General Roan-Ur, "The Red Claw"

	Reaching Moon Megacorp's Life of Moonson General Roan-Ur "The Red Claw" Commander of Military Forces in Aggar	Age: 54 Career: Lunar Military Religion: Cacodemon Culture: Silver Shadow Disposition: Cruel and Mad
Return to Home Page Gloranthan Folk Tales Gloranthan Songbook Moonie Madness Life of Moonson Carmanian Sources Malkioni Scriptures	"Glorantha is a thin scum on the surface of a bottomless well. Prick the surface tension and Chaos floods forth. As it always has and always will. In the meantime, plead to the gods, grovel like a good little soul. Perhaps they will help you. Perhaps they will not. I do not go on bended knees. I demand. And I get what I want." You are General Roan-Ur, son of the Red Emperor and commander of all his victorious armies in Aggar. Your troops and your enemies call you the "Red Claw". You are, however, the Emperor's illegitimate son, the union of the Red Emperor and a nameless noblewoman, who gave you out to a Teelo Norri orphanage when you were born. When you were old enough your keepers divulged your father's identity and you were swiftly inducted into the Lunar Officer Corps. Your career in the army might have been cut short when you made an embarrassing discovery - you were of half ogre blood. Despite eating two of your fellow officers, the whole incident was hushed up due to your parentage, and you were able to continue in your career. You have since managed to learn to control your blood-thirst. However, you are unsure of whether it is your father or mother who passed your ogre blood on to you. Rising quickly through the Officer Corps you served in the invasion of Sartar, leading you troops with distinction and showing great personal bravery. As a result of these actions you earned yourself an independent command in Aggar. Aggar at that time was in a state of rebellion, with even the king in revolt. You rallied those Aggarites loyal to the Lunars around the king's younger brother, Rascius, and put down the rebellion everywhere but Kree Mountain in the Autumn Mountains. Rascius you made king - your puppet and pawn. Since then you have sought to scour from the land the rebels of Kree Mountain and all of their supporters. You have had many notable successes, yet final and total victory has eluded you. Your formation and use of a Chaos Legion of broos, ogres and scorpion men met with stunning early successes but faltered due to the inadequacies and fears of the supporting Lunar Army units (they had the temerity to complain of their troops being eaten by your chaotics (in war there are always casualties). You were forced to execute most of your army commanders, in order to encourage the others to obey their orders. Recently, you have been building more chaos forces and creatures through use of the Chaos Vats. These are based in a secret complex, nicknamed Brootopia, operated by you and the Black Army. You seek to grow new and more horrible monsters to destroy the rebels, while the Black Army's reasons are unimportant as long as they keep the Vats operational. Your intelligence network now detects a weakening in the rebel's will to resist. All you need is one big push. With your chaos monsters, the Chaos Legion, and additional army reinforcements, total victory will finally be yours.	Background The Nobles of Silver Shadow You were born into a family of the purest Lunar blood, within the mystical Silver Shadow cast by the Red Moon herself. Silver Shadow Sultanate is at the centre of the Lunar Heartlands, and its ruling families are descended from the Imperial House, through consorts and concubines of bygone Masks of Moonson. The land is the throbbing, pulsating heart of Imperial power, glory and decadence. From your earliest youth, you have been observing the potentates of the Court, avoiding - or profiting from - entanglement in their intrigues, equally at home in the grand avenues of Glamour and the luxurious villas beneath the Crater's lofty crags. There is no Sultan of Silver Shadow: this sultanate is ruled by Moonson himself. Cacodemon You are a devotee of the Chaos God Cacodemon, as befits your Ogre half-blood. Cacodemon is a remnant of the army of Wakboth the Devil, Leader of the Chaos Horde, who was destroyed by the gods of order during the War of the Gods. Cacodemon exists only to spread disorder and destruction, and to increase the personal power of his devotees. As a Talon of Cacodemon you have the power to call a Fiend to your aid, and the power to call down Cacodemon himself (though only if he too wills it). The Imperial Lunar Army You have followed a career in the Lunar Army. For young men and women of good standing entry to the army is made via the Yanafal Tarnil's Officer Corps. After a probationary period officers are assigned junior officer positions in Lunar regiments and to the general staff. They then rise through a hierarchy of positions until they finally gain the Captaincy of a regiment. Patronage plays an important part in an officer's progress. A few lucky Captains may be posted to the Staff College of Polaris, and from there enter the General Staff as honoured Generals of the Army. The head of the Lunar Army is General Bellex Maximus, the premier warrior and general of the Lunar Way.
	Objectives Personal You are mad and very dangerous. But, here in Glamour it is an undercurrent of madness and danger. You must give the impression that a terrible and dangerous madness lies within you like a coiled spring that might erupt at any moment. You are brutal and care nothing for human (or other) life. Convince and frighten people of your brutality, perhaps through your matter-of-fact descriptions of your vile deeds in Aggar and off-hand comments on events during the game. Scare them with the thought of what you might do if you lose control... Seek your father's approval and his public recognition that you are his son. Find your mother and gain her blessing. Why did she abandon you? Career Increase your political rank. Serve your father by gaining positions of increased power and authority. Ensure that news of the Chaos Vats in the Autumn Mountains does not get into the public domain. They must be kept open and at full production capacity at all costs. Keeping it going requires 10 influence from the Black Army Budget. Put your claim into Conradin as soon as possible. Find the missing diagrams (see below) so that a new complex can be built. To build it you will need a further 25 influence from the Black Army Budget. Retain command of the Lunar forces in Aggar, if only in a supervisory role. Your methods must be continued until victory is total. Get three Lunar regiments added to your forces in Aggar, for the final big push. Religious Promote chaos within the Lunar Way. Spread disorder and destruction wherever you can. Take what you need. Only the weak fear chaos. Sacrifice a significant number of helpless innocents (though not other players) at a ritual to Cacodemon. Even better, invite a few faint-hearted player characters to witness the slaughter. Have Moonson declare next year to be a Black Moon Year. Danger is near and the most brutal and chaotic weapons ever conceived must be brought out to defeat it! You will provide them! Ha! Ha!	Who You Know Personal Acquaintances Appius Luxius, Provincial Overseer: Some say he is also the Emperor's son, but you doubt this. You and he dislike each other intensely, and though he has supported your campaign in Aggar in the past, you now detect a sea change in his attitude. If he does not think you useful then he may seek your removal. Not now! Not yet! Miriros Conradin, Head of the Unspoken Word: a senior Danfive Xaron Penitent who runs the Black Army's intelligence organisation. He helped you to set up Brootopia and provided the Longvale Papers upon which the Chaos Vats are based. He also provides the raw material for the Vats and other research - slaves. Moonson, the Red Emperor: Your beloved father. Everything you have done has been for him, but he has yet to formally recognise you as his son. You must prove yourself and demand his recognition! King Rascius of Aggar: You placed him on the throne after the Aggar rebellion and for many years he has been happy to enjoy his position, hoarding taxes and tribute and then gambling it away. However, recently he has had the temerity, no, the insolence, to complain about your methods in fighting the rebels! You must remind him that he owes everything to you! The Red Dancer of Power, Chief Missionary of the Lunar Way: This demideity heads the cult of Etyries. You met her when she toured Aggar. She appeared as a beautiful young girl and, despite yourself, you were very attracted to her. You seduced her, then contemplated eating her, but in the end decided that eating her would not be politic... Through your Career General Lergius Cassius, Commander in Dragon Pass: A weak-willed simpleton in the same mould as that dead fool Fazzur Wideread. They see war as an honourable pursuit and are therefore weak. There should be Total War, no quarter, no mercy, no surrender and no non-combatants! Kill them all! Heh! Heh! Heh!
	Other Knowledge The Seven Year Plan is the mechanism by which the major food and raw material requirements of the Empire are centrally planned and provided for. At the beginning of each seven year period every sultanate and province agrees to quotas of important foodstuffs and other raw materials and goods which they must achieve over a seven year period. A seven year plan has just ended and each of the sultanates and provinces will be audited this a sacred time on their results. Success is usually the route to promotion and Imperial favour, while failure is a sure road to political humiliation. The Kingdom of Aggar was unified by the Lunar aid to one of its indigenous tribes in order to guard the rich crystal mines in the Eastern Autumn Mountains. Previous to the Lunar invasion the region was ruled by a number of Orlanthi tribes who raided each other and rarely co-operated. The kingdom is now governed by the descendants of the ruling family of the tribe which the Lunars helped. The Court of the Silver Gate is a council of Satraps of the Empire. It meets infrequently, and can have great influence in determining the course of the Empire's destiny. The members of the Court of the Silver Gate are: · Gul-Taran, Satrap of First Blessed Haroun al-Rastari, Satrap of Karasal Moonson, Satrap of Silver Shadow Makkrit-Oor, Satrap of Darjiin Raffha Khan, Satrap of Kostaddi Var-Eel, Satrap of Oronin Prince Pardidas, Satrap of Sylila Queen Penelori, Satrap of Oraya The Satrap of Doblian will also have a place, when one is appointed.	Secrets You are the illegitimate son of the Red Emperor. You do eat babies. Chaos embraces all, it cannot be escaped! You are half-ogre and can sometimes get very hungry for human flesh. You often suffer from horrible chaos diseases. Even talking to you can be fatal! Special Items A Bodyguard of Broos, most of whom carry diseases such as Creeping Chills and Brain Fever. The Longvale Papers are a set of notes describing in at times obscene detail the chaotic perversities to be found in the cursed land of Dorastor. They were written by Paulis Longvale, now a prominent Senator, and detail his early experiences on the frontier with his barbarian kin. One particular feature, the Chaos Vats, is described in details and forms the theoretical basis of the Brootopia complex. A copy of the notes and diagrams of the complex recently went missing along with a White Moonie slave called Maculus. He was so diseased that he is unlikely to have survived, but those notes must be recovered. The missing diagrams are vital to allow a new and better complex to be built.
	The Longvale Papers from "Halgrim's War", the Reminiscences of Paulis Longvale *Note:* this excerpt is from the first edition of the work, which was extensively revised and expurgated by the author in his retirement. Material after the [] was deleted from the second edition which appears in Cults of Terror* and Lords of Terror. "...it was near Slimestone, where the giant gorp lived, that our outriders reported the enemy gathering, and soon we all could see howling creatures, leaping and lurching. As their numbers grew, so did their courage: these were broos of every nature, disgusting to the eye. some were Thedspawn, others clearly Greyskin grovellers of Primal Chaos, warped almost beyond recognition.... "...all through the evening parties of broos attacked, and were slaughtered by our bold men, who themselves suffered little. Yet the monsters launched themselves onto our spearpoints, so that a wall of dead built up before us. Oddi the Keen told me that it was ever so, for the race made little of learning and sought only easy vengeance for their goddess. * Yet it concerned him that unlike outbreaks in the past, the torrent of brookind this time seemed ever-inexhaustible, no matter how many he and his Storm Bull berserks slew. With the tenacity by which he earned his nickname, Oddi and his men set about rooting out the source of this corruption before another tide be launched against us... "...in the end it was not Oddi's Storm Bull sense that found it, for we were led by our noses (or should I say the reeking stench that assailed our nostrils), to a vast pit on the outskirts of ruined Dokat. Even in the uncertain terrain of Dorastor this appeared to be newly excavated, and from it came shrieks, screams, hoots and whistles, and the sounds of great industry. Fetid vapours burbled up from the midst, and Oddi, his face ruddy and his eyes almost aglow with the outraged power of his god, was all set to lead his men on a headlong charge, heedless of whatever lay before them in the pit. "Whether it was from a sense of recklessness or self-preservation (for I did not want Oddi and his men charging off to an uncertain fate, leaving those few of the rest of us to our fate in the midst of Ralzakark's realm), I offered to creep forward, and spy out the lie of the land. Oddi, the spittle beginning to foam at the corners of his mouth, bade me do so and hurry. While he and his fellow berserks prayed to the Bull and sung songs to their swords and axes, I ran ahead and crawled to the lip of the pit. The vision of hell I beheld lies etched in my mind, and haunts me to this day, especially in the quiet hours of the early morning. "For the pit was a vast factory, a forge where raw matter was taken and cast anew as the stuff of chaos. The fetid stink bubbled from three giant vats. Hulking broo stood over them, armed with huge paddles with which they stirred the roiling stew and occasionally fished out blobs of formless matter that they deposited on the pit floor. Smaller, sleeker broo then took hold of them, rolling the lumpen shapes and chanting magics until twisted limbs - arms, legs, tentacles, wings, tails - and goaty, horny heads appeared. They were then herded into a corner and left, quivering and convulsing as their new bodies took their final, hideous shapes. But it is their screams that prey on my mind still, for as they took their first breath, each newborn would cry out in horror and revulsion as they realised just what they had become. For even chaos cannot create something from nothing, and there, in pens at one end of the pit lay the raw material - terrified peasants from Bilini and Talastar, with their cattle, horses, and sheep. Thrown in with them were several snarling, wild-eyed wolf folk from Nangtali's Plateau, and even some trollkin and Aldryami, too frightened to indulge in their traditional racial hatreds. Only the livestock were seemingly obvious to the fate awaiting them. At the command of an awesome, white-fleeced goatman, who I took to be the leader, several gigantic whip-wielding broo waded into the corral and picked out their latest victims, dragging them by hair or horns to the vats. By the leader's side stood a pale man in a dark cloak, and it seemed he was showing off the latest batch of captives, a dejected coffle of cowed hillfolk from Skanthiland. "I slipped away, my heart pounding and my mouth dry, and told all I could to Oddi, to aid him in his work... "...and so the pit was cleansed. Wakbotlar, the leader, who styled himself 'Father of Devils' escaped, and all that was left of his shadowy human lieutenant was an empty cloak. I thought Oddi would strike me when he discovered the Lunar army uniform inside it, and it chills my heart to this day to think that the Empire was somehow involved in the operation. One captive we kept alive long enough to learn of the foul rituals and processes used to brew chaos spawn in these vats, of which I sent down for reference below..."
	Reaching Moon Megacorp's Life of Moonson was written by Nick Brooke, Chris Gidlow,David Hall and Kevin Jacklin, with Rick Meints and MOB. The lead author for Roan-Ur was David Hall; the introductory paragraph is from "An Interview with Roan-Ur," by Penny Love (short story published in Tales #16); The Longvale Papers were written by MOB. Glorantha, HeroQuest, Hero Wars, and Issaries are trademarks of Issaries, Inc. The contents of this page are copyright by David Hall, 2001; any material derived from Greg Stafford's world of Glorantha is also copyright by Greg Stafford. Glorantha is the creation of Greg Stafford, and is used with his permission.