DRYH: Ashes of Gods - Setting Details
MAJOR NIGHTMARES
The Raven King - Pain 12 (15 when using Voice)
The Raven King is an old Nightmare. And once ruled the Mad City completely before the Red Queen and Mistress When toppled his reign and stole his power. At a distance the Raven King is a mere silhouette of a lanky man in a long coat with a raven's head and eyes that glow a terrible sickly green.
The presence of any of the Awakened too near him reveal his true form, all flesh falling away like shadow leaving a blackened skeleton that is mostly human, with a raven's skull and taloned hands and feet.
The Raven King does not speak directly to anyone. It is said his voice is death to any who hear it [Pain 15]
The Fool is the Raven King's loyal Lieutenant.
The Blood Queen - Pain 3/6/9/ (by Watch)
The Blood Queen is first and foremost the Nightmare to Nightmares.
In all her incarnations she appears as a bloodsoaked female. In the First Watch [from the first through the fourth hour] she manifests as a little girl [Pain 3]. In the Middle Watch [from the fifth through the eighth hour] she manifests as a stately woman [Pain 6]. In the Last Watch [from the ninth through the twelfth hour] she manifests as a gnarled crone with jagged nails and teeth [Pain 9]. No one even whispers about what she becomes during the Thirteenth Hour or what Pain she brings then.
Special: The Pain Rating of Nightmares who come within sight of the Blood Queen drops two points and remains reduced while in her presence. Only the Raven King and Mistress When, (and perhaps the Keeper) are known to be immune to this effect. Inklings, for whatever reason, add one pain to their rating in her presence and tend to congregate near her unless ordered to do otherwise.
Mistress When - Pain 10
Mistress When is a striking beauty whose features match the expectations of whoever gazes upon her. Considering her position, most expect exquisite. And Mistress When is nothing if not exquisite. It is said her long war with the Raven King began with his visit to her Tower in the early days of his reign. Mistress When expected to gain influence and power at that visit, but when he entered, her beautiful body began to seep and sag, what was supple and soft turning into something flaccid and rough, a putrid bag of black and rotting flesh. Reportedly, she screamed blood, demanding if this was the form he expected.
To her horror, he simply replied that he had come without expectations. Then he turned and walked away, the implication hanging in the air like judgement.
It is rumored that Mistress When cursed his voice with the spectre of death that day in retribution.
That she allied with the Blood Queen to Unmake the Raven King is more than mere rumor, though her success was not as complete as she once imagined.
The Wretched are Mistress When's faithful Lieutenants and the Menagerie are hers to command and contract as she pleases.
The Keeper - Pain 8
The Keeper is a hulking black figure with eyes like embers and the skeletal head and horns and hooves of a great bull. Brands tattoo every inch of his hide, glowing and fading like red-orange coals, echoing the Keeper's every breath.
The Keeper bears no weapons, and for all that his form takes on the vital aspects of a great bull, he has never been known to trample or gore. A confrontation with the Keeper is a confrontation of subtlety and magics. Whispers of the mind, a snort of breath, a flick of his fingers; the elements of earth and ice and fire are the Keeper's to command.
Special: When the Mad City is close enough to the City Slumbering to produce Labyrinth, the Keeper is able to come and go between them without need of the Portals and Ways.
The Hartshorn are the Keeper's sworn Lieutenants.
Haggler King - Pain 6/1
The Haggler King is the uncontested Lord of the Bizarre Bazaar. Nothing is bought or sold in his Bazaar that he has not approved it. The Haggler King manifests as a bearded, turbaned old man with weathered skin and gold rings on every finger and hanging from his ears. His eyes have been torn from his skull and his mouth is stitched shut.
In his right palm is set a single darting eye and in his left a mouth with a forked tongue full of vicious pointed teeth.
Within his demesne the Haggler King wields considerable Pain. Outside the Bazaar he commands only Pain 1.
Cat O' Nine - Pain 9 (- special)
Towering head and shoulders over his Lieutenants, Cat O'Nine has the upright posture and form of a large man with the head, claws, and tail of a great cat. He is a monster of red fur and mangling scars, his left ear and eye long ago ripped away and his tail bobbed. He wears a vest and trousers and a bowler hat cocked down over his scars and wields a roman style scourge of nine braided whips of human skin tipped and studded with bone and iron hooks.
Nine Lives: Defeating Cat O'Nine doesn't necessarily take him out of the fight. When defeated, subtract 1 from his total Pain rating for each character who had a hand in his defeat. He can immediately force another confrontation at his new Pain rating if he chooses, but he will never willingly risk dropping to Pain 0.
The Catspaw are Cat O' Nine's to command.
The Traveler - Pain 5
The Traveler is a towering wraith of a figure, indistinct and uncertain, sometimes made of mist, others of mere shadow, others of nothing at all. It is rumored that the Traveler is the bit of the Raven King that he left behind when he fled Mistress When and the Blood Queen. That the Traveler is the straw man they 'killed' when they thought they were slaughtering the Raven King himself, and with the Raven King's return this wispy bit of himself is awakening again, this time independent and aware on its own.
It is believed that the random patterns of the Wisps can be commanded and controlled by the Traveler.
Special: The Traveler carries with him a bone staff as tall as himself. Unlike the Traveler, the staff is incredibly solid, ringing against stone and pavement and earth like an iron bell. It is believed that this artifact is the last craft of the Five Smiths and that it grants the Traveler his autonomy from the Raven King.
NIGHTMARE LIEUTENANTS
The Fool - Pain 5
The Fool is a thin androgynous figure in black and white motley and an oval mask, half black, half white with only a bare rectangular slit for each eye and the mouth. The Fool does not speak, but can communicate quite fluidly through pantomime. In certain light, with certain movements, the observer would swear the Fool to be a lean young man under that mask, while in other light with certain other movements, the observer would be equally certain the mask hides a slim young girl.
The Fool is the Raven King's primary means of communicating directly with the Awake when he wishes, though the Fool will often set forth on its own agenda as well.
The Wretched - Pain 3
The Wretched are women of the Menagerie who have grown beyond their station to become Mistress When's Lieutenants. The Wretched always manifest as gaunt women in proper modest garb with their lower jaws ripped away and black blood constantly seeping out of the wound that remains. All animalistic aspects from their time in the Menagerie are gone, but a twinkle of mad lust and invitation remains in their eyes.
The Jack
Ladies in Hating - per DRYH
Hound Master - as per Huntsman RK except lean black man with face painted as skull, top hat, shirtless, black waistcoat w/tails.
Old Scratch
Catspaw - as per RK
The Hartshorn - as per RKish
Techno Babblers - weird radio shack cyborg gangs
MINOR NIGHTMARES
Urchins - Gas Mask Faced kids in wartime period garb, England WW1. Minor Nightmares
Raggle Taggle Hagglers - Nightmare Hagglers as RK
Scampers - as per RK
The Menagerie - as per RK
Black Dogs - Massive black hounds
Willow Women - as per RK
Barnacle Boys - as per RK
Plaguerats - as per RK but rattier, less hominid
Leaping Lepers - as per RK
Hermit - as per RKish
Gibbering Prophet - as per RK
The Rag Girls - Molly Rags of RK
Inklings - as per RKish
DENIZENS
Hagglers - Denizens of the Bizarre Bazaar
Cogs - as per RK
The Eyeless (wax king esque)
The Fallen Legion - as per RK soldiers, gang members, etc
OTHER
Clockwork Insects
Wisps - as per RKish
The Nethsers - places where the Mad City bleeds over into the City Slumbering wholesale
The Bizarre Bazaar - as per DRYH/RK
The Labyrinth - an overlay of confusion when the Mad City is close to the surface of the City Slumbering
