History notes:
• Kith and ascended masters were once same race • Had peace and prosperity, free of war and disease • Emerald energies seeded from space meteors • Sun corrupted, they turned on each other • Soldiers bred for hardiness and obedience
Houseless • Underkith ○ pale, hairless ○ blind, bulging eyes ○ pinkish-white moist skin ○ sharp teeth, speak in hisses ○ between kith and human • Kith Lords ○ underground the longest, descended before genetic engineering ○ more intelligent, ad-hoc leaders of the Houseless ○ appear to be pale, ethereally beautiful human beings with large violet eyes and long flowing hair ○ actually are worm-like, completely hairless, very pale, skulls covered by thin flesh, black, empty eye sockets; sucker-like mouth • ignored by the Green Flow • found in tunnels and caverns, dwelling in makeshift camps, nomadic • believe that somewhere is the hidden House of the Houseless: ○ paradise of underkith where their existence is given meaning, and their masters await
Descended Masters • view greenstones as a form of attainable perfection • perfect clones of greatest of the Ancients who descended • believe that the Flow will make the planet into a perfect geography of crystalline entities, which turn to dust when the sun re-energizes, and imperfect forms appear • servants of the Flow • skilled fighters; don't use spells • tend to the birthing chambers of the Shard children • ordered society, with complex customs and laws • life cycle: birthing, wizening, perfection, ascension: ○ birthing: grown in vats over years, emerge in adult form ○ wizening: green-skinned humanoids, intelligent and talented; live industriously and with contemplation ○ keep partaking of the Flow ○ eventually shredding the mortal flesh to reveal a crystalline state; living greenstone, incapable of movement and speech ○ perfection: becomes an archived memory of the flow, placed into the Crystalline Matrix ○ ascension: extrude from the Matrix into the Pit of the Mother Orm, becoming powered through the weirdling sun, and become spread around by the death orms
Orm-Masters • claim that greenstone crystals are remnants of the Flow's previous attempts to rise to the surface • origins shrouded in mystery • vast mental powers • control death orms • cause invaders' heads to explode • deactivate relics in their presence • bonds with a death orm like a familiar • death of a master may summon an orm • venerate the Flow religiously • elders make a pilgramage to be devoured • heads are oversized and hairless, with no eyes, ears or nose • mouth of just fangs and molars w/ multijointed flexible jaw • forked, snake tongue • echolocation abilities • pale white torso expands and contracts amorphously • stunted arms with no fingers or toes • can levitate and move things with telekinesis • stay close to the Flow (no more than one day's journey) • share a limited hive mind, more powerful together
House Memniscene • Used cyborg kith as soldiers • Hunted down by Ishgar'Ols and Cotcyst • Functionally extinct now
House Ishgar'Ols • Specialized in farming • Created the mushroom jungles • Bargained with the Green Flow and fled underground
House Jedharl • sorcerer kings • discovered ethereal strands connecting to other wizards, pleading to no avail • last one died in the pyramid of the ancients
Green Flow ("The Flow") • smells like rotting vegetation • Forces peace upon all those who follow it • network of rivers and lakes, bright green • liquified arcane energy and psychic cancer • feeds on thoughts and emotions of all sentient life • can read the thoughts of all sentient life on the plateau • energy cycles between flow and sun, flow wishes to break the cycle • desires to continue to conusme and grow, from continental, to planetary, to cosmic • patient, deliberate, and methodical • residue leaves behind uncharged greenstone crystals • believes that assimilating the PCs gives it an edge against other continental sentient entities ○ Champion: § wants to intice the characters to drink the flow § level 5, 18s for stats, +3 magic weapon § asks that they drink before he is sent back to oblivion, so that he can come back
Features of the Under-Plateau: • Green Flow is powerful and pervasive • Presence of Green Flow affects geography on surface (stronger under mushroom forests, etc) • Deeper parts are cold and icy with less Green Flow influence • Civilizations are isolated
Forest of Glass • Beneath a pit in a mushroom jungle • Has mushrooms which are angular, more like rock crystals than fungi • Sometimes caught in a state between liquid and crystal ○ Asculus: 5'-25' tall, pink crystal stalk, chandelier like red cap with dangly bits. Emit own continual light • In the Cold Deeps, they are things of living ice ○ Mozur: translucent, obsidian-like substance covered in frosty rime. Amorphous black fungus with crystalline spikes, on walls and ceilings. Radiate extreme cold (DC 15 Fort or 1d4 damage per round, DC 15 Str to break free)
Crystal Creche (Realm of the Descended masters) • Located under the Ancestor Peaks • Marchinery where descended masters are cloned • Vast complex of birthing chambers: humming machinery, protoplasmic vats, birthing pods • Attended to by the youthful descended masters, who spend time here attuning to the Flow, before moving on to the Undercity • Decorated with primitive cave drawings detailing the beginning of their history. Mythical, simple, crude, bright colours and bold patterns
Cavern of the Under-Sun and the Undercity (Realm of the Descended masters) • Seat of the Green Flow's power, the heart of its being • Descended masters become perfected here, turning into crystalline beings • On edges of cavern: Cave drawings here are more literal, realistic, muted and serene • Near the Under-Sun: Cave drawings are monochromatic, simple and precise, black and white drawings with ideographs and written script. More like labelled schematics of the descended masters' lives • Once they can't move, they are installed into the Crystalline matrix ○ Under-Sun: Gigantic greenstone rearing from the cavern floor § simultaneously liquid and crystal § characters who spend time here will temporarily gain int +2 § spellcasting results in spellburn effects of 1d3/spell level damage to all phys attributes
Crystalline Matrix (Realm of hte Descended Masters) • Large quantities of uncharged greenstones, dangerous to spellcasters • Outsiders not permitted • Part crypt, part memory bank • Labyrinth of caverns • Stores perfected descended masters • Connected to the Pit of the Mother Orm • Remains pushed into the pit, which helps the orms breed and thrive • Spellcasting here: automatically burn 3d12 points of physical stats (distributed) ○ +1 luck first time this happens ○ Attr == 0 ? DC Fort 25 or die
Cold Deeps • Frozen with lakes and rivers of ice • Inhabited by peculiar creatures of living ice • Beautiful and wonderous • Passage is difficult ○ See book for random monster abilities
Dread Citadel of the Orm-Masters • Found in the wasteland east of the Pit of the Mother Orm (area D). • On surface: imposing, walled fortress • Underworks extend to the pit • No stairs or ladders; only tunnels and vertical shafts (orm masters levitate)
Random encounter ideas: • Descended masters moving an immobile master to the crystalline matrix • Escaped youthful descended master fleeing its crystalline fate • Abandoned houseless camp • Houseless camp • Houseless band on the move • Scouts for a houseless band • Orm-Master religious ceremony (orm vomiting greenstone, masters put in the Flow) • Orm-Masters drinking from the Flow • Elder Orm-Master presenting himself to be devoured by orm • Android Guardian defending a lost tomb or security station • Mirrorman haunting nearby corpse of a kith lord • Ortanus mushroom • Pleth (in mushroomy areas) • Psionomold (mushroom areas) • Shardmole • Corpses of many Hutarrak have been pinned to the wall, some are fresh. http://imgur.com/auR8T5C • Orm tunnel sounds • Orm tunnel erupts • Orm attack!
Random features: • Underground river • Underground lake • Forest of Glass • Mushroom Forest • Tunnel down to the Cold Depths (with cold air) • Green flow river • Green flow lake • Greenstone shells
Getting lost: • Direction: 1d9 (1-6 hex direction, 7 same hex, 8 up, 9 down) • Find passage: ○ Chokepoint (encounters more likely) ○ Swiss cheese (many tunnels) ○ Open cavern ○ No passage
Encounters (6 on d6; d6 stationary; d12 moving): 1: Underkith, rebellious descended master 2: Orm master, descended master, underkith 3: orm, pleth (food beetle), shardmole 4: orm; hutarrak swam 5: underkith, rebellious descended master; ortanus mushroom; psionomould 6: temperature change; torch colour change; magic in the air; orm shakes; wind 7: underkith camp; Bunker 8: cliffs; rushing river; lava; green flow; empty greenstone shards 9: cold deeps; civilization; Bunker 10: mushroom jungle; lake; river; 11: android guardian/tomb; Bunker 12: kith, orm, android guardian to Bunker
1: Plot advancing creature (kith) 2: Intelligent creature 3: Unintelligent creature 4: Ambush creature 5: Beneficial creature 6: Weather 7: Lair 8: Survival Check or Hazard 9: Path Choice 10: Beneficial location 11: Ruin 12: Tracks
NPCs:
Rebellious Descended Master: Adinyat. Young descended master (faint green skin, no hair, athletic humanoid). Wants to flee the green flow and descended masters. AC 12, HD 3d10, hp 20; Act 1d20; Fort +1, Ref +2, Will +0; AL N
Generic Descended Master (green skin): Init +2; Atk spear +2 (1d6+2); AC 14; HD 4d10 (24hp); Fort +3, Ref +1, Will +2; AL L