Song of the Woad

Lands in Shadow for Shadow of the Demon Lord!

If you were to ask the scholars of Rûl to discuss the origins of the Woad, they would likely speak to you about "simple, savage, debased tribes descended from the First People," and perhaps they would venture forth that they are "common in descent from the beastmen," and "little different than those corrupted creatures."

But these academic musings would be sadly misguided at best: while they might share some archaic and nomadic customs with the first tribes of mankind, and are rightly characterized by their bestial nature, the Woad came to the lands much later than either humans or beastmen, and from a place no scholarly mind could ever grasp.

Propelled across the Void to Urth by the last gasping scream of a genie succumbing to madness, the Woad came from a world destroyed and forgotten long ago. They are a people who struggle to maintain their ancient customs and beliefs in a world that was initially alien to them upon their arrival, and has been hostile to them ever since.

Song of the Woad explores the various tribes of the Woad, a largely independent and wild folk who have long resisted efforts to be either absorbed or destroyed by the many great civilizations that have risen and fallen in Rûl in the centuries since their arrival on Urth. The Woad's steadfast refusal to be assimilated has resulted in a general view of them by most peoples of Rûl as hopelessly backward, beastly, and barbaric.

However, a closer look reveals that there is far more to the wild folk than one might expect, as you will discover in this addition to the Lands in Shadow series.