Tharkold sourcebook extended review notes

 



I should start out by saying I'm probably holding this, and other Torg Eternity cosm sourcebooks, to a rather unfair standard .. the torg eternity writers raised the bar so high with the excellent Orrosh and Living Land sourcebooks that I feel like giving this a "5" rating would mean I liked this as much as those two other cosm sourcebooks which, unfortunately, is not the case here.  And when you read my comments below you may feel like I'm telling you not to buy the book despite the "4 out of 5" rating I gave it.  That is absolutely not the case.. while I would argue a GM has his/her/their work cut out for them in order to drive home the "mad max Apocalypse" feeling that a Tharkold adventure is supposed to convey, a GM who's willing to put in the work can make it happen either though their ability to "off the cuff" come up with interesting but doomed NPC's that elicit sympathy from the players or for GM's who don't have that kind of spontaneity, writing up a number of suitable NPC's in advance that can be dropped into a Tharkold adventure at a moment's notice.  


Obviously players may grow tired of watching one NPC after another they've grown to care for die off and if I was the GM  in this situation I would warn the players in advance, and again every time one of their beloved NPC friends they've become invested in dies, that this is meant to drive home that the Tharkold cosm is the closest to "hell on Earth", perhaps even more so than the Orrosh cosm.   The Gaunt Man (high lord of Orrosh) is smart enough to know that having practically all of your loved ones doomed to death all the freaking time will numb the denizens of Orrosh to the point where it becomes more difficult to provoke the fear response the Gaunt Man is hoping for as emotionally numb and broken citizens shrug their shoulders and learn not to care about anybody.. whereupon in Tharkold this is, sadly, I would argue the response of the average hapless Earth citizen subjected to the horrors described in the Tharkold cosm sourcebook under cyberdemon rule.. emphasis on demon or as the Tharkold sourcebook describes them, the literal walking embodiment of evil.   


The book is careful to describe members of Tharkold's version of humanity from the Tharkold cosm.. the Race.. as focusing on the bonds of love and friendship as weapons to be used against their cyber-demon rulers (not surprisingly the majority of demons can't seem to grasp this concept although the book does have some interesting examples of "corrupted" cyber demons who have found themselves actually starting to care in a way similar to the human thralls they subjugate .. and who obviously would be executed on the spot by their fellow cyber-demons should this be found out).   While I see where the writers are going with this, I would personally play members of the Race as "brutally resigned" to death, maiming, suffering and other horrors in a way that shocks and discomforts the player characters , said Race members shrugging their shoulders and simply saying it's the way of life in the Tharkold cosm.   Of course the Race members are also capable of fierce ties of love and friendship but I would portray them as putting EVERYTHING into said ties while the object of their affection is still alive, living for the moment since they are grimly certain tomorrow will bring death.    This could make for an interesting PC concept although you'd want to have a frank discussion with the players as to whether or not this is going to cause real life conflict when the "soft" non-tharkold cosm PC's start arguing with the PC Race member from the Tharkold cosm.   


Out of all the cosm sourcebooks the tharkold entry is definitely the darkest in nature to the point where it comes with an explicit content warning.. there's certainly a lot of potential here to be sure but at the risk of sounding like a broken record the Tharkold entry suffers from the same weakness the Aysle and Nile Empire sourcebooks do in terms of needing more source material particularly in the warzones section to properly capture the flavor and "feel" of the cosm.. though honestly after having read through both the Aysle and the Nile Empire sourcebooks and having read the accompanying mega length adventures Revenge of the Corredon and the Fires of Ra, I find those books in combination with their mega length adventures did a good job of bringing their respective cosms to life..the same observation applies to the tharkold sourcebook as well, "blood on the blasted sands" should be seen as a companion piece to the tharkold sourcebook particularly for the two final chapters that give a more in depth look at things left out of the tharkold cosm sourcebook.


And I'm not saying " don't buy this" by any means either... there's a lot to love in this sourcebook and as I've been arguing all along in order to fully enjoy your torg eternity campaign you need to purchase all the cosm sourcebooks to really bring your torg eternity campaign to life.    I do find however that I tend to enjoy even the smaller adventures say from delphi council rising storm set in Aysle or the Nile Empire more so than I do adventures set in Tharkold ... I think the big problem is that Tharkold does it's best to create an even darker, more dystopian sort of "Mad Max" movie... but in order to really drive that home you need to actually care about the poor innocents that are being victimized in order to drive home just how dark and depraved the realm is... I would argue that the torg eternity writers are also hampered by their tendency to stick to "PG" ratings for a collection of adventures like those found in say delphi council rising storm or even the pay what you want torg eternity day one adventures...


.... the tharkold sourcebook states in it's "graphic advisory" warning on page 5 that quote "Tharkold is a reality where very bad things happen to good people. Acts and situations described in this book may trigger those who suffer from trauma caused by sexual assault, torture, slavery, and violence.".. but then it leaves those elements out of the tharkold published adventures that I've seen so far.. 


....and absolutely if you have female players at the gaming table (or even male players uncomfortable with this sort of thing)  I can see how you'd want to leave the sexual assault part out of adventures ---


(I'm not trying to sound male chauvinistic here and by all means if you have an outraged female reader who reads what I just said and feels like she's not going to be "triggered" by depictions of sexual assault in an adventure and the gaming group agrees that's what everyone wants fine though I would still adamantly argue the female player's PC should never be the victim of such, limiting it to both male and female NPC's instead in the game... however it's my understanding that given the real life concerns a lot of women, unfortunately, have as far as the fear of sexual assault in their day to day life .. going off my real life conversations with female friends here, yes, sadly enough this is something a lot of women are still afraid of to the point where they feel like they need to be careful going into certain situations a male wouldn't think twice about venturing into ... that being confronted with it at the gaming table that is supposed to be their fun "escape from reality" so to speak definitely has the potential to be uncomfortable for a lot of women...  I know there are those who would read what I just wrote and argue that we do see in certain fictional works among movies, TV shows and books a definitely female-empowerment (or an attempt at such at least) point of view where a woman is the victim of such and gets brutal revenge on her attacker through violent means ...I find myself reluctantly admitting that as long as this is the kind of "happens to an NPC" plot-line a female player absolutely, positively makes clear that she wants in the game and she doesn't feel like she "has" to say yes to please the other players at the gaming table then MAYBE you could include adventures like that where this sort of thing happens to an NPC whether male or female, I would still argue never a PC.... even then I would still argue you should be very careful here, male and female players alike can and will tend to do what they feel "is best for the group" even if it makes them personally uncomfortable only to drop out of the game entirely later on when their comfort threshold is overreached.. in short have a very frank and open discussion with your players before you even think about incorporating this sort of thing into your campaign as a GM and remind the players, repeatedly, you want brutal honesty as far as what makes them uncomfortable not what the player thinks is "for the good of the gaming group") 


--- I would argue the torture and slavery part can and should make far more of an appearance in published tharkold adventures than what I've seen so far from the torg eternity writers.. if you're going to make a cosm sourcebook this dark in nature you need to have the courage to write adventures that back that theme up.    


Tharkold is also described as a "techno horror" realm but honestly it doesn't drive home the "fear factor" to me either in the same way that say the Orrosh sourcebook (an excellent read and well worth your money go buy it now if you haven't already) does perhaps because the Orrosh sourcebook does such a good job at focusing on the horror tropes we're all so familiar with from movies, books and TV shows and incorporating them into the orrosh realm on earth.. Tharkold finds itself split between horror and the "mad max dystopian future" setting to the point where something that could be very intriguing tends to feel more like a realm having a personality conflict with itself.


Again there's a lot to like in this book and if a GM has the time and inclination to write up their own horror based blood soaked dark grim and hopeless adventures that the torg eternity team seems to balk at writing then you could have some really great tharkold adventures to run.. the torg infiniverse license is a brilliant move on the part of the torg eternity team that allows persons who are not technically part of the torg eternity group of writers to write and publish their own torg eternity material and hopefully someone will use this opportunity to write up "dark" adventures suitable to Tharkold.. I think the big problem here is that most writers of RPG's are afraid to go that "dark" , the white wolf (former owners as well as the creators of the vampire the masquerade role playing game) black dog series of books (the giovanni chronicles and clanbook baali come to mind) writers were the only ones with the guts to write "dark" adventures of this nature, not surprising given the dark nature of vampire to begin with (you're playing a bloodsucking monster trying to hold onto the last vestiges of your humanity before you finally give in to the darkness within).   


Having said all that the introductory text to this book is the finest I've ever read in any of the torg eternity books and truly drives home the nature of the tharkold realm.. the "welcome to tharkold" section does a good job of how tharkold's "master and servant, dominated and dominator" reality works resulting in a truly grim, dark realm where everyone does their best to find and victimize someone else who's weaker... given the depiction of Russia as a cold, dark, grim place in western media (no idea if that's true or not in real life I'm guessing Hollywood takes at least some dramatic license with it) for a Western reader like me that makes Tharkold a good "fit" for Russia.   Certainly the real life history of Russia definitely makes it seem like a grim and dark place in comparison to "luckier" countries who haven't suffered from one harsh regime change after another.  


Also interesting is how Volkov has taken advantage of the higher tech axiom now present in Russia  due to Tharkold's influence to distract the citizens through the use of virtual reality video games as well as using the law of dominance world law to foster public interest in literal death matches broadcast on the television and internet alike between unfortunate political prisoners or others who have fallen on Volkov's bad side and the various abominations and techno horrors now found in Russia.  


 Also interesting is Volkov's access to and use of tech 25 weapons, armor and military vehicles.. the book doesn't explicitly state this but I find myself wondering if Volkov is making use of say the autocad devices described in the "gear" section to generate this tharkold tech level equipment and it would have been nice if the writers had gone into a bit more detail here.   Still the sight of Volkov's Russian soldiers armed with say the obvious energy "laser" weapons that are the alph pulverizers and alph sprayers from page 155 of the torg eternity core rulebook or the other alph weapons from this tharkold sourcebook not to mention the howler grenade (which causes supernatural fear wherever it lands and explodes) would make it blatantly clear to anyone that Volkov now has access to higher tech weapons than what's normally found on core earth.   Page 130 of the tharkold sourcebook mentions "protector" category Russian soldiers have alph energy weapons and diffrax armor and page 71  mentions the also tharkold tech  digan specters   drones (page 71)  that volkov uses but I'm guessing Volkov could get a hold of other tharkoldu weapons and armor .. the question is if Volkov can discover how to implant his soldiers with "cleansed" occulttech given the capacity for this already exists as described in the torg eternity core rules and the tharkold sourcebook (they're not listed as having occulttech implants in the book but I'm guessing it would be a matter of time?  still it would have been nice for the writers to address this in particular).. related to this are the stats for the "special forces" highly trained SSO operatives found in blood on the blasted lands who also use tharkold alph energy weapons and diffrax armor.


The war between the three leaders all vying for control of the Tharkold realm on Earth... Jezrael, Thratchen and the turncoat (though he's carefully cultivated a public image of the opposite, the only "truly capable resistance leader against the dimensional invaders" in Russia) Russian president Volkov .. is very interesting and again while I haven't purchased the Blood on the Blasted Lands Tharkold mega-adventure I do see from the capsule summary of it that the PC's play a direct role in the war between the three factions so I'm going to be very interested in reading that (and will write a review of it when I get around to purchasing it as a birthday present for myself :)    ) .. 

(edit and update.. my bad, I published my review of Blood on the Blasted Lands BEFORE publishing the review of the Tharkold sourcebook itself, boneheaded move on my part.. see also my review of Blood on the Blasted Land if you like, which I enjoyed reading and would argue is definitely worth the purchase price especially given that the Torg Eternity price has discounted it's price below that of the other Torg Eternity mega adventure length adventures) 

...the revelation that Volkov in a truly turncoat move is planting stelae and is actively courting Tharkold's darkness device to become the new high lord of Tharkold is particularly interesting though I do find it confusing as to exactly where and how Volkov is planting the stelae aside from the book's statement that he's planted stelae in Poland, now conquered by Russia.. the book does mention that Volkov seems bent on conquering countries adjacent to Russia to the point where some are wondering why he isn't spending more time resisting Tharkold invaders in Russia so it would appear Volkov is intent on planting stelae in the other countries he's invading as well and indeed if you look at the newly updated world map (which differs from the one presented in torg eternity core rules) it shows that Volkov has extended tharkold reality to Belarus, Ukraine, and a good chunk of Lithuania and Latvia as well  - it's worth noting that pages 70-71 of the book mentions that Belarus actively cooperated with Volkov and let him plant Tharkold stelae there so perhaps "invasion" is the wrong word where Belarus is considered (and a quick google search shows that in real life Belarus and Russia have a strong political and economic relationship so this makes sense not to mention the implication that Belarus's leadership no doubt decided resisting Volkov would result in their doom) .. the timeline of events in tharkold also mentions that quote "Volkov approaches leaders of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to accept Tharkold stelae.  They refuse" and then goes into detail about the grim fate of those nations there afterwards (effectively conquered by Volkov's Tharkold reality).. 


....the book also mentions that the United Nations is considering revoking Russia's membership and declaring him the same as the more clear-cut dimensional invaders, that is a threat to Earth and it's very reality .. this would seem to imply that the United Nations is aware of the fact Volkov is planting stelae and indeed now that I think about it given the reality storms that tend to erupt on the borders of a conquered area (see the torg eternity core rulebook) it would probably be obvious to even the most casual observer that Volkov is now spreading tharkold reality in countries that he conquers (page 214 core rules  "Boundaries - The invading reality extends to the border defined by the stelae. Massive reality storms are usually found there." .. as well the various prepublished adventures that I've read often seem to feature reality storms crackling around the zone of a conquered earth area that the PC's have to fight through... 


At this point I have to address something rather uncomfortable but it needs to be said..  the tharkold sourcebook was written in the year 2020 and the writers would have had no way of knowing that real life dictator and president of Russia (if "president" is the right word with his rigged elections) Putin would invade Ukraine.. it goes without saying that everyone's hearts go out to the beleaguered people of Ukraine but the GM has to make a difficult decision here as to whether or not to simply leave the references to Volkov conquered Ukraine as is and run Ukraine as written in the torg eternity book or to make a change out of respect to what's happening there in real life and leave Ukraine as unconquered and not under Volkov's rule.. a third option would be to make the soldiers and citizens of Ukraine obvious clear cut heroes bravely fighting back against Volkov's rule complete with a surge of storm knights in the area whether core earth or transformed to tharkold's reality.


I did notice that in comparison to the 1990's Tharkold sourcebook the torg eternity version actually goes into more detail about Tharkold than the older book as far as the "world building/role playing" aspect.. I particularly enjoyed the examination of both technodemon and "the race" (tharkoldu version of humans - look like humans, virtually identical to humans but apparently subtly different on a genetic (?) level ) culture, outlook on life and of course their ongoing war with each other with the clarification that there are many of the race enslaved by the technodemons and forced into loyalty thanks to the explosive collar on their necks... particularly interesting to me was the migration of free Race members who migrated from Tharkold and ended up actually joining Jezrael or the cyberpapacy of all things in addition to the ones who joined the delphi council ... unfortunately the book doesn't go into more detail on the members of the race who have joined the cyberpapacy or at least allied with them which would make for a fascinating read and hopefully is covered in some future torg eternity product.  Particularly interesting was while the Race can be seen as brutal, practical, efficient , to the point and abrupt given the horrors they've faced on a regular basis they make a point of emphasizing the key values that make them different than the technohorror demons they fight... love, honor, and friendship ... which in my mind's eye gives the impression of a culture of grim warrior-knights bound to each other by oaths of loyalty and affection albeit ones who are trying to survive in a horrific nightmarish apocalyptic environment.. still it's an interesting wrinkle given you would expect a more grim "every man and woman for himself" outlook which as the book makes clear is absolutely the case for many desperate citizens of Russia after the invasion of Tharkold.   Ironically this would appear to make the Race, foreign to Earth, more human than the natural born humans in the Tharkold realm thanks to Tharkold's axiom wash and it's' alteration of the mindset of the formerly or still core earth human populace.


The possibility of playing a Tharkold technodemon (albeit one under-powered compared to the average technodemon until and if the PC can afford to buy enough perks to "level up" )  is an interesting one although the GM could have a problem on his or her hands if the player insists on role playing out the "I'm naturally evil and fighting against it" aspect in terms of the player naturally defaulting more towards "evil" and insisting he's only acting "in character".. killing the hostage the evil NPC is using to try and enforce PC cooperation, refusing to aid innocents in danger unless bribed and so forth... a read through of your average prepublished torg adventure makes it very clear that the PC's are expected to be the heroes at all times lest the adventure go off the rails .... I talk more about this in my review of the godbox and (especially) the revenge of the carredon review if you want to read those but basically the only way I can see a technodemon character working as a PC is if the technodemon actually makes a point of acting noble nice and kind ALL the time (except when say forced into combat) in a deliberate and conscious attempt to fight his dark inner nature to the point where he could practically be mistaken for a priest or some other clergy member .. which in and by itself could make for some fun role playing especially when you consider the PC's literally demonic visage, having to explain to NPC's who are hostile as soon as they see the PC technodemon that he's "one of the GOOD cyber demons" and so forth.. needless to say other technodemons hate this weak soft "perversion" and want to kill him or her.   


The rules for playing a mutant are also quite interesting with the complication that is used to enforce game balance - a debilitating mutation that can actually change from time to time along with the useful mutation.. being a very interesting take on the nature of a hapless PC affected by the radioactive fallout from Volkov launching a tactical nuke at Tharkold's maelstrom bridge....and of course as the book mentions the radioactive fallout has several other interesting game consequences for Tharkold like rampaging radioactive monsters - or former humans - spawned by said fallout, items transformed by a combination of the radioactive fallout and the tharkold axiom wash and valuable salvage or other items found in said radioactive zone that makes it work getting a hold of anti-radiation gear and going in there to grab it ... presumably items of use from the gear section like autocad creation devices or armor or weapons.   


The magic chapter was an interesting read but at the end of the day while the Tharkoldu demons are, naturally, creatures born of magic, magic doesn't play as much of a role in Tharkold as opposed to say Aysle or Orrosh where I was more likely to pay attention to the chapters on magic in those cosm books.


Far more interesting to me was the section on psionics particularly the part involving Volkov's psionic institute... like the rest of the Tharkold sourcebook it's a dark and grim situation, persons showing psionic potential in Russia who are "found out" taken away, against their will if necessary, and subjected to training that basically qualifies as torture to awaken their psychic abilities which you would think would result in many if not all psionics turning against institute.. instead if a psionic goes rogue the institute selects a trainer to punish as a scapegoat (despite the trainer following the orders given to him or her) in front of the rogue psionic, the institute apologies to the psionic for the "misunderstanding" and then does their best to bring the psionic back into the fold.  Also interesting to me was the statement that the Race of Tharkold all naturally have untapped psionic ability .. given the torg view of psionics as innately tied to the social axiom it makes sense that given the Race's emphasis on strong "humane" relations with each other that psionic ability would evolve for the Race as a whole as a result (not to mention the brutal and oppressive conditions the Race suffer under no doubt "forcing" said psionic abilities to develop).    


For players thinking fondly of playing someone as powerful as say Charlie from the firestarter movie (or book) or Lucy from the movie of the same name, the GM should be careful to remind the player that they aren't going to be more powerful than the other PC's just because they are psionic and how the perk system works as far as purchasing psionic powers... granted the perks for psychics brought up in Tharkold's cosm or who are agents of Russia's psionic institute will immediately grant 3 new psionic powers if purchased but I'm still of the opinion the character isn't going to be going around kicking butt with his or her mind in the same way psionic characters are shown as doing in popular media (the rules don't make this clear but I'm guessing the PC cannot take the "normal" psionic perk in the torg eternity core rules, gain 3 psionic powers, then take the tharkold-born "embracing the way" or the Russian institute "institute field agent" and get another 3 psionic powers for a total of six).  Eventually they may get to that point but by then their fellow PC's will no doubt be equally powerful given they'll have racked up a similar number of experience points (which I imagine won't necessarily bother a player too much as long as their beloved PC is able to start kicking butt the way the player always imagined their PC as doing - not describing power gamers here either by any means, as players I think we're all guilty of enjoying watching our PC's grow in power and mop the floor with enemies who would have presented a more serious challenge earlier on).


 

The book also mentions that psychics from the Russian institute suffer from at least a touch of madness which when you think about how psychics are portrayed in popular media as never being one hundred percent fully in control of their powers is cinematically appropriate but the GM is going to have to have a discussion with the player about role playing this in a way that doesn't disrupt the game... having a psychic PC "blast" another PC for damage using psychic powers because the two got into an argument is going to cause problems for example unless the players are real life close personal friends who understand it's "just a game" and wouldn't get upset with each other in real life about such things.   I would argue the player should limit such negative attentions to say some hapless NPC who's already clearly been shown to be the bad guy or at least morally repugnant (a bitter and cruel NPC who enjoys making young children cry for example)... or have the PC start to invoke the power and have the player describe how say in the case of telekinesis for example the surrounding objects start to vibrate and shudder before the PC takes in a deep breath, clenches his or her fists, visibly calms him or herself down and the objects stop shaking.   


The warzones chapter for any cosm book is always an enjoyable read for me and the Tharkold sourcebook is no exception.   Particularly striking is how the Kremlin, now basically an armed fortress as well as a core earth hardpoint, remains standing despite the nuclear bomb launched at the (former) tharkold maelstrom bridge and the crater that now stands there despite the aforementioned crater not being that far away.   In his true devious fashion Volkov has not only quietly shifted his "real" headquarters away to St. Petersburg but continues the pretense of being present in Moscow with a  "decoy Volkov" (plastic surgery I guess?  It would be nice if the book clarified that) there not to mention another decoy Volkov in St. Petersberg and another decoy Volkov who travels Russia, which I enjoyed since it highlights just how clever ..and dangerous as a result... Volkov is.   Also interesting were the notes about how Volkov leaves tanks, helicopters and other core earth equipment in tharkold axiom dominant areas so they can transform, often to an occultech version of itself, which Volkov promptly seizes and attempts to reverse engineer no doubt in some area where tharkold axioms would support it, another testament to his fiendish cleverness and a great idea for an adventure seed as far as storm knight PC's who have to infiltrate and take out one such research base.. 


Although that adventure seed begs the question... is it better for the PC's to hamper each of the three factions (Jezrael, Thratchen and Volkov) as opportunities present themselves or to attempt to play the factions off against each other letting them wreak havoc on each other?    


Also wonderfully evocative was how the combination of the nuclear blast and the shockwave from the tharkold axioms when the maelstrom bridge was destroyed resulting in Saint Basil's Cathedral no longer functioning as a core earth hardpoint and on top of that now being defiled by technodemons who have taken up residence in it and defiled it by "redecorating" it.. another potential adventure seed if PC's can drive the technodemons out, re-sanctify it and hopefully gather enough faithful there such that their beliefs , with luck, perhaps turn it back into a core earth hardpoint.   The book mentions the desecrated cathedral is one of many reasons the Russians feel simmering resentment towards the technodemons, something the demons in turn revel in.. and yet Volkov savagely puts down any such resentment spoken aloud  insisting that the technodemons.. well certain ones who aren't working for Jazrael or Thratchen anyways... are "allies" he's hatched a "strategic alliance" with.   Volkov even entertains technodemons as envoys in his "headquarters" in the Kremlin.    


The thing about all these wonderful details is that they can give a gamesmaster all sorts of wonderful ideas but they positively beg for expansion... a Moscow city book (much like the Tokyo, Berlin, Los Angeles city sourcebooks from the old 1990's torg books) would be hugely welcome here which goes into more detail... how exactly do the life decoys of Volkov work (plastic surgery?   Occulttech?) and how much do the decoys know compared to the real Volkov (perhaps linked together through the horrific tharkold version of their "internet" described in the book)... there's an intriguing mention of crime families (presumably infested with radiation and probably mutants) including a leader of one such family who styles himself Rasputin and has survived several assassination attempts.. I would love to see a write up of these families who have made their home near the aforementioned crater including backgrounds, personalities and stats along with a more detailed write-up of the various Bratya factions mentioned who are taking advantage of the situation in Tharkold whether through obtaining and selling tharkold axiom and other gear, the more dark business of slave trading or drugs and so forth ... indeed given that the hapless "bottom of the barrel" in society under Tharkold society can and do become slaves under tharkold's axioms sadly one would assume the slave trade is now flourishing... and a background and personality write up including stats of the tharkoldu who have allied with Volkov.     for all I know some of this could be covered in the mega length tharkold adventure I mentioned earlier but based on my experience with the godbox, fires of ra and the revenge of the carredon such adventures while a joy to run don't go into as much detail as I like so I'm guessing a Moscow w sourcebook would be an invaluable addition to the torg eternity line.


For ignorant western readers like myself  :)   a quick google search for "gulf of Finland" to get an idea of how close it is to Russia will help as far as the next point I'd like to address 


https://www.worldatlas.com/gulfs/gulf-of-finland.html


notice how the gulf body of water is sandwiched between Finland and Estonia


but in another example of Volkov's fiendish brilliance, he painted the neighboring earth conquered realms  of Aysle (united kingdom, Norway, Sweden and apparently Finland at one point?) and the Cyberpapacy ( France and Spain) as areas completely foreign to core earth reality in the sway of hostile deities (a point in which admittedly he's not entirely wrong) .. then planted tharkold stelae through Poland ... in the resulting panic (reality storms and no doubt afterwards) Volkov's propaganda machine went to work soothing the populace, pointing out their earth technology still worked and painting it as a necessary move to protect against aysle aggression.    Tharkold's law of domination which is mentioned as used by Volkov repeatedly .. submit to those above you ... worked once again in Volkov's favor here as well.    Knowing where the gulf of Finland is helps as far as figuring out exactly what the writers are referring to (something  I wish they'd expressed a bit more clearly) as well as looking at the map on page 3 of the book.. note the orange colored part of Estonia where Volkov hold sway with his tharkold axioms.. I think the writers are trying to say he planted stelae in that part of Estonia right along the gulf of Finland thereby transforming it to tharkold reality and then establishing it as part of the "Wolflands" as he likes to call it under Volkov's rule via his propaganda machine as well.  And obviously I'm sure the same stelae planting and propaganda machine tactics are used in all the other orange colored areas where he planted stelae as well.   


There is some definite confusion on my part however where I really wish the writers had better addressed the Volkov situation.. as I mentioned earlier there's been criticism of Volkov waging wars of conquest on countries neighboring Russia instead of concentrating on the tharkold menace (well the Jezrael and Thratchen factions opposed to volkov anyways) as mentioned earlier on in the book... but on page 70 the book goes on to say


"The Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) were under United Nations protection and on the border of the Blasted Land and Russia. The Wolf (Volkov) reached out to each about allowing the stelae and axioms of Tharkold as a preemptive defense measure against invasion by other cosms. All three nations were mistrustful to say the least, fearing becoming satellites again to a Russian power as they were in the days of the Soviet Union. They refused, and paid a heavy price when Belarus, in a show of solidarity with Russia, did allow stelae plants and activations. The axiom wash from that caught parts of the Baltics anyway, and the rest fell under the heavy storms and chaos of a large, Ayslish Mixed Zone."


which leaves me scratching my head when you look at page 14 of the book which states


"Russia, east of the Urals, is Core Earth, but also falls under President Volkov’s rule. His expansion into former Soviet SSRs and client states has brought nationalist pride to many Russians. But he is occupied by the civil war in the west and some Russians wonder why he invaded other countries and did not protect the Russian Fatherland itself." 


the civil war presumably being between volkov, thratchen and Jezrael.. then there's this note from page 69

"For most of the first year St. Petersburg resided in the tainted Blasted Land, but during the Wolf’s expansion he intentionally triggered stelae to extend Tharkold’s borders all the way to the Gulf of Finland. He had little to lose, since the land was already tainted, and much to gain by claiming it under his direct control."


I'm still wondering if volkov just "got lucky" and the axiom wash from Belarus's cooperation as far as it's planting tharkold stelae caused non stelae prompted transformation in the Estonia  Latvia and Lithuania due to the Belarus resulting axiom backwash with some areas mixed tharkold/aysle and others just tharkold as indicated on the map on page 3 and volkov just left it at that not seeing a need to plant tharkold stelae there since it's already tharkold reality... while that's what the book seems to imply given Volkov's nature as portrayed in the book I would just assume the following also happened.. volkov promptly seized the opportunity to plant stelae in all the orange colored areas of the Wolflands (including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) as well as the areas of the Ukraine which also show as Volkov territory although as the book states Jezrael is in all out war with Volkov for control of Ukraine.... the book is very vague in my opinion about whether or not Volkov planted stelae there although given what it says in the Ukraine section of the book.. 


"Skirmishes between the factions are common in Moscow, but in Ukraine it’s all out war. Although Volkov quickly moved south as well as west, planting stelae, he believed that he could afford to focus his forces elsewhere. He was very, very wrong. Jezrael quickly moved into Ukraine, pushing Volkov’s  forces into the western portions of the country and now everywhere else Jezrael holds sway. "   


I'm inclined to believe Volkov definitely planted stelae in Ukraine... the book does at least make it very clear Volkov planted stelae in Poland under the guise of his forces going to a peace conference in Germany and instead using the opportunity to plant stelae in Poland switching it to Tharkold reality.   


Also an area of confusion is the aysle sourcebook as far as what it has to say in the section  about utherion's relations with other high lords quote  "Thratchen expanded north, creating a narrow zone

of Tharkold/Aysle Mixed Zones and truly blocking

any expansion east. " ... and indeed if you look at the map of tharkold zones in the tharkold book you see an area with red and grey stripes labeled a mixed aysle/tharkold zone and grey is supposed to represent an area under thratchen's control... yet the blasted lands which are far away from the red/grey striped zone are also grey and under thratchen's rule.. which begs the question how is it that Tharkold can exert control right next to the orange colored "Wolflands" under Volkov's rule?


Now granted I haven't read yet the torg eternity "blood on the blasted sands" mega adventure so maybe it's addressed in that publication... since I haven't read it yet a few ideas come to mind... the tharkold book doesn't say so but somehow thratchen's forces popped up in that mixed zone and seized control of it  ..probably not without Utherion's knowledge or permission unless.. I do remember Thratchen being a master schemer and manipulator from the original 1990's torg books so maybe he convinced Utherion he can launch an attack on Volkov's Wolflands, take the area over and then become Utherion's ally?  Alternately you could simply ignore the grey color here and what the asyle book says and declare it a contested area not clearly under the control of Volkov, Thratchen nor Jezrael as far as the mixed zone.   As far as I can tell the Tharkold book doesn't have anything to say about this mixed area at all as far as who controls it ( though it does at least explain how the mixed zone came into being on page 70 ) which appears to be a major oversight on the writer's part.


The political interplay between Volkov including resistance movements (sadly underpowered in comparison to volkov's tharkold reality boosted might), invaded countries outside of Russia, the influence of Tharkold reality particularly the law of dominance , and the outrage of the United Nations given Volkov blatantly taking over Poland is all fascinating reading and I do find myself hoping the torg infiniverse writers use torg's open license program to write up adventures highlighting this complex political environment though to be fair I have not read the tharkold delphi missions book that focus on tharkold adventures nor have I read blood on the blasted lands so for all I know maybe it's covered there to some degree?  Even then I would argue this is an area with rich role playing potential that deserves it's own lengthy adventure devoted exclusively to the interplay between the countries Volkov has invaded and his Russian forces.


Also very interesting was the write up of Jezrael and her chaotic free for all the strongest rules style of "government" with Jezrael obviously as the strongest of all.. there's an interesting write up of the gangs, the thoroughly evil Chernova family that engages in human trafficking .. and that, in a nod to the thoroughly dark nature of Tharkold, the Delphi Council uses to smuggle it's agents in and out of Tharkold presumably in the guise of victims of said human trafficking (though the book does mention the Delphi Council, desperate need to take down Tharkold or no, will eventually not be able to stomach any more and attack it's former "ally" at some point) .. and the turncoat former general of Volkov's who seeks to use Jezrael as a tool to take down Volkov whom the general sees as the greatest threat to the general's beloved Russia given Volkov's collusion with Tharkold... Jezrael tends to mount hit and run attacks on Volkov's forces with her eventual goal as stated in the Thakrold book to depose of Volkov and become high lord of Tharkold.   This is another area rich in role playing potential that I hope a torg infiniverse writer will take note of and use to write up the richly detailed adventure that it deserves.


Also quite interesting was the write up of the devious Thratchen's plans and his use of an area ignored by Volkov and Jezrael as not being rich in the possibility energy high lords (or potential high lords) are interested in targeting, the blasted lands, the area of nuclear fallout where the nuclear bomb detonated a maelstrom bridge resulting in a radioactive hellscape soaked in tharkold's nightmarish reality.. said area has spawned dangerous mutants and marauders who prey on hapless survivors and strap them into torture devices that literally harvest the survivor's torment as a renewable energy source that can be used to fuel tharkold weapons, vehicles and so forth ... in my opinion this makes Thratchen's realm the most "mad max" like of Tharkold albeit an area even darker and more dystopian than the original mad max movies ... perhaps "the bad batch" movie would be a better example.    Unlike the now deposed high lord Kranod Thratchen has no problem accepting the Gaunt Man's use of gospog (no doubt due to Thratchen's alliance with the Gaunt Man not to mention desperation on Thratchen's part) and while he's behind on the other high lords due to his late start in planting gospog seeds he currently has access to 1st, 2nd and soon to be 3rd planting gospog, fueled by the corpses Thratchen pays a rich bounty for in terms of occultech and weapons in exchange for the corpses his Marauders harvest from the battlefields where Volkov and Jezrael wage their wars (no doubt including the city of Kazan where Thratchen and Jezrael's forces do battle which almost certainly results in a steady wave of bodies Thratchen can use for his gospog fields) .. using all of these forces in combination (mutants, marauders and gospog) Thratchen hopes to launch them in a wave of conquest when the time is ready to take Tharkold for himself.   And at the risk of sounding like a broken record I also hope this is a region where Torg infiniverse writers write up a detailed adventure as well although given the incredibly dark and dystopian nature of the region I'm guessing said adventures will have to come with explicit content warnings.   


Kur... Tharkold's version of the internet and/or version of the cyberpapacy's godnet... has a "short but poetic" section which clearly describes it as Tharkold's version of hell ... the Kur write-up assumes that you have both the cyberpapacy and the nile empire sourcebooks (both of which are worthwhile purchases see if you like my review of the two books).  Particularly interesting are the notes about how cyberdecks are tech level 26, just one point above tharkold's tech 25 axiom but still enough to ensure that a hapless cyberdecker can't use his or her cyberdeck and has to go into Kur "naked" as it were .. given the no doubt high computers and mind scores said decker has they probably have the best chance of getting in and out without being permanently trapped in a hellish existence in Kur forever but it's still a dangerous undertaking for even them, with every trip into Kur considered to be a Dramatic scene and getting out of Kur requiring a dramatic skill resolution check with failure resulting in being stuck in Kur's hellish nightmare virtual reality forever (unless someone else ventures into Kur and rescues them I would assume)..  


....while technodemons can and do plug hapless thralls into Kur to torment them (which no doubt in combination with the aforementioned devices that harvest a victim's torment as renewable energy could no doubt result in a "battery field" of hapless victims to fuel the technodemons' agenda) , Kur does contain schematics for various occulttech devices and secrets of the technodemons given part of it's intended purpose is a permanent record and testament to and recording of the acts of evil held sacred by technodemons who see it as the only enduring legacy they have with no afterlife being on the agenda as far as a technodemon is concerned.  I do find myself hoping much like the old 1990's torg books which featured a sourcebook devoted entirely to the godnet that Kur gets it's very own sourcebook though the writers have kindly provided stats for the wailing (lost) souls and technodemon stalkers that can attack someone immersed in Kur.   


The one part I found confusing was where the writers mention that someone with a monitor and keyboard has all they need to get immersed in Kur through a hallucination that becomes increasingly more real and deadly as time goes on ... which on the one hand makes sense when you consider that, being Tharkold's version of hell, Kur probably wants you to get trapped within it.. but on the other hand it's still a bit of a head scratcher as to how the mechanics of this work which is something that could use some greater detail ... can say a determined cyberdecker simply concentrate on getting into Kur hard enough for it to automatically happen without being "jacked in"?   The tharkold book describes two devices, the horrific grid interface that actually inflicts a wound as it's needles stab through soft tissue like eyes (!!) and ears to connect someone to Kur (page 55) and the occulttech digan gridjack that lets a user "jack in" without any wounds inflicted ... at first I was confused - wouldn't the victim of a grid interface be permanently blinded after that?   the grid interface is described as something hackers will voluntarily use to access Kur... I looked it up and google tells me that even in real life earth with our lower tech axiom of 23 eye surgeons can and do inject thin needles into someone's eye for medical treatment and such punctures normally heal on their own so one would imagine tech 25 devices in Tharkold being modified such that they are capable of the same surgical precision, perhaps with some sort of tech-healing built in to help restore the eye to normal afterwards given that tharkold "chop shops" are capable of the presumably far more difficult task of exorcising (well for the most part) the evil inherent in occulttech such that say members of the Race can use it.   Obviously the other intended use of grid interfaces as mentioned in the book - torture devices - would feature the use of technodemons who don't particularly care if their hapless subjects are blinded.   I did find myself wondering given their magical nature if technodemons can simply vanish and materialize at will inside of Kur but reading Blood on the Blasted Sands and the write up of the technodemon addicted to living out his power fantasies in Kur makes it clear that, given the description of said technodemon's physical body as withering away, that technodemons also have to use one of the above two methods to access Kur.   


The write up of the high lord and his or her political relationship with other high lords is always a fun read for me and the tharkold sourcebook is no exception.. the hilarious comedy of errors as far as Utherion's intended support of tharkold as the new ruler of Tharkold in order to strike up an alliance between the two and how Jezrael's assassination of Kranod threw a spanner in the works was particularly hilarious.  Also hilarious was Malreux's fear of the technodemons, who enjoy the tech and magic axioms in the cyberpapacy that allow their very natures to exist and thrive, migrating in mass numbers to the areas of Earth Malreux has conquered, although you need to have read the cyberpapacy sourcebook to get the joke... Malreux deliberately inspires (behind the scenes of course) and allows demons, witches and other magical forces to strike terror into the populace with Malreux and his cyberpapacy of course riding in to save the day cementing his rule over the masses but it's a carefully planned amount of magical "danger" Malreux allows.. so the hypocritical Malreux being forced to deal with the "real thing" so to speak got a chuckle out of me.


The write up of former high lord Kranod's personal history explains exactly how inept he was as a high lord and explains why tharkold's darkness device eventually withdrew it's support of Kranod allowing Jezrael to murder him ... interestingly enough stats are provided for Kranod despite the fact he's now dead ... perhaps his soul lives on in Kur?   Or maybe the torg etenrity writers plan to bring him back from the dead?   Stats are provided for Jezrael, Thratchen and Volkov as well though Volkov stats seem surprisingly underwhelming given the prominent political leader and ruthless mastermind he's portrayed as being in the tharkold sourcebook.. I'd be tempted to alter his stats , increasing his charisma mind and spirit  to the core earth maximum of 13 , boosting his Strength and Dexterity to 12 given his previous military experience (and by way of explanation making him an Olympic athlete potential candidate who chose to go into the military instead), and giving him 5 adds in all of the skills listed plus adding the Mastery perk to increase Persuasion to 8 skill adds making him  in combination with his 13 Charisma an incredibly potent orator and leader of the masses... granted given his portrayal as a mastermind it shouldn't be that easy to get to volkov personally and the GM should have all sorts of layers of armed protection between the PC's and volkov they have to fight through so the idea isn't to make him someone incredibly tough to kill in his own right... rather given he's a candidate for high lord, despite being born to core earth unlike say the more potent Jezrael who can take advantage of the occultech and psionic powers of Tharkold his abilities should reflect that, not to mention given the dangerous individual he's portrayed as being in the tharkold sourcebook his mind, spirit, charisma and social skill abilities at the very least should reflect this as well.


The axioms and world laws section of each cosm book is also always a fun read for me and Tharkold is no exception here.. the psychology, culture and outlook of both technodemons and the Race are dotted throughout the book but one particularly interesting revelation was the technodemon persecution of magic-wielders given the technodemon's vulnerability to magic (for example spells that can let the spellcaster summon a technodemon and then command it) ironically enough lowered the very same magical axiom that technodemons need to survive to the point where technodemons will become extinct should the magic axiom drop any lower ... also interesting was the reason why the spirit axiom is so low ... the many deities previously worshiped by the Race's ancestors names have been lost to time, prayers to such deities unanswered to the point where the Race gave up on them.    


The race's belief in Liberation.. moving on to what I'm guessing is the Race's version of heaven should a member of the Race perform enough good deeds as opposed to the more normal instance of being reborn right back into the hellish reality of Tharkold via reincarnation (which makes the Race somewhat similar to Hindus and their beliefs in reincarnation unless one performs enough good deeds to become one with their deity thereby transcending the cycle of death and rebirth).   Although the book doesn't talk specifically about this, to me this presents an interesting role playing opportunity if members of the Race see divine spellcasting storm knights casting miracles... could it lead to a spiritual revival in the Race?   One would think not given the Race's grim, pragmatic nature .. on the other hand the Race puts a great deal of emphasis on love and the bonds of friendship and loyalty, tenets echoed in say Islam or Christianity ("love thy neighbor", the entire concept of performing good deeds to be closer to your Creator, and in Islam the importance of keeping to your promises and vows made ... there's more debate about this in Christianity but technically you're not supposed to lie and you're supposed to keep your promises) ... I don't mention Judaism only because I know very little about the religion ... one wonders if it might be possible for a PC belonging to those faiths .. or Hinduism for that matter given their emphasis on good deeds and similarity to the Race's religious beliefs .. to, whether intentionally or not, gain converts among the Race and perhaps even start a religious revival.  Of course given that the technodemons punished members of the Race who expressed any religious beliefs so harshly that members of the Race are fearful and uncomfortable expressing said religious beliefs even far away from their technodemon oppressors , gaining converts could be an uphill battle.


The world laws are also a fascinating read and as the writers mention at the core of Tharkold's culture and outlook ... technodemons being, well, demons, and born fully formed from acts of evil and acting as the embodiments of such.. which interestingly enough means "normal" technodemons are never truly happy (the book is a bit vague about whether or not aspirant technodemons who have turned their back on their evil natures can regain any sort of happiness and is something I would have liked to see the writers address) and how a new technodemon can form from the free-floating evil that persists in such magnitude in Tharkold .. of course the personality of the dead technodemon vanishes completely upon it's death ... also interesting was the big lie technodemons perpetuate that they are "immortal" in terms of their personalities coming back from death, they "live" in Kur until they are "reborn" and so forth but the Race is slowly starting to see through this lie.


The delphi council chapter provides a wrinkle that seems interesting at first... Russian agents who want to be part of or ally with the delphi council being held under suspicion lest they turn out to be spies for Volkov and, while they can be recruited, are not trusted with the delphi council's most "important" plans or secrets... but could rapidly become a problem for player character storm knights ... I suppose if you had a group of players who are all close friends in real life outside the game and who treat the campaign as "just a game" they could all, with a lot of real life chuckling from the players "in the know" and the "oh come ON " groans from the player of the Russian PC, exclude the Russian PC from the knowledge of "valuable information" speaking in code and so forth... even for a group like that however it's a lot of work and for groups whose players don't know each other so well it could either result in too much PC to PC conflict causing the group to fall apart or could result in annoyed players rapidly coming to the decision to trust the Russian PC out of convenience and just "spilling the beans"..


... if I was the gamesmaster I would have a talk with the player of the Russian PC and ask the player how they want this handled, pointing out that for convenience's sake the GM and player could role play out say a senior delphi council agent apologizing to the Russian PC, explaining Volkov's known planting of stelae (Poland) and suspected planting of stelae elsewhere and being a dimensional reality invader for all intents and purposes, and then have the delphi council agent state the Russian PC needs to submit to a telepathic mind probe by a psionic (let's say one who defected from Volkov's psionic institute) in order to gain "full admittance" into the delphi council .. there could be an entire briefing on the suffering Volkov has caused to the ordinary Russian citizens given his embrace of Tharkold's horrid reality and the war (and misery) Volkov is perpetuating in the countries adjacent to Russia that he's invaded, followed by a simple question from the psi prober .. do you approve of Volkov's actions?  Perhaps the psionic agent has personally witnessed the atrocities and beams vivid images of suffering victims of Volkov's warfare directly into the Russian PC's mind as the psionic asks the question.. any PC storm knight who's the good guy they're supposed to be (and yes Tharkold is a grim and dark place but if you look at the section on storm knights and their role in the possibility wars including their stated goal of protection of innocents and how the storm knight makes an active choice for good over evil when they transcend and become reality rated (see the torg eternity core rules books) not to mention how the torg prepublished adventures make it clear the PCs are expected to be the good guys who save the day simply for said adventures to function and not go off the rails... taking all that into account any PC worthy of the name storm knight should answer no they don't approve of volkov's actions.. the psionic could give the delphi council agent a thumbs up followed by the delphi council agent shaking the Russian PC's hand and saying welcome to the delphi council.. followed by a grim smile and a warning that volkov doesn't appreciate "traitors" and will no doubt want the Russian PC dead.


Alternately if the player is absolutely sure that they can handle being "kept out of the loop" at first and other players are comfortable with the workload involved (it becomes a discussion with the entire group of players at that point) you could role play out the more complicated scenario where the Russian PC is not fully trusted at least at first.   Particularly interesting would be if the Russian PC really does start out as a mole for volkov who's been fed lies by Volkov about volkov's good nature and how volkov is earth's only hope against the dimensional invaders.. but who slowly comes to realize just how power mad Volkov is and who witnesses the suffering volkov has caused first hand (the GM would probably have to specifically point out as the PC looks on at the suffering in the countries volkov has invaded when the PC's go there that this is in direct contradiction to what volkov told the PC) ... for that to work it still has to be abundantly clear the PC is a good guy , just a misguided one, and that has to be explained to the player with the eventual goal being the PC turns on volkov this also being clearly explained to the player.


as with all the other cosm sourcebooks sadly there's an interesting write up of the senior delphi council agents but no statistics for them which becomes particularly troublesome when  you get to the description of Katrina Toverish as the most powerful clairvoyant on the planet .. how many skill adds does it take and what Mind score is required to make one the most powerful clairvoyant on the planet?  As well the delphi council section makes the aforementioned Chernova family given that the delphi council leadership level agent Omar who uses his smuggling ring, used to ferry hapless refugees out of warzones among other things, is described as making it a point never to traffic in unwilling human beings (no slave trade) nor drugs and makes sure the agents working under him don't do this either... and yet the Chernova family is described as working with the delphi council to bring council agents in and out of the warzones disguised as the hapless slaves the vile Chernova family engages in as far as human trafficking... does this mean the leader of the delphi council , gruber, uses the Chernova family and simply doesn't tell Omar, or Omar knows and turns a blind eye to it?   Or does it mean there are delphi council agents among the rank and file with connections to the Chernova family who "unofficially" use them with Gruber's tactic knowledge and approval and Gruber hasn't had to step in and overrule Omar yet should this come to light?   It's a confusing thing to be sure albeit something the GM can probably work around with some thought and effort.


The other delphi council leadership write ups are also intriguing whether it be Jakub the unwitting psionic unaware of his powers and who attributes his telepathy ("just a hunch") or ability to manipulate perceptions (he's just a good judge of character) to natural non psionic ability... or Viktor the affable liaison from Volkov who, not surprisingly, is Volkov's spy and mole ....which as the book mentions, means Viktor is only told about joint ventures between the delphi council and Volkov to fight say Jezrael or Tharkold's forces for example with information on delphi council missions volkov would object to withheld from Viktor... and how affable likable Viktor will try to befriend PC storm knights going so far as to not ask about "sensitive topics" Viktor knows are not supposed to be discussed with him further securing his act as a well meaning and innocent ally ..this has some great role playing potential here in terms of a sympathetic storm knight PC disclosing information they're not supposed to and then having that information funneled to volkov although the drawback is players who get "burned" this way tend to be much less willing to trust NPC's in the future which can lead to a host of problems for the GM unless the player is given a clear way to fix the problem created and is successful in doing so , so the GM can and should arrange for this to happen as well... perhaps Viktor really is a nice guy at heart and say finds himself unable to pull the trigger when he has his gun pointed at the PC he betrayed - it could get really ‌interesting if the player's PC is in a romantic relationship with Viktor as well.. 


Chut the turncoat technodemon is an interesting concept but the problem here is while the writers do explain a combination of her thirst for information specifically on the magical arts lost to the tharkoldu and her eventual friendship with the human "monkey" (to use the technodemon word for humans) she ended up risking her life for to  protect him against other technodemons who discovered her treachery..it's a neat story and all but it doesn't give enough insight into exactly what facets of Chut's character made her vulnerable to sympathizing with the "monkeys" in a way other technodemons do not and this definitely needs to be described in greater detail ... the book does a great job of stating how technodemons effectively sabotage themselves in terms of not being big on cooperation relying on domination and submission instead, how technodemons are lazy and like to make skilled human thralls do say the skilled work of occultech research, genetic research and so forth and as well how technodemons are never truly happy, only experiencing something close to happiness when they make someone else feel as miserable as they are.. perhaps Chut grew tired of all of this and found herself drawn to the  "monkey" Michail , at first due to his great skill as a teacher of the magic arts but .. although the book tends to imply this rather than state it out loud.. let's say she found herself enjoying the unfamiliar sensation of actual friendship with someone .. a concept foreign to technodemons for sure...  and it forever changed her, opened her horizons to a way beyond the miserable and unhappy outlook for technodemons in general.  As a GM that's how I would approach it and although the book portrays Chut as being tolerated only due to Michail being a good friend of Omar and making Omar promise to look after Chut, I would make not only Omar but also Katrina and the pleasant enough seeming Jakub go out of their way to befriend Chut.. as well I would make Chut hungry for and particularly interested in any PC's who are friendly towards her as well, seeking more of the friendship that Chut thrives on ... obviously her thirst for knowledge should also play a role in her agenda (I would have her engage in excited and enthusiastic conversations with any academic minded PC's) but to me the friendship motivation would go a long way towards humanizing her and making her more believable as a turncoat technodemon.


The rest of the chapter also makes for a fascinating read given the effective cold war that is going on between the delphi council and volkov with the usefulness of volkov as far as being able to get storm knights into Russia and bypass paperwork (effectively bypassing volkov's military and government - he's still the president of Russia which complicates things) not to mention the usefulness of working with Volkov against say Thratchen or Jezrael.. but the delphi council of course also being aware volkov for all intents and purposes is a possibility raider himself who plants stelae and who will have to be fought at some point... this brings a very interesting element of espionage into the relationship with Volkov and colors the secret missions the delphi council is on such as the delphi council's hopes of liberating the psionics tortured and held captive (or blackmailed into submission no doubt through threats to the psionic's loved ones or the like) by Volkov once the relationship with Volkov breaks down to the point where it's outright war with him or the hopes of bolstering the freedom fighters in Volkov, something else that would provoke outright war with volkov should he become aware of it.    The delphi council secret mission of trying to recover the unfortunate hackers who are now lost within Kur, the Torment Grid is also very interesting and would be a great opportunity to send PC's into Kur on a rescue mission and would give PC's with the computers skill a particular chance to shine especially if said PC is a "decker" from the cyberpapacy.   


One thing the delphi council chapter mentioned is a cause of confusion for me... volkov apparently has technodemons who answer to him and call him leader. I suppose given Tharkold's world laws of domination and submission and Volkov's display of power by launching his tactical nuke at the Tharkold maelstrom bridge, permanently messing up then high lord Kranod's invasion plans and forcing Kranod to officially make Volkov a duke .. one of the ruling elite , normally technodemons, second only to Kranod... might cause certain technodemons who obey the world law of domination to see Volkov as having effectively dominated them... still, it does seem a bit odd given the technodemon disdain for humans seeing them as slaves ... the book mentions the technodemons respect Volkov's military might as president of Russia and no doubt his personality as well as a power mad dictator something completely in keeping with technodemon mentality not to mention Volkov's ruthlessness... still, I find myself wishing that the writers had taken some additional steps to further justify accepting Volkov as their superior.. perhaps having Volkov challenge a technodemon sneering at Volkov to personal combat, Volkov gearing up with Tharkold tech level armor and weapons .. the sneering technodemon might have had the misfortune of disconnecting (let's say the fight took place in a core earth dominant zone) whereupon despite using tharkold tech beyond his and core earth's axioms Volkov managed not to disconnect (if you followed my suggestion above, increased Volkov's spirit to 13 and gave him 5 adds in reality that would make his reality total higher than many technodemon's score) ... Volkov brutally murdered the technodemon and then proceeded to messily tear apart the remains spreading them across the room in a gory mess, then looked calmly at the remaining technodemons and asked if he should launch another nuclear bomb at them.   To me an experience like that would be sufficient to cause at least some technodemons to acknowledge Volkov as their ruler, particularly if Volkov had behind the scenes conversations with said technodemons to the effect that should they help volkov defeat Thratchen and Jezrael thereby earning the approval and cooperation of Tharkold's darkness device, Volkov's next move would be to invade and subjugate the Cyberpapacy realm on Earth giving the technodemons a much needed new home with the magic and tech axioms high enough to support their continued existence.   As a GM I would personally add that to the "volkov lore" and have that incident happen on day 189 of the timeline given on page 17 of the book, only four days after Jezrael killed Kranod with the knowledge of Jezrael's shocking victory still fresh in the technodemons' minds...as the timeline on page 17 states Volkov spreading stelae throughout the countries bordering Russia would no doubt further impress the technodemons who have pledged loyalty to him.  


This raises an interesting question I wish the writers of the book had addressed... Jezrael is described as hating pretty much everyone, whether technodemon or human ("human" including members of the Race though in Torg they are described as practically human but still different on a subtle genetic level thanks to tharkold's axioms) and embracing pure anarchy and destruction as a result of that hatred gaining her fanatical followers who also embrace anarchy and a "might makes right" philosophy... but does she have technodemons who answer to her?   Were there technodemons so shocked and impressed by Jezrael killing their ruler, Kranod, that they joined Jezrael's ranks?  Given the world law of dominance you would seem to think so but this isn't explicitly stated in the book.   Judging from the write-up of the Mayhem Block in the warzones chapter of the book and how a pride of technodemons isn't listed among the key factions who support Jezrael I'm thinking there are either no technodemons or only a small number who are enjoying her free for all " I answer to no one ... but I can subjugate lessers to my will" way of rule (granted the law of dominance makes this a given  anywhere in tharkold reality anyways but the freedom and anarchy found in jezrael's mayhem block is certainly more uncontrolled and free  wheeling than say 


The chapter on themes of Tharkold adventures and how to run them is well written but some of the suggestions the writers give can create some problems for GM's... for example awarding a possibility if a PC tortures a weaker being for information , or a PC tries to redeem a foe, there seems to be hope in this undertaking right up until the foe does something unforgivable and the PC is then awarded a possibility for killing the foe they were trying to redeem... I understand that the writers are trying to drive home the dark, dystopian nature of the realm and the free floating evil that's pretty much everywhere... it truly is a demon infested techno-hellscape.


On the other hand what happens when you encourage players in this sort of behavior in Tharkold and the very next adventure drops them in Aysle where performing the same kind of  (let's call it what it is) evil behavior results in the PC gaining a darkness perk, three  such perks rendering the PC a permanent non player character.. or the PC's end up in the nile empire afterwards where their allies are such obvious goodie two shoes that the PC's allies are shocked at the PC's evil behavior and even perhaps turn on the the PC's concluding the PC's are now bad guys who need to be put down.    As well with the surprisingly exception of the fires of the carredon of all things where the writers seem to account for the possibility of evil actions on the PC's part (sort of, see if you like my review of that book) I've noticed with the majority of the torg pre-written adventures that the adventure goes right off the rails if the PC's engage in evil self centered behavior.. the adventure just simply fails (if you like my Aysle cosm sourcebook review goes into a lot more detail on my thoughts on this).   


I suppose if your players are all very good friends with each other and the GM in real life such that a PC who confronts a fellow PC about said evil behavior won't break the gaming group apart completely and  you explain to the players that reality itself changes such that evil behavior is perfectly acceptable in tharkold to some degree but not in other realities maybe it could work... and I get too how the most seemingly virtuous paragons of decency on say a TV show can surprisingly engage in the rare dark, borderline evil, act that add depth and complexity to their character.   But that's in a TV show, when you're a GM running a campaign there are other things to consider.. as well a GM has to take into account players like myself whose characters will hammer their fists against their own heads if necessary screaming their denial at the evil urges Tharkold's reality is trying to instill into them simply because that's the kind of character players like myself enjoy.. the paragon, the virtuous hero who always tries to do the right thing... players like myself at the very least are going to be wincing inwardly as our fellow players happily take advantage of tharkold's reality to torture a weaker being... we might  find it easier to stomach if said weaker being has already shown themselves to be thoroughly and utterly evil but there's a limit to how much a GM can do to demonstrate said evil when it's some minion the PC's just met and battled for the first time... players like myself might even regretfully leave the campaign entirely or just refuse to show up for adventures that are going to take place in Tharkold.. and I'm not just talking about myself either, I've personally witnessed other players who enjoy playing paragons of virtue and who were planning on leaving the gaming group entirely when I tried to accommodate players who were dead set against playing a good aligned character (dungeons and dragons campaign I was GM'ing mind you but the same general principles still apply).  


Honestly if it was me as a GM I would ignore any suggestions to award possibilities for these borderline evil acts... it's just going to create too many complications and problems for you down the road (unless again the players and GM all have strong bonds of friendship in real life that can weather something as overt as PC on PC violence over conflicts on what's morally acceptable if it comes down to that).


The next chapter deals with the "monsters" and other threats of Tharkold .. while they're definitely suitably themed to the Tharkold reality I do find myself missing the 1990's Tharkold " Creatures of Tharkold" Torg sourcebook which gives a much larger number of Tharkold themed menaces.   I do understand that the writers have budget and time constraints and can't add say the 40 or so additional pages I would like to see for a wider variety of Tharkold monstrosities but I do find myself hoping someone using the Tharkold Infiniverse license will use the opportunity to come up with additional Tharkold menaces.


The final chapter on eternity shards whether Tharkold cosm or core Earth Russian based (I found the Rasputin's Amulet eternity shard to be a particularly interesting read) was fun and definitely suited the Tharkold cosm on Earth.


Overall I enjoyed reading this book and, as I've been saying in all my Torg Eternity reviews, purchasing all the Torg Eternity cosm sourcebooks is, in my honest opinion, mandatory in order to be able to enjoy a torg eternity campaign to it's fullest potential.  Even putting this aside despite the Tharkold cosm sourcebook not having the "wow" factor for me that say the Orrosh or Living Land sourcebooks did I would have to say it's absolutely worth the purchase price and will be a fine addition to your torg eternity collection.






   
























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