Duchy of Lysinka

The following is information regarding the region in which the one-shot game in this post is set. It is word-for-word what was provided to the players when making their characters.

The Duchy of Lysinka

The Duchy of Lysinka is one of many tiny “pocket fiefdoms” that formed out of the remnants of the People’s Necrocracy. Like most of these so-called countries, it is held together solely by the personal power of its ruler, and as a result, its borders are pretty much limited to the area that said ruler or agents of same can reach within a few days.

History

Buckle up, because we’re starting with three hundred years ago… but don’t worry, we’re not staying there long. Here’s the Cliff’s Notes version.

About three hundred years ago, a half-orc, half-human warrior by the name of Krod picked up some politically radical concepts about the rights of the working class and had a nifty idea. What if he animated a bunch of undead workers and made them do all the labor, then divided the profits among all of the citizenry, allowing everyone to retire to a life of leisure and creating an egalitarian paradise?

Of course, there were a number of obstacles he had to deal with, including the fact that he had neither the power to set policy nor the power to animate the dead. Krod was pretty good with problem-solving when he encountered any problems that could be solved with an orcish horde, however, so a few years later, the declining human empire of Capra found Krod on their western borders with a handful of freelance necromancers and a frightening number of well-armed orcs. Krod proceeded to carve off a rather large chunk of territory for himself, named it the People’s Necrocracy, and set to work.

Corruption, naturally, set in almost immediately. While Krod’s intentions were pure, nobody else’s were, and a sizable quantity of the resources that were supposed to be divided equally among the population ended up in the pockets of his political advisors and various underlings. After Krod died of old age, it got much, much worse. The animated skeletons that had previously done labor were shifted almost entirely into military and internal peacekeeping applications, and the peasantry ended up right back where they started, except with nasty necromantic whatsits plaguing the countryside.

This state of affairs could only go on for so long. Political infighting and occasional peasant revolts developed into a brief civil war, and the whole thing fell apart. That was 160 years ago -- it is now the year 275 by the Necrotic calendar, which counts from the Necrocracy’s founding. What used to be the Necrocracy is now a collection of short-lived and ever-shifting micro-states called the Necrotic Bloc, one of which is the Duchy of Lysinka.

Religion

Like most of the Necrotic Bloc, the primary religion in Lysinka is the Cult of Wee Jas, the Old Goddess of death and magic, patron of necromancers and the undead. Lysinka contains -- in addition to the small shrines and places of worship in every town -- two major temples and three monasteries devoted to her worship. Wee Jas is also revered as a steward of the dead, and as a god of laws. Notably, in regards to the latter, she is not said to take any moral stance whatsoever, and her dogma does not consider whether an act is ethical or not – only if it is legal. Her followers also call her The Ruby Sorceress, the Dark-Eyed Lady, the Witch Goddess, the Stern Lady, the Taker, the Lady of Book and Bone, and Death's Guardian

 In addition, many members of the ruling class and a sizable portion of the military pay their fealty to Hextor, Old God of… well, you can pretty much sum up his portfolio as “God of Fascism”, though that terminology is unknown here. Pelor, the Old God of the Sun, also has worshippers here, as he is known for providing protection against undead. For this reason, he is worshipped only in secret, generally by those who are unhappy with the status quo.

The New Gods are relatively unknown here -- people are of, course, aware they exist, but there is no evidence of any actual followers of the New Gods here in Lysinka -- only the occasional rumor.

Leadership

The Duchy of Lysinka is ruled over by a creature called Thull, who was originally born into a Capran noble family a short time before the Necrocracy came into being and so has a legitimate claim to the title of “duke”. In what -- in the parlance of the Necrotic Bloc -- one refers to as his “first life”, he was a powerful necromancer who supported Krod’s movement. Through what is considered a blessing of Wee Jas, his soul remained tied to this world after death, and he arose into his “second life” -- i.e., undeath -- as a “Worm that Walks”.

Intelligent undead like Duke Thull are not only tolerated in the Necrotic Bloc, they are accorded somewhat more respect than the living. Most entities with actual political power, therefore, are in their “second life”.