Running Call of Cthulhu-style Adventures on Hârn

Introduction

Over the last 8 years or so I have found it impossible to counter the urge to include Cthulhoid elements in my Hârn campaigns. There are some superficial aspects of the two genres that might make them seem incompatible. The differences are superficial only. I hope to show by this document that Cthulhu is alive and well and living in Hârn...

Aspects of Cthulhoid Campaigning

The first thing to keep in mind is that nobody except you knows exactly what is happening on Kethira. Not Robin, not the fine folk at Columbia Games, and certainly not your players. The information written in the regional modules is the best information available to someone intimately familiar with the region. But anyone can be misguided. For instance, not many people know that Lothrim, a dedicated and capable agent of Nyarlathotep, wrote the Illimitable Tome to mislead millions about the very gods they worship.

Successful Call of Cthulhu and Call of Cthulhu-style campaigns (they can be run in any system; Hârnmaster works just fine) are characterized by a group of more-or-less average folk gradually learning of and confronting the terrible truth that the world is a much bigger and nastier place than we learned on our granny's knee. The enjoyment comes in gingerly approaching oblivion, in learning just how bad it can be before going off the deep end or giving up in despair. It isn't about rescuing damsels in distress or standing alone against formidable odds, although these are certainly valid elements of a campaign steeped in Cthulhoid horror. But the overall theme that is enjoyed by players in a Cthulhoid campaign is the gradual piecing together of the clues that eventually reveal the Terrible Truth.

As such, the campaign needs a Terrible Truth. This document provides the Terrible Truth unknown to the great unwashed masses on Hârn.

The Terrible Truth

Cthulhu

Cthulhu is alive, not dead but dreaming, in all worlds where humans live and dream. In Kethira, his prison is Ridow. He is worshipped by hundreds of Deep Ones, Deep One half-breeds, and secretive, insane human cultists in coastal areas all over the world, especially around the south of Hârn. In fact, Melderyn is dominated by ancient families with many Deep One connections, and many a sage in his high tower is actually a reclusive Deep One half-breed awaiting his time to go down to Ridow. Cthulhu's worshippers want to wake him, to come to his full glory and turn back the coming time when the night sky is rent asunder. They are no longer waiting for the stars to be right. See "The Celestial Orrery" below.

Nyarlathotep

Meantime, the cults of Nyarlathotep are thriving, having made dramatic progress in the last millennium. The cults of Nyarlathotep worship the Outer Gods for power and knowledge. Most of them do not know that their sacrifices are hastening the day of the Great Gate, and the attention of the Outer Gods. The cults of Nyarlathotep do not worship Cthulhu - they do not want the world for Cthulhu, they want the world for themselves, enriched and made powerful by fell magicks learned from the Messenger of the Gods.

Lothrim

Lothrim is a mighty agent of Nyarlathotep. He is responsible for a good deal of the misinformation that is Common Knowledge on Hârn and around Kethira. For instance, he wrote the Illimitable Tome, and made up all the malarkey about the Concordat.

Ilvir

Ilvir is Abhoth, a bubbling obscenity that spews forth monsters and madness. It wasn't always so...

Cosmology

In the beginning, every culture had its own pantheon of spirits, but there were two nearly universal gods. There was a figure Terran anthropologists refer to as the Earth-Mother, and a Sky-Father. The Earth-Mother was the procreative, fertility god, and the Sky-Father was the protector of life and the keeper of knowledge.

On Kethira, Ilvir was the Earth-Mother god, and Siem was the Sky-Father god. The Sindar and Khuzan peoples were placed here by them to protect Kethira and all life on it. They also had two devices - the Eye of Ilvir, a brilliant blue orb about the size of a child's head that emanated life-energy, and the Bowl of Siem, a deep blue bowl exactly large enough to fit the Eye of Ilvir. When they were fashioned, the Eye was given to the Khuzdul of Kiraz, where it was watched by the kings of Kiraz for any signs of perturbation to Ilvir or her world, and the Bowl was given to the Elf-King in Evael to watch for signs of evil from beyond the stars. Either part, the Eye or the Bowl, could be used to heal the other if anything happened to it.

Unfortunately, Cthulhu came neither from the stars nor from the earth, but through the dreams of the people. Thus did Cthulhu, master of dreams, bypass the protections of the young world and gain a residence. When he did, it made for some serious trouble.

Cthulhu brought with him powerful creatures of corruption - crystals inhabited by an alien and unknowable life-form called the Shanns. Shanns are beings of energy only, and must live in a crystal matrix. They cannot cross running water. All things infected by a shann's evil energies become corrupted, and eventually no longer resemble their original form.

The Battle

When the Sindar and Khuzdul protectors learned of the presence of Cthulhu on Kethira, they knew this was the danger of which they had been warned. A mighty host of them marched on the mountain in the south of the area now known as Hârn to do battle with the forces of evil. When they cornered Cthulhu inside his great crystal-lined cavern in the heart of the mountain, it was too late; the trap had been sprung, and they were corrupted into evil parodies of their former selves - still powerful, still intelligent, but now worshippers of Cthulhu and the Outer Gods, insane by any Kethiran standard.

Corruption

The elves became corrupted into the Serpentmen of Hepkeria, potent sorcerers and desert astrologers who loathe the lush meadows and deep forests; while the corrupted dwarves became the Deep Ones, mighty artificers and engineers, forever banished to the seafloor.

Cthulhu Defeated (for now)

As a final protective action, the Sindarin sorcerers threw all of their power into a mighty world-shaking cataclysm, which sank the mountain and surrounding valleys beneath the sea, creating the island of Ridow. For their corrupted brethren it was too late, but perhaps the living waters of the sea could ward Kethira's surface-dwellers from the horrors below. Arid Hepekeria is now home to the Serpentmen, who have worked their magicks there and watched the skies for the time of the return of the Outer Gods. The seafloor between Hepekeria and Ridow is home to the Deep Ones, mighty artificers and engineers who serve mighty Cthulhu, trapped beneath the sea but weaving his dreamweb still.

Lothrim

Lothrim was a talented and clever young man from Hepekeria, working with a merchant on the great caravan route across the central desert. When his caravan became lost, and subsequently destroyed by bandits, he was forgotten among the dead in the desert night. He found shelter in the tip of a tower long buried beneath the desert sands. There he found food and water mysteriously provided, and books, and an observatory. For years he lived in this place, waiting for another caravan to pass by, but none ever did. In the meantime, his mysterious hosts ensured that food, water, and books were at his side whenever he awoke. Then they began to speak to him, strange whispers inside his head. He learned many things about discipline, about the nature of body and soul, and about the ways of life and death in their strange philosophy.

He also learned his one great skill - to transfer his essence into a new, human body.

After many years, he was what they needed, a human who could cross the sea, who could go to places where they couldn't, who could do things in the world of men beyond the control of the hated Sindar and Khuzdul watchers. Then he began his great plan, to neutralize the watchers and make Kethira a home for him, and for those who gave him power.

He learned that far Dalkesh was the home of a small cult dedicated to Nyarlathotep, known in Dalkeshi as Naveh. Lothrim traveled to Dalkesh, where he used his sorcerous powers and ruthless nature to gain control of the cult of Naveh. Then he used the cult as a base from which he started a guild of assassins dedicated to perfecting their art and their discipline, the weapon he would need for the next of his great plans. As the guild grew and prospered, Lothrim became very wealthy. He took his time there to begin his most audacious project - he wrote the Concordat of the Illimitable Tome.

In Azeryan, the Agrikan temples were spreading without Lothrim's help or interference.

As Merodyne the Pale in Karejia and Trierzon, he nearly simultaneously introduced the new Halean rite, with similar results. In the meantime, Larani had arisen in response to the growing popularity of Agrik, and gentle Peoni was promoted from humble hearth goddess to comforter of the downtrodden.

Elkall-Anuz

He took a gold coffer to Ridow, and brought back with him the Banestone, an enormous emerald (really a diamond, but the corrupting influence is a deep green glow) inhabited by a very old and powerful shann. He brought the Banestone to Elkall-Anuz, where he started his researches. He learned to create different creatures by exposing them to the rays of the Banestone. Exposed humans became gargun.

Eventually, Lothrim went on pilgrimage to Araka-Kalai with the Banestone in its gold coffer. There he baned Ilvir into the corrupted insane mass of protoplasm that now spews out monsters. That's why there haven't been any unicorns or gryphons seen in 600 years (unless they're very, very old).

Once Ilvir was neutralized as a force of powerful magic, Lothrim was able to start conquering Hârn. This was a purely personal thing, to see if he could get the attention of the remaining dwarves. He did, and so he sent one of his lieutenants to Kiraz bearing a bribe for their continued lack of attention to his actions. The bribe: an enormous emerald in a gold box... Naturally the dwarves took the gem with every intention of turning on the foulspawner, but it was too late - the quartz veins of Kiraz were a perfect home for the spawning shanns, and Kiraz was infested.

The khuzdul had no idea what had happened until it was too late. Slowly at first, but soon every morning, dwarves woke up to find their neighbors transformed into troll-like creatures. Finally, they fled, taking only their finest treasures. One of these was the emerald in the box; they still did not know its significance (and it was an awfully big emerald....)

Timeline for Lothrim

2000 BT - Finds lost city, saved by Serpentmen, becomes chosen one, writes Illimitable Tome
1800 BT - Goes to Dalkesh and founds Society of Assassins, which he initiates and calls Church of Naveh
1200BT - Goes to Azeryan and founds Church of Morgath
600 BT - to Melderyn, but is thrown out
0 BT/TR
100 TR - Corrupts Ilvir
120 TR - Banes Kiraz

Magic

Magic is important to the CoC milieu because often the bad guys have access to it and the good guys don't, or do but don't want to use it. On the contrary, most Cults are led by someone who knows how to call one or more Servitors of the Outer Gods, or who has an ability granted to them by one of the Gods. Some cult leaders have additional abilities that may not translate well into HârnMaster terms. The most important of these include Contact spells and Gates.

In general, Cultists (Morgathians, Navehans, and fringe sects) worship one of the 1001 aspects of Nyarlathotep according to plans laid down by his agents, especially Lothrim, long ago. They use Call, Contact, and Summon/Bind spells, and the special abilities of the creatures they contact.

Cthulhu worship is centered around the monolithic Melderyni establishment, which exists solely for the purpose of gathering the power needed to release Cthulhu from his watery prison in Ridow and return Kethira to Him and His. Cthulhu cultists use all of the "ordinary" Shek P'Var magic (they developed it).

Churches

Agrik - a real church, which grew out of a barbarian culture in northern Azeryan. Play as written.

Halea - a decadent, devolved form of the original "Earth-Mother" Ilvir. Play as written.

Ilvir - discredited, form of the original "Earth-Mother" procreator figure caused by his corruption by Lothrim. Play as written.

Larani - a natural response to Agrikanism. Play as written.

Morgath - an engineered church started in Azeryan by Lothrim in 1000 BT

Naveh - an engineered church started in Azeryan by Lothrim in 2000 BT

Peoni - a weakened form of the original "Earth-Mother" Ilvir, rendered harmless in Melderyn. Play as written.

Sarajin - Ithaqua the Windwalker, as perceived by Ivinians

Save K'nor - a secret society. Play as written, or play it as a Special Forces agency working for the Melderyni Crown, or as an independent society who knows the Awful Truth and is working to bring it down.

Siem - The original "Sky-Father" protector figure.

Summary

Real churches: Siem and Ilvir, Sarajin

Fake churches: Agrik, Halea, Naveh, Morgath

Private society church: Save K'nor

Response churches: Peoni, Larani

New Races

Deep Ones - Corrupted, submerged Khuzdul

Serpentmen - Corrupted Sindar

Mi-Go - Extra-Kethiran visitors mining the mountains of Lythia, including Hârn, for their own reasons. Mi-Go may be the adult form of Shanns, or they may be their mortal enemies (and unsavory party allies). Are they the Earthmasters?

Trolls - Proto-Deep Ones, corrupted dwarves who have not yet made it to the sea.

Setting up a Cthulhoid Hârn Campaign

First, decide which of the big baddies is most important. There's no way a party can take on both the Cthulhu/Melderyni establishment and the churches of Naveh and Morgath.

Then decide who is allied with whom, and under what circumstances the alliance might change. For instance, the Miners Guild is dominated by a Jmorvi Veran who is in league with the Mi-Go. They collect a certain bluish metal found naturally in tin deposits, and give it to the Mi-Go. But the Heralds Guild is in the pocket of the Navehan church, and their records are not as sacrosanct as might be thought.

Discuss with your players if they would prefer to mix in the occasional odd cult with their other adventuring, or if they want to commit themselves to Something Big.

If the former is their preference, set up the campaign as you normally would, but add a schedule of clues to be gained which will eventually show them that the evil cults share more than a few similarities, and with the right preparation, they can be defeated.

If they want to commit themselves to Something Big, they can a) piece together the disturbing pattern of events that shows that Melderyn has been working on a Secret Plan, and that on the Winter Solstice of 721, the stars will be right... or b) discover the secret of the Carnage of Kiraz and, using Mi-Go (Earthmaster?) technology, save Ilvir and clear Kiraz.

A plot device...

The Celestial Orrery is a device used by Sindarin astrologers to watch the skies. It is a brass and diamond construct of Kethira and the Kethiran sky. As you watch it, the stars and planets very slowly move around Kethira. The stars will only be right when Melderyni sorcerors steal the Celestial Orrery and magically force it into the unnatural position that will permit the great gate that will free Cthulhu.