#349 "The Horde - Horselords of the Forgotten Realms, Bows & Crossbows"

Dagon's Cult
Along the coastlines of the world's nations, a far more insidious brand of Dagon cult festers. These are cults of humanoids who have been infiltrated by small bands of Dagon-worshiping kuo-toa, infected with promises that Dagon will protect them in ways their other deities cannot. The kuo-toa target regions of fading prosperity, desperation, and rural ignorance, rewarding allegiances with gold and abundantly fine fishing and punishing resistance with genocidal raids upon entire villages and towns. Settlements that fall to Dagon's influence become insular, shun outsiders, and often take to mixing with the fish-folk of the deep. The young born of these blasphemous unions seem normal at first but quickly deform into kuo-toa as they age, eventually a-bandoning their lives on land to join their brethren in the sea. These cults rarely have the energy or drive to expand their influence to neighboring towns, and typically, a town that has secretly fallen to Dagon in this way becomes shunned in turn; neighbors turn their backs on the folk there, and an attitude of "they're not hurting us so we won't hurt them" prospers. What plans Dagon may eventually have for these ever-growing pockets of the faithful are unknown, but they cannot bode well.

Hitting the Bullseye
by Eric Cagle

Master marksmanship and arrows aplenty with this definitive guide to weapons ranged and ruinous. This complete guide includes rules pulled from a myriad of sources for a host of bows and crossbows including the following.

Bows, Crossbows, and Ammunition
11 Crossbows—from the simple hand crossbow to the deadly great crossbow
12 Bows—from the standard longbow to the rare yuan-ti serpent bow
10 Arrows—including the serpentstongue and dragonsbreath
4 Bolts—with grappling hooks and tanglefoot bags

The Hordelands
by Edward Bonny, Brian Cortijo, and Laszlo Koller

Unleash one of the greatest threats ever to rage across the Forgotten Realms: The Horde. From the bleak steppes of the Endless Wastes to the barbarian city of Kourmira, discover the history, treasures, creatures, and ways of war of the brutal Hordelands. Here is a sample.

The Taangan and the Tuigan
Prior to the rise of Yamun Khahan, the barbarians of the Endless Waste called the land they inhabited the "Taan," and themselves the "Taangan" (literally, "people of the Taan"). The horselords of the steppes belonged to small, independent clans, each of which was part of a larger, regional tribe: Commani, Dalat, Fankiang, Gur, Guychiang, Igidujin, Kahghun, Khassidi, Naican, Oigur, Pazru ki, T'aghur, Tsu-tsu, Tuigan, and Zamogedi. Each nomadic clan, or ordu (consisting of three or four villages known as obogh) was ruled by a hereditary khan.

Yamun became khan of the Hoekun clan by killing his father, the previous khan. With the help of allies from the Naican tribe, Yamun was able to conquer, subdue, or ally with the other ordu of the Tuigan, and was proclaimed khahan. Through war and intimidation, Yamun eventually united all the remaining tribes of the steppes beneath his banner, and proclaimed himself Emperor of All Peoples.

Since the khahan's death, through both conquest and poor translation, the name "Tuigan" has been adopted to apply not merely to Yamun's tribe, but all those he came to rule. To the eyes of the outside world, all of the barbarians of the steppes are Tuigan, no matter what clan or tribe they call themselves.

This article includes a large web enhancement, giving you more details about the people of the Hordelands, their various settlements, and magic items. The web enhancement will be available on or around October 17th, 2006.

Plus!
Ecology of the Ogre Mage, Bazaar of the Bizarre, Class Acts, Sage Advice, comics, and more!