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CRYPTOLOGY

The Butterfly in honored Dust

Assuredly will lie

But none will pass the Catacomb

So chastened as the Fly –

E. Dickinson

Coming to Terms with the Terms

When dealing with tombs and graven things one can happen upon many evocative terms. What exactly is a sepulcher vs a sarcophagus? Sometimes these things are conflated within the popular tongue. But a true grave-robber knows the difference!

TOMBSTONES & CAIRNS

They are mostly the same. A cairn is an ancient version of what tombstones are today. Yet both retain that they are a grave marker of sorts. Smattered across the earth; they are simply the image-burn of an eons-lived sapience.

Cairns

As simple as a stacked pillar, pile or structure of stones. Beyond this, they are diverse. Some have passage-ways, while others appear as a wall.

Tombstones

Carved headstones. Upright or lain into the earth. They are beautifully made stelae with depictions of art and written epitaphs. Six-feet below, in the earth, lies the resting dead. With all their macabre possessions especially chosen to forever collect dust and grime with the interred.

CEMETERIES & GRAVEYARDS

These two are mostly the same. A plot of land, above the ground, where many cairns or tombstones are laid bare. The one difference being this: Cemeteries exist on their own plots of land, open to all. Graveyards exist on the plot of land surrounding an important structure. Such as an abbey or a manor house.

MAUSOLEUMS, BARROWS & CATACOMBS

These are great cemeteries, cities for the dead. Where the interred rest in chambers and not wrapped in dirt. Cut-off from daylight and fresh air. Sealed away, in the dark and the dust.

Mausoleum

A grand monument and structure to store the venerable interred. Usually above ground as a fortress. More often than not, they are plundered and long ago re-purposed.

Barrow

The Ancient version of a Mausoleum. Usually designed as, or inside of, a hillock. They boast numerous earth hewn passageways as well as false entrances, purposely crafted to confuse the unwary vandal.

Catacomb

Here lies the true tomb-stalker’s delight! They are an underground cemetery with numerous corridors and chambers containing the resting dead. Along with many a lifetime’s trappings, treasures and travesties. They lie in wait, within their complex halls, both pilfered and untouched alike.

TOMBS, CRYPTS, OSSUARIES & OUBLIETTES

These are the diverse chambers and corridors that form the final resting place for the interred. Usually as part of a greater complex within a mausoleum, barrow or catacomb. Here are some of the differences between them:

Tombs

Also known as Sepulchers. They are the singular chambers & rooms where the interred settle into their final resting place. These spaces can be of any size and house any number of resting dead. They are typically entered via an archway or, very rarely, a door of some sort.

Crypts

Possess the same qualities as Tombs with one crucial difference. Crypts, by their nature, are hidden or sealed away. They are exclusively entered via Sealed Stone Doors or Hidden Secret Doors.

Ossuaries

They can be either a Chamber or a Corridor. These are spaces to inter the venerable bones of the nameless dead. Each skeleton, skull and individual bone is placed with care into the architecture itself in reverence.

Oubliette

This is a malevolent place to inter the forgotten dead, forever to oblivion. Often buried alive and locked away in the dark or a maze. Other times a mass grave, thrown to darkness with a forgetful curse. They are often entered from a trapdoor in the ground or a locked and barred door, with no easy way to get back out of.

SARCOPHAGI, COFFINS, LOCULI & GRAVE NICHES

The specifics of how and what contains the resting dead inside of their chambers and hallowed halls.

Sarcophagus

The most ornate and regal way the dead can rest forever. Usually a stone boxed container, covered with a stone slab. Made of limestone or granite, and in rare cases marble. In very rare cases, the container is carved into the likeness of the interred.

Coffin

The same as a sarcophagus except it is made of wood and nails. Usually for the more commoner types of interred. Most often buried in the earth, or lined up in a single chamber.

Loculi

Ornate coffers built and lined into chamber walls. Made of small squared recesses carved into stone. Sealed or locked with square doors of stone or copper. Sometimes embellished with epitaphs or bas relief. Appear as many together, rather than just one or two.

Grave Niches

The lesser version of Loculi. Simple horizontal and rectangular niches carved into stone walls. The dead rest open to the air of the chambers and corridors they are in.

URNS & COLUMBARIUM

Urns are the jars, jugs, ceramics and amphora that contain the ashes of the dead. With a Columbarium being a chamber or corridor containing shallow square coffers specifically carved into the walls in order to display urns.

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[Tools] Token Tool

There is something to be said about an application that just does exactly what you expect from it. Token Tool is the second of applications from RPTools, who are mostly known for their free virtual tabletop tool Map tool. There used to be a few more tools around they made, but Map Tool and Token Tool are the ones that are left over. Anyway, Token Tool is a tool that allows you to make tokens for…

[hazelmayn]

Another day

[hazelmayn]

Well, I started it!

[hazelmayn]

Untitled by ABeardedArtist

[hazelmayn]

Me: I never need to buy an RPG system again and neither do you.

Also me: oh shit oh fuck look how pretty:

[hazelmayn]

The best fairy tale ending

Herr Mannelig –  ballad that tells the story of a female mountain troll who proposes marriage to a knight.

[hazelmayn]

Getting the urge to run a Megadungeon and to cut out each mapped corridor and room to place upon the table for the players to physically see as they explore.

[hazelmayn]

Elvish Riddle; speak the word ‘wind’

You may whisper unto me;

and in return always, I reply;

Try and gaze unto me;

and surely I am felt, yet unseen;

There are times where I topple, and

Times where I’m gentle;

I always push, yet never am I pulled;

Whisper my name;

And the path shall unfold

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Some DiY minis!

[hazelmayn]

Starter town?

[hazelmayn]

A wildly inaccurate player hand out map! But hey they need some sorta guideline! The map is not the territory.

[hazelmayn]

Who wants to play in an open table hexcrawl?

[hazelmayn]

Gerald Brom, cover illustration for Elric of Melniboné, vol. 1 of the Elric Saga, by Michael Moorcock (Gallery / Saga Press, February 15, 2022).

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[hazelmayn]

The old windmill by the river, and the Gobbo caves beneath

[hazelmayn]

Finally got to play something in person again, feels 😊

[hazelmayn]

Pry what you can from the blasted husk of an eons ruination