[Urbis] Monsters of the Cold Frontier - The Coastal Forests

The coast of the Cold Frontier is mountainous and covered by dense forests. Compared to the rest of the region, it is fairly warm and humid. It is also the domain of the Coastal Tribe civilization. As the Trade Outpost the PCs start the campaign at is located in this area, the PCs will likely start to explore this region first.

Based on my earlier notes, the following encounters seem appropriate for this region. While I am not using the Pathfinder rules for this campaign, I will nevertheless add Pathfinder Challenge Ratings (and levels, where appropriate) to the entries to give a rough comparison of power. As the "starting area" of the campaign, the Challenge Ratings should be fairly low. The precise encounter will be determined by 1d100:

• 1-6: A lone Coastal Tribe hunter. Roll d6: On a 1-3 the hunter is a warrior 1/expert 1 (CR 1/2), on a 4-5 a warrior 2/expert 1, and on a 6 the hunter is a ranger 3 (CR 2). There is a 50% chance that the hunter is curious and approach them to see what they are doing, while the rest of the time the hunter will be wary and attempt to stay out of sight. 25% chance of being female, otherwise male.
• 7-10: A Coastal Tribe hunting band, consisting of 1 ranger 3 and 1d4 warrior 1/expert 1 (CR 3). Each member will have a 25% chance of being female, otherwise male.
• 11-12: A Coastal Tribe Eagle Scout (ranger 3) sitting on a giant eagle circles overhead, observing the explorers. If the explorers give some sort of signals or if there is a fight, there is a 50% chance that they will swoop down and investigate (CR 4).
• 13-14: A lone shaman gathering herbs and other supplies. Roll 1d20: 1-5 adept, 6-8 sorcerer, 9-11  oracle, 12-14 druid, 15-17 summoner, 18-19 witch, 20 wizard. Level is 1d6. 50% chance of being either male or female.
• 15-16: A Coastal Tribe Skinwalker shadows the explorers for a time to divine their intentions. There is a 50% chance that the Skinwalker will do so in either animal or human form. The Skinwalker will avoid revealing shapeshifting abilities unless there is no other choice. The Skinwalker is a ranger 4, with the type being determined by a roll of 1d6: 1-2 werewolf, 3-4 werebear, 5-6 werebat. 25% chance of being female.
• 17-19: A lone Flannish trapper (warrior 1/expert 1, CR 1/2) who will approach the PCs and ask for the latest news. 10% chance of being female.
• 20-21: A lone Flannish prospector (warrior 1/expert 1, CR 1/2) with a pack mule. 20% chance that he will return from a successful gold or silver find and be wary of strangers whom he fears will steal. 10% chance of being female.
• 22-28: Bear. 50% chance of either black bear (CR 3) or a grizzly (CR 5). There is a 25% chance of it being a female with 1-3 cubs, which will attempt to flee instead of fight but make the mother's disposition worse. 
• 29-32: Bat Swarm (CR 2). There is a 20% chance that the PCs have disturbed them somehow (such as making camp in front of their lair) and that they will be aggressive. Otherwise they will swarm around the PCs but not attack.
• 33-34: Dire Bat (CR 2). This bat will attack a lone scout or a single person standing guard, but not if two or more humans are up and active.
• 35-40: Wolf. 50% chance of either a lone wolf which will not attack unless it finds a lone and injured or small straggler (CR 1), or an entire wolf pack with 2d6 members (CR 3 for 2 wolves, CR 4 for 3 wolves, CR 5 for 4-5 wolves, CR 6 for 6-7 wolves, CR 7 for 8-11 wolves, and CR 8 for 12 wolves). They will use intelligent wolf pack tactics, but they can be driven off through sufficient displays of magical prowess.
• 41-42: Dire badger. Will attempt to threaten intruders away before attacking unless startled, in which case it will attack immediately. 4 in 6 chance of lone individual (CR 2), otherwise small clan of 1d4+1 individuals (CR 4 for 2, CR 5 for 3, CR 6 for 4-5 dire badgers).
• 43-46: The explorers will come across a skunk (CR 1/4), with a 20% chance of it being a dire skunk (CR 3). It will refuse to back away and hiss, but not attack unless the explorers refuse to back away. Note that the explorers have likely never seen a skunk before.
• 47-50: 1d6 dire weasels will fiercely defend their territory against intruders. CR 1for 1 dire weasel, CR 3 for 2, CR 4 for 3, CR 5 for 4-5, and CR 6 for 6 dire weasels.
• 51-55: A wolverine will attack to defend its territory (CR 2). 20% chance of a dire wolverine (CR 4).
• 56-60: An owlbear attacks (CR 4). 25% chance of a mated pair (CR 5).
• 61-64: A sasquatch passes nearby (CR 2). The PCs might never catch a glimpse, but they might hear its howls, knocks, or footprints.
• 65-68: A lone decapus (CR4) either attempts to ambush lone stragglers from above or lure the explorers into a ravine with the aid of its illusions and mimicry.
• 69-70: If the PCs are inattentive, one of them will be attacked by either a lone gryph (50% chance, CR 1) or a flock of 2d4 of the creatures (CR 3 for 2 gryphs, CR 4 for 3 gryphs, CR 5 for 4-5 gryphs, CR 6 for 6-7 gryphs, or CR 7 for 8 gryphs). In each case the creatures will fly away to their fetid and overgrown lair after they have deposited their eggs into the explorers' bodies. 
• 71-74: One of the PCs will step on a slime mold (CR 2) unless succeeding on a perception check. If avoided, the mold will still attack anyone nearby.
• 75: A tendriculos (CR 6) ambushes the PCs.
• 76-79: A snallygaster stalk the explorers (CR 3). Will prefer to ambush lone individuals unless it smells alcohol, in which case it will go berserk. 50% chance of mated pair (CR 5).
• 80-81: A skulk (CR 1) will shadow the PCs and attempt to steal whatever it can from their equipment. It won't hesitate to murder any PCs in their sleep, but it also won't engage in any unnecessary risks to do so.. 20% of a small gang of 2d4 individuals (CR 3 for 2 skulks, CR 4 for 3 skulks, CR 5 for 4-5 skulks, CR 6 for 6-7 skulks, or CR 7 for 8 skulks).
• 82-85: A mothman (CR 6) will stare at one of the PCs and then vanish.
• 86: A faceless stalker (CR 4) attempts to befriend the party by posing as a native hunter and then luring lone PCs away to drink their blood and steal their skin.
• 87: A lone chaneque attempts to ambush a lone explorer (CR 1). If their soul is stolen, native shamans might be able to help with finding it.
• 88-92: 2d4 fey creatures are frolicking in a meadow. Their base mood towards the explorers will be either shy or playful (50% chance of each). Roll 1d6 for the base type of fey creature: 1 for mice (treat as rats, CR 1/2), 2 for fox (CR 1/2), 3 for racoons (CR 1), 4 for toads (CR 1/6), 5 for weasels (CR 1), and 6 for squirrels (CR 1/6). Adjust the CR for the number of creatures. There is a 20% chance that they will fight a conflict for territory with another fey creature. If the PCs speak Sylvan, they may be asked to mediate.
• 93-95: Twigjacks attempt to sabotage the explorers' equipment. 70% chance of a lone twigjack (CR 3),  otherwise a group of 2d4 individuals (CR 5 for 2 twigjacks, CR 6 for 3 twigjacks, CR 7 for 4-5 twigjacks, CR 8 for 6-7 twigjacks, or CR 9 for 8 twigjacks).
• 96-97: A group of 2d4 leaf leshys protects a small region of the forest containing a multitude of useful herbs and berries created by a local shaman. Anyone just passing through will be observed, but anyone attempting to pick the herbs will be harassed until they leave. CR 1 for 2 leshys, CR 2 for 3 leshys, CR 3 for 4-5 leshys, CR 4 for 6-7 leshys, or CR 5 for 8 leshys.
• 98-100: Special encounters.

 "Special encounters" includes creatures that only exist once in the region, as well as unique NPCs the explorers have encountered before. If the explorers defeat those particular creatures, they won't show up again. Examples (roll 1d4 to determine which one);

• 1: A solitary wyvern (CR 6) swoops down and attacks a party member. Only one wyvern lives in this mountain range.
• 2: A sudden thunderstorm occurs, and a thunderbird (CR 11) can be seen soaring in the clouds. Only one thunderbird lives in this mountain range.
• 3: A Worm That Walks (sorcerer 9, CR 10) observes spellcasting explorers for a while. If discovered, it buries into the ground and escapes rather than attacking. Only one Worm That Walks lives in the region - a native shaman who discovered this unnatural method for prolonging his life.
• 4: A pukwudgie is in search of more lone victims to add to its undead retinue (CR 7). There is only one pukwudgie living in this area. There is only one pukwudgie living in the region, but the tribes have fearful legends of the creature.

Note: A list of all Urbis-related posts can be found here.

[Urbis] Mothmen of the Cold Frontier

In my upcoming Cold Frontier campaign, one of the player characters has the "Weirdness Magnet" disadvantage - a GURPS trait that constantly causes strange things to happen to them. And one of the first strange things he will encounter in the Cold Frontier is a Mothman.

Initially, that was all I had planned for the Mothman - a strange presence that PC encounters again and again. But after thinking it over for a while, I have come up with an idea for expanding the role of the Mothman: The Mothmen were the Prehuman race of beings which first colonized the continent of Nardhome and left their ruins behind. It was them who created the God Chamber and in the end created the God Tekel, though it devastated their civilization in the process. The Mothman encountered by the PCs is not an actual member of their race, but a psychic remnant of sorts left over from their God-Creation process which attempts to manipulate events for its own purposes. To what end? It will likely revolve around whatever climax the campaign builds up to. Whenever the PCs manage to "kill" it, it just dissolves and reforms later

This has, of course, several major implications for the campaign. First, let's look at the  God Chamber and what its usage implies.

What if the emotions of  every sapient being in Nardhome influence what kind of God is created when the God Chamber is activated? Perhaps the new God is a Gestalt entity which merges the consciousness of everyone on the continent into a new being, though the one at the helm of the God Chamber becomes its primary consciousness - similar to the Transcendence Victory of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

The Mothmen created Tekel, the God of Fear, which implies that they were deeply afraid of something. Perhaps some other alien species which they waged a war against across the stars? Perhaps that other species was winning, and Nardhome represented a remote outpost where they attempted to create their last, best hope, a being powerful enough to take the fight back to their enemies. As the Black Pyramid housing the God Chamber neared completion, the outpost was discovered by their enemies and attacked. They activated it and the consciousness of every Mothmen on the continent merged - but that also included many of their enemies. Tekel was able to end the war, in a way, but both civilizations fell, never to rise again.

This means that most Mothman ruins on Nardhome will have served either military purposes or supporting the God Chamber project in one way or another. The Mothman origin should not be immediately apparent, but their construction, furniture, and artifacts should all be disturbingly nonhuman. Furthermore, there may be psychic remnants of whatever alien species the Mothmen fought - as well as skeletons from both species.

The next civilization to settle Nardhome was the First City. They were, well, basically fantasy Transhumanists. They used their magics to reshape themselves, their children, and their servants - the former being turned into elves, the others into most of the other nonhuman races common to D&D worlds. And they not only reshaped humans, but also animals, plants, and... diseases. When the God Chamber project was discovered, studied, and finally in the process of being reactivated, the Nardhome colony declared independence from the First City itself, as many back home thought activating it would be a bad idea, while others wanted to have more control over the project itself. The whole situation degenerated into biological warfare which caused widespread suffering both in Nardhome and back home, and appropriately the resulting God was Nyros, the God of Evolution and Disease - and Transcendence would certainly fall into its portfolio. (And note that Nyros would generally be in favor of reactivating the God Chamber - and there will likely be a number of his priests popping up with all sorts of interesting apocrypha of his faith which give further hints to the existence and nature of the God Chamber. Getting cooperation from a faith which is generally seen as at least selfish if not outright evil should be interesting for the PCs...)

Finally, there were the Old Native settlers. One of their sorcerers figured out the nature of the God Chamber, seized control of the region surrounding the central crater with his minions (many of them undead, others just abominable in general), while the other Natives fought his forces in a devastating war. Hunger was widespread under these conditions. When the God Chamber was activated, it turned out that the sorcerer had miscalculated - the transformation was incomplete after absorbing everyone's life force (the "Great Darkness" of Coastal Tribe legend), and most of its essence remained trapped inside the Pyramid as an Immortal Ichor without transcending, waiting for someone to compel into either completing the God Chamber properly or release all the souls trapped in there (it is suffering from a very bad case of split personality...). The rest dissipated across Nardhome and became entities of hunger and death, like the Wendigo.

The products of the God Chamber - two fairly malevolent deities as well as numerous less potent malignant entities  - might convince the PCs that activating the God Chamber will always produce bad results. But if they do a lot of research, they might realize that this is not actually the case. All the sapient beings on Nardhome will join into a new God, and their overall disposition will determine the nature of the God. If there is a lot of strife on the continent, the God will be aggressive. But if the PCs created a new society full of harmony and other positive emotions, then the new God will reflect that as well. Of course, if they want to be ethical about this, they should make sure that only those who want to become part of a God remain on the continent - but as soon as they announce their intentions, numerous interested groups will attempt to seize the continent for themselves, which means that there will be lot of all that strife and all those negative emotions the PCs wanted to avoid. But hey, nobody said that becoming a God was easy...

Back to the Mothman the PCs will encounter. Since the PCs will work their way towards the God Chamber throughout the campaign, it presumably wants the God Chamber to be used and thus manipulates fate to ensure that this happens - which may also mean manipulating their competition into showing up on the scene.

But beyond that, it can also serve a more "meta-gaming" use in the campaign. One problem that most RPG groups have to face is what to do with player characters whose players are absent - especially if there is no plausible reasons for those PCs to be absent, nor for why they should reappear all of a sudden when the player reappears. One member of my current gaming groups came up with some good ideas for how to solve that problem. In a fantasy campaign such characters became "mana-apathic", a magical disease that struck from time to time which removed any kind of personal drive for a time and made them susceptible to orders from others. In a current fantasy/science fiction crossover campain, the PCs in question are swallowed by a particularly disgusting demon and then are later spat out near people they are familiar with - in other words, the other PCs (the PCs are not the only ones to be affected this way, of course - in fact, the "science fiction worlds" are currently in quite a lot of panic because of this demon).

For the Cold Frontier campaign, I will simply have the Mothman stun the relevant character (and remember, they can manipulate fate so that they can catch the character alone), abduct him, wipe his memories and then return him later to whereever the PCs are when the player returns. The players will hopefully understand the "meta-reason" and go along with this, but the PCs will only find some strange footprints at best, though they will hear stories about "Mothman Abductions" from native tribes. If they use magic to get their memories restored, they will remember the Mothman stunning them. If they do so repeatedly after multiple abductions, they will eventually remember strange, nightmarish scenes of the Mothman examining them and experimenting on them (possibly implanting some strange, small stones into their bodies?), similar to the stories of UFO abductions.

This will firmly establish the Mothman as a weird "background annoyance/menance" which they cannot do anything about right now without actually being resentful over it (since the PC is always returned unharmed to wherever they are needed. Thus, the shock when they discover the truth about the Prehuman ruins should be particularly effective, since they have seen their creators from the very start in the campaign.

[Urbis] Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part IV

Continued from Part III...

And now let's have a look at the final Pathfinder Bestiary published so far.

• Almiraj: While its source is from Islamic poetry, it is obscure enough that it should fit into Nardhome without causing undue comment. Inland.
• Alpluachra: This creature from Welsh mythology is also bizarre enough to make it into our list. Inland lakes.
• Beheaded: Those might be a specialty of some local necromancers.
• Bodythief: This creature might spring up after the PCs have established some farming villages.
• Chaneque: Hated monster of the coastal tribes.
• Dossenus: Underground. A swarm of these creatures emerging on the surface might qualify as a "natural disaster" for the colony.
• Dragon, Outer: These might make a guest star appearance or two as the campaign progresses. It's likely that all the dragons in Urbis originally came from space, anyway...
• Drake, Mist: Inland.
• Drake, Spire: The northern canyon lands, especially in the old ruins.
• Ectoplasmic Creature: Common in native ruins.
• Festering Spirit: Might also show up in native ruins.
• Freezing Flow: Desolation.
• Fungal Creature: Perhaps these are the result of an old First City experiment - which means that an old research station might be filled by a small society of these beings. They are trapped - until the PCs accidentally release them.
• Golem, Coral: Some shamans of the Coastal Tribes might be able to create them - and if not them, then maybe the marine creatures they interact with.
• Hungry Flesh: Another First City experiment. I am beginning to suspect that they created outposts in Nardhome partially to have an out-of-the-way location to conduct bizarre biological experiments in.
• Immortal Ichor: This seems to have potential, yet I am not sure how to fit it into the campaign. Perhaps the God Chamber is powered by it? Or perhaps it represents the remains of the last being which attempted to use the God Chamber - parts of it became the Wendigo, and the rest became... this.
• Incutilis: Coastal.
• Isitoq: Created by evil local shamans.
• Kasatha: These beings might make an appearance late in the campaign as the off-planet connections become obvious.
• Lunarma: Dormant cocoons of these beings might be found in the northern Desolation, to be stumbled across by careless explorers.
• Lurking Ray: Underground.
• Lycanthrope, Werebat: The Coastal Tribes have some specialized "skinwalkers", and bat-type skinwalkers might be found among them.
• Lycanthrope, Wereshark: Likely exist among the Coastal Tribes, might appear in the Colony later on.
• Manitou: One exists in the region which likely feels responsible for not stopping the Great Scourge.
• Mindslaver Mold: Another First City experiment that got out of control.
• Myrmecoleon: Alien from the planet Surtus. Desolation.
• Owb: Might be manipulating events for its own purposes - but what are those?
• Qallupilluk: Coastal. A creature from Inuit mythology!
• Shadow Creature: Beings trapped when a First Age settlement was transported to the Plane of Shadows.
• Shredskin: Might be created as a byproduct of evil native rituals. Anywhere.
• Shriezyx: Guardians of prehuman ruins. Desolation.
• Snallygaster: Inland forests and mountains.
• Walrus: Common in the coastal areas. Might be an animal totem of the coastal tribes.
• Weasel (Dire, Giant): Inland. Might be a totem to the inland tribes.
• Weedwhip: Immigrant from Magrith. Rare, but exists in the Inland areas.
• Xenopterid: Inland, Desolation. Likely from another planet.

[Urbis] Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part III

Continued from Part II...

Let us now search the Pathfinder Bestiary 3 for creatures appropriate to the Cold Frontier campaign.

• Adherer: Inland, Underground. Possible "survivors" of the Great Scourge that destroyed the inland ancestors of the coastal tribes.
• Adlet: Highly appropriate, since these creatures are from Alaskan myth! Inland, and one of the major nonhuman cultures in the region.
• Akhlut: Coastal, Inland. One lives in an area of "permanent storm" it has created.
• Allip: Anywhere, but especially native ruins.
• Animal Lord: One or two of these might live in the region.
• Ascomid: Underground.
• Bandersnatch: There are likely legends of this creature - and perhaps an old footprint set in stone - though none currently inhabits the region.
• Cecaelia: Coastal. Linked to the "Octopus Totem". Likely trades with the coastal tribes where the Octopus is a prominent totem, and the PCs might be interested to learn where that particular village gets its trade goods.
• Cerebric Fungus: Underground, Desolation. Immigrant from Calturus.
• Cold Rider: Inland, Desolation. May be connected to the myths of the Inland Tribes.
• Crab (Shark-Eating, Shipwrecker): Coastal.
• Deathweb: Any. Possibly a remnant of the Great Scourge.
• Dire Corby: Underground. Might control some surface regions as well.
• Drake (Rift): Inland, especially in the northern canyon lands.
• Drake (River): Inland, rivers and lakes.
• Ecorche: Anywhere. There needs to be some powerful necromancers which create these.
• Festrog: Haunt native ruins in great numbers.
• Fey Creature: Somehow, fey animals seem to be particularly appropriate for this region. I need to work out some specific examples...
• Flail Snail: Underground. Immigrant from Magrith.
• Flumph: I have to put a few of those in there somewhere, warning the PCs about the great dangers... Likely an immigrant from Yethrod.
• Ghorazagh: Underground. Also an immigrant from another planet.
• Graveknight: One might be controlling the old native Fortress City - he or she might have been the local commander who contributed to its fall.
• Guecubu: If the PCs have to pronounce the death penalty on someone in their colony, he might rise as this entity.
• Herd Animal (Elk): Common in the Inland areas. Totem to the Inland tribes.
• Hodag: Mythologically appropriate, will haunt the Inland.
• Huecuva: There might be tribal equivalents.
• Hungry Fog: Fits great with the scourge that devastated the ancestors of the Coastal tribes and will thus haunt Native ruins.
• Kamadan: Both the normal and the Dusk and Polar varieties will exist Inland.
• Leshy (All): While the original leshies were from Russian mythology, this interpretation of plant beings created via the infusion of spirits would work well with local spellcasters.
• Myceloid: Underground.
• Owl (Giant): Totem to the tribes. Will watch over certain forest regions.
• Owl (Great Horned): Common in the forest regions.
• Phantom Fungus: Underground. Immigrant from another planet.
• Porcupine (Common and Giant): Common in the Inland areas.
• Pukwudgie: None-too-infrequent danger to the tribes. May serve as villains in the first campaign arc.
• Sasquatch: Inhabiting the forests throughout the region. Lone PCs should encounter these from time to time, though indirect encounters should be more common - the PCs should feel that they are frequently being watched.
• Skunk (Common and Giant): Yes, the PCs will encounter these.
• Spider (Giant Crab, Ogre): Inland, Underground.
• Spider Eater: Desolation. Another immigrant from off-world.
• Tupilak: Highly appropriate for native shamans - often of an evil one, considering what is usually used for its construction. The Coastal Tribes will have access to plenty of whalebone for this purpose.
• Zuvembie: Anywhere. Might be a secret ritual of the native tribes.

To be continued...

[Urbis] Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part II

Continued from Part I...

Let us continue with our examination how to fit the various Pathfinder monsters into the Cold Frontier campaign, this time using the Bestiary 2. Again, I am sorting the habitats of the creatures into the rough divisions of Coastal, Inland, Desolation, and Underground.

• Akata: Very highly appropriate for the Desolation, where some of their cocoons may survive, waiting to be released by an unlucky human.
• Amoeba (Giant, Swarm): Underground.
• Aranea: Inland.  While the Cold Frontier is far away from their usual tropical homes, a small colony of these beings might hide in the northern forests. One of them might even live in the colony itself, to learn more about the strangers' magics and who might become a mentor to a PC mage. One has to wonder about their ability to adapt to the form of a single humanoid being - perhaps they evolved it to better fit into their respective environments, and other forms than humanoid are possible, though unlikely in this world as having a humanoid form is just too useful. They might come from the planet Magrith.
• Atach: Inland. May be the result of First City experimentation.
• Aurumvorax: Inland, Underground. Will be found at sites which are suitable for mines.
• Badger (Common, Dire): Inland. One tribe may have trained some dire badgers as village defenders.
• Bat (Mobat): Anywhere.
• Bat (Skaveling): Underground, Desolation. Might feature in the myths of the inland tribes.
• Beetle (Slicer): Inland, Desolation.
• Blindhelm: Underground. Possibly immigrants from Yethrod.
• Blink Dog: Inland. Will feature in the mythology of the tribes.
• Carnovirous Blob: Desolation. May be found in First City or Prehuman ruins.
• Catoblepas: Inland. There should only be one in the region.
• Centipede (Giant Whiptail, Titan): Desolation, Underground.
• Charda: Coastal, Underground.
• Cockroach (Giant, Swarm): Desolation.
• Crypt Thing: May be guarding specific ruins.
• Decampus: Inland, Underground. Likely common in the coastal forests, and I should probably emphasize its links to the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Also note that like with the Kraken, 10 tentacles = bad.
• Destrachan: Underground, Desolation. An immigrant from Yethrod, and in my personal canon they are this irritable because the air pressure of the world they are finding themselves on is so low.
• Devilfish: Coastal. Another evil octopus, but with seven tentacles instead of eight!
• Dragonfly (Giant): Inland, Desolation.
• Faceless Stalker: Inland. Likely feature as prominent bogeymen in tribal legends. Might have its own local culture, based out of one of the swamps.
• Fetchling: A First City colony might have been transported to the Plane of Shadows and turned their inhabitants into this, and now they have found a way back.
• Frost Worm: Desolation.
• Fungal Crawler: Underground. Immigrant from Yethrod.
• Giant (Marsh): On the map, the only suitable swamps are Inland, but perhaps they migrate to the sea annually to mate with the "abominations from the deepest sea".
• Grick: Underground. Immigrant from the planet Calturus.
• Gryph: Inland, especially in remote and filthy regions of the coastal forests.
• Hangman Tree: Inland. Darkest areas of the coastal tribes.
• Howler: Desolation.
• Krenshar: Inland.
• Leucrotta: Inland.
• Moonflower: Desolation. May be an immigrant from Magrith.
• Mosquito (Swarm): Inland. Hey, this is the northern tundra!
• Mothman: Inland. Known as a harbinger of ill omen to the tribes. Their appearances have been more common as of late.
• Mu Spore: Desolation. Immigrant from Magrith.
• Neh-Thalaggu: Desolation. Unknown origin.
• Phycomid: Underground.
• Quickwood: Another plant monster that might lurk in the Inland forests.
• Reefclaw: Coastal.
• Seugathi: Desolation, Underground.
• Shining Child: May appear later in the campaign, though I haven't worked out the reasons yet.
• Skulk: Anywhere. Bogeymen to the tribes. Intelligent race that might be a full-fledged faction in its own right.
• Slime Mold: Inland, especially in the coastal forests.
• Slithering Tracker: Ruins, Underground.
• Slurk: Underground.
• Tendriculos: Inland. There is likely a site or two in the coastal forests generating those.
• Tentamort: Inland, Underground. Immigrant from Yethrod.
• Thoqqua: Volcanoes.
• Thunderbird: Inland. Likely a totem animal to the tribes.
• Totenmaske: Everywhere. Bogeyman to the tribes, though likely called something else.
• Twigjack: Inland, likely in the coastal forests - and the first fey creature I feel fits into the region.
• Vampiric Mist: Inland, likely in places where ruins can be found.
• Vemerak: Underground, Desolation.
• Water Orm: Inland. And I really need to put a lake on the map somewhere...
• Wendigo: Inland, Desolation. Highly appropriate, and likely the leader of a cannibal cult or two among the inland tribes and sapient monsters.
• Whale (Common, Great White): Coastal.
• Winterwight: Desolation.
• Worm That Walks: There is likely one or two of these entities haunting the coastal forest areas who once was a native shaman. May not necessarily be hostile and willing to negotiate with spellcasters willing to deal with it for new magics. There are stories about these beings among the coastal tribes, as well as tales of a drunk trapper who swore that he saw something like this, once.
• Xtabay: Inland, Desolation.
• Yrthak: Inland, Desolation. Immigrant from Yagrith.

To be continued...

[Urbis] The Surtus Termite

We interrupt our examination of the Pathfinder Bestiaries for a new creature which I thought up just now and need to write down before I forget it.


Explorers of the planet Surtus have encountered encountered the so-called Surtus Termites (named for their similarity in size and appearance to their Rothean equivalent) but have largely dismissed them as a nuisance, or at worst a dangerous pest. In fact, they are one of the dominant intelligent life forms on the planet. To understand how this species could be so misunderstood we must look at its life cycle.

From time to time a large and healthy hive will generate a number of fertilized females with wings. These female termites will fly as far as the wind will carry them, and then dig into a suitable location and start laying eggs in order to form a new hive. In the beginning, this hive is not too different from other insect hives, building a large mound to shelter it from the elements and predators, but as it grows larger, it becomes self-aware - intelligent. With an adult hive, the swarm intelligence is easily equal to that of a human. However, this intelligence is also fragile - if enough members of the hive are killed, it looses its intelligence and accumulated knowledge. To prevent the loss of knowledge even in the case of disaster, each hive also instinctually creates so-called "memory stacks" beneath its mound where all accumulated knowledge is encoded in physical patterns and trace chemicals the termites can decypher. The precise encoding varies from hive to hive, but genetically "related" hives tend to have similar encoding patterns. Thus, if portions of the hive are killed, it can recover over the course of days or weeks by breeding new termites and recovering the information from the memory stacks into the gestalt intelligence. Conversely, if the memory stacks are destroyed an intact hive can recreate them - but if both are damaged, the loss of knowledge will be permanent.

Each hive starts out as a "blank slate" that rapidly learns from its environment. Apart from the limitations (and advantages) of its natural form, it is fully capable of learning as much of a human being, and it is often quite a lot faster in learning new information than humans are. In Pathfinder game terms, the hive starts out as an intelligent insect swarm that can learn class levels. A swarm in a tough, hostile environment might gain ranger or fighter levels, but a swarm that observes magical phenomena might gain sorcerer levels. And a swarm that might be able to observe a wizard over a long time might become a wizard itself... (Damage will, of course, cause negative levels which are gradually healed over time if the memory stacks are available - 1 negative level removed per 3 days sounds about right.)

When encountering humans for the first time, a Surtus Termite swarm will almost certainly not have any prior knowledge of that species. It might quickly deduce that these beings are intelligent, but will not have any means of communicating with them. While it will eventually learn how to understand human language after sufficient observation, it will not be able to speak (barring use of magic or similar extreme cases). However, if it is able to observe human writing, the termites will be able to form letters.

Relationships to other intelligent beings will greatly depend on the past experiences of a particular hive. That being said, hives quickly become aware of their inherent vulnerability - they cannot disperse themselves too greatly or else they will lose their intelligence, and they cannot leave their memory stacks unguarded because doing so would risk their entire memory. Of course, the termites can come up with strategies to counteract these weaknesses - many will start maintaining multiple memory stacks at different locations (though only one will be truly "up-to-date"), and they might form some kind of symbiosis with other beings to defend their mounds. In extreme cases, hives with magical knowledge might create magical constructs as protectors.

Ultimately, Surtus Termites have little in the way of loyalty to their species as a whole - their first loyalty is always to the hive. In fact, they often get along better with other intelligent beings which do not need the same resources as they do, and newly-established young hives are often savagely attacked by older hives to prevent them from becoming rivals for the same resources. That being said, termites are fully capable of understanding trade and agreements for mutual benefit, and from time to time whole regions on Surtus develop vast networks of trade and knowledge sharing between termite hives.

Unfortunately, a certain paranoia always remains. To destroy a hive it is important to strike suddenly and hard so that it is greatly weakened for further attacks - and the hives are aware of this and use this as their attitude in warfare. They do not posture or threaten - if they determine that something threatens them, they gather as much information as they can and then strike as hard as possible. Thus, a hive always fears being betrayed by those it deals with, and the more insecure they perceive their position to be, the more likely are they to lash out to solve the problem preemptively. Larger networks of hives - "nations" of termites - can only exist because any hive that attacks another can expect to be attacked by others in turn. The relationship of individual hives with humans will also be colored by how much they see the humans as a threat to their survival and to their memory stacks.

This paranoid streak also explains why the population of termite hives on Surtus often collapses on short order - from time, their "mutual assured destruction" agreements fail, and all-out warfare devastates whole regions, with artificial bio-plagues and specially bread anti-termite life forms killing off hives in enormous numbers while the hives that originally created them have long since died. Surtus recently had such a die-off on a planetary scale, and the termite hives have only begun to recover - though the strange artifacts of the dead hives still litter the landscape.


So much for the description of the creatures themselves. But of course, I want to tie this into my Cold Frontier campaign. I've already hinted that the "Northern Desolation" possibly has gates to other planets. One such gate - to the planet Surtus - has opened recently and some fertilized females have passed through. Now new hives will begin to pop up in the Cold Frontier, and after a while the PCs will stumble across them. Nobody will know where they came from unless someone reads the right magazines about interplanetary exploration - and the hives themselves won't be able to tell them how they came to this world, since they have literally no memory of coming here. And even that assumes that the PCs will be able to establish communication with them. They are an enigma - a sign that the Cold Frontier will gradually grow stranger over time just as the PCs cement their hold on the region...

[Urbis] Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part I

As outlined in my previous post, the native inhabitants of the Cold Frontier should not include the "common D&D races" (apart from humans) and avoid any creatures that are too closely tied to "Old World mythologies" - Europe, Asia, Africa and so forth - while anything drawn from North American mythology would be ideal. Since I am entertaining notions of eventually publishing this campaign at the moment, I also want to draw the creatures from Pathfinder canon, in particular the four Bestiaries published so far. Thus, I will go through each Bestiary in turn and see what they have.

While it is too early to come up with specific encounter tables for different terrains, I will group the creatures into four rough categories which I can build upon later:

• Coastal: Living in the oceans or close to the shore. Will likely feature in the lifestyle of the Native coastal settlements.
• Inland: Living away from the shores deep in the interior. May have links to the inland barbarian tribes.
• Desolation: Living far inland in remote mountain regions where the land becomes "uncanny" and hostile. May venture further south in the winter.
• Underground: Lives in the local "Underdark". May venture up to the surface for raids, especially at night.

With that in mind, let us start with the first Bestiary:

• Aboleth: As aliens from the planet Calturus, they can show up pretty much anywhere on the world, and thus can fit in Underground, though likely below the Desolation.
• Animated Object: There might be a few ruins of First City outposts that generate these for some reason. Finding out why objects become animated might be a minor plot point. It might even happen to stuff the PCs brought with them if they stay overnight!
• Bat (Dire, Swarm): Everywhere. May be an animal totem of some of the tribes.
• Bear (Grizzly, Dire): Inland. Likely an animal totem of the inland tribes.
• Beetle, Fire: Desolation. Note that in Urbis these creatures come from the planet Surtus.
• Black Pudding: Desolation, Underground. Another immigrant from Calturus.
• Boar (Normal, Dire): Inland. Likely an animal totem of the inland tribes.
• Cave Fisher: Underground. Might be a common feature of certain coastal caves, which the natives know to stay clear of.
• Centipede (Giant, Swarm): Underground, Desolation.
• Choker: Underground, Desolation. Likely a result of First City experiments.
• Cloaker: Another immigrant from another planet, likely Calturus. Underground.
• Crab (Giant, Swarm): Coastal. Likely an animal totem of the coastal tribes. I imagine a cave that is filled with crabs during the flood, and a rite of manhood in a nearby coastal tribe involves staying inside for the duration - and (male) outsiders trying to impress the tribe may be asked to undergo the same ritual. Of course, they won't be secretly handed the tribe's crab repellant tincture, but if they manage to stay inside nonetheless they will impress the tribe.
• Dark Mantle: Another Calturus native. Underground.
• Dolphin (Common, Orca): Coastal. Likely an animal totem of the coastal tribes.
• Doppelganger: An interesting case, as these beings are currently manufactured by the city-state of Bargeto. But the Bargeto entry mentions that they rediscovered how to create these beings - so where did they learn it from? I can picture it now, the PCs stumbling across a First City or even a Prehuman ruin and finding an old, enchanted tank with a large, milky-white blog suspended in an unknown fluid. As they approach, the blob reacts to their presence and gradually forms limbs... eventually taking on a humanoid shape similar to their own.
• Dragon (Chromatic, White): Desolation for the older ones, Inland for the younger ones - the younger white dragons will be driven south by their older and more powerful peers. As the younger ones are still inexperienced, they will likely observe and stalk the party for quite some time before attacking them - preferably in an ambush.
• Eagle (Common, Giant): Coastal, Inland. Likely to be an animal totem to both the inland and coastal tribes. One of the tribes will have trained/befriended a group of Giant Eagles, and they consider themselves the protectors / scouts of the other coastal tribes, warning them against hordes of monsters, inland tribes and whatnot. They will often be found circling overhead in the coastal regions, watching the PCs.
• Elephant (shaggy woolly mammoth): Inland. Likely an animal totem to the inland tribes.
• Froghemoth: Inland. Likely from the planet Yethrod.
• Gelatinous Cube: Underground, Prehuman ruins.
• Ghost: Eveywhere, but especially Desolation where they will often be based on rather alien base creatures.
• Ghoul: Desolation, Underground. Famous bogeymen to the tribes. Possibly remnants of what destroyed the ancestors of the coastal tribes.
• Gibbering Mouther: Underground, Desolation. Likely has some link with either First City or Prehuman ruins.
• Golem (Ice): Someone produces these things, and they shamble across the frozen wastes. Perhaps the PCs will learn their origin.
• Gray Ooze: Inland marshes, Desolation, Underground. Another immigrant from Calturus.
• Herd Animal, Bison: Inland. Likely an animal totem to the inland tribes.
• Intellect Devourer: Possibly found in some First City ruins.
• Invisible Stalker: Desolation.
• Kraken: Maybe a long-term menace threatening the coastal tribes and the coastal colony.
• Lycanthrope, Werewolf: This form of Lycantropy may run in some of the inland tribes.
• Merfolk: Coastal. May trade with one of the coastal tribes for pearls and whatnot. The PCs might discover that trade and attempt to muscle in.
• Mimic: Underground, Desolation, possibly the same ruins where the Doppelgangers can be found.
• Mite: Underground.
• Morlock: Underground. Will likely be called something else by the native tribes, and feared as monsters who emerge from the depths of the earth to steal and murder.
• Neothelid: Desolation.
• Octopus (Common, Giant): Coastal. Likely a totem animal to the coastal tribes, and one of them might have a giant octopus as a village guardian. Contrary to what the PCs might expect, that tribe is not evil.
• Otyugh: Underground. Immigrant from Yethrod.
• Owlbear: Inland.
• Purple Worm: Underground. Immigrant from the planet Surtus.
• Remorhaz: Desolation. Immigrant from the planet Surtus.
• Rhinoceros, Woolly: Inland. Likely an totem animal to the inland tribe. And isn't a herd of these animals thundering across the tundra an awesome image?
• Roper: Underground. Immigrant from the planet Calturus.
• Rust Monster: Underground. Immigrant from the planet Surtus.
• Sahuagin: Coastal. They will initially be confined to the deeper oceans (and the native fishers know which regions to stay clear of), but may venture closer to the coast if the increased traffic to the trading outpost disturbs them.
• Sea Serpent: Coastal. There should likely be a single sea serpent of note with its own nickname.
• Shark (Common, Dire): Coastal. Likely an animal totem to the coastal tribes.
• Skum: Possibly Underground, but if I use them I will do away with the "rape human women to procreate" aspect.
• Spider (Giant, Swarm): Underground, Desolation.
• Squid (Common, Giant): Coastal. As they are linked to the Kraken, they are considered evil by the Natives, and are not considered a totem animal.
• Treant: Inland. Likely a problem for the timber needs of the growing colony. The treants might even gather to a moot.
• Troglodyte: Underground. Perhaps they were the original builders of the Prehuman ruins?
• Vampire: May arrive with the colonists. One might also be a survivor from the previous colonization wave, 250 years ago.
• Vegepygmy: Underground. Likely the result of a First City experiment.
• Violet Fungus: Underground. Immigrant from the planet Yethrod.
• Will-O'-Wisp: Inland. Possibly another remnant of the great disaster that killed the ancestors of the coastal tribes.
• Wolf (Common, Dire): Inland. Likely an animal totem of the inland tribes.
• Wolverine (Common, Dire): Inland. Likely an animal totem to the inland tribes.
• Wyvern: Inland.
• Yellow Musk Creeper: Inland, Underground. I imagine these beings are a regular plague in certain region, going dormant during the cold of winter. Most of their musk zombies will be animals.
• Yeti: Desolation. I especially like their "guardians against uncanny things" aspect, which I will probably use in some way.

To be continued...