Silver Steel

  This rare and expensive Metal is harder than Steel and much lighter. It is sometimes found in Silver Mines and is often mistaken for Silver until one tries to work it. It will not melt under normal flame and Troll Blacksmiths seem to have been one of the few individuals who are able to work this metal.

  Sadly, no one has seen a Troll in hundreds of years so no new items have been created.

  It is said that The Sword of Istria which is held by King Uriens is made of Silver Steel.

  It was also said they lost Armor and Shield of the famous Knight known as The Silver Dragon was also forged of this priceless metal.

Corporal Roob

Sir Gildas The Silver Dragon

  The current Dukedon known as Sarloos was once a small kingdom in it's own right. The Kingdom was established by individuals who travelled from the East and settled in the south eastern portion of what is now Istria. Some two hundred years ago relations between the Kingoms of Istria and Sarloos became strained. The exact cause of this has been lost but most believe it was Istria's jealousy of the vast wealth of Silver mines located in Sarloos. Quite simply Greed.

  This strife eventually turned to open warfare between the two Kingdoms. Gildas was the third son of the King of Sarloos. The young Prince was never given any Military Title though he did form a  Militant band who would rove the countyside defending the people of Sarloos. It is rumored he also had on occassion defended Istrian settlers who had been set upon unjustly by Sarloosian troops.

  The band came to be known as The Silver Dragons. It was said that Sir Gildas wore Plate mail made of Silver Steel and his Shield Device was a Silver Dragon over a Field of Deep Blue. The stories say this armor and shield were the last items forged by the Troll Smiths before they disappeared into their mountain homelands.

  The war lasted seven years and ended when an accord was settled on where the Kingdom of Sarloos was anexed into the Kingdom of Istria as a Dukedom. Sir Gildas swore fealty to the Istrian Crown and his exploits are the stuff of Legend now. He and his Order of The Silver Dragon served Istria for the next thirty five years. After Sir Gildas' death at the age of sixty the Order of The Silver Dragon was disbanded. His Armor and Shield were lost though it is rumored to have been stolen by one of the Order.

  Updated 

Priests of The Fifteen

  Not all Priests are Clerics but all Clerics are Priests to some degree. Consider the Cleric as a job description for a traveling Priest.

Some Priests may be able to cast Spells and others not. Some are true Wizards and some have no talent at all. The Priesthood is a calling for most and they serve their God with the abilities they have. Many people believe all Priests have "Magic" abilities to heal. This is not correct though all Priests are trained as Healers since it is part of all the Gods callings. No Godling may Unmake Life.

  Some Priests are actual Sorcerers but it takes a high level of intelligence to see if the Priests purpose is in tune with their Gods and a tremendous amount of Faith(Will) to proceed after that determination is made. It is dangerous but if the God favors the Priest their efforts will work.

There are also many who work for the Clergy who are not Priests. Too many functions to mention but consider any function it would take to run such huge organizations.

  There are most assuredly Priests of the Nameless one also. The worst of these are the ones who were former Priest of another one of the Gods and have been "Turned".

Anduin Storm Warden

King Uriens

The Princess Estrella

Chancellor Briard

Bernard Adelburn, Duke of The Iron Lands, " The Iron Duke"

Viscount Ambrose Dulaney

Brocas The Huntsman

Life Expectancy in The Realm.

Keep in mind that the average Istrian may live to about 60 years old. At mid life a PC may meet a 4th level Blacksmith on average. 30 years old

Why are the Elves and Dwarves that someone may come across looked at as more Powerful? They are higher level in most cases. Dwarves live about 5 times  that of Humans and Elves about 10 times that of Humans. The average Dwarf may be about 150 years old when a PC encounters them and the average Elf may be about 300 years Old.

Though it is rare for anyone to meet and Elf or Dwarf you may meet a 10th level Dwarven Giant Slayer or a 14th level Elven Archer one day. Of course they may be much younger also as the Races Mature at about half the rate  of Humans also so meeting a 35 year old Dwarf or Elf is also not impossible.

Just some food for thought. I have also edited both races bonuses for character stats as I had them too low.

Florian DeCola

  The individual who would one day grow up to be named Florian DeCola was born the son of a Common Istrian Whore and an unknown father. At the age of ten he witnessed the murder of His Mother to a client who had an unfortunate issue of "lack of performance". This indivdual was the son of a wealthy merchant. Exactly one month later the young ten year old boy snuck into the home of the wealthy merchant and proceeded to hide himself in the bed chambers of the murderer. That evening upon his return the boy to be named Florian waited for the merchants son to fall into a drunken slumber. Once he was sound asleep Florian DeCola crept next to his bed and slit the throat of the murderer.

The merchant accused the boy as it was assumed the only one who would go to such lengths must be a greiving family member. The High Lord Chancellor himself chose to hear this case. It was determined that Florian was found Guilty. It was also determined that the merchants son was found guilty of murder. The penalty for the murder of the whore was Death. This punishment, Chancellor Briard noted, was already executed by the boy.

Young Florian however had no such rights to execute this sentence so instead he was remanded to life custody in service of Chancellor Briard for his crimes.

  As an adult Florian Decola now acts in the permanent service to the Crown and was given the Title of Squire, the lowest form of royalty. Florian works directly for Chancellor Briard and has been trained to perform certain royal functions such as Emissary as well as one of the many pairs of eyes and ears for the Crown.

  Florian DeCola is a Thief and a Murderer and is liscensed to be such though this is not known to the general public. He is also a well trained artist.

Edited and Bumped for Mike

The Duke of Wardens

I love the Hearth Trees.  I tried to incorporate something like that years ago when we played a lot of D&D in Stonybrook.

The wood elves would make Talans, which were tree houses with spiral stairs.  Oddly enough,  what I pictured and described was very close to what they showed in the Hobbit films.  A whole city in the branches that were pretty much invisible from below.

Mathamagicians

Located on an Island south of the Nation of Pyrene is the Tower of Learning occupied by the Scholars known as Mathamagicians. It is said that these Mathamagi are able to predict the future outcomes of events by using incredibly complex formulae beyond the understanding of normal man.

These individuals are highly valued for their knowledge and deep secrets. The Nation of Pyrene keeps the Island well protected and provisioned  exchange for small bits of knowledge and foresight.

Year Eleven of The Conquest

Peleos Istrius has bolstered his force to twenty thousand strong. Lancers, "Slaves", as well as Dwarven and Elven factions loaned to his command.

At this point fifty percent of The Wild Lands have been tamed and plans  the advance North have begun in earnest.

The Goblin Tribes have now been pushed to the upper regions yet still remain South of what would be known as The Storm Towers. It would also be noted that there has been a massive reduction in sighting of Goblin Females and Whelplings over the last several years.

What is also of note is that Peleos Istrius also took a Slave Woman to Wife during this time and she has bore him two children. The Boy Eyrion and Girl Elyse. These two would become the very first Nobles of what would become The Kingdom of Istria.

  Bloom

  This Narcotic Flower grown in The Mountains of Southern Pyrene is slowly starting to become a highly prized trade item. The Flower also known as Star Flower, Night Bloom or simply The Bloom, blooms only at night. It is believed it will not grow anywhere else but in those mountains though a few have tried to cultivate it and failed in other regions.

  The Flower must be cultivated at night after it blooms and once that is done the plant itself dies. Each part of the flower has a different use and effect and even the Stem is said to have medicinal properties. The most commonly used part now in trade are the petals. Once dried and crushed they can be missed with either wine, mead or ale as well as being smoked with Tabac to perform the Narcotic effect.

  Some of the Ladies of The Illyrian Court will use a dried hollowed out stem inside a wine goblet to drink. This causes the most mild of additional  sensations.

  The Illyrian Emperor, His Named Be Praised, recently commented that it would be worth the effort to Conquer Pyrene just to get hold of these flowers. Though it was taken as a Jest the Bloom trade slowed down significantly after that.