The information found across various Blackmoor books has many implications for what's going on on the Elemental Planes. Especially on the Elemental Plane of Fire. I am looking through all the versions of Blackmoor to find information relating to the Plane of Fire. Starting with the First Fantasy Campaign, there is a Hermes-looking Fire-Elemental on the cover. Elementals are mentioned in the Wilderness section and in the Blackmoor dungeon, but mostly Air, Water and Earth varieties. Items of Elemental control can also be found.

The Afridhi

The DA modules (1980s) i where we are starting to get more details. These modules introduce Zugzul, the God of Fire and Ice (Later Fire and Darkness). Zugzul is the patron of the Afridhi who clearly are fire worshippers. Through Zugzul they are given allies in the form of Efreeti who provide the Afridhi with the Well of Souls within the Hills of Karsh. This also draws to the Prime Material Plane the enemies of the Efreeti, the Sun Brothers, an order within the Sollux Race. Solluxes are natives to the elemental Plane of Fire and Sun Brothers are their Champions of Good. Solluxes were not brought in the 3E/4E version, but I would have made the Sun Brothers followers of Paccuun (Ixion). I also like the idea of having Fallen Sun Brothers, ala Fallen Paladins/Anti-Paladins who basically serve the Efreeti and Zugzul, but that's just a fan addition of my own.

Gods of Fire 

Blackmoor 3E/4E introdouced more Deities that could be linked to the Plane of Fire:

• Zugzul: already mentioned above. Evil patron of Fire and Darkness. Lord of the Afridhi. 
• Paccuun: Champion of Good. Sun God 
• Baldin: Lesser Sun God. Patron of Bards. Patron of the Sun Singers from BMPG. 
• Sollus: Lesser Sun God. Patron of Harwest. Paladins of Sollus call themselves the Warriors of the Sun. Sollus is mainly a patron of Druids though. 
• Fiumarra: elven Patroness of Fire. Represents both the destructive and life giving aspects of fire. Most Clerics of Fiumarra are also Sorcerers. They believe they have an inner flame called qut'aunales which while in balance gives them their power. If balance is not achieved it may consume these sorcerers. (See BMPG for details).

Fire Magic

Creatures of Fire 

I have previously looked at how Dave Arneson picked up the bare bones setting presented by Gary Gygax in the Domesday Book fanzine and turned it into a full roleplaying world for his Blackmoor Campaign. Over at the Comeback Inn we have been discussing whether some of the antagonists of Dave Arneson's Campaign could have had their roots in the C&C Setting as well?

The main enemies of Blackmoor were the Egg of Coot and the Temple of the Frog, creations of Arneson and his players alone. But there was another group that could go back to the Domesday Book. Domesday Book #9 establishes an enemy of the Great Kingdom called the Paynim Kingdom. Few details are given on the Paynim Kingdom except that they have a strength of 150% of any of the other kings of the Great Kingdom. Paynim, apparently is a term used in medieval literature to describe Islamic antagonists during the Crusades.

Originally, I thought that references to the Paynim could also include the Peshwa, but I now suspect this is not the case. Greyhawk still has its Plains of the Paymin, but in Blackmoor I suspect that the Paynim evolved into the Afridhi. The FFC mentions The Treasure of the Paynim Princess*. I now believe that the Paynim Princess could be no other than Toska Rusa.

 *=Actually the text in the FFC says "Treasure of the Payme Princess" which could be either a typo or a pun.

How I imagine Toska Rusa, Queen of Afridhi, Mistress of Zugzul.

I have previously discussed how the Afridhi as they became known were further fleshed out when one of MAR Barker's friends took on the role as the Afridhi Queen. This could have been the time when Dave Arneson invented the God Zugzul, patron of the Afridhi. These nomadic invaders were even further fleshed out in DA4 where they are the main antagonists of the adventure, seeking the mysterious Well of Souls. David Ritchie's wife is attributed to providing more detail on Afridhi culture. So even though alot was changed over the years, the Afridhi could have seen their first little spark in the Domesday Book.



Image Source: Nomad Warrior, by N*Deed
Image Source: Barbarian Chick, by Maciej Kuciara

-Havard

As I reported back in January, the miniatures made by Lance & Laser for the Dave Arneson's Blackmoor line are now once again available from Armorcast! I recieved my first batch of miniatures a few days ago and they are awesome!

The Temple of Id was destroyed roughly five centuries after the foundation of Blackmoor. With the destruction of the Temple, many hoped that the North would not see such foul manifestations of pure evil. They were wrong. The Gods of Evil had felt cheated it seemed, for they sent a new race of evil to terrorize the lands of Blackmoor. The Thonians would call them Orcs, or Goblins, but they were not like Orcs and Goblins found in other realms. Beastmen, some would call them for pure chaos ran in their veins. This would manifest itself physically causing the Blackmoorian Orcs to take on many grotesque forms. All humanoids, they would wary in size. Most have hairy bodies and some even have horns protuding from their beast-like heads.



Over the centuries, the Blackmoorian Orcs split into many different tribes. They had come from beyond the lands of the Skandaharians, and while many continued on southwards, five major tribes remained in the North.  One tribe, the Crimson Orcs, settled near Ohmfet, which would later become part of the Realm of the Egg. These Orcs worship Thanatos, Patron of Death. The second tribe, the Steel Orcs, settled in the Dismal Swamp. They worship Volketh, Patron of Murder. The third tribe, the Orcs of the Black Hand follow Hella, Queen of the Underworld. These settled in caves deep beneath the lands of Blackmoor. The fourth tribe were the Stormkiller Orcs, settling in the mountains which gave them their name. They follow Tyrhm, Patron of War, and they reign terror on their neighbouring races from their Black Castle.The last tribe are the Death Orcs. They settled in the far west, in the mountains later called Goblin Kush. There they were enslaved by the Afridhi and joined the cult of Zugzul. Recently they have began to return in the service of their former masters.

While split into tribes, all Orcs follow a single King. When the Egg of Coot rose, the King of all Orcs swore allegiance to the Egg. While a chaotic lot, the Orcs always answer when the Egg requests their aid. Many a time, the Orcs of the North have been part of the Egg's offences against Blackmoor. From the Egg, the Orc Shamans learned to summon demons, and demons would even interbreed with Orcs. This resulted in the so-called Baleborn Orcs, who make up the generals of Orc armies. The Egg gives these demon-breed Orcs special weapons and armor and they are feared among their own kin.

 The biggest enemy of the Orcs remain the Dwarves of Blackmoor. Since their arrival in the North, the two races have been almost continuously at war. The sixth war started recently when the Orcs of the Black Hand managed to abduct the Dwarven King! The dwarves have desperately attempted to free King Khazhakhum, but to no avail. The war continues and the Orcs have in that way removed the Dwarves from Uther's list of available allies. The Dwarven race is slowly being wiped out, and the Orcs dream of the day when they will feast on the skulls of the last of the mountain people.



Discuss this article here
Image Source: Orc

-Havard

Last Monday, I wrote about the origins of the Afridhi of Blackmoor. I mentioned how the player, Deborah Naffziger, who controlled the Afridhi was a young lady who primarily played in Professor Barker's Tékumel Campaign. Comparing this to how another player, Stephen Rocheford was working with Arneson to come up with the background for his character, St. Stephen, it is not unlikely that Arneson and Naffziger worked together on developing the culture of the Afridhi.



Since both Arneson and Naffziger had experience Barker's campaign, it is not unlikely that they would be drawing on that lore when developing the Afridhi Warrior Culture. The name itself suggests Asian inspiration, which is one of the parts of the world which Professor Barker drew his ideas from. Poster Aldarron, over at the Comeback Inn Forum even suggested that the Afridhi actually travelled from Tékumel to the world of Blackmoor. You can read his interesting theories about this here. I think it is worth exploring further the cross polination between Arneson and Barker's games.






Image source





-Havard

The Afridhi are described as a race of hillmen from a frozen land. The Afridhi depended on fire to survive and fire became their god. They are a conquering race of humans with unnaturally black skin and red hair. They are violent fanatics lead by their high priestess, the terrible Toska Rusa (Rosy Dawn). Gradually the Empire of the Afridhi has expanded and is now threatening Blackmoor itself. In my campaign I describe the Afridhi as having their bodies decorated with glowing tattoos like the Dark Prince from the Prince of Persia games shown below:



The Afridhi were revealed to the general public in DA4 Duchy of Ten. Because DA4 was the one module of the DA series on which only Dave Ritchie's name appeared, some have speculated that the Afridhi were an invention by Ritchie. However this is not the case. I have previously discussed the nature of the working relationship between Ritchie and Arneson.

The Afridhi were actually introduced in Dave Arneson's Campaign around 1975 (Date yet to be confirmed). Dave created an image of the Afridhi as a kind of devil worshippers to his players. As was normal in Dave's campaign, other players would take on the role of the bad guys, and the Afridhi were no exception. Toska Rusa was most likely played by a Deborah Naffziger as Jeff Berry explains:

[Naffziger was]one of Prof. Barker's original EPT players and one of the early players in Dave's Blackmoor. (She also played in Greyhawk with Gary) She was the only girl in local Twin Cities gaming for many years, and the description of the character sounds pretty much like the one she had out at Prof. Barker's.

 Toska Rusa and the Afridhi were at one point available as Miniatures, as part of the Blackmoor Miniatures Line. The Afridhi remain one of Blackmoor's most dangerouns enemies.






Thanks to Greg Svenson and Jeff Berry for providing much of the information above.

-Havard

Here's some more nostaligia from the beginning of the ZG era. In March, I posted the original promo poster from the ZG site. After a while it was replaced with this one:


The first poster featured a Gnoll or Beastman. Although it was never confirmed, my theory from when it first appeared was that this is Toska Rusa, Queen of the Afridhi.

Supposedly, there was a limited edition Blackmoor miniature of Tuska Rusa made at the onset of the ZG era, but I have never seen it. I wonder if it was made to resemble the illustration on this poster or not. I loved the style of these illustrations right away and I was surprised that they were never used again.


-Havard

Dave Arneson enjoyed using miniatures for his game. However it wasn't untill after 2003 that a line of Blackmoor Miniatures were produced. They were manufactured by Lance & Laser Miniatures and included the following:



The above are three Afridhi Warriors. They are pretty much in line with the way the Afridhi were depicted in the ZG material. I always imagined them to be more exotic though, more Persian or perhaps even African. The models are nice, but they look more like man-sized Fire Giants. Which may have been the idea.


The models above are Ash Goblins. This is a race that was introduced in the D20 Dave Arneson's Blackmoor Sourcebook. They are goblins that have been exposed to the effects of the Valley of the Ancients (Radiation?), mutating with horns and other strange features.

Next models up (above) are Ash Goblin Wolf Riders. I guess they can be pretty menacing when charging down from the Dragon Hills...

These three models are Beastmen. If I remember correctly, these models cam with loads of different beastial heads so that you could mix and match bodies and heads. Beastmen were introduced to the Blackmoor mythos through Mystara. In the Mystara version, there are no Orcs in the Blackmoorian Age, just Beastmen. Beastmen were also included in the D20 Sourcebook, though the D20 line also has Orcs. 


The final models are Thouls. A classic Monster that appeared in OD&D and Classic D&D. In other additions, Thouls were associated with the Mystara line, appearing in the Mystara Monsterous Appendix and appeared under the Mystara logo in 3E conversions. 

One other miniature was also produced. It was a limited edition miniature of Toska Rusa. If anyone has pictures of this miniature, I would very much like to see them! Also, I don't own any of the miniatures above. Lane & Laser seems to have disappeared so I have no idea where I can get these. Ebay perhaps?



-Havard

This the second teaser for Dave Arneson's Blackmoor, posted on the ZGG website back in 2002. The first teaser poster featured a Gnoll or a Beastman. This one, features a sinister looking woman. She is exotic in appearance and wears a kind of crown. Most likely, this is supposed to be Toska Rusa, the leader of the Afridhi.




-Havard

DUCHY OF THE PEAKS TIMELINE
0
Empire of Thonia Founded
Emperor Robert I founds Blackmoor as the northernmost province of the Thonian Empire

500
Rogue Mages settle in the Superstition Mountains, founding the Duchy of the Peaks.

700
The Unwanted begin settling the lands west of the Misauga River. Some of these Unwanted settle in the Duchy of the Peaks.

815-896
Mage Wars rage in the Province of Blackmoor. Many Sorcerers find refuge in the Duchy of the Peaks.

925
Unwanted living south of the Duchy of the Peaks declare their lands as an independent Duchy, the Duchy of the Peaks.

970
The Duchy of the Peaks makes contact with the Egg of Coot.

980
Lord Whitehead becomes the new Duke of the Peaks.

994
Marfeldt the Barbarian begins his massacre of the Duchy of the Peaks, reportedly reducing its population by 30%.

997
(Winter) The Ran of Ah Foo betrays the Egg of Coot. The Duke of the Peaks sides with the Ran of Ah Foo.

1015
The Duchy of Ten is occupied by the Afridhi. The Duke of the Peaks attempts to reach an understanding with the forces of Toska Rusa.

1020
Duke Whitehead marries an exotic dancer named Sonia Sholako. Through the use of her charms and magic, she is soon able to gain complete control of the Duchy of the Peaks.

1023
Duke Whitehead dies under mysterious circumstances. Donia Sholako becomes the Duchess of the Peaks.

1030
The Present. The alliance with the Afridhi has proved to be a poor one for the Peaks and the general level of conflict in the North is causing economic problems for the Duchy. Rumours of civil war and general unrest in the realm is spreading.






-Havard