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This is a spoiler filled resource thread for part five of the Extinction Curse Adventure Path, Lord of the Black Sands by Mikko Kallio.
Other GM reference threads for Extinction Curse:
Part one, The Show Must Go On
Part two, Legacy of the Lost God
Part three, Life's Long Shadows
Part four, Siege of the Dinosaurs
Part six, The Apocalypse Prophet
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Just got my PDF and glancing through! Always start at the back of the book.
Here's my question: Rhoka Swords.
They are, for sake of brevity, one handed swords, advanced weapons, d8 damage dice. Two brilliant traits though: fatal D10, two-handed D12. Sick, right?
But if you're wielding one two handed and crit, how does that interact with Fatal? Obviously it isn't gonna change the damage dice back to d10s. However, do you treat it like Deadly d10 or Deadly d12? Might be answered elsewhere in the AP, but I haven't read the whole thing yet. Looks like a cracking adventure though!
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Just a warning: this book features more than a couple enemies out of Bestiary 2. For those who like to run entirely based off print (and not look up stat blocks on Nethys), you'll need both Bestiaries to run it!
How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.
How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.
Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.
How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.
How peacefully can you interact with the drow and the Urdefhan?
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How peacefully can you interact with the drow and the Urdefhan?How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.
Options are given for ignoring or fighting urdefhan, but more page space is devoted to playing nice to get what you want. It's basically stated outright you have to play by Drow rules on their turf, though none of them are actively working to kill or enslave the party. After all, it's a small adventuring party versus an unfamiliar city full of undead drow. The party isn't forced into doing evil however; put on a circus show in the local amphitheater and trade some magic items to stimulate the local economy are the two big options.
It is a beautiful book. I haven't read it all yet, but it might stand out as an exceptional high level darklands adventure that could pretty well stand on its own as a module. Its really well done.
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How peacefully can you interact with the drow and the Urdefhan?How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.
With latter I'd kinda assume "Same way as in Serpent's Skull". Aka "they aren't any help unless you do evil things, but you might be able to keep them at bay peacefully"
Like "allying with them against Serpentfolk" in Serpent's Skull if you wanted their help you needed to give them intelligent creatures as sacrifices :p Urdefhans are probably least likely of all ancestries to have variables in alignment since they are daemonic weapons basically.
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How peacefully can you interact with the drow and the Urdefhan?How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.
Just browsing all that now.
Basically, the drow and the urdefhan are at war with each other. The urdefhan want to use you against the drow. The drow don't really care that you're in their city until you start impressing them. Frankly, it seems to be a pretty pleasant amount of performing and such to grease your passage through, which is wonderfully tied in to the AP as a whole.
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How peacefully can you interact with the drow and the Urdefhan?How is this? Very curious about Darklands stuff and anytime Pathfinder feels weirder than standard fantasy.Personally I really enjoyed this book. In terms of the adventure you spend most of the adventure in the underground desert, which if that isn't considered an exotic locale I'm not sure what else would be. Plus having to play pragmatically nice to some drow is interesting to my brain. The article on Shraen makes me want to extend the party's stay in the city just explore it some more if/when I gm this.Just browsing all that now.
Basically, the drow and the urdefhan are at war with each other. The urdefhan want to use you against the drow. The drow don't really care that you're in their city until you start impressing them. Frankly, it seems to be a pretty pleasant amount of performing and such to grease your passage through, which is wonderfully tied in to the AP as a whole.
Huh. I find it impressive they really did manage to tie in the darkland part of the ap to the circus and not have it be "and the token book where pcs are without the circus for whole book so let's just forget about the circus theme" book :O
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Just got my PDF and glancing through! Always start at the back of the book.
Here's my question: Rhoka Swords.
They are, for sake of brevity, one handed swords, advanced weapons, d8 damage dice. Two brilliant traits though: fatal D10, two-handed D12. Sick, right?
But if you're wielding one two handed and crit, how does that interact with Fatal? Obviously it isn't gonna change the damage dice back to d10s. However, do you treat it like Deadly d10 or Deadly d12? Might be answered elsewhere in the AP, but I haven't read the whole thing yet. Looks like a cracking adventure though!
The Rhoka Swords also feature in Bestiary 2, where they are Deadly d8 and Two-Handed d10, which is much less impressive but also much more likely.
A narrative question. At the start of the book, Unakite tells the party "it has become clear to us that your task-bringing together the energies of the five aeon orbs in Aroden's sanctum in the Kortos mountains-is of dire importance".
But I don't recall this task (or Aroden's sanctum) having been mentioned before. Am I missing something?
A narrative question. At the start of the book, Unakite tells the party "it has become clear to us that your task-bringing together the energies of the five aeon orbs in Aroden's sanctum in the Kortos mountains-is of dire importance".
But I don't recall this task (or Aroden's sanctum) having been mentioned before. Am I missing something?
I had the same question... thought maybe I would catch why when I reread to prepare to run it in August. If I'm not the only one who missed it though?
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A narrative question. At the start of the book, Unakite tells the party "it has become clear to us that your task-bringing together the energies of the five aeon orbs in Aroden's sanctum in the Kortos mountains-is of dire importance".
But I don't recall this task (or Aroden's sanctum) having been mentioned before. Am I missing something?
I can actually answer this because I literally just hit it. In Book 2 Chapter 3, there's a book you can find that talks about the deeds of Aroden. At that point a ghost commands you to find the each of the reflections and take them to Aroden's throne in the mountains. Page 35.
I can actually answer this because I literally just hit it. In Book 2 Chapter 3, there's a book you can find that talks about the deeds of Aroden. At that point a ghost commands you to find the each of the reflections and take them to Aroden's throne in the mountains. Page 35.A narrative question. At the start of the book, Unakite tells the party "it has become clear to us that your task-bringing together the energies of the five aeon orbs in Aroden's sanctum in the Kortos mountains-is of dire importance".
But I don't recall this task (or Aroden's sanctum) having been mentioned before. Am I missing something?
Thanks! I'd totally forgotten about that bit. I'll have to make sure to continue to remind the players as they proceed.
On the topic of people catching things I've missed: Is there any lore (in the AP or some other book) explaining why the Circle of Stones took the aeon orb from Willowside? And what they're using it for?
(And although I expect this is something that hasn't been written about, I'm also curious to learn more about the origin of the aeon orbs. Where did they come from? And who placed them underground in the Vask in the first place?)
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I think you can spin it to be more about the Xulgath's eternal vengeance being the wrong way to change things for the better (and therefore work an angle of xulgaths trying to integrate into the surface dweller's society) rather than just stopping a race trying to murder everyone, but past a particular point you kind of have to be on board with the idea that at least a vast number of Xulgath are downright evil. Based on the Xulgath section in book 2, it seems to suggest they overwhelmingly worship Zevgavizeb with a tiny minority being more into nature worship. That their entire species have been affected by this, complete with physical mutations and mental derangement. You can make some xulgaths more druidic and more into trying to fix the mess one person made rather than vengeance, but the desire of a large amount of demon-worshipping xulgaths to obliterate mankind with the one thing they stole from their people is kind of a lynchpin of the AP.
That said, there's a bit of a warped humour in how the xulgath plot is rooted in destroying the aeon stones to destroy the human land, and yet if the xulgaths stayed at home there's a decent chance the aeon stones' power would run out and render everything outside of Absalom a wasteland anyway. I got the feeling the people outside of Absalom only begun to notice the stones because the xulgaths drew attention to them, but that's just me.
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Could a solution be to introduce the info nugget "there is a small tribe of Xulgath trying to live in harmony with nature", and then have the players adopt this "pet" tribe.
...Well, my group ended up adopting Cavnakash...Soooo...
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I've been troubled by the vast injustice of Aroden's actions all through, and if I were to run it I'd have to find the PCs some way to make things right. ... an LG human might well feel that Aroden was the god of humankind, he did a terrible thing here and people are still suffering for it, this *has* to be put right if it possibly can.
I noticed the same thing and have thought of ways to rewrite it.
As written, the orbs provide a source of energy in both worlds - the one below, the one above.They are a scarce resource, and lifting them from one world causes environmental degradation (and subsequent deprivation) in the other.
As written, the module authors sometimes waver between (a) 'Aroden did not realize, when he took the orbs, what damage he would be causing to the xulgaths ecologically' (meaning, he was negligent, and then did not repair the harm once he realized it), or (b) Aroden was horrified at the rituals and depravities that the xulgaths used the orbs for and wanted to remove the orbs from their reach (a bit like one removes a holy artifact that's being abused in an evil ritual).
Variant (b) gets you away from the Elgin Marbles narrative, so I'm leaning towards that. Note that if you want to play this AP with lots of room for difficult moral decisions and gray areas, (a) is actually the superior story line.
Once we're in area (b), you are also free to expand/rethink what the orbs do. As written, they strike me initially like duracel batteries - they sorta provide the electricity to human settlements, and help them cultivate nature and thrive on the land. Like a power source.
I'd like to amplify that a bit. Aroden is the god of human civilization, and human civilization thrives on - what Sarah Broadie in her commentary on Aristotle's ethics - calls "theoria," a unique joy that's brought about by audiences wrapped up in glorious spectacles and performances. (The way contemporary sports fans are drawn in when looking at a football game, she adds.)
The orbs represent this positive kind of energy and spirit, but they do need humans to draw forth their power and kindle a flame of civilization, kindness, and joy that's found in shared entertainment. Aroden did not simply found a civilization, he founded a shared nation, an ethos, that of the res publica (the shared, public space where we jointly celebrate, engage in culture, and so forth). Without the orbs, and human entertainers and engineers bringing out their warm glow, human civilization on Kortos Island would not thrive - it would degenerate into a sort of sullen gloom, a darkness of heart, spirit, and ambition. This is why the orbs are so important.
The PCs form a circus and across the AP they experience the orbs as enhancing their power - and they experience their own feats in the circus, as they entertain audiences and display spectacles, to bring out the power of the orbs, and cause joy based in shared, communal life of beneficence.
The xulgaths, on the other hand, never experienced theoria, have no inkling of it, and only understand an emotional range that is based on joy grounded in the suffering of others. That's why their rituals are so sadistic and thrive on the infliction of pain in others. While the orbs help escalate those rituals, the orbs' true spirit suffers under it. Aroden saw not only the wanton infliction on suffering in the underdark, he also saw the xulgaths corrupt the orbs' massively benign power for good. In fact, Aroden's vision when first experiencing the orbs gave him his founding vision of what mankind could be - a community founded in mutual, shared joy, the kind of joy one shares and participates in in culture and entertainment.
I haven't gotten my head around the circus mini-game in the AP, but I'm thinking that its key parameters like Anticipation and associated rewards will be intertwined with the orbs' powers. The PCs' abilities and talents as entertainers are needed to locate the orbs and bring them into the light of humanity. And their abilities and talents will grow with every new orb discovered. The circus itself is the ideal vehicle for discovering the orbs' hidden power, and an ideal vessel to bring that power and energy to others.
The main thing you lose in this rewrite is the ecological angle. Theoria as glossed here is an inherently social energy, that need not - as such - rely on natural energies, forces, or ecological harmony. That means that parts of the AP, like the suffering lands in AP 4, would need to be rewritten. Instead of the village in AP 4 suffering from ecological disaster - barren earth, inadequate agriculture - I'm intending to make their gloomness the direct result of the orbs' dwindling power. The depression, lack of joy, and sheer starvation for solid entertainment, in AP 4 is owed to the orbs' absence. It's a bit like Frodo's vision of hobbit oppression when he looks into the Mirror of Galadriel. Experiencing the orbs' marked absence in human society should help the PCs understand what they are fighting for - and why it's good to preserve the orbs in the sphere of humanity.
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Three points by way of PS.
1. Once you reinterpret the orbs' power along the spectrum of theoria vs. sadism, the contrast of Miss Dusklight's circus to that of the PCs helps set up the AP's core themes early on.
2. Of course non-human civilizations experience and enjoy theoria as much as humans (elves, gnomes, etc). So what's distinctive? Humans are characterized by mortality and short lives. Death is a constant companion, and the only way to counter death is to smile back. Theoria is thus laden with wimsy, escapism, the short-lived joy, the light hearted prank, the diversion and distraction from life's seriousness. As idealized in the circus. Humans enjoy other forms of art like music and drama, but other ancestries on Golarions have a likely better claim (like Tolkien's elves) to have perfected those art forms - they are wise, have more experience of life, and look farther into the future.
3. The contrast of humans to xulgaths, as described above, is owed to a British comedian's write-up characterizing two different kinds of political leaders. I've rewritten their text here since that original context doesn't matter, but may help relate the underlying themes I try to bring out in my rewrite (again, sadism vs.delight):
"Xulgaths lacks certain qualities which humans would traditionally esteem. For instance, xulgaths have no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honor and no grace – all qualities that Aroden helped instil in humans, and which throw the xulgaths’ limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.
Humans like a laugh. And while xulgaths may be laughable, they have never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. This is not meant rhetorically but quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the human sensibility – to lack humour is almost inhuman.
But with the xulgaths, it’s a fact. They don’t even seem to understand what a joke is – their idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.
Xulgaths are never funny and never laugh; they only crow or jeer. And scarily, they don’t just talk in crude, witless insults – they actually think in them. There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some might see this as refreshingly upfront. Humans don’t: they see it as having no inner world, no soul."
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we define ourselves as civilized and beautiful, and we consider them to be barbaric and ugly; our actions are therefore justified. This lets us define ourselves as Lawful and Good, while we consider them to be Chaotic and Evil.
I'm not sure what the intent of this post was - let alone, what, if anything, it was written in response to.
Even when posts tend towards the aggressive or unsympathetic on this forum, it's usually not difficult to see there they are coming from. This one here, on the other hand, is just straight-up bizarre.
What I firmly can say is that this post tells us a great deal more about their author's take on fantasy, than about fantasy as a genre.
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Post
I say this as someone who has kind of been on board with Extinction Curse, that depicting a large group of Xulgaths (who in Book 3's Zevgavizeb chapter feel more like they're just being used to an ulterior end like a demon's sadistic entertainment, often with Zevgavizeb but sometimes thrown between other Demon lords) as evil with the potential for a tiny minority to be more neutral and druidic (and again, Cavnakash was converted in my group, and it definitely worked for the best):
What you just describes just sounds eerily like Colonialism, and you think this is good story telling. Which is definitely just a really creepy interpretation.
I confess I'm not really in agreement with others' takes which can feel like over-analysing inoculate situation at times, and I think that classifying a large group of a race having their fury used by evil outsiders to enact more carnage (especially factoring in that book 2's Xulgath chapter suggests a significant drop in technology, civilisation and intelligence, favouring a might-means-right approach) can make for interesting story telling. My group is trying to kind of coax a Xulgath into looking beyond violence for the sake of violence and that wanton vengeance for a dead god onto a species who benefited but are unknowing to it is likely not going to be in his species best interest (factoring in all the mutations and murder meaning a very brief, chaotic and painful life). It's absolutely fantastic, and I suspect immensely savvy GMs could set up a reparations subplot by book 5 or 6 (as humans benefited on Xulgath misery).
That said, while I adore the hell out of utilising grey-scale morality to set up subplots, interesting scenarios and complex conundrums, past a particular point Adventure Paths do tend to take a very straight forward approach to things. I can't hold the game up as I dwell on how awkward it is the Xulgaths are on a vengeance drive and the humans are in the wrong. Nor can I pause the session to postulate on the morality of being the judge, jury & executioner in law rather than going through traditional criminal proceedings. Past a particular point, Pathfinder is a game about heroes with swords, magics and silver tongues. It's also a game intended to have fun. If my players can't having fun because I feel awkward about some content feeling offensive or crude, then that's not good. In a similar way, if my players aren't having fun because I drew too much real world attention to what is a simple fantasy trope, generating an awkward and unsatisfying atmosphere as court proceedings have to be used on a Lich rather than a tense fight then that's also not good.
In light of the weird tightrope I'm referencing above, I did make changes. I try to view the Xulgaths as beings whose horrible history has been exploited by a demon deity, with a few outliers, rather than a straight evil race. That they can be redeemed, but it's always in the context of "vengeance will not fix our race, only damn it further". That they're not interested in just going back to the radioactive Varsk or in the Darklands, but actually staying on the surface as their own communities. They still likely carry a might-means-right, but are also aware of feudalistic technological ideas like "we need farms so we have animals and crops so we don't starve". The surface Xulgaths being more druidic influenced, looking to nature's symbols like cloud formations for religious guidance, with a rare few still persuaded to worship Gorum with the glee of independence of their might and fighting for their own causes than demonic influences. That said, convincing the Xulgath race to abandon their demonic worship which has corrupted them is a long road that Absalom would need to aid with, in recognition of their city existing due to Aroden's actions which led to the Xulgaths ending up the way they are.
The paragraph likely comes off as a major tone shift, but it's more like certain scenes playing out slightly differently to the book and likely a different epilogue to the AP that'll emphasis Xulgath cohabitation in Kortos rather than the likely pushing back of the race. I do think large groups of the surface invading force are evil (demons using Xulgath's fury and resentment of their living conditions to encourage massive deaths), but it doesn't mean the race are evil.
I still think Cavnakash is just fantastic though.
Rysky's post
Rysky, would you mind to share your own insights? Although, I don't agree entirely with Zapp's statement, the inclusion of an alignment wheel does seem to strengthen the idea that you're encouraged to solve problems violently against evil denizens. It's not something I agree with and I try to avoid clear moral divides of good & evil.
Is this the case, throughout? Likely not, but I do think it happens often in Fantasy adventures for Pathfinder and/or Dungeons and Dragons.
Do you have some examples for the sake of my own education?
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Let me jump in to make one thing clear: the xulgaths in Extinction Curse aren't the villains because they're xulgaths. It's because they're demon-worshippers who like destroying things and inflicting their might on those they consider to be "lesser" and "undeserving" (the surface races).
That's what makes them the bad guys.
Are there xulgaths who are noble and seek out their people's lost lore to better the lives of themselves and those around them? Sure. But this story isn't about them. It's about xulgaths who are doing bad things, and must be stopped.
Villains aren't villainous because of who they *are*, they're villainous because of what they *do.* And the villains of Extinction Curse are doing bad things. I wanted to wind in a minor story of "who's in the right, here?" by playing up Aroden's theft of the aeon orbs from Vask. That's some morally gray area, for sure. But, no matter how that calculus comes down, the xulgaths in this AP definitely aren't in the right. And that's why the heroes fight them.
Not to mention the heroes are encouraged to ally with, among other typically villainous types, a damn gug.
I don't think it would be hard at all for tables to include sympathetic xulgaths. The bulk of them are largely controlled by religion and secular authorities, and while they definitely are cheerfully pursuing evil acts and goals, I don't think it says anything more than "this group of people is actively trying to kill hundreds of thousands of others."
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Are there xulgaths who are noble and seek out their people's lost lore to better the lives of themselves and those around them? Sure. But this story isn't about them. It's about xulgaths who are doing bad things, and must be stopped.
I think why people kept suspecting a strong race element rather than what they're doing tying into alignment was the lack of any xulgaths who weren't devil worshippers and evil. Cavnakash was a wonderful exception in my group, but that was more a player doing an astoundingly good roll towards a character who was in a bad situation and me wanting to just roll with it. Especially when it comes to races that are very rare to even know of player-wise (let alone characters), it can really help to have examples of xulgaths who are noble or at least not demon worshippers to prove it's not a race thing. Unfortunately, run as written, all xulgaths are demon worshippers and evil after Aroden ruined their home, which makes their revenge motivation kind of awkward in a Mitchell & Webb "...Are we the baddies?" sort of way.
Honestly, Cavnakash is probably some of the most fun I've had RPing a character in Extinction Curse. He's just a joy.
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Rysky's post
Rysky, would you mind to share your own insights? Although, I don't agree entirely with Zapp's statement, the inclusion of an alignment wheel does seem to strengthen the idea that you're encouraged to solve problems violently against evil denizens. It's not something I agree with and I try to avoid clear moral divides of good & evil.
Is this the case, throughout? Likely not, but I do think it happens often in Fantasy adventures for Pathfinder and/or Dungeons and Dragons.
Do you have some examples for the sake of my own education?
Sorry, just saw this.
The inclusion of Alignment does nothing of the sort.
What examples are you interested in?
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I wanted to wind in a minor story of "who's in the right, here?" by playing up Aroden's theft of the aeon orbs from Vask. That's some morally gray area, for sure. But, no matter how that calculus comes down, the xulgaths in this AP definitely aren't in the right. And that's why the heroes fight them.
Thanks for chiming in to help us understand the motivations for how things got written up.
Yes, the idea that Aroden's taking of the orbs from Vask was wrongful ("theft") is highly intriguing.Can you elaborate what you hoped the idea would contribute to the AP at the gaming table?
Concretely: Is it something the PCs should learn about - and if they learn about, do something about? Should it make it harder, easier, for the PCs to go about their actions? Should it help them understand what's happening and direct their next steps accordingly?
I'm asking because I find the idea intriguing but am a bit lost on how to best implement it in actual game-play.
(My own idea, so far, was to largely write the idea out of the AP... such that the orbs don't have a "rightful" owner to begin with (being older i.e. antedating both human and xulgath civilization) such that a "taking" wouldn't be wrongful or rightful either.)
Unfortunately, run as written, all xulgaths are demon worshippers and evil after Aroden ruined their home, which makes their revenge motivation kind of awkward in a Mitchell & Webb "...Are we the baddies?" sort of way.Love the reference. Sorry, couldn't resist. One of my all-time favorite clips.
Haha, no problem. Spec Ops: The Line also sprung to mind as having a similar dawning realisation on the cast; just, y'know, more awkward to reference. Also M&W's retired Sherlock Holmes sketch is fantastic.
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So, this is probably better to be put into the Book 1 thread, but since it refers a lot more to Windjammer's statements above, I figure it's easier to reference here.
In about 15 hours, I'm running the second half of Erran Tower, with the party just about to meet Balenni. I'm very inspired by the concept of theoria vs sadism as a core theme to this game, and I'd like to introduce it as early as possible.
My plan is to have Balenni - as a captured researcher - divulge her insights on humanity vs xulgaths as part of her ploy to get closer to the players and use her abilities. I'll try and force the G14 fight before they get to G13; once finished, she'll cry out to get the PCs to investigate asap. After they release her, she'll explain she was studying xulgath culture and got captured; if the PCs will help her escape, she'll tell them what she knows (this is a flimsy story, but as long as they let her talk a bit, I'm fine with them figuring her out. In fact, the end of it has her make a slip up before she tries to kiss someone).
I'd like to present my readaloud text that I'm going to paraphrase from, in the hopes that smarter people than I can check to make sure I'm using all the terminology correct. This is cobbled wholesale from Windjammer above and the Xulgath chapter of book 2.
"Well, to understand the xulgaths, it might be best to compare them to humans. Humanity finds joy in observing spectacle and performance, they are drawn to festivals and theaters, not for gain or glory but simply the mutual delight of shared observation and entertainment. It might be the core of human ethos, something some philosophers call theoria. Of course, other ancestries like yourselves enjoy theoria as much as humans, but humanity is characterized by mortality and their short lives. Death is a constant companion, and the only way to counter death is to smile back. At its strongest, theoria could even be considered a force, a sort of shared energy permeating human civilization, one that Aroden used to bring about the Starstone Isles.
Xulgath, by and large, never experience theoria. They're not simply unconcerned with such things, rather they have no inkling of it. Their emotional range is based on joy grounded in sadistic rituals and the suffering of others. They have no idea of class, charm, self-awareness, honour, or grace. Instead, their civilization is characterized by paranoia and violence, strength and dominance. They have no impetus to set aside differences and act as equals. Their greatest joy is quite literally to consume - the word for their highest title roughly translates to 'devourer'. This too carries an energy with it. One that the xulgath hope to bring to the surface. And one that I must say, I quite enjoy."
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So, this is probably better to be put into the Book 1 thread, but since it refers a lot more to Windjammer's statements above, I figure it's easier to reference here.
In about 15 hours, I'm running the second half of Erran Tower, with the party just about to meet Balenni. I'm very inspired by the concept of theoria vs sadism as a core theme to this game, and I'd like to introduce it as early as possible.
My plan is to have Balenni - as a captured researcher - divulge her insights on humanity vs xulgaths as part of her ploy to get closer to the players and use her abilities. I'll try and force the G14 fight before they get to G13; once finished, she'll cry out to get the PCs to investigate asap. After they release her, she'll explain she was studying xulgath culture and got captured; if the PCs will help her escape, she'll tell them what she knows (this is a flimsy story, but as long as they let her talk a bit, I'm fine with them figuring her out. In fact, the end of it has her make a slip up before she tries to kiss someone).
I'd like to present my readaloud text that I'm going to paraphrase from, in the hopes that smarter people than I can check to make sure I'm using all the terminology correct. This is cobbled wholesale from Windjammer above and the Xulgath chapter of book 2.
"Well, to understand the xulgaths, it might be best to compare them to humans. Humanity finds joy in observing spectacle and performance, they are drawn to festivals and theaters, not for gain or glory but simply the mutual delight of shared observation and entertainment. It might be the core of human ethos, something some philosophers call theoria. Of course, other ancestries like yourselves enjoy theoria as much as humans, but humanity is characterized by mortality and their short lives. Death is a constant companion, and the only way to counter death is to smile back. At its strongest, theoria could even be considered a force, a sort of shared energy permeating human civilization, one that Aroden used to...
Thank you and sorry for my late reply, I just saw this. This is a great way to introduce the theme, and I'll totally use your introduction for my own campaign. Than you!
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I feel there is some kind of fault in the way the story is presented. Unless the orbs take away propriety from the land they are in, removing them from Absalom should have ill effects no more. That land has been cultivated for more than 4 thousand years, and made fertile by the efforts of its people, and by the bodies of millions and millions of beings who died on that island and become dirt and soil that mixed with the original sea soil. Even the salt in the earth should have been reduced after thousands of years of rain.
Unless the orbs take away something else, i cannot see that island become a desert.