634
The Palace of Antalya, the new capital of the Kadarian Empire.

Second only in wealth and power to the crown, the city of Demiric controls much of the wheat, barley, sunflower seed, oats, potatoes and rye produced in the northern farmlands of Kadar. The city sits on the banks of twin freshwater lakes in wide, golden fields, her soil enriched by ash from the Burning Eye.

There are many who believe that wealth has made the people of Demiric soft and glutinous. They pay their fair share in food tariffs and without their trade hub much of the staple goods of the empire could not reach her inner continent, but they also revel in their status and celebrate each harvest festival with a grander that seems outlandishly garnish by comparison to the abstemiousness Antitheots and those adherent to their values.

Kadar’s people, cowed and ravaged by the cruel Divinity of the Gods, turned against their old masters and curse them even in death. Temples across the continent were torn down or left to rot, while their remaining faithful were (and are) viciously persecuted. Magic is forbidden and ordered to be turned over to the state (which in turn hands much of it over to the Dwarves of Gal-Hadir to be broken down in their massive lavaforges).

Through they claim to eschew all magic, Kadar takes regular shipments of magical constructs from the Dwarves in the form of Iron Golems. These steel giants are used for two purposes: thick copper rings are fused to their frames, allowing lines to be attached so they can drag ships into harbor. Others are covered in thick spikes are sent charging into battle, impaling their enemies as they press ever forward, covered in their screaming, flailing bodies.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/8819ebabacc92c7b71a7c393eedb7083-d7iu0yt-1024x457.jpg
Titanic iron golems guard the mountain path that leads to Gal-Hadir
Titanic iron golems guard the mountain path that leads to Gal-Hadir

Though immensely important to both the Kadarian military and naval might, the golems are unsettling to a people who were taught to distrust and hate all things magical. In retaliation to their inhuman power, the people of Kadar have sought to make a spectacle out of the iron giants though sport.

Teams of three specially trained warriors engage with the constructs in an attempt to topple them before the golems run them down. Many believe that these contests also served as thinly veiled training exercise for taking down the Godking.

It is thought that Kadar could have dozens, even hundreds of these constructs either active or in storage, and larger versions are rumored to exist, though none have ever been seen.

Aside from the golems, the majority of magic has been stripped from Kadar’s great cities. Priests of their anti-religion regularly patrol the far corners of the continent, rooting out any and all magic with blackened Ironwood staves that clutch fist-sized Seeker Stones. For those found hoarding magic, the punishment is always the same: death by public execution. This sentence is absolute, as beggars and noblemen alike have suffered the fate.

The Order of the Seekers believe that man is superior to all others; after all, it was man that survived the apocalypse that killed the Gods. In this belief they encourage a disciplined life of rigorous physical and mental training. Intellect is equal with brawn in their society, and a Prince only worth as much as the finest farmer: your value comes from what you can produce for the good of the country. Kadarians are expected to put their nation first and themselves, and even their families, second.

Further North, this belief in human supremacy is matched by the disdain the Dwarves of Gal-Hadir have for any outside their bloodlines, even that of other Dwarves. The Kadarians are no fools – they know how valuable the golems and anti-magic Baneswords that emerge from the Dwarven lavaforges are – but they also know a day will come when they will have to burn them out of those mountains and purify all of Kadar once and for all.

The Dwarves of Gal-Hadir are a stoic, reclusive lot led by six ancient houses that existed long before the empires of man. For the past three hundred years the mountaintop citadel has been ruled by House Stoneburner and led by the brilliant Geomancer, Thorrick. King Stoneburner is obsessed with acquiring as much old magical material as possible to break down into their raw elements in the heart of Gal-Hadir’s great lavaforges.

Though these forges were ordered dormant as part of a treaty hammered out after the last war, King Stoneburner ordered the magical seals to the lava tubes reopened half a decade ago. They have flowed ever since, filling the night sky of Northern Kadar with a red bloom that rolls across the horizon in waves of glowing fire.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Wessle-1024x817.jpg

Wessle

The Thirteen Republics of Wessle

The continent of Wessel is a rich cornucopia that stretches across all the lands of the North. To the South, thick, old forrest choked with underbrush spreads across the land before the leafy canopy gives way to the oppressive, humid rot of a vast boiling swamp known as the Southern Wetlands.

A network of vents pump primordial gases into the soaked marsh, killing nearly all life within as the heated water belches plumes of acidic gas. What trees remain have tendrils of bleached roots that snake along the surface for hundreds of feet in all directions, erupting from the leafless mass of a mottled, grey trunk.

The settled lands of the North make up the bulk of Wessle’s humanoid population (save for the tribes of orcs to the far South), each sharing equal representation on the Council of Thirteen.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/the_golden_plains_by_noahbradley-d46e4am.jpg
The Ride
The golden plains of Ankara.

Ankara: Ankara is a wide, quarter-circle of wind-swept plains met on her eastern edge by a series of low, rolling hills. These gently sloping mounds are covered in heavy blankets of coarse, yellow grasses that support several species of herding animals. The lands around the capital of Siran are well known for both their superior horses and the masterful riders who tame them.

The North of Ankara is dominated by fifteen-foot-tall boars called Granta who are feared as much for their raw physical might as their cleverness. Standing as tall as an elephant, Grantas gather in close knit families that actively protect one another and share in the responsibility of raising their young.Slavery is illegal in Ankara, which was formed from a slave rebellion after the most recent invasion from Kadar. It is the only Republic to offer sanctuary to escaped slaves, though they will extradite anyone who commits crimes beyond those necessary to free themselves from captivity (a loophole that is frequently exploited).

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/fantasy-landscape-hd-background-wallpaper-52-1024x576.png
The verdant, rocky hills of Varna.
The verdant, rocky hills of Varna.

Varna: Sharing a southern border with Ankara, Varna also shares their Grantas as the lumbering boars migrate across their lands to drink at a long, deep freshwater scar known as Loch Van. Many speak of a beast that lives in this frigid darkness, though only a handful claim to have seen its gargantuan, hunched form slip beneath the murky waters.

The wide hills are choked with thick, waxy leaves that fan out from a blood red center to a deep purple with a strip of ivory along the edge. The plants are as tough as burlap and extrude a viscid sap if cut or burned – passing through them reduces speed to one-quarter movement and passage with horses or wagons is impossible.

Further East lay the even more impassible Indigo Hills Jungle, a rainforest dominated by three trees: the Black Alder, which mainly live at the forest edges, in swamps and along riverside corridors; huge swatches of Ivory Beeches, tall, slender trees with white bark that flakes off in rolls to reveal a deep navy, and equally large groves of Stirge’s Nests (also know as Sweet Chesnuts). These trees get their name from the nest-like fibers that surround clusters of blood-red nuts that resemble the roost of a Stirge. The blood-sucking creatures live in abundance in these woods and use the trees as natural camouflage to hatch their young.

At her far southern border, the Indigo Hills rise out of the vegetation to form a series of towering stone pillars, the largest stretching 2,000 feet into the sky. This monolith is know to the locals as Beyazit Kulesi (the Fire Tower) and is what remains of the core of an ancient volcano. Deep underground chambers once filled with molten rock have long gone cold and brittle, their walls invaded as subterranean lakes broke to the surface in tremendous gouts of water that form the mouths of two mighty rivers – the Asi to the East and the Asta to the West.

Shumen: The warm, wet lands of Shumen are home to a series of fruit-bearing forests that cover the Republic and are known collectively as the Southwind Orchards. Plums and dates dominate the North while peaches, pomegranates and sweet cherries form thick canopies in the South and East.

Loquats grow wild across Shumen, attracting Granta herds in the early winter who travel south just as the clusters of pear-shaped, two-inch-long fruits are in full bloom. The fruits are yellow to orange, depending on how mature the plant, and when ripened deepen to a waxy crimson. The succulent, tangy flesh is white, yellow or orange (again, depending on the age of the plant) and acidic to very sweet.

The capital of Baguna is an active shipping port as seasonal torrential rains make transporting wagons burdened with heavy loads of fruit nearly impossible.

Vratza: Nearly half of the land-locked Republic of Vratza is comprised of the Tuzla Wetlands, a humid marsh dominated by thick clumps of mangrove trees. The capital Gale strides the mighty Asta, the towers of her cathedrals carved from the sheer bedrock that splits the river in two.

The people of Vratza have long been worshipers of Mivia, a belief held most strongly by the rural people of the South who live along the edges of her lakes and rivers. In late Siffan, those who remain faithful journey deep into the heart of the Tuzla Wetlands in search of a type of Mangrove tree named for the Goddess herself. These Mivia Mangroves grow smaller than the rest with pale lime seed clusters that form deep within its tangled mass of roots.

The seed pods remain submerged for all but two weeks of their production. When the water levels lower, their waxy, waterproof shell dries out and falls away, revealing a downy, yellow fluff that covers the ivory fruit, used both for it’s medicinal and intense psychoactive properties. Those that consume the seeds are said to be able to see snippets of both past and future from within dreams that merge with their waking conscious. Continued use of the seeds is said to lead to blindness and madness.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1600x851_15534_Town_2d_fantasy_architecture_ships_picture_image_digital_art-1024x545.jpg
1600x851_15534_Town_2d_fantasy_architecture_ships_picture_image_digital_art
The tranquil, golden waters of the Sunsea Bay.

Pernick: The grand city that houses the Capitol of Wessle, as well as her Council of Thirteen, sits in the North of this lush grassland that bends East to gently to cup the Kingsea with long beaches of shimmering white sand known as the Mooncoast. 

Rolling gently before the golden capitol is the Sunsea Bay, a tranquil inlet of clear water protected on both sides by rocky inlets that curve to narrow at its entrance to the Kingsea. A pair of watch towers carved from crystalline amber are lit at all times by huge braziers, creating an illusion that they are twin columns of orange flame. This gave the towers their name as the Pillars of Siforr, while also providing ships sailing at night a pair of radiant beacons by which to safely navigate the waters surrounding Tidewatch.

While not as rich as the lands of the Godsfield to the south, pigs, oxen and sheep grow fat from her endless grassy hills and rich schools of fish pool just off her shores. Rivers tumble out of the Indigo Hills and spill across her thick forests to gather into a narrow, warm lake that runs clear all the way to the bottom.Algae from the many fallen logs that criss-cross the turquoise lakebed and travertine that seeps into the water from hot springs mix to form a rainbow sheen that ripples across the surface in waves that mimic the lights over the skies to the cold North.

The lake swells in the wet season and cascades over its steep eastern bank to form miles of powerful falls, some hundreds of feet high, which tumble down lush spillways and form dozens of smaller, crystal-clear pools. A series of these pools can form in chains before joining into a churning river that crosses the border into Vratza, eventually emptying into the Tuzla Wetlands.

The highest and most powerful of these cascading waterways is named after the Goddess of Time. The water that thunders over her soaring edge conceals a shrine to Mivia that can only be accessed if the pounding falls are somehow held back.

Twin bayside cities of Kestle and Koru were rich fishing towns that quickly grew into thriving metropoles. They are in constant rivalry with one other, most of which is in the form of open, healthy competitiveness, but other feuds are solved by less noble means.Both cities are rife with smugglers and slavers, the later being legal in seven of the thirteen Republics (and out of those that prohibit it, only Ankara provides a safe haven for escaped slaves), though the trade is more openly practiced in Koru. Captured Orcs and nationless humans are shipped from the Free Lands of the South to work the plantations of the North.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/assassin_s_creed_iv__black_flag_havana_alley_by_donglu-d79da7g-303x480.jpg
Goldhill, the richest city in all of Wessel.
Goldhill, the richest city in all of Wessel.

Kondassa: One of the largest and richest of the Thirteen Republics, Kondassa claims much of the fertile lands of the Godsfield valley, cradling the Western Calm at her southern border and Tuzla Wetlands to the North.Goldhill sits in the heart of the Republic, nestled at the feet of Cotton Mouth Lake, a winding body of freshwater spawning several rivers that nourish the farmlands of Wessle. It is a sprawling metropolis that serves as the capital of Kondassa as well as a major trade hub for most of the inner continent.

Slavery is openly practiced in the Republic and used as the primary form of punishment for dozens of offenses. Kondassa is ruled by the same family that gave her the namesake after purchasing the land nearly four hundred years ago, buying their way to a throne they could not otherwise acquire.

Most of the land is covered in great fields of grain, corn, wheat and soybeans, staples of the Wesselean diet as well as major export grains across the Five Kingdoms. Cotton, Milkweed and a variety of herbs and grasses that have medicinal or hallucinogenic properties, and frequently both, can be found far to the West.

The narrow streets of Hogsfeet overflow with flowers and decorations.
The narrow streets of Hogsfeet overflow with flowers and decorations.

Haskovo: Across the mighty Sakara River from Kondassa lay Haskovo, the richest of all the Thirteen Republics. Her soil is enriched by minerals that flow from underground springs around the northern foothold of the Li-Gun mountains (known to humans as the Mount of the Forest). Rice grown in mineral-rich paddy fields here is particularly flavorful and desired all over the Five Kingdoms.

Aside from rice, Haskovo yields mostly wheat and soybeans, with mandarins, sugarcane and a variety of seeds (sesame, sunflower and rapeseed being the most popular) spread across the North.The city of Hogsfeet is the core of livestock trade for much of Wessle and the host of an annual celebration to the Demigoddess Grunta, Lady of all Swine. The week-long festival concludes with Highharvest, a day celebrated across all of the Kingdoms as the height of summer plenty, a time for revery and gluttony.

Lom: The Republic of Lom juts out sharply from Wessle, splitting the Tranquil Bay from the Kingsea. Her ivory cliffs mark the nearest shore to the Kingdom of Brenus, and on a clear day the imposing sandstone walls of the Brackenhill Citadel are clearly visible across the twenty-two mile wide channel.

The small Republic is dominated by two key features: the Goldwood, a forest abundant in rich citrus fruits that encompass much the North, and the Grain Vault.Constructed soon after the Godswar, the Vault is connected to the winding Vedi River through a system of wide locks, allowing grain barges to safely bypass a dangerous rapids and gain quicker access to the Kingsea.

Razgrad: The largest of the Thirteen Republics, Razgrad commands a wide expanse from the southern shores of the Western Calm, through the Mistwood and the Southern Wetlands right up to the foothills of the Free Lands of the South.

The western edge of Razgrad rises to form a long wall of high cliffs that face the jagged spires of Blackfang Bay, a known haven for pirates and smugglers. Thorhill Tower stands on the highest point and serves as an early warning system from raiders seeking to pillage her towns and villages along the eastern shore.Aside from these smaller communities, the only major city in Lom is Quito, a fishing mecca and final port of call on the Western Calm. Quito is a wild city populated with all measure of races and creatures, and restrained by few laws.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/bruma210.jpg
bruma210

Vel-Daram: Nearly three centuries ago the steady order of Gal-Hadir was thrown into chaos when clan Stoneburner, of which not a single Dwarf had been seen in nearly three hundred years, returned to reestablish their birthright among the great northern houses.

Wielding strange magics and advanced technologies, the Dwarves of Clan Stoneburner easily ousted the Knights of Kalimore, the ruling house of Gal-Hadir for the past millennia, exiling them both from the mountain and from the continent that would one day be known as Kadar.

The knights wandered for years before they arrived at Li-Gun, a steep, forking mountain range covered nearly to the peaks in trees and underbrush. They set to climbing her, and discovered a powerful subterranean river that burst from the Northern face and tumbled into the Eastern Calm. It was here they built a new city and named her for their order.

Though they fought fiercely against the Kadarian invaders centuries later, they were once again beaten into submission by the magics and advanced technology of their northern brothers. As per Kadarian custom, those that survived were sold off as slaves, the halls of Kalimore were stripped bare of their treasures and the city was cast, stone by stone, to the deep pool of water beneath the cascading falls.When the war was over, many of the freed Knights returned to Li-Gun to rebuild their city, an effort that continues to this day.

Kubrat: The small Republic of Kubrat lay pressed between the Eastern Calm and the Li-Gun mountains. The capital city Jaffra rests on the shores of a quiet inlet and serves mainly as a convenient port of trade for the dwarves rebuilding Kalimore.

Silistra: The Republic of Silistra also juts out far into the Tranquil Bay, the gleaming emerald tower of Feylight standing boldly at the water’s edge. Feylight sits at the mouth of the Eastern Calm, a shallow bay of warm, rich water that provides the towns and cities that ring it’s beaches and cliffs a bounty of sea life to exploit.

In early Siffan, the Whipweed that chokes the waters around Feylight all produce their seeds in a single, mesmerizing, week-long event. Millions and millions of tiny glowing seeds rise to the surface of the water and crack one, revealing a dozen feathery stems that are picked up by the wind and carried along the water’s surface, each glowing in turn. The seeds attract birds, bats, fish and other creatures that eat the seeds and spread them across the South.

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1356646107

Lovech: The sprawling Republic of Lovech is largely a country in name only. Much of her lands are uninhabitable – the Gloom is a dangerous and impassible forest, the Southern Wetlands infested with giant crocodiles and the ruins and land around Lake Fogmire are cursed for all time. Those who enter the silvery fog that permanently obfuscates her shore immediately and irrevocably lose all memories, guaranteeing that none ever learn anything about what lay within.

Only the capital Zadar could be called a true city, and even then only boasts ten thousand full-time inhabitants. Many more thousands of drifters, seasonal workers and other migrants pass through the area throughout the year, swelling the temporary population by half during peak seasons.Roughly 90% of the Zadarian floodplains are submerged during the rainy season, nurturing an astonishing biologically diverse collection of aquatic plants and supporting a dense array of animal species. It is a huge, gently-slopping basin that receives runoff from the Li-Gun mountains and slowly releases the water through the Narva River and into the Tranquil Pass.

During this seasonal flooding, miles and miles of Red Cargo Rice is planted in the natural paddy farms that form in the flooded valley with the help of many temporary workers. The conditions are harsh and even the smallest infraction can result in a punishment of being enslaved and sold up North, but for many it is the only way to gather enough food to survive the winter.

 

The Free Lands of the South

A fifty mile wide band of blasted rock and scorching sand separates the edge of Lovech from the towering onyx walls of the Coalspine. The space inbetween is known as the Free Lands of the South

Two tribes of Orcs rule most of the desert, with the bloodthirsty raiders of Clan Deathhammer controlling the North and the relatively peaceful Clan Flatrock dominating the East. Small communities of outcasts also find home among the rocks and hills, while  strange Elves with alabaster skin and pale yellow eyes are said to inhabit the jungles of the East.

Two massive rivers are the major source of fresh water in these lands, one draining from the overflow of Lake Foggier while the other forms from melting snow and captured rain flowing from the tips of Li-Gun. The later plunges deep within the heart of the Coalspine, winding through a narrow crevice for hundreds of miles before opening to reveal a land forgotten by time.

Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Guidari-246x480.jpg
Guidari

Cut off from the rest of the world and kept oppressively humid by natural springs and thermal heat, this pocket inside the titanic Coalspine is home to thousands of species long extinct in the rest of the world. It is also home to the Ghuidari.

Standing on average over eight feet tall with thick, fur-covered bodies that frequently weigh up to 400 pounds, the Guidari are a product of divine tinkering – an evolutionary “what if?” of what humanity might have become.

The speed of the Ghuidari belies their hulking girth. Though made humanoid through powerful magic, they have lost little of their primate agility. Added to this is their astonishing fortitude – Ghuidari scouts will frequently drop thirty feet from the tree-line to surprise their prey and can leap from branch to branch with ease.

Once they broke free of their creators, the Ghuidari were chased and persecuted across Wessel. The humans hounded them through the Gloom and into the Southern Wetlands, only to have trolls take up the assault. Once in the Sand Hills the Orcs of Clan Deathammer savaged their numbers nearly to extinction. It was then that Ova took pity on the Ghuidari, leading them to their tropical sanctuary hidden deep within the heart of the Coalspine.

Ova sent spirt animals to guide the Guidari on a path of harmony with their new paradise, and they have fiercely guarded it against trespassers ever since.

episode038.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/episode038/
Title: Episode #038: The Union (Part 8)
Date: MAY 16, 2016

Godsfall is all out war as the players fight to defend their small keep from waves of monstrous hordes.
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Quotes from this episode:

“Hi. Who the fook are you and what are you doing here?”
“A huge cyclops with spiked shoulder pads and a scar across its face with one milky-white dead eye…oh, wait a minute.”
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A special thanks to BattleBards and Kevin MacLeod for all of their support!

DM's Notes (Warning: SPOILERS!)
Fifth Floor: The Chamber of War

The next level takes another full two rings of stairs to ascend as the stones dry and the air grows warmer. The smell of grass fills your nose as he distant strikes of a blacksmith ring from the walls. When you finally emerge, you find yourself atop a stone tower overlooking a vast field of sea-green grasses. The tower is surrounded by a small fort with thick walls sporting half a dozen ballista. The Gods of War and Travel are carved into either side of the walls, extending their hands to meet at its main gate.

To the North a massive army of orcs and other humanoid creatures has gathered in the fields below, snarling and howling as they form ranks and march toward you.

Night 1: As the evening settles in, the forces of orcs, ogres and other assorted creatures settles in for the night, tents raised and campfires blazing.

The player’s keep is well stocked with weapons, armor, arrows, food, water and oil. At the top of the tower is a second large table much like the one that transported the players, with the center composed of a topological map that perfectly recreates the scene below. In addition to their own pieces several more are lined up in a trough has been cut along the bottom of the table and lined with velvet.

The pieces are startlingly accurate to the real people they represent and immediately recognizable as the following: Branneck (Fighter, 5th), Aramil (Ranger, 5th), Lando Chivite (Ranger, 4th), Harta Lasse (Thief, 3rd), Pehetoho (Cleric, 4th) Jasra Omar (Fighter, 2nd), Oscar Duarte (Fighter, 2nd), Annika Bloodstone (Fighter, 2nd), Kailu Lithdiir (Ranger, 2nd), Gynfonk Stormfuse (Sage, 3rd).

After dawn the following morning when the horde attacks add the following pieces to the board:

Mazali: As combat begins, the red-robed figure of Mazali appears in the tray. If summoned, Mazali (Sorcerer 5th) will agree that it was wise to call upon her.
Fohza: If Xion is ever in trouble, the piece of his brother Fohza (Fighter 5th) becomes available.
Urlock: As the first of the assailants two ships appears in the bay, a massive figure of Unlock the Dragon Turtle appears. The piece resists being placed on land like two equal ends of a battery, but can readily be added to any water tile.
Th Union Battlefield

Godsfall 38

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episode039.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/episode039/
Title: Episode #039: The Top of the World (Part 1)
Date: MAY 30, 2016 

The players continue their climb up the Union and are thrust into a familiar world to battle their most fearsome foe yet.
iTunes
Beautiful-Images-of-Nature-Above-the-Clouds-in-Pixel-of-1920x1200-the-Rising-Sun-is-Generous-and-Great-Magnificent-Scene

Links for this episode:

Discuss this episode: Godsfall Forum
Resources: Godsfall Maps
Quotes from this episode:

“Oh my God, reverse Dwafling!”
“I know Pokemon! I’m aware of Pokemon! There’s Charizard and…Lightning Dude…”
About Godsfall:

DM Aram
Doug (Dorro)
Michael (Xion)
Stephen (Torrvic)
Kelly (Rina)
Listen to Godsfall: RSS Feed | iTunes | Soundcloud | Google Play | Podbay
Support Godsfall:

Support Godsfall on Patreon
Buy a Godsfall T-Shirt
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Want to give a one-time donation? Use
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.
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Music from this episode:

A special thanks to BattleBards and Kevin MacLeod for all of their support!

The Union 007

DM's Notes (Warning: SPOILERS!)
Godsfall 039

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episode040.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/episode040/
Title: Episode #040: The Top of the World (Part 2)
Date: JUNE 14, 2016

The party makes their way to the top of the Union and finally gets some answers to their questions - answers they did not expect.
iTunes
Beautiful-Images-of-Nature-Above-the-Clouds-in-Pixel-of-1920x1200-the-Rising-Sun-is-Generous-and-Great-Magnificent-Scene

Links for this episode:

Discuss this episode: Godsfall Forum
Resources: Godsfall Maps
About Godsfall:

DM Aram
Doug (Dorro)
Michael (Xion)
Stephen (Torrvic)
Kelly (Rina)
Listen to Godsfall: RSS Feed | iTunes | Soundcloud | Google Play | Podbay
Support Godsfall:

Support Godsfall on Patreon
Buy a Godsfall T-Shirt
Write an iTunes review
Want to give a one-time donation? Use
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.
  
Music from this episode:

A special thanks to BattleBards and Kevin MacLeod for all of their support!

Godsfall 040

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episode041.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/episode041/
Title: Episode #041: Season 2 Mailbag
Date: JUNE 22, 2016

iTunes
Image: http://www.godsfall.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/635520961476244888798720642_tumblr_inline_mgrr62xnrl1rsns0p.gif
HarryPotterMailbag

Links for this episode:

Discuss this episode: Godsfall Forum
Resources: Godsfall Maps
About Godsfall:

DM Aram
Doug (Dorro)
Michael (Xion)
Stephen (Torrvic)
Kelly (Rina)
Listen to Godsfall: RSS Feed | iTunes | Soundcloud | Google Play | Podbay
Support Godsfall:

Support Godsfall on Patreon
Buy a Godsfall T-Shirt
Write an iTunes review
Want to give a one-time donation? Use
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online.
  
Music from this episode:

A special thanks to BattleBards and Kevin MacLeod for all of their support!

Godsfall 041

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kickstarter.txt

From: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.godsfall.com/kickstarter/
Header image: https://youtu.be/2r9wxdmmfWw
Title: Godsfall Worldbook Kickstarter
Date: April 10, 2016

Thank you for joining us for a Godsfall Worldbook Kickstarter Preview! We are busy wrapping up the main video now to launch the Kickstarter June 13th.

Worldbook Kickstarter Levels
$1 – A Point of Light: Your name will be recorded on godsfall.com as thanks for supporting the podcast.

$5 – Prayer to the Old Ones: Your voice is heard and you will receive an official digital Godsfall  fan kit, including phone and desktop wallpapers, an official Godsfall character sheet and your name recorded on godsfall.com as thanks.

$10 – Burning of Twine: The Old Gods see smoke rising from your bundle of twine and are sated. Your name will be recorded on Godsfall.com and you will receive a .pdf of the expanded Godsfall Wordbook as well as the digital Godsfall backer kit.

$25 – Gift of Song: Your voice carries to the heavens and pleases the Old Ones. You receive all rewards at the Burning of Twine level and a .mp3 of the Dorro Knott song, sung by Doug Horn with an original piano arrangement from Michael Key, as well as some original tracks from our good friends at BattleBards.

$50 – Drop of Divinity (Limit 150): You spill a single drop of your Divine Blood – the Old Gods are most pleased. You will receive all rewards at the Gift of Song level, and one of the first print editions of the expanded Godsfall Worldbook.

$75 – Blackened Stump (Limit 50): The Old Gods see your offering of a mature tree, burned to the very stump, and are pleased for the sacrifice. You receive all rewards from Drop of Divinity, and a print of an originally illustrated Godsfall NPC drawn by Francisco Manzo.

$100 – Prophet’s Path (Limit 50): A path before you glows as the Old Gods beckon you forth. You will receive all rewards from Drop of Divinity, as well as a printed 24″ by 24″ full color print of the Godsfall Worldmap.

$125 – Grand Vision (Limit 50): The Old Gods reward your sacrifice with a vision of Godsfall. You will receive all of the rewards from Blackened Stump and the Prophet’s Path.

$150 – Call of the Priest (Limit 20): Availible to LGS ( Local Game Store ) owners ONLY! Four print copies of the expanded Godsfall Worldbook produced and delivered by us at cost for sale in your store, each copy signed by the entire cast.

$200 – Council of Elders (Limit 30): You are given a seat on the Council of Elders. You receive all rewards from Grand Vision and the choice of two online seminars – Worldbuilding led by DM Aram Vartian and Acting & Voices by Michael Key. You will have your name added to a special thank you page in the Worldbook and recieve signed character sheets from the entire cast.

$300 – Clarion Call (Limit 10): The Old Gods hear the trumpets of your clarion call and respond in kind. You will receive everything in the Council of Elders package including a set on both the Worldbuilding and Character Creation seminars.

$500 – The Summoning (Limit 10): The Old Gods recognize your strength of conviction and you are granted a personal audience. DM Aram Vartian will Skype with you for an hour about your custom world and offer his advice.

$1500 – Heavens Gate (Limit 1): A special Godsfall fan will join us for an episode of Godsfall! You will receive everything from the Clarion Call package as well as the chance to roll up a new PC to play in the Godsfall world, and dinner with the cast (winner is responsible for travel and hotel accommodations, dinner is on us).

$5000 – Divine Intervention (Limit 1): I will fly to any city within the continental United States to record your podcast with his equipment and edit and episode the same care and insane effort he does Godsfall.