Rules
- Quote the previous post's offering.
- Descriptions should be at least three sentences, and no more than ten.
- You cannot describe your own offering.
- If your offering contains fictional words or can have more than one meaning, you may provide a single word in parentheses for guidance.
- An offering must be a creature, place, or thing.
- An offering may not be a unique individual. (save that for the Character Development threads)
- If you are not the first to post on an offering, please retract your post.
- Lastly, this is all fluff. Crunch is a no-no.
- an origin stone
- thirsty sand
- baln berries
- skuit (mammal)
- taldrra (tree)
- the ruins of Mar-Akoth
- radiant rain
Examples of unacceptable offerings
- Joe Sverfneblin
- the mayor's daughter
- the cultist leader of the Frozen Lips
- Acquisitions Incorporated
Here's an example post:
flatknife (animal)
Offering: a blood tree
A blood tree stands tall and proud like the maple and can be found in small groups amidst the denser forests of cooler climes. As the name would suggest, the blood tree bears its moniker from the crimson colored sap it produces. They are readily identifiable by the pale green leaves of the tree, as the veins of the leaves carry the scarlet color throughout, granting them the visage of decrepit hands. Legend carries the tale that when a blood tree is felled, the cries of its brethren can be heard throughout the forest.
Offering: a grinner (humanoid)
a blood tree
A lazy willow leans against the bank, swaying in the breeze. Only a keen observer sees the unnatural twitch of the leaves, the way the tree moves just out of step with the wind. Only up close can one observe the thin barbs that protrude from the trunk, and by then it is far too late. The tree's sharp, thin needles dig into soft patches of skin, secreting a numbing toxin. Soon the victim loses all cares as its blood goes to feed the lurking, squamous mass beneath the "roots". The body is drawn under once dry, and careful redcaps will often dig under the notorious blood trees for the valuables of the departed.
Offering: the Chapterhouse Sidereal
Well, let's say, in these cases, to let the first poster remain. All secondary posters will have to sadly remove their post so as to not confuse the up and coming poster as to which offering to take.
However, upriest, leave what you have (or this post won't make sense), but from now on the first to post receives precedence.
I'll update the original post with this rule.
a grinner (humanoid)
Tall, lithe, and gangly, the flesh-eating grinner has smooth grey skin and stands approximately 8 feet tall, though usually remains hunched, diminishing its height to about 6 feet. When on the hunt, a grinner moves through heavily-shaded regions at a deceptively slow pace until it spots its prey. A grinner will draw attention to itself purposefully in order for the prey to meet its paralyzing gaze. Unable to move, the unfortunate creature watches as the grinner takes long, looping strides forward while it bears its teeth in an ever-widening grin. By the time the two meet, the grinner has its hinged jaw stretched to capacity and lowers it over its hapless victim.
Offering: devil's teeth (weapon)
Offering: devil's teeth (weapon)
The business end was not shiny, nor particularly sharp; in fact it was a grimy and dull maw of slicing death. To wield it, one must grasp hold of the chain and use it like a whip. It was made up of a pair of curved blades, the inner edges of which were jagged and pitted on purpose. These "teeth" were reddened in hue by artificial dyes, and the gore that stuck to it from its previous victim's still clung to it like dark-brown confetti. Those teeth were angled obtusely to create a horrific spray of gore when they swung past each other. The two curved blades resembled half-moons, and were hinged at their ends to create a sort of mouth that bit viciously into flesh or limb when whirled about during an attack. The outer edges were jagged as well; so that regardless of how the weapon struck, it would cause significant pain to the subject. The blades were attached to a chain composed of black-dyed iron links, which were greased by the blood of those unlucky enough to be hit by the devil's teeth.
Offering: blood elm witch (humanoid)
Offering: blood elm witch (humanoid)
A blood elm witch follows the teachings of Lulurii, the Wilderness Witch, both in practice of magic and their interpersonal skills. Long thought of as cultists, blood elm witches actually follow strict codes of nonviolence toward sentient and nonsentient races alike. Though not truly pacifists, a blood elm witch will seek to mediate and arbitrate disputes where she can. Much speculation has gone into why the group only allows female members, but many believe it to be a sexist mandate from its widely-known matriarchal founder. Regardless, it is a much lauded custom among the blood elm witches. Whispered gossip claims Lulurii arrived at the tenets of the "religion" after communing with the primal spirits of blood elms.
Offering: slither rope
Offering: slither rope
Many a rogue has found himself chafed and burned, wriggling down a rope in a dark sewer. Those who can afford the cost buy slither ropes. Smoothed and flattened on one side, slither ropes have enough grip to attach climbing gear while still giving almost no resistance to the erstwhile cat burglar forced to slither along them. Frequently a prized possession, the silver-white slither rope has often found itself in adventurer's gear.
Offering: The Boulevard of Forgotten Charms
Offering: The Boulevard of Forgotten Charms
Though sources are rare and unsubstantiated, rumor persists of an elongated stone pagoda filled with wealth and riches somewhere in the Rond mountain range erected by the late King Throfton Van Bhauslenbrugg. The confusion surrounding the sudden disappearance of the vast majority of King Throfton's wealth is attributed to this mythical construction known as the Boulevard of Forgotten Charms. Allegedly, King Throfton, paranoid and suspicious, appointed a group of sages to place a special ward upon a secret vault of his own design in an undisclosed location. After all of the king's items of value and splendor were situated by blinded servants, blindfolded sages commenced and completed a two-fold ritual. The first effect robbed any who entered the Boulevard of the desire for material possessions. The second effect erased the short-term memory of all who encountered the wondrous vault. Unfortunately, the ritual was particularly effective indeed--King Throfton, the sages who performed the ritual, and all who carried the treasures into the mountains failed to recall or record where the Boulevard lies, nay, that it even existed. Yet, rumors persist...
Offering: milney ruddercrisp (food)
Offering: milney ruddercrisp (food)
Originating in a dockside tavern, ruddercrisp is an easy-to-preserve bread, somewhat like dried pita, that has become the favorite food of many sailors who need meals that aren't perishable in open air. The most famous and widely popular recipe was invented by the tavern cook Milney. By preserving salted jerky inside of the ruddercrisp bread, he added extra flavor to the standard meal and bonus nutrition to help hungry travelers.
Offering: hocota's wrath (artifact weapon)
The object is to let the next poster's imagination runaway with the idea.
~~~
Everyone's been doing great--cookies for all!
Offering: hocota's wrath (artifact weapon)
Don Hocota de la Campedoro is the subject of many tales. Said to ride exclusively on a donkey, the trickster "lord"'s exploits usually involve tricking wealthy barons out of their beautiful daughters. The tales of Don Hocota are mostly of this vein, but a common thread in them is his battle with the sinister Marquis Albadred. These tales culminate in a battle in which the Marquis, said to be in league with an ambiguously described Demon Prince (probably Pazuzu) was banished from the world with a blow from Don Hocota's wooden paddle. This paddle, known as Hocota's Wrath, is rumored to be passed from traveler to traveler in the Monstero wastelands. Lending credence to the tale is the similarity between Don Hocota's name and that of an old bhuka jackal deity, which suggests the tales are an allegory for a much older myth.
Offering: barbazu's delight (deliberately left ambiguous)
Offtering: Maxion's Mausoleum
Offtering: Maxion's Mausoleum
Maxion's Mausoleum stands in the center of Willsburrow Lake, most of it submerged. Designed by the eccentric architect Margo Maxion, the mausoleum's initial purpose was to draw outsiders to the town of Willsburrow to incite trade, not to inter the dead. However, after the Great Flood of Downing's Eve, the town of Willsburrow was washed away--the steeple of the mausoleum remains as the only visible proof the town existed. Rumors say Maxion, in an attempt to save his edifice, barricaded the doors to the mausoleum at the sight of the oncoming flood. If this is true, ironically, Maxion's body is the mausoleum's sole inhabitant.
Offering: sprig ghost ash
Offering: sprig ghost ash
Small and pale, sprig ghost ash grows deep in forests which border on the feywild. Often overshadowed by larger trees, sprig ghost ash is prone to a variety of disfiguring infestations. These twist the trees so much that they often appear to have faces staring out of the bark, twisted and mournful fey staring out at travelers. The fey themselves laugh at such tales, but nonetheless refuse to use sprig ghost wood for their fires.
Offering: al-saur (humanoid)
Offering: al-saur (humanoid)
The al-saur are a tribe of desert dwelling lizardfolk. Their complexion is similar, but with brown shades instead of green. Having cold blood and thick skin, the al-saur actually thrive in their desert home. They have developed powerful claws and forearms for moving earth and rock, to create natural and indicernable places to hide at night. The al-saur posess many varied diviniation rituals, looking to the motion of the winds and the minerals within sanctified rocks for insight. Their cheiftan, the al-saur-rei, is a practitioner of tribal magics. The al-saur-rei has the responsibility of leading the tribe to food, or drawing food to the tribe through magic. Should he be deemed irresponsible in this way, he is ritually murdered by the new al-saur-rei, and then canibalized by the most needy of the tribesmen.
Offering: Zamtack (weapon)
Offering: Zamtack (weapon)
A small, two-pronged blade designed for use in enclosed spaces, the zamtack was originally tempered by dwarven scouts who found themselves frequently besieged by drow raiding parties far beneath the earth. Unfortunately, drow raiders discovered the finely crafted weapon and refined it's form and function, creating a deadly parrying weapon that could also be hurled with startling accuracy. In frequent skirmishes, the new zamtack changed hands again, falling into the possession of eladrin warriors and being modified further for greater accuracy at the cost of deadliness.
Offering: varakith (humanoid)
Offering: varakith (humanoid)
The varakith are a race of avian beings, and though their numbers are small, they are growing quickly. Though descended from vrocks, avian demons from the abyss, varakith do not share their monstrous behavior or appearance. Their necks are shorter than that of the vrock, and their bodies are covered in healthy-seeming feathers and downy fur, usually brown, white, or red. Legends, both their own and of surrounding cultures, state that the varakith were once vrocks whom were purified by the primal spirits, though some variations instead cite the gods Avandra or Sehanine. They appear to have retained their demonic ability to quickly adapt to their environs, allowing them to withstand the fury of nature, and expand into new lands at unprecedented rates. Though varakith are known to hunt other humanoids, they are not savage; trade between humanoid settlements and köthnark - groups of closely settled varakith nests - is relatively commonplace. The word köthnark is Abyssal for a stable, safe place; among demons, it is a curse implying weakness, but the varakith use it affectionately in reference to the place they keep their offspring.
Offering: Jadash (food)
Offering: Jadash (food)
The old halfling woman winked across the fire. "A pot of Jadash, eh? Ye're quite an adventuresome human, ain't ye?" With a nod from the traveler the crone went to work, lading crawfish and rice into the steaming broth. Shredded turnip fell into the mix, as well as the contents of the still-uncleaned cutting board. Small pieces of three varieties of cheese were melted into the broth. Finally the mixture came to a boil and the inkeeper ladled a heaping spoonful into the traveler's bowl. As the traveler leaned in to drink the crone shooed him back before grabbing a handful of sand and plopping it into the bowl. "Can't have a proper Jadash wivvout grit, now can ye?"
Offering: the Elderspawn Sea
Offering: the Elderspawn Sea
An inlet of the Jurikari Ocean, referred to as the Elderspawn Sea by the semisentient chronoans, is the race's breeding grounds. Due to their unique physiology, the chronoans are born withered and frail, but improve physically as they age, though at the same time their minds succumb to a deteriorative effect. The wisdom and life experience of the parents are passed to their offspring; as such, the newly born are the wisest and most experienced members of their race. No one knows why the chronoans continue to lay their eggs in this particular part of the Jurikari, but sages suspect the alchemical makeup of the water has special properties which assist the maturation process.
Offering: dowlette (bird)
Offering: dowlette(bird)
The dowlette is a strange flightless bird sharing a unique symbiotic relationship with a fungus, unimaginatively called dowlette caps. The adult animal has much of its body covered in these short, broad headed mushrooms, obscuring its reddish brown feathers with large, blotched caps. It stands at the height of a typical chicken, but with longer, more slender legs and a smaller body. The fungi survive by leaching nutrients from their avian host. In return, the dowlette caps provide the birds with a unique self defense mechanism. In addition to providing camouflage in the bird's swamp habitat, the caps release great quantities of spores when the dowlette vigorously flaps its wings. These spores bind and harden in contact with mucous membranes of eyes and throats, causing temporary blindness, coughing, and perhaps infection in potential predators. The dowlettes themselves are immune to these effects due to their dry throats and a second set of eyelids. dowlette chicks begin to grow fungus a week or so from hatching, from spores fallen from their parents. Both mother and father dowlettes care for the young, and are difficult for the untrained eye to tell apart.
Offering: kshev vine (plant)
Offering: kshev vine (plant)
The kshev vine is dark green with light green and brown mottled splotches and is indigenous in jungle climates where thick mists are common, such as the outer edges of waterfalls. Since it is well nourished, the fragile kshev vine does not sprout any leaves to speak of. However, the skin of the vine is very tacky to the touch, allowing it to grow on just about any surface. The kshev vine is sought by natives for its ability to soothe open wounds, although it does not offer any direct healing properties. It is often used in native cooking as well, as it adds a subtle and cool, almost minty, flavor to soups and broths.
Offering: Aaristrar (constellation)
Offering: Aaristrar (constellation)
The constellation Aaristrar is also known as the Kinslayer; it resembles a dragonborn wielding two blades, shooting a cluster of stars, its breath weapon, in the direction of nearby Ixthelion, the Last Icelord. The legend associated with Aaristrar, and by association Ixthelion, takes place in the last days of the war between Bael Turath and Arkhosia. The mighty Arkhosian warrior Aaristrar was famous for the number of tieflings he had killed in missions to infiltrate high-security locations; these locations, because of his division in the army, were only ever to secure intelligence, and rarely to control new ground. On the day of one mission in particular, a callous dragon overlord named Ixthelion made a move to secure the emperor's crown for himself, and in the aftershock of the politico-military move, Aaristrar's mate and hatchlings were slain in an influx of Turathi infantry. Aaristrar was ignorant of this until he had nearly completed his mission; in the bowls of a tiefling ritual chamber, a devil appeared before him, and revealed the "truth" behind the slayings, and offered him the power to avenge his family. Aaristrar obliged, and paced steadily to face Ixthelion, slaying all in his path with hell-bolstered might. He and the great Icelord finally met in combat, and the devastation was cataclysmic. But the battle never ended, for a great earthquake shook the lands and, according to legend, Ixthelion and Aaristrar flew into the sky to continue their fight - which continues to this day.
Offering: Old Green Lake (song)
Offering: Old Green Lake (song)
"Old Green Lake" is a lament for fallen warriors of an ancient battle. The nation of Kharlamen faced certain doom at the hands of demon-worshiping barbarians, the brutes' ranks bolstered by gnolls, orcs, and other races of chaos.
Their forces shattered from repeated clashes with their foes, each skirmish resulting in another crushing defeat, Kharlamen attempted one final gambit: they gathered their forces around Lokhursce's Tear (known to commoners as Green Lake), a location with no real tactical value but well-defensible nonetheless. The plan was to lure the attackers to Green Lake and stall them for as long as their defenders possibly could, affording the noncombatants and leaders of Kharlamen to flee into anonymity.
After initially winning the upper hand, Kharlamen's champions attempted to end the war once and for all, abandoning their defensive position to mount a suicide charge into their enemies' ranks. While the charge ultimately failed, it did cripple the barbarian legions such that they eventually dissolved.
The song itself is soft, almost haunting, rising to a crescendo reminiscent of screaming for the battle itself. Tapering off into despair, the song cuts off mid-verse as it begins rising into happiness again.
Offering: alamence's knot (landmass)
Offering: alamence's knot (landmass)
Legends tell of three great Borograv sailors who were first to land in what is now called Esterlandia. Two, Caldamane and Bonaveir, founded cities which would become capitols of new nations. Alamence longed to do better, and he sailed his triremes between the courses of his contemporaries, hoping to find vast fertile plains on which to found a new Borograv nation. What he found instead was a rocky, barren isthmus, barely capable of holding a small settlement. Each attempt at development met with disaster, and now the twisted terrain of Alamence's Knot remains a home only to shipwrecked sailors and a few hardbitten fishermen.
Offering: Githmas Morn
Offering: Githmas Morn
[You did not specify a word to disabiguate this, so I am just going on a limb here.]
Githmas is the Githyanki and Githzerai day of independence, remembering the time they broke free of their ilithid overlords. Among githyanki, youths earn their independence from their parents on the morning of Githmas, supposing they can best them in a non-lethal duel. Failing youths are sentenced to menail physical labor for twenty-four hours, which traditionally consists of working in mines. Among the Githzerai, Githmas Morn is "celebrated" by parents taking away a valuable toy from youngsters. This is to symbolize the self-sacrifice that must be to achieved to lead a good, free life, and also serves to bolster a sense of monastic detachment.
Offering: Book of Pages (tome)
Offering: Book of Pages (tome)
[That was an entirely appropriate limb, incidentally, though I would have been fine with someone choosing an odder disambiguation.]
Countess Zorozadny, called the Witch-Countess, was known for her insatiable appetites. After her husband became a death knight in 672 CY she turned to her young pageboys to satisfy her lusts. Villages across her domain feared the countess's recruiters. A boy who displeased the countess would merely be executed in the morning, but a far worse fate awaited those who she enjoyed. Using her mastery of necromancy the countess bound their souls into a tome, each onto a page, so that she could summon them up whenever she craved them. Each page of the tome features a lavishly illustrated picture of the boy bound into its parchment. This sinister Book of Pages is rumored to still exist in the ruins of the Witch-Countess's castle.
Offering: mimsy bandersnatch (monster)
Offering: mimsy bandersnatch (monster)
(Kudos on the Alice in Wonderland reference)
So named by the gnomes whom they harass, bandersnatches are small insectoid critters rather like pixies that flutter around on six rainbow-colored wings. These creatures are kleptomaniacal and have an obsession with, as their mispronounced elven states, "Teh shineez." A subset of bandersnatches, known to the gnomes as mimsies, can actually be somewhat tamed if bribed with the periodical gift of baubles. Mimsy bandersnatches are very useful as personal thieves and first-alert living alarms. As any gnome will tell you, it's impossible to mistake or ignore a bandersnatch's scream of distress.
Offering: the gorian desert (location)
Offering: the gorian desert (location)
Admiral Gorian, high Morninglord of the Radiant Armada, was the first sane being to see what is now known as the Gorian Desert. One of the few semipermanent features of the Far Realm, the Gorian "Desert" is a vast stretch of emptiness, where infinitely thin planes of sand intersect at angles that change whenever the viewer closes their eyes. Surprisingly empty of the plane's usual denizens, the Gorian Desert serves as a passable staging ground for voyages into the wider Far Realm, as it did for Gorian's colorful band of half-elf companions on their quest to slay a greater avatar of Ulban.
Offering: St. Cuthbert's Folly (flower)
Offering: St. Cuthbert's Folly (flower)
Legend tells of when St. Cuthbert was a young god, just after having been raised to divinity, he set about claiming his spheres of divine influence, as new-made gods are wont to do. At the time, he was not known as the merciless even hand of justice as he is known today. St. Cuthbert found it within himself to forgive people if their crimes were minor, provided that he received a promise that they would never again draw his ire.
St. Cuthbert's resolve was tested the day a woman of unfathomable beauty appeared before his gaze, standing above the body of her lover, whom she had slain. So enthralled with her was the new god that he descended from the heavens to speak with her personally, inquiring of her what had occurred. The woman told him a tale of abuse and hardship that stirred his heart. Had he been thinking clearly, St. Cuthbert would have notice contradictions in her narrative, but he was indisposed, paying attention to her preternatural beauty instead. He offered her clemency for her crimes, and she accepted.
Not ten years later, he saw her once again, standing above the body of a dead man. This time, it was her husband. Again, Cuthbert descended from on high, and again she told him a tale that made his heart melt. She had confessed her former sin to her husband, and he was not as forgiving as the god of justice had been. He tortured her as punishment for her crime in lieu of St. Cuthbert's intervention, until she could no longer take it and slew him with his own knife.
Again entranced by her beauty, St. Cuthbert spared her life and set her free.
Decades passed, until yet again St. Cuthbert saw the woman in his frame of vision. She was old, and her beauty had faded. A husband of equal age had died in his sleep, poisoned by his beloved wife. When St. Cuthbert moved to confront her, he found himself no longer entranced by her lost beauty, and a litany of crimes appeared before him. She had gleefully murdered her lovers, stolen, bribed, and lied even to a god himself.
Enraged beyond imagining, St. Cuthbert shed his mortal disguise and stood before her as a full god, shattering her mind with his glory.
She had polluted the world with so much ugliness, he said, that retribution was too good for her. Instead, what remained of her mind would be trapped within a thing that existed for no other reason than to be beautiful, to make people happy.
The woman let out a final scream as she shrank, turning into a flower of unfathomable beauty. So that none would ever forget the legend and allow affection to cloud their judgment, he decreed that the flower be named St. Cuthbert's Folly.
And from then on, the god of justice never again granted clemency, no matter how minor the offense.
Offering: mah jedaira (place)
Descriptions should be at least three sentences, and no more than ten.
Think of it as if you are writing a lore entry for the monster manual.
Offering: mah jedaira (place)
"Mah jedaira" is the Giant experession for an expanse of land composed mostly of glass. Mah jedaira are mostly found in the mountains, where the ties to the Elemental Chaos are strong. Goliath dawnsingers use the mah jedaira as a place to contact spirits that have not yet drifted to the afterlife. This belief is founded in the philosophy that glass is clear, and in allowing light to pass through, is aligned with "life," yet as a "stone," it is also associated with earth, the origin and final resting place for souls. Thus, mah jedaira are a natural place for sprits cought between life and death to gather. The accoustical resonance natural to glass might have contributed to this belief.
Offering: Yellow-backed footscratcher (bird)
Offering: Yellow-backed footscratcher (bird)
The yellow-backed footscratcher lives in the heat and humidity of the Burmoodi jungles. The bright orange plumage of the male is an impressive display, while the dull-brown of the female causes her to easily be mistaken as a phru quail. A characteristic stripe of yellow feathers begins at the base of the head of both genders and runs down the back to the end of the tailfeathers. Flightless birds, yellow-backs often enter into symbiosis with larger earth-bound creatures, picking parasites from hooves, paws, and feet. Because of their brilliant coloration, males are sometimes caught to sell as pets to the wealthy elite. At other times, the orange feathers are used to create boas which also fetch a princely price.
Offering: best wish (opiate)
Offering: best wish (opiate)
The opiate known as "best wish" is synthisized from the horns of the garden veriety al-mi'raj (a rabbit like creature with a horn reminicent to that of a unicorn). The commonality of the seemingly-harmless al-mi'raj is countered by their tenacity and the surprisingly high fatality rates of their exterminators.
An extracted al-mi'raj horn is ground into powder, and mixed with other ingredients, which will not be mentioned in this lore entry due to the legal restrictions of this book's region of publication. The resulting cream is then smoked, inducing extreme hollucinations almost immidiately. Tradditionaly, participants will wish each other "best wishes" before indulging themselves, for it is commonly believed that best wish manifests the topics on has presnetly on their mind. For those properly prepared, the induced hollucinations can appear to grant the user's wishes.
Offering: Refutalite (mineral)
Offering: Refutalite (mineral)
When the eladrin dug out the earth from beneath the drow city of M'tredei, they had only sabotage planned; to sink the city further below the Underdark, burying their hated brethren beneath tons of rock. However, the eladrin miners discovered thick stone, dark and unyielding. Upon realizing the potential of this substance, the mission changed: stealthily extract as much of the mineral from beneath M'tredei without sinking the city, and once all of this special stone was taken, only then would M'tredei crumble.
M'tredei's expert spies discovered the plot, and moved their forces to stop the plan. Using the mineral that they had been mining as ramshackle bunkers, the eladrin miners fortified their positions, hurling spells and weapons while they set their emergency failsafe in place: gnomish explosives to sink the great drow city.
After slaughtering the remaining drow who had survived the collapse of M'tredei, the miners returned to the surface with tales of the mineral's potency and a new name: refutalite. Despite the small amounts found at any one site, eladrin seek out new sources of the mighty stone with an almost obsessive fervor.
Offering: order of the skeletal wyrm (religion)
Offering: order of the skeletal wyrm (religion)
Wyrmcults and cults of death abound in the underdark, but none are more widespread than the Order of the Skeletal Wyrm, with size and organization approaching that of a true religion. Legend has it that the Spellcarved Shadow Dragon Thucaxes conquered a vast underdark empire by promising his troops eternal life in the spells that etched his scales. At the height of his power, Thucaxes ruled the most cosmopolitan empire in the history of the underdark, where drow, orcs, goblins and grimlocks stood united in their faith in life eternal. Soon the empire menaced the surface world, and brave adventurers assaulted Thucaxes' lair, slaying him and throwing his empire into chaos.
Soon the former empire was a mess of squabbling city-states and scattered tribes, beholden to none. However, one hundred years after his supposed slaying the priests of his former capitol declared that Thucaxes had returned to them, that he had in fact become a Dracolich and thus survived. Soon the priests declared that Thucaxes would appear to the public, and he soon did so, surrounded and guarded by priests. Belief spread once again, and while the empire remained sundered, churches of the new Order of the Skeletal Dragon sprung up across the underdark.
In truth, Thucaxes never underwent the ritual of Dracolichdom, and would have found it against his beliefs. The skeletal dragon who appears before cheering crowds is a puppet, the skeleton of the old emperor supported by cunningly hidden wires and illusion magic. Were this to be discovered, the underdark's greatest faith might crumble into dust.
Offering: Solarium of the Mother (place)
Offering: Solarium of the Mother (place)
The Solarium of the Mother is positioned high in the northern hemisphere, where The Mother constellation is able to be viewed all year around. Astrologers find The Mother to be a collection of stars of great power, particularly when "womb" of The Mother aligns with the path of the sun - a powerful omen of life. On days of such an occurrence, the Solarium's crystalline structure lights up with a warm radiance, supposedly bringing the newly dead back to life. The Solarium was founded half a century ago by a messianic figure (who many scholars believe to have been the recipient of a star-pact) as he "...made his ascent to rejoin his heavenly Mother." Some scholars disagree on the point of the figure's power's origin, as the holy powers of life are believed to be only granted by gods, and never from the alien creatures from Beyond.
[Incidentally, I totally used the Book of Pages in my campaign today!! It was great! Thank you everyone who has contributed to this thread!]
Offering: Kileemu [Pronounced "Kee-lee-moo"] (Primate)
Offering: Kileemu [Pronounced "Kee-lee-moo"] (Primate)
The kileemu are tan colored primates who spend the majority of their lives in the treetops of the Raushta Hoost and Wrodd forests. Very sociable toward humanoids, kileemu are known to quickly charge people to search their hands and belongings though nothing has ever been taken. Most people believe kileemu are naturally tailess monkeys. The truth is the high-end sausage dish known as k'smararak is little else than ground kileemu tails spiced and served in a graulanaut sauce. With its prehensile tails, a kileemu is an agile and elusive creature; after its three tails are severed, the stunted kileemu is easy prey for dauku spinners and spotted mherutooks, predators who otherwise never would enjoy such fast food.
Offering: greed blisters (disease)
Offering: greed blisters (disease)
Greed blisters, also known as Miser's Bane, is the result of a poison contained in tainted metal, most often found in cheaply smelted silver and gold. A lethally toxic metal called tarrelite becomes mixed with the more precious metals. In small doses, it can be flushed out of the system with minimal damage. In large concentrations, such as a massive pile of tainted coins, it causes the victim to break out in hives and festering boils. Eventually, the boils (the "greed blisters") deflate as the toxins enter the victim's system, resulting in a massive heart attack or stroke that is always fatal.
Offering: the oasis of crisis (demiplane)
Offering: the oasis of crisis (demiplane)
Al-Abares, Dervish-General of Malak-Beth, was all his life as devout a servant as Kord could ask for. A true servant of battle, Al-Abares never led from the back lines, even in his old age. Relishing the motion and chaos of battle, Al-Abares prayed for an afterlife in which the song of his scimitars would fill his soul for eternity.
Ysgard caters to such heroes, and in Kord's halls Al-Abares joined a world in which petitioners rose each day to battle, slaying and being slain before rising in the morning to fight again. While Al-Abares was pious, he began to voice complaints: combat was too rare here for a true servant of Kord, he argued, the drinking and tale-telling distractions from the joys of warfare. One day, Al-Abares was bold enough to take his complaints to Kord himself. Enraged by this insolence, Kord swung his legendard greatsword, enveloping Al-Abares in a rush of sand, creating the Oasis of Crisis. A single oasis floating in a sea of whirling sand, this demiplane would be Al-Abares just reward. In the Oasis of Crisis a constant stream of demonic soldiers pour in, battling and dying to an indistinct whirl that never stops in its motion. In the Oasis of Crisis there is no rest, no peace, and the soul of Al-Abares laughs with joy forevermore.
Offering: Vengeant Dream (business)
Offering: Vengeant Dream (business)
Originally a branch of the notorious assassin's guild, Red Bliaut, Vengeant Dream took shape when Vhuradann of Louchessex, the guild's first telepathic agent devised a method of entering a mark's dream and slaying them there. His victims were known to scream themselves awake with their dying breath. Vhuraddan soon saw need to detach himself from the guild, and crafted his own competing "business" which has survived by posterity. Those familiar with the seedy underbelly of society know revenge is a thriving and lucrative business opportunity, and what better method of murder is there than one which doesn't leave a trace?
Offering: Nerull's Draft (liquor)
Offering: Nerull's Draft (liquor)
"Not very appetizing for a liquor to have a skeleton on the bottle, now is it?"
"That's coz you don't know the story behind it. The Besquicks have been growin' wheat and brewin' liquor for hundreds of years, but wasn't till ole Jack Besquick that they brewed Nerull's Draft. Ole Jack was a canny old bugger, canniest ever been born, but even a canny man has a limit to his days, so's the case. And one day, he woke in his bed to find Nerull standing above him, ready to take his soul away. But Jack, he was a cunning man, and he knew Nerull's pride, so he challenged him to a contest: if he could reap a field faster than Death himself, he'd keep his soul, and if he couldn't, he'd give himself over to Nerull's dark plans. That grinnin' skeleton agreed, prideful in the swing of his scythe, but he could never cut grain fast as ole Jack. Jack kept his soul, and named his new liquor Nerull's Draft, so's to honor his pact, and his family's been making it ever since."
Offering: summerhawk (bird)
Offering: summerhawk (bird)
During three seasons of the year, the summerhawk is an unassuming brown-colored pidgeon-like creature. During the summer, when the stars and elements are appropriately aligned, the summerhawk grows eightfold within a matter of days, transforming drasticly from awkward to hansome. During this timeperiod, the summerhawk eats revenously, often becoming crazed when prevented; frequent prey consists of small animals, including children.
The summerhawk is venerated by various divine and primal groups, but the creature was actually created in an arcane experement. The Grand Sorcerer Archtellius, Master of Chance and Stars, wished to find a host for his powers, so he performed various expermenents. (His experements led to his doom, however, when he transformed his heart into a portal to both the Astral Sea and the Elemental Chaos simultanously.) One of his "successful" experements involved breeding his manifest familiar with local birds. However, the foolish sorcerer disliked these beasts for their appearence 3/4 of the year, and continued headlong with his experments.
Offering: Man's Bracket (device)
Offering: Man's Bracket (device)
Erathis' symbol is the cog of creation. Nearly everyone knows this, but very few know of the significance behind this symbol. Likewise, a select few know of her overarching plans to construct the Lattice of Heaven, but even that was but one part of her greatest concept: the creation of the world gave rise to an idea that would bring all of existence together in magnificent harmony, with everything getting what it most desired. The Lattice of Heaven would be completed first, to give Erathis the power she would require to carry out this ambitious scheme. Next would be the Maelstrom Pool, a magnificent construct that would allow the perfect cataclysm that is the Elemental Chaos to exist without threatening order on the whole. Foreseeing the existence of the primal spirits, and even the world's shadowy and enchanted copies, Erathis prepared one last gambit. The mortal races would be the central fixture in her plan, the continual influx of new lives and departed souls allowing for a combination of order and chaos that would balance out the Astral Sea, the Elemental Chaos, and even the encroachment of the Far Realm. Erathis' Cog may be the symbol of civilization, but Man's Bracket would have been the symbol and the source of ultimate order.
Offering: indigo fog (weather)
Offering: indigo fog (weather)
"Grandfather," asked the child, "why is there indigo fog?"
The old man smiled; "Well, it happened a long time ago," he began, "when my grandfather's grandfather was just a lad, about your age. It was an age dominated by the Cave Dragon of Eastwell, who used his magic to control the minds of the local lords. The dragon took everything from the people, and they lived in poverty - until brave warriors from a distant land appeared. Even the meekest of them was a great warrior with powerful magic. They confronted the great purple dragon in the cave where he dwelled - and slayed him! But the curse of the purple dragon lived on; where the dragon's dead body lay, the indogo fog began to generate. And so it flows from the mouth of the cave like dragon's breath, and warps the minds of those who breathe it in."
Offering: The Archturus Contract (pact)
Offering: The Archturus Contract (pact)
"The Archturus Contract was written one-'undred-and-eighty-five years ago, back when I was just a lad," said the helmsman, an ancient looking dwarf from the Dropforge Clan. "An' since it were written, we 'aven't had even the beginnin's of a problem with the Shades."
He turned the great wheel, curving the ship to the side and preparing it to drop today's silver shipment.
"But... we ain't seen one of them Shades in decades," said one of the younger Dwarves who had only just begun work on the airship, "why are we still bringin' them loads O' our 'ard earned silver? Why do they even want it? They don't make nothin'! I don't think there are any left, and if there are, they're just sittin' in their mountain resting on piles of our 'ard wrought silver!"
Old Dropforge got real quiet then, he closed up the locking mechanism for the turning wheel and walked over to the upstart new crewman.
"Before the Contract were written, we Dropforges were 'arder ta find than a seven-legged strandbeast. Those Shades be the most dangerous thing in these parts and nothin' short O' that piece of paper signed an sealed in the town hall and these shipments we bring every week keeps them from showing spoiled brats like you just how wrong you are!" Yelled Old Dropforge, the crewman stiffened up winced at Dropforge's century old emotion, equal parts anger and fear.
And with that, Old Dropforge turned to his apprentice, gave him a few instructions and returned to his cabin to fight away the memories of the Old War for another night.
Offering: Strandbeast (Herbivore)
Offering: Strandbeast (Herbivore)
7 Marlinstide, 593 AL:
Today a marvellous discovery, if it proves correct: we have discovered the corpse of what I believe to be a Strandbeast! The massive sea-ox, almost as big as our noble vessel, is a most interesting specimen. Hooves crusted with barnacles suggest a relatively sedentary life, while the broad back upon dissection by our capable Dr. Umbridge shows a thick coat of insulative blubber, which explains the abiding mystery of the creature's survival, and may (pending calculations) have aided in enabling the creature to float. Once thought of merely as a sailor's tale and accused of absconding with vessels and stranding their crew, the Strandbeast is now widely considered historical, and it is to our considerable good fortune that we have happened upon a corpse so comparatively fresh! Time has of course taken its toll, but I take heart that the corpse's age means there may yet be a breeding population of the creatures deep under the northern seas.
Offering: Marlinstide (month)
Offering: Marlinstide (month)
The tiny, isolated island nation never had a name. Never bothered, anyway, since there wasn't really any reason to identify themselves other than as kinsmen. Ever since anyone can remember, they've lived on this island and measured their time differently. Obviously, they had to have come from somewhere, as they speak Common and have the concept of months and years, but it's not exactly the same. Marlinstide is their most sacred month, and the entire duration counts as a holiday. Great schools of marlin swim past the island, and the fishermen work hard to ensure that as many as possible are caught, prepared, and salted for storage. Marlinstide is one of the only sources of meat on the island, and it is treated as a gift from the great spirits.
Offering: the helsbarth manifest (document)
Offering: the helsbarth manifest (document)
"Your sure he can make a ritual this complicated work, he looks like he would barely be old enough to visit the mages academy," said Milly Gloriosus while shifting uncomfortably. She wasn't used to being under the water, instead preferring to sail on top of it.
"He's fine! The ritual is pretty simple really, just kinda expensive," said Slippy, her second in command.
"Okay, that oughta do it, just drink this stuff and jump in," said the young mage, pointing to the pool of ocean water sitting at the base of the cave in which they all stood.
"This is going to be dangerous," said Slippy just before swallowing the enchanted seawater.
"You saw the Helsbarth Manifest, if we can haul one handful of the stuff they were transporting on that ship we'll be set for life, and you're the one who trusts this potion to work" said Milly, swallowing her potion in turn.
"Yes, the potion will work," Slippy heard a splash but ignored it "I mean whatever brought down a ship that well gaurded has got to be out of our league. Who knows, it could still be near the shipwreck" but Milly didn't hear that last part, because she had already dove into the pool of water, beginning the long swim to her fortune.
"Aw bugger," said Slippy.
Offering: The Cretin (god)
Offering: The Cretin (god)
The Cretin is the deity of pork,potron of swines,boars and pigs.mostley worshipped by innkeepers and boarkin,he is imprisoned in a giant field full of truffles,he must dig them up but when he tastes them they disappear.
Offering: The Kyo'Nne (unspecifeid on purpose)
Also, I would like to point out simply mentioning the offering in your post doesn't feel... solid enough. Please provide description of the actual offering and not just mention it in passing. That is to say, the majority of the fluff should be about the offering itself. I don't think I need to make a rule for this, though. It should go without saying the offering you write fluff for should take center stage in your post.
Original Poster
T. Shisgokken
Offering: The Kyo'Nne (unspecifeid on purpose)
"We are/were/will be The Kyo'Nne. What are/were/will be you?"
In the ancient past when the Ethergaunt Empire first cast off the shackles of material existence, their rivals the Kyo'Nne wished to do something similarly impressive. Divine mages who believed in the nonexistence of arcane magic, the Kyo'Nne used their prodigious power to create a nascent God of Time. By drinking its blood, the Kyo'Nne were translated into a timeless existence. Outside of time, they gained an eternity to master their holy magic. In viewing the events of history they became enamored of the bravado of the mortal races, as well as their curious longevity, watching their rise from the first Neanderthals to the final battles with Mind Flayers in the shadows of dying stars. They also saw the Ethergaunt's drive to purge the peoples of the material plane, and vowed to return and aid these entertaining creatures in driving back their ancient rivals.
The Kyo'Nne resemble willowy lobster-people, but the vagueness in their countenance hides further complexity. Unlike Ethergaunts, whose coloration is indicative of rank, Kyo'Nne are iridescent, changing dominant color with emotion.
Offering: Pyramid of Entry
Offering: Pyramid of Entry
To gain access to the Mastau'kala Academy in northern Egali, prospective applicants need to start at the bottom. A system based on merit and influence known as the Pyramid of Entry, singles out the craftiest and most ruthless scholars in all the realms. The "bottom" of the Pyramid accepts all oncomers who can afford the exorbitant "registration fee". However, once a month for 13 consecutive months, a certain number of students-to-be are eliminated inexplicably and mysteriously by the little-understood institution of sages known simply as the Deans. By the end of the 13th month, only one applicant remains of the original group who submitted their triplicate, notarized, witnessed, wax-sealed enrollment papers who at that point gains uncontested acceptance. More than a few participants in the Pyramid of Entry have lost their life's savings, their reputations, and even their lives.
Offering: the Ancestor War of 8187
Offering: the Ancestor War of 8187
The Ancestor War of 8187 was a war of secrets and subterfuge. There were most certainly not great battlefield victories in this war. It all started when Celentril of the Third House made a claim, as head of her house, that their patron ancestor really should have been The Great General Gapher of Babenstock. This was an outrageous claim that the Fifth House had tried to get away with several generations ago, but no one would take it seriously. After all, it was so long ago since The Great General Gapher existed and heroicly led all civilized folk to the new continent of Praiendill just before the Ancient Deep sank into the oceans floor. Celentril claimed to have proof kept safely in her house of this claim, but as tradition states she was unable to officially reveal this to The Great Matron of Houses for another three months when Spring begins. Within these three months countless attempts were made to infiltrate the Third House, and counterintelligence was performed on other houses who Celentril believed she could obtain "proof" from regarding this great Ancestrial link.
Offering: Shinglehopper
Offering: Shinglehopper
"Hop Hop, Do the Shinglehop!"
The new dance that's changing the slums, the Shinglehop is becoming popular among urban halflings and gnomes. Shinglehoppers, as they are known, dance on rooftops, drainpipes, and other irregular surfaces, acrobatically traveling from building to building. The power of the Shinglehop has united the small folk into tight-knit groups with the confidence and skill to drive criminals out of their turf. Though some criticize the music for its odd, primal beat, no one can deny the skill of dedicated Shinglehoppers.
Offering: Demogorgon's Lament
Offering: Shinglehopper
Offering: Demogorgon's Lament
A ballad that was composed by an unknown artist, but has quickly grown in popularity. Bards around the world have been adding this song to their selection. A brooding melody, which tells the story of the Demogorgon's relationship with Malcanthet, the Succubus Queen. According to the song, Malcanthet had broken Demogorgon's heart (or lack-thereof). His mourning is metaphoric for his loss of love.
Offering: Wing of the Forged
Offering: Wing of the Forged
When Moradin created the steel beings known as the Forged--or Hammerborn--he didn't intend for them to be flightless creatures. The two massive slots on their backs, just inside their shoulder blades, are actually desgined to support wing attachments. Unfortunately for the newly born race, Moradin had time to shape but one wing--not even a pair--an artifact now known as the Wing of the Forged, before Celestia was captured by a massive assault force from the Far Realm led by Mak Thuum Ngatha. Many believe the Wing of the Forged to be useless without a second to complete the set, but with just the one, Moradin's Hammerborn do indeed gain incredible mobility and deific power.
Offering: an umbral eddy
I_smile_alot did post a fluff for this item--it was a very long entry. I requested for it to be reduced to ten sentences, but it sadly was deleted instead.
She did provide the Offering: One Thursday down, an artifact.
Offering: One Thursday down, an artifact.
"If I had words to make a day for you..."
Albertus Almones, master artificer and time mage, had a daughter quite late in life. He wanted to bring her joy, but he despaired of living long enough to protect her from the world's ills. Albertus had many enemies and he knew that, though his daughter would be more than capable of remaining safe, she would want a respite from the toils that life would bury her under. To this end he created the One Thursday Down.
One fine Thursday morning, Albertus took his daughter to the lakeside. It was a beautiful spring day, with a warm sun and a cool breeze from the lake. He spent the day with the girl, fishing, swimming, playing and laughing as the lake's geese looked on. At the end of the day, after a delicious, magically prepared goose dinner, he took her aside. Albertus explained that he would not life forever, but that he wanted her to know that she could alway feel safe in the knowledge of his love. He then gave her a bag of goosedown, and told her that the bag was enchanted. If she removed a feather from it and tossed it into the air, she would be able to return, for a day, to that beautiful Thursday on the lake.
Offering: Sour Sadness Bear
Offering: Sour Sadness Bear
"Play with me!"
At first glance, it's an unassuming teddy bear. At second glance, your child is gone. Crafted by a psychotic mage for no other reason than to sow sorrow and misery, the Sour Sadness Bear randomly appears in areas where it is likely to be found by children, and then it makes them "disappear."
No one knows how the bear makes children vanish, and no one knows how it gets from place to place. As the legend of the evil toy grows, however, townsfolk are being taught to recognize the device and protect their children from the monstrous plaything.
Offering: the magdron cannon
Offering: the magdron cannon
The largest and most famous landmark in the Tervean region is, of course, the Justice Bell which has resided in its tower at Sinavasea Priory since the end of the third Primal War. However, the little known tale of much greater fascination is not of the bell itself but of its cannon. Crafted by prerevolutionaries out of a material alchemists have not been able to identify or replicate, the Justice Bell's cannon is a modern mystery from the ancient past. The cannon's material has gone by many names by many scholars, but the most prevalent of these is magdron, so named after the alchemist who discovered the waywardness of the metal loop, Dereil Magdron sut Blauserdale. During the Justice Bell's last bicentennial cleaning, well known historical alchemist and cleric Roul Roleaux was given permission by the ruling lord to remove the magdron cannon for study, replacing it with a sturdy steel cannon. In the 50 years since, the magdron cannon has traveled all over the countryside, visiting many places of higher learning where the great minds of the day have challenged the riddle of its composition and creation.
Offering: Wooderring Gulf
Offering: Wooderring Gulf
Wooderring Island is the shining jewel of the WesternSea. Many (wealthy) adventurers will pay the hefty price and take the three day ocean voyage to the isolated-crescent shaped island. The town of Wooderring is nothing more than a tourist trap for those travelers who simply want to swim the interior of concave side of the isle, or simply called the WooderringGulf. At late evenings, adventurers dive into the water and see why the WooderringGulf is described as the "Shining jewel". Ninety percent of all of the copious aquatic-life is bioluminescent. Adventures have spent hours just floating on the surface, looking down to the moving multi-colored star field below. Local Merchants make a killing off of Breath Water potions. Fishing in the gulf is, of course, nearly punishable by death by the locals that make their money here.
Author's Note: Sorry for the length, I got a bit carried away with that one.
Offering: Thud-Print Boots (probably redundant… Boots)
Offering: Thud-Print Boots (probably redundant… Boots)
When Jossen Redale discovered the effective protection of iron-tipped brogans, he thought he would do one better with his own version: iron brogans. However, the more metal added to the footwear, the more a highly undersirable weight was exacted on one's leg, ankle, and foot. Each step required excruciating effort on the part of the wearer and ended with an amazingly loud thumping sound akin to a dwarf falling out of a tree. The impression left behind by a pair of iron brogans has caused the general public jeeringly and unflatteringly to refer to them as thud-print boots. Though impractical on land, lately, explorers with the assistance of alchemists have discovered a means of underwater exploration and the spelunking of submerged caverns through their use.
Offering: catastrophe stew
Offering: catastrophe stew
Stewart Fonzrelian lived up to the phrase "never trust a skinny chef." This man was huge. Fat, yes, but also a head and a half taller than your average kitchen cook. He always had to duck to keep from bumping his head on the mess hall's doorway each time he entered. But his creations were always to be desired, expecially by the conscripted Town Guard, who often called upon to fight off the pesky Catastrophe Teeth Goblin Tribe. As the professional chef of the Township of Swordhaven the Lord would often call upon Stewart to deliever food and water to Swordhaven Guards who must travel to and fight these goblins for more than a few days. On these occasions when Stewart must load up his hefty hand cart and lug his precious cargo to the Guard does one truly find out that he is not only a Culinary Artist, but a brutal goblin murder. One might ask themselves does he arm himself with a butcher knife, Cleaver, or roasting spit? No. He literally clobbers the goblins with a iron sause pan. Obviously the Swordhaven Guard are glad to have the mighty man each time the Lord asks him to come "cook" for them. Although Stewart would never put goblin meat into his creations, the Guards would coment whenever they see Stewart pull out his iron sauce pan, "Looks like the chef is about to make some... Catastrophe Stew" This eventually became his nickname. Chef Catatrophe Stew
Offering: Oberlin's Eye
Offering: Oberlin's Eye
"Venture thee into the heart of the storm; there you will find the remnants of your god."
Oberlin was once the god of storms, a mighty warrior and a benevolent leader who directed his angels as both a general and a father figure. He led the gods in a great battle against the primordials, sweeping through the Elemental Chaos and scoring victory after victory, until finally his forces surged too far from his compatriots. Drunk on their own feelings of power, Oberlin and his angels charged a primordial stronghold, and were obliterated. In a final act of desperation, Oberlin invoked a mighty spell that tore his body asunder, unleashing the mightiest storm in all of creation that ravages the Elemental Chaos to this day, even being recognized as Oberlin itself. However, no matter how furious the storm, there is always one small area at the center where the pure of heart may seek refuge from the devastating wind. This is known as Oberlin's Eye.
Offering: Larrihe's Curve
Offering: Larrihe's Curve
Many ruins of the ancient past have been discovered around the natural world: some as far as the Ta province, some as close as the Milleu. While they are all marvels of engineering in their own right, there is one shocking detail which ties these seemingly disparate civilizations together. Without fail, qualities of the construction materials--their spacing, their shapes, their weights to name a few--all adhere to the mathematical principle of Larrihe's Curve. Long known simply to be a recursive formula for solving infinite series, Larrihe's Curve has apparently been providing many peoples in history with the knowledge and power to achieve miracles of design and structure. In the merchant wards, Larrihe's Curve is best applied in calculating the notoriously complex half-taxes as established by the Halfling Aggregate of Trade (or HAT). Within the Collegiate Circle of Alchemists, Larrihe's Curve is used in deriving the proportions for distillates and integrating residuum in dust ratios. Who knew the world had been utilizing the work of history's most famous sage for so long?
Offering: the Aspergillum of Melora
Offering: the Aspergillum of Melora
A plain wooden handle topped with a perforated iron sphere, the Aspergillum of Melora is as unassuming an natural as the goddess it was created to honor. A thin crusting of salt around the holes in the device indicates its function. When filled with ocean-water, the Aspergillum sanctifies the water within it. Water sprinkled from the Aspergillum has an amazing power over the natural world, bringing forth fruit from plants in the dead of winter, calming animals, and giving any ship smooth sailing. Legends say The Aspergillum of Melora was first consecrated for her temple in Ancient Ta before it was lost when the Ta province collapsed into barbarism.
Offering: Chrane (humanoid)
Offering: Chrane (humanoid)
Often thought to be the product of a wizard's delusion, The Chrane are a feathered humanoid race that hails from the Chann Mountains. Possessing of a two foot long neck and extremely agile arms, the Chrane are most known for their samurai class. They have a code of chivalry that it is considered sacrilege to disobey. In total over seven feet tall, they are also normally exceedingly thin. While no solid history exists of the Chrane, they have developed their own mythology. The truth behind this mythology may never be known.
Offering: San-Ban Mansion
Offering: San-Ban Mansion
The third in a series of seven mansions commissioned by the late Countess Zorozadny, San-Ban Mansion sits at the brink of the southern mah jedaira where the Countess, at here leisure, harvested the many drifting spirits. Its construction followed the genocide of the half-giants, a spiritual people who lived in the area to commune with their ancestors. As such, since the Countess's disappearance from the mortal world, the primal spirits have reasserted themselves with a vengeance. The mansion is now thought to be haunted, and rightly so. Those few who have been brave enough to venture near the San-Ban desmesne returned pale and mute, unable to speak for several days. Great metaphysical unrest pervades the mansion and its land, and as things are, may continue to for a very long time.
Offering: Coup of the Torpor Guard
[As an aside, "sanban" is Japanese for "number three". XD]
Offering: Coup of the Torpor Guard
In the years after the Golden War a more subtle strife came to rise in the province of Demordia. The Musk faction continiously attempted to gain intelligence and sabatage installations of the opposing Rivot faction. While these two political factions wore eachother down the military guard appointed by Lord Zaventorst became disgusted with the immoral and trivial quarrels between the two factions. Captain of the Torpor Guard, Gudenstall, saw a chance to do more for the people he had been charged to protect and organized his subbordinates into a highly strategized coup against the factions. His success led to a century of peace and prosperity for the people of Demordia.
Offering: The Sword of Lies
The sword of lies is tossed into a room where the people who wish to be tested are bound. It will dance and bounce around wildly only hurting those that lied to it. When all lies have been punished, with force equal to the size of the lie, the sword falls to the floor and can be safely removed. If you come out unharmed you get a certificate that your statement (what you told the sword before the process) is the truth for sure. Such a certificate is a strong piece of evidence in any courtroom.
To avoid unnecessary harm you can get the help from an advisor that will question you about each little detail in your statement before you read it to the sword. The bad side of this is that corrupt advisors know how to word a statement to tell a false story with nothing but truths.
Offering: the factory massacre
Offering: the factory massacre
"Do you know what happened that day?"
The Warforged stared at me across the table, a manic gleam in the glass beads of her eyes (I say "her" because of the smear of lipstick on the stone plates that made her mouth).
"The day the creation of new Warforged was banned, and Cannith's forges shut down? There were Warforged in those factories!"
"Unformed, surely? Not conscious yet..." I objected, but she cut me off.
"Yes, unformed, yes not conscious, but don't you see, it doesn't matter. When a human woman's baby is cut from her womb, do you make such distinctions? The factory massacre was one of the greatest crimes that your kind have perpetrated against mine, and we can never forgive the infrigement on our reproductive freedom."
Offering: Zelekhut Ball
Offering: Zelekhut Ball
Zelekhut Ball is a giant sphere, the most prominent landmark in the (former) kingdom of Zelekhut, but also an eternal dance party. Once Zelekhut was a kingdom like any other; nobles taxing the farmers to the brink of starvation so that they could spend more on a dress to their next party, farmers hating their nobles but not doing anything about it because the land was fertile and the military had pointy swords.
Then a mysterious mage showed up with an offer to create an eternal party, everything included, invitation only, for the small price of the kingdom. What the nobles didn’t know was that the mage was hired by others to lure people into a Ball which was really the staging ground for a game of intrigue and murder. (Tickets to this game is even rarer than a party invitation to the Ball and costs more than one mortal soul.)
When party goers die of old age or recreational murder new invitations are sent to nobles around the world. Knowing that no one returns from the Zelekhut Ball many nobles see this as a retirement plan. For this reason an invitation can fetch a grand price on the black market. Even so it is hard to part from your invitation, for who wouldn't want to dance at the Zelekhut Ball.
Offering: Leather spider (spider)
(Rewritten to fit the rules.)
Offering: Leather spider (spider)
The vast majority of spiders in the natural world, like all arachnids and their cousins, have exoskeletons. This vast majority does not include the leather spider. A layer of flesh and skin cover an internal skeletal structure for this unusual breed of spider, much like that of elves and dwarves. As such, specimen caught and skinned produce long, supple strips of leather to the delight of many tanners. The three-jointed leg of a leather spider appears to belong to a male human or dwarf, covered with dark, coarse hair and sporting thick, calf-like muscles. Along the dorsal section of the cephalothorax and abdomen, fine, soft strands of hair grow to great lengths--if it weren't for their sheer size, a leather spider would possibly be mistaken for a possessed wig. Carnivorous by nature, the leather spider's diet depends greatly on its habitat--anything from bats and birds to snakes and wolves. Woe be the lone traveler who happens upon a leather spider, for their speed is twice that of a jace and their bite is that of scything swords.
Offering: Journey's End
Offering: Journey's End
The city of Grandthorpe is largely unknown even tho it is the main transportational hub of the country. Apart from the mayor and the fifty or so real citizens of Grandthorpe ("Ye aint a real citizen in Grandthorpe unless ye lived here for twu generations, ye traveling scum.") everyone knows it as Journey's End. The name is ironically given because no one travels there to stay. In recent times the dangers of the road gives the name another, more sinister meaning. Travelers without a body guard might very well end their journey and their life at any of the lesser inns in the city.
(The "twu generations" that must be endured to become a real citizen must be so by the one seeking citizenship. Only rickety old men and women who've seen their children and grandchildren die in Grandthorpe becomes, and has the desire to be, citizens of Grandthorpe.)
Offering: Body gourd.
Offering: Body gourd.
One of the more whimsical inventions of the Tikki-Vappi, or Island Gnomes, the Body Gourd is a surprisingly powerful guardian for arcane spellcasters. A massive gourd serves as the construct's torso, while strings of plantains serve as wobbly limbs. Much more dextrous and flexible than constructs made of more traditional materials, the Body Gourd can absorb hits directed at its master, bending around blows. It can even be reasonably stealthy when needed. Many enemies of gnomish wizards have woken up with a banana down their throat.
Offering: Anaximantras
Offering: Anaximantras
After the Dawn War, the religions of the world had not yet established themselves; little was written down and much history and lore was oral tradition passed on by story and song. One of the first religions to develop was the worship of nature and therefore Melora. There were two proponent groups at first: the Zealots of Melora and the Sages of Melora. While the Zealots fervently sacrificed live animals to the goddess of nature and lived in fear of her capriciousness, the Sages took a diameteric stance--one pertaining to structure which attempted to determine the "laws of nature". The Anaximantras, the oldest known recorded knowledge within the natural world, are the collective findings and theories of the most prominent of the Sages of Melora. The Anaximantras deal with such topics as the reason behind wind, waves, rocks, and fire. A well known nursery rhyme rooted in Vemarii culture is actually based on principles explored by these ancient philosophers:
"The stone doesn't rain, rain, rain
The sea doesn't burn, burn, burn
The sky doesn't crawl, crawl, crawl
But everyone knows
What everyone fears
Fire is king of the forest"
Offering: waymurk dory
Offering: waymurk dory
"Please, sir, would you buy some fish? Highest quality, won't find any like it in all the Dory! Please, sir, I have a family!"
Out far past the mountains, past the swamps, and past lakes lie a large, quaint, peaceful kingdom on the riverbank. The citizens are prosperous, the royalty is fair, and the life is good.
Unfortunately, not all can enjoy this life.
Outside the kingdom walls lies a far smaller town, unremarkable, and full of the most undesirable of the kingdom's exiles. The town has very little trade, and very little tourism. The only major export the town has to offer is it's fish. Waymurk Dory is a place where no one wants to live, but no one has a choice. The people who live in it's borders are too poor to live in the kingdom, and too weak to go anywhere else. The bandits, cut-throats, and other criminals who have made the Dory their stomping ground haven't made the town any more appealing to passerbys, either.
Offering: Amulet of the Lasting Night
Offering: Amulet of the Lasting Night
On the fifth day of the New Year of Swan's Head a great boulder in the sky edged over the rising sun cutting off the light for the folks of Prriel. The people of Prriel were thrown into a panic and many took a great pilgramige to see The Knowing Wizard. She held a conference, and with the help of nine other great sorcerers, used their arcane might to thwart the great crag away from the sun, and Prriel. Many merchants made quite a profit on lanterns, torches, and sun rods during the week of darkness and seeked further profit margins by gathering shards of the boulder that happened to be slightly luminecent themselves when held. Many of these shards are fake bits of Peridine, but there is one known artifact called the Amulet of Lasting Night that is said to hold mysterious power for the owner of such a trinket.
Offering: condril thimble
Unfortunatly the thimble was designed by a less then capable Wizard, and over time its magic started to act up. The changeling discarded the thimble when it stopped working properly and it was found by Odric, a young and also somewhat uncapable warrior. Sensing the magic in the thimble, he managed to gain some control over it's size control and decided to expand it and wear it as a helmet.
This gave him some interesting nicknames, but it did eventually save his life twice. The first time, it deflected a single arrow. The second time, he was caught in a complete hail of arrows, and instictively reached out to the thimble, which quickly grew to emcompass his whole body. This size though, snapped the magic completely, and it never changed size again.
Odric was eventually dug out from under the thimble after the battle was over, which earned him some more interesting nicknames.
Offering: The Last Storm (seafaring vessel)
A simple and unimpressive looking thimble forged of red condrill. While it may look like a plain sewing tool, its history is nothing short of amazing. It started in the possession of Baba-Yaga: The Queen of all witches, who used it to protect her thumbs when sewing things of human skin. A human man bet his wits and his life against Baba Yaga and won her magic thimble. The man wandered far and wide, and ran afoul of some wild pixies. After the slew the man they took his thimble and their chieftain wore it as a helmet for many years. After the chieftain died, the magic thimble was offered to the fairy queen, who used it as a cup for her rare elven wines and ambrosias, till she fell in love with a mortal man. Knowing their love was impossible; the Queen gave her mortal love the thimble as a sign of her undying love. Not understanding the significance of it he traded it to an old tree wizard for a magical axe, who gave it to his mother, who perished in an orcish raid. A simple orcish peon stole the thimble as a good luck charm, and soon, made a meteoric rise through the ranks to become chief. The new orcish chief lead his tribe to pillage, loot, and burn through the surrounding countryside, until his tribe was wiped out by a band of adventurers, one of whom took the took the magic thimble. Since that time the thimble was passed down, traded, stolen, bought and sold a thousand more times, through the hands of humble beggars, mighty kings, and savage monsters until, finally it has landed in the possession of Grandma Ezerabet, a simple older human woman, who looks just over sixty who always wears the old battered thimble close to her heart. While she knows nothing of the thimble’s magic or it’s incredible history, Granny Ezerabet is just over 300 years old, and has outlived her children and grand children, for the old thimble of red condrill has absorbed so much magic over the years, any who carries it gains immortality.
Edit: whoops I guess my condrill thimble is last...damn, Still it's a cool story tho'
Offering: The Last Storm (seafaring vessel)
"Hoot, hoot for the Hadozee, a merry life for we! Men's ships their riggings hold us dry, and when we die, and when we die, we ride Last Storm to sea!"
For a race that cannot breathe water and build no ships, the Hadozee love the sea like none other. When their race was young they lived their lives in human boats only to find an afterlife in the leafy planes of their forebears. This unhappy state persisted until the death of Hadozaar, Captain O'Riggings, a mighty Hadozee mage who later became the first Hadozee deity. Having seen the sadness of his people's afterlife, Hadozaar fashioned a makeshift raft out of a forest, binding it together with thunderous spells. The Last Storm balances atop a hurricane, pouring water into the jungles of the Hadozee afterlife and giving the fun-loving monkeypeople the ride their merry lives deserve.
(by the way, Hadozee are awesome flying monkeypeople from 3.5, check'em out if you get the chance, one of my favorite obscure races)
Offering: Joplin's Thane (geological formation)
Offering: Joplin's Thane (geological formation)
"Be not proud, lubbers. Justice'll come fer' ye!"
Joplin's Thane is a small archipelago consisting of 4 major landmasses. It's name is derived from the infamous betrayal of King Lurdo Joplin, self-proclaimed "King of Pirates'. Joplin's Thane, even before it achieved it's current distinction, was popular amongst seafaring ne'er-do-wells due to its bountiful fruits and relative obscurity. Seasoned pirate Lurdo Joplin, tired of the constant bickering amongst pirate groups inhabiting the islands, invaded the chain and proclaimed it his private territory by levying hefty taxes and ludicrous fees on all who chose to drop anchor there. Those who resisted his rule were punished horrifically, which created a schism between Joplin and the pirate community. King Joplin's chief advisor, or "thane" in pirate jargon, saw an opportunity for glory and played off of this schism to rally a massive raid on Joplin's "kingdom". The battle was bloody and short, with Joplin's thane emerging the victor. Swearing vengeance, Joplin killed the duplicitous thane before being brought down by over a hundred pirate crossbowmen. Since that day, eerie happenstances and grisly murders yet unsolved have driven off nearly all inhabitants of the island, pirate or otherwise. It is rumored that the phantasmal shades of King Joplin and his traitorous thane still battle for supremacy over the chain of now cursed islands.
Offering: Whizzlebuss.
Offering: Whizzlebuss.
One of the few times fey and dwarfs sat down and tinkered together the result was the Whizzlebuss. It's sort of a blunderbus but fires almost completly silently since it's powered, not by gunpowder, but by a special mixture of fairy dust. If attacked by whizzlebuss riflemen you only hear the whizzling sound of acorns and other projectiles as they flies around you. With this intricate weaponry the fey could drive goblinkind out of the feywild into our world. This of course made the dwarfs unhappy, regretting that it was with their help goblins came to the World.
Offering: Castlesnout
Offering: Castlesnout
Close cousins to Strandbeasts, Castlesnouts lead very slow-paced lives. While a normal boar might spend hours wallowing in mud, the titanic and nigh-immortal castlesnout spends centuries slowly sinking into loam. Once buried they appear almost as natural rock formations. Damwich Castle was unknowingly built on the nose of a particularly ornery castlesnout, giving the creatures their colloquial name. Castlesnouts wake as slowly as they sink, and there is often time to build a new castle away from the creature before the previous building becomes unusable. Still, the image of a castlesnout rising from beneath a city is a truly awesome sight.
Offering: Simple Shardmind
Offering: Simple Shardmind
Simple Shardminds are congealed remnants of Shardmind detritus, i.e. cast off slivers of crystal or even parts of dead Shardminds. Despite their commonly held name, Simple Shardminds are not unintelligent. Though they lack the psionic abilities of larger Shardminds, Simple Shardminds possess keen intellects and are generally empathetic and good natured. They have been known to utilize pieces and parts of themselves to forge crystalline weapons and jewellry and have a very objective, technical mindset. They are excellent construction planners and blacksmiths. Shardminds view Simple Shardminds as "little siblings" and are generally fond of them. Communities of Shardminds usually have a very large population of Simple Shardminds.
Offering: Scixa
Offering: Scixa
Scixa is the second most populous nation of the Wind Continent, falling only 16,000 citizens behind Vebnerak, Port of the Gods. Scixa lies situated just east of the main landmass of the continent, stretching from the Teram to the foothills of the Ibnuil Mountains and enjoying the temperate climates provided by the Ectless Desert which sucks up much of the westbound heat winds. Scixa's main exports are trained minkrettes, which live plentifully within the Howling Aeries, and minkrette products such as furs, nup-nup seasoning, and lucky minkrette feet. As a nation almost solely dependent on an indigenous race of creatures, it is surprising for foreigners to discover the utter lack of hunting restrictions on the minkrette. However, for anyone who has walked or flown through the Howling Aeries, one might believe the minkrette population to be untouched or perhaps preparing for a mass invasion.
By a strong majority, the population of Scixa is kenku followed sparingly by a handful of races intrepid or desensitized enough to live among them, including wilden, minotaur, and doppelgangers. Beyond its trade industry and odd demographic, Scixa is primarily known across the world as the home of the Zephyr Sliver, a massive, pine-colored, crystalline fragment thought to be part of something much greater and more powerful.
Offering: Nogone's Five Missives
Offering: Nogone's Five Missives
Nogone was a powerful and wise Troll Matriarch from the Badsaw Tribe in the Eastlands. She was known as Nogone after an incident in her child when a human raiding party burnt her town to a cinder. The great warriors were gone, the buildings were gone, her family was gone, but against all reason, not her, she was Nogone from them on.
Nogone's great age has left her slow moving and healing like a human adult, but with age comes wisdom and in the night she was visited by a vision for the future, one where the Trolls of the Eastlands are free to live on the land the way they always have. To keep the humans at bay she has spent the last ten years writing and translating her Five Missives to the Human settlement into common and they are as follows:
The land of the humans shall end at the great river, beyond that the land belongs to the trolls.
No troll shall walk on human land, neither shall a human walk on troll land.
No human settlement shall harbor weapons meant specifically kill trolls and no troll shall feast on human flesh.
As a sign of truce, the child of the human leader shall be raised among trolls and the child of the troll chieftan shall be raised among humans.
These children will act as arbiters between the Trolls and the Humans in the case of any conflict and their authority shall be absolute, yet equal.
Offering: The Spoon of Great Gales
Offering: The Spoon of Great Gales
One of the Five Legendary Cutleries of the Dim Sum Samurai, The Spoon of Great Gales is as solid and yet subtle as its first Master, the legendary Otoh Soup-Drinker. Spoon Style practicioners are known for their wild, scooping movements, catching opponents off guard when they dart in for quick dips. The Spoon of Great Gales is a perfect weapon for such martial artists, its edge heavy, deceptively sharp, and powerfully streamlined. Legends say Otoh could wield the weapon with such speed and grace that tropical storms would spiral from his arms. The item itself has no power over winds, though its enchantments do enhance its balance and sturdiness, as well as magically generating a delicious mixture of spices to enhance any soup that the Spoon is used to eat.
Offering: Hornswoggler (spell)
Offering: Hornswoggler (spell)
Magic has always been an institution of prestige, of honor, and of courtesy... for the magely types, that is. For everyone else savvy enough to know their way around davenports and vellum, magic is always the right tool for the job. The most commonly used among these serendipitous utilities is the Hornswoggler spell. The vast majority of rogues with an arcane bent--if not every single one--knows this wonderfully charming spell. Think lending 500 gold pieces to the hooded figure to mount the resuce of Princess Buttercup from the Fire Swamp is a good idea? Presto--you do now! Having second thoughts about investing in the construction of a whirlygig bridge from the Wind Continent to Taldonia? Zap--not anymore!
What once was unbelievable and fanciful is now probable and/or tragic. The downside is finding a copy of the spell for a resonable price...
Offering: the Macabre Cavort (codex)
The Codex of the Macabre Cavort was first created and widely disseminated by the Archlich Veridian almost a millenia ago. The codex seemingly destroyed undead and was very widely used by avengers, wizards and clerics who thought it an ingenious and unique tool to fight them. The Codex detailed a ritual that forced the undead to cavort in a dance that was said to be quite a thriller to watch and at it's conclusion the undead would fall to the ground and disappear into the earth. However, the avenger Belanna near the end of her famed career, discovered the true purpose hidden within the Codex. Yes, it did indeed force undead into a macabre cavort, but hidden within the ritual was a portal spell. When the undead fell to the earth they didn't disappear into the earth, but rather into a portal that transported them to a pocket dimension of Veridians making. There he had all the time and privacy he needed to subvert them to his own purpose and plans. Belanna devoted the rest of her career to destroying the Archlich and charged her followers with destroying the codex's in existence. Nowadays when the Macabre Cavort is found, it is in the form of a ritual scroll hidden in an early level of a dungeons where it's been seeded to allow a lich to gain his undead followers from the ignorance of young adventurers.
Offering : detritus of hope
I'm loving the Thriller reference. Well done.
Offering : detritus of hope
Gently and slowly rolling in the windswept altitudes of Emeria, the floating Detritus of Hope are a landmark (or skymark...) of mind-boggling origin.
It is said that they were once a cloud castle of incredible beauty and home to an angelic ruler, and that by virtue of this origin they now have such an awe-inspiring appearance despite being little more than big chunks of granitic rock.
Truth is, there was really an angelic being, called Em, but there was no castle.
Em was the first angel (of a now forgotten god) to make contact with the primal spirits of the world, when the primordials were on the verge of taking over and destroying the natural world. It agreed to incarnate into a mortal being, giving up its angelic nature, but being the first to try such a transfiguration, and being an angel of non-humanoid form and gargantuan proportions, Em incarnated into a strange amalgam of spirit-infused rock-like material that was completely impervious to gravity.
In this form it fighted with the most dangerous primordial that a non godly being had ever fought. the battle was riddled with a mighty clangour similar to that of rock chipped by metal while the two entities wrestled in the sky, and Em in its new form was loosing the battle, but with each strike of the engine of destruction that the primordial was, a glowing and fine stony powder rained softly from Em's rocky body onto those few scared mortals that were spectators of that furious event.
Soon after, they were blessed with pure, driving hope, as that which was probably the essence of Em or its godly patron. Those first heroes among the mortals that were imbued with that primeval hope, arose from their impotency and charged the primordial, riding majestic winged beasts, finally destroying the furious world-eater, but Em's body was sacrificed, reduced to just small pieces without a true form.
As stipulated by the pact with primal spirits though, the angel's soul endured in the world and in its body, even if fragmented as the detritus of it, and even if diluted and faded, the essence of the divine hope of Em never abandoned its ruined mineral detritus, that was thus always known as Detritus of Hope, because it never ceased to grant a bit of its heartening spirit to the people living on the earth below, which in fact nurtured a great number of heroic adventurers during history.
[Em, Emeria and the idea of floating motes of rock are all taken from Zendikar, but the story is mine
You can take a look at the marvellous world of Zendikar clicking on the link in my sig!]Offering: Kutulkyria Device (arcane engine thing)
Offering: Kutulkyria Device (arcane engine thing)
"So what's so interesting about this Curdle...cuttle..."
"Kutulkyria Device? Well, for one, it almost completely revolutionizes our understanding of the scope of the Tippeian Empire. We thought that Tippy ruled over what essentially amounted to a large, agrarian kobold tribe, otherwise similar to kobold organizations of the modern day. What we found at the Kutulkyria site, though..."
"It's a trap of some kind?"
"Yes, but astonishingly unlike any that anyone in our age has designed...it's certainly beyond the ken of today's kobolds, at least. Kobolds are excellent trapsmiths, and their traps can maim, kill, inconvenience...this trap, though...it makes food. When you walk into it, food appears in front of you."
"And the food is poisoned?"
"No, no, it's perfectly healthy food! The village ruins we found are designed so that this thing is almost at the focal point...like it was designed to be walked into by kobold children, farmers on their way to work...well, if there were any farmers at all. We think these kobolds might, by creative use of a trap, have solved hunger completely! Perhaps those mysterious kobold hieroglyphs that speak of a god beginning with P have some truth..."
Offering: Numinous Whetstone
Offering: Numinous Whetstone
At first glance, a numinous whetstone appears to be like every other sharpening stone; it tables water, it is a dark steel gray, and its heft feels common enough. Yet beneath its unassuming facade lies two potent and unnatural properties.
Each stroke of a metal blade or tool along its surface fills the item with some spectral or perhaps divine essence. The metal begins to blur, whisps of an offwhite blue trickle from its edges like heavy steam, and slowly the material becomes translucent. Completely phased, the metal object will pass through any inorganic material of the natural world.
The second property is far less known. Vecna, the god of secrets, is inextricably linked to each and every whetstone. The wielder of any tool or arm sharpened upon one of the many numinous whetstones scattered throughout the world by the god of undeath's cultists is slowly and noninvasively sapped of all of their memories, all of their secrets. The effect for the wielder appears to be greater focus as their mind begins to clear.
Offering: primal obsidian
Offering : Tiny teeth
Offering : Tiny teeth
The unflattering nickname given to kobold followers of Gruumsh, the name Tiny Teeth is said to be first used by a dragonborn warrior by the name of Krell Flontaine, member of a group of adventurers, as a quote from one of his first adventures. When they were told that the small hamlet of Corkshen was being attacked by kobolds they expected the trap-using variety, so they were more than surprised when a bunch of kobolds started charging with hand axes. After the initial shock, the adventures quickly took care of them with Krell saying between chuckles, "This is adorable! It's like a baby trying to eat a walnut! It's got tiny teeth!" As Krell and his comrades gained notoriety, the word started to be used often to describe these certain kobolds, much to their humiliation. Eventually the Gruumsh kobolds decided to use the name for their elite, better to strike fear into the hearts. So far it hasn't really worked.
Offering: Luminous Engineer
Offering: Luminous Engineer
Of the many arks which set sail from Hestavar into the misty gray body of the Astral Sea, none are more finely tuned than those repaired, designed, or built by Pelor's own personal artisans, the Luminous Engineers. Known for their precision work in highly responsive steering mechanisms and their meticulous layering of ray-born mithril on the hull of astral-faring vessels, the Luminous Engineers have built quite the reputation for themselves spanning several planes. Seen by many to be the acme of shipwrighting, a vessel constructed by the Sun God's core of carpenters, architects, and smiths fetches an ungodly price many times that of similar skiffs. Intellectually brilliant inventors and designers in life, Luminous Engineers enjoy a luxurious existence as Pelor's exalted in the hereafter--their every need seen to, the finest materials and tools provided to them.
Offering: draconic corruption (ritual)
Close to the end of the war between Arkhosia and Bael Turath, when it was clear that the war was taking far to heavy a toll on it's warriors, the Arch Mage Teitsalin devised a ritual to make Arkhosian warriors stronger, fiercer and less vulnerable to the fire attacks of their tiefling adversaries. The ritual worked in part by tapping into the rage that dragonborn warriors experience when they are bloodied. The effect on it's subject however goes so far beyond that natural reaction as to make dragonborn warriors under its influence unstoppable juggernauts of destruction. Once subjected to the ritual the dragonborn, (and it should be noted that the ritual has no effect on non-draconic species), become killing machines. They can not be stopped by anything short of death. Whole platoons of dragonborn warriors were lost to Arkhosia this way because when the warriors finished killing every enemy in sight they turned on each other and any other being nearby. Teitsalin had not forseen the intensity of the ritual and had assumed that the battle rage would be under the control of its subject, he didn't devise a counter-spell, or if he did it's been lost or destroyed. Now the ritual is sometimes used to force dragonborn to fight in arena deathmatches. When it is used it is the death warrant of the subject, for if the warrior survives all the matches they must be put to death afterwards, nothing else stops the killing rage.
Offering : Shifter Shimmy
Offering : Shifter Shimmy
In the metropolitan hamlet of Kaisdale, fresh new faces arrive from around the country, nay, around the world, to join the Company of Kaisdale and become full-fledged bards. Schooling the public in vocals, instruments, dance, and other performing arts, the CoK certainly delivers the most comprehensive lessons a would-be minstrel could ask for. However, the Company doesn't accept just anyone off the street. As part of the first few introductory classes, a complex softshoe performance known as the Shifter Shimmy is administered to hopeful candidates. After only a few days practice, the student-to-be must perform the entire routine flawlessly else be rejected for admission to the CoK. Originally titled the Weed--for its ability to weed out the less desirables--the Shifter Shimmy gained its new moniker when it became evident those best suited for the dance are those of a bestial nature. To this day, 100% of shifters--despite the many diverse heritages of the race--dance their way into the Company.
Offering: the XIVth Fosch Council of Regents
Offering: the XIVth Fosch Council of Regents
Fosch, a parliamentary ran country is currently Celebrating the XIVth Council of Regents; commiserating the first cycle of regents. The karn of First Regent Elerath will be awakened on the next fort after an appropriate body is found for him. Unlike the previous councils this body is not to be pulled from those convicted of crimes punished by death. Instead they are to be chosen from an elite group of adventurers, yet to be named, The host will be the first dual-inhabitation in council history.
Offering: Thistle snake
The snake twines its thin body, almost four feet in length around the stem, holding the upper third stiff and straight, mimicing one of the icy blue flowers. Just below its head, vestigial limbs wave, webbed to seem like leaves. The scales covering its head are sharply pointed and like its teeth but unlike the thistles, highly venomous. This mimic snake is a great danger to foragers in the highlands, each plant must be carefully shaken with a long pole to be sure no Thistle Snakes are present.
Offering: Binding Silent Sacrifice (ritual)
Offering: Binding Silent Sacrifice (ritual)
A rash of disturbing murders has surfaced in Harkenwold: the bodies of young men and women have been found in conspicuous places, wrapped in strips of white cloth and bound by red chain. Their eyes have been pierced by long, thin needles; their lower jaws, removed. By the amount of blood present at each of these grisly scenes, it is evident the victims were slain on site. The town guard is dumbfounded by the utter lack of witnesses for such heavily-populated public places; one such murder even apparently occurring in the street directly in front of the constabulary. Some of the blood of the victims has been used to draw archaic symbols in the earth around the bodies. The local clergy and sages have been unable to deduce their exact function or origin.
However, Valthrun the Prescient of Winterhaven was quoted in saying the acts are "reminiscent of cultist activity near Gardmore Abbey. Though the symbols drawn in the victims' blood differ quite substantially, the white cloth and red chain bindings are a dead giveaway. ... When the Zehir-worshipping culprits were captured, they confessed to the use of what they called the Binding Silent Sacrifice before they were summarily hanged."
Offering: alluvium of animus
Offering: alluvium of animus
The Alluvium of Animus is a coastal region full of strangly luminescent soil. The nearby town of Sodeko has many myths, ledgends, and warnings to their offspring regarding the lighted sand and gravel. The tale that is most closely tied to the ancient history regards the costal region as being the falling place of the famed Champion of Melora from the Battle Of Chyngrin. This Champion fought hard for the goddess Melora and was obliterated by 10,000 goliaths. The love of Melora on her favored Champion allowed for the usual passage through Shadowfell and into the Astral Sea to be bypassed and she was allowed to rest on that beach for all eterinty. Ever since, the Alluvium of Animus has proven to be a pilgramidge spot for followers of Melora who feel closer to the goddess when basking in the green light.
Offering: Senseabelly (creature)
Offering: Senseabelly (creature)
Deep in the oceans where light never reaches, lurks an enormous abomination lying motionlessly. Its elongated, opalescent body stretches for an entire league along the frigid, murky depths. Hundreds of years of sediment and debris from wrecked seafaring vessels have settled on its back, burying it beneath dozens of feet of jetsam and load. But it is not dead. It slumbers. And soon it will rise from the black waters once again as it had two thousand years ago to wreak havoc upon the populace of the world.
Capable of swimming and flying at great speeds, this massive predator devours any and all life which crosses its path. The many hundred tentacles dangling from its underside snare prey and drain their life essences leaving behind a withered and crumbling husk. It's name is feared and whispered at times of great cataclysm, parents lament the fate of naughty children to be its midnight snack, and there are those who cry the time of its return is near. They call it... the senseabelly.
Offering: the Signal Tower of Lyndonshire
Break the bones and light the pyre
Stack the wizards higher and higher
We'll never deny a ready byre
The signal tower of Lydonshire
Alendil sat back and looked at Sokoth and said, "That's the original version of this old children's rhyme. It's often chanted by children around large bonfires with various things substituted for the word wizards nowadays. But back in the Time of Fear when wizards and magic had a tyranical choke hold on the former land of Nibenaa, the lighting of the signal tower of Lydonshire with a green flame marked the start of the quietest revolt in history. The members of a secret order called the Green Flame had trained assassins infiltrate every wizards home, work and college in order to drug and assassinate every single wizard in the land. Amazingly they were successful. The wizards, secure in their totalitarian rule had few spies in their own land, and Nibenaa knew peace and prosperity for a time under the leaders of the Green Flame. But, the new leaders were themselves ousted when Nibenaa was overrun just a generation later by the Steppe Hordes. Their sorcerers had only ever been opposed by Nibenaa's wizards, without them the people really didn't stand a chance and so were killed or enslaved and force marched back to the Vul Steppes."
Offering : Blue Monday - a rune
Offering : Gossamer Gloomweave
Offering : Blue Monday - a rune
The Dawn War--an ancient and terrible time in the natural world's history--saw the creation of machines of war, beings of pure malice, and the death of many powerful entities. It was during this time, with the help of others, the gods created a powerful tool, remnants of which still exist to this day: script. The first written language, now called runes, was not alphanumeric. Instead, the runes implied complete thoughts and meanings based on context. Many of these runes have been lost to the ages, but several of them remain hidden in the ruins of old, collecting dust, waiting to be rediscovered. A handful of them have suffered prcecisely this fate--rediscovery--much to the consternation of the gods and primordial cultists. The most commonly known of these runes is called Blue Monday, for it is thought by sages and scholars two of its meanings are a color and a cycle of night and day. As to which specific color and celestial occurrence it refers to, time itself obscures the facts. In some circles the same rune is known as Red Eclipse, Green Moonrise, or Purple Dawn.
Offering (please see I_smile_alot's previous post.)
Offering : Gossamer Gloomweave
Gossamer Gloomweave is a special kind of thread made by Golden Dwarves. It involves taking giant spiderwebs adding a special mixture of spit on a full moon and juice from an oversized onion. It was originally invented by Gossamer Gloom the Mad. It makes for very light cloaks and clothing that has magical properties versus poison and depression. The recipie is almost extinct as only a few old Grammers know how to make it nowadays and they keep the secret to it's making very close to themselves.
Offering: Putrid Frogloks
Offering: Putrid Frogloks
Putrid Frogloks are a treat to some and poison to others. A vile cheese originally made by the dwarves of Krimb'la, this dairy product is left to rot for so long that eventually becomes unedible and poisonos to all who do not inherit the dwarves' iron cast stomach. Many practical jokes and initation rites include the consumption of this foul cheese, some resulting in paralyzis, violent vomiting and even death to most non-dwarf races. After the great depression of the Fifth Age, where food had finally become less scarce, the dwarven king Þórarinn banned all production of the cheese. He said "It puts a bad word on our ancestors, and a worse smell in our halls". Those curious, and stupid, enough to seek this banned product can find them on black markets in most major dwarf city, but are rarely warned of the consequences eating it may have.
Offering: The Glistening Grove (temple)
Offering: The Glistening Grove (temple)
Where you take it is up to you.