The love of gold and treasure was strong on both sides, and so the battle was inevitable, but everyone expected the beasts to win. THE KING OF CHAINS - Nobody expected the dwarves to win their great war against the dragons. There's lots of rumblings from the lower orders as zombie labor drives wages down, even as it spurs magical-technological innovation.

So he grit his bony teeth and started making deals - the Imperial Bureaucracy Necromancy is now the mainstream school of imperial wizardry, and the dead everywhere are being treated as a useful resource - especially since the Empire abandoned the Gods, and the traditional burial methods were declared a scandalous waste. The Empire is assaulted on all sides, and he didn't take it back just to lose it. Only it turns out that he doesn't really have *time* for the reign of terror. THE RETURNED EMPEROR - You can't keep a good lich down, and when the once Wizard King's plans came into motion and the stars were right and the armies of the dead stormed the Imperial Palace, the Lich King sat on his rightful throne once more, and his terrible reign began! So, starting with the Emperor, who tends to set the tone. Anybody else up for doing the same? Here's what I got.

So I randomly made up new pairings, and made up a setting to match them. It was nifty, and made me want to do more with the idea.

So the recent monthly-PDF for 13th Age pared down the icons to just 7, matching all but the Orc Lord with other icons to create a new implied setting.

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