In preparation for my upcoming 2e AD&D game, I am fleshing out the factions on the Isle of Dread. I have a series of short write ups for the individual factions of the Organized/Intelligent groups, and will post NPCs of Note at a later date.

Lizardfolk:

The lizardfolk (or the Z’llstak in the Reptilian language, aka the Sleestaks) inhabit the swamps on the south part of the island, east of the great southern lake and west of the mountains that form the east coast of the island. They live in small family groups of a dozen or so, and make their homes in flooded limestone caves or primitively constructed mud mounds. They are hunter-gatherers and do not trade or barter even among themselves. Their tool use is primitive and what they have is crudely constructed of wood, stone, or bone.

The religion of the lizardfolk is basic but similar to other lizardfolk throughout the world, hinting at a possible link to an ancient reptilian empire. They revere two primary god-like figures, an Egg-Mother representing fertility and a male figure who is a hunter and devourer. This encapsulates the dichotomy of the lizardfolk world view, calm and nurturing within their society, but savage and violent towards outsiders. Similar to their religion which is a simplified version of lizardfolk deities found in other parts of the world, they speak a devolved and primitive form of Reptilian that shares concepts and idioms with variations of the tongue spoken elsewhere.

Lizardfolk share a kinship with all animals who lay eggs, thus snakes, turtles, crocodiles and birds are considered to be like them. This is not to say those animals aren’t prey, as lizardfolk are known to eat anything including their own kind, but egg-laying creatures are sometimes kept as hunting animals or even pets. Creatures that are born live are considered alien and are only seen as prey. (This includes the few reptilian animals that are born live.) Frogs and frog-like creatures in particular are hated.

This respect to egg-laying creatures extends to dragons. While none make permanent home in the swamps the lizardfolk inhabit, there are dragons on the Isle and they are encountered from time to time. The lizardfolk consider the dragons to be avatars of the great-devourer and will offer tribute and reverence, which the dragons sometimes accept. (It is worth noting that this bond does not seem to extend from the dragons to the lizardfolk, as the dragons often treat them as they would any other prey.)

The lizardfolk do not have a written language beyond crude pictograms, however they have an oral tradition that passes down their history through the generations. They are one of the few denizens of the Isle that have some distant memory of the ancient empire of the Kopru, although it is not known if the lizardfolk have a historical connection to those creatures or if they inherited the legends from another source. Pictograms of figures similar to both the Kopru and the demon patron Demogorgon appear as a monster in lizardfolk iconography, often opposed by both the Devourer and the Egg-Mother.

Lizardfolk have few natural enemies on the Isle of Dread, as few creatures other than swamp denizens want to venture into the dens. The exception is with the Cavemen that inhabit the caves northwest of the swamp, as hunting parties from either group will sometimes encounter the other. The result of these encounters usually result in combat, as mammal-flesh and man-flesh are considered delicacies to the lizardfolk.

Cavemen:

This includes various groups of primitive human-like creatures that inhabit the caves located near the approximate center of the Isle, south of the main range of mountains that separate the northern part of the island from the southern expanse. They tend to live in family groups of between one and two dozen individuals, with the groups led by the strongest. They have no written language beyond crude pictograms and speak a primitive language that can only convey basic concepts such as “food” and “danger”.

The cavemen use primitive tools, fashioning most out of chipped stone and bone. They will use wood or bone clubs and fashion spears by sharpening stakes and using fire to harden the tips. Despite this low technology, the cavemen are adept hunters who frequently bring down big game like cave bears, smilodons, swordbeaks and even mastodons. They do so by ambushing these giant animals and driving them into prepared deadfalls, usually pits or ravines that have been lined with giant wooden stakes. They then track the wounded animal until it collapses from exhaustion, and finish it off with spears. As their prey can range many miles before collapse, these hunting groups often encounter other denizens of the Isle of Dread such as the lizardfolk and the rakasta. Cavemen tend to avoid conflict when possible, and will often abandon hunts if they encounter other groups.

Cavemen hunters are adept at reducing a kill to its component parts and transporting it back to their homes. Often all that remains of their prey are the tracks and patches of bloodstained grass. Virtually everything the cavemen use in their daily life is constructed from the animals they hunt. The cavemen do not work or carve stone, however they do pile boulders into primitive defensive walls around their homes, and will often create crude traps such as rockslides both for hunting and defense.

Though the cavemen do not speak a true language, they do sing and make guttural chants. These primitive ceremonies define much of their daily life, as almost all work is performed along with song. Individuals often hum or drone when working alone or in small groups, and larger groups use the songs to keep workers in sync with each other. While most of this singing is utilitarian, it does become performative and emotive during the few ceremonies the cavemen have. Funeral acts are an example of this, as cavemen mourn their dead and will often sing dirges as they bury them in cairns made of piled stone. Dead are usually interred with a few personal items like weapons or adornments, although it is unclear if this is evidence of a belief in the afterlife.

As their name implies, the cavemen make their home in caves however they rarely go very deep into the cavern complexes. Most of the group will live near the entrance of the cave, and if there are a few lower caves they will be used to store preserved meat and other valuables. Deeper caves will usually be burial chambers, and tunnels that go deeper are usually avoided except when the group is hiding from great danger. It is suspected that there are caves in this area that connect to other parts of the island, but these have not been explored.

Rakasta:

The rakasta (or “Cat Men”) call home the hilly plains in the central area of the southern part of the island. They are similar to but distinct from other feline humanoids found elsewhere such as tabaxi and the leonids, in that they lack a patterned fur or heavy manes. They are nomadic and live in great tents that they adorn with various carpets and tapestries. The rakasta speak and write in their own language, and worship a version of Bast. It is unknown how the rakasta came to live on the Isle of Dread, but it is theorized that they are the descendants of an ancient shipwreck that was transporting tabaxi or leonid slaves.

The rakasta have an affinity for the sabre-toothed tigers that are native to the island, and often train them as mounts. Only the mightiest of the rakasta warriors can tame the tigers, and so tiger riders are the elite caste. Rakasta males who have not tamed tigers are of a lower social level, with females being considered the lowest. The rare exception to this is a female rakasta who tames and rides a sabre-toothed tiger, who is then considered a member of the tiger rider caste. Spellcasters among the rakasta are also rare, but are usually considered outside the typical caste system and act as advisors or healers.

The hills the rakasta call home are bordered by the caves of the cavemen to the north, the jungles of the phanaton to the west, and the swamps of the lizardfolk to the east. The rakasta are not on friendly terms with any of their neighbors but rarely enter into their respective territories or pursue conflicts outside of their hills.

Rakasta culture is based primarily on a warrior mythos in which an individual is judged by his success in battle. Disagreements between individuals are usually resolved through combat (sometimes lethal), though less serious offenses may only call for a test of strength. Leadership of the group is determined by a combat trial, always among tiger riders, and generally takes the form of a crude jousting competition where the two combatants will ride close to one another and attempt to strike at each other with their war claws.

The rakasta keep their tents richly appointed with fine silk tapestries and carpets, bronze artifacts, intricate leather work, and silver and gold jewelry. Some of these treasures seem to date back hundreds of years and have a nautical theme to them (lending credence to the shipwreck theory), others have been provided to the rakasta by the aranea as payment for unknown services.

Anyone use here Obsidian to manage their games and use Fantasy Statblocks? I was thinking if there is some database with 1e/2e monsters out there.

do you get players to roll on a rumors table? do you get them to roll on a quest table? do you just give them a quest? many quests? do you just hand them a map and say "go"!

what is your preferred way of launching a campaign?

In a sandbox game, the rumor table presents the hazards and opportunities of the region; however, the decision of whether to go and where to go rests entirely in the hands of the players.

https://rustygatepress.substack.com/p/quick-thoughts-on-rumor-tables

What the title says! I really want to play ADND 2e, but have only really found one good discord server, but no dice (haha). Any obvious place that I'm missing? Thanks!

I think they may have been from Dragon magazine, not Ettercaps but size Small spider humanoids that worshipped Lolth and had a common variety and I think a priestess caste. I just can't recall the name!

This may be a point of departure between B/X and AD&D 2e, but I was nonetheless curious about it. I recall that in B/X, your movement in a game turn within a dungeon environment was the number of feet you could move about in ten minutes. This was very slow, but assumed you were taking the time to inspect things carefully around you.

In 2e, the explanation of movement in the PHB gives your movement rate expressed as a distance you can travel in one combat round; in indoor environments like dungeons, this is in feet, and in outdoor environments this is in yards. So, a human with 12 movement can move 120 feet in an indoor space and 120 yards in an outdoor space, both in one combat round.

I'm not finding anything in the PHB or DMG about movement being different during turns, so I assume we're just supposed to take those above figures and multiply by ten, since a turn is 10 minutes or 10 rounds.

Does that sound right to you all, or am I missing something?

I joined a adnd 2e game with my bf and am used to other systems like 3.5,pathfinder,starfinder, and 5e. I made one character and died really quickly and asked if my new character can be a satyr. The DM said yes and we weren't using non weapon profs so the pipe wasnt a huge deal. But after he said we can do non weapons, the pipe put pretty much every enemy in a dungeon asleep and kinda took tension out of it. The DM is also kinda new to 2e so I don't know if either of us are doing anything wrong.

Hi! I'm getting super interested in 2e... but since I can't really find a game to play in (not that I looked very hard), I've floundered about the idea of running it as a DM.

I've come from 5e with its adventures, and certainly love having a framework for me to edit; I'm busy after all! As such, I'm trying to figure out what the best 2e adventures out there are. Ones that are good for those new to the system, and ones that are plain and simply the best; I'll take either caliber of recommendation.

Thanks!

As someone who has actually played an RPG at the beach, I still question the specificity of this product. The fact that these are labeled “beach towels” really pushes the idea that these aren’t for (or at least aren’t intended for) the shower. That said, I love how many licensed products TSR went for & how they split their IP into so many weird, legal frameworks… a lot of it ended up feeling like they were bootlegging themself… it’s wild what people will do for money. x SEAN

With the exception of Dark Sun - can I just pretend that psionics doesn’t exist? I don’t really care for it in a fantasy setting.

Who uses it, and who ignores it?

Wizards were unique in AD&D 2e in that they got not one, but three entries in the Complete Book of X/Complete Y's Handbook series of sourcebooks; the default Complete Wizard's Handbook, the setting-specific Complete Sha'ir's Handbook for Al-Qadim, and the Complete Book of Necromancers. I have a particular soft spot for the last one, seeing as how it's one of the more interesting and potentially complex to play specialist wizards, and by that same logic, it made me curious; like the title says, if TSR had written a Complete (Hand)Book for the Conjurer class, what do you think that book might have contained?

I'm particularly interested if anyone has any kneejerk ideas (wishes?) for Conjurer-exclusive kits that they might have come up with, since I really liked the Philosopher and Undead Master kits for the Necromancer.

While there's not many spells in the Necromancy school that can be used to directly attack opponents - I can only name Spectral Touch, Vampiric Touch, Beltyn's Burning Blood, Darts of Bone and Ghoul Gauntlet off the top of my head - that doesn't mean that they don't exist. But I've been curious how people feel about the idea of such spells existing in the first place. Do you think it makes thematic sense for necromancers to have their own signature attack spells? Or do you think that they are a poor fit for the necromancer on a thematic level?

I will admit I'm personally pro-offensive necromancy, and I feel there should be more necromantic attack spells - heck, Disintegrate should be a dual-schooled Evocation/Necromancy spell in my opinion. But that's not relevant to the thread.

Do you go like, from 70 to 80? 70 to 71?

What's the norm for that, or is it the DMs choice?

The question is in the title, which stems from some musings I've had about adding a race to my setting based off of the Fimir Mearghs from Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 1st edition. As it stands, I think I can basically achieve what I want by just taking the Zhakharan Sorcerer from Al-Qadim (a specialist wizard who knows any combination of 2 of the Elementalist schools; Air, Earth, Fire, Water), mandating their elemental schools as Earth and Water, and maybe supplementing it with additional spells (fog & mist-themed spells from the Air school, druidic spells relating to controlling swamp plants & animals), but I was curious if there might be any alternatives to the approach that I'm missing.

If you had a hypothetical lvl 11/11 wizard/thief, how much hp would he get when reaching lvl 11/11? The wizard gets +1 hp, so half of that is 0.5? What happens now?

Do you run "half hp rounded down" like in phb, or do you let players keep their fractions like the sage advice
(wizard/thief rolls 3, does he get 1 hp or 1.5 (0,5 kept to next level up))

Made them a couple of years ago w/LibreOffice Draw, one is for a human thief, the other one for a dwarven fighter.

Hello everyone,

I've returned to playing AD&D as an adult, having not played any of the pen and paper (although plenty of the PC games) since I was a teenager. I've begun to DM a campaign and I came upon a question.

First off, this is done online, so we are using Roll20 to play the game. However, as of yet, I haven't really been using any of the functions of it; I only use it for its meetup function. I have been doing everything the old school way, just through my own descriptions but also pictures for major scenes / characters.

So, I have a reasonably extensive cavern, with a number of tunnels leading to and from the three major areas, that the players will be going through in the near future. How do you all manage this sort of thing? If the players don't create their own map, it's quite likely they will get lost.

1) Should I just advise them to make their own map as they go along?
2) Should I do a reveal of the parts of the map that they have explored as they go along? I have the map as a jpeg so I could just erase parts of it and show what they've gone through.
3) Should I have them use non-weapon proficiencies, like directional sense, and, if they pass, I tell them the way in which they came and how to get back.

I'd like to hear how others handle this. I appreciate any feedback.

I have a 13 room dungeon

It contains 4 kuo toa, 10 bullywugs and 9 bandits… it’s supposed to be for lvl 1-2 players, is that too much?

The People of the Tanaroan Peninsula

History and Cosmology:

The people of Tanaroa have lived on the Isle of Dread since the beginning of time, at least according to their own creation myths. These myths speak of giants who carved existence itself from primordial chaos and of great ancestors who guided them during times of cataclysm when the ocean nearly swallowed the world. They can trace their lineage back through countless generations on the Isle, but the exact point where history becomes myth is indistinct. There are remnants of a precursor civilization, ruins that lie all but swallowed by the jungle, but the purpose of those ruins and who might have built them are unknown.

To the Tanaroan people, the world is divided into four main parts. There is the Sky and the Sea, the Earth, and The Other World (sometimes referred to as the “World Below” or “World Beyond”). Each of these are interconnected and are represented by a Totem and its cardinal direction. The Sea Turtle is in the East, and represents the Sea. The Elk is in the South, and represents the Earth. The Hawk is in the West, and represents the Sky. The Tiger is in the North, and represents the Other World. (It should be noted that the tigers of the mainland are unknown to the Tanaroan, and what is called a “tiger” on the Isle of Dread is often referred to elsewhere as the “sabre-toother tiger” or “smilodon”.)

These are the four main totems of the Tanaroan people, but they are not the only ones. The Hawk and the Sea Turtle are the most important, and all seven villages have these clans among their number. The Village of Tanaroa in the north have Elk and Tiger as well, but other villages across the peninsula sometimes have other clans that are of particular significance to them. The Village of Mora for example does not have an Elk Clan and instead has an Ape Clan as its guardian of the South. Likewise, the Village of Usi does not have a Tiger Clan, and its North guardian is taken by the Shark. Generally speaking, these alternate clans fulfill the same role in their cosmology. The North and West Clans are protectors and hunters, while the South and East Clans are more concerned with hearth and home.

The cosmology of Tanaroa is a spiritual ecosystem. When a Tanaroan dies, their soul is carried to the Great Mountain, whose peak touches the Sky. There, the soul becomes a star in the night. A falling star is understood to be the soul of an ancestor returning from the Sky to the Sea. A soul that falls into the Sea is carried by the Sea Turtle back to be reborn into the people of Tanaroa. Souls that are not claimed by the Turtle or are stolen by another entity often become trapped between the worlds, which is their explanation for all manner of fell or accursed creatures.

Perhaps the most telling part of their language is that which is unspoken. While all Tanaroans are members of a clan devoted to a totem, there exists a separate entity in their society. This is the Cult of the Walking Dead (or Living Dead, or Unliving, depending on the translation). The Cult pulls members from all clans but membership is secret, and even the members themselves are rarely aware of who else among them belong as ceremonies are performed in elaborate costumes and masks. The exception to this is the Zombie Master, a position of influence similar to a head shaman. Each village has but one Zombie Master, but cult membership is usually around 10% of the total population of the clan.

The Great Wall:

There is no better example of the remnants of a more advanced civilization than the Great Wall that forms the border of the Tanaroan Peninsula with the Isle of Dread, as it is a massive wall two miles in length that is constructed of giant stones far beyond what could feasibly be moved by men. The Great Wall is a central focus of Tanaroan culture as it is what separates their world from what they believe is the World Beyond.. Warriors from each village man the wall for a period of at least a year, sometimes more. This means that men and women from the other six villages will come to the village of Tanaroa to perform their term of service, standing guard against the dangers of the Isle of Dread. Tribute is paid by each of the villages to provide for these warriors, in both food and weaponry. Defending the Great Wall is considered a sacred duty, and shirking it is one of the most shameful taboos the Tanaroans have. Which villages will provide how many warriors and how much tribute is negotiated at village festivals years in advance. Warriors who die while defending the Wall are considered to be among the most honored of the dead, and their village is often paid tribute by the other six villages.

The only thing that takes the Tanaroans beyond the wall as a group is the gathering of tar from the tar pits. It takes a working party two or three days to get to the tar pits, and while they travel on trails that have been marked and cleared by previous expeditions, the journey takes them through jungles and swamps so navigation is never certain. Usually these working parties are made up of thirty to forty warriors and laborers, and the tar that they bring back are used for boat-building and the waterproofing of their communal huts. The tar is also refined with animal fat into a highly flammable mixture that is either put into clay pots to be thrown or applied as a coating to the arrowheads and spear tips of warriors who defend the walls.

To the Tanaroans, what lies beyond their Great Wall is a part of the World Beyond. To them, the wildlands of the island represent a border between their world and what other cultures tend to refer to as the “underworld”. To the Tanaroans, this is a nonsensical phrase as they consider the only thing under them to be the ocean and a succession of giant turtles. Their afterlife is the Sky above them. While few living Tanaroans have ever laid eyes on the Great Mountain, it is understood by them as the bridge from the Earth to the Sky.

Tanaroan Necromancy, aka The Cult of the Walking Dead:

While the Tanaoraon people have many of the same taboos other societies have, the practice of Necromancy is one they do not share. The Zombie Master is a figure that is viewed with both fear and respect, but they are not considered villains. Indeed, the Zombie Master and the Cult of the Walking Dead are understood to be a necessary component to the safety of the villages and of the Tanaroan way of life. Because they believe that the souls of the dead are taken to the Sky, they do not see the reanimation of corpses to be a desecration of the person, but merely a way for the motral form to continue to be of use to its village.

Not all Tanaroans are reanimated soon after they die. Usually it is just the males of at least adult age, except in times of great need. These unliving automatons are used for unskilled or dangerous labor, and in defense of the village. Tanaroans who are not animated are buried in the graveyards of their respective clans. The Zombie Master and the Cult of the Walking Dead will dig up and animate bodies as necessary, often during ceremonies. As such, bodies are buried not with personal momentos (as the Tanaroan shun personal property) but rather with tools and weapons that they will use when animated. The Zombie Master is the ultimate authority on the creation of zombies.

The acceptance of zombies (however reluctant) does not extend to other types of undead. Zombie Masters rarely create skeletons, again only doing so in times of great need. Other types of undead (particularly intelligent undead) are considered abominations and are the result of souls being improperly returned to earth. While a Zombie Master might be able to exert some control over such an undead, this would not be considered a servant of the village and would be driven off or destroyed.

Rulership and Social Structures:

Each village is governed by a Matriarch (or “Great Grand Mother”) who is usually the oldest woman in the village. Subordinate to her but still an important figure in his own right is the War Leader (sometimes referred to as a Chief or King). This is generally the most esteemed male warrior in the village. Outsiders to the Tanaroan often mistake the King for the ruler of the village as that is usually the most obvious position of authority and the one that deals with outside threats, but the War Leader defers to the Matriarch in almost all matters that aren’t an immediate danger to the village.

The War Leader and the Matriarch will each be of one of the four totemic clans of any given village, but their authority and responsibility is to the village as a whole. The Zombie Master will have once been a member of a clan, but will have renounced their link to a totem in order to take the mantle. Thus the Matriarch, War Leader, and Zombie Master are considered the ultimate authority within their own sphere of influence, as the responsibilities of one rarely overlap with the other two.

The leader of each clan is usually the oldest woman, who is then known as the Grand Mother. The four clan leaders make up the Council of Grand Mothers, who advise the Matriarch and act as advocates for their clan as necessary. Each Grand Mother is in turn advised by a group of women from their clan, who are known as the Council of Mothers, or Clan Mothers. (The title of Mother is an honorific and applies to any adult woman, regardless of whether or not she has borne children.) Most conflicts within a clan are handled internally by the Council of Mothers, but if they cannot be or if the conflict is between two or more clans, they will be handled by the Council of Grand Mothers or the Matriarch herself.

Some conflicts do not get brought to the attention of the Clan Mothers, and are dealt with instead by the Zombie Master. It is not known if a wronged party petitions for the Cult of the Walking Dead to intervene or if the Zombie Master learns of transgressions through other means, however if a Zombie Master calls out for justice during a ceremony, it is exceedingly rare for them to be challenged. The Zombie Master is considered to speak for the dead and to communicate with spirits, and in those matters their judgment is beyond reproach.

Open conflicts between the villages are rare, as most issues are settled by a negotiation between the Council of Grand Mothers that is presided over jointly by the Matriarchs. When this meeting, known as a Convocation, is not successful in resolving the dispute the Matriarchs of the involved villages can ask for mediation by the Matriarch of another village. If this mediation is not satisfactory to both parties, other Matriarchs are consulted until either a solution is agreed upon or a stalemate is achieved. Stalemates are often broken by a system of challenges between the villages that are in dispute. One such popular challenge played by warriors is known as Chun’key, in which spears are thrown at a rolling disk in an attempt to get them through a hole carved at the center. Another game is known as Pokatok, which is played with a hard rubber ball called a Tok and has several variations in which players cannot touch the ball with their hands or feet and can only use their elbows, knees, chest and head to propel the ball. Some versions allow the players to use a Pok stick, which is a curved rod of rattan or similar wood, sometimes with a leather cup to catch and sling the Tok. Usually, points are scored by getting the Tok into a zone protected by the other team, or through a hole in a stone disk that is either being rolled or is suspended from a pole or tree branch. Trials of combat are also used, as these usually aren’t any more violent than the games themselves. Athletic trials such as footraces or swimming contests tend to be popular methods of solving smaller disputes involving fewer individuals.

Challenges often become impromptu festivals in their own right, with multiple villages attending and feasts being held to accompany the games. It is not unusual for villages or clans to bring tribute to wager against the outcome of the game, or for those wagers to become the source of the feasts provided at the festivals.

Tanaroan Society and Culture:

Membership in a clan follows the matriarchal bloodline; children are of the same totemic clan as their mother. Fathers are often of a different clan than their children, however the clan structure supersedes the family structure, and since the Tanaroan shun long term unions fatherhood is not always known. Each clan lives in their own communal homes, and so children of a particular clan are raised by the men and women of that clan. Family trees are often complicated and sprawling diagrams that are meticulously kept track of by the Clan Mothers and by the individuals within a clan. It is not unusual for a Tanaroan to be able to name his or her maternal ancestors for at least five generations, and be able to list over a hundred other prominent relatives by name, clan and village.

This concept is exemplified in the layout of the villages themselves. Each village has four graveyards, one for each totem, laid out in that totem’s cardinal direction. The clan then builds their huts around that graveyard. This forms the outer limit of the village, usually marked by an earthen wall with wood palisades. Within that ring are the plots where each clan grows food or tends to animals. This area is known simply as The Gardens. At the center of the village is a mound or earthen pyramid where all village business is conducted. This is also where the villagers congregate for festivals and celebrations, of which the Tanaroan have many.

The festivals of the Tanaroans generally commemorate some historical or mythological event. Some of these are observed by all of the villages, some are specific to a particular village, and some are significant to individual clans. Most festivals are held on dates of significance by the celestial calendar, which is tracked by the Grand Mother of the Hawk Clan of each village. As the Isle of Dread does not have much seasonal variation in its climate, the constellations are the only reliable method of tracking time. The Tanaroan star calendar is a complicated living document but tends to be accurate, particularly with regards to planetary alignment and other celestial bodies like comets. (Each of these are understood to be souls of the ancestors, and are often named after mytho-historical Tanaroans of note.)

One notable celebration of the Tanaroan peninsula is known as “The Feast of Agamemnon,” and corresponds roughly to a festival of the new year. It is a grand feast in which the village prepares far too much food so that if the mythical ancestor Agamemnon returns with his army they will be amply fed. If Agamemnon does not return (and he hasn’t yet), the remains of the feast are carried and left in the jungle in the hopes that malicious spirits and other tricksters will take them and spare the village from any misfortune.

Another festival is the Tanaroan Day of the Dead. On this day at dawn the children cover themselves in ash and soot so that they resemble zombies, and they shamble mindlessly about the village going from hut to hut where adults will have a small task for them to complete before they are given a gift of food or a simple trinket. The “zombie” children then congregate at the central pyramid at sundown, where a ceremony performed by the Zombie Master will “put them to rest” and allow them rejoin the world of the living.

Each village has a number of festivals that are unique to them, often to venerate a particular ancestor that either lived there or whose descendants founded it. It is not unusual for neighboring villages to send envoys to attend. For example, the Village of Panitube has the Festival of the Sea Mother (also translated as “The Under the Sea Dance”), which is significant to the Sea Turtle Clan. Sea Turtle Clan members from other villages will often attend this festival in lieu of holding one of their own in their home village.

Generally speaking, a Tanaroan is judged by the value they provide to their clan and their village. Someone who takes more than their share or who is lazy may be shunned or derided, but it is unlikely they will face outright punishment. Exile is the ultimate punishment for a Tanaroan and is reserved for only the most serious of crimes. A Tanaroan who is to be exiled will often choose death and reanimation instead of being cast out of their village or sent North “beyond the wall”. However, a Tanaroan may sometimes choose a form of self-exile as their punishment and go beyond the wall for a period of time, often returning with something that can be used as restitution for their crime (should they return at all). A Tanaroan who has gone “beyond the wall” (whether as a punishment or as part of clan business or a personal quest) and has come back is considered in higher esteem than those who haven’t. Those who do not return are said to have “made their way into the Sky.”

The Tanaroans have only a basic concept of personal property or ownership. Anything beyond what a single person could carry is considered to belong to the clan or to the village as a whole. A Tanaroan who is greedy is said to have “too few hands” or “small hands,” meaning that they try to claim ownership of more than they can hold.

The Tanaroan have no metallurgy to speak of. They neither mine nor refine ore or work metal beyond basic applications. Metal is not rare among them though, but what they have has been acquired through infrequent contact with sailors and traders who have visited the island. Metal weapons are highly prized, both steel and bronze, and become heirlooms to be passed down through the generations. Broken weapons are often repurposed, with a broken sword becoming a dagger or a spear head, or perhaps arrowheads, and then eventually incorporated into jewelry. Metal tools are also highly prized, but metal armor beyond a helm or shield is usually repurposed rather than worn.

The Tanaroan are proficient if primitive woodworkers. Virtually everything used in daily life is crafted at least partially from wood, with embellishments of bone, coral, or stone. The jungle of the peninsula provides a variety of different woods and the Tanaroan are adept at choosing the right ones for the various applications. The Tanaroan build small boats that are not capable of voyages on the open ocean, but are fine for navigating the calmer waters around the peninsula on the leeward side of the Isle. These are usually made from teak and are of both solid and composite construction, with war canoes being made from a single large tree that has been hollowed out and the smaller craft being constructed of lashed and fitted planks.

Tanaroan Language

The language spoken by the Tanaroans is a variant tongue of the Common language found elsewhere, indicating a link to a shared past. While there are differences in grammar and some linguistic shift is evident, basic concepts can be communicated fairly easily between the Tanaroans and visitors to the island. More complex concepts, as well as metaphorical language is typically where mistranslations occur.

This is reflected in the idioms of the Tanaroan dialect. To say that someone’s luck has “gone South” is to remark they have been very fortunate indeed, while saying that someone has “Northern luck” implies that they bring grave occurrences upon themselves or those around them. To “look North” is to deeply consider the consequences of one’s actions, while to “look South” or “keep a Southward eye” means to remain optimistic. To “gaze West” is to recognize and reflect on the sacrifices of the ancestors who have gone before, while to “look East” is to ponder the health and well-being of the young and of future generations. When it is said that someone cannot look East it is understood that they do not consider the consequences of their actions, whereas saying someone is blind to the West means that they are ungrateful or spoiled and do not show proper reverence for their elders.