STEVE JACKSON GAMESISBN 1-55634-744-8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Written by PHIL MASTERS and JONATHAN WOODWARDBased on GURPS Fantasy by STEVE JACKSON, KIRK TATE, and JANET NAYLOR

Cover by BOB STEVLICIllustrated by BOB STEVLIC and CHRIS QUILLIAMS

Cartography by J. KOVACHEdited by JANIE MURPHY and STEVE JACKSON

2 CONTENTS

CONTENTS

GURPS, Warehouse 23, and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Pyramid, Banestorm, and the names of all products published by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated are registered trademarks or trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, or used under license. GURPS Banestorm is copyright © 2005 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

Playtesters: Mark Baddeley, Frederick Brackin, Michael Cule, Peter V. Dell’Orto, Thomas Devine, Leonardo M. Holschuh, MA Lloyd, Paul May, David Moore, Simon Proctor, Shawn K. Stevenson, William H. Stoddard, Dustin Tranberg, Chad Underkoffler, and Jeff Wilson.

Thanks to Tamar Amidon, Christopher Anthony, Elizabeth McCoy, and Matt Riggsby.Phil Masters: To my players of the last 25 years, who suffered while I learned. Jonathan Woodward: To Annie Webber, ever a shelter from the storm.

GURPS System Design ❚ STEVE JACKSONGURPS Line Editor ❚ SEAN PUNCH

Art Director ❚ STEVE JACKSONPage Design ❚ PHILIP REED

Production Manager ❚ MONICA STEPHENSProduction Artist ❚ ALEX FERNANDEZ

Print Buyer ❚ MOE CHAPMANMarketing Director ❚ PAUL CHAPMAN

Sales Manager ❚ ROSS JEPSONErrata Coordinator ❚ ANDY VETROMILE

GURPS FAQ Maintainer ❚ ❍❍❍❍❍STÉPHANE THÉRIAULT

1. HISTORY . . . . . . . . 5PRE-HUMAN YRTH . . . . . . . . . . .6

Yrth Astronomy andGeography . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

THE BANESTORM . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Gaming the Banestorm . . . . . 7Civilizations Emerge . . . . . . . 8Timeline (200 B.C. to

1550 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9THE SPREAD OF HUMANITY . . 10

The Rise of Megalos . . . . . . 10The Crusades . . . . . . . . . . . . 10The Unified Church. . . . . . . 10Simon Menelaus. . . . . . . . . . 10Timeline (1550 A.D. to

1900 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 11NEW CHALLENGES . . . . . . . . . 12

Jihad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12The Banestorm Resurgent . 12Megalos Reduced. . . . . . . . . 13An Yrthian Reformation? . . 13

THE LAST HUNDRED YEARS . . 14The Mages’ War . . . . . . . . . . 14More Orc Aggression. . . . . . 14A World Seen in Dreams . . . 14Timeline (1900 A.D. to

2005 A.D.) . . . . . . . . . . . . 15The Blackwoods Spread . . . 16The Frontier Wars . . . . . . . . 16Civil War in Caithness. . . . . 16Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2. LIFE IN YTARRIA . . 17THE PEOPLE OF YRTH . . . . . . 18

The Elder Folk . . . . . . . . . . . 18The Dark Elves . . . . . . . . . . . 18The Newcomers. . . . . . . . . . 20Interracial Relations. . . . . . . 21Gabrook: World of Sands. . . 21Loren’dil: The Green World. . 22Olokun: World of Water . . . . 22Other Races. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

MAGIC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Spell-Based Magic . . . . . . . . 23Magic Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Magery in Nonhumans . . . . 24Banestorm Spells . . . . . . . . . 25Some Legendary Artifacts. . . 26Mysticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Alchemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28The Genetics of Magery . . . . 29

TECHNOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30Underground Engineering . . 30Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . 31Medicine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

MAJOR LANGUAGES . . . . . . . . . 33Nonhuman Speech . . . . . . . 33

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT . . 34SOCIAL ARRANGEMENTS . . . . . 38

The Peasantry . . . . . . . . . . . 38Nonhumans in Human

Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39The Merchant Class. . . . . . . 40Knighthood . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40Muslim Social Positions . . . 40Arms and Devices . . . . . . . . . 41The Nobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Orders of Knighthood. . . . . . 42

SLAVERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42ECONOMICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Coins of Ytarria . . . . . . . . . . 44CRIME AND PUNISHMENT . . . . 44POLITICAL SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . 45

Feudalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Megalan Autocracy . . . . . . . 46The “Rebel Lands” . . . . . . . . 47Muslim Government . . . . . . 48Nonhuman Government . . . 48Tribalism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Sahud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

TOWNS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49Guilds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

SECRET SOCIETIES ANDCONSPIRACIES . . . . . . . . . . .52Wizardly Conspiracies . . . . 52Fireballs vs. Gunpowder . . . 52Pagan Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Mystery Cults . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Diabolical Cults . . . . . . . . . . 53Bardic Colleges . . . . . . . . . . 53The Underground

Engineers . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Spy Rings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Protestantism . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

3. RELIGION . . . . . . 56Comparative Theology . . . . . 56

CHRISTIANITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Beings With Souls . . . . . . . . 57Canon Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58Heresy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60Saints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

The Curia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61Holy Orders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61The Order of Friedrich . . . . . 62The Secret of the Templars . . 63The Michaelites. . . . . . . . . . . 64The Afterlife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

ISLAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65The Shari’a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67Julnari Dervishes . . . . . . . . . 67Islam’s Divisions . . . . . . . . . 69Human Religions’ Views

of Nonhumans . . . . . . . . 69The Ghazi Orders . . . . . . . . 70Nonhumans’ Views

of Human Religions . . . . 70Muslim Radicals and

“Heretics” . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Hashishin Assassination . . . 72

JUDAISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73Berakhot and Kashrut . . . . . 75Rabbis and Cantors. . . . . . . 75

OTHER RELIGIONS . . . . . . . . . 76Paganism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76The Religion of Bilit Island. . 78Hinduism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Buddhism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79Sahudese Religion . . . . . . . . 80An’Fo’Tama Monks. . . . . . . . 80

NONHUMAN RELIGIONS . . . . . 81

4. LANDS OF YRTH. . 84COUNTRIES AND REGIONS

OF YTARRIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84MEGALOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85MAP OF WESTERN MEGALOS. . . 86

The “Evil Empire”?. . . . . . . . 87Megalan Status and Titles . . 87The Ministry of

Serendipity . . . . . . . . . . . 88Megalos: Capital

of the Empire . . . . . . . . . 89MAP OF EASTERN MEGALOS . . . 91

The Emperor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92The Midlands . . . . . . . . . . . . 93The Manites . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94The Northern Marches . . . . 94Lord Claudius Maskill . . . . . 95City of the Dead . . . . . . . . . . 97The Southlands . . . . . . . . . . 97Pirates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97The Western Empire . . . . . . 98The Secret

of the Blackwoods . . . . . . 99

Yibyorak: The Goblin City. . 100The Brothers of Mercury . . 102

ARATERRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103The Fiefdoms . . . . . . . . . . . 104

MAP OF ARATERRE AND

THE RING ISLANDS . . . . . . . 105Maritime Technology . . . . . 105The Prince of Araterre. . . . . 106Dame Catherine “la Noire” . . 107The Ring Islands . . . . . . . . 107Bilit Island . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Adventuring in the Isles . . . 108

CAITHNESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109MAP OF CAITHNESS . . . . . . . . . 109

The Silver Hand . . . . . . . . . 110The Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . 113King Conall VI . . . . . . . . . . 114The Royalists . . . . . . . . . . . 115The Knights of the Stone . . 115Baroness Bronwyn . . . . . . . 116The Sterling Rebels . . . . . . 117Photius and the

Church of Caithness . . . 118The South. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119The Order of St. George

of the Dragon. . . . . . . . . 119The Great Forest . . . . . . . . . 120

AL-HAZ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120MAP OF AL-HAZ. . . . . . . . . . . . 121

Hazi and Wazifi Status . . . 121The Rulers of Al-Haz . . . . . 123The Coast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125The Maelstrom . . . . . . . . . . 125The Mountains. . . . . . . . . . 126The Pilgrims’ Plague . . . . . . 127The Plains. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128The Balikites in Firuz . . . . . 128

AL-WAZIF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129MAP OF AL-WAZIF . . . . . . . . . . 130

The Great Games . . . . . . . . 133Cities of Al-Wazif . . . . . . . . 133The Treachery of Taveon. . . 134The Ruins of Autheuil . . . . 135The Pillars of Heaven . . . . 136

CARDIEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137MAP OF CARDIEL . . . . . . . . . . . 138

The Lords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140The Regions of Cardiel . . . 140Tredroy: The City

of Three Laws. . . . . . . . 142MAP OF TREDROY . . . . . . . . . . 143

Adventuring in Tredroy. . . . 147

CONTENTS 3

SAHUD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148Who is “Sahudese”? . . . . . . 148

MAP OF SAHUD . . . . . . . . . . . . 149Women in Sahud . . . . . . . . 152The Clanholds of Sahud . . 153Sahudese Ninja. . . . . . . . . . 153Kinkaku and Uulinn . . . . . 154The Eyes of Heaven . . . . . . 155

ZARAK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157MAP OF ZARAK. . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

The Banestorm Underground . . . . . . . . . 158

Zarak Social Status . . . . . . 159Dwarf Women. . . . . . . . . . . 159Surface Dwarves. . . . . . . . . 160Technology in Zarak . . . . . . 161Seven Brother Kings . . . . . 161Thulin’s Folk . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

THE ORCLANDS . . . . . . . . . . . 163MAP OF THE ORCLANDS. . . . . . 164

The Orc Tribes . . . . . . . . . . 164Castle Defiant. . . . . . . . . . . 164Other Races . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Frontier and Tribal

Adventuring . . . . . . . . . . 166THE NOMAD LANDS . . . . . . . 167MAP OF THE NOMAD LANDS. . . 167

The Legend of Heolford . . . 168Northman Religion. . . . . . . 170Blind Lars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

THE SOUTHWESTERNWILDERNESS . . . . . . . . . . .173The Great Desert . . . . . . . . 173

MAP OF THE GREAT DESERT . . 173The Southern Plains . . . . . 173Elven Ruins . . . . . . . . . . . . 174The Djinn Lands . . . . . . . . 174

MAP OF THE DJINN LANDS . . . 175MANA LEVELS ACROSS

YTARRIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176THE OCEANS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178

Island Cultures . . . . . . . . . . 179The Sea Elf Tribes . . . . . . . 179The Banestorm

Underwater . . . . . . . . . . 180Beyond the Seas?. . . . . . . . 181Adding New Lands . . . . . . . 181

5. CHARACTERS. . . 182STARTING POINTS . . . . . . . . . 182DESIGNING CHARACTERS . . . 183

Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183Religious Rank of

Church Officials . . . . . . 184Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . 185Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

STATUS AND WEALTH . . . . . . 187What Cost of Living

Gets You. . . . . . . . . . . . . 187NONHUMAN RACES . . . . . . . . 188

Centaurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188Djinn Ascended Ones . . . . 188Dolphins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Dwarves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Gargoyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190Giants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Gnomes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Goblins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Halflings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Insect Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Creating New Races . . . . . . 193Hobgoblins. . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Kobolds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

Intelligent Animals . . . . . . . 194Medusas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Merfolk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Minotaurs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Octopus Folk . . . . . . . . . . . 196Ogres. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Orcs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Reptile Men . . . . . . . . . . . . 197The “Monster Races” . . . . . 197Sea Elves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Shark Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Sphinxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198Spirits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Trolls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199Interbreeding. . . . . . . . . . . . 200

THE ACCURSED . . . . . . . . . . . 200Ghouls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Lycanthropes . . . . . . . . . . . 200Vampires. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201

ADVENTURING CHARACTERTEMPLATES . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Assassin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Bard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203The Bard-Wizard. . . . . . . . . 204Battle Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 204Bounty Hunter. . . . . . . . . . 204Charlatan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Agents of Serendipity . . . . . 205Courtier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205Adventurers from

Other Occupations . . . . 206Entertainer . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206Freelance Wizard. . . . . . . . 207Healer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Knight-Errant . . . . . . . . . . 208Knightly Lenses. . . . . . . . . . 209Martial Artist . . . . . . . . . . . 209Mercenary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209Masters of the Martial Arts . . 210Merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210Michaelite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Other Jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211Mystic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212Northern Barbarian . . . . . 212Mystic Lenses . . . . . . . . . . . 213Missionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Peasant Hero . . . . . . . . . . . 214Priest-Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 214Priest-Wizard Lenses. . . . . . 215Swashbuckler. . . . . . . . . . . 215Underground Engineer. . . 215Sailors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216Urban Rogue . . . . . . . . . . . 216Watchman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Woodsman . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217The Silver Hand Lens. . . . . 217

6. CREATURES . . . . 218“ORDINARY” WILDLIFE . . . . . 218

Vermin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219FANTASTICAL CREATURES . . . 219

Basilisks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Bushwolves . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Caustiguses. . . . . . . . . . . . . 220The Acid Swamps. . . . . . . . 220Demons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Giant Spiders . . . . . . . . . . . 220Gryphons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Bestial but Intelligent . . . . . 221

Harpies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Hellsharks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221Hippogriffs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Animal PCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Hydras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Krakens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Nightstalkers . . . . . . . . . . . 223Paladins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223Pegasi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Reeks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Animal Handling and

“Hybrids” . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Striders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224Treetippers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Unicorns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225Wyverns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

DRAGONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226DOMESTIC ANIMALS . . . . . . . 228

7. CAMPAIGNSON YRTH . . . . 230

GAME STYLES . . . . . . . . . . . . 230Mixed Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . 231Learning from History . . . . 232Beware of Black Powder. . . 233

THE PCS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Criminal vs.

High-Minded PCs . . . . . 235Playing Yourselves . . . . . . . 236

MAGIC ON YRTH . . . . . . . . . . 236CHANGING THE WORLD . . . . 237EPILOGUE: THE FUTURE

OF YRTH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . 238

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