My World of Kelleemah

[CharlesRobinson]

The Journey

One of the things that I just love about this project is the opportunity to update my old word. When I first created Kelleemah, I was still using the old school D&D rules. The one where the Deities & Demi-Gods book got TSR in trouble because of copyright laws. It had gods from several book series like Conan’s Crom. I sure wished I had kept that book all these years – LoL! As I said before, this is the fourth iteration of this world. With each “rebirth”, I add new things to it. That is what I did above.

When I first started playing, there were no gods for the monsters, the Nine Hells were not described, and almost none of what is canon today was even thought of yet. Those were the wonderful days of pure imagination. In this environment, enters Lilith, the legendary mother of monsters. The blood drinking goddess of the night!

Now, with the fourth version of my world, I added Agrat the Mistress of the Dark Arts, Eisheth the Eater of Souls, and Na’amah the Plagues of Mankind. This was a fun journey and I thought that I would share it with you.

Agrat is described as being in charge of all evil sorceresses. I extended this to the “Dark Arts” to include both men and women. Eisheth is described as ruling the demonic centaurs and all four were described has being the Grigori’s wives. I kept the tie to the demonic centaurs and kept Eisheth as the Grigori’s only consort. Na’amah is said to have worked with Lilith to give birth to the terrible creatures that inhabited the world. But, although all four were listed together as equals, I found a piece that described Lilith as being the other three’s mother or grandmother. As such I made Lilith the mother and the other three her children.

Exploring mythology is always fun since there are often conflicting accounts of events and characters. Lilith and Na’amah are said to have begotten demonic children by consorting with Adam during a 130 year banishment from the Garden of Eden. But, I found an alternate account saying that it was actually Na’amah with Cain after being expelled from Eden. That sounded a lot better for the feel that I wanted. I then found an account that they were the consorts of Azazel instead. As such, I had Na'amah join with his followers to lead the evil quest to destroy the world.

With an extensive timeline and mythologies already in place, it was easy to insert the new characters into the history of Kelleemah. Even the creative writing describing Lilith is a combination of two sources along with a few word changes. Below are the two sources that I drew from:


Her house sinks down to death,
And her course leads to the shades.
All who go to her cannot return
And find again the paths of life.
— Proverbs 2:18–19

Her gates are gates of death, and from the entrance of the house
She sets out towards Sheol.
None of those who enter there will ever return,
And all who possess her will descend to the Pit.
— 4Q184

And here is my new version again:

"Her gates are the portals of death, and from the entrance of the abode she sets out for Sheol.
None of those who go to her will ever return, and find again the paths of life."

I love researching and drawing from mythology. I love having a world that is not “canon”. I love the whole creative process. If you have a world that you have not dusted off in a long time, exhume it from its literary crypt and send it forth to feast on unsuspecting player characters once more!

(Insert Evil Laugh Here) Bwaaa, ha, haaaa!

[CharlesRobinson]

Just in case anyone was wondering, the character images are for more than showing the cultures and mythology of the game world. They will be used as iconography for later maps. Here is an example from a piece that I did for ProFantasy's Community Atlas Project:

[CharlesRobinson]

This is the region known as Makara. It is further subdivided into Western Makara and Eastern Makara. It is bordered on the north by the realms of the centaurs and in the east by the Kush. The Shattered Isles also leys to the Southeast. The people who live within these regions are known as the Jana and are divided into 16 realms:
1. Matsya
2. Avanti
3. Chedi
4. Vatsa
5. Assaka
6. Surasena
7. Kamboja
8. Gandahara
9. Kuru
10. Panchala
11. Kosala
12. Magadha
13. Vajji
14. Malla
15. Kashi
16. Anga

There regions also have three of the Naga Realms
1. Panna Naagon
2. Raat Naagon
3. Nadee Naagon

There are several other large realms within these regions as well.
1. The Pirates of Nitriae
2. The Orcs of Mavros
3. The Lost Isle of Pulauranah
4. The Birdmen of Syene

[CharlesRobinson]

Besides the world of Kelleemah, I will eventually be doing maps for my campaigns. I had twenty one in all that were centered around the God Swords from the Cursed Gods Pantheon that I posted earlier. Those projects will be centered more around towns, villages, ruins, castles, caverns, dungeons, and such. Each one of course has it's "Arch Villain". So far, I have only done a CA3+ project for one of those. I am now working on the next one, so I thought I would post the one that I already did. When I do the maps for the campaigns, I will put them in the appropriate forums and then place links to them on this thread.



As the Vagothian King watched on. The Seer peered upon the bones before her and her voice changed. It was strained and angry.

"I remember the war; the first in the old world! When Gullveig was studded with spears and in the hall of the High One; she was burned, thrice burned, thrice reborn, often, many times, and yet she still lived on! Gullveig of the Vanir, the witch who saw many things, who enchanted wands, divined what she could, and in a trance practiced seidr! All feared her; for whenever she happened upon dwellings, she brought delight to evil! Lorcan’s blade, known as the Odr Brandr, the raging blade; the Brjotamein, to give pain; and the Kalladaudr, to cry out death; has awaken! For Gullveig and her brides have returned!"

It was too much for the seer, she cried out and slumped upon the floor, eyes staring and unblinking.

Hilmr Haldordr knew fear, for the legend of Gullveig was well known. How was he to stop a Goddess that all of Asgard could not destroy, and what if she finds Lorcan's lost sword first, for it had not been seen since the Dwarven Hero, Kanansi, departed with it on his quest to the north over 400 years ago. What if Gullveig already wields the god sword of chaos, fire, and vengeance!

[CharlesRobinson]

Reyamawet, the Companions of Death
from the Book of the Crow Ravings

From caverns deep, two shall rise
Dark twins, brother and sister
The black crows, let loose their cries
Warning, of the long winter

First comes Shahhat, the slayer
Carving through, armor and shields
Priests, trembling in prayer
As the blood, waters the fields

Tabahh follows, in his wake
The executioner, sings
Ending all, their wounds and aches
To souls, dread nightmares she brings

Behold, the Reyamawet comes
Embrace the rhythm, of death's drums

[CharlesRobinson]

I found some of my original maps when I first started trying to do the digital version of my game world. Have a great laugh! :-)

[Mouse]

Well if these are ancient CC2 era maps they're pretty excellent, Charles, though with my pattern-brain I have to admit that the one on the left looks rather a lot like a foot

I think your maps have come on miles

[CharlesRobinson]

Actually, they are CC3. I bought the program sometime between 2009 and 2011. But I only did these two maps and did not get back into it until CC3+ came out. :-)

[Mouse]

LOL! I never used CC3, only CC3+, but then I'm relatively new to this game

[CharlesRobinson]

You and me both. Like I said, I did not get back to it until CC3+ came out. I am playing around with GIMP now as well. I am looking into a program for Disabled Veterans and I am thinking about going back to college to pick up some missing skill sets in my Marketing Degree to include graphic design. That will help me a lot with my cartography, iconography, and character design techniques if I get to go back to college. They even have course work on typography. I am looking at adding a duel degree in Advertising (College of Mass Media) and Communications Design (Art Degree) to go along with my BA in Marketing and MBA (with emphasis on marketing) that I got from the Southern Illinois University.