[Cold Frontier] Locations of the East - Ghosts of Jealousy, Bright Heart, Dark Heart, Grippli Villages, and Black Crystal Tree

In a remote corner of the forests north of the Dead Village, the two star-crossed lovers of the Wolverine Tribe and the Yellow Seal Village, as well as their betrayer from the latter, re-enact their drama on certain dark nights. This might provide some hints for why the massacre of the Yellow Seal Village occurred, but they do not care for spectators disturbing their drama and will attack - and the jealous murderer from the Yellow Seal Village, Green Hare, will likely attempt to possess visitors so that he can seek out members of the Wolverine Tribe (now the Silver Bird Tribe) and continue his revenge.

The First City colonists did a lot of experiments with the Mothman artifacts they discovered. Among others, they wanted to study the long-term effects of the Mothman soul manipulation technology on life forms. For this purpose, they altered two soul collectors and buried them within the swamps with many protective enchantments, one of them aspected towards Life, and the other one towards Death. These now form what the locals call the "Bright Heart" and the "Dark Heart" of the forest. The former is abundant with life and growth, while the latter has attracted death and decay. Shamans use these for some of their rituals, but so far no one has discovered the reason for the existence of these spots.

Two tribes of grippli dwell within the swamps, each numbering about 400 of their people. They and the human tribes of the area - who call them the "Frog Folk" - regard each others as enemies and will not hesitate to kill each other on sight if given the opportunity, but they are not inherently evil and might be willing to negotiate with obviously non-human looking characters.

On the island south of Shrouded Tree Village, the Mothmen constructed another Black Crystal Tree - one of their "weather stations"/listening posts. The villagers are aware of the construct, but rarely see reason to visit it.


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

[Cold Frontier] Locations of the East - Shrouded Tree Village

Let's take a look at the first of the villages in the eastern regions - Shrouded Tree Village. The player characters already visited it once during the last session, on their way to the Forest Witch. I have already established that the villagers all live in actual tree houses (to protect themselves from the various predators prowling the forest), and that about 300 people live here. Beyond that, the player characters haven't spent much time here, since they had rather urgent business elsewhere.

So what about the namesake "Shrouded Tree"? I originally picked the name because of the tree-dwelling association and because it sounded cool. But what if there is an actual "Shrouded Tree" at the spiritual heart of the village? A tree within its own pocket dimension that is only accessible to the initiated? Let's keep that in mind.

I turn once again to the Random Nations Generator at the Arcana Wiki to flesh out the village. For the form of government we get Plutocracy - where wealth translates into political power - which is an interesting concept for the barter economies of the coastal tribes. Perhaps the Shrouded Tree demands gifts in exchange for the blessings it bestows to the villagers, and those who are able to bestow it with the best gifts (i.e. the most "wealth") will get the best blessings, and thus are better able to lead the village. In Pathfinder terms, such gifts would likely represent various temporarily-bestowed templates. But what might a tree want? Rare soils? Animal skins from the furthest reaches of the forest? I'll have to think about this.

Moving on to the organizations, we get Drug Cartel. An obvious source of a drug is the Shrouded Tree itself - perhaps its sap has useful properties like toughening the skin, restoring fatigue, restoring damage and so forth. However, regular use will lead to addiction, and not using it will lead to withdrawal. This will not be a problem for the villagers, since they have a ready source - but it would be very easy to set up a devastating drug ring with this substance. As an additional organization we get Private Military Company - so maybe some of the hunters of the village are interested in hiring themselves out as mercenaries as long as they get more gifts for the Shrouded Tree.

Moving on to the "Major Personalities", one of the entries is Flagellant. Which sounds like the Shrouded Tree would value the blood of people, freely given. Maybe one of the shamans has the title "Tree Speaker", and in times of need he whips himself inside the Tree's sanctum until his blood waters the tree, granting him visions or power.

Another personality is Théodore Géricault, a French artist who, among other things, is famous for his paintings of disasters and insane people. This might represent another shaman - let's call her Cloud Walker - who carves wood into fairly disturbing statues, such as our old friend the Mothman. Others might relate to the activities of the PCs, past, present, or future. The other villages avoid her, but she insists that the statues are important.

We also get Julia Bulette among the Personalities. While prostitutes and brothels are not the best cultural fit for the Coastal Tribes, the ability to "charm men" puts me in mind of dryads - so let's say a dryad (named Shrouded Flower) has bonded with the Shrouded Tree and is its highly respected caretaker and guardian. Furthermore, the Tree Speaker of the village is chosen based on his or her ability to charm Shrouded Flower.

Among the Major Political Issues, we get "Superfund money to clean 'mouth of the beast'", an article about cleaning up the most polluted site in California (deriving from the runoff of a mine). While there are no mines in the area, I already had the notion of having a "bright heart" of the forest and a "dark heart" of the forest - the latter is a site of spiritual corruption, and one warrior - Angry Wasp - is agitating for cleaning it up. This is why he is also willing to hire himself and some like-minded warriors out as mercenaries - he hopes to get sufficient gifts for the tree to make himself powerful enough to cleanse the Dark Heart.

A further political issue is Feuding Families - perhaps some descendants of Yellow Seal Village are still feuding with the Silver Bird Tribe to the north because of their ancestral war. Finally, we get "Man petitions to marry comic book character" - while someone falling in love with one of Cloud Walker's statues is one option, let's say that a junior shaman - Sleeping Fire - is secretly obsessed with Shrouded Flower and seeks to replace the Tree Speaker.

Next we get to Major Projects, and one of them is the Trans-Global Highway. Maybe the Shrouded Tree wants to propagate, which is why it currently needs lots of "fertilizer" of all kind - exotic plant matter, feces from all sorts of animal, even blood (maybe the villagers will make a "Blood for Sap" drive?). Creating new Shrouded Trees is not a trivial matter, as it requires lots of spiritual energy, but when they do, the Shrouded Tree pocket dimensions will connect to each other, making travel between different locations possible.

A further project is "Rescuing A Potential Nuke From The Chile Quake". Perhaps the followers of Angry Wasp know or suspect that there is some kind of artifact creating the corruption in the Dark Heart, and their ultimate goal is to find it and destroy or cleanse it. But even getting there is difficult indeed...

Looking at the Economy section, we get Truffles as an export, which makes sense given their forested location. Among the forms of worship, we get Fertility Rite - presumably, those couples who wish to have children visit the Shrouded Tree and sleep with each other among its roots (with the Tree Speaker having his own "rites" with Shrouded Flower). We also get Bacchanalia, which hints at doing these rites in groups - presumably, there is lots of tree sap involved. Another is Animal Sacrifice, which ties in with what the Tree wants as gifts.

I could go on with the other sections, but this should provide me plenty of material to start with.


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

[Cold Frontier] Locations of the East - Pool of Darkness, Forest Witch, and Dead Village

Since I filled up the starting map of the Cold Frontier last time, let's start with a new one! Since the player characters are currently planning to move east, we add locations to that area next.

In this lonely hill region, there is a cave covered by dark vapors. There is always one of the Five Sisters of the nearby Silver Bird Tribe guarding this cave, warning trespassers away from this site of death and darkness. She can animate the nearby trees to help her defend the cave entrance from those who refuse to listen, though she may be willing to let others enter the cave if their need is urgent and their cause righteous. The cave itself is covered by impenetrable, magical darkness which resists magical sources of light and effectively blocks all visual senses - even of those who can otherwise see in the dark. Inside the cave entrance, several dire bats lair. Further in, the explorers will encounter a strange hexagonal structure originally built by the mothmen in order to perfect their soul collecting process, though its purpose is hard to decipher without vision. At the very center there is a large crystal which collects energy in the form of soul fragments representing dark emotions, and the spillover creates the permanent darkness in the complex - and it will also animate skeletal monstrosities from the many bones scattered within it. It may be possible to drain energy from this crystal with the right techniques, but doing so will attract the attention of the Mothman and result in visions of it as long as contact is maintained.

On an island deep within the inland swamps is where Moranna the Forest Witch can usually be found. She lives within the corpse of a colossal bandersnatch, perhaps the biggest of its kind, which she has animated with the help of plant magics. Guests who want to visit her will have to walk into the creature's mouth and pass through its throat before reaching her quarters. Moranna herself once came from the eastern realm of Gorchov in the Old World, from where she left after a dispute with her sister. She is no longer human, if she ever was, and maintains her life by jumping into the bodies of women who made deals with her. As one of the most potent magic-users on the continent, she is sometimes sought out by the desperate - although she always exacts a heavy price, such as one's soul or first-born child, or something else the petitioner will eventually regret deeply.

20 miles east of the Ghost Crab Village, a small Coastal Tribe village has lain abandoned for more than 50 winters. This was the result of warfare between the village - then called the Yellow Seal Village - and the Wolverine Tribe. The village was massacred, and the few survivors joined the nearby villages, while the Wolverine Tribe suffered heavy losses, and later reformed as the Silver Bird tribe. Ghosts of those slain on that day still linger. Recently, a puckwudgie has decided to make the village its lair, and started to control the ghosts. It has also begun to animate local animals to serve as zombie and skeleton minions. It eventually plans to unleash its creatures against one of the local villages for its own sadistic pleasures, but it knows that the villages are still too powerfully protected for the time being.


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

Index of Cold Frontier-related posts

The Cold Frontier started out as an intellectual exercise on how to build a hexcrawl sandbox exploration / nation building campaign in the style of the Kingmaker Adventure Path for Pathfinder, but it morphed into an actual campaign set on the remote northern continent of Nardhome, in the world of Urbis.

• Building the Cold Frontier - the basic idea.
• Endgame of the Cold Frontier - where the campaign is headed.
• Maps of the Cold Frontier, Part I - a first rough map of the primary campaign area.
• Maps of the Cold Frontier, Part II
• Maps of the Cold Frontier, Part III - two map sketches, including a first look at the God Chamber complex.
• Company Men of the Cold Frontier - details on the Far Shores Trading Company, the organization which sets the campaign in motion.
• Coastal Tribes of the Cold Frontier, Part I - examining the native tribes dwelling near the coast and their culture.
• Coastal Tribes of the Cold Frontier, Part II - their Hunting Lodges and their future.
• Mothmen of the Cold Frontier - on the original inhabitants of the continent, and why the PCs constantly get harassed by them.
• Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part I - examining the Pathfinder Bestiaries for suitable creatures to populate the region.
• Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part II
• Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part III
• Monsters of the Cold Frontier, Part IV
• Monsters of the Cold Frontier - The Coastal Forests
• The Surtus Termite - an alien creature that will populate the region in the later stages of the campaign.
• GURPS Rules of the Cold Frontier, Part I - basic GURPS character creation rules for my campaign.
• GURPS Rules of the Cold Frontier, Part II - how to handle GURPS magic and supernatural powers in the Cold Frontier campaign.
• GURPS Rules for Hex Travel and Exploration - how to fit the GURPS travel rules into the hexgrid map.
• Expanding the Cold Frontier Map - east and west

There is also a series of posts detailing specific locations in the area. The following are for the starting map - the region the PCs are initially exploring.

• The Spring Seeds Farm - a survivalist commune populated by a religious splinter sect of halflings.
• Help me build a Halfling Survivalist Compound!
• Marsh Giant Lair and Mating Beach - stuff you really didn't want to know about Marsh Giants.
• The Fungal Gardens - a colony of plant life, intelligent or otherwise - supported by an ancient magical artifact.
• The Red Plateau - center of the Skinwalker Society
• The Valley of Fogs -  home of the Sasquatch.
• The Mound City Ruins - a ghost town.
• The Canyon of Faces - home of the Morlocks
• The Lone Cabin - home of a deeply paranoid prospector.
• The Black Crystal Tree - possibly the first evidence of the elder civilizations that used to inhabit this continent.
• The Parliament of Animals - a whole society of sapient animals
• The Crystal Mountain - a  hidden fortress containing an ancient superweapon.
• Jellyfish Bay and Owl Mountain - where the animals roam.
• Stone Totem Valley - the perfect place for communing with the spirits.
• The Stone Pillar and Drake Graveyard - a place for changing one's luck and the final resting place of drakes.
• The Trade Outpost, Part I - the characters' home away from home.
• The Trade Outpost, Part II
• Bandersnatch Footprints and Werebear Den - where two very different groups of people hide.
• Aranea's Lair and First City Spa - visit the first for information, and the second after a hard week of exploration.
• Ghost Crab Village - the first and largest of the local Coastal Tribe villages. 
• Stranded Whale Village - Village of Secrets. 
• Tribal Meet and Burning Hills - traditional meeting place of the Inland Tribes and ever-burning coal. 
• Old Far Coast Enclave - an excuse for an Aztec-style dungeon
• Draugr Island - explorers of old who never returned home. 
• Giant Eagle Eyrie and Spiral Seal
• Fey Gardens and Ravine of Whispers 
• Apple Orchard and Treants' Court 
• Ponds of Time and Crystal Falls
• Valley of Bees and Burial Mounds 
• Sovereign Crab Fossils and Plague Pits 
• Grass Circles and Cloning Vats 
• Alpluachra Infestation and Field of Ravens
• Marmot Warrens, Wendigo Altar, Fog Wraiths, and Ghoul Warrens
• Blue Octopus Village
• Cave Fisher Cave, Fog Island, Ancient Dig, and Elder Apluachra
• Whipgrass, Zone of Silence, Gopher Mounds, and Eye Botfly Swamp
• Ancient Memorial, Elder Tree, Fog Canyon, and Spire City Ruins
• Wind Flute, Beaver Colony, Blighted Grass, and Ancient Terraces
• Canyon of Spiders, Bird Lakes, Giant Frog Swamp, and Bat Caves
• Azoth Refinery, Treaty Stone, Ghost Boat, and Star Tower
• Soaring Eagle Village
• Forest Lanterns, Larval Spore, Wind Shrine, and Aranea Coven  
• Basalt Pillars, Adlet Lair, Musk Creeper Vale, Dragon Fossils
• Seed Repository, Underground Gardens, and Morlock Shrine
• Cold Road, Old Native Tombs, and First City Mansion

The following detail map locations in the area to the east of the starting region:

• Pool of Darkness, Forest Witch, and Dead Village
• Shrouded Tree Village
   

Finally, the following posts deal with the ongoing campaign itself:

• Explorers of the Cold Frontier - Part I: Our heroes. 
• Session Log 01: Arrival. 
• State of the Campaign 1 

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Cold Road, Old Native Tombs, and First City Mansion

Winding up from the Canyon of Faces there is a small road bounded by irregular stone markers moving towards the East. While traveling along the road the air always seems colder than in the surrounding area, and after a while travelers will start to feel hungry. During the Old Native civilization, this road was dedicated to protective spirits, but the worshipers of Wendigo have worked to pervert their blessings, and this road - as well as several others like it across the continent - is now dedicated to that entity. When a group of Wendigo worshipers stands on one of these "Cold Roads" during the dark of night while the moon is below the horizon and make a properly dedicated human sacrifice, Wendigo will transport the entire group through the air and to any other Cold Road of their choosing. This can transport an entire tribe to a distant location, and the Elk Tribe occasionally makes use of this.

West of the Spire City Ruins, the Old Natives carved tombs of their most honored chieftains into the cliffside and buried them with some of their greatest treasures. However, the Great Darkness warped their lingering spirits and turned them into animate mummies who will attack any trespassers.

On the southern side of one of the hills overlooking the swamps to the south, ruins of a large mansion and several smaller outlying buildings can be found. This used to be one of the retreats of the First City governor of Nardhome, and later became a meeting ground for shamans of the Old Native civilization. When the Great Darkness arrived, several of them were caught by surprise here, and their ghosts still stalk these halls at night. Even during the day, the mansion is dangerous, as a multitude of giant centipedes of all sizes lurk in the corners.


And with this, the first map is complete!

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

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Seed Repository, Underground Gardens, and Morlock Shrine

In the hills north of the Fungal Gardens, the explorers may come across a carefully-hidden First City complex. Once they figure out how to open the carefully-sealed entrance, they will be challenged by two orichalcum-inlaid stone golems in the language of the First City. They will attack if they do not present the right password and attempt to bypass the second seal. Inside, they will find a vast warehouse filled with small, sealed containers where seeds from every single variety of plant the First City civilization knew are preserved for eternity. This will be an invaluable find for those with an interest in biology.

In the higher reaches of the cliffs, a series of caves caved out of the western side of the canyon. While protected from the elements, these caves have large openings to the south and are decorated with a large number of yellow crystals. When sunlight shines on these crystals, the crystals start to shine with the same yellow light as the sun, and continue to do so for a time even after the sun has passed on. In this way, the Old Natives maintained a series of underground gardens in the canyon. Even now, the caves are abundant with vegetation, some of it edible - but a number of dangerous predators also lair here.

On a bare hill, the Old Native civilization erected a stone statue to one of their spirits, although it has badly weathered down and actively damaged in the centuries since it was brought here. The ground surrounding it has been trampled bare by innumerable naked footprints, and is littered with cracked bones and feces. On dark nights, the Morlok emerge from hidden tunnels and cavort around the statue in worship. Frequently, they tear one of their own apart in cannibalistic frenzy, although they will happily devour any trespassers instead.


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

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Basalt Pillars, Adlet Lair, Musk Creeper Vale, Dragon Fossils

The small rivulets pouring down the northern flanks of the volcano have exposed numerous basalt pillars which now rest in odd angles against the ground - forming a veritable labyrinth that is hard to traverse. Swarms of giant fire beetles will crawl around the area, though they will normally be non-agressive towards visitors. The same cannot be said for the giant funnelweb spiders which lair here, and it is all too easy for a visitor to stumble across one of their cunningly camouflaged webs.

Among the cragged peaks of the Northwestern mountain range, the Adlets have chosen a single bare mountaintop as the center of their tribe's culture. Here, the cold winds blow almost constantly, and they have hauled a number of large boulders to this peak and painted it with the symbols of the various spirits they worship - Wendigo among them. At certain nights, the Adlets come here to dance and how in the wind. There are a number of caves halfway down the mountains which serve as their lair - as they are immune to the cold they don't need it to shelter from the elements, but they do keep their young here to protect them.

A small valley which has warmer climate than the surrounding areas has been infested by Yellow Musk Creepers, numbering 11 individual colonies. They primarily have local animals as servants, but a number of morlocks from the nearby Canyon of Faces have also been infected.

Those who travel along the canyon might spot a large fossilized bone sticking out of the canyon walls. Careful excavation - which is tricky, since it would have to dig deep into the walls of the canyon - will reveal two nearly complete (approximately 25 yards long each) skeletons of dragon-like creatures of an unknown species, apparently locked in a titanic struggle when they died. This would be the crowning exhibit of any museum of natural history, although selling the bones as magical ingredients would likely be more profitable - if the sellers can prove the provenance of the bones to the satisfaction of the customers, as scams revolving around selling dragon bones are rather common.


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

[Urbis] Expanding the Cold Frontier Map

In my ongoing Cold Frontier campaign, the player characters have established their colonial outpost in the remote northern wilderness of the continent of Nardhome. As this is a hexcrawl/kingdom building campaign, I've spent a lot of time detailing the initial campaign area - a hex grid of 8 hexes wide and 11 hexes deep, with each hex having a diameter (side to side) of 10 miles. The following map shows the continent as well as where the colonial outpost of the PCs is located (at the red #5).

In the last session, the PCs have decided to lay a claim to all land within 100 miles of their outpost (they have neglected to tell the local natives about this, but they don't use the same legal system so their opinions don't matter...).

Which meant that they also want to take a closer look at the regions to the west and to the east of their initial hex map, so that they can figure out what kind of land they actually lay a claim to. This was a bit sudden, but I decided to prepare and drew a basic map for these areas. You can see the result below - also including the map of the "home area" (click on it to enlarge).

The whole continent has a Pacific Northwest/Canada/Alaska atmosphere. The "western" submap is intended to have steep coastal mountains casting a large rain shadow over a largely dry interior, while the "eastern" submap only has low hills but vast, neverending forests.

But what I need to come up with now are some interesting places and locations the PCs can interact with. As a reminder, the continent generally has the following inhabitants:

- On the coasts, there are the villages of the "Coastal Tribes" loosely inspired by Native American cultures. They have strong cultural taboos against going too far into the interior of the continent, but their villages are fairly wealthy and stable, and while they do not have a unified government they do stay in touch with each other.

- Away from the coast there are the "Inland Tribes", the barbarian descendants of earlier settlements from the local equivalent of Western and Northern Europe.

- For creatures and other nonhuman inhabitants, I want to limit myself to Pathfinder creatures - but avoid beings that are too tightly linked to "European fantasy". So elves, cyclopes, goblins and so forth are out, but adlets and araneas are better suited. Anything from Native American mythology is especially appropriate.

- The continent also has ruins from three earlier cultures that suffered extinction events. The first one (roughly 30,000 years ago) was an outpost by an interstellar mothman civilization, which fought a total war against a rival civilization of xill. The second one was the "First City" culture (think "Atlantis", with a strong focus on magical biotechnology - they were responsible for many of the bizarre "hybrid" creatures as well as many of the humanoid races). The third one was the "Old Native" culture - the ancestors of the modern Coastal Tribes who build their own cities (including equivalents of the Mound Cities and the Pueblos).


So... any suggestions on what to put on these maps?


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

Introducing JürgenWerks

This past Sunday, I released the second edition of Doomed Slayers on DriveThruRPG.

Doomed Slayers is my exploration of how typical fantasy RPG "adventurers" might fit into a typical pseduo-medieval society - why they are tolerated by the rest of society and even needed, and how they interact with rulers and commoners alike. In this setting, I postulate a distinct social class of adventurers - here called "Slayers" - whose primary task is to seek down and slay dangerous monsters before they threaten society. In exchange for this duty and its implications, they are also allowed a number of privileges - like freedom of movement and freedom of taxation - and this mixture of duties and privileges allows them to co-exist in an uneasy status quo with other people.

You can find some reviews for the first edition of Doomed Slayers here, here, here, and here. But Doomed Slayers is only the start - it is the first release of JürgenWerks, my new publishing imprint. And thus it seems appropriate that I should discuss my future publishing plans.

First of all some discussion of how I create the products (at least, this is how I did it for the new edition of Doomed Slayers, and I plan to follow this model for future publications). I create the initial outline and manuscript as Google Docs, since I travel a lot and this allows me to add new material wherever I have an Internet connection. Once I am reasonably satisfied with this manuscript, I convert it into a LaTeX file, a document preparation system which was originally developed for scientific papers and which I am familiar with (plus, it is free). In particular, I use the Tufte Layout, which uses a wide "main text" column and a smaller side column with space for margin notes, references, and smaller illustrations. I read through the manuscript again a few times, and write appropriate margin notes expanding on the main text.

Next comes a "playtest" phase where I ask others to read the compiled manuscript and give me feedback. For the second edition of Doomed Slayers I tried a public playtest, but feedback was minimal. Therefore, in the future, I will do a private playtest where the playtest files will only be made available to those who specifically volunteered.

Then, after getting the feedback and adjusting the manuscript accordingly, I add the art. For the second edition of Doomed Slayers, I largely used illustrations I had purchased the rights for when I wrote the first edition. However, since then I have developed my own artistic aspirations (as well as bought a Cintiq Companion Hybrid), so I will do most illustrations on my own for future products (for this product, I've only created the cover design and a map).

All my products will be free of any kind of copyright protections - no watermarks, no disabling of text copying. Furthermore, at DriveThruRPG I plan use the "Pay What You Want" option for all my products - while there is a "suggested price", customers will be able to set any price they want. Yes, that also includes the option of getting the product for free. I am fine with this - I still remember when I had a lot less disposable income than what I have now. However, if you do get one of my products for free, I would appreciate it if you reviewed it - at DriveThruRPG or elsewhere - or otherwise spread the word about it. (Another option, if you want to "try before you buy", is to first get it for free and then buy it again, at whatever price you see fit).

So, what further products are in the pipeline for JürgenWerks?

First, there are two products which I definitely want to release during this year:

Doomed Slayers: Order of the Silver Hart is the first supplement for Doomed Slayers. Slayers are expected to stay out of politics - but how "non-political" can an organization of Slayers get which only accepts former nobles into their ranks, and which frequently rejoin the nobility right after mustering out of the Order? The manuscript for this product is about 75% complete

Urbis Player's Guide is the introductory product for my longest-running fantasy world: Urbis - A World of Cities. It will contain everything a player needs to know to create and play a character (using the Pathfinder RPG) in a world where magic and industry, commerce and science met and gave rise to vast and powerful city-states balanced between utopia and dystopia, freedom and oppression. The manuscript for this product is in development, but still in its early stages.

I have also ideas for further products, but their schedule and format is still rather tentative:

• Doomed Slayers: The Vanguard - basically, Doomed Slayers meets XCOM.
• City sourcebooks for Urbis (likely starting with Dartmouth, followed by Nimdenthal and Bodenwald).
• Assorted smaller sourcebooks on various Urbis-related topics - various organizations, different planets or planes of existence, regional sourcebooks, and so forth.
• A proper writeup of my Cold Frontier campaign, for Urbis/Pathfinder.
• Some Pathfinder-related products describing aspects of German folklore (such as creatures, unique entities, or phenomena described in my German Folklore for Gamers series).
• A setting sourcebook based on my After Victory campaign idea.

As you can see, I have lots of ideas - but I will need to prioritize. So, what are your thoughts? Which of these ideas excites you the most?

Regions of Urbis - Alliance of the Pantheon

Much of my Urbis setting was written many years ago (in fact, I started writing on it back in 2002!). Since then, I've learned a lot about role-playing games, as well as game writing. It may therefore be useful to look at some of the stuff I've written for the setting and review whether it still works as written or requires some changes.

My current plan for this is to go through all the main regions of the setting in alphabetical order - starting with:

Alliance of the Pantheon

Short Summary: "Founded by religious refugees, this fragile and religiously diverse defensive alliance now faces an invasion by the League of Armach."

There are two regions in the Known Lands which are intended to explore religious themes, and the Alliance of the Pantheon explores the polytheistic aspects of fantasy RPGs. Each city-state has its own "state religion" and they used to be very focused on retaining their independence and purity of faith.

Yet all the interesting stories come from conflict. The external source of this conflict is the neighboring League of Armach, which has been conquering numerous other city-states. This in turn provokes internal change and further conflict - the Alliance must evolve to face this new challenge, or be conquered. Yet this change, even in the face of dire necessity, does not come easily. Time will tell if this region can survive, prosper, and become a powerful nation in its own right - or if, once the crisis has passed, it quickly reverts to its former way of life.

Further ideas: It might be worth researching the early history of the United States and look for parallels - how the semi-autonomous 13 colonies gradually morphed into an actual nation, and the conflicts that arose from it. The Delian League of Greece might also serve as a model, as could other periods of history where smaller city-states and nations formed a greater whole.

Favorite bit: The High Castle - because a site that's both a rumored treasure vault and a meeting place for the most clandestine negotiations is a prime adventuring site.

Verdict: Largely works as it is, though it could use some more detail.

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Forest Lanterns, Larval Spore, Wind Shrine, and Aranea Coven

In this fog-shrouded stretch of forest, unseen beings have hung up numerous tiny lanterns made out of branches and leaves and which are lit by magical lights in blue and green hues. Despite - or perhaps because - of the light, it is extremely easy to get lost in this area, and the weak-willed or tired might find themselves wandering off into random directions. Some characters may experience profound unease, while others become fascinated by the lanterns and stare at them as if hypnotized until distracted.

There is a small section of these plains - roughly 30 yards in diameter - which are covered by strange, tendril-like plant grows. These tendrils have buds which will release pollen that cause hallucinations and psychoses in those who inhale them. These growths emerge from an immature form of a mu spore which is growing beneath the soil. Within a few years it will emerge from the ground in its mature form.

North of the Spire City Ruins, a large flattened boulder, approximately 20 yards wide, is partially buried in the ground. The Wendigo symbol has been painted on its surface numerous times. This is an important shrine to Wendigo, and strong winds constantly pass over it which seem to sap the stamina from those nearby and replace it with a ravenous hunger. The Elk Tribe frequently stops at this location

In a side valley of the mountains south of the Zone of Silence, a coven of five araneas makes its lair. This is the main coven of which the lone aranea to the south is a member, and if she becomes more active in the workings of the colony, her fellow araneas might choose to become more involved involved as well. They otherwise distrust outsiders who stumble into their valley, and do their best to drive them away without forcing a direct confrontation. The araneas are all female - males only visit periodically.

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

[Urbis] Help me build a Halfling Survivalist Compound!

I've decided to put some more effort into detailing the Spring Seeds Farm, especially since the party may ignore one character's prejudices against halflings and investigate the compound any day now.

To recap, this farm complex was founded by a halfling splinter sect following the God of Agriculture who believe that they are their god's "chosen people" since halflings are more fecund than other "civilized" (i.e. agriculture-practicing) races. And to make sure that they "inherit the world", it is their holy duty to have as many children as possible. However, the Evils of the Modern World are constantly tempting halflings off the right and pure path, leading to an inordinate number of youngsters running off the the Big City and whatnot.

To prevent this, one halfing patriarch (a fairly powerful priest) convinced four extended families to come with him to this remote northern wilderness so that they could practice their faith (and agriculture) free of any distractions. They have the most productive farm in hundreds of miles around, and their closest link to "civilization" is a coastal trade outpost which is 30 miles away even over the most direct route (which goes through forested hill country). They trade with the outpost for metal tools they can't create by themselves, but otherwise keep contact at a minimum.

This region is not safe, however - there are wandering monsters and nomadic tribes who would certainly be interested in the food stores of the farm complex. Furthermore, the village elders encourage an "Us versus Them" attitude to keep the community unified against any impure outsiders - and they conduct regular drills so that they can make optimal use of their defenses in real emergencies.

So, what should this compound contain? Let's do some brainstorming! The good folks at RPGNet already had some ideas, but I am open to further suggestions.

Main Buildings

These will be immediately apparent to observers. Note that only the barn, temple, and communal hall will be large enough for humans to stand upright, and the halflings will be unwilling to let a human get into them.

• Temple to Kortus
• Communal burrows for the four extended families, each housing perhaps 30 halflings (including children)
• Communal hall (for dances and non-religious celebrations)
• Kindergarten (there will obviously be many, many kids...)
• School (Smaller than the kindergarten, for the moment.)
• Barns
• Granaries

Fortifications

These buildings and other constructed elements are primarily defensive in nature.

• Observation/guard towers (useful for sniping intruders with crossbows from afar)
• Halfling-sized tunnels connecting everything. These will have the occasional doors in case anyone tries to smoke them out.
• Underground warehouses with plenty of food and other stockpiles in case the aboveground storage sites get raided
• Underground safehouses for the women and children.
• Crisscrossing hedges which give cover to halflings and allow them to snipe from anywhere - but humans will frequently have to crouch to get cover. Many will have thorns.
• A ditch surrounding the entire compound - not intended as a serious defense, but more as a demarkation of property. "This land is ours, and as long as you stay outside of it, we are going to do just fine..."
• Ladders to the roofs and towers are just large enough to accomodate someone of halfling size or weight, but won't support larger characters
• Dog Kennels
• Covered pit traps for people larger and heavier than halflings

Plants

The farm is in a fairly cold climate, which should be kept in mind for figuring out which plants (crop or otherwise) the halflings grow. On the other hands, the plant magic of the priests can make a difference.

• Potatoes
• Rye
• Beans
• Herbs, in special herb gardens
• Pumpkins

Lifestock and Animals

• Fierce guard dogs
• Geese (as an alarm system)
• Cows
• Chicken
• Sheep
• Pigs

Defensive Tactics

• Most of the male population will have crossbows, with slings being a popular backup weapon (they are also common among adolescents).
• At night: Using slings to lob magically glowing stones to the locations of the intruders so that they can be sniped with impunity.

Supernatural Defenses

I don't want to go too overboard with these - most of the defenses should be entirely mundane, and they should largely be so effective because the inhabitants drill regularly. However, the patriarch is a powerful cleric (the equivalent of a 10th level Pathfinder cleric), and he has two younger priests (3rd level) assisting him - so some minor supernatural defenses are entirely appropriate. Some kind of animated plants, maybe?

That's what I've got so far. Any other suggestions?

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

Plundering the Suppressed Transmissions Community, Part 02

Continued from Part 01.

Once again, let us plumb the depths of the archives of the Suppressed Transmissions Community, and let us see what kind of inspiration we can find - in particular, for my Urbis Campaign Setting.

April 3, 2013 by +Mikkel Liljegren: This one is a delightful story about a site in Turkey called "Pluto's Gate" - a basin that filled with noxious carbon dioxide fumes and which was as a cult site by the ancient Greeks. Birds that flew into it - or the sparrows that were thrown in as part of rituals - died almost instantly, and humans who came too close suffered from hallucinations - excepting the eunuchs of the fertility deity Cybele (which was often mentioned by +Kenneth Hite in his original columns), who presumably held their breaths.

For Urbis, the appropriate deity of Death and the Underworld would be the goddess Cryelis. The equivalent of the Mediterranean would be the Lake of Dreams region, so let's put the "Gates of Cryelis" there - let's say, somewhere in the protectorate of Ascenon, my take on Plato's Republic. This location does not only have the toxic vapors, but anyone who dies from them is guaranteed to become a ghost and directly descend into the Plane of Shadows (the "Underworld" of Cryelis) - a highly desirable situation for her followers!

Furthermore, many of the lesser cult sites of Cryelis copy these Gates on a smaller scale, and create their own toxic fumes for this purpose. This is especially popular with the Discendenti - my own take on the Sicilian Mafia who also happen to be ancestor worshipers and followers of Cryelis. One of their rituals involves binding those who have displeased them and throwing them into their Cryelian Gate - so that when they die they become slaves to their ghostly relatives.

But that's not all! Back when this was first posted, I also created an Arcana Wiki entry for this story. Then another contributor to the wiki appended the entry with a link to another wiki entry describing a portal to the Mayan underworld found in Mexico! This immediately led me to the Far Coast, my South America analogue (where all the natives have seemingly vanished and which is now being settled by along the coast by different cultures), for which I wrote up the "Ghost Gates" - ritual locations found scattered across the continent which seem disturbingly similar to the Cryelian Gates and which are haunted by angry ghosts and have extensive Underworld locations anchored to them. Was Cryelis also worshiped in this land in an alternate guise, or was a different deity responsible? In either case, quite a few priests of Cryelis have made the journey to this new land to reconsecrate those sites to their own deity...

See how this works? The Suppressed Transmissions have always about finding the right connections, and the inspiration from a single article provided several - and the Arcana Wiki is all about finding and establishing such connections. I would not have thought about the Mayan connection of my own, and thus would not have come up with a cool mystery for an entirely different continent - but the work of others at the Arcana Wiki allowed me to see the bigger picture.

So look at the Arcana Wiki and then read this article on how you can contribute to the wiki and make your own connections. Help us all see the bigger picture - and expand your own!

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Soaring Eagle Village

It's time to finally detail the last village of the Coastal Tribes - Soaring Eagle Village. At only 200 inhabitants, it is the smallest but by no means the least important of the villages - as it serves as the home base for the Giant Eagle Riders, who serve as scouts for all the villages and keep an eye on the interior of the continent. As this includes warning of a new outbreak of the Great Darkness, this task is seen as being of the utmost importance for the Coastal Tribes, who all pay for these services with supplies and other support. Furthermore, they serve as one of the primary source of news.

The giant eagles don't actually live inside the village, but to the north of it at the Giant Eagle Eyrie. Still, individual giant eagles can frequently be found perching on the cliffs overlooking the village.

So, what else should we know about the village? Let us turn once again to the Random Nations Generator to fill in some details.

For government, we get Autarchy, a minimalist government whose inhabitants adhere to strong, informal codes. For this village, let's say that everyone is dedicated to the ultimate mission - everyone is either an Eagle Rider, supporting the Eagle Riders in some fashion, or a minor, and everyone who doesn't do their best to support the Eagle Riders is not-so-subtly encouraged to move to another village. The nominal chieftain is Black Falcon (male gender like all warriors, female sex), but he is out on patrol so often that there is little in the way of actual leadership, not that it is necessary. If there are any conflicts, each of the three groups (men, women, and shamans) will handle their own affairs in an informal manner.

As for organizations, we get Biker Gang - well, it should be obvious that the Eagle Riders take a lot of pride in their jobs. Some members might "mod out" their saddles, picking particularly garish colors and feathers to adorn them. Some of the giant eagles might even consent to dying some of their feathers. We also get the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program, which is interesting in this context. Perhaps as part of their initiation into the higher ranks of the Eagle Lodge, the Eagle Riders must retrieve something noticeable from far inland - whether an exotic stone or even an artifact of a prior civilization. The more unusual and unique an artifact is, the more bragging rights the Eagle Rider will get, and these artifacts are proudly displayed within the local Eagle Lodge.

Among the NPCs, we get Jason And The Argonauts. Let's say that quite some time ago, a group of young Eagle Riders decided to press on inland as far as possible, and after many reached the central crater where the God Chamber is located. They even brought a minor Mothman artifact with them. Only one member of this group - one Fading Light - is still alive and very old. He would have quite a tale to tell - if he were inclined to talk to the PCs, which isn't likely.

The next NPC is Bede, the famed 8th century English monk. Let's say the village has a shaman - Deep Water - who has an unusually scholarly bent. He is deeply interested in the writing system of the Old Native culture and may be one of the few alive today who can read it. He is also interested in the writings of the Flannish Cities culture and has even managed to acquire a book all the way from Footfall. Once the colony expands, he will be very interested in acquiring print products from them, and he might not like what he reads there. Once he learns of printing presses, he might be interested in modifying one for the Old Native script and promote its use among the Coastal Tribes. Likely as a counterweight to the spread of Common - which, after all, is a memetic virus in Urbis, and he may be one of the few able to see it for what it is.

Finally, we have an Artifact of Doom - as a distinct character. Maybe the "artifact" brought back from the God Chamber by Fading Light actually contains a small fragment of the Immortal Ichor that still lives there. For now, it is safely sealed away - but if something were to crack its container, it would try to dominate a nearby human and use them as a minion to restore the God Chamber.

Among political issues, we get "More than 230,000 Japanese centenarians 'missing'" - a report that there may be rather less old Japanese people than commonly reported. And indeed, somehow Soaring Eagle village seems to have rather fewer old people than the other Coastal Villages. Where have they all gone? Well, once they feel they can no longer contribute to the Village and its Cause, they are led to a nearby hidden cave that is strongly protected by spirits. There they are put into suspended animation by magic - inactive, but still alive, and their souls represent a vast reservoir of power as well as a ritual circle of sorts that the local shamans can tap into when the need is the most dire (as well as for enchanting powerful magic items). More than 2,000 old people have now been put into hibernation here - ten times the living population of the village!

The "Major Projects" section at the Random Nations Generator reinforces these themes. The Bible Retranslation Project represents the efforts of Deep Water to translate works in Common into the native language. The Global Consciousness Project represents the souls of the old people gradually forming a gestalt mind, which is also very sensitive to all sorts of psychic disturbances - such as increased Mothman activities, or whatever else the PCs get involved with. Finally, Scientists Make Teleportation Breakthrough could represent Deep Water's use of the Circle of the Elders to teleport to the ends of the continent - including to Footfall (where he got those books), but potentially also to other interesting locations (such as the Crater).

Among "Religious Practices", one stands out - Glossolalia. This might represent the Circle of Elders taking temporary possession of someone when they have an urgent message. The "unknown language" spoken in such a case is simply the result of so many minds speaking through one tongue - but still, it requires magic to understand. Magic which, of course, the local shamans have access to.

Among the historic events, Chilean Blob and  "Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities" stand out - which remind me of the aquatic abominations that come to the nearby Mating Beach to the west. It probably wouldn't be too surprising if sometimes the... secretions of these creatures drift further along the coast, and some of the shamans might as well collect some of the substances for their own purposes. The normal villagers, on the other hand, are encouraged to stay clear of the oceans at such times. We also have "Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found in Mexico" - which here, once again, refers to the Cave of the Elders, which has probably all sorts of warning symbols to keep outsiders away (you know, the kind of symbols that seems to attract daft graverobbers and adventurers).

Among the "Famous Locations", we get Ys, a city sunk for its sinful ways (also, by the Devil opening the floodgates). Perhaps there was a nearby village which also consorted with the abominations from the depths and which gave rise to many mutated children, just like the marsh giants. But the shamans of Soaring Eagle Village destroyed it with a mighty magical earthquake and sunk it beneath the waves.

La Isla De Las Munecas - the Island of the Dolls - also conjures an interesting image. What if the dolls are animated? What if, in fact, they are some variant of tupilaqs, a construct that fits into the general mythology of the region. What if they can be powered by the Circle of Elders? What if one form of tribute Soaring Eagle Village receives from the rest of the region is whalebone, and they have built a Strategic Tupilaq Reserve? If so, intruders had better step very lightly in these parts...

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

[Urbis] Maps of the Cold Frontier, Part III

I had a rather lengthy train trip today, which gave me plenty of time to draw some quick map sketches for my Cold Frontier campaign.

First, a map of the Spire City Ruins, which I have mentioned here - basically, this used to be a major trade town at a location where two large canyons merged into one. Each direction had its own cliff side settlement - now fallen into ruin - and these settlements are connected by vast bridges (still maintained to this day by spirits bound into them) which meet at a central fortress carved out of a tall spire.

The next map is of the heart of the continent - the central crater where the God Chamber is located, and thus the location of the center and finale for the whole campaign! Obviously, the PCs won't get there for a long, long time - but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead, does it?

Note that the individual sublocations are not necessarily to scale. I am currently doing a lot of brainstorming for this location elsewhere - so stay tuned!

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

Where I read the Bible for Gaming Inspiration - Genesis 2:18-25

Continued from here.

"[18] And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
[19] And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
[20] And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him."

I am not sure what to do about the "out of the ground" phrase - perhaps the aboleth bio-factories I mentioned also seeded the land with animal life? However, this "naming of every beast" business strikes me a lot like a grand biological survey of all life forms on the planet. The aboleth presumably didn't have to survey the planet since they created all the life forms in the first place (unless they stuck around for long enough that evolution became a serious factor). So let's make the survey the work of a later civilization - in particular, the mythical Oreanor which is also called the First City. As they were masters of magical biotechnology, searching the world for life that might be useful for their research seems appropriate. Perhaps there are still some hidden repositories with samples somewhere in the world... such as in the Cold Frontier, where the First City certainly had active outposts.

"[21] And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
[22] And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
[23] And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man."

When I read that women were designed later - and as "help meets" to boot - I am immediately reminded that the First City basically created all the nonhuman races with their bio-magics as helpers (except for the elves, who were an experiment in genetic transhumanism). But it would be fun if a garbled account of this process survived somewhere in mythology. But garbled to what degree, and in whose deity's mythology?

Let's pick the deity Ouneiros, who is basically a demigod worshiped only in the ancient city-state of Ouneirotur in the Lake of Dreams region - which just happens to be the same city that the First City was allegedly in (though nobody has identified its precise location). Let's go with this idea:

Ouneiros was also the patron deity of the First City (or so he claims). And after the people of the First City "took stock" of all the animals in the world, they begged him for helpers that could help them in a way that the beasts could not. So Ouneiros took various body parts from various human inhabitants of the city and turned them into various nonhumans:

• Elves (role as "companions"): Hair from the fairest maiden.
• Halflings (role as "domestic servants"): A foot from the most good-natured household slave.
• Gnome (role as "artisants"): An eye from the best artist.
• Dwarf (role as "laborer"): Testicles from the most hard-working worker.

But then, in their hubris, the people of the First City attempted to create further servant people and combined humans with animals (for example, orcs with wild boars), which of course went terribly wrong. This was one of the reasons why Ouneiros turned his back from the First City, cursed it, and went to build a new city-state with his few loyal followers elsewhere before the First City suffered its inevitable doom.

At least, this is what his Book of the First City claims - one of the few texts describing Oreanor, which is why it is of so much interest to scholars, despite its often dubious contents. Ouneiros rules his city still, as he has done for millenia, and the city remains unchanging. Elves, halflings, gnomes, and dwarves are the only nonhuman races allowed to exist in the city, and they fulfill their ancient roles as servants - though since many of them object to this subservient role and flee, slavers occasionally capture members of these races from elsewhere and sell them here.

"[24] Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
[25] And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed."

My key phrase here is "shall be one flesh". Perhaps the First City also dabbled in combining men and women into hybrid critters? Whether this is something as simple as a hermaphrodite or as complex as an artificial intelligence formed out of multiple brains, Ouneiros probably disapproved either way. Though the latter are probably more interesting if the PCs encounter them in a long-abandoned First City lab...

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Azoth Refinery, Treaty Stone, Ghost Boat, and Star Tower

In the heart of this volcano, the First City colonists built a refinery which used the heat of the magma to create azoth - pure, distilled magic in liquid form, which serves as "universal ingredient" for most magical rituals and whose production in nexus towers serves as the cornerstone of the economy of the Flannish Cities. The refinery is heavily damaged, and will only produce one drop of azoth every 36 hours. If fully repaired - which would be quite expensive and require importing a number of experts on magical engineering from the homeland - the refinery could produce as much as 1 drop per hour. Possibly more important, in the process said engineers could learn how to apply these principles for building future refineries, turning volcanoes into a new power source. Unfortunately, the structure and its environs are swarming with thoqqua and similar creatures of fire coming from the depths of the planet below - they would have to be kept away during both the repairs and the refinery's operation.

Near where the rivers meet, a (now fallen) monolith has been enchanted against the ravages of time, which makes its inscriptions still readable. The top side shows the script of the Old Native people, which has largely vanished from modern-day usage. The down side, now buried in the Earth, displays the same text but in the language of the now-vanished Naxal Empire of the Far Coast. If translated magically, the text says:

"We affirm the eternal brotherhood between the Naxal Empire and the Tribes of the North, pledging to stand firm against the monstrous brood of the Chasm of Filth and any other enemies of our people."

This refers to the war against the would-be god who attempted to reactivate the God Chamber at the center of the continent and who released hordes of alien creatures in order to fight the Old Native civilization.

Downriver of the Canyon of Faces there is a ruined cliffside settlement. One of the few recognizable remnants is an old, crumbling stone pier. During the day, sensitive people approaching it might sense an otherworldly presence. During the night, while the moon is shining, a large ghostly boat (capable of housing up to six passengers) with an equally ghostly navigator will appear. The navigator will be clad in native garb and will not speak, for while he has eyes, he has neither mouth nor nose. If spoken to, he will carry passengers to other parts of the river system, at a speed of 10 miles per hour - but he is unstable, and there is a cumulative 1:6 chance per hex that he will suddenly disappear, dumping his passengers and their cargo into the river.

South of the Bird Lakes, a half-ruined stone tower is covered with grass and shrubs. The tower is approximately 10 yards high and constructed in a conical shape, with a spiral ramp leading to the top. If examined closely, various star constellations can be seen chiseled in the wall, and somehow protected against the decay of the rest of the tower. Interacting with them via magic or other mystical means threatens to summon abominable creatures from beyond the stars. However, if the tower were to be restored, the proper rites could also create powerful wards against such creatures or help with banishing them.


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

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Canyon of Spiders, Bird Lakes, Giant Frog Swamp, and Bat Caves

Downriver of the Crystal Falls, numerous insects, large and small, congregate to feast on the plant and algae growths emerging from the mineral-rich waters of the canyon. These, in turn, are preyed upon by a multitude of spiders, some of which can reach the size of a large dog. Their nets cover the canyon walls, and anyone who gets entangled in them will quickly be swarmed by them. None of the spiders are intelligent.

These marshlands south of the volcano are fairly shallow and are subdivided into innumerable small lakes which are bordered by fairly low-growing vegetation. During the warmer seasons, large flocks of water fowl make their home here, preying on the numerous insects and fish and building their nests in the hedges.

The warm swamplands downriver from the First City Spa are home to a species of giant frogs. While they are not averse to make a snack of halfling-sized snack (they will leave larger creatures alone), their main problem is the noice they are making. Their croaking will thunder around the area, sounding like the call of a much larger creature. Sleep is next to impossible within this hex.

The small caves dotting the sides of this small canyon are used as refuge for a large number of bats who prey on the insects in the swamps to the south. Most of the caves are too small for a full-grown human. Still, for those who can gain access, large amounts of bat guano can be harvested for both alchemical and magical purposes.


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

[Urbis] Locations of the Cold Frontier - Wind Flute, Beaver Colony, Blighted Grass, and Ancient Terraces

In this particularly windy stretch of canyon the explorers can frequently hear a deep, fluting sound. They will eventually discover that someone, presumably of the Old Native civilization, carved out a rock spire with a series of hollow "pipes" through which the wind can blow and emit eerie music. Air- and wind-based magics are more effective here.

While the river banks of the southern grasslands are frequently dotted by trees, in this area the forest is particularly expansive. This region has been home to an extended family of beavers for many generations, who have altered the river into a series of lakes thanks to large and extensive dams. To make the river navigable by rafts, the dams (and likely the beavers) will have to be removed.

The grasses and shrubs growing on the northwestern slopes of the volcano seem to be afflicted with some kind of disease - they will have innumerable brown spots on any greenery, as well as any flowers. This seems to be caused by the local soil in some way - removing the plants and replanting them elsewhere will gradually cause the brown spots to vanish.

The southern slopes of the volcano are separated into innumerable small terraces which were artificially constructed with stones. They were once used for agriculture, and small amounts of wild rice can still be found in odd corners. However, most of the irrigation network is now in ruins, broken apart by small rivulets streaming from the numerous small geysers and hot springs. Many of the terraces have degenerated into swamps, full of stinging insects.


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