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MY PLAYERS STAY OUT OR I WILL GIVE YOU SUCH A PIIIIIIIIINCH.
Our group is going to be missing a few people in the next few weeks, so we're probably going to be running some one-shots or short adventures in Pathfinder and other games.
Most of the players have voiced interest in playing an evil party. Bwa-ha-ha evil that is, not so much "hay guys let's get into an escalating depravity war!" evil.
We might have a Star Wars game coming up that fits the bill, but I'm keeping this little side project handy just in case.
A large-ish city, possibly a city-state. Most likely but not necessarily located in a harsh desert-like environment. Could just as likely be near some jungles as well.
Overarching morality of the city is roughly what you would expect from some of the more unpleasant city-states of Conan's Hyborean Age.
The major pieces in the city that have taken shape so far include:
Iron-fisted tyrant who is ruthless enough to crush any serious opposition he can but is also wise enough not to go too far and earn the ire of his supporters. Possibly backed by an infernal church dedicated to a devil other than Asmodeus. He knows the Vetinari trick of making himself necessary for the city's welfare, but is perhaps not as skilled at pulling it off.
One of the tyrant's most feared servants is the High Executioner, a strange, fearsome woman whose axe(s) somehow trap the souls of her victims within their lopped-off heads. These heads now line the walls and other locations within the city, all of which serve both as a warning and as a magical security system. If this is set in Golarion, the Executioner is definitely a refugee from Galt or a descendant of one, weilding a malfunctioning final blade prototype. Definite Zon-Kuthonite. Some of her victims are broken down into little more than feral "hounds" who are released to hunt down anyone who truly earns the tyrant's ire or to quell any large disturbances of the peace. She'll almost certainly have levels in Butcher from Strategists & Tacticians as well.
An order of necromancers who are currently under contract to bolster the city-state's defenses against its enemies. Run by a married couple of ghouls who are cultists of Kabiri and wrap themselves in the trappings of presumed royalty. They tend to foster new talent, and in turn attempt to foster loyalty amongst the most skilled necromancers in the area.
A church of Abadar has a strong presense, regulating and protecting trade. This church's doctine may have been tainted by the long-term influence of the infernal cult in the area, or it may just be the local cultural norm, but either way the slave trade is allowed and even encouraged as a means of maintaining the health of the city. It is a common belief amongst many that slaves will continue to belong to and serve their masters in the afterlife as well. There are many legal wranglings over what one intends to "take with them" and what one intends to leave to their heirs.(some go the pharoah route, some leave their slaves to their children "on loan" until they die, etc.)
A greater medusa crime lord who passes herself off as an elven art collector. Complete Calistria fanatic, particularly towards the vengeance aspect. She has ties to the tyrant, and either makes herself just useful enough or is enough of a threat(or both) to be able to carry on with her business without much fear of reprisal provided she doesn't step over the line. Her ongoing pet project is the construction of a temple to Calistria made entirely of her petrified victims(along with help from stone shape, with a preference for known unloyal lovers.
Gladiatorial arena, the entertainment center of the city. Blood sports aplenty, which is big business all around, complete with noble-favorite celebrities. Also a likely source of the beginnings of a slave revolt.
Very likely going to be esoteric cults representing Irori and Pharasma's worship in town. There are likely going to be a large number of cults, actually, both benign and malign, some with unusual interpretations of the gods. There would have to be the expected serpent cult as well. Might even be merged with one of the cults dedicated to a well-known god. Maybe Sivanah.
There might be an ex-Eagle Knight stirring up trouble after having been in deep cover for far too long and gone completely rogue. Absolute fanatic to his ideals, no matter who gets hurt. A very "ends justify the means" fellow. Wants to tear the whole system down. He also has some dirt on the medusa, and he's made sure she knows he's made certain arrangements in case he ever dies.
The city's primary enemies are a number of barbaric tribes in the area, who are a frequent threat towards trade and travellers coming and going to town. They range from your expected CN proud warrior culture guys to absolutely psychotic cannibalistic reaver types(I might be swiping Athasian halflings, and say that they were possibly the descendants of a magical attempt by some of the city's arcanists to engineer a better slave workforce or warriors that went horribly wrong). Still another tribe, possibly corrupt Gorumites, believe that those they kill will belong to and serve them in death. Thus, one who kills the most gains the most power and glory after death. Whenever these folks manage to get organized for a time, they are truly fearsome, motivated foes.
General feel of the town amongst the common folk is that life can be hard sometimes, but if you mind your own business and stay in line, their lives are certainly better than most. Those in charge keep them safe from hostile outsiders. The tyrant brought order to a city that was being pulled apart by squabbling noblemen and merchant lords. Slaves are slaves because they have done something to deserve their fate.
I had a lot of Conan and, for some odd reason beyond my ken, Golden Axe: Beast Rider on my mind when this popped in my head. I tried to come up with something that could be set in Garund somewhere, possibly Thuvia. Geb and Rahadoum seem like obvious no-go's. Anywhere else this might fit?
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First thing that comes to mind is a mountain pass between Osirion and Katapesh. Since it is a city state it need not worry about too big an area it influences. It can have influence over trade between the two nations, but isolated enough to be untouchable. Also the terrain there just scream to have something like this.
By the way... FREAKING AWESOME!
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If you want to tweak the currently existing setting, I see hints of Numeria (in the overlord), Galt (in the soul-trapping blades), Nidal (in the shadowy nature of the government), Geb (undead royalty), etc.
By just changing certain assumptions about Geb, Galt, Numeria or even Ustalav, you could place this city-state in one of those regions.
Placing it on the edge of Galt, you could even have people willingly fleeing to this dark place, because *it's more secure than their homeland.*
On the other hand, there are a fair number of 'empty' places on the map.
1) Just south of Irrisen, in northern Varisia (upriver from Riddleport) there's a large undeveloped area below the mountains. Remnants of ancient Thassilon could dwell here, with the undead 'royalty' thinking themselves (and, in some cases, actually being) the remnants of the necromantic sub-kingdom of Gastash. Pretty much all of northen Varisia, up on the Storval plateau, along the Kodar Mountains, would be ideal for this sort of thing.
2) South of Geb, or north of Sargava, in the Bandu Hills, are also some 'open' areas that could work. All those 'pirate amazons' that now make up the Field of Maidens had to come from somewhere, so the presence of a city just to the south of the map-edge could be an option (if not tucked away in one of the mountain ranges, like the aforementioned Bandu Hills or the enormous Shattered Range).
3) On the dotted red line at the 'tri-state area' between SW Osirion, SE Thuvia and NE Mwangi (north of the 'Ruins of Kho,' on the map), is a mysterious (and quite large) square-ish valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only a few passes leading into the area. This is my ideal place to put anything I want to add to the setting, such as a 'Land of the Lost' or hidden kingdom of hawk-men or the still-animate and functioning Terra Cotta army of the Forgotten Pharaoh, maintaining elaborate palaces for a king who never arrived.
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3) On the dotted red line at the 'tri-state area' between SW Osirion, SE Thuvia and NE Mwangi (north of the 'Ruins of Kho,' on the map), is a mysterious (and quite large) square-ish valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only a few passes leading into the area. This is my ideal place to put anything I want to add to the setting, such as a 'Land of the Lost' or hidden kingdom of hawk-men or the still-animate and functioning Terra Cotta army of the Forgotten Pharaoh, maintaining elaborate palaces for a king who never arrived.
Nope you guys can't put anything there... I already have my big ancient tomb to the underworld set there... stop putting your toys on my toys!
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First thing that comes to mind is a mountain pass between Osirion and Katapesh. Since it is a city state it need not worry about too big an area it influences. It can have influence over trade between the two nations, but isolated enough to be untouchable. Also the terrain there just scream to have something like this.
3) On the dotted red line at the 'tri-state area' between SW Osirion, SE Thuvia and NE Mwangi (north of the 'Ruins of Kho,' on the map), is a mysterious (and quite large) square-ish valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides, with only a few passes leading into the area. This is my ideal place to put anything I want to add to the setting, such as a 'Land of the Lost' or hidden kingdom of hawk-men or the still-animate and functioning Terra Cotta army of the Forgotten Pharaoh, maintaining elaborate palaces for a king who never arrived.
These are really clicking with me right now. Thanks guys! (I can't believe I never noticed that valley before)
I have been thinking about this city all freaking day!
Mikaze you HAVE to write it up in DETAIL... about 264 pages should do it... :)
I'm at the very least going to have to make a player's guide for my crew. :D
The problem is that I need to make it all make sense as a city, and I'm still in "imagining set pieces I want to add to the playground" mode.
New stuff:
There's definitely going to be important stuff underneath the city. A vast paradise of an underground oasis, guarded by a tribe of fierce, Amazonian harpies. Remnants of an ancient civilization are definitely present(most likely Osiriani).
The ghoul couple would possibly run their organization much like a cult at some levels and as a noble court at others. I'm still fluctuating on where it all starts and stops in the chain of command.
What I know for certain about them: They're both in good condition. That is, they eat sparingly, so their bodies don't rot(playing off of the Classic Horrors take on them). They prefer fine, exotic delicacies. And if anyone outside the upper echelons of their organization wants to meet them, and they aren't the Tyrant or one of his upper level servants, they must offer a part of themselves to the pair, most often a digit from a finger.
I dunno. There's just something about a PC needing to talk to them, having to go through with cutting off a bit of his own finger, seeing this lady delicately consider the offering before popping it in, relishing every bit of it, and plucking the finger bone from her mouth and graciously handing it back to the PC, telling him to cherish that memento and that moment forever, as he stood before greatness.
(Why yes, I did read the first Kabuki TPB!)
About the heads: I know there's going to be a network of sorts between them. It's not going to be some sort of magical internet or anything, but they do offer a wide net through which the tyrant's mages can easily keep watch on things. They are also "programmed" to scream as a sort of alarm whenever trouble of certain sorts is afoot.
Each head is aware at all times, and perfectly preserved by the negative energy animating them. They cannot speak freely unless a certain command word is spoken. There is also a secret command word that would allow one to temporarily take a head "off the network" more or less, so that one could hold a conversation with one without being detected. This word is a tightly kept secret however, as if it became known that people were doing such things, the problem would be "patched". It kind of offers a way for characters to "hack" the system in some ways, either to get information or to simply be able to speak with an executed friend or loved one. They are easily destroyed(and thus, released) by way of turning, but this is of course a capital offense, always punishable by requiring an immediate replacement for the vandalized property.
And Set, I'm totally rolling off of your mention of this city being a better place for refugees seeking a new place to live. That's almost certainly how the noble houses came to be there, with Osiriani nobility long displaced by the Keleshite occupation and possibly some Thuvian nobility having to move after they screwed up their gambits to gain possession of Aktoris' eternal youth formula.
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lol come on! A completed book next week... deadline is looming! :) lol
my first thought was Stygia, but that doesn't actually work for me, personally- too greek and too Conan, but something similar sounding and ominous... really just something ominous! lol
okay quit your job and get to work! lol
I'm just teasing but I REALLY do like this.
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The funny thing is, Stygia definitely influenced this a bit, both as it is in REH's Conan stories, its awesome/beautiful representation in the Age of Conan MMO, and in the one evil campaign I have ever played in, which was set in Stygia in a, wait for it, Conan RPG campaign.
But it's probably going to be a lot more multicultural than that, although the Osiriani influence is definitely going to be strong!
edit-Good Lord I just realized where the harpies came from. I had been thinking of them all tending to wear Boris Vallejo-esque skullcaps, but now I realize they'd essentially look like Scythian Witch-Harpies from Serious Sam.
2) South of Geb, or north of Sargava, in the Bandu Hills, are also some 'open' areas that could work. All those 'pirate amazons' that now make up the Field of Maidens had to come from somewhere, so the presence of a city just to the south of the map-edge could be an option (if not tucked away in one of the mountain ranges, like the aforementioned Bandu Hills or the enormous Shattered Range).
And now I can't stop thinking about this! (both the region and the matter of where all those pirate amazons came from)
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Tentatively calling it Ah-Ouahe for now, unless something more evocative comes along.
Probably a decent gnoll populace is present as well(at most, 2% of the total city population), but rather than have them fill in the expected role of being one of the hostile tribes outside the city walls, they'll be more like corrupted versions of their counterparts in Hamunaptra, where they have a more Anubis-like appearance and are much more civilized. Loyal servants of the state, possibly. Or to the city itself, regardless of who is in charge.
Mulling that one over.
The mystery cult of Pharasma is probably going to focus on the lost arts of prophecy more than anything else. They might preach against the trapping of souls to serve as tools but they will certainly be doing so quietly.
Huh. The possibly-quite-inaccurate English-to-Egyptian dictionary I was checking out just now lists "punish" as translating to "hed". Irony.
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I don't need to mention my strong support of 'noble' Gnolls with Anubis-looking heads and Egyptian attire, do I, given my avatar?
Having these 'high gnolls' worship a gnollish interpretation of Irori, being strongly lawful, and obsessed with personal strength, could be interesting. They would consider the demon-worshipping followers of Lamashtu as sad, degenerate examples of their kind, led astray by the mother of madness. Another god that make perfect sense, in an Egyptian-esque setting, would be Pharasma. Her 'high gnolls' are regarded as the Anubis-like guardians of the dead, and serve as tomb guardians, boatmen (as the canals in the city itself are regarded as reflections of the river that divides the underworld from the living world), and finally as guardians of the animated dead, whom they see as 'so holy, that they stand apart,' as messengers from Pharasma, and as sort of undead boddhisattva, who have put off their travel to the paradise realms to benefit those who still live.
Rovagug worshippers could also be an option, although required by city codes and laws to limit their nihilistic practices to certain areas, such as inside their own temples, or in the great challenge courts, where anyone can settle a legal dispute via bloody combat.
The ultimate sideways twist would be a fanatical lawful good sect of gnolls who serve Erastil, the hunter, provider and father of families, all interests that coincide with 'traditional' gnollish concerns, just radically opposed to their normal chaotic and evil bent. A gnollish sect devoted to Erastil might make greatly trusted babysitters and tutors for the young, among other things that would seem ridiculous to anyone unfamiliar with these particular gnolls.
[Of course, they themselves might have their history mixed up, and be civilized from generations of servitude to the ancient rulers, with the 'savages' being the *true* Gnolls, and themselves the 'perverted' offshoot, who, if the tribal gnolls knew of them, would probably regard them with the sort of contempt a wolf would have for a trimmed, clipped, domesticated poodle wearing a pink sweater...]
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^^^^
You would absolutely love that Hamunaptra/Osirion mashup some folks were suggesting some time back.
I agree about Pharasma being a perfect fit for Egyptian-themed gnolls, but I think I'm going to roll with something close to the Irori idea, to keep their loyalties lying with the city itself by way of some extreme code of honor. I'm still bouncing that around in my head.
What I know so far:
It's almost certainly going to be in the tri-state area between Osirion, Thuvia, and the Mwangi Expanse. I might bump it south over the mountains so that it's bordered by the jungles of the Mwangi, but that would make trade with the outside world that much more difficult. I'd like to have some jungles on some of the surrounding mountains though, but that might be doable by explaining it as an effect of the underground oasis(explained below).
The city has been around for a long time in some form or another.
The underground oasis beneath the city is almost like an Orvian Vault, except much closer to the surface. The nourishing effect of the place bleeds over into the surface, but this effect must be nourished through proper care of the land and certain magical traditions.
One of the outlying tribes hostile to the city, specifically the more noble CN ones(not the Gorumites or the cannibal Reaver-like halflings), will be descendants of the city's previous inhabitants. These inhabitants once kept a large area around the city vibrant with life, and lived a mostly simple, peaceful lifestyle.
When troubles in Osirion and later Thuvia stirred up, a lot of displaced people booted these people out. Without their care, the oasis effect on the surface began to recede. The people that ousted the old inhabitants got desperate. The tribe squabbled amongst itself over whether to just wait it out, let the land wither and let the invaders be starved out and then start over, or to make what peace they could with the invaders and keep their homeland alive. The tribe split. Those who refused to return have held fast to their grudge against the invaders, seeing themselves as the true inheritors of their culture. Those who returned have lived as a mostly subservient underclass, though a very valued one.
The tyrant invaded later, bringing stability to the city-state that had long been plagued by infighting amongst the disparate displaced nobility of Osirion and Thuvia and the mystics and merchants from the Mwangi Expanse.
The tyrant and many of his closest followers have been hitting the Sun Orchid Elixer off and on for the past thirty years, but have stopped recently as they have unlocked some of the secrets of the life-giving oasis beneath the city.
The land in the valley around the city that isn't green from the oasis effect is mostly arid badland. Not barren desert, but still not friendly to farmers. There are a few outlying oases out there though, spun off from the original extent of the oasis effect and a few of which have been maintained by the holdouts of the old tribe that lived there.
The city can supply its own food pretty well. The strange oasis effect also results in the growth of strange exotic plants found nowhere else on Golarion, which gives them a number of things to trade with the outside world, strange new fruits, drugs, etc.. They've also got a rich tradition of fine cloth and silks to add to their exports. They need to be able to export enough to keep money and people flowing in. Need to flesh that out a bit more. I'd like to get this city as large as reasonably possible for the area, but having it still making sense and be sustainable is the trick.
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Mikazi, your city sounds awesome! Re: the name. If I were a PC there, I'd call it "the city of severed heads."
Also, this reminds me of the Lucas Arts game "Monkey Island," the first one, with Threepwood carrying around that talking skull and visiting Hell with it to fight Capt...Morgan? What was the pirate's name...Oh yeah, LeChuck! (Or maybe that was "MI2"?) I see the demon worshippers having their own little "Hell" in the undercity.
Re: things to trade. Given all the mountains, there might be mineral wealth in them thar hills - though, most likely, it would wash down the mountains and get trapped in the underground aquifers and flow into the oases, if it is a heavy mineral like gold.
I like the idea of explorers looking for "the golden oasis" and having locals say, "Which one?" Only, of course all those oases have guardians already, or have played out.
Katapesh has a gold mine (abandoned) in the mountains to the south. This might be a similar vein.
Given the area has been occupied for a long time, the gold may "play out" only to reappear somewhere else.
I don't know that silk would be a good export; apparently that comes from Tian lands. But I do see jungle hardwoods and exotic plants (esp. toxins, and resins that would be valuable in Osirion for preservation). Maybe a quarry of an important mineral or stone: marble, salt, granite. It could make some interesting lower layers to the undercity that branch off from the main areas.
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Re: the name. If I were a PC there, I'd call it "the city of severed heads."
It's certainly gotten a bit of a reputation for it at this point! :D
Also, this reminds me of the Lucas Arts game "Monkey Island," the first one, with Threepwood carrying around that talking skull and visiting Hell with it to fight Capt...Morgan? What was the pirate's name...Oh yeah, LeChuck!
Re: things to trade. Given all the mountains, there might be mineral wealth in them thar hills - though, most likely, it would wash down the mountains and get trapped in the underground aquifers and flow into the oases, if it is a heavy mineral like gold.
I like the idea of explorers looking for "the golden oasis" and having locals say, "Which one?" Only, of course all those oases have guardians already, or have played out.
Katapesh has a gold mine (abandoned) in the mountains to the south. This might be a similar vein.
Agh! I'm punching myself for not thinking about that what with the location. Should be plenty of valuable minerals to funnel into the economy!
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New detail: The abundance of copper has led to all of the heads claimed by the state being placed in protective copper sheaths(leaving the faces exposed with enough freedom for the jaw to open) that help them fit easily into whatever socket in the city walls/guard points they are assigned to. It helps with modularity and also makes them more presentable to the eye. Maybe another metal would be better.
I don't know that silk would be a good export; apparently that comes from Tian lands. But I do see jungle hardwoods and exotic plants (esp. toxins, and resins that would be valuable in Osirion for preservation). Maybe a quarry of an important mineral or stone: marble, salt, granite. It could make some interesting lower layers to the undercity that branch off from the main areas.
Yeah, exports are going to take a lot of thought to bang out. I'm going to have to be careful with the undercity, because I want to keep certain places at certain degrees of mysterious and accessable. They're definitely going to have to be an undercity of some sort though. I'm pretty sure the pyramid/palace/ziggurat/whatever the tyrant makes his home in will pierce through the undercity all the way to the underground oasis, like a huge superstructure that the current inhabitants have only partially explored and secured.
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Once the location is cemented into place, the resources available and the resources that would need to be imported can be hammered down.
If it's in the desert mountains, goat-hair might be the source for clothing, for instance, while one closer to the jungles might have a damp enough climate for fields of flax to make linen. Then again, the mountain hideaway could have a damper climate than the rest of Thuvia / Osirion / Rahadoum, with moisture coming over the southern mountains in sheets of endless fog pouring down from high glaciers into the hidden valley.
Goats or related critters (like llamas / alpacas) are the best bet for food animals, as cattle generally require a lot of land, and a more forgiving climate. With the right goats, you can support twenty on the land needed for a single cow, and they can produce milk, meat, hair for clothing, hides for leather and bone for other materials (tools, grinding into glue, making bone china, etc.). (And that's sticking to real world critters. A world where giant spiders could be 'domesticated' to provide silk or chitin or other materials, or swarms of specialized insects could produce paper or hard building material, or giant lizards could provide scales usable for decorative clothing, changes matters, although I'd be cautious about introducing any critters that are *too* conveniently useful...)
If the land lacks wood, expensive houses will be made of stone, and cheaper ones of baked mud-brick / adobe (perhaps reinforced with straw). If the land is hot and arid, it's possible that entire underground communities, like Catal Hayuk, could exist, with deep aquifers (and, since this is a fantasy world, fill 'em with eels and whatever!).
Alternately, a community could be like the cliff-side dwellings of certain southwestern native americans, designed to provide security and shelter from the sun (and, perhaps, in this case, specially built to make their communities invisible from the air, as they may have feared some sort of airborne predators or attacks, such as from local wyverns, gargoyles, etc?). They started out small, but eventually their 'cliff dwelling' surrounded an entire mesa, and then tunneled deeper into it, creating a unique circular city around a central pillar of stone. No longer in fear of whatever airborne threat led to their original construction, the 'royalty' of the community is now resident in ornate palaces on the very top of the mesa, hundreds of feet above the rest of the community, and only accessible through ridiculously tiring winding steps.
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If you are going to have goats, you've gotta have a goat-headed demon cult!
Set: I really like the visual image of mists pouring over the peaks...it could be like an evil Shangri-La (a high plateau amid the three ranges), but with an Osirion and undead twist to it.
Oh, and ninjas! Call them what you want, but I think some of those chaotic tribesfolk need to be silent, deadly killers with acrobatic prowess.
Or maybe the Irori-worshiping gnolls have an elite force of ninjas?
Yes! That would be SO COOL!
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Mikaze: I like the idea of the heads sheathed in copper helmet-like things. They could have runes embossed on the outside and inside to help link them magically, and also, the sheaths and runes would provide protection from wear-and-tear and anyone trying to destroy a head for their own reasons (silence an undead enemy, prevent the head from reporting a crime, etc.)
I could see people coming from all over Golarion just to talk to specific heads about their past lives...to try to get them to give up a secret. But first they'd have to figure out the specific head they want to talk to, where that head is located (e.g. "The head of Tharuk the Bloody is guarding the treasure vaults of Abadar") and THEN how to get the password to get the head talking.
What a fun "adventure-within-an-adventure"!
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Alternately, a community could be like the cliff-side dwellings of certain southwestern native americans, designed to provide security and shelter from the sun (and, perhaps, in this case, specially built to make their communities invisible from the air, as they may have...
The city is definitely going to be a "traditional" set-up on the flatland of the valley, but I am definitely rolling with some of these mountainside settlements for some of the city's outlying mining operations and possibly a few hidden ones(along with the purely underground settlements) for some of the holdouts from the tribe that previous held the city.
Climate's going to be tough to nail down. I really want something that captures the feel of something like Khopsef Province from Age of Conan, albiet circled by mountains, but it needs to support enough flora and fauna to facilitate goods to trade. I'm probably going to really have to lean on the necessity of the magical oasis zone.
There's just some conflicting desires in what I want out of the place. I want it to be mostly dry and arid, but I want it to thrive as well.
I'm pretty sure an outlying oasis zone will sprawl across a few of the mountains to the south. The holdouts probably live there, sustaining the place as best they can.
I could see people coming from all over Golarion just to talk to specific heads about their past lives...to try to get them to give up a secret. But first they'd have to figure out the specific head they want to talk to, where that head is located (e.g. "The head of Tharuk the Bloody is guarding the treasure vaults of Abadar") and THEN how to get the password to get the head talking.What a fun "adventure-within-an-adventure"!
I hadn't thought about it but it would be smart to preserve certain people who were vertiable fonts of knowledge in life. Old rivals, sages, spies, etc. could be part of secure collections somewhere, either as property of the state or to be sold within closed circles amongst the upper echelons of society.
Now I'm thinking of other uses, where a certain head would serve as the unique key to a vault, or somesuch.
Demographics that I'm certain of so far:
Vast majority of the populace is human. Mostly Mwangi, Garundi, and Keleshite. Those that aren't are uncommon, and are most often slaves brought in from outside, though many are free people who come to the city for their own purposes.
Sizable gnoll populace. Religiously devoted to the security of the city.
Large slave population. The ratio of free citizens to slaves is still something I need to work out. I want it to be large, but not so much that it boggles the mind that the city can maintain any sort of control over them.
Human slaves are mostly of the same stock as the citizens, but with more common occurances of non-Mwangi/Garundi/Keleshites among them.
Virtually all halflings in the city are slaves. Same for half-orcs, though they see different uses. Halflings get a lot of use in farming the oasis zone, half-orcs see use in the arena and as slave warriors in the city's armed forces.
Another thing I know for certain now is that there will be no shortage of wells and clean water in the city. Easily handled by the oasis effect.
There's probably going to be a lake formed at the center of the oasis effect, complete with freshwater fish. It's noted that these fish seem to be coming from below the ground through submerged tunnels somewhere at the lake's bottom. These tunnels are nigh impossible to travel through, what with them being so tight, riddled with poisonous predators, and etc. Almost certainly connected to the oasis underneath the city.
About the oasis below: I had originally seen it as an enourmous cavern filled with multple layers of rock that would provide many verdant tiers, each lying over the other. I'm kind of thinking of rolling with a hollow-earth style simple cavern where the gravity goes crazy and people entering it wind up walking along the "inside" of the globe, so to speak. The latter has been done so much though, that I'm really considering just sticking with the former and building off of that, with the harpies ruling over the upper layers of the place and the lower levels becoming increasingly wild and untamed.
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There's just some conflicting desires in what I want out of the place. I want it to be mostly dry and arid, but I want it to thrive as well.
The geography of Egypt spoils us for this sort of thing, all arid and yet with incredibly fertile soil around the river itself. :)
If using the mountain valley between Osirion, Thuvia and Mwangi, the southern mountains could be covered with glaciers, fed by the moist climate to the south of those mountains, which then pours down (the aforementioned 'rivers of fog,' for instance) and makes the area at the base of the southern peaks fertile, while the remaining valley, all the way to the northern areas, is arid, more like north African scrub land or the Middle East, as the water coming off of the mountains is absorbed by the land right below the mountains and evaporates away fairly quickly.
[There's a similar area in SE Rahadoum/SW Thuvia, tucked away in the mountains, that could benefit from a similar effect, with an even greater chance of water coming in over the mountains due to proximity to the Sodden Lands / Eye of Abendago, although it's not at all unreasonable to have a similar effect elsewhere, with moisture from one micro-climate gathering on mountain-tops to trickle down on the more arid micro-climate on the other side of the mountains.]
Communities farther from the mountains might have to be supplied water through covered clay aqueducts (since, if they were open topped, the water would evaporate away before making it to it's destination), or, of course, the old D&D stand by of Decanters of Endless Water, create water items, permanent or recurring control weather effects or gates to the elemental plane of lite beer. :)
While control weather isn't a spell that is only the official 'attach via Hallow spell' list, it would certainly be something that would make sense for a holy temple of Pharasma, or something, to construct an open-air temple that maintains a constant rain-storm over the temple and it's grounds, with aqueducts leading away from the temple, and a caste of priests who have accepted that they will spend their entire lives being rained upon (kinda like Seattle residents), to bring life to the land around them. Since it's not a 'normal' thing, it would be something special, perhaps set up centuries ago, atop some mesa, and no matter where you are in the small city-state area, you could see the Storm Temple.
I picked Pharasma out of my hat as the only (major) Osirioni god associated with Water, but a temple to Gozreh, for a less Osirioni flavored diety, would be an option, and a thunder-struck Storm Temple of Rovagug the Destroyer, kept empowered by regular sacrifice, of both living creatures and beautiful items to be destroyed on the scorched and half-molten copper altar at the center, that is constantly being struck by an endless stream of lightning, which the faithful call 'the Tongue of the Destroyer,' could be sexy, with the, pretty much deaf, from all the thunder, Great Beast of Rovagug (official title of the scariest cleric, who rules the others through force and fear) being un-satisfied with mere sacrifices of things and animals, and constantly urging for human sacrifice to be re-instated, as it was back in 'the good old days' when the temple was founded and people 'gave the proper respect to the Destroyer.' Whippersnappers. Get off my temple grounds, you punks, with your touchy-feely modern religion!
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Too late and tired to read everything since my last tim on here (will catch up in a couple of days)... just wanted to add about trade that real life Egypt traded a LOT for wood and lazuli. Both could be major imports for Osirion as well. Wood obviously from Mwangi and perhaps lapis from Katapesh.
I LIKE the idea of the overlord living in a ziggurat.
Instead of copper for the heads how about bronze? I like bronze :) and it connects with the bronze age (egypt was a bit behind the times for much of its history) and lends age to the city. Perhaps the ziggurat is accented in great bronze hieroglyphs as well, and the city guard wear bronze armor (or just bronze accents). The more I think about it, just visually a city of stone and bronze is very appealing! :)
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Set: I LOVE the idea of the Storm Temple of Rovagug the Destroyer! The half-melted copper altar is GENIUS! (and Rovagug worship is perfect for the location).
Krome: The city needs copper mines for their secret alchemical battery that will power the doomsday device... and to export cookware to Galt, of course. Bronze is good, but you need the right combination of copper and tin (and phosphorus?)to make it work. They may have tin mines, too, which would make their exports of bronze very valuable.
Re: slaves (a major import with all the mining going on!) With mountains surrounding them on all sides, and a jungle to the south, and deserts to the north and west, it would be nearly impossible to escape, especially to the north where the Footprints of Rovagug are (according to Osirion: Land of Pharaohs)...but I wonder if some slaves may have ecaped the Slave Trenches of Hakotep I (also from O:LoP) and managed to flee into the mountains? They might also form part of the resistance to the city's evil rulers. (Or they might have become some of the city's founders and own lots of slaves of their own now).
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Krome: The city needs copper mines for their secret alchemical battery that will power the doomsday device... and to export cookware to Galt, of course. Bronze is good, but you need the right combination of copper and tin (and phosphorus?)to make it work. They may have tin mines, too, which would make their exports of bronze very valuable.
The tin could be involved in their trade (tin and copper only appear together in the real world in two locations world wide), or could have been rather. In far ancient times tin could have been a major import and copper a major export. As steel took over the trade of bronze has slowed, though the ancient city still shows signs of its ancient trade importance. This still allows copper for the battery and for Galt cookware as the city still can export copper, just not as much as it once did :) This fits well with it being important in trade, makes it feel ancient and unique (though just copper is pretty unique too). Also, could be interesting if the bronze was made from copper and arsenic instead of tin, resulting in a more dangerous and toxic manufacturing process resulting in high mortality of slaves. Just another example of the ruthless nature of these ancient overlor
Re: slaves (a major import with all the mining going on!) With mountains surrounding them on all sides, and a jungle to the south, and deserts to the north and west, it would be nearly impossible to escape, especially to the north where the Footprints of Rovagug are (according to Osirion: Land of Pharaohs)...but I wonder if some slaves may have ecaped the Slave Trenches of Hakotep I (also from O:LoP) and managed to flee into the mountains? They might also form part of the resistance to the city's evil rulers. (Or they might have become some of the city's founders and own lots of slaves of their own now).
I like tying in the Slave Trenches to the history. Could go both ways of course. These ancient escaped slaves may be the foundation of modern noble houses as well as ancestors of mountain dwelling barbarian villagers/nomads (sort of like nomads myself) who fight tenaciously to defend their freedom and occasionally strike back at the city.
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Just some ideas to add for fuel and consideration and building on ideas already presented... :)
I like the visual of mist coming in over the mountains and thought perhaps the Mwangi Expanse could POSSIBLY support enough moisture just rising up to allow some moisture for flora and fauna in the mountains where the cave dwelling miners and ancient hold outs still live. This could be similar to the effect that provides moisture to the coastal region of Atacama Desert in South America (and Wikipedia page talks BRIEFLY about the fog and copper mining there!).
This would mean the inhabited portion of the mountains would lie to the south west in that ring of mountains on the Osirion map, assuming some mist rises from Mwangi. Again, just visually it is appealing.
The gnolls may be descendants from some of the slaves from the Slave Trenches, their extreme lawful code has bound them to the city as guardians resulting in an elite city guard composed of jackal headed gnolls in copper (or bronze) accented armor.
The different ethnicities of the city can represent different invasions and masters over time. Perhaps the city began Garundi fortress and was eventually overthrown by Mwangi hoards with the Kelishites eventually conquering the city. This could result in a wide mixture of cultural and religious influences- even within the same religion there would be ethnic differences.
You mentioned a lake in the middle of the city. In ancient Egypt every temple had an associated holy lake nearby that it drew water from that no one else had access to. Perhaps the lake in the center of the city is set aside for the ruling and religious elite and posses some magical property (perhaps a weaker version of the Sun Orchid potion).
For ninjas... you have Assassins, the real life mid-east name for a cult of killers for hire.
+10,000 for the Rovagug melted copper altar!
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You mentioned a lake in the middle of the city. In ancient Egypt every temple had an associated holy lake nearby that it drew water from that no one else had access to. Perhaps the lake in the center of the city is set aside for the ruling and religious elite and posses some magical property (perhaps a weaker version of the Sun Orchid potion).
Even if the lake doesn't actually have any specific life-extending property, it could be like the hot springs in various lands, and be *thought* to provide healthful and life-prolonging properties.
Since it brings in big tourism bucks, and occasional rich visitors from far-away lands, the local adepts / clerics / druids of the area surreptitiously cure random visitors free of charge, making it appear that the waters do have mystical healing properties. (Perhaps they once did, and the local clergy are unwilling to admit that the power of the holy site has failed, or perhaps they just *think* that the waters used to cure the faithful, and are now maintaining the same charade that previous generations of adepts began, unaware that the waters themselves *never* had special properties...) If the site is believed to have been holy to Aroden, this is even more plausible, as the adepts who oversee the 'mineral baths' would be convinced that the holy site lost power when Aroden went silent (and not be aware that the 'holy site' never had any power to begin with, and that the charade they maintain is far older than they think).
On the other hand, perhaps the waters do have a special property, one of fertility, and wealthy merchants and even rulers come in great secrecy from all over to bath in it's waters, to ensure that their family lines continue (but not wanting to be publically known to have come here, as they don't want anyone to suspect that their potency is in question!).
There wouldn't be any game effect to this property, but it would still be a *huge* deal to the average resident (although the property of the pools, or the secret pool that has this property, might be kept secret, to prevent everyone and their cousin from coming to the baths...).
Or, the fertility property might only apply to a certain specific pool, within the mineral baths, and the many, many visitors who come to benefit from the reputed properties are only shown the lesser pools, which look impressive, but have no beneficial properties, while only the wealthiest donors are shown to the *true* pool. The lesser baths are surrounded with aromatic oils that have certain aphrodisiac / embiggening properties that get the blood flowing, so to speak, to maintain the deception that the baths have special powers...
For those 'in the know,' such as locals, the existence of these alchemical / herbal substances might be more than adequately valuable, even if the pools themselves are a sham, to provide 'vigor' to older men. Alchemical viagra for the win!
And if a pool does have unusual powers of potency and fertility? Whence does this property come from? If the water itself in this pool glows, perhaps it's positive energy, and entirely beneficial. If the water is instead sinister in appearance, or if some sort of sacrifice is required to empower the pool (life to be taken, so that life can be given, a secret that the blind pool attendents don't bother to inform the visitors of, bringing in slaves to 'chum the waters' before a wealthy patron comes to be invigorated), the pool of potency might be sacred to Lamashtu, and, in very rare cases, the children made possible by the gifts of the pools might be tainted in some way by the Mother of Monsters... (This would have to be rare, or else no one would come here! Taints would be subtle, perhaps a touch of madness, or bloodlust, or a chance that *their* offspring will carry the curse onward and have some fiendish traits or be subtler-formed tieflings, not egregious stuff like from an X-Files episode!)
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It would need to be subtle otherwise few would come to the pool and eventually some holy roller would come and shut it down. As a goddess Lamashtu can afford to be patient, so I am thinking the taint manifests a few generations later.
Though to be honest there is so much darkness in the city already, one small beacon of light is appealing. Something to contrast against the evil that pervades the city. Maybe the pool was holy to Aroden and Iomedae has taken it as her own but with lesser benefits, or maybe none at all now.
It could simply be a mineral bath that helps the aching joints feel better. No real game mechanics needed. Perhaps it was sacred to an ancient deity or spirit before Osirion (I use Egyptian gods as ancient spirits worshipped by nomadic tribes that predate the Kelish Osirions).
Hey Mikaze, can you drop me an email at oclark86 (at) gmail (dot) com?
By the way Set, you have some really awesomely wicked ideas! lol
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I think calling the city Atacama would be cool! (unless that name sounds too "Arcadian," or too "real world" to you). The Wikipedia entry mentions the legend of the "Atacama Giant" - I think there should be a giant, or a group of them, somewhere in the mountains. They could prey on the miners.
Krome: your idea about mixing copper with arsenic for the bronze is great! It would really add to the evil flavor of the city - I see lots of pale poisoned slaves stumbling through the city on errands for their masters, and royal concubines with arsenic-whitened faces (kinda like what Queen Elizabeth I did)...It could even play a role in the undead who help rule the city, as Mikaze described in his first post. Maybe the arsenic is even an ingredient in the creation of the undead.
Note: garlic may have some chelating effect in cleaning arsenic from a body; there could be a big trade in garlic with other nations - the city could develop a reputation for having vampires because they import so much garlic, when really they mostly have other sorts of undead. :)
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Mikaze: I've been thinking about your obligatory "serpent cult." The link to the Wikipedia entry on the Atacama desert has the legend of the Alicanto bird, that brings luck to miners and eats gold! I thought that was evocative (a sort of new-world phoenix) - and a nice LG type of monster to balance against all the evil...
but it also is "not to be confused" with the Alicante - a legendary snake that drinks mother's milk and impregnates women. Aside from the obvious Freudian connotations, what if this snake were the local avatar of Lamashtu; a sacred animal to the goddess?
Imagine the local Lamashtu cult impregnating their victims via an evil snake; this could be the origin of the city's medusa, and maybe half-serpent people who are sacred to the cult, but are locked away in the darkness until they are strong enough to lead a rebellion and take over the city!
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By the way Set, you have some really awesomely wicked ideas! lolThanks. Half of them are utterly incompatible with the other half, but this is my favorite part, just throwing stuff out there.
It gets harder once stuff has to be cut and made into a consistent and thematic whole. :)
No kidding on the hard part. ;)
I guess it went without saying that most of the stuff thrown out can't be used as is because of consistency, but it's still hard when you see something and you're all "Okay! I can do this and that with that detail!" and then you're all "But wait, that won't work at all with this other thing that I wanted to do this and that with."
Still, thanks guys for all the ideas! (STILL reading through everything and considering things from different angles)
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Mikaze: I've been thinking about your obligatory "serpent cult." The link to the Wikipedia entry on the Atacama desert has the legend of the Alicanto bird, that brings luck to miners and eats gold! I thought that was evocative (a sort of new-world phoenix) - and a nice LG type of monster to balance against all the evil...
but it also is "not to be confused" with the Alicante - a legendary snake that drinks mother's milk and impregnates women. Aside from the obvious Freudian connotations, what if this snake were the local avatar of Lamashtu; a sacred animal to the goddess?
Imagine the local Lamashtu cult impregnating their victims via an evil snake; this could be the origin of the city's medusa, and maybe half-serpent people who are sacred to the cult, but are locked away in the darkness until they are strong enough to lead a rebellion and take over the city!
Sounds like something that can be folded into the couatl/lilend cult that serves as a sort of front for mish-mashed Sarenrae worship in the area.
The Lamashtan snake cult can easily fit in as rivals or as a more subtle group seeking to undermine and pervert the more wide-spread Sarenraen cult.
Hey, gotta be plenty of room for multiple snake cults!
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By the way Set, you have some really awesomely wicked ideas! lolThanks. Half of them are utterly incompatible with the other half, but this is my favorite part, just throwing stuff out there.
It gets harder once stuff has to be cut and made into a consistent and thematic whole. :)
No kidding on the hard part. ;)
I guess it went without saying that most of the stuff thrown out can't be used as is because of consistency, but it's still hard when you see something and you're all "Okay! I can do this and that with that detail!" and then you're all "But wait, that won't work at all with this other thing that I wanted to do this and that with."
Still, thanks guys for all the ideas! (STILL reading through everything and considering things from different angles)
mmm IF the city is old enough EVERYTHING could be used :) Different cultures, different rulers (benevolent and evil), different dominant religions over time all can leave a legacy of a twisted and warped heritage :) No need for a comprehensive and cohesive history, it's a fantasy setting after all! :) Do it ALL! :) lol
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Don't want to have too many ingredients in the stew, but the city's age does allow for a huge cultural mix. ;)
New thing for certain:
The slave population has, over the centuries, developed somewhat into a culture of its own. The current tyrant has taken this and run with it, fostering the evolution of a true subservient culture and something that is self-enforcing. He's deliberately building towards a caste system of sorts both within and without the slave population.
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The slave population has, over the centuries, developed somewhat into a culture of its own. The current tyrant has taken this and run with it, fostering the evolution of a true subservient culture and something that is self-enforcing. He's deliberately building towards a caste system of sorts both within and without the slave population.
The easiest way to do this is to reward 'good slaves.' Either their children are born citizens or they can earn higher rank as slave overseers or cushier jobs as tutors to the children or even their freedom (rewards in this life), or they can be promised rewards in the afterlife (be a good slave, don't make waves, mind your station, and you'll be reincarnated in a higher station. Try to defy your place in the world, and you'll come back as a dung beetle or something!).
Ideally, there will be some elements of both, if the tyrant is manipulative enough, with better jobs for the most 'broken' of slaves who don't make trouble, and some sort of arrangement with spellcasters to simulate miraculous rewards every couple of years, frequently enough to keep the slaves hopeful that they too, if they don't complain and bear their lot in life, could get whatever this divine reward is.
Every couple of years, a selected slave, held up as a standard of quiet obedience and hard work, could be whisked away under cover of illusion, with some 'patron spirit of the enchained' appearing and putting on a show of magically shattering that slaves chains or slave-collar or whatever, and welcoming them into the ranks of free citizens, leaving an Arcane Mark on their forehead to show their status as someone who can never again be a slave, and then teleporting away (or turning invisible and walkng away, for a lower level charade). The slave-overseers (who will *not* be 'in on it') will know only that any slave with this mark is to be taken to their own bosses, and will eventually be presented to a representative of the tyrant (or the tyrant in person, perhaps).
The tyrant (or their representative) will show unusual respect to a slave that has been 'freed by the will of the gods' (at least in their initial public meeting, in front of many other slaves, to spread the story), offering them nice clothing, perhaps even an over-robe 'from the rulers own back' and invite them to dine at the table of the lords, before sending them off to some cushy assignment where nobody will ever see them again, like aide to a foreign ambassador, or merchant house or whatever. Whatever role the newly ascended ex-slave gets, it will be one in which the former slave doesn't interact much with current slaves, so as to avoid any behavior that could damage the charade (although they are rarely so un-subtle as to 'ascend' a slave and then take them out back and kill them...).
Someone in the high court will have that as their specific job, to collect reports from slave overseers in the community, and seek out likely candidates to ascend, to fit those candidates with roles that will keep them out of the way, and suit their skills, and to make sure that the current dozen or so ex-slaves in that role make a rare appearance (to prove that they are still living a blessed life, to those who remain slaves), but remain otherwise out of contact with the current slave population. And, when one risks exposing the charade, that official also is responsible for quietly disposing of them.
Every slave has heard the stories, and they've seen the occasional marked 'chosen' in their fancy robes, passing through town on their important business for the lords, and are so encouraged to keep their heads down and 'be good slaves' on the chance that the spirit of the lady will appear before them when next she comes.
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^^^^
Reading those new collections of the old Savage Sword of Conan comics definitely influenced this, I'll admit. :D
Yeah, the Mwangi is a great place for all sorts of civilizations to be hidden away, but I think the city has found a permanent home now. Still, it's getting some spillover from the Mwangi due to the location. Basically any cultural influence I want that isn't from Osirion, Thuvia, or some mash-up of multiple cultures will for the most part come from the Mwangi Expanse.
The easiest way to do this is to reward 'good slaves.' Either their children are born citizens or they can earn higher rank as slave overseers or cushier jobs as tutors to the children or even their freedom (rewards in this life), or they can be promised rewards in the afterlife (be a good slave, don't make waves, mind your station, and you'll be reincarnated in a higher station. Try to defy your place in the world, and you'll come back as a dung beetle or something!).
I was definitely running with both offers of elevation both in their current lives and the afterlife(along with big rewards including elevation to overseer status for those who fit the bill), but the scam idea definitely needs to find its way in.
I'll probably try to make it a more religous affair for those involved, including those who choose between the candidates. I'm trying to think of some good lawful neutral(or something lawful evil taht isn't a devil) outsiders who could get wrangled into some of the ceremony of announcing and naming the chosen too, or possibly serving as the driving force for this part of society.
!
LN fallen angel. Possibly a former, or maybe even current servant of Abadar.
I've already been waffling on whether or not to set a low-level fallen angel up as a "trophy concubine" for the tyrant. Hmm....
!?!
Maybe the angel is a servant of the city itself in the same way as the gnoll populace?
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^^^^
!
LN fallen angel. Possibly a former, or maybe even current servant of Abadar.
I've already been waffling on whether or not to set a low-level fallen angel up as a "trophy concubine" for the tyrant. Hmm....
!?!
Maybe the angel is a servant of the city itself in the same way as the gnoll populace?
This screams Tower of the Elephant.
The Thing from the Planet Yag = LN Angel.
Tyrant = Yara the Priest.
WHile the Angel has been there since before the beginning of the city, it has become imprisoned by the Tyrant.
There is a site where Yara is described as a Level 16 Sorcerer but that isnt really what he is. He is a Priest with low wisdom cutting him from spells and restricting him to Smite(Destruction). Somehow by worshiping the Eye of the Elephant Gem as an icon YARA has turned it into an object that the Angel from yag cannot Touch or use to leave. He can be a 3rd level Cleric (Destruction & Knowledge) and still imprison the angel from Yag.
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The early relationship between the tyrant and angel might have actually started a bit like Yara and the Yaggite. It's developed into something else now. I'm still banging out the fine detail, but it seems to be turning into a situation where they both believe in and enable each others' causes. Tyrant guy has wound up becoming more idealistic, though still definitely evil and self-serving. He wants the best for his city. He wants his people to thrive. He wants to secure the future of his civilization. Emphasis on "his". I'm thinking the angel, and to a degree the noble gnolls, are representatives of the city itself.
Took some of the harsher consonants out of Atacama to name the city for certain: Atah-Ouahe.
Got the blessings of one of my players to base an important NPC off of one of her old Conan RPG characters: The aasimar daughter of one of the high level officials ruling over the city(one of the tyrant's old party members at least, if not the tyrant himself). Very Osiriani. Gold/copper toned skin. She lives as an honored guest in the homes of the nobility, staying with a different noble house for months at a time. She has the cheerful, ever so friendly, sociable demeanor, and has a bit of a "party girl" exterior. The nobility knows that she's actually a steel-eyed, calculating, and utterly professional auditor, who works as an obvious overseer for the city's aristocracy. She's naturally one of the most hated people in the city's upper class, and one that few would be foolish enough to harm.
Gnoll on gnoll prejudice is pretty big. The noble gnolls(Anubis looking fellows) are an honored part of society even if they are looked down upon as subhuman by many. Normal gnolls see a lot of work in the city as well in their capacity as slavers, but they get far less respect than the "Anubisians". The noble gnolls see the normals as degenerate, honorless, undisciplined savages. The normals see the nobles as little more than slaves to the human populace, lacking any proper pride.
The valley is still quite wild and dangerous, as most of the city's armed forces are dedicated to protecting the city, protecting its holdings in the valley, and keeping the passes leading into the valley secure(which are insanely easy to hold against invaders. This makes it justifiable to keep travel throughout much of the valley dangerous, as well as allowing roving bands of the non-city tribes to still be kicking around.
The ghoul couple's organization keep a number of mindless undead in vaults to loan or sell to members and affiliates. Gives a ready source of undead for low-level necromancer types to control.
The demon lord Aldinach definitely has a cult amongst the more downtrodden folk.
The oasis spots throughout the valley that are generated by the underground "core" oasis will generally have central nodes empowering them, in the form of thick trees native to the area. I'm visualizing something thick and short. Hunting up some information on real plants that fit the bill. The plants have naturally occuring "carvings" of an unknown language, written in beautiful, alien script.
EDIT-Rethinking the above! I remember seeing some plants native to an island near Africa that had a much more alien look than what I had originally considered. Blue-greenish. Hunting those down now.
Then again, something like this might still work. Might keep the more unusual tree for the core oasis under the city.
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Was that photo of the tree taken in Malibu,CA? It looks an awful lot like the area, and the tree is very "Joshua tree"-like. I've never been to Joshua Tree Natl. Park (state park?) but you see plants like that driving from LA to Vegas, too. I think they just don't grow as big in the desert as they would on the coast.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia article.
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Was that photo of the tree taken in Malibu,CA? It looks an awful lot like the area, and the tree is very "Joshua tree"-like. I've never been to Joshua Tree Natl. Park (state park?) but you see plants like that driving from LA to Vegas, too. I think they just don't grow as big in the desert as they would on the coast.
Here is a link to the Wikipedia article.
I had to hunt back: That tree was actually in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands near Africa. I would have been completely off if I had guessed at the location from the photo alone.
I actually just got linked to what I was originally searching for. A LOT of those trees are going to be turning up in the oases both above and below ground too!
Looking at it, I can definitely see the Joshua tree getting some play on the harsher lands between oases. :)
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Set, Krome, Zeugma, and Yellowdingo,
I can be reached here: mikazelolol@hotmail.com.(Yes, that really is my e-mail. I know.)
The setting has continued to grow in the form of notes on top of notes and certain ideas have snowballed into areas I wasn't expecting when this all started. It's in severe need of organizing though, and that's going to take some time.
Again, thanks for all the help guys.
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My kingdom for a PM function up in this forum.
Email is in the profile, if you want to chat more about it offline.
And yeah.
On the one hand, I'd love a PM function.
On the other hand, I've seen it degenerate into nasty cliques that cattily snark about each other offline, and then gang-up on people who disagree with any of them online.
Not that *I'd* ever do anything like that. PM me, so that we can say awful things about Heathensson. :)
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I'm not on the messageboards very often anymore (life's getting in the way of my slacking off time), but if you want my blessing, I say go for it.
Setting-neutral makes it more versatile, too. My e-mail: RachelDHP@aol.com. Make sure you put your alias or something in the subject line or else it goes in the spam folder.
Hi, I just wanted to drop in and say this has been a great read! Love seeing people rocking their mind guitars. If there's a PDF for sale or free with this city/region, advertise high & low. I'd buy one!
Mikaze has there been any more work on your idea, inquiring minds want to know?
Somewhere under Osirion, bwtween Geb adn Nex and the Mwangi, so there is the Dessert and the Jungle and the Undead...
Awesome btw :)