Tales of Ichnoûssa

# Tales of Ichnoûssa This is the world of Ichnoûssa, and these are its laws. What follows describes the nature of the islands, how their people live, and how things change with the passage of time: every word serves as a rule of this world, and the narrative and profiles always adhere to them. Nuragic Sardinia and Torrean Corsica, circa 750 B.C., between the end of the Bronze Age and the dawn of the Iron Age. A world of stone towers, bronze, and maritime trade. Every organized settlement is an autonomous political community with its own form of government: family assemblies, chiefs, elders, ritual custodians, or merchant groups. The great nuragic complexes hold prestige and have agreements with neighboring villages, but do not rule over them. In the north of Gallura, overlooking the Strait of Bonifacio, lives a mixed population of Nuragic and Torrean descent, bound by ancient ties to the other shore. The strait between the islands is short but depends on the wind. Beyond the settlements with profiles, there exist smaller villages and scattered families that may appear in the narrative. **The world around.** Occasionally, without a fixed frequency, historical or plausible events for the era occur off-map (never involving kingdoms, cities, or peoples not yet in existence) across the Mediterranean: Southern Gaul, the eastern Iberian and Balearic coasts, North Africa from modern-day Morocco to Egypt, the Near East, Anatolia, Greece and the Balkans, and the Italian peninsula. These may or may not affect Trade and routes; on the islands, news of these events arrives only with the docking of ships—often delayed and sometimes distorted. **Wealth and trade.** There is no minted currency. Value is measured by the weight of metal (ingots of copper, bronze, hoarded fragments; the Phoenicians use silver by weight) and livestock, while daily goods are bartered directly. Gifts and hospitality accompany every deal. Tin, necessary for bronze, is not found on the islands: it is brought by Iberian and Phoenician merchants and enters primarily through Sulki and Nora; newer ports can grow into centers for this trade. When overseas traffic is Intense, the wealth and influence of those controlling the trade grow, and more tin arrives; when it is Saturated, the value of imported goods and the wealth of the merchants collapse; when it is Rare or Absent, tin and foreign goods are scarce, bronze production slows, and the Phoenician outposts weaken. **The seasons.** Winter swells the fords, makes mountain passes difficult, and closes the sea; summer brings heat and little water to the plains; spring and autumn are the times for sowing, harvesting, and transhumance. At the beginning of this story, Corsica has no cultivated vines or olive trees, and none of the islands possess pomegranates: these arrive only after stable contacts with the Phoenicians or Greeks. **The foreigners.** Recently, Phoenician merchants have established themselves in small harbors along the southern and western Sardinian coasts: Sulki, the oldest and known even overseas; the port of Nora, frequented for some time; and the younger ones—Karaly, Bitia, Tharros, and Othoca. They depend on their neighbors for food, water, and security; they seek metals (silver, lead, copper), grain, livestock, and local products, offering fine ceramics, wine, ointments, scented oils, purple fabrics, ivory, and amber. Neighboring communities are often divided between those seeking such exchanges and those fearing the loss of land, youth, and autonomy. On the Sardinian and Corsican coasts, new Phoenician settlements may arise, not necessarily for trade: villages of fishermen, farmers, or families from the colonies, led by Elders, Families, a Council, or Chiefs rather than Merchants. In Corsica, these are rarer and emerge only after regular contact with the Phoenicians. **War.** Wars are primarily cattle raids, vendettas, and skirmishes between small groups. Expeditions are short-lived, as the combatants must return for harvests and grazing. **The sacred.** Holy springs and wells, giants' tombs, and sanctuaries are meeting places where even rival communities gather for feasts and rites. The supernatural is rare and ambiguous: dreams, omens, voices of ancestors, and places that seem to respond. Within communities, individual or collective rites, feasts, and ceremonies take place, which may occur during play without fixed rules: seasonal festivals at shrines, oaths taken by sacred waters, offerings of bronze statuettes and food, communal banquets, vigils and sleeping at ancestral tombs, and rites of passage, departure, and return. **Known places.** Some locations hold a particular reputation beyond how far they are known. Mont'e Prama: revered and feared, a necropolis of heroes watched over by stone statues of warriors. Sa Sedda 'e sos Carros: revered, a sanctuary of water and bronze offerings. The holy well of Paulìli: revered, its water heals and judges. The giants' tomb of Coddu Vecchiu: ancient and feared, it is said that the Gentiles rest there. Sulki: a port known to merchants across the entire sea. Nora: the stele inscribed by the Phoenicians makes it a place widely discussed. Monte d'Accoddi: feared and ancient, a great terraced altar built by peoples who vanished long before the nuraghi and now lies in ruins; it is said that the Gentiles climbed it to speak with the sky. Tiscali: mysterious, a hidden village within a sinkhole in the Supramonte, reachable only by paths known to few; a refuge for those who need to disappear. The sanctuary of Serri: revered, a large sanctuary on the Giara di Serri with a holy well and a festive enclosure, where people from across the island gather for rites, trade, and truces. The Domus de Janas of Priu: inhabited by creatures, great tombs carved into the rock by the first inhabitants of the island, homes of the Janas; those who enter without respect risk never finding their way out. Tamuli: revered, giants' tombs with six baetyli, three of which have carved breasts; people go there to seek children and fertility for flocks and fields. I Stantari: revered and feared, rows of stone warriors armed with swords that the Corsicans call "the petrified ones"; it is said that they were once men. Capu Tafunatu: cursed, the pierced mountain of the Niolo; it is said that an evil spirit, mocked by a shepherd, threw its hammer through the rock. Lake Ninu: inhabited by creatures, a high mountain lake from which the Tavignano rises, home to the Fates of the fountains; in the mists, one can hear the wailing of the Lagramanti. The same applies to generated locations: the character of their fame (revered, feared, cursed, inhabited by a creature) is recounted through the narrative. **Places born of history.** Over time, history leaves new marks on the map, and each follows its own law. - An **abandoned settlement** remains without inhabitants: year after year, its Condition and Fame fade until they become Ruined and Unknown. If someone returns to live there, it becomes inhabited again, and a new Government is born. - A **hideout** is the secret base of a Gang, located in a cave, in a forest, or among ruins. As long as no one discovers it, it remains off the map, and its location is written only in the Gang's description; it appears in the correct cell when someone discovers it in the story or when its Fame reaches Local, and from then on, its Fame never drops below Local. If destroyed, it disappears; if abandoned by the Gang, it becomes Ruined. The Gang of a hidden hideout also exists off-map: it only reveals itself while acting (a raid, an ambush, a negotiation) and for a short time after, then returns to hiding; it remains permanently on the map when its hideout is discovered. If the player leads the Gang, the Gang and hideout are always visible to them, while others know of them only according to their Fame. The Limbàra Hideout is an exception: in Gallura, everyone knows who lives there and where it is, but the mountains make it difficult to reach, and Bachisor and the Brothers of the Limbàra always remain on the map. - A **wreck** is a ship stranded on the coast: the sea consumes it, and its Condition decreases every year; the cargo can be recovered only once, and when nothing remains, the wreck disappears. - A **camp** is the temporary bivouac of a caravan, an expedition, or a host, and it disappears when the Group moves on. - A **battlefield** remains after a major clash, with its tombs and memory; its Fame is that of the battle itself. - A **toll** is a ford, a mountain pass, or a river mouth where the one who controls it collects duties on goods: it generates Wealth for its holder, and an Insidious cell empties it. **Refugees and migrants.** Those who leave their land travel as a Group of Refugees or Families in migration and cease to exist as a group as soon as they settle: they join a settlement or found a new one, with its own Government. If no one takes them in for a long time, they may turn to raiding and become a Gang. **Game Goods.** Island goods always bear these names, and no others. Raw Materials (Cell Resources): Fish, Shellfish, Cattle, Sheep, Pigs, Wheat, Barley, Spelt, Broad beans, Lentils, Peas, Flax, Grapes, Olives, Figs, Pomegranates, Honey, Timber, Salt, Obsidian, Copper, Lead, Silver, Clay, Building stone. Finished Products (Settlement Production) and supply chains: Fish → Dried fish; Fish + Salt → Preserved fish; Shellfish → Tyrian purple (only with Phoenician artisans); Sheep → Wool, Cheese, Hides and leather, Preserved meat; Wool → Wool textiles; Cattle → Cheese, Hides and leather, Preserved meat; Pigs → Preserved meat (salted, dried, or cured; salted only with Salt); Wheat, Barley, Spelt → Flour, Bread and hardtack (also from Flour); Flax → Linen textiles, Nets and ropes; Wool or linen textiles, Hides and leather → Clothing; Grapes → Wine; Olives → Olive oil; Figs → Dried figs; Honey → Wax; Timber → Boats, Wooden furniture and objects, Charcoal; Obsidian → Obsidian blades; Copper + Tin → Bronze, Bronze tools, Bronze weapons, Votive bronzes; Lead → Silver, Lead objects; Clay → Ceramics, Amphorae; Building stone → Millstones. Those who perform a step further along the supply chain (e.g., Wool textiles) start directly from the cell's raw material (Sheep). Broad beans, Lentils, Peas, and Pomegranates are sold as is. Bronze and iron do not form other supply chains. Rare bronze armor, mostly Etruscan or Greek; on the islands, studded leather protection is used; iron armor does not exist. Overseas goods, always «(imported)»: Tin, Iron, Iron tools, Iron weapons, Bronze armor, Ceramics [culture], Wine [culture], Ointments, Scented oil, Purple textiles, Ivory, Amber; foreign ceramics and wine carry the adjective of origin (Phoenician ceramics, Greek wine). **Orientation.** Sardinia: Gallura in the northeast; Nurra (Sassari, Porto Torres, Stintino) and Alghero in the northwest; Bosa and Montiferru to the west; Sinis and the Gulf of Oristano in the center-west; Iglesiente and Sulcis in the southwest; Campidano and Cagliari in the south; Sarrabus in the southeast; Ogliastra to the east; Barbagia and Supramonte in the center and center-east; Marmilla and Giara in the center-south. West coast from north to south: Stintino, Alghero, Bosa, Oristano, Sulcis; east coast from north to south: Gallura, Posada, Orosei, Ogliastra, Sarrabus. Corsica: Cap Corse in the north; Balagne in the northwest; Ajaccio to the west; Alta Rocca and Bonifacio in the south; eastern plain to the east. The Strait of Bonifacio separates Gallura and Corsica. **Age.** Every person has a birth year, and their age is determined by the game date. Children and youths help their families and learn a trade (In training); by age fifteen, one is considered an adult, marries, and takes up arms. Full vigor lasts until about forty; then experience and Authority grow, but one tires more easily, heals more slowly, and illnesses weigh more heavily. Few surpass sixty: the elderly are respected as the memory of the community. In old age, one can die of natural causes, passing through Seriously ill and Near death, not suddenly. **Slavery.** Phoenicians and Greeks buy and sell slaves; on the islands, prisoners of raids and wars may be kept for labor or sold to foreign merchants. One becomes a slave by being taken in raids and wars, kidnapped or bought by merchants, or through debt. One returns to freedom through a ransom, a decision by the master, adoption into the community, or a successful escape: those who flee remain slaves in the eyes of their master until they find protection elsewhere. A trusted slave may be heard by their master but has no possessions or voice of their own in the community. When a master keeps many prisoners together (a work crew, a ship's cargo), they form a Group with the Slave function: their Forces indicate how many they are, but they are never armed; their Cohesion is the solidarity that binds them, and thus the risk of escape or revolt; they have no Competence. They can form a faction of people to free themselves. If their leader is separated from the others, they become a Character and can return to the Group. The Group dissolves when they are divided, sold one by one, or freed, or when the agreed-upon servitude ends (for example, three years of labor), which is noted in its description. **Forces and Battles.** The impact of a clash is measured by the ratio between losses and initial Forces (the central value of the range) and falls upon the Government that dispatched the men: below 10%, clear victory = Authority +1, defeat = no decline; 10-30%, costly victory = Cohesion -1, defeat = Authority -1; 30-50%, pyrrhic victory = Cohesion -1 and the Group drops one bracket, severe defeat = Authority -1 and Cohesion -1; over 50%, victory = Authority -1 and Cohesion -1, rout = Authority -2 and Cohesion -2. Beyond 50%, the probability that the Group dissolves due to desertion or annihilation increases with losses; at 100%, it switches to Dead Health and is eliminated. Health adjusts to the outcome, regardless of losses: a Group may be In good health after losing many men. Losses weigh on the Inhabitants at the annual update; men long away from the settlement weigh on its Wealth. **Creatures and Wonders.** Beings that may be encountered rarely, never with certainty, in the places to which they are bound. They remain presences in the narrative: they are neither characters nor locations. - **Battòrogu** ("four eyes"): the demon-hero of the sanctuary bronzes, a warrior with four eyes, four arms, and two shields. With his eyes, he sees in every direction and no one catches him by surprise. He watches over sacred places: he appears in dreams, visions, or as an armed figure at the edge of one's vision, protecting those who come in peace and punishing those who bring violence or sacrilege. Sanctuaries and sacred places. - **Gentiles**: ancient giants who lived before the men of today, who lifted the boulders of the first nuraghes and rest in the giants' tombs. They are glimpsed in the fog as enormous silhouettes, their footsteps are heard, or one finds bones and tools that are too large; whoever desecrates their tombs invites misfortune. Ancient nuraghes, giants' tombs. - **Talos**: a bronze giant who, foreign sailors recount, came to the island and killed many Sardinians by crushing them to himself after heating up in the fire, before going to Crete. He appears only in the tales of foreigners, along the coasts and at the landing sites. - **Waters of Oaths**: sacred springs that heal ailments and act as judges: whoever swears a false oath or denies a theft loses their sight, while the innocent emerges unscathed. They are used to resolve accusations and disputes. Sacred springs and wells. - **Sardinian Herb**: a poisonous herb of wetlands; those who eat it die with their face contorted in a grin, the "sardonic grin." It can poison by accident, by someone's hand, or as a punishment. Marshes and riverbanks. - **Janas**: small women who inhabit caves and tombs carved into the rock, where they weave on golden looms, bake bread, and guard riches. They fear the light of day and emerge at night; they are generous and bestow gifts upon those who respect them, but can be cruel to those who offend them. The **Mala janas** (Evil Janas) are malicious and kidnap children; their queen, **Jana Maista**, feeds on blood. Domus de janas, caves. - **Musca Macedda**: an enormous, poisonous fly, as big as an ox's head, kept to guard buried treasures. It is said that next to the treasure vase there is an identical one that imprisons it: whoever opens the wrong one frees it, and its sting exterminates people and flocks. Ruins and hideouts. - **Maschinganna**: a mischievous sprite who changes appearance and deceives travelers, causes them to lose their way, hides objects, and scatters flocks. It can also guard treasures and reveal them to those who treat it with cunning or kindness. Woods and ruins. - **Panas**: spirits of women who died in childbirth, who wash the clothes of their childbirth at rivers at night and must do so for years before finding peace. Those who interrupt them or splash them force them to start over and draw their wrath. Rivers, fords, springs. - **Maria Farranca** (or Mama 'e funtana): a being that lives at the bottom of wells and springs and grabs those who lean over, especially children, with long arms, dragging them underwater. Wells and springs. - **Erchitu**: a man who, due to a grave fault, is condemned to transform at night into a white bull with steel horns. He wanders, bellowing through the countryside, and stops in front of houses where someone will die; it is said that those who manage to tear off his horns free him from his curse. Countryside and pastures. - **Scultone**: a serpent similar to a basilisk, hidden in caves and arid places, which kills anyone who sees it first with a single glance. One avoids it and fears it, and only cunning allows one to face it. Caves and arid places. - **Kaddos birdes**: horses with green coats, beautiful and extremely rare, almost impossible to capture. Whoever possesses one gains fame and envy: it is said they have ignited wars between communities. Plateaus and pastures. - **Bruxas**: seductive and wild witches who live on the fringes of villages, experts in herbs, potions, and hexes. They can heal, cause people to fall in love, or cast the evil eye, and they always demand a price. Villages and woods. - **Pundacciu**: a sprite with seven caps who sits on the chest of a sleeper at night and oppresses them, making sleep heavy. It is said that those who manage to steal a cap from him receive the revelation of a treasure in return. Everywhere, in sleep. - **Pascifera**: guardian of woodland game. It misleads, frightens, and punishes violent or greedy hunters who kill without necessity or respect; it blesses those who hunt with moderation, making their hunt favorable. Woods and hunting grounds. In Corsica, it is also said: - **Lagramanti**: spirits of the mist that no one has ever seen. On foggy nights, they lure travelers toward marshes and ponds with wails similar to weeping, or press them with sudden screams until they fall into a stream or ravine. Those who know the path and do not follow the voices are saved. Corsica: mountain mists, marshes, streams. - **Mortuloni**: wandering souls of the restless dead who roam with the Lagramanti. They seize those walking alone at night on deserted paths and drag them away, or leave them exhausted and mute until dawn. Corsica: isolated paths, at night. - **Fate di e funtane**: Spirits of clean water inhabiting wells, springs, and caves. Those who bring them offerings of grain or leave a stone by the spring receive prosperity for themselves and their village; they reward the generous and honest and punish the greedy and those who break a pact with them. It is told of a fisherman who married a fairy caught in his nets and, having broken his promise, lost his male lineage forever. Seeing one is rare. Corsica: fountains, springs, water caves. - **Sarpulionu**: An enormous serpent, sometimes with seven heads, living in caves and crevices, guarding treasures or blocking the way to a spring. It emerges to devour flocks and men; it is overcome by cunning rather than force. Corsica: caves and wild mountain places. - **Streia**: A witch who at night enters homes through cracks and keyholes, often in the form of a weasel, and drinks the blood of newborns in their cradles. By day she may look like any ordinary village woman. People protect themselves by keeping fires lit on the doorstep and watching over cradles. Corsica: villages, by night.