Pagan Call (Call Of Cthulhu Dark Ages).pdf

Cthulhu Dark Ages - Pagan Call

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

PAGAN

CALL

Fighting the Mythos in the Western Saxon Kingdom

at the Turn of the First Millennium

A Campaign for Call of Cthulhu “Dark Ages”

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

Email stephane@ad1000.cjb.net

www http://ad1000.cjb.net/

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

Pagan Call: General Background

Cthulhu Dark Ages - Pagan Call

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

The following series of linked scenarios – “chapters” -

form a campaign set in the southeast of England around

1020 AD. With minor modifications, the campaign can be

shifted to any year of the Danish raid period, 980-1016

AD, or the Danish rule period, 1016-1041 AD. This

campaign is recommended for an experienced keeper. On

the other hand, exposure to the Mythos is very gradual,

hence new investigators are welcome.

Pagan Call: General Background

“AD 1020. This year went the king [Knute] to Assingdon; with Earl Thurkyll, and Archbishop Wulfstan, and other bishops,

and also abbots, and many monks with them; and he ordered to be built there a minster of stone and lime, for the souls of the

men who were there slain, and gave it to his own priest, whose name was Stigand; and they consecrated the minster at

Assingdon. And Ethelnoth the monk, who had been dean at Christ's church, was the same year on the ides of November

consecrated Bishop of Christ's church by Archbishop Wulfstan” – The Saxon Chronicles

Seth began to make his plans. Taking human form by way

of magical deception, and borrowing a human name –

Stigand (pronounce Stig’n ), Seth returned to the waking

world. The time was 675 AD, and a new human religion

was spreading like wildfire, consuming all whom refused

to convert from their worship of older gods.

Ever patient, Stigand played with selected humans, easing

them into worship of alien gods, and nudging them

towards the fulfillment of his secret goal: the eradication of

life at the earth’s surface, as a precondition to the return of

an age when his race and his gods reigned supreme.

The investigators are drawn into a serpent man’s plot to

activate one of the many “ley” lines that cross the land.

This in turn, should open a gate and allow Yog-Sothoth to

break into our world and consume all life at its surface.

After that, the serpent people may wake up from their

sleep, crawl out of their burrows, shed their skins, and re-

establish their lost dominion upon the world…

Recent times

In his human disguise, and before the story begins,

Seth/Stigand has been operating in the West Saxon

Kingdom (England). There he maintains a circle of

“allies” called the Black Ring :

The present chapter provides general information pertinent

to the Pagan Call campaign as a whole, and applicable to

all scenarios. Specific information to each scenario can be

found in the relevant chapter. Note that each chapter of the

campaign, with minor adaptations, can be played as a

stand-alone scenario; in that case the information presented

in this chapter, though useful, is not essential and can be

skipped.

Quintus, a centuries-old were-man who possesses

terrible powers. Quintus recently defected and now

hides in the Welsh wilderness.

Rollo, headman of an isolated Viking clan of

human/deep one hybrids.

Unn the Reckless, daughter of Rollo and nefarious

witch.

Keeper information

One particular sick human specimen whom

Seth/Stigand first met in Egypt. This Mark, instructed

by Stigand and pretending to be a Coptic monk, has

joined the Abbey of Guthlac situated on one of the

aforementioned “ley” lines.

Eons ago, the serpent people were fleeing Hyperborea and

the wrath of Ithaqua, for the newly risen lands to the south.

A powerful serpent sorcerer, Sss’th or Seth by name, was

mortally wounded in the flight. As his people tried to form

a kingdom upon the land of Lemuria, Seth crept into the

earth’s crust and went into deep hibernation.

“Ley” Lines

"My main theme is the alignment across miles of country

of a great number of objects, or sites of objects, of

prehistoric antiquity. And this, not in one or a few

instances, but in scores and hundreds. Such alignments are

either facts beyond the possibility of accidental

coincidence or they are not." - "The Old Straight Track",

A. Watkins

While Seth slumbered on in his stony tomb, the serpent

people’s dominion yielded before the newborn human

race. It was not until 11000 years ago that Seth slowly

awoke, when the last glaciers had retreated.

Emerging from his cocoon within the bedrock, Seth was

enraged to find a world ruled by primitive humans.

Although his once mighty powers had dwindled, Seth had

no doubt that his race was still superior to the opportunistic

human race. But the humans were many, and his demonic

appearance scared them. After a few noted - and ultimately

unsatisfying - intrusions into the history of Hyboria,

ancient Egypt, Cambodia, and Greece, Seth retreated once

more beneath the soil.

Alfred Watkins invented the concept of “ley lines” in the

20’s to designate the apparent alignment of landmarks

such as abbeys, churches, standing stones, etc., across the

English countryside. Watkins imagined that his prehistoric

ancestors drew straight tracks across the landscape, to

serve as fixed communication lines between the sparse

human settlements. For this purpose, they had erected

standing stones, mounds, etc., all kinds of pagan “markers”

that the early Christians either left alone, or eventually

transformed into sanctuaries, churches, etc. Or so Watkins

theorized…

For centuries, he roamed the hidden places beneath the

ground seeking others of his kind, only to find degenerates

– the Worms of the Earth. But mostly, Seth dream-traveled

to the Dreamlands’ remotest regions, and discovered a

nameless realm inhabited by pockets of serpent people.

There he also discovered the buried body of a gigantic

world-serpent (a Dhole). The entity was so big that its

moribund power diffused to the waking world as invisible

“ley” lines crossing the land.

In our Mythos context, “ley lines” predate the human

civilization. In fact, Watkins’ straight tracks (which are not

straight but curved in general!) correspond to fracture

planes in the universe where infinite dimensions come

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

Pagan Call: General Background

together, and where our reality reduces to a very thin

physical veil. Early humans – the shamans among them -

did feel the power of these tracks when they exercised

their primitive magic, and quite naturally settled not far

from the lines, and erected burial mounds and megalithic

monuments to commune with the “other world” (probably

Limbo or the Dreamlands, or both).

Long before the humans came, non-human civilizations

like that of the serpent people had known about the lines,

had given them names, and had used them for occult

purposes. For the sake of convenience, Pagan Call keeps

the modern terminology “ley line” to designate these

cracks between worlds. Obviously, no man or woman

around 1000 AD had any workable knowledge of ley lines,

let alone knew what a “ley line” was…

Whatever the rationale, it is October 31st in the Year of

our Lord 1020, and the adventurers, following a forest

trail, are nearing Guthlac Abbey…

Historical background

Both keeper and players can read the following. For more

information, we refer the keeper to the Utilities chapter of

Cthulhu Dark Ages.

The Land and the People

In 1020 AD, the West Saxon kingdom – England – is

divided up into shires , each named after their principal

town (e.g. Hantunscir is the shire of Southampton). A

shire or groups of shires falls under the authority of an

earl , holder of the royal office. Each shire has a court of

justice presided by the sheriff , a royal officer responsible

for the levy of taxes, and the bishop. A shire is in turn

administratively divided into hundreds ( wapentakes in

Danish areas - more about Danes below). The court of a

hundred has to meet every month to enforce local justice

and regulate trade affairs and taxation matters. The name

“hundred” relates to the number of hides it consists of, a

hide corresponding more or less to the land necessary to

support one peasant family. This administrative

subdivision of the land is recorded into charters , the main

purpose of which is to control the volume of royal taxation

(at a fixed amount for each hide).

About nine-tenth of the population (roughly one and a half

to two million souls) lives off the land. These peasants are

for the most part “free” men, although their actual

condition varies greatly (hereditary slaves still exist but

represent no more than a few percent of the population).

Roughly half of the peasants are villeins who owe heavy

labor obligations and dues in kind to their masters. The

other half either has to pay money rent or owes periodic

labor service on their masters’ domain. The most well to

do landowners are the thegns (king’s “servants” who own

five or more hides), a hereditary condition that gives them

authority over lesser free men, but also subjects them to

kingly obligations. The Thegns are responsible for

maintaining bridged road, fortifications, and for providing

trained soldiers – one man for every five hides - for the

king’s army (or equivalent money to hire mercenaries).

Thegns are also involved in local courts.

Interestingly, the Anglo-Saxon society is not yet

transformed into a feudal one like on the continent. Instead

it is built around the Germanic notion of kindred, of

“blood”. Unsurprisingly, villages have not much evolved

since the Germanic migration six hundred years back, and

usually consist of a loose aggregation of settlements, often

located on ancient Roman estates. The main diet is made

of bread and vegetable broth, beef and sometimes pork if

one can afford it, and thick ale.

Note that there were neither bears nor rabbits on the isles

around 1000 AD.

Campaign Objectives

The player’s initial mission to investigate the strange

circumstances of Brother Jens’ “illness” at Guthlac abbey

quickly draws them into Seth’s plot. The first part of the

campaign (“The Fall of Guthlac Abbey”, “The Clan”, “The

Blue Stone”) sees the investigators confront human and

non-human agents of Seth, and gather the first clues to the

evildoings of the elusive sorcerer.

The second part of the campaign (“The Tower”, “Time

Slip”, “City of the Black Stone”) is a race against time to

find the artifacts of power – hallows - that may help thwart

Seth’s blasphemous ritual to open the way to Yog-Sothoth.

“The Tower” is the turning point in the campaign. There,

the investigators earn vital clues to the undoing of

Stigand’s plan, and unwillingly operate a Howardian

transition to modern times. “Time Slip” takes the

investigators to contemporary London (or is it?), where

they are unexpectedly helped by a legendary figure. Note

that it is possible to start the campaign with this scenario,

and then play the campaign’s first chapters as a flashback.

The interested keeper will find aids to play this option in

the “Time Slip” chapter. Eventually, the investigators pass

into the Celtic dreamlands, and, after some sanity-bending

experiences and encounters, they return to the Dark Ages,

at the very point where they had left.

The concluding episode “Samain!” sets the scene for the

final confrontation between the investigators and Seth, and

hopefully the closing of the Door behind which Yog-

Sothoth is waiting. An optional epilogue, “Return to

Guthlac Abbey”, lets the investigators return to the

abandoned and haunted abbey, for a final showdown with

the forces of darkness, in pure horror movie style.

Player information

To ease the players into this campaign, it is suggested that

one character is an exorcist-priest or at least a respected

member of the clergy. The Dean of Canterbury Aethelnoth

has this character sent to Guthlac Abbey (near present-day

Maidstone, Kent, England) to investigate the mysterious

condition of Brother Jens. Other characters may be

companions of the priest, or pilgrims stopping at the abbey

to view the relics of Guthlac, or merely noble travelers

seeking shelter at the abbey.

Of Boroughs and Danes

Around 1020 AD, England counts roughly 80 towns of

economic importance. Most of them are located on the

coast or along rivers, and concentrate trading activities,

Cthulhu Dark Ages - Pagan Call

Kevin Anderson and Stéphane Gesbert

industries, coin minting, and about one tenth of the

population. An average town has two to three thousand

inhabitants and covers an area of 30 to 40 acres. A number

of towns - boroughs – have grown around the site of

defensive forts. Before 1016 AD, the Roman walls of old

boroughs were restored to ward off aggressors, and the

earth and timber walls of newer boroughs were replaced

with stone ones. Fortifications are garrisoned with militias

from surrounding villages, one man per hide. Recent

boroughs are characterized by a market and a mint, a dense

regular layout of streets, and distinct areas of industry and

trade.

By medieval standards, and thanks to its export of wool

(English textile was renown even in the far reaches of

Asia), England is a rich and prosperous kingdom. This

prosperity attracted Viking raiders (and settlers) in the

ninth century. The Vikings’ targets were the liturgical

treasures of monasteries, the coin treasures kept in

boroughs, and slaves. In 991 AD, the Danes devastated

Kent and defeated the army of the earl of Essex. In 1002

AD, King Aethelred the “Unready”, protector of the

Church, bought off peace from the Danes with a heavy war

tribute, the infamous Danegeld . In November he married

Emma, daughter of the Duke of Normandy, and ordered

the extermination of all Danes – some escaped and the

raids began anew. In 1013 AD, Sven Fork-Beard and his

son Cnut attacked England; Aethelred fled to Normandy

and put himself under Norman protection. He returned in

1014 AD with a fresh army after Sven’s death… In 1016

AD, Aethelred died and London fell into the hands of

Cnut. Edmund son of Aethelred became king, only to

conveniently die seven months after his father. Anno

Domini 1016, November 30 th , Cnut the Dane is crowned

king of England!

People of the Dark, Robert E. Howard .

The Children of the Night, Robert E. Howard .

The Shadow Kingdom, Robert E. Howard .

The above “Mythos” fiction is conveniently gathered in

the Chaosium books “Nameless Cults” (2001), “The Three

Impostors and other stories” (2000), and “The White

People and other tales” (forthcoming).

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Michael Roberts (and his players), for

play testing and reviewing the Pagan Call campaign.

Select Bibliography

The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain

and Ireland, ed. C. Haigh, Cambridge University Press

(1990).

The Celts, T.G.E. Powell, Thames and Hudson (1980).

The Holy Bible, new revised standard ed., Oxford (1989).

Monks

Under Aethelstan’s reign, monasteries were only a shadow

of the past – they had suffered Viking raids and fell prey to

the greed of local thegns. In the tenth century however, the

reformers Dunstan, Aethelwod, and Oswald prompted a

monastic revival with the king’s support. Land was

granted, old monasteries were revived and new ones were

founded, all under the same Benedictine rule (re-) written

by Aethelwold. Very soon, the illuminated manuscripts of

the English monks became as famous as English textile.

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