Vortex Verlag – Vortex Verlag

Describing the continent

A Malar and a Pongolo walking in front of the Pamwanuna

Hi everyone!

Progress on the book is really good (116895 words, feels like I am approaching half-time maybe?), I am through with the cultures and have moved on to describing the continent of Shanarel. Obviously, GMs and players want to know where on the map the interesting places are. Me and Mark Smylie are in the process of making regional maps, and I am going through the countries one by one, and writing a little bit about every country. To give you an idea, this is how this will look like:

Moreta

“We sat, lost in thought and rather tired, on a viewing platform that had been attached to one of the largest pukita trees I had ever seen, at a dizzying height. The tree stood right on the border of the Pamwanuna, and so we looked out from the treetops over the monstrous vegetables and fruit. We had known what to expect, of course, but nothing can really prepare you for the sight. Guidesta chuckled, pointed to a titanic structure in the distance, and then said with a slightly crazed look: “Broccoli. None of our group could contain themselves, we screamed with laughter. The waitress, who to her great credit didn’t even bat an eyelid, topped us up and placed a few more plates of overly hot and spicy food on the table. “Eat, you can see we have too much.” She gestured vaguely at the landscape while we could only gasp.” Gondolfo Sapirano, “Hurricane of Desires”

Population: 8,000,000

Peoples: Pongolo (75%), Malar (18%), Yigut-Bal (4%), minorities of Nargot-Bal, Kamberins, Shurts, Gnysta and Volloshin

Capital: Bytaty

Form of government: Indirect democracy. Each Vavatu appoints a deputy, who then moves into a room in the Na-Vavatu, a gigantic, confusing palace in Bytaty. And then things get complicated.

The heart of the Pongolo culture is the island of Moreta. Thanks to the Pamwanuna and the rich farmland in the south, it is no problem at all to feed a bunch on the island. In fact, it is so easy that the Pongolo have so much free time here (with friendly Malar support) that they were once able to completely remodel the island. It certainly looks naturally overgrown, and in a spectacular way, but everything has been changed in such a way that the traveling observer has no choice but to constantly walk through a spectacular environment. That completely natural-looking giant grotto over there? It has several paths that lead you to the most beautiful places. The promising trail into this seemingly impenetrable jungle? Turns out to be a well-maintained path with regular snack stops and a stop at wonderful thermal springs. But that forest back there, there really isn’t a path leading into it, is there? Well, let your eyes wander to the jetty and then look a little higher up, ah, there’s a kind of apparently grown branch road.

This is by no means to say that Moreta is completely safe, oh no, such a thought would be a completely inadmissible fallacy! The Pongolo of Moreta like animals and plants of all kinds, even the dangerous ones, so please be careful, especially in the Tokutu Mountains and in the far northwest. In many places here, the idea of monsters is even neutral, as long as the monsters stick to certain basic rules. And in the far east of the island is one of the traditional breeding grounds for dragon mothers, so it’s best not to go there at all unless you have an invitation.

And now to Pamwanuna. Translated, this place means “orchard”, which is a misnomer: this vanuvil is home to an unbelievable variety of fruit, herbs, nuts and vegetables, some of which defy description, but all of which defy logic. As this place is so terribly practical and doesn’t need much tending, the Pongolo have done little more than build a few roads and villages to make harvesting and transportation easy. If you are very lucky, you might catch sight of the Fosalanna Junish, a crocodile-like lizard the size of a medium-sized terraced house, which crawls leisurely through the Pamwanuna, wants to be left alone, but sometimes lets children ride on it. Of all the fosalanna, it is probably the one with the least ambition, and you can well understand it when you see it so contentedly eating a giant leek.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

You can see that I made some conscious decisions here. I always start with a short in-game text, because they are fun to do. Then you get a few rudimentary facts, so you know what people live in the country, and how it is organized. And then there is a short text, which will tell you 2-4 interesting things, and then we move to the next country. I have stated this before, but the first aim of the book for GMs and players is always to be fun, and never to be boring. So this section of the book is mainly about throwing ideas at people, so that they can pick them up and make something out of them for their own campaign. Once we get to individual adventures (Like the one at the end of this book), the focus will change, become much narrower, and we will talk about details. But as we can’t describe every country in detail, what you will get here are some impressions that give you a general idea of the place.

To finish this, here is a regional map done by Mark Smylie:

Serenissima Obscura – Integrating non-humans into human society

Hello everybody. Here is Melina Sedó. We – I and Andreas Wichter – have been super busy in the past months and excited about our progress with our upcoming setting guide and modular adventure Serenissima Obscura.

As you’ve might already have heard, this will be a horror adventure set in Renaissance Venice, 1507.

Today, I would like to tell you a bit more about our alternative historical background: Our first adventure, The Straight Way Lost, was modelled after the historically accurate Renaissance Italy. It had its share of fantastical elements, but those were largely hidden, and on the surface the world seemed mostly the same as the one we can find in the history books.

Serenissima Obscura builds on the assumption that Lorenzo de‘ Medici did not die in 1492 but formed an alliance with a mighty fae queen who begot two children by him. The survival of this major player in Italian politics has influenced subsequent world events and nothing is exactly as it was before: Non-human species walk openly among humans, magic manifests itself in plain sight and children’s tales are proven to be true. The European empires as well as the Italian states remain (so far) mostly unchanged. But the general outlook on society, some historical events, as well as influential personages, however, vary from the „real“ world. There is now even a half-elven pope!

In the past months, we have therefore explored essential questions like:
How does human society integrate new species? Are there different factions and which challenges do the „newcomers“ face?

For some species, life has become easier: half-elves, half-dwarves and even dwarves are now widely accepted and can function as proud members of society in many places. Even more so: The dwarven communities had for centuries resented the rejection by their human cousins. Had the dwarves not helped make the Roman Empire great and shape the Christian faith? Now those of dwarven heritage reclaim their rightly place in the communal bodies.
But not all are welcomed with open arms: Pure elves are still viewed with some suspicion by the humbler folk because they are suspected of strange powers to ensorcel humans. Spine-chillers about scary elf-witches are exchanged when humans gather in front of the fireplace. For many, the distinction of elves and fae is not obvious. Are they not the same, or at least serving the evil fae queens of old? This leads to elves remaining mostly in their enclaves remote from the human metropoles.
The existence of gnomes, nephilim and profondi (tieflings) is but a rumor. Their heritage and appearance inspires distrust or fear in most humans, which is why they continue to keep to themselves. Some profondi even believe that the exposure has rather done them harm and resent the egalitarian attempts.
We have also created a new species – the Children of the Lagoon – that are based in the Venetian area. These adept seamen, builders, and fishers form an integral part of our alternative history, but they too are still hiding from human society.
So this is not yet an egalitarian world. The following vignette highlights this inequity.

Ermesinda Montoya-Ferrer hurried over the empty Campo dei Mori. It was late at night, and she needed to get back home. All day had she been working in the tavern kitchen. Ettore, the dwarven landlord, was good enough to employ her, but he made her work hard and after the closing hour, Ermesinda had to clean up as well. But she should be grateful. Who else would employ a profonda with three daughters?
Life was not easy.
The family lost everything, when they had to flee from Granada in Spain. Their house, their savings, even the jewellery, that Ermesinda had inherited from her mother. Garrada, the youngest, was only just born, when they boarded the ship. Her beloved husband Guillén was dead, or so she feared. What else would the inquisitors do with someone who had not adhered to expulsion and continued to treat patients.
The voyage to Venice had taken almost two years, and the profonda hoped that the Serenissima would accept newcomers. Well, they did, but only those who came with the means to build an enterprise or with a fancy title. The wealthy dwarves and the noble half-elves did have not any problems being accepted as citizens, but she and her daughters remained unwanted strangers.
Ermesinda was still a young woman, only 36, but she looked much older and her horns were starting to grow big. Soon, she would not be able to hide them so easily anymore, and how could she then work in a tavern? How would she feed her children?
The profonda startled when she heard a noise behind her and turned around. Nothing. But she had heard about a group of radicals who went after the later-born and made them vanish. Ermesinda’s heart pounded. She would feel better when she was at home, even if it was just one room in an attic.

The sketch by Mark Smylie shows Ermesinda scrubbing the floor whilst noble ladies of different heritages walk past by her. We are eagerly awaiting the finished illustration.

But it is not only about the specific species. Life of a non-human will also vary a lot, depending on where they are based:

Spain has amended the Alhambra edict and expelled all non-humans from their territory along with the Jews and (from 1501 on) the Muslims.
The crown of France stands in clear opposition to Spanish policy. Not only does it form non-human battalions in which the special skills and talents of dwarves and elves can be exploited.
In Venice, a few old families have revealed their dwarven or elven heritage and their status as members of the „Libro D’Oro“ has been confirmed – after heated arguments in the Great Council.
And how do the Ottoman Empire or Germany react? There is so much to consider that will influence the campaign. Be assured that there will be much to explore.

The setting guide also elaborates on Venetian society and politics and includes an extensive description of the city layout and sestieri – the six districts of the historical town. Apart from the adventure modules in real Venice as well as in the horror version of la Serenissima, we have prepared a multitude of adventure hooks for instant use. And there will be one or even two new character classes as well as new subclasses.

Next time, we are going to write about how society deals with the influx of magic and mystical occurrences into the world. And then maybe a blog about the horror aspects of our setting? But we would rather not reveal too much. But we might need therapy when we are done writing this. 😉

This is the first finished illustration by Anton Vitus showing the mature Lorenzo de‘ Medici with his daughter Bianca. We love her!

Some thoughts about people and cultures

A huge part of the Shanarel book will be about the 45 playable cultures, that live on the continent of Shanarel. 45 cultures, I here you gasp, but that is too many, Benjamin, make seven great ones and we are fine. Well, I disgree, you are not fine if you don’t get all 45 of them, part of the point of the continent of Shanarel is that you have an abundance of strange plants, animals, monsters and cultures. So let’s break them down, and dive a little into the terminologies that we will use.

We refrain from using the word race, as many rpg publishers nowadays do, and yes, it’s for the same reasons that everyone has. I use two words in this book: People and cultures. People are what in the past would have been races, and cultures are the sub-category. So a lot of peple have different cultures, though not all of them. There are 15 different kinds of people living in Shanarel, most of them you will know from other fantasy worlds, some are new inventions. I think it would be alright if if we list them here for the first time. We have got Elves, Alves, Humans, Halflings, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Flemeer (Bear-people), Pongolo (A bit like Tamandua, Red Pandas or Galagos), Bal (People with horns), Yomisuli (They have features of woodland animals), Lizardfolk and Faeries (Who are very varied, the six faerie cultures have nothing in common and could easily be considered people).

I have included a sketch (Done by the wonderful Arantza Sestayo) in this post, which is of a pastry shop in Pisomelier, a city of the Beladar. The Beladar are one of four elvish cultures, they are basically your typical high-elves, only even more posh. The shopkeeper and his daughter in the picture are Beladar, but you can also see a pastry golem assistant and a Merduk grandmother buying some sweet, sweet cakes. The Merduk are one of four orcish cultures, and as a merduk, she will be blue in the final picture, so that is one thing to look forward for.

Every culture entry will be done in the same way. You will get a short introductory text, which will feature an in-world scene, so GMs and players get a feel for the world. Then we have a long description of the cuture and it’s place on the continent of Shanarel. After that, some help in naming people of that culture. And then the rpg part, so what abilities this culture gets, which attributes get a bonus, and then special traits for the culture.

In the following weeks and months, I want to give you some examples for what I have written on different cultures. All of these will be in german, I’m afraid, translation will be one of the last things that we will be doing. But the book will of course be available in german and english. So you will have to using your preferred translation tool as for now. But let us take a look at the introductory text for the Beladar now:

Sie waren nun in den höchstgelegenen Gärten angekommen, und von hier oben gesehen war Shanfalas fast noch ein wenig eindrucksvoller als im eigentlichen Stadtgebiet. Fast 1000 Meter zogen sich die Gärten von der Stadt empor, und Cerebis, seit über 200 Jahren Außenminister von Taunumor, war über den Tag hinweg den weiten Weg von dort unten mit seiner Begleiterin gegangen. Beide waren dabei die ganze Zeit dem Thema ausgewichen, um dass es heute eigentlich ging, und beide hatten natürlich vorher gewusst, dass sie es so handhaben werden würden. Nicht das er sich beschwert hätte, er schätzte Onoire außerordentlich für ihre Klugheit und ihren Charme, und ihr langsamer Aufstieg war ein Vergnügen gewesen. Nur wollte er etwas von ihr, von dem beide wussten, dass sie es ihm aller Wahrscheinlichkeit nach nicht geben konnte, oder von dem sie sogar bestreiten würde, dass es überhaupt existierte. Und bald würde einer der beiden die Karten auf den Tisch legen müssen. Nun, vielleicht zumindest mal eine Karte.

Die Bewahrerin der Bücher der Lindenbibliothek von Shanfalas betrat nun mit ihm die Terrasse von Angol, dem dritten König von Taunumor, eine prachtvolle Aussichtsplattform mit gleich zwei berühmten Restaurants und einem großartigen Wasserspiel in der Mitte. Sie begaben sich ans Geländer, lehnten höflich ein Glas Fas ab, welches einer der wunderbar gearbeiteten Golems aus der zweiten Rückerinnerungszeit jedem Neuankömmling auf der Terrasse anbot, und nahmen sich einen Moment, um die Aussicht zu genießen. Beide spürten, dass der perfekte Moment gekommen war, schwierige Dinge zu besprechen. Cerebis beschloss, diesen Moment seinem charmanten gegenüber zu schenken, und lächelte Onoire ganz leicht zu.

„Mein lieber Cerebis“, begann die Bewahrerin, „ich bin sehr daran interessiert, eure Meinung in Bezug auf die Gerüchte zu erfahren, welche den anscheinend kurz bevorstehenden endgültigen Zusammenbruch des Kaiserreiches von Beshanavon betreffen. Ist das nicht potentiell der Anfang von erneuten Wirren in Olnun, welche dann möglicherweise auch Wellen bis nach Shanarel schlagen könnten?“

Keine schlechte Eröffnung. Natürlich ging es nicht um Olnun, aber sie hatte ihm einen Weg aufgezeigt, auf dem er problemlos zum eigentlichen Thema würde navigieren können. „Beshanavon ist in der Auflösung begriffen, da habt ihr in der Tat Recht, aber niemand der ganz bei Trost ist, wird aus den Geschehnissen dort, die wir noch dazu nur unzureichend begreifen, irgendetwas für die nähere Zukunft ableiten können. Und es ist nur eine von mehreren Umwälzungen, welche derzeit in für uns fernen Gestaden mit einer gewissen potentiell gefährlichen Gleichzeitigkeit geschieht. Die Orlok stehen kurz vor einem Bürgerkrieg, wenn man den Gerüchten glauben kann. Und dann ist da diese Angelegenheit mit den Malar, und dem Abkommen, welches ihre wichtigsten Gilden mit den Reichen der Dul geschlossen haben.“ Nun war es heraus. Mal sehen, ob Onoire bereit war, den Köder zu schlucken.

„Ja, ich hörte davon“, sagte Onoire nachdenklich. „Aber sagt mir doch, warum euch Letzteres beschäftigt. Ich bemerke da einen mir unbekannten, sorgenvollen Ton in eurer Stimme?“

„Nun, dieses Abkommen öffnet den Schiffen der Malar den Zugang zur Nordpassage nach Quelomas, der Heimat unserer Vorfahren. Bisher war der Weg über den Lainasis nur unter der Hinnahme von größten Gefahren für Leib und Leben der Schiffsbesatzungen zu befahren, und wurde nur äußerst selten unternommen. Die Nordpassage hingegen ist im Sommer gut befahrbar, und so ist nicht auszuschließen, dass der Kontakt mit unseren Verwandten aus der alten Zeit in Quelomas dauerhaft intensiviert wird. Und das wirft natürlich große Fragen auf, wir wissen schließlich so gut wie nichts über die Verhältnisse dort.“ Er hielt einen kurzen Moment inne, schließlich waren sie nun endlich beim Thema angekommen. „Was mich zu einer interessanten Frage bringt. Die Lindenbibliothek ist möglicherweise der einzige Ort außerhalb von Quelomas, welcher Informationen über die alte Zeit, und den Grund unseres Fortgangs von dort, birgt. Es heißt sogar, dass es dort ein Archiv gibt, in welchem Gespräche mit Drachen aufbewahrt werden, die uns einen besseren Einblick in die Geschichte von Quelomas seit unserer Ankunft in Shanarel gewähren könnten. Wäre es möglich, dieses Archiv einmal aufzusuchen?“

Onoire schaute ihn unergründlich an. „Aber mein sehr geschätzter Cerebis, es gibt natürlich in unserer Bibliothek keine geheimen Archive. Was für ein komischer Gedanke, ihr beliebt mit mir zu scherzen!“

Innerlich seufzte Cerebis, während er gleichzeitig sein charmantestes Lachen erklingen ließ. Es würde eine lange Nacht werden.

And there you have it, this is what these introductory texts will look like. By now, I think that 37 of the cultures have been written, although I am sure that a lot of stuff will need to be rewritten at some time, some parts still feel very unpolished. Have an excellent day!

Book Three – Shanarel

Hello, this is Benjamin, one of the owners and writers Vortex Verlag. I wanted to introduce you to the project I am currently working on, which will appear after Serenissima Obscura. I have written about 50000 words so far, and just started to talk about the first bunch of illustrations with the wonderful Gwenevere Singley. We are hoping to kickstart the book at some time in 2026, and I will use this blog to keep you informed about the progress I am making.

So, what is this book going to be about? It will have nothing to do with „The Straight Way Lost“, that story will be continued in „Serenissima Obscura“. It is a book about the continent of Shanarel, which covers a significant part of a high fantasy world called Ovu. I have been creating this continent since 2016, and me and my players have been playing a campaign in Shanarel since 2017.

I realize that writing a book inspired by your homebrew fantasy campaign is not always a good idea. There are many fantasy worlds out there, so what does make this one different? Well, this is a world that you would actually want to live in. It is not dark and gritty, it doesn’t have a history that is even worse than the one we have on earth, it is not ruled by evil powers. It’s bright, it’s colourful, it’s filled with amazing landscapes, cities, creatures and people, it’s full of wilderness and magic and mystery. It has a rich history, and sure, many terrible things have happend in this world, but to a far lesser extent than on earth. Which still means that far too many terrible things have happened, but there is more light and hope and goodness around, and I think some of us need that.

When I set out to create this world, I was in a state of grief. One of my best friends had died in a tragic accident, and I was all sad and angry attending his funeral. Wolfgang had been a wonderful person, a man with a huge heart, filled with love and life. In a strange way he felt more alive than most of the people I knew. Every time he visited me, he brought joy and laughter with him. And he always talked about bringing our old rpg gang together again, and every time I said „Sure, I will do something“, and then I didn’t, and then he was dead.

After his funeral, all the funeral guests had gathered in a local restaurant, as is the custom in Germany. As I was looking around the table, it suddenly hit me that I had played role playing games with almost everyone at that table. They came from different groups and times, but there they were, so many players from so many years of gaming. It suddenly seemed to me that the people around me were not only flesh and bone and soul, but also sheets of paper, stats and dice rolls. So there was no way around it, I had to bring these people back to the table, I had to play with them again, I had to create a world to dream together. And since then we have been playing, twice a year, in long sessions, getting together for a few days, no matter where life had driven us. We have maps, figurines, whole landscapes, dungeons, too many dice (You need too many dice!), and we have us, a group of childhood friends that has become close again. And we remember Wolfgang every time, and we still miss him so much.

So Shanarel is basically the kind of fantasy game which he would like, and which I like. Funny, quirky, sometimes even whimsy, full of mistery and magic, with more light than darkness (even though there is plenty of that, too), with loads of interesting and strange cultures, with loads of places to explore. It will have about five chapters: In the first one we will explore the 45 different cultures that make up this huge continent (It is about the size of Eurasia, so plenty of space). In the second chapter we will make a grand tour through all the regions of Shanarel, and we will have loads of maps because everyone loves loads of maps. In the third chapter we will talk about different aspects of Shanarel, like animals, plants, religions, trade, politics, sexuality (Yeah!), art, architecture, and so on. Oh, and magic. As this is a place with a lot of magic, we will have to talk about it a lot. The fourth chapter will concern itself with special rules (We are talking about a 5E supplement here, but really it would work with any fantasy rpg rules), and will most likely have some new subclasses. And the last chapter will be an adventure for levels 1-2, so you have a place to start.

I will regularly give little previews of what I have been working on in this blog, and I will also show bits of illustrations once they start coming in. As I am writing the book in german (It will be translated to english, of course), the previews will be in german, so I am afraid that you might have to use your preferred translation tool if you want to understand more than „Elfenschnitzel Lederhosentrauma Habsburgerfräulein Juppheidi Panzervater Knödelmagie“. But we thought it might still be interesting to you.

So, this has gotten rather long. I will be much briefer in future, I promise.

Have a great day, and don’t forget to play rpg games with those you love.

Benjamin

Picture by Gwen Singley for The Straight Way Lost. This wonderful artist will contribute 40+ illustrations for Shanarel.