Tsardom of Silver
Realm of Marena
Location: Planes of Cordance / Nether
Even though the Cordant Plane of Nether is nothing but ice and mud, Morana built her domain there. Perhaps she enjoyed turning a fraction of this mess into something magnificently beautiful. Perhaps she picked the plane because it offered no competition to the dazzling realm she envisaged. And beautiful it is—passing through the forest of blue spruce trees, frozen beneath a layer of thick snow, a cutter will encounter an ornate frosty palace with icicle-like spires and towers. The throne room is a grand hall decorated with stunning frescoes depicting scenes of winter. Throughout the kip are dozens of statues of the most beautiful creatures of the multiverse carved in ice, including aasimon, unicorns, succubus and a long-lost elven demipower.
A berk who seeks an audience from the Ice Queen of the realm should prepare themselves. Not for combat, mind, but to look their absolute best, so as not to offend Marena’s sensibilities. But make sure not to look too good though, or you risk her getting jealous an encasing you in ice. Ah! Now the statues start to make sense. Marena has few worshippers these days, and even fewer petitioners are accepted by her in her realm. Those deemed too ugly to decorate her hall, or berks that displease Morana are exiled to roam the outer forests of the Tsardom of Silver.
A day’s travel from Marena’s grand ice palace is the principal burg of the realm, a town called Novslav. It’s largely made up of exiled petitioners. The village is currently ruled by Vladimir “the Cold” (ice genasi warrior petitioner [he/him] / NE). He’s less than friendly towards visitors if they’ve got bad words to say about his power—he may be an exile but he’s still devoted like most petitioners. The village offers a safe if frosty reception for travellers, but for those who have come to visit Marena’s palace are treated with a little more respect.
Much closer to Marena’s palace is a smaller burg called Starygorod. It’s less a town and more a collection of buildings where Marena’s currently approved petitioners reside. These houses are carved from ice, and adorned with iron and silver. The Sculptors Guild is a group of artisans here who carve ice sculptures in honour of their goddess. They’ve mastered the art of ice sculpting and when the Ice Princess isn’t in need of them, they take requests from petitioners. The requests can be of anything that doesn’t offend Marena. In particular, the ice golems of Starygorod are renowned for their high quality. Chant goes that at least one of them has achieved sapience and escaped the ice workshops before being finished. Calling itself Kulku the Dzelven, this incomplete golem lurks in the forests around Starygorod, curious about the strange activities of the petitioners. If approached calmly, it’s possible that this cutter could be persuaded to act as a knowledgeable wilderness tout.
Special Conditions
Bashers unprepared for the extreme chill will find their time in the realm very cold, and rather short. You’ll want to bring both warm clothing and some sort of magical protection against the extreme conditions, and the pure white dire wolves which roam the forests here. Natives of Nether, petitioners and worshippers of Marena, or planewalkers who are currently in her favour, are granted resistance to the freezing climate—they are even able to see normally through the frequent blizzards and fog. Her priests also receive resistance to all cold damage. However, it’s something Marena is quick to revoke if she’s angered by a cutter or disapproves of their actions, and it’s not hard to anger this irascible power.
Spells which deal cold damage always cause their maximum effect in the realm. Most things in this place are made out of magically hardened ice. These icicle weapons have properties of both silver and cold iron, and do double damage against creatures who are weak to both. The downside of this material is that it quickly melts away after being exposed to fire or extreme heat for longer than one turn (special sheaths to protect weapons while not in use are recommended). However, it’s not an easy task to get one of these blades. Foragers will be interested to note that the trees around the realm are made out of the same ice-silver, while their needles are prickly as razorvine, and also count as silver and cold iron.
Sources: Margarita, SGreen and Jon Winter-Holt. Margarita notes: While this homebrew power is based on Slavic folklore and beliefs, the amount of actual information we have on pre-Christian Slavic deities is so minuscule that building any kind of lore out of it is impossible. However, there are a lot of folk beliefs about things these deities are thought to represent, which I have worked into the piece.
