How the Paynim became the Afridhi

I have previously looked at how Dave Arneson picked up the bare bones setting presented by Gary Gygax in the Domesday Book fanzine and turned it into a full roleplaying world for his Blackmoor Campaign. Over at the Comeback Inn we have been discussing whether some of the antagonists of Dave Arneson's Campaign could have had their roots in the C&C Setting as well?

The main enemies of Blackmoor were the Egg of Coot and the Temple of the Frog, creations of Arneson and his players alone. But there was another group that could go back to the Domesday Book. Domesday Book #9 establishes an enemy of the Great Kingdom called the Paynim Kingdom. Few details are given on the Paynim Kingdom except that they have a strength of 150% of any of the other kings of the Great Kingdom. Paynim, apparently is a term used in medieval literature to describe Islamic antagonists during the Crusades.

Originally, I thought that references to the Paynim could also include the Peshwa, but I now suspect this is not the case. Greyhawk still has its Plains of the Paymin, but in Blackmoor I suspect that the Paynim evolved into the Afridhi. The FFC mentions The Treasure of the Paynim Princess*. I now believe that the Paynim Princess could be no other than Toska Rusa.

 *=Actually the text in the FFC says "Treasure of the Payme Princess" which could be either a typo or a pun.

How I imagine Toska Rusa, Queen of Afridhi, Mistress of Zugzul.

I have previously discussed how the Afridhi as they became known were further fleshed out when one of MAR Barker's friends took on the role as the Afridhi Queen. This could have been the time when Dave Arneson invented the God Zugzul, patron of the Afridhi. These nomadic invaders were even further fleshed out in DA4 where they are the main antagonists of the adventure, seeking the mysterious Well of Souls. David Ritchie's wife is attributed to providing more detail on Afridhi culture. So even though alot was changed over the years, the Afridhi could have seen their first little spark in the Domesday Book.



Image Source: Nomad Warrior, by N*Deed
Image Source: Barbarian Chick, by Maciej Kuciara

-Havard

Toska Rusa Miniature Available!

As I reported a few weeks back, the Blackmoor miniatures are back! ArmorcastDLL is not allowed to use the Blackmoor Trademark names, but these miniatures are still the same ones that Lance & Laser made during the Zeitgest Games Era of Blackmoor products. Even more exciting, this includes the limited edition Toska Rusa miniature that apparently Lance & Laser never got around to making! Toska Rusa is of course as most of you will know, the queen of the Afridhi, detailed in DA4 The Duchy of Ten.

Best news of all, these miniatures are all available now! As Glenn from Armorcast writes:

 The minis are all up in the webstore. I have found three minis that were late releases and the limited miniature. The Frogmen set was one of the last to be listed, the evil sorceress was the limited miniature and the casting sorceress was the regular production variant, that was never released. Are all available here at www.armorcast.com under Lance and Laser miniatures.

I know that Armorcast will have one new customer for sure. How about the rest of you? Visit Armorcast's website now.

More details on which miniatures you need to get here.


-Havard

The Afridhi

The Afridhi are described as a race of hillmen from a frozen land. The Afridhi depended on fire to survive and fire became their god. They are a conquering race of humans with unnaturally black skin and red hair. They are violent fanatics lead by their high priestess, the terrible Toska Rusa (Rosy Dawn). Gradually the Empire of the Afridhi has expanded and is now threatening Blackmoor itself. In my campaign I describe the Afridhi as having their bodies decorated with glowing tattoos like the Dark Prince from the Prince of Persia games shown below:

The Afridhi were revealed to the general public in DA4 Duchy of Ten. Because DA4 was the one module of the DA series on which only Dave Ritchie's name appeared, some have speculated that the Afridhi were an invention by Ritchie. However this is not the case. I have previously discussed the nature of the working relationship between Ritchie and Arneson.

The Afridhi were actually introduced in Dave Arneson's Campaign around 1975 (Date yet to be confirmed). Dave created an image of the Afridhi as a kind of devil worshippers to his players. As was normal in Dave's campaign, other players would take on the role of the bad guys, and the Afridhi were no exception. Toska Rusa was most likely played by a Deborah Naffziger as Jeff Berry explains:

[Naffziger was]one of Prof. Barker's original EPT players and one of the early players in Dave's Blackmoor. (She also played in Greyhawk with Gary) She was the only girl in local Twin Cities gaming for many years, and the description of the character sounds pretty much like the one she had out at Prof. Barker's.

 Toska Rusa and the Afridhi were at one point available as Miniatures, as part of the Blackmoor Miniatures Line. The Afridhi remain one of Blackmoor's most dangerouns enemies.






Thanks to Greg Svenson and Jeff Berry for providing much of the information above.

-Havard

Nostalgia Part II

Here's some more nostaligia from the beginning of the ZG era. In March, I posted the original promo poster from the ZG site. After a while it was replaced with this one:

The first poster featured a Gnoll or Beastman. Although it was never confirmed, my theory from when it first appeared was that this is Toska Rusa, Queen of the Afridhi.

Supposedly, there was a limited edition Blackmoor miniature of Tuska Rusa made at the onset of the ZG era, but I have never seen it. I wonder if it was made to resemble the illustration on this poster or not. I loved the style of these illustrations right away and I was surprised that they were never used again.


-Havard

Nostalgia part II

This the second teaser for Dave Arneson's Blackmoor, posted on the ZGG website back in 2002. The first teaser poster featured a Gnoll or a Beastman. This one, features a sinister looking woman. She is exotic in appearance and wears a kind of crown. Most likely, this is supposed to be Toska Rusa, the leader of the Afridhi.




-Havard