Golemgame:Setting
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=The Dustlands= | =The Dustlands= | ||
| - | The Dustlands is the name given to the rough area of high golem activity that cuts laterally through the two continents. Nearly everything larger than the size of a fist has been ground into dust from millenia of warfare. Occasionally, the various interacting magical energies will latch on to the shattered remains that litter the Dustlands and bestow some sort of supernatural properties. Magic items created this way are usually extremely volatile, something that most people would never wish to hold, never mind use on a daily basis. "Dustmen", adventurers that scavenge these artifacts, are considered the lowest of the low, and also certifiably insane. Some craftsmen, known as "dust farmers", bring all sorts of objects to the Dustlands in the hope that they will gain some special power through exposure, and stumbling onto the rare successful dust farm can be a lucky break for a beginner adventurer. | + | The Dustlands is the name given to the rough area of high golem activity that cuts laterally through the two continents. Nearly everything larger than the size of a fist has been ground into dust from millenia of warfare. Occasionally, the various interacting magical energies will latch on to the shattered remains that litter the Dustlands and bestow some sort of supernatural properties. Magic items created this way are usually extremely volatile, something that most people would never wish to hold, never mind use on a daily basis. "Dustmen", adventurers that scavenge these artifacts, are considered the lowest of the low, and also certifiably insane. Some craftsmen, known as "dust farmers", bring all sorts of objects to the Dustlands in the hope that they will gain some special power through exposure, and stumbling onto the rare successful dust farm can be a lucky break for a beginner adventurer.<br/> |
| + | Needless to say, teleportation near, through or into the Dustlands is a dangerous and foolish matter, due to the prevailing extraplanar conditions caused by the powerful weaponry of the golems. While it is unlikely that a short-range teleport would happen across any of these, a long-range teleportation spell requires feats of incredible mental fortitude from the caster to avoid potential rips in the Astral plane. While it is still possible to maneuver past them alone, any passengers make the feat near-impossible, dooming the travellers to a painful death or worse. | ||
==The Tapestry== | ==The Tapestry== | ||
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===Port Mehet=== | ===Port Mehet=== | ||
Another one of the Chief of Chief's duties is to maintain the fleet, which is based in Mehet. Most of the goblin fleet is composed of light collapsible vessels that are usually disassembled and carried by pack animals, but large vessels are hidden here, drawn out and crewed by the most skilled sailors when the Chief of Chiefs commands a raid on an especially valuable objective, or when the elves have gotten on his nerves once too many times. Barring an auspicious occasion, however, the city is never inhabited by more than a handful of clans at a time. | Another one of the Chief of Chief's duties is to maintain the fleet, which is based in Mehet. Most of the goblin fleet is composed of light collapsible vessels that are usually disassembled and carried by pack animals, but large vessels are hidden here, drawn out and crewed by the most skilled sailors when the Chief of Chiefs commands a raid on an especially valuable objective, or when the elves have gotten on his nerves once too many times. Barring an auspicious occasion, however, the city is never inhabited by more than a handful of clans at a time. | ||
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| + | =Organizations= | ||
| + | A number of organizations transcend political boundaries, and can sometimes leverage respectable political clout when it suits their goals. | ||
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| + | ==The Njall== | ||
| + | The Njall are a cult that goes back to before the two great empires even existed, if their legends are to be believed. The story of their origin (as told by the Njall themselves) goes thus:<br/> | ||
| + | In times immemorial, the gods were greedy, and demanded offerings from all men who lived and worked the soil. One farmer, by the name of Vinu, worked on poor soil, and one year he had to choose between making an offering and having enough to eat during winter. When the gods did not receive his offering, they became angered, and took Vinu's sheep and wheat and fields from him, saying that if he could not work what they had given him, they would find someone else who could. Without his livelihood, Vinu was forced to wander and beg. One day, he met a traveller, who had no face nor body, but instead was made from light. Vinu thought he was a god and fell to his knees, but the traveller bid him rise. "I am Njall," the traveller said, "Do not kneel before me, for I am no god, though I am far greater, for I have discovered all the secrets of the mind. I will make you like myself so that you also have nothing to fear from gods." Njall took Vinu's old mind away, and gave him a new mind. And Vinu, who was now Njall, went forth to spread Njall's blessing among others who were tyrannized by the gods, and the gods could not touch him, for he knew all the secrets of the mind.<br/> | ||
| + | The Njall claim that their founder was the origin of all psionic powers, and to this day keep the only library of psionic lore that exists in the world, surviving even the war and the purge of knowledge that followed it. Thus, they are the only ones privy to the craft of shaping or summoning, as well as most forms of artifice, and jealously guard these secrets, hunting down those who would steal and use them.<br/> | ||
| + | To find new psionics and keep their own secrets safe, Njall journeymen travel the world, but it is not their only purpose. They also continue recruitment into the cult, which is done through a ritual involving a special kind of Mind Seed power. Thus, any Njall risen to the ranks of journeyman is powerful enough to manifest Mind Seed, and Njall initiates are at least 7th level, though rarely higher than 12th. Since the mind they receive has been passed along for millenia, they tend to vary slightly. | ||
| + | ===Njall-adar=== | ||
| + | The Njall-adar are a conservative splinter sect within the Njall, who believe that theirs is the one true genealogy that descends from the original Njall. Their journeymen manifest only a single Mind Seed immediately after they are capable of doing so, in order to keep as little of their own mind as possible from interfering with the implantation process. | ||
| + | ===Njall-yusog=== | ||
| + | The Njall-yusog are a liberal splinter sect within the Njall, who dispute the idea that the original Njall was an immortal, godlike figure. Instead, through many years of research they have come to the conclusion that he was an Elan (and that, in out of game terms, he was an epic-level Erudite). Those belonging to the Njall-yusog that are not Elans usually undergo the ritual that creates an Elan from a mortal race. However, often they no longer wish to take the blessing of Njall after the procedure (since their old mind and experience are gone) and leave to wander the world. | ||
