Occult West, a record of what happened to Death Valley

So I love the setting and aesthetic of the videogame Hunt: Showdown.
I also really enjoy running horror themed games.

Lately I have been toying with the idea of doing my own take on the premise of Hunt, and idea that I've simply been letting simmer on the back on my mind to see if it might happen to coalesce into something cool and/or interesting sooner or later.

One of these days I ended up editing together a map for it based on the national park of Death Valley:

 

Rules-wise Luke Gearing's Violence serves as a good base and starting point to start pondering off of, so that base is quite nicely covered.

 

And today I ended up digging a bit deeper into the lore of Hunt and mining it for ideas as to how to frame the game now that I already had a map for it. The vague idea I've had since putting together the map has been to take the idea of "this area is full of weird and scary shit, so sane people don't go there but you can make money by going in".
Very Stalker-esque, but more of a focus on the occult than on the truly bizarre "reality breaking down" thing that Stalker and Roadside Picnic do.

So, here I will now present the first draft.

 

What Happened to Death Valley

Miners.
Miners happened to Death Valley.
Something was dug up from within the mines.
Something that with it, brought a plague.
Plague that would go on to inflict slow and wasting deaths on first the mine workers, then those in town, and spread from there with doctors and wild animals until a full blown epidemic began to rear it's head.

Some weeks after the first deaths from this new affliction had occurred, a new threat emerged. Those that had died of the plague would no longer stay dead, instead clawing their way up from the ground they were buried in. Returning as violent and single minded echoes of the men and women they once were.

Through medical examinations of the walking dead, a thick black phlegm was found where blood would circulate in a healthy and normal person.
Similar black mucus had been observed in those infected with the plague prior to their inevitable deaths.

As time went on and the epidemic reached it's peak, more monstrosities would begin to appear within Death Valley.
Those dead of the infection would walk once more as twisted mockeries of their former selves, one more horrid than the last. Some no longer even recognisable as the humans they previously were. Reduced to unnatural monsters.

By this point the epidemic had to be acknowledged.
The states of both Nevada and California have since put up a bounty on anyone and -thing, be they a man, a woman, a child, or an animal that comes from Death Valley for the area had now come to truly and fully embody it's name.

Rise of Factions

Supernatural Hunters Association

With the public acknowledgement of what had come to transpire within Death Valley, one man stood forth to offer a different explanation.
This plague was no plague at all, but the work of an otherworldly entity. A Demon of some kind. The type that would bring woe to ancient civilisations in the past, and that was now allegedly rearing it's head on the border between Nevada and California.

This man came with not only apparent knowledge of the adversary, but confidence and a proposition of a plan.
An association of hunters with natural resilience to the forces of evil that now ravaged the lands, backed by him and his research on the subject of this unseen force of death would be allowed entry and return to and from Death Valley where they would search for where this demon had first breached from the realm of Hell to the realm of the living in order to seal such wound and keep further evil from escaping to our lives.
Manage this, and what remains of the forces of evil within Death Valley could be, given enough time, culled and weeded out.

Occult Practitioners

While less public, another group of individuals were also now fixing their attention to the valley. A loosely bound band of occult researchers, scholars and practitioners. And murderers.
The types that orchestrate serial disappearances and killings, only caught when they forget to practice enough care. The types that had sought out to, and succeeded in confirming the existence of Hell or at least something comparable beyond the realm of the living.
The types that were all brought together by the discovery of one. A discovery that had allowed them to forcibly construct folks resistant to the type of Evil that had overcome Death Valley. A blood ritual and an injection distilled through means better left unmentioned that would drain all warmth from a man, but through which anyone could be made resistant and thus able to venture within the valley if only they were strong or desperate enough to bear the many side effects.

While less organised and thus lacking clear leadership or chain of command, it is whispered that the penultimate goal of these practitioners is to wrestle unto their control the evil that currently inhabits Death Valley.

Pacific Coast Borax Company

While the SHA and the practitioners of the occult arts were in a race to containing or controlling the source of the Death Valley epidemic, one more notable force had it's eyes set on not the valley itself, but rather what could yet be reaped from within it.
At this point in time Death Valley was one of the main American sources of borax, a crystalline solid that among it's many uses was sought after as a flux used in welding iron and steel.
The valley floor housed two prominent borax works operating off of the rich deposits found within the "Devil's Golf Course", now rendered inoperable due to the spreading epidemic.

The Pacific Coast Borax Company had began exploiting it's vast wealth to search for a solution to keep the deposits exploited and the borax works in operation.
The temporary solutions and countermeasures they had managed to arrive at were naught but amateur's meddlings compared to those available to members of the Supernatural Hunters Association or their competition, but with the wealth afforded by the PCB the inefficiency in their methods could be patched over by money and quantity.

Protected by charms and effigies handed out in sealed boxes, PCB commissioned hunters could be seen setting foot into Death Valley with ease of entry and exit from the area guaranteed by the company they represented.
The efforts of these men and women would center around purging those taken by the epidemic around the borax mines and processing works, escorting workers in for short amounts of time when the risk of infection had been lowered enough, and keeping the mines operational even if their yield would not be able to hold a candle to their output prior to the outbreak that had swept over Death Valley.

Hunger Tide, or what happens when the land grows starved for too long

Flocks of carrion birds, bands of starving wolves, men and women with nowhere left to go and nothing left to sustain themselves on, all living as a single pack.
When enough of them gather together, simply brutalising each other or snatching cattle from nearby settlements will no longer suffice for sustaining them.
Pangs of hunger take over, drowning out both reason and fear alike as the Hunger Tide takes to villages, travellers and even entire towns.

Forming of a Tide

A typical Hunger Tide will form either because of famines among the locals, over-hunting of forests, or after natural disasters.
Animals, men and women find themselves starved to the point that all common taboos weight less than one's own continued survival. Neighbour digs up someone recently passed, not letting the flesh go to waste. A wolfpack brutalises it's own cubs and weak in order to sustain itself. Carrion birds descent down on those still clinging on to life. All are driven by nothing but hunger.

Transcending such preconceived notions as species or friend and foe, a mutually beneficial relationship forms between those simply looking to survive. Men abandons reason and language, wolf abandons care and familial ties, a crow becomes bold and an owl will hunt through both day and night.
Men and women are the bait, stopping caravans and stumbling into villages. They'll use their knowledge of society to lead their packs to new venues of sustenance.
Wolves appear soon after, hounding and corralling the prey as they ensure that none escape. Those trying to act by themselves get snatched, likely starting in-fights within the pack about who gets to eat the first catches.
All the while birds have been gathering, ready to gouge eyes and wreck havoc among those trying to stay organised.

In their wake, villages lay still and lifeless. Caravans are raided with none of the goods taken or even touched. Only bones are left behind, thoroughly gnawed and pecked with not a scrap of meat wasted.

Determining the size of a Hunger Tide

Wildmen - 1d6 x 2d6
Murder of Wings - 1d6 + 1 Read Beak for every two flocks
Wolves - 3d6 + 1 Men-Eater for every 6 wolves

Driven by Starvation - The pack forms over a common sense of hunger, but that doesn't mean they won't still need to sate that hunger somehow if they cannot catch prey.
After each week during which the pack hasn't had enough food to satiate it's members it will lose 1d6 HD worth of it's own either to starvation or from eating it's members, and counts as Hungry in terms of determining their morale until they next get to gorge themselves.
Food Intake - If the amount of food the pack requires is not being handwaved, 1HD of victims will feed 2HD of pack members for a week.

Murder of Wings

Hungry flock of crows, owls, vultures and the likes.
HD: 2d6+2
HP: 4 per HD, each hp corresponds to single avian
AC: 16
ML: 5 (10 if Hungry)
ATT: 4x per round @ +1 for d6 dmg
Eye Gougers - Every hit blinds the victim in one eye. Victim must pass a Con check each morning to restore eyesight, failing three times means the eye is permanently blinded.
- Three successful gouges, or a nat20, on single target means the eye has been removed.

Red Beak

Single crow covered in scars and with feathers missing, it's beak is perpetually stained brown and red from old blood which makes it easy to spot amidst it's airborne flock.
HD: 2
HP: 10
AC: 16
ML: 5 (10 if Hungry)
ATT: Eye Gouge @ +4 for 1d6 dmg
Eye Gouger - Every hit blinds the victim in one eye. Victim must pass a Con check each morning to restore eyesight, failing three times means the eye is permanently blinded.
- Three successful gouges, or a nat20, on single target means the eye has been removed.

Wolves

Tangled fur, hollowed ribcages and impeccable teamwork to split, isolate and dismay their prey.
HD: 3
HP: 14
AC: 14
ML: 8 (11 in Hungry)
ATT: Bite @ +4 for 2d4 dmg

Men-Eater

When a wolf grows disproportionately large it will need more and more food to sustain itself, such wolves sometimes get called Men-Eaters for they are perfectly ready to pounce even an armed hunter or armoured caravan guard to sate that need for food.
HD: 7
HP: 35
AC: 14
ML: 12 (retreats out of necessity, not of fear)
ATT: 2x Bite @ +7 for 2d8+1 dmg

Wildmen (& Women)

Men and women that have tossed away their humanity, now driven by instinct, indistinguishable from their pack of Hunger. Incidentally, this is also as close as one will get to a druid while still lacking the understanding of those who voluntarily discard language and civilisation.
Hides wrestled, bitten and devoured off of those who tried to oppose their position within the pack and feathers plucked from those that mocked their origins, they have truly discarded all emotion but that of simple need.
HD: 1
HP: 6
AC: 16
ML: 6 (10 if Hungry)
ATT: Improvised Weapon @ +2 for 1d6 dmg

 

World in a 1d100 "I Loot the Body" table challenge

 I mentioned this in passing on the OSR discord server and it seems that Locheil of The Nothic's Eye blog already jumped on it here before I even managed to complete mine that I had started to slowly work on after doing the thirteen items challenge.
But, nevertheless I have now finally managed to push mine brainjuices to produce enough entries to fill a d100 table of random bits and bobs that one might find when going through dead bodies in the world of Land and Sea (I really need to make up a better name for the setting), and I challenge anyone else reading this to make one for a game or setting of theirs.

"I Search the Body" - 1D100

1. Handful of small red crystals, clear and see-through. Smooth all around with ripple-like texture inside
2. Rags wrapped around a tree branch to form a makeshift torch
3. Drawing of a swirling mass of fishes forming a snake-like figure
4. 2d6 copper coins and 1d4 silver coins
5. Brass Knuckle
6. Well kept dagger, wooden handle has shallow intendations for the wielder's fingers to rest naturally on
7. Glass bottle, contains lamp oil
8. Slightly dented tip of a spear, the shaft is missing
9. 50' of rope, frayed at one end
10. Small polished piece of metal, likely a makeshift mirror
11. Thick leather coat with extra padding for protection
12. Holy symbol of the church of Varchic, a circular silver pendant with slightly raised edges to symbolise the pit
13. Dried meat and herbs wrapped in oil-paper
14. A clay jar, contains pickled carrots and onions
15. An assortment of beautiful buttons. Some are silver while others are simply polished metal or other non-valuable material
16. Lantern, sides covered in translucent leather rather than glass
17. Crude sewing kit wrapped in small piece of oily leather
18. 1d4 candles of varying sizes
19. Small rectangular piece of wood with a hinge connecting it to another wooden rectangle. On the inside of one of the wooden bits is a painted depiction of some saint, and inside the other piece are carved the names of three days
20. Small animal bones bundled together with a string
21. Flint and steel
22. Pouch with 3d6 worn silver coins
23. A concealed switchblade. The handle is wooden and smooth from years of use, and the blade is chipped
24. Half faded piece of parchment with sketches of weird combinations of men, women and fish
25. 1d4 apostles of gunpowder
26. An improvised set of simple lockpicking tools
27. Empty waterskin
28. Old looking tinder box, dented and worn to a shine
29. Front fang of a bear
30. Necklace, rather standard craftsmanship. Both the necklace itself and it's chain made of silver
31. Set of prayer beads with an odd looking additional bead at the end
32. Lucky rabbit's foot
33. Assortment of dried herbs, smells of cinnamon and the warmth of ginger
34. A pair of dice, bone
35. Handful of nuts and dried berries
36. Carved pipe and small pouch of loose tobacco
37. Herbal salve in small clay jar. Smells faintly of freshly cut grass
38. Small leather container with bandages, a scalpel, thread, needle and a tourniquet
39. Bottle of cheap alcohol
40. Worn book of prayers, gray covers adorned with single golden vertical line and the contents detailing lifes of saints
41. 1d4 rings, jewelled with cheap gemstones and fashioned out of copper and silver
42. Steel sword, prayer of rest etched onto it's blade
43. Studded brown belt
44. 2d6 arrows in a leather patchwork quiver
45. Iron-reinforced leather boots
46. Torn jacket with reinforced paddings
47. Waterskin filled with salty seawater
48. Talisman made of three bones tied to single string, with notches on the bones
49. Keyring with two keys, one small and rusty and the other bulky and very simple looking
50. Assortment of peculiar looking mushrooms
51. Wooden shield with iron bandings
52. The toe bones of Saint Mienin, the patron saint of those cast away. Always looking to be in posession of those who cannot return to where they come from
53. Ear of an elf
54. Powder horn with 1d8+2 shots worth of gunpowder left
55. Small copper goblet
56. Small crumbled piece of parchment containing the last two clauses of a spell at the top, rest above them has been torn off
57. A golden needle that you just pricked your finger on, ouch!
58. Small vial of holy water
59. 1d4 gold coins hidden somewhere on the body (In it's boot, woven into it's clothing etc.)
60. One black candle. Has a hidden message wrapped around it's wick inside the candle wax.
61. Shiny fork, two black feathers and a pearl from a necklace
62. Dried up rose with pricly thorns. Will slowly sprout back to life when stabbing spirits or those influenced by them
63. Set of two daggers, one with bone handle and the other with charred wooden handle
64. Hip-flask with amber-coloured liquid inside, tastes sweet and warms the body
65. Perfectly smooth and round stone like a sling bullet, always warm to the touch
66. Waterskin filled with foul swamp water
67. Three wooden nails. Nail a spirit to an object with one and they will be bound to it for as long as the nail remains in place
68. Small locket with two teeth inside
69. Braided brown beard with few silvery adornments
70. Torn-off notice with details of an elf posing as human with a reward listed at the bottom
71. Red crystal, clear and see-through. Roughly the size of a fist with sharp edges and ripple-like texture inside
72. Old flintlock pistol that looks like it has been used as a makeshift club
73. Bundle of long strands of hair, either horse- or humanhair. Several clay beads are woven into the collection of strands
74. Deck of tarot cards with rather whimsical art style, the Emperor and Hierophant cards are missing
75. Small fish skull encased in translucent layer of wax. Crushing the skull after warming the wax enough for it to be malleable will result in the skull reforming itself after short amount of time
76. Cracked compass, keeps pointing south-east
77. Passage clearly torn from a book, detailing the compatibility of human bodies with certain aquatic lifeforms. Praises someone named Grahm for their excellent discoveries and the furthering of "our" research
78. Fishbones, several full ones
79. Highly detailed nautical map, extending way past the shorelines
80. Single gold coin, with the face side of it almost entirely scratched off
81. Femur fashioned into a flute
82. Small glass vial with yellow liquid inside, corked with a dismembered finger. The dismembered end of the finger points inwards and makes contact with the liquid where it looks to be constantly sizzling
83. Handful of small black seeds
84. Crumbled and torn piece of parchment with the first two clauses of a spell written on it, rest has been ripped off
85. Fishing hook made of black iron. Stick it through your cheek and you'll cough up a live fish
86. Heavy leather-bound tome, inside cover has tenets of the church of Varchic written on it with golden ink. Rest of the book contains journal entries from what appears to have been a higher ranking church official
87. Beautiful silved pendant of a crescent moon. The wearer cannot speak during night
88. Map of the church-capital with locations crossed over and notes written on it. "Not here, must've wandered further", "Near the mountains perhaps?", "Maybe check the cost?", "I'm sure the church doesn't have it yet..."
89. Piece of skin with tattoo of two half-circles crossing over each other
90. Small pocket-sized journal crusted over with coral-like formations. The book smells of salt and rotten fish and it's pages require prying from each other as they seem to be covered in thin layer of salt
91. Pebbles mined from deep beneath the mountain range of Foundation, said to be blessed by having been close to the sleeping god-giant Varchic for long time
92. Dead mouse with blooshot eyes carefully wrapped in oilskin and cotton
93. Small envelope adressed to the PC who found it. Contains instructions on how to commune with the rotting carcass of the infinite whale Leviathan
94. Small vial of thick, dark red liquid and a quill pen
95. Thick wax-like white paint in a tin container. Applying it to a brush allows one to paint with it on any surface as though it was a perfectly laid out canvas
96. Shrunken head of an elf
97. Scabbard carved out of stone. Will attempt to magically sharpen anythin put inside like a pencil sharpener
98. Silver spoon. When dipped into liquid of any sort, will slowly warm it up to the temperature of a perfect cup of coffee
99. Satin pouch containing 6d10+5 silver coins
100. Clay container the size of a thumb, lets out drips of the rotted blood of something not of this world. Do not ingest!

World in 13 items challenge

 Simple enough really, trying to explain or evoke a feeling of the world in but 13 items with no further explanations.
Original post for the challenge can be found here.

1. Worn book of prayers, gray covers adorned with single golden vertical line and the contents detailing lifes of saints
2.  Half faded piece of parchment with sketches of weird combinations of men, women and fish
3. Torn-off notice with details of an elf posing as human with a reward listed at the bottom
4. Chipped longsword that your father received as a payment once
5. Rucksack patched in several places and faded in colour
6. Dried meat and herbs wrapped in oil-paper
7. Small animal bones bundled together with a string
8. Lantern, sides covered in translucent leather rather than glass
9. A set of prayer beads with an odd looking additional bead at the end
10. Coat with tough leather reinforcements and several pockets inside
11. Set of two daggers, one with bone handle and the other with charred wooden handle
12. Silver coin minted with the image of a neat circle in the middle of it, words in a latin-esque language forming another circle along it's edge
13. Map of several villages dotting the edge of a large forest

That was considerably more difficult that I first thought it would be and I'm not exactly sure how well that portrays the feel I was going for with this setting, but an interesting little excercise for sure.
This to me seems like the approach one should take when writing tables for looting bodies or what's in the treasure pile, so mayhaps I at some point will look to expand this further into a "I loot the body" table of my own.

Answering Vayra's setting questions

 If you follow the OSR blogosphere you've likely seen half a dozen of people having done this already, but it really is a neat little way to solidify your own views on both your world and rules system which is why I too am joining in on the trend.
The original post by Vayra can be found here.

1) What class knows the most martial arts? Are they real martial arts like kung fu, or made up ones like krav maga?

Fighters are the obvious answer here. Rules-wise in LotFP fighters are the only people who progressively get better at hitting things as they level up and are considered to be people who already have some experience on inflicting violence upon others.
As for any martial arts, different weapons have distinct uses for them and while the fighting style might differ slightly between regions it's not really enough to be called different sorts of martial arts.
Clerics however are taught more non-lethal means of fighting as it is one of the teachings of the church to not harm fellow children of Varchic.

2) Can I start out having already made a deal with the devil or do I have to do that in game?

Currently there does exist a Diabolist class that starts with sharing their body with some sort of otherworldly being if that's your jam, but other than that you could start off as someone worshipping the Deep which is essentially a giant infinite leviathan's carcass rotting somewhere in the depths of the sea and plead your life to it.
Having interesting reasons to not turn back from life of adventuring is always good so I would more than happily work something out, but should you encounter terrible enough beings with enough intelligence you might also be able to strike a deal with one of those. 

3) Do you want me to write an 8-page backstory? Can I write an 8-page backstory, if I want to? If I write something down in it like I'm the timelost princess of the brass city and the daughter of the sun and I commanded legions in the Hell War but was betrayed by my father's vizier but I don't know that, or that I'm elf conan and cooler than everyone else, will that be true?

I would encourage not to write too long of a backstory as depending on how things turn out you might die faster than I can read through the whole thing, but if you aknowledge that you may lose this character in a sudden turn of bad events I won't hold you back.
As long as all those super cool and epic facts leave you in a similar starting position as the other characters -that is, near penniless and with having a reason to delve into danger for coin- then I don't see why not. I would tell you to work any major things through with me as to make sure it doesn't wildly break the world I've built up but as long as the tone matches the world it should be mostly fine.
I reserve the right to veto stuff from such novel, and you won't start with any tangible advantage over the other characters.

4) If I eat someone's heart, will I gain their powers? What about their brain?

In this world there exist dozens of old pagan religions with all sorts of beliefs and gods, as well as the Deep which is said to have been the state of things before land was formed.
If you have the correct rituals, invoke the correct higher powers, do either of those things by an accident, or eat someone deeply influenced by higher powers there is a fair chance that you will gain something.

5) These classes are boring, can I be one from somewhere else? What about from a different system entirely? 

If you show me another class that you'd like to play I can see about porting it to the system we are playing with, but if I feel like it'll break the setting or the type of game we're playing I'll say no.

6) If I make a sword, which one of us gets to name it?

You may call it whatever you wish. Wether or not that will affect anything will depends largely on the name and whatever situation you happen to find yourself in.

7) Am I allowed to kill the other player characters? What would I have to do to be allowed to? Do I win if I kill them all? Actually, how do I win in general?

This is something that would likely be atleast touched on in session zero with how do people prefer things to be, but at the very least you could be able to do opposing checks should any situation escalate to that point at which point Out Of Character it would be good to clear how the involved people are feeling about the situation before escalating it further.
While I expect the PCs to work as a team, any team will have the occasional conflicts.
Other than that, this is not the main focus of the game and killing other PCs will not result in any sort of victory or triumphant reward. There are no true victory conditions apart from having fun and any personal goals you might set for your character.

8) What language stands in for 'Common'? Or what are we all talking to each other in? Like the party, mostly, but also everyone else?

The world I've currently built is only one region so you'll be speaking the language of the common folks, the "cattle-herder dialect" if you will with no proper name to it.
Other languages might know or have heard of are Varchian, the slightly better regarded language that a lot of city-folks speak with much less dialectic differences and also spoken and written by nobles.
Third one is the church language heavily resembling Latin that is mostly used for sacred texts or sermons and mostly only known by nobles and church officials.

9) How do I learn how to talk to rocks? No not once a day just, like, normally?

Some of the old pagan religions might know spirits of soil or earth that you could converse with should you learn to see them, or by going deep underground where the common sense and civilization have not reached and even more primal existances dwell that you could learn things from should you not die on your journey towards this knowledge.

10) Which kinds of wizards get to serve kings and live in towers and shit and which ones are run out of town or stoned to death in the streets? Can I be both? At the same time?

Church and religion have quite a strong hold within the lives of people and thus have more influence than magi who are more from academic backgrounds.
Those who've either evaded suspicions from the church or lead rather boring and non-magical researches do often like to isolate themselves from the questions of the lesser learned folks of academia and some may even be employed as advisors for nobility. On the other hand, those magi pursuing more out-of-this-world subjects are always at the risk of church learning about it and dragging the magus away in their sleep, so they too do want their privacy by whatever means they choose to employ.

To be a magic-user who would get stoned as they pass by common folk would be to live somewhere where the church won't simply come and make you disappear. A modern scholar seeking solace amongst pagans of the old world, or a hermit living in the woods that gets regarded as a witch by the local villagers perhaps.

The older religions and traditions of the elves

 Before the established religion of the church of Varchic, men lived simple lives and worshipped entities much older and more in-line with their ways of life.
Gods and their spirits were something one might converse with on much more personal level, and they were something you could witness with your own bare eyes. Men had traditions, traditions upheld by generation after generation as well as stories explaining the importance of these traditions. Places had their own local spirits, and spirits had gods watching over them.
If the spirits were upset with people barging into their space or living too greedily alongside the fair folk, they would complain to their gods or revolt against the humans and drive them out. Sometimes clever humans might even commune with the gods themselves rather than deal with spirits directly.

Elves and their rituals are one of the eldest remnants of these ancient religions. Said to be the union of man and spirit, elves do not naturally age or even die. It is rumoured that elves are the result of pagan folks offering their firstborns to the spirits, and this is often claimed to be the reason that elves themselves are not capable of reproducing by biological means.
Where a mere man would die, instead an elf's spirit leaves their body and it begins to age at a rapid rate and their spirit can walk free. The spirit can then slip back into the body after it gains enough hold on it. For this reason, it is believed that elves are much more spiritually in-tune with the world and were often carrying the role of mediums, shamans and druids in communities of the old times.
For this reason, a lot of elven rituals involve different sortf of blood-lettings or poisonings as they deliberately induce damage on their bodies in order to drive out the spirit and cause physical ageing to better represent the age of their spirit.
A lot of other rituals are also recorded to having been practiced by elves, but those are nowadays largely considered heretical under the eyes of the church.
The church of Varchic has also issued a mandate that no elves may employ a high position of power in neither politics or any other seat for they are beings not truly considered children of Varchic and thus not trusted even if they a recognised as intelligent person's of their own free will and mind. An elf caught masking their race to blend amongst humans is a criminal offence and will be dealt with according to the harm a potential slip-up might have caused had the elf not been recognised as one.

Such times are now in the past though, save for places far away from the reach of the church of Varchic. In lands un-touched by modern men and un-tainted by their commerce and civilization there still exists the beliefs of wild spirits and gods that are neither good nor evil, but rather beings of immense age and wisdom.
Nowadays within the reach of the church, these beliefs mostly exist in old wive's tales and stories told around campfires by people in the countryside.

In their efforts to further expand their reach and stabilise the sacred ground their god has blessed them with as they unite all the scattered children of Varchic, the church has aggressively pushed to even more far-off lands from the capital. Expanding towards lands beyond the horizon and bringing us all under one roof just as we stand atop one land, they have tirelessly spread the truth about this world and will continue to do so untill all the children of Varchic one day stand united like they did when they first followed the god-giant Varchic out of the Pit in the earth.
In doing this, the church has trampled over many pagan religions and continues to enforce the weeding of them, seeing them as nothing but the Deep trying to worm it's way to the minds of people. Those caught practicing any other faith are either apprehended and brought to the church to be taught the proper ways or executed as heretics and enemies of the church.

The sacred places of the earth

 As per Nickorsh_inck's (blog here)challenge where some of the residents of the OSR discord server would hit others with prompts and we'd write a blogpost based on then.

I demanded Kahva (blog here) for a promt to a post and was hit with this:

And thus we get to me finally getting around to writing this post for which I actually did have some ideas for already, but I've now once again had to flex those brain muscle things and either expand on the ideas I already had or make up some new additions.
With that being said, if you're reading this post then here's what I've got:

The sacred nature and church of Varchic

Varchic is the God-giant who lead his people out of a pit in the earth, creating land amidst the endless sea wherever he stepped and bestowing gifts of knowledge to his people so they may inhabit this new world he had led them onto.
It is said that Varchic has laid to rest after a hearty meal and having bestowed his people the means and knowledge to survive and thrive, with a whole mountain range having grown to cover him as he's slept.

The Foundation

The creation myth of the church tells that Varchic now lays sleeping under a range of mountains, and the commonly accepted on resting place for him among church officials is the holy mountain range of Foundation, named after the fact that the father of all land and stability is what these very mountains have formed upon and around. 
Each winter pilgrims make their journey as deep underground into the mountains as they can in order to be closer to the father of all mankind, hoping that that way he might hear their prayers over the howling wind and falling snow covering the mountain range. These pilgrims may spend even weeks underground depending on their devotion to Varchic, or the desire and need to have their prayers be heard.

The Sacred mines and tunnels

As discussed earlier, land is exclusive something bestowed by Varchic and thus considered a symbol of stability and the domain of the followers of Varchic.
For this reason, any mines must not be dug without first receiving the blessing of the church upon it. Long rituals where priests inquire Varchic for a permission to mine deep into the earth are required before any major digsite can be properly established, and it is not unheard of for prospective mining forays to get shut down after such inspection and ritual consultation about the area from priests of the church.

While requiring the blessigns of the church to begins excavations only a handful of mines and tunnels have been proclaimed to be truly holy in nature, but those that have are still to this day near limitless in their yield of whatever resources they had been established to mine for. 
Several of such mines are located along the mountain range of Foundation.

The holy church-capital, Ecclesiarchy of the Pit

Both the capital of faith and it's own church-governed state, the Ecclesiarchy of the Pit is said to have been the first site of worship for Varchic. Established around the pit that this God-giant first crawled out of and eventually grown into both a city and an amalgamation of chapels and cathedrals, it now completely surrounds an endless hole deep into the earth that spans nearly a mile in diameter.
Entry to the pit itself is considered the highest possible offense to the church and several people have been publicly tortured for weeks for such blatant disrespect against the Father who lead us all out of the pit in the first place.

The Pit itself is both revered as the most holy place on this continent save for Varchic himself sleeping under the mountains but also the largest taboo within the church for it represents the origin of where we came from, where our ancestors were lead to this land from and where we must never return lest we go against the will and intent of Varchic himself who clearly had deemed the Pit a place not suitable for him and his kin to continue living in.

Lesser places of holiness

While the Pit and the mountain range of Foundation are the two focal landmarks of worship, there exist several other structures and location that are likewise condisered to be holy by the church and it's followers.

River crossings, particularily bridges, are the most common of these holy sights and those tasked with maintaining them are exempt of taxation. Such bridge keepers are religious men or women, for the act of looking after the bridge is a form of prayer in itself.
Just like Varchic created land to fill the endless sea, his followers erect bridges to cross rivers so they may travel further and spread their civilization.

Natural caves that lead deep underground also hold some small signifigance to the church, seen as an open invitation to examine the work the God-giant Varchic created in order to separate the sea, and thus the Deep from his people and to give them a place to live.
These are not quite of the same significance as man-made digsites and mines and are often believed not to hold many resources as they rather are opporturnities for his followers to admire Varchic's handiworks.
Some smaller sects of the church would argue that such cave formations are indeed to be held in higher esteem than man-made ones and have made small shrines in some better known cave systems, but such believers are but a minor branch within the vast church of Varchic.

Burial sites are also considered sacred ground. The hole dug by funeral laborers that every child of Varchic gets lowered to at the end of their lifespan represents their return to where they have come from.
While the act of trying to descent into the Pit is considered heretical in life, in death the symbolism is that of returning to where one's ancestors once lived and from there being able to climb back to the world of living like the great God-giant Varchic once did as he lead his people to this world.

The church is rotten - The church is stability

 I really liked the implied religion stuff that spillway came up one night by just hurling all sorts of mad accusations at each other in the guise of believers of two different factions and have been considering implementing some version of the religions derived from it into this world that I'm currently plotting little oneshots or few session adventures.

While trying out world building by first coming up with a huge map and then trying to populate it I got the same frustration that I've felt before while trying to make something too big.
It seems like small things and their inevitable implied sum is what would probably work better, and that would also leave more gaps for players to fill in as well which I'm a big fan of, so here we have me coming up with some ideas extending from the Church of Varchic and it's offshoot cult of the Deep.

As with any conflict, there need be at least two sides opposing each other.
To possibly introduce a third one to the mix I will likely add in the perspective of nobles or some ruler when I get around to thinking and writing about those - likely on the occasion that I find myself needing my first larger settlement, but for the time being here are some rather opposing views of the Church of Varchic.

The church is rotten.
They collect tithe  from their followers so they may send it to Varchic who now rests beneath a mountain range where he's said to lay in rest and collect treasures of his people in proud admiration of what he has lead them to be.

The church is rotten.
They have bound us and our fellow countrymen to the ground that their whole church is built upon, ground that will surely one day crumble into the sea.
Advancements onto sea and sky are forbidden and heretical, leaving nothing but wagons and carts for us to build our commerce upon.

The church is rotten.
They're like parasitic organ to the society, feeding on their beliefs and fears as the obedient drones follow whatever they feed them.
The church keeps growing, ever bigger and expanding but what do they give to the people in return? Nothing but reasons to fear and follow them blindly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The church is stability.
They unite the loyal countrymen under a common belief and teach them lessons about Varchic, giving the masses a sense of someone watching over them and someone they should strive to make proud even when none others are looking.

The church is stability.
They look after the community, teach the masses and keep men in check so that our own curiosity doesn't drive us towards danger.
The heads of the church are wise men who know secrets from past generations passed from one to another and make wise rulings upon that knowledge.

The church is stability.
Where there is church there is civilization, and where there is civilization the men of Varchic strive and need not fear the Deep or it's echoes.
Thus the church is a symbol of safety, and where you see one you can rest assured knowing that you're being looked over.

Of Sea and Creation

 "Men fear sea because of things in it that they can't explain and refuse to sail out far from coasts, leaving overland as the only option for travel. The church has taught us that the land was formed by Varchic, the first to climb up from the Pits of our earth and who gave us land to build and live on. There's now an offshoot cult of the church promoting seafaring and venerating the things from the ocean that nobody's been able to explain that has been causing unrest and gathering concern from the conventional church. They speak of Leviathan, a rotting carcass deep in the depths of sea that holds an infinity of secrets and answers.

They must not get to it..."

This madness was given rise at the OSR discord server, and I shall now deliver you excerpts and my interpretation of it. It is a tale of Land and Sea, or Light and Deep as some may call it. A glimpse into the beginnings of the faith of the First Church as well as the longing for the deep by their offshoot believers who would turn towards the sea and forsake the land.

"Those of the deep are never to be seen in the light of the sun, for that is our only blessing as children of Varchic.

Amen, amen."

In the beginning all there was was a sea. A sea and a pit deep into the earth. Out of this pit crawled Varchic, lead up by the light shining from above. As he rose from the pit, Varchic created land amidst the endless sea for his people to stand, live and prosper on. That is the land that is blessed by the light from above. As Varchic grew hungry, he cast his hands deep into the sea and fished up Leviathan. He roasted the great infinite whale over a flame, the embers of which were put into use by his people. When Varchic was sated he cast the corpse of the infinite whale Leviathan back into the sea and laid to rest, his calm breaths giving his people winds and seasons. And thus his people prospered.

This is what the church teaches you and what nearly all of the land's citizens believe. They live their lives fearing the sea for that is where the great infinite whale Leviathan was thrown back and pieces of it's rotting carcass drift endlessly in the sea. As a direct result of this the amount of coastal towns is very low and nobody sails out to the sea. Travel by sea is regarded as something only madmen would attempt, although in the rare coastal towns fishing is still a popular way to provide food for the community.

"The Demon King of the Undersea is not yet dead, though your kind claims to have killed him.

You are not worthy to speak his true name."

Within the church there have long been different views on the story of Varchic. While some see him as the figure to have lead his people to land and given them the tools to forge their prosperity, there have also been interpretations of the great infinite whale Leviathan's role in the myth of creation. Some claim the whale to have been a symbol for infinite wisdom and knowledge which Varchic ate of, thus blessing his people with the knowledge to use what he had provided for them. Another theory suggests that Leviathan's nature as the great infinite whale held within itself everything, even the real beginning of creation from which Varchic is but a mere detached fragment.

Such claims have always been a hot debate within the higher ups of the church but largely gone un-noticed by the masses until recently, when a section of the church broke off claiming they had been called by Leviathan to fix the wrongs of the First Church. They spoke of infinite warmth within the deep, of the Infinite Leviathan who yet lives on within the deep and of Varchirc's vain attempt to tame the infinite sea with his finite land for his finite people. They would strike out to the sea and to the deep to find their rotting lord of the undersea of whom Varchirc had eaten.

"The hero rose from the pits of the earth and gave us land, gave us stability and things to put our faith in. Yet you would so readily refuse the blessings of him and his kin?"

The current state of religion has now become fractured. The new sect of Leviathan is slowly gathering a following, but convincing people out of their beliefs and generations of fear for the sea and the deep takes it's own time. Meanwhile the First Church is hunting down followers of Leviathan, for not only do they disrupt order and cause unrest within the people, the church with it's beliefs is afraid of what might happen should this new offshoot sect manage to find or contact whatever might be left of Leviathan's rotting carcass in the deep, or worse yet if the great infinite whale does in fact still live.

"Seek thee not the warm blanket of the Ocean and the Deep, where all things are peaceful? Peaceful until Varchic came, indeed."

"You come here, speak such things about the very blessings by which's grace you've lived your good life and turn down your God. There truly must be no place than the Deep that would even take you in no more."

"I am no child of Land, my place is in the Deep!"

"Then you have forfeited your humanity and become something lesser."

"No! I have become far greater than I was before!"