Codex of Aihrde by Stephen Chenault is a role playing game supplement published by Troll Lord Games. This is a setting book for Aihrde and, though nominally aimed at Castles & Crusades, is largely system-neutral.
The supplement is available as a 290-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $19.99, although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. It is also available in printed form from sites such as Amazon. The PDF is the version reviewed, with two pages being the front and rear covers, three being the front matter, one the Table of Contents and four being the Index. There is also a jpeg map and this same map is also included in another PDF at the very rear; this PDF is identical, bar the extra page for the map.
The first part of the book is The Andanuth. This is divided into seven Orations, and cover the history of the world of Aihrde. Essentially, this is background material and history for the setting and, in some respects, reads rather like parts of The Silmarillion.
The Almanac of Aihrde is the second part and is divided into Narratives. The First Narrative is The Ordering of the Cosmos. This covers the different planes of the setting, and each plane has an overview as well as details on movement, encounters, time & sustenance and magic in the plane. The Second Narrative – The Divine Orders gives an overview of the different classes of gods, interacting with them and calling on them. The gods are then covered in detail, by type, with details on them and their worship.
The Third Narrative covers the peoples. These are also divided into groups, and some may also be subdivided further. Their language, religion, lands and longevity are then followed by more specific details. The Fourth Narrative is on the kingdoms of Ursal, covering part of the lands of Aihrde. There’s a map showing the locations of the various lands and some introductory text, followed by descriptions of the kingdoms themselves. Each land’s location, travel, heraldry, lands, government, economic rating (explained in Appendix F), army, religion, people, history and rulers are covered. Some lands have less in some categories, because they are not unified.
The Fifth Narrative, Lands of Ursal, covers the geography of Aihrde. It starts with the landmasses, divided into greater and other. Each landmass’s entry briefly covers its climate, landmass, populace, mythology and history. The oceans, other bodies of water, mountains and plains are briefly covered, then the Cradle of the World is gone into in more detail. This covers the forests, plains, valleys, plateaus, coasts, mountains, hills, swamps, marshes, rivers, bodies of water, islands and unusual places.
The Sixth Narrative, Guilds and Orders of Ursal covers the various organisations in different levels of detail, including history and current circumstance. These are divided into Military Guilds & Orders, Religious Guilds & Orders, Thief and Assassin Guilds, Wizard and Illusionist Guilds, Bards and Trade Guilds.
Appendix A – A Note on Languages covers the major languages of the setting, from the dwarven root languages, to the Language of Creation.
Appendix B – Calendar covers the calendar.
Appendix C – Chronology is a timeline, which is divided into the Rins.
Appendix D – Climate and Weather has a weather map of the world along with climates and winds.
Appendix E – Flora of Aihrde lists a number of herbs, plants and derivatives and is one of the few sections to have any game stats.
Appendix F – Economic Tiers covers what the different economic ratings in the Fourth Narrative mean in terms of goods, and has a note on magic items.
Glossary covers the terms used in the supplement.
Codex of Aihrde in Review
The PDF is bookmarked but only the major sections are linked. The Table of Contents is to a similar level of depth and is hyperlinked. The Index is thorough and is also hyperlinked. Navigation is okay, thanks to the Index, but the bookmarks could have been to a greater depth. The text maintains a two-column colour format and a lot of errors were noticed. There are a number of colour illustrations, up to full page in size, which may be custom. Presentation is decent.
Though Aihrde is primarily a world for Castles & Crusades, this supplement is essentially system neutral, which means it can be used for other systems easily enough; the setting also has a lot of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition content. It is a background book, though in various places there are references to adventures in the setting for more detail on specific areas, or to other relevant supplements such as Monsters & Treasure of Aihrde. There may be enough to run the setting, as long as the needed books are already owned for whatever system is used.
The Aihrde setting is covered in a goodly amount of detail. There is an overview of the world, then more detail on the Lands of Ursal, which is the focal point, and Ursal is the part covered in the included map. The background detail is large for a setting book, which may or may not be a good thing; this will depend on the preferences of the individual using it. Some like a fully fleshed out world, whilst others prefer just the basics to a setting. This is definitely at the high end of the scale when it comes to setting background. Codex of Aihrde is a useful book for anyone planning to run a game in the setting and it can be found by clicking here.
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