Brock Savage wrote:

In Colin Chapman's useful AS&SH Name Generator, he writes "Of the great Hyperborean families of antiquity, only sixteen remain, hotbeds of intrigue and rivalry, tenuously united only by their sense of superiority to the sub-men." That sparked my imagination as I was campaign-building and I decided to flesh out House Vheez for the needs of my players characters. Has anyone else developed the Hyperborean families? 

House Vheez. Driven low by a series of calamitous events over successive generations including, but not limited to, madness, loss at sea, daemonic possession, duels and lotus overdose, House Vheez is currently the least influential and poorest family of the Great Sixteen. For reasons of ancient custom and modern politics too tedious to elaborate upon, the only way to restore the family fortune is through strategic marriage or a massive influx of wealth. Consequentially, enterprising young members of House Vheez gravitate towards adventuring careers. 

Since they have the least to lose, House Vheez deviates from tradition more than any other family (e.g. they will cooperate with the "lesser races" if need be) but appear as hidebound and eccentric as the rest of their race to outsiders. The family is aristocratic, eccentric, macabre, erudite, and exceedingly proud even in decline. 

DM Notes: House Vheez was designed specifically for the needs of player characters. A cash-poor but noble PC adds legitimacy to a common murder-hobo band while being highly motivated to adventure for money. A Hyperborean hailing from a lower-status family doesn’t stretch credulity when they adventure with the "lesser races" as equals out of necessity. The family offers information and adventure hooks in exchange for cash. I imagine them somewhat like a Hyperborean Addams Family.

I agree. Though I have never had a Hyperborean Character in my game I have often pondered the reasons for their leaving the relative comfort of home and going on adventure.

I had always assumed that those of an adventuring bent would soon grow weary of the endless bouts of Lotus induced dreaming and other lascivious living to see the places over which their peoples once held sway.  This meant giving up the protection of the broken towers and shadowy vaults that hold hoarded wealth and ancient secrets. The urge to see those places that were made great by their people in ancient times and perhaps find hope for the Hyperborean race would be a strong magnet indeed!

Ghul wrote:

This house in particular has the most published links to exploit, Brock

To be perfectly honest Ghul, that's why I chose Vheez. I'm not half as creative as I appear to be and it's much easier to build off existing NPCs. Based on existing material, I concluded that the leadership of House Vheez has a history of calamitous events and it went from there...

Last edited by Brock Savage (5/28/2018 3:42 pm)