Blogging WFRP A-to-Z: P is for Praag

If you had to say one thing about Praag, it is that it is cursed. Utterly, utterly cursed.

The city sits on the River Lynsk, bordering to the north the Troll Country, and to the south Kislev. Due to this location, it is often the first stop for the Kurgan hordes invading the Empire. As such, Praag suffers every time.

During the time of Magnus the Pious, when the Great War Against Chaos was raging, the city of Praag was hit harder than it ever had before. The walls were surrounded by the damned, and the soldiers on the inside were out matched. However, their stout Kislevite hearts weathered the worst of the war and managed to keep the city standing for several weeks. That was, until Magnus was on the march.

Knowing they didn’t have long, the Kurgan hordes mustered for one last push. And the walls and gates of Praag fell, and the Winds of Chaos blew through the streets, twisting the landscape and scarring its people. When Magnus finally made it to the siege, he crushed the Kurgan’s surrounding the city and pushed through their broken lines to see the fate of the doomed city. What he saw was not meant to be.

Men were fused with the stone walls of houses, and cobbled streets ran with blood from between the cracks. Trees howled at those around them and the windows of the houses grew eyes and glared through those who saw them. Praag was a bastion for Chaos, and its once proud people were slaves to Chaos, or dead.

Magnus ordered the city burned, and, once the war was over, fled back to the Empire, thinking the end of Praag was assured. However, the Kislevites endured. They rebuilt their city, brick by tainted brick, and rose a new Praag on top of the old. They had no idea it was still tainted… That was, until strange things started happening. The main market street started displaying strange writings every morning, seemingly made from the cobblestones itself. Dark figures followed civilians at night, but never got closer. Dark howling could be heard in the Square of Kisses in the darkness. And yet, Praag lives on – a magnet to the forces of darkness through the Old World.

If you want to read more about Praag, I guess this is as good a time as any to make an announcement. I am currently writing a revised version of Praag (that is, revised form what is in RotIQ), and I will begin posting about it regularly on versamus after this month. It is planned out as a massive source-book for the city, filled with everything you could ever want to run a campaign in a terrifying urban setting!