The Kingdom of Ichmenre

the Kingdom of Ichmenre is a collection of 14 Fridnyrm and their volcanic subjects in Ichmenre. These volcano lords have a faux-feudal society in which they all have a “title”: King, Lord, or Lesser Lord/Baron. There is no functional difference between lords and lesser lords, the title only holds a vague significance in describing the physical prominence of that lord’s tied volcano, and their own physical stature. The 5 “lesser lords” are of a smaller stature for a fridnyrm, between 3 and 5 metres tall. The lords are between 10 and 20 metres tall, and the King of Ichmenre, Crogaeth, is around 30 metres tall.

The lords also use a historic name for Ichmenre to refer to their kingdom and themselves. This legacy name is Ich Mena Re, which was concatinated into a single word for convenient chatter. The full name has a cultural significance portraying a sort of heraldic legacy.

Kingdom

The kingdom is described as a faux-feudal society because although the lords themselves subscribe to a sort of feudal societal organisation, with each of them swearing fealty to the king, there is no material basis for this being a feudal society. It’s not even akin to a warlord society.

Essentially, the Lords command armies consisting of unique creatures sometimes found in the wild in Ichmenre and Llyhai. These armies are not of people, they are classified as creatures as they have no social role in society and act solely as soldiers to the lords, with little autonomy. This is the basis of the Lord’s power.

Around Ichmenre there are several Volcanic towns. These towns operate autonomously and with little cooperation, although they do have limited trade with one another and there is plentiful social interaction between them. In the Kingdom of Ichmenre, these towns are each beholden to a certain lord. These societies are essentially utopian, and the lords themselves have nothing they actually need from the towns. The de-facto control of the lords is essentially their enforced right to take or commission whatever they want of the towns, which is something the towns would likely do without the de jure systems of the kingdom.

Sometimes, Volcanic people from their towns will serve in the lord’s armies. This is rare, as they are not required to do so by the lords and as a utopian society they have no need to do so apart from recreation.

There are no defined borders between Lords, in practice and in law they only control their volcano and the towns.

The Lords

The Lords of Ich Mena Re are as follows:

• Crogaeth, Lord of Hidoiad, the King of Ichmenre.
• Baelor, Lord of Fire and Tanwyn
• Forfoth, Lord of Ash and Lludwydd
• Thraegor, Lord of Smoke and Mwgwyn
• Grimfor, Lord of Magma and Magmdu
• Naeraec, Lord of Soot and Sutlon
• Hosgoth, Lord of Lava and Lavalwyn
• Chulthar Lord of Flames and Fflamcaer
• Drathaer Lord of Inferno and Ailwleb
• Balthor, Lesser Lord of Embers and Tanmaen
• Thraechos Lesser Lord of Charcoal and Siwgrgwyn
• Calthull Lesser Lord of Cinders and Cwenddu
• Ronesull Lesser Lord of Heat and Gwreddyn
• Ddumathyr Lesser Lord of Torch and Braullon

Each of these lords are a lord of a concept and a volcano, the names of the volcanoes being Hidoiad, Tanwyn, Sutlon, Tanmaen, Siwgrgwyn, and so on.

Crogaeth

Crogaeth is huge. Seven stories huge. This is equivalent to 30 metres small. They are very big. Their likeness serves as the standard for the body of a Lord of Ich mena Re, although all of the lords do deviate quite a bit. The rocks are almost black, covered by a layer of flame. Between each rock sits thin cracks, where only fire can be seen inbetween. Deeper in the gaps, a torturing flow of magma sits, bounding the lord’s entire being.

Crogaeth’s signature weapon is a magma-bound rock weapon which looks quite similar in construction to them. This weapon has the ability to rearrange itself to Crogaeth’s liking, from a sharp and scolding greatsword to a strong and piercing longbow. It can also notably split into several, letting Crogaeth wield shields or dual wield.

I like to think Crogaeth’s personality is that of the honest king: someone who wants to do good and genuinely takes his title seriously, treating his lords with gentle care while also being the threatening lord of a volcanoe.

Baelor, Lord of Fire

Baelor is much more fire than rock. In fact, there’s only a few recognisable solid pieces that are him. There is less magma too, but it’s still there at the core. Baelor’s signature weapon is himself: he spews fire from his body that burns stuff.

I like to think that Baelor has quite a confident personality, someone who knows what they’re capable of and likes to show it off.

Forfoth, Lord of Ash

Forfoth’s appearance is shrouded in clouds of grey ash, signifying the burnt life of trees and creatures that also couldn’t run. This ash replaces the fire that would be there. There are still blackened rocks and magma underneath, but these may never be seen because of all the ash. Although the ash that she has is a weapon enough, she also likes to carry a pretty impressive crossbow-like gun thing, which can turn living things into more ash.

Thraegor, Lord of Smoke

Thraegor is clouded in white smoke, smoke that glows a faint orange as the fire that still binds their solid body remains. Their signature weapon are several small bombs that explode into a puff of smoke that kinda kills too. Thraegor also has a very light hammer.

I think that Thraegor’s personality would be a strange mixture of chaotic but slow, in an attempts to reflect the chaotic nature within a smoke cloud but its generally slow traversal.

Grimfor, Lord of Magma

Grimfor is more magma than rock, the lively and boiling red hotness. but amidst his magma body a few rocks seemingly hold things together. These rocks are black and sharp and might be obsidian. His signiature weapon is a long and flowing whip of magma that cuts through everything.

Naerec, Lord of Soot

Naerec has the standard lord of ich mena re body in that they are just stone bound by fire. They are still visually distinct, as they are covered in a thick layer of soot, concealing the rock and the fire beneath it. This soot falls off as they walk, making Naerec leave a snail trail of soot wherever they go. Their signiature weapon is the violent gust of soot, sharp and hard particles that he controls over and uses to tear his soft-bodied enemies to bits.

I reckon Naerec’s a bit self-conscious about their whole soot trail thing. Because of that he’s probably quite shy and apologetic. He also likes emotions, they just appeal to him.

Hosgoth, Lord of Lava.

Hosgoth is made of lava: slow, flowing hot stone that’s cool on the outside but very clearly hot on the inside. When he stops moving, the lava cools and gets hard on the outside, but as he moves and his body parts squish and part, the red-hot innards show themselves and renew.

Hosgoth is deliberate and to the point. That’s his personality, dunno what else to say.

Chulthar, Lord of Flames.

Chulthar is quite similar to Baelor but he’s entirely fire and clearly has no solid components within him. Chulthar’s flame is also more violent and formless. His signature weapon is a sort of fire bow that just appears when he wants to use it, that fires arrows that are literally just flames.

Drathaer, Lord of Inferno.

Most lords of Ich Mena Re are red and grey, because that’s just the colour of lava and stone. Draethaer, however, is a burning blue. Chunks of rock fly within and around his raging blueness. His signiature weapon is a halberd, which might seem a bit random because it is. The halberd’s probably made out of some volcanic rock. He can also flamethrower if he wants to.

I like to think that Drathaer’s personality is quite a moody, edgy, and dramatic one. He knows he’s cool, and likes to give off a mysterious allure.

Balthor, lesser Lord of Embers.

Balthor is a lesser lord, meaning he’s only about three metres tall. Balthor’s form is like a storm of ember contained within this humanoid shape. His signature weapon is a spear tipped with some sharp ember thingy. Very effective, for sure.

Thraechos, lesser Lord of Charcoal.

Thraechos’s body is basically made of coal: mineral carbon that has been set alight and is indefinitely burning. His signature weapon is the sling, with which he slings burning coal chunks at his foes.

Calthull, lesser Lord of Cinders

A cinder in this context is a small piece of partially burnt material that has stopped giving off flames but still contains combustible materials. Calthull’s form is a bunch of small cinder chunks moving because they are part of a larger being. Calthull’s visuals contain no fire, but as he’s sure to say he has the fire within his cinder bits. His signature weapon is a him-scale custom-built Remington 870 that he got from somewhere and loads with these special cinder shells. He also may or may not be in possession of a mount that suspiciously resembles an M1 Abrams tank.

Calthull clearly has a chaotic personality. Full of energy, running around, disrupting things. Its behind this chaos that he deviously laughs off any questions about his Remington 870 or his special steed.

Ronesull, lesser Lord of Heat

Ronesull is almost invisible because his body is actually just a really hot area. This area suffers from light refraction, making him partially visible. He is also somewhat solid sometimes, as he maintains the capability to pick up things and generally interact with the world. His signature weapon is nothing, he doesn’t have one. Some may say his signature is not having a weapon.

Ddumathyr, lesser lord of Torch

Ddumathyr holds the somewhat standard rock-bound-by-flame body with one major alteration. Ddumathyr radiates a very bright orange light, like the sun. The light itself isn’t harmful, but it can damage eyes somewhat due to the nature of its brightness. His signature weapon is probably some sort of mace, but no-one really knows because it shines too brightly to make out its actual shape.

Obsidian Road

The Obsidian Roads are a number of trade routes established between the people of normal society and the Volcanic Communities in Ichmenre.

• Cwenddu-Kusao. An obsidian road that follows the river from the volcano Cwenddu to the canyons of Kusao through the desert.
• Cwenddu-Cronar. An obsidian road that follows the same path as Cwneddu-Kusao, but crosses the ocean to reach Cronar more efficiently than going through Kusao.
• Braullon-Sarel. A long and treacherous obsidian road leading from Braullon to Sarel, crossing through the entire length of the desert Kusao.
• Thraechos-Lale Darie. A naval route that first crosses the Edlyue region of Duela to reach a trade port, and then goes to Gazi Lale Darie. One of the safest trade routes after the goods have reached the port, but items moving from Ichmenre to the port are incredibly frequently intercepted by Okung Kinships.

It is worth saying that the Obsidian Roads are not literal roads made of obsidian, but rather trade routes across unmarked territory, primarily the desert of Kyenel.

random story

Sour Ron and the pretty cool ring.

Wouldn’t it be funny if there was a mission where you had to take a magical ring from Ereso to a Lord of Ich Mena Re. Like, “This ring is too powerful and needs to be thrown back into the fires at which it was forged, the volcano Mon Ddum!” and it’s literally just like a rhenium ring with an enchantment that does nothing but make the wearer invisible. It’s not alive nor does it entice people with its infinite power, in fact its power is clearly stated and limited.

And when you get to Mon Ddum, you meet the Lord who lives there, Ronesull, who has a nickname “Sour ron” because he’s annoyed that he lost his pretty cool ring to some random Eresonain adventurer. Ron’s not evil or anything, and he politely asks for his ring back. If you give it, then you can just leave, he’ll probably give you something in its exchange, if not only the continuation of your life.

When Sour Ron gets his ring back, he looses the nickname and regains his respectful title, “Ron the Invisible”.

The person who gives you the ring is a jewellery collector who says he inherited it from his father, and that it caused his father great pain, so he’s looking to be rid of it. He says that his father was told by a wizard that he should take the ring to Mon Ddum, but without any more context he assumed it was to throw it into the magma. He says that he’d do it himself, but he’d rather continue his father’s collection’s legacy and wouldn’t risk it for the removal of one rhenium ring.

Along the way, the player party would meet a pair of Akiiogan who just wants to join them for innocent reasons.