Tarush vs. Naggazz

As I was attempting to modify my CULT OF UNDEATH setting of Prezov County somewhat to allow it and my DARK•HERITAGE nation of Tarush Noptii to overlap and to allow development of one to fit seamlessly into the other (in spite of a few minor differences at the macro level, like what races are available for PCs, etc.)  In other words, I want to go back to my old idea of making it a modular campaign element; one that can fit in a more "standard" D&D-style fantasy world, and one that with a name change, can fit into my DARK•HERITAGE setting without issue as well.

One thing that became obvious after I starting noodling over the details, though, was that I had overlap I didn't necessarily want.

After making a big deal out of Naggazz, the Dweomer Lich, which is basically a retooled Whispering Tyrant (since the point was to adapt the Carrion Crown adventure path, which features him as an element quite prominently), it occurred to me that of course I already had a big, buried, slumbering Necromancer figure in Tarush Noptii; Tarush himself.  While it's true that they're not exactly the same conceptually, is it really all that different to say that there's a buried, slumbering, imprisoned arch-Necromancer slash lich vs. a buried, slumbering, imprisoned Charnel God of vampirism and undead?  Especially in a setting where "gods" are somewhat less like deities of mythology and more like glorified super-antagonists; Kina, The Dominator, etc. from the Black Company books are more like what I imagine "gods" to be; combined with powerful demon princes, fallen angels, and powerful nature spirits--not exactly the same thing as, say, Zeus or Thor.  But even if it's not exactly the same thing, it's a little hard to see it as really meaningfully different.

So that kind of nixed my more overt homage to Warhammer and Nagash (although I still love the recent artwork of him, and may find a way to use it, if possible)--the Dweomer Lich is going to be Tarush, the Fallen Charnel God.  In both versions of the setting--CULT OF UNDEATH and DARK•HERITAGE.  Because why make it different?

A few other names harmonization things: For Tarush Noptii, depending on whether you look at the entry here for the blog, or at the map (which is still private--never digitized and hand-drawn on a poster board, for now, the capital city is either Èrdely or Vèzhok, whereas I came up with the name Grozavest for Prezov.  All three are from Hungarian and are deliberately meant to recall the Transylvania region to some degree, and to represent the Tarushan language.  I like the most recent the best, in part because it avoids diacritics and is therefore easier to type--honestly, I long ago decided that I didn't really like Èrdely anyway, even though it is the Hungarian name for the region of Transylvania.  Especially after the scandal of Sabrina Rubin-Erdely, the totally fake journalist for Rolling Stone came out earlier this year.  Let's harmonize to Grozavest, and the name of Vèzhok can still be used for another location within Tarush Noptii as necessary.

Anyway, although I've been very busy, having just come back from vacation, needing to catch up at work, I had some friends blow through town from their expat work assignment, and we visited with them--but I still have as a high priority open item to remap and digitize said map, the Tarush Noptii region, to be followed by the rest of the DARK•HERITAGE setting.