The Old Ones

No, I'm not referring to THE old ones.  In the world in which Hrulvir is perched, I've introduced a race of humans that are, for all intents and purposes, Melniboneans with the serial numbers blacked out. 

I did this because I wanted to use Moorcock's Young Kingdoms as a departure point and morph the setting into my own. 

Accordingly, I decided to use the Melniboneans as a palimpsest.  The old ones, if legend may be trusted, are a mingling of human and demon.  No one knows exactly why or how this mingling took place, but the remnants of this erstwhile culture are treated with suspicion and disgust.

Human tends to project upon this diaspora all manner of perversions.  The old ones are believed to have practiced cannibalism, incest, child sacrifice, and other sordid rituals that are better left unmentioned.  The truth, probably, is somewhere in the middle.

In truth, the old ones once ruled an empire that threatened to span the entirety of the known world.  Their armored legions, at one time, were the most fearsome fighters on the planet.  The remains of this once vast demesne are scattered like bones.  The characters have yet to discover one of this race's tombs.  It will happen, though. 

I have also been thinking of American Buffalo, again.  I was struck this morning by the notion that this race was so wealthy that their noble families used to mint their own currencies.   Collectors go to obscene lengths to obtain these unique, and sometimes magical, coins.  What if the players are hired by one such collector to break into the home of another collector and steal his or her collection?

More importantly, since one of the players is a halfbreed old one, I wonder how he feels about this sort of looting.