Tuesday, 17 November 2020

EDIT: FORMAT FIXED PLANESCRAP part 2 VERMIN ROAD

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I'm doing a terrible job of spacing these out and I think my attempt to make an economy have actual numbers to it  was an act of hubris


Vermin Road and The Salt Trade

Vermin Road is the name for the heavily tangled connection of trade routes, shanty towns, scams, and hustles that exist around unsanctioned Salt acquiring. It is no more one place or thing than a black market, the Silk Road, the world of martial arts, or The Underground is.

It is also used to refer collectively to the areas populated by Mortals, as Mortals also need Salt.As without the addition of Salt, the food grown in the Outer Realms will cause mutations, ailments, transformations, disorders, and potentially death.


The Salt of the Vermin Road Salt is obtained through furtive mining operations, robbery, graft, ghost hunting, adoption of wayward souls, and misplaced or intercepted pantheon transactions. These can be reliable, safe and easy. Pick one.

Unsurprisingly, Salt tastes salty. However, it’s a saltiness distinctive from regular salt that is quickly learned with a weeks worth of meals here. If food tastes like someone cried in it or like you licked it off someone’s body, it’s real Salt. Most get used to it, but still, Unsalted food from a Mortal World is worth a lot here. The chance to eat a risk-free orange that doesn’t hint of armpit is an understandable desire.


Some gourmets claim to be able to recognize the Realm of origin of the Salt, talking up how “this one tastes like a lovers tears and this like the blood rising in the throat of one betrayed.”

The descriptions just get more purple from there, outdoing even professional wine-tasters, who whose audiences are far less likely to condemn them into eternal torture.



A soul has 1 kilo of Salt on it for every hitpoint the person had while alive and at full health. If they had less than 20 hit points but were between the ages of 16 and 26, or had a particular passionate or far reaching life they have a minimum of 20 instead.


Salt can be dissolved in blood,salvia, or any other body fluid.

Urine usually being available in quantity and surplus.

Once dissolved it can alchemically processed to crystalize.

When crystallized it forms the currency of Vermin Road, “Sekhem”, (sometimes more formally spelt sḫm)



The process is not especially complicated nor requiring that specialized equipment, comparative to distilling alcohol.

An entire cottage industry exists to process the Salt, with every chemist having their own recipes, tools, techniques, and obstafications.

(The term chemist existing here as a disparaging contraction of alchemist)

The political difficulties involved in being in a fixed location and responsible for vast quantities of Salt and the questions it can provoke from more formal parties have thus far prevented any standardisation of this process.



The standard Sekem is a cubic or bi-cubic crystal of dark red tones.

It’s about a centimeter across and weighs about 10 grams

More skilled chemists can layer and “compact” the crystallization, forming a larger crystal (2 cm across) with intricate smaller cubic patterns form on it.



It weighs 50 grams, and is worth 20 Sekems.

Next domination is g, 3 centimetre across and appearing as a “hopper” type crystal, with tight rectilinear spirals. It weighs a 250 grams and is worth 500 Sekem.



Sekem can be broken down into Salt again, a process easier than making, but still requiring a care, a fair amount of boiling, and a lot of force.

It’s best left in the hands of Chemist, but its like repairing a car, there’s always someone around who reckons they can do it themselves.


A fourth form of Sekem exists, often due to the results of these forementioned optimists or a bad effort by a chemist. It’s called a Chip, which it appears to be and actually is.

There is little consensus about how much a chip has to weigh, and ranges from half a gram to 3 grams, depending on its shape and perceived sturdiness (If a chip has formed due to a substandard sekem creation, it could potential crumble further into uselessness)

Chips are used for petty transactions, (where more convenient than barter or trade) and 10 are equivalent to a Sekem.


About 10 Sekem (explained below) of Salt is needed each week to render ones diet safe. For each Sekem under this amount, multiple by 10 and that’s the chance something goes wrong. Or if you want to check per meal, each single meal has a 1-in-20 chance. For multiple meals in a single day, use the number eaten as the in-20 chance, rather than rolling the 1-in-20 each meal.

Any problems will start to happen in the next hour.


Effects based on plane (or roll as one table if origin of food is unclear. Not all Realms produce food, specifically The Grind, and Babel)


Getting the same result cumulatively 5 times also causes the maximum result for result 1 for that plane. GM is free to explain how effect becomes worse on ones that don’t explicitly mention how the effect intensifies upon repeat results or just take the easy way and keep it the same until the 5th repeat result (as above).


(1-30) Blazing World (fruits, vegetables, wild game)


  1. Aspect of body becomes more like animal. this effect can stack multiple times, with a complete transformation at the 4th occurrence.
  2. Hair, eyes, teeth and nails , or a tint to the skin changes to a bright colour
  3. Claustrophobia, worsen with each result, with a 3rd result being unable to be any building without absolute panic
  4. If this food was cooked, the nutrition from it vanishes by the next day, leaving the consumer twice as hungry. If it was eaten raw, roll again but double the effect
  5. Mild ADHD, difficulty with concentration and impulse control, worsening with each repeat result. A 3rd result means an inability to concentrate in any circumstance and any action the player even mentions hypothetically the character attempts.
  6. It causes discomfort (as a painful nausea) when the character follows instructions, commands or orders. This effect worses each time it is rerolled, with 3rd result meaning they are unable to do little more than retch and crawl.

( 31-50)Flesh Rifts (meat, milk, blood, and harder to define fluids of biological origin)

1.Monstrous form. Skin becomes rougher, teeth sharper, features distort. After 4 repeats personality and abilities identical to lowest level demon or other underworld dweller.

2. Anger, hunger, or lust is felt twice as strong as compared to a normal reaction for this character.

3. Feels pain but has difficulty conceptualizing it as bad. At end of day always 10% below max hitpoints. After 3 repeat result of this, the GM now keeps track of (and conceals from the player) the characters hitpoint total.

4. Smell delicious to predators. After 3 repeat results will attract predators from large distances

5. Random body part starts having its own agency, a 3rd result meaning it leaves

6. Can only get nutrition from meat or blood, and only if the source hasn’t died more than a minute ago.


(51-60)Pinnacle (grains, fruit, wild meats)

1. Any conscience trouble becomes more pressingly felt. No game effects until this result happens a 4th time; In that case immediate suicide or complete devotion to penance. Those unable to feel guilt throw up food and are nauseated for 1d4 days. 4th result will kill in this case.

2. Breaking laws causes migraines

3. Lose flight reflex, if fleeing combat will always lose initiative that round

4. Food not shared doesn’t give nutrition

5. If attack unprovoked, a compulsion to self inflict wounds on self

6. Can be Commanded (as the spell) by lawful authority

(61-70) Protean Ocean (potentially anything, often weird fruit or edible inanimate objects)

1. Random mutation, 4th result causes dissolution (as distingrate)

2. Random other realm effect

3. One random food group stops become nutritious or digestible and replaced with random material

4. Unable to recognise self in mirrors or descriptions. Tends to forget own name

5. Sleeplessness, mania. Can go to sleep without chemical or magic intervention only a 1-2 on a d6. On a 6 mania for the next day, getting an extra action at the start of any combat

6. At the end of any game session replace one item of that character's possession that did not see use with a new random item. Cumulative.


(71-75) Serene Night (oddly translucent fruit, like artisan candy jellyfish)

1. Whenever character is alone and it's quiet, they can hear faint music. Music is pleasant but causes disquietude. 4th repeat of this the character will dissolve, disappearing completely, when next alone.

2. Attacks of hyper empathy. Any fumble result also causes exact emotion state of opponent or random other person.

3. Food turns to sand in stomach

4. Sadness and Joy double in effect

5. Anyone or thing attempt to talk to character forces them to save or do so

6. Compulsion to give away anything someone expresses interest in or asks for. Save or do so.


(76-80) Plains of Revelation (tubers, twisted miserly berries)

1. Random disease or poison effects. 4th result just kills you

2. People tend to take things the consumer says in wrong ways, anything ambiguous or subtle gets interpedly badly

3. Lingering weird chemical or anaerobic smell to body, prolonged contact with them causes rashes.

4. Lethargy, always last in initiative, cumulative -1 to save vs sleep, slow or fatigue effects

5. Crippling self doubt (-1 penalty to saving throws against mind or will type effects, cumulative each time this effect rolled)

6. Can only lie to friends, can only tell truth to enemies


(81-90)Erebus(fungus)

1. Nothing apparent until 4th repeat, where their head is replaced with a random tool. Otherwise fine

2. Fumble also result in deafness for 1d4 rounds

3. Blinded by bright lights or daylight

4. Suffer (psychosomatic) random poison result if eat food prepared by other people. Don’t tell player cause.

5. Paranoia, GM must tell player when they are making random encounter checks, if it results in a encounter, and what the encounter is. GM is under no compulsion to tell the truth with any of this thought.

6. Agoraphobia. A 2nd result makes the character unable to function in open spaces. A 3rd result also gives Vertigo at heights.


(91-100)Heart Of It All (candy, honeys, meats, fungus, cheeses, fruits)

1. If character is attractive they become more attractive, if character is ugly they become more ugly. Personality comes across as the opposite of how they look, effects on charisma therefore neutral. Random choose which if they don’t seem particular either way. At 4th repeat of this everyone who meets character will take any rejection or slight or even disinterest incredibly badly.

2. Character suffers 10% exp penalty in any session where they are not the leader of the party. Increase by 5% each time rolled (to a maximum of 30%)

3. Unable to get nutrition from food given freely, must buy (at market prices) or extort

4. Nauseated if they concede or lose an argument

5. 10% exp penalty in a session that they earn less than the previous session. Increase by 5% each time rolled (to a maximum of 30%)

6. Nauseated if freely give or loan their possessions. Must charge market prices or equivalent service.


It is routine in Vermin Road to ask or advertise if food is Unsalted or Salted. It should be immediately obvious to any newcomer that there is some significance about this, and most people will explain it to a newcomer, possibly as part of selling them counterfeit Salt. Salted food is at least 5 times the price and it’s not always certain that it will have been adequately Salted.


The less appealing foods can be sold falsely as coming from another realm or even disguised. Berries and Fruit from the Plains of Revelation are often sold in preseverses to disguise their bitterness and general wretched appearance.



All negative effects (that don’t result in death) from eating Unsalted Food can be cured with Remove Curse or relevant curative magic. However it doesn’t reset the amount a result has been rolled before, so if you’ve got 4 results of one result previously, it still counts as 5 on a 5th result even if the effects of the last 4 have been removed.


Beasts and the need for Salt


There are numerous beasts naturalized in Realms that do not seem to need Salt. Yet the majority of useful domestic animals and 99% of new imports under-go unwanted changes with a diet lacking Salt.

Beasts need less Salt than Mortals though, and need about a single Sekems worth of Salt each Fugue . Unfortunately if they don’t have Salt , the changes are far quicker and surer.

The first time a Beast under goes a change , use the results from the Realm in which most of foods was recently from. If unclear , roll randomly using the above table for Mortals.

The second time it undergoes a change ,just advance it to the second result , and ignore the origin of the food. It’s at that point it becomes nigh unmanageable


Erebus:

1st stage adaptations : , weird vocalisations, sleepiness, narcolepsy, agoraphobic.

2nd stage adaptations If kept captive makes uncanny vocalizations that drive people insane. Loses all pignment , loses sight, another sense becomes prenaturally adept to compensate.


Blazing World:

1st stage adaptations colour changes, starts becoming a different evolutionary path, increasingly wild

2nd stage adaptations develops intelligence, extreme wanderlust and eerie ability to escape confinement


Serene Night:

1st stage adaptations :Starts acting distant, weird diluted pupils, odd tints of colour appear in fur/hide/scales or skin.

2nd stage adaptations then one day just disappears , but shows up a couple of times in dreams


Pinnacle Of Virtue:

1st stage adaptations Starts acting up in response to immorality ,

2nd stage adaptations attacks anyone stealing, bullying, deceiving others, acting selfish . Becomes more physically formidable


Protean Ocean:

1st stage adaptations Starts changing to random other kingdom or domain , mutates widely

2nd stage adaptations develops multiple cancers that turn into new animals


Flesh Rifts:

1st stage adaptations: Becomes predator, enhanced natural weapons ,aggressive.

2nd stage adaptations , uncontrollable, attacks self when nothing else around to destroy or eat


Plains Of Revelation :

1st stage adaptations Fatigued , despondent

2nd stage adaptations stops eating , pines away and dies


Heart of it all:

1st stage adaptations Starts looking more like owner ,

2nd stage adaptations eventually turning into twisted double of owner. If no owner , fixates on another animal or being around it , mimics them and starts trying to become them


Common Domestic Animals to The Realms




Riding Flea:

A Flea the size of a Vespa scooter. Regular fleas can jump 200 their body length. Despite this shouldn’t scale up with the flea , it has and does. This jumping ability means the Riding Flea is a good choice for navigating voids with floating islands or difficult terrain. Though being thrown from the saddle mid jump is likely to be fatal.



Moon-calf:

Moon-calfs are a little bit goat a little bit cow a little bit llama , a little of everything . A reverse Chimera in a way , instead of being distinct parts of large impressive animals, they are a generally indistinct mess of countless domesticated quadrupeds. Though sometimes one or two features stick out , like a llama neck or a goat's spiral horns.

They are the results of people bringing domestic animals into the Realms , the Realms influence , then the subsequent breeding on them.



Moon-calf, Heffalump :

The Heffalumps are a type of Moon-calf , but one that has various herbivore megafauna in its ancestry , mainly shaggy mammoth and mastodons. Their great size makes them attractive as a physical deterrence to banditry , however their temperaments tend towards placid . To give them an offensive capacity, spiked and bladed barding is attached , the Heffalumps vision is impaired and its encouraged to walk steadily forward.


Moon-calf, Blunder:

The Blunder is the goat sized Moon-calf, and has a lot of personality from the same animal plus a willful streak like a donkey.



Dream Horse:

The theory of the cultural archetypes of animals shaping their forms on the Realms seems both proven and disproven by the DreamHorse. While they seem to be an animal demonstrative of independence , freedom, the joy of movement, their appearance however seems to have greatly strayed from the iconic horse shape.

They are dark colours with flowing manes, long necks, and multiple star like eyes.



Slog:

The Slog or Toad-dog, is all the brutish violent natures of a dog rolled up in a ugly squat little ball. This has the additional benefit of making them more fit to send off in your own defense, as you don’t feel bad if they are destroyed in your defense.


Grimalkin

A cat of monochromatic colouration, appearing black , white or grey as best would hide in the environment. They have multiple sets of eyes which they open seemingly to indicate mood. They can also have no eyes showing and move around freely.

They are known as guiding cats because they will cross people's paths and then guide them . Except half of Grimalkin seem to be malign and will guide people to their doom and the other half benign and guiding them to a positive end.



Riding Dog:
Less dramatic than the slog or the Grimalkin , a Riding dog is simply a very large dog, that the Dog Knights have as their life long partner and companion.

Other Currencies


As openly trading in Sekem means openly trading in the erosion of any Realm given Authority, population centres that prefer the quiet life prefer to use their own currencies. However Sekem is widely accepted there anyway, as it, theoretically, be returned to a Realm for amnesty.
3 Hares

Has “Ror” (Receipt of Rent) which is based off a weeks rent of a square metre. These are officially signed and notified documents, but due to their difficulty keeping track of official signatures and the comparative perishability of the document they are not popular anywhere else.

10 Ror = 1 Sekem.

Bedlam and Dead Flags (Erebus and Blazing World)

both use the Sekem, as this far is from the most antagonistic either get towards external authorities

Bedlam :

has the Chemist guild, the largest and most stable concentration of Chemists anywhere. It would be more politically significant if it wasn’t in Bedlam. Because of being in Bedlam means that “stable” only refers to that its a continuing population of Chemists , and it’s a population that’s unpredictable, haphazard, paranoid, and prone to delusions, so not stable in any other use of the word.


Detropolis (Protean Ocean):

Natives most use barter but there’s sizeable population of others that the use of the Sekem is ubiquitous

.
Yearnings (Plains of Revelation):

Surprisingly considering the abject nihilism of this place, spending or offering Sekem is a crime. Yearnings has its own currency, the Dolor. Money changers are easily found at the gates. Helpfully the conversion rate is 1 for 1 and they don’t charge for this service. The Sekem they give back isn’t the same Sekem obviously and Salt made from that Sekem is always...odd.

It’s widely considered that something very bad will happen as eventual result of this exchange but no-one feels they should inconvenience themselves to not make use of the service anyway.

The Dolor can be used anywhere else in Plains of Revelation, if you find anyone inclined to be mercantile. It can be accepted elsewhere, but never happily.
 

It’s like giving someone a note that’s been ripped up and taped back together and you just got it out of your shoe in front of them.


Heart Of It All

If any place was going to have its own currency its this place. The currency is based off a unit of raw suffering (The Scruble) and has an exchange rate that usually sits at 5 Scrubles to one Sekem.



Specific trade routes and likely trading vessel:

Pinnacle to Blazing World


Dreamhorse (single rider, small cargo)

Defense : Speed of Dream Horse and its ability to run across dangerous stretches of terrain

Most Likely Carrying :

P to Bw: Potent Medicine

Bw to P Rare Plants (still potted in soil)

(or any type A)

WindWagon ( 1 to 4 people , medium cargo)

A small boat on sleds or wheels

Defense : a tame wind to whip up a small sandstorm, swivel mounted arbalest , if additional passengers they will throw bola

Most Likely Carrying:

P To Bw : Metal Tool heads or weapons

Bw To P: Fish

(or any B or C)


Land Schooner (6 to 11 people ,large cargo)

Like the Wind Wagon but with 2 masts and a crew of 5

Defense :2 Swivel mounted LoomBows, tame wind

Most Likely Carrying:

Pto Bw:Ceramics, Tools, Kitchen items

Bw to P : woods ,general purpose + specialized

( D or C)







Cloud-Leviathan

(very large)

(a flying whale thing)

Defense : Rockets, loom-bow with net-bolts, archers

Most Likely Carrying

P To Bw: Cloth

Bw To P: Wondergoo

Or type D


Protean Ocean to Erebus

Riding Flea (single rider)

Defenses: Maddening Horn (horn with the winds from Erebus trapped in it, 1d12 uses, causes confusion on a failed save as spell to any being smarter than animal 20 metres when used (

Most Likely Carrying

Se to Sol: Crystalized luck

Sol to Se : Captured Wind

(type A)


Giant Bat

Defenses: Night Air (darkness in a sack basically) , crossbow with starchild bolt/ axiom tipped

Se To So: paradoxical materials

So to Se: Gemstones



BricaBrac manned flying contraption 

 
Defenses:Throwing machine (throws miscellaneous entangling debris)

Se To So:

Animals fused with tools

So to Se:

Fungus, tamed winds


Blimp

Defenses:Fungal Pidgeons, Loom-bow , various bolts

Most Likely Carrying

Se to So:

Fruit

So to Se:

Coal

(type b , type D)


Pinnacle to Heart of it All


( Rise and Fall of steel and wax. Taking the train is taxed, going up or down more profits but modrons hostile!)

On the rail

Small

Cart pulled by Blunders

Most likely carrying C

Main defense : slogs

Medium

Wagon pulled by Moon Calf

Main Defense:2d4 mercenaries

Most likely got C


Howdah on Heffalump

Main Defense: loom-bow, archers

Most likely got


Avoiding the Tax:

Giant Bat

Small

Main Defense:

crossbow , Poison axiom tipped bolts

Most likely got A



Grand SkinBird (aka Quezalcoatulus)


Main Defense:

Big ass beak ,loom-bow posion axiom tipped boltsMost likely got

B plus A



6 wing Dhow


(a small ship with 3 pairs of wings animated either with necromancy or the weird energies of the Protean Ocean)

Loom bow on bottom, 4 rocket lances

C plus A

Flesh Rifts to Heart of it All

(Misery Mile, the desperate and the weird and the highly armed)

Riding Flea

(small)

Main Defense:1d10 fungal pigeons

Most likely got: FR to HoA : Brain juices

HoA to FR: drugs

(or A)



Lobotomized Brutes

(medium)

Main Defense:Small ballista, 2d6 trained monkeys with hatchets

Most likely go

FR to HoA :Weapons made from bone and ivory , armour made from hair, brains

HoA to FR: Weapons with mechanical components and/or made from bug parts, armour made from chitin, art work

Or C

Hefflalump howdah

(large)

Main Defense: loom-bow, archers

Most likely got: FR to HoA : Cured meats , sausage , salami. (meat possibly from anything)

HoA To FR : Honey, candied fruit, chocolates

Or B

Arm wagon/train:

(very large)

Series of wagons with necromantical animated arms underneath instead of wheels

Loom-bow on top, halberdiers stationed in wagons

Most likely got: from Flesh Rifts : Weapons of bone, ivory , tooth

From Heart of it all: Weapons of steel, chitin

(or D and C)


Glossary:


Bricabrac: a sentient creatures of fused previously inanimate objects. See Shaun Tan's " The Lost Thing". From the Protean Ocean

Loom Bow : an “inswinging” ballista.

Poison Axiom: a rotten piece of maths, especially toxic to creatures of law or chaos.

Starchild: similar to magnesium in metal form, a metal that burns bright and hot.

Rocket Lance : a lance with a rocket attached to it. Can used to fire firework type rockets, shoot forth a cone of sparks (by pointing the rocket the other way and removing the blasting cap), or propel oneself through low gravity environments


WHAT THOSE LETTERS MEAN

A=


High Value Low Bulk Cat

(drugs, high quality difficult to make goods)


B =

Time Sensitive ( Food, certain magical components , herbs)


C=

Crafted goods,

medium weight to value ratio raw materials


D =

Bulky raw materials (i.e high weight to value ratio)



Cargo A



  1. Jewellery
  2. Drugs ,recreational
  3. Drugs , Medicinal
  4. Clockwork Folly (Heart of It All)
  5. Quality Ceramics
  6. Precision machine parts
  7. Artwork (small)
  8. Aged wine, artisan spirits
  9. Bonsai animal (Flesh Rifts)
  10. Grail (either given or taken) (Serene Night)
  11. Concentrated Liquid Nature ( Blazing World)
  12. Library Book (Pinnacle)
  13. Thought of Dying God ( Plains Of Relevation)
  14. A Secret , kept in Egg(Erebus)
  15. PoisonAxiom (The Grind)
  16. Perfume
  17. Rare Plant of potent properties (alive)
  18. Panacea (Pinnacle)
  19. Chitin Organ (Heart of It All)
  20. Tame Scent (Blzaing World)



Cargo B( fresh is best)


Food By Area

Blazing World

1-5 Large,sweet, tropical fruit like Mangos and PawPaws, but each unique in flavour and shape

6-10 Protimal meat weird colours, and doughy consistency

11-15 Rainbow Coloured smoked fish

16-20 Tree nuts, (pine nuts, walnuts, bunya bunya & monkey puzzle cones)

21-30 Dried Fruit (luminous and translucent, different flavour every bite

Flesh Rifts

31-35 Fatty milk in dried organ sacks

36-40 Cube of meat, still alive and connected to a heart with tubing

41-45 Oil /Fat of unknown origin, smokey

46-50 Big white glistening grubs, squirming in barrel

Pinnacle

51-55 : Grains (Barley,Rye, Wheat, Amaranth, Quinoa)

56-60: Sausages (goat, mutton & venison)

Protean Ocean

61-65 Looks broken furniture and tools, actually made from candy

66-70 Motile Fruits like banana caterpillars or cucumber snails

Serene Night

71-75 Delicate beautiful fruit, like a lacey lantern, dissolves on the tongue like sherbet

Plains of Revelation

76-77: Wrinkled, shrivelled, mean tubers

78-79 Juniper, Sloe, Medlar and Hawthorn berries. Somehow look resentful.

80 Metre long earthworm, tastes like blue cheese and liver

Erebus

81-85 Dried fungus, like ears made from seaweed

86-90 Mushroom, fresh, peaked caps with the texture of brain

Heart Of It All

91-93 Honey, with a red bloom to it

94-96 Waxed cheeses, subtle spikey flavours

97-98 Truffles

99-100 Preserved and spiced meats ( salami,prosciutto, pancetta)


C crafted goods , middle ratio of value vs bulk



  1. Weapons, simple
  2. Weapons, high quality
  3. Weapons, complicated
  4. Cheap Jewellery and decorative items
  5. Tool, kitchen utensils, simple machine parts
  6. Ceramics
  7. Leatherware ,shoes, saddles,gloves etc
  8. Textiles (common)
  9. Textiles (exquisite )
  10. Wonder/Novelty/Art object
  11. Fused Animals (Protean Ocean)
  12. Captured Winds (Erebus)
  13. Modron weapons (stolen, Babel)
  14. Unique Living Weapons(fleshrifts)
  15. Books (academic, technical
  16. Books (stories, poetry , erotica)
  17. Books (mythology)
  18. Ropes
  19. Animated Furniture (Protean Ocean)
  20. Ammunition



Category D raw materials , High bulk to price



  1. Coal (Erebus)
  2. Naphtha (Flesh Rifts)
  3. Metals (steel, copper , brass, lead)
  4. Metals (gold, silver)
  5. Wood (all purpose) (blazing world)
  6. Wood (specialised property i.e great strength, density , scented , rot resistant etc) (blazing world)
  7. Cereals (Pinnacle)
  8. Fungus (dried, Erebus)
  9. Mooncalves
  10. Flowers (blazing world)
  11. Refined Chemicals (babel, Heart of it all)
  12. Beeswax (heart of it all)
  13. Bone (Flesh Rifts)
  14. Ore, unworked precious stones (Erebus)
  15. Chitin (Heart of it all)
  16. Oils ,fats , acids( Flesh Rifts)
  17. Weeping Obsidian (Flesh Rifts)
  18. Redrum (The grind)
  19. Hair (flesh rifts , Plain of revelation)
  20. Wondergoo( Blazing World)



TRADE HUBS:

Anything listed as an Export can be got there 75% Cheap

Anything listed as an Import will cost 125% more

3 Hares (Pinnacle)

Main Exports :

Metals, Crafted Objects, Weapons & armour, Textiles, Medicine, Glass, Animals

Main Imports:

Wood, Coal, Naphtha, Tar

Dead Flags (Blazing World)

Main Exports :Woods, Herbs, Healing Waters, Impossible Materials, Flowers, Fish

Main Imports:ClockWork, Precision Tool Parts , Glass, Metals

Detropolis (Protean Ocean)


Main Export:

Art, Cultural Artefacts, Fused Animals,

Main Imports:

Dumping ground for anything that’s not selling well plus actual trash. What every it is someone will find a use for it here.

Erebus(Bedlam)


Main Exports:
Coal, Metals, Fungus, Captured Winds, Jewels

Main Imports:

Drugs, Fresh Fruit & Vegetables, Precision Tools and Tool Parts, Textiles, Animals

The Markets (Flesh Rifts)

Main Exports

Naphtha, Acids, Tar, Drugs, Leather, Bone, Bone and hair based weapons & armour, Fats, Meat,

Main Imports:

Metals, Animals, Drugs, Wood and Metal weapons & armour, Alcohol

Yearnings (Erebus)

Main Exports:

Leather, Hair, Bog Wood, Alcoholic Spirits

Main Imports:

Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, Fish, Drugs, Alcohol

Heart Of It All

(2 sectors of its 6 are available for mercantile activity. The Last sector will buy as needed to keep up its production for the other 2 sectors. The sector “ Sun Fall” will have weird arbitrary limitations about what it can buy and sell

Main Exports :

Insect-Craft, Drugs, Art, Honey, Jewellery, Perfume, Misc Luxury Goods, gold , silver ,coal

Main Imports:

Drugs, Metals Especially Iron ,Clock Work, Precision Tool Parts, Naphtha, Medicine, Wood, Chemicals, Fats, Flowers, Novelties,Jewels, Textiles



Babel

(has no private markets, only trades with trade consortium with existing trade agreements

Main Exports:

Precision Machine Parts, Clock Work, Refined Chemicals

Main Imports:

Coal, Naphtha , Acids, Metals





Sunday, 15 November 2020

The Return of Planescrap

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I'm releasing all the material I've done so far in a series of blog posts so I can somewhat of line through this project sooner than never.

It will also help consolidate what's been done and , if I decide to eventually publish it , help advertise the position of Content Editor that the project sorely needs.

 

At the moment I'm stuck in a cycle of fractally expanding what I think I need to do until paralysisation strikes, then coming up with a simpler approach that I work on for awhile before anxiety overwhelms me that I'm doing it wrong. Then I slip back to either paralysisation  or fractal expandition.

 

(yes this is the second attempt at just giving the fucking thing away the first attempt was here )

(a bunch of stuff has been rewritten since then and I'll try and pace it better between blog post than dumping all the text in a single post)

Anyway here's part 1.

OUTER REALMS

The Planes, Meta-realms, Terminus, Afterlife, Netherworlds, . Heavens and Hells, Nirvana's and Purgatories. Where the gods sit on their thrones and lotus flowers; where souls are called to for their rewards or possible transmutation into greater forms.


Arranged in a ring, or torus, each Realm is a psychopompic node pulling souls of a like philosophy towards it. They are physically continuous with each other, one can travel from one to another merely with walking. 


There are currently 8 Realms regarded as the most fundamental. They are orientated on the twin axis of Law/Chaos and Good/Evil. However,  this is not an eternal arrangement. Metaphysics are as stable as continental plates, and as potentially destructive too. The Realms will shift and change in concept, number, and positioning. There are currently 3 “minor” Realms that don’t neatly map to the twin axis, and these are examples of a what a Realm can grow from or decay into.


Getting There

Portals

A portal is suturing of space, belonging to both a mortal world and an Outer-realm at the same time. Most often created by magics but sometimes by dense history, they are unstable and will collapse or go dormant after a certain amount of uses. If they are proving too disruptive to the Realm, they will shut down. It is uncertain if this an act of agency by the Realm itself or an action as mindless and automatic as the eventual cloudburst of rising humidity.


Sacrifice Gates 

These will have a realm that they are linked to and something that must be offered to them to open them.. The most classic is a stone altar where a particularly rare person is sacrificed. The offering of a life or a similar destructive act are not the only possibilities for a Sacrifice.  Having not spoken or touched someone in a year is an example of this.


Moon gates: 

these might be a stone circle, a particular woods, a mistfull cave, etc. The thing in common is that they open at a particular time, often indicated by astrological events. Being on the other side of such a gate and trying to keep track of the time passing in their original world is not an easy task however.


Collative Gate

If the conditions of a Realm are recreated accurately enough elsewhere reality itself can be confused and this makes it possible for people or things to slip between a World and Realm.


Dreams

Certain dream states can allow one to both be asleep in a mortal world and awake in a outer realm. 

How?

  • Esoteric Opiums

  • Sorphic Chanting of Select Mystery Societies

  • The low drones of colossal aerophones  

  • Advanced Hypnotism Techniques

  • Psychic Powers

  • Shamans

  • Extensive Deprivation Ordeals

When the character wakes up any damage they take is transferred to their body, minus their wisdom stat. Instant death effects still kill the character.


Their dreamwalking self only has their clothing and one item significant to them. They can return to the waking world with an additional item, but no more than one. If they see their sleeping body they must make a saving throw or die. If they succeed, they immediately wake up.



DEATH AS A TRANSITION

Most living beings have souls.  A soul is an invisible intangible ëxtra bit that makes a living thing have self awareness,dreams, and complicated additions to emotion.

 If you want some worryingly specific details: it seems to form about the same time as a certain amount of consciousness, self awareness and protean internal language .. So infants and animals may or may not have souls depending on their degree of development.   


Memory and identity imprint on the soul but can by lost by certain (rare) disruptive events.  

If a soul loses all its memory and its on a Realm , it will be absorbed .  If it’s on a World it will form some kind of spectral undead, unless it’s contained by certain magics.

Gods each  can generally do a couple of things with souls (imprison them , assign them , re-assign , re-incarnate them, give them to things that didn’t have them etc) but none of them can do as much they and their followers claim they can.



Entity : There are numerous examples of being that can think and feel and have complicated emotions , but somehow lack a soul. 

 Upon death or destruction, no essential essence of them will remain. 

The only consistent trait among Entities seems to be none of them need sleep or can dream.

As gm the consistent trait is you not having an interest in having an afterlife for them.

If you can , then they are a mortal. So mortals have souls that are contained in body. 

If the body gets broken , i.e death,  Soul will move through the following stages:

  1. The Soul thinks their alive still and can’t form short term memories. Generally this means they wander around repeating furtile actions. They appear as they were before they died. 

  2. The Souls location and perception becomes diffuse, expanding through time and they observe various significant moments of their own life.

  3. The Soul returns to the location of its death, now aware of its nature. If anyone can communicate with now is the best time.

  4. The Soul will notice patches of shadow and light appear stretched. Following them will lead to the Realm most closely matching the Souls attitudes in life.

  5. Once in a Realm a Soul can fly with great speed over the Realm, and will be called to by “Callers”, specific bonded souls or Immortals whose vocation is this. The more the Souls attitudes matches the Realm, the louder and clearer the Callers can be heard.

  6. If makes the decision to Settle, their Salt will be based on the Realm and they will become a bonded soul.

A soul can be assumed to have progressed one stage each game session

Which Realm a Soul goes toward will generally be the one most closely aligning with  their own values.

Mortals that are strongly influenced by a religion, however, will wind up going to the Realm that religion tells them to. Mortals that are uncommitted or apathetic might drift around the mortal’s world or the fringes of the Realms. Pantheons sometimes send their representatives to try and collect these souls for their realm.

Complications:

Pantheons : 

If a Soul’s religion has specific explanations for what will happen (like watching their heart be weighed against a feather with a hungry hippo watching), then that will be happening for the Soul once it arrives at the Realm.


Unconvinced Souls: 

Souls that don’t really fit with any Realm won’t hear any Callers, but could still be tricked by False Callers,  See other Vermin Road Racket pgXX for more information.

Lost Souls:

Souls that spend too long at stages  1 or 3 will have their last emotions around their death subsume them and will become some form of ghost


A SUMMARY OF THE VALUES OF EACH REALM

Pinnacle: Virtue through deed. The strong have a responsibility to protect the weak, and gain glory and merit for doing so. The weak should find a way to have merit and strength  and become able to give and protect others.  

One should find ones talents and exercise them as to be able to contribute , give , and protect.

Personally ability should be exercised so challenges can be bested. No-one is strong enough to stand alone forever, cooperation always allows for greater strength and ability.

Corresponding to “lawful good”

Serene Night:  Corresponding to “Neutral good”

Harm is caused by unacceptance , by wanting instead of becoming. Observation ,adaptation , and inner stillness allow for a harmonious movement through life. One must understand oneself and their environments as to better move in harmonious ways. Harmony begets Harmony.

Blazing World: Hedonism Corresponding to “Chaotic good”

Life without Joy is a meal left to rot. Exalt in ones own path, let oneself be free and let others be free too. 


Babel: Newtonianism Corresponding to Lawful Neutral

"Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell yourself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. For nothing is so productive of elevation of mind as to be able to examine methodically and truly every object that is presented to you in life, and always to look at things so as to see at the same time what kind of universe this is, and what kind of use everything performs in it, and what value everything has with reference to the whole."

Marcus Aurelius

Heart of Iron: Ambition   Corresponding to Lawful Evil, Egosim.

Power is everything, to have power is to see truth, to avoid evils , and gain desires. Every action that does not advance ones power is to be ruled by fear. One also must not be ruled by similar animal emotions. Logic and thought allows greater gains and power than impulse and impatience.

One must great structures with others in order to gain greater opportunities for power. To work without using others is to be an animal.


Plains of Revelation: Nihilism as an amoral asceticism  Corresponding to Neutral Evil Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world and especially human existence of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, or essential value

Everything is Everything . Pleasure leads to Pain , Pain leads to Pleasure. Only a perfect awareness of self can remove oneself from everything else and thus be greater than it. Purge one self of simple animal wants, purge oneself of fearful moral qualms, purge oneself of dignity of hope of  faith. Take action against what has the power to deceive and entrap, burn universities, churchs, homes, and fortresses. Silence deceivers by revealing their lies to them. Show them the emptiness within



Protean Ocean: Possibility Corresponding to Chaotic Neutral Why ask questions when the answers don’t matter? Things happen except when they don’t. Things work until they break. Broken things are new things and new things are just the old things not broken yet. 

Why say things mean things ? Expectation and assumption are just broken clocks. Stop making sense. 


The Flesh Rifts:  Corresponding to Chaotic Evil , Hedonism one's basic motivation is always and only pleasure; all and only that which is one's basic motivation has value for one; therefore all and only what is valuable for one is pleasure. 

If it does not please why do it? With greater capacity to gain pleasure the more pleasure can be had. If a fear or a guilt stands in the way of pleasure, then surely the best path is out grow such quibbles. If you want and try to get it , and fail, find strength in this! Feel your hunger deepen! Find pleasure in the pain of defeat, for it will only strengthen one ! Find pleasure in pain! In Horror! In Self Destruction! To hide fears as calculations, moral qualms as beliefs   is atrophy! only action can teach! Only action can strengthen!


Demi-realms:

Erebus Catharsis  Corresponding to Chaotic Neutral , but more closer to Neutral


Grind: Conflict Corresponding to Lawful Evil But Corresponding closer to Lawful)


These concepts don’t alway translate to the highly contextual philosophy and drives of an individual, so the interface between the realms and actual cultural values is often filled by pantheons, i.e. the gods. The gods serve the realms by facilitating, guiding, accompanying, and testing the journeys of their followers' souls and collecting their Salt.

 

Their teaching serves what “possibility” actually means in guiding one’s day-to-day decisions.

The gods are replaceable to the realms, however. Each pantheon has their stories of beginning with the overthrowing of titans and subjection of chaos, an inversion of the fear each god feels about failing the realm enough to have the realm manifest primordial titans to dismantle and dethrone them.


DEATH AS A TRANSACTION aka What Souls Do For Realmas

Souls bring with them Salt.

Salt is a distillation of passion and experience. Salt is a direct representation of everything they fought, cried, sweat and fucked for. 

When a Soul is accepted by a Realm its Salt is absorbed by the Realm. The Soul then becomes a Bonded Soul

This process could be far more drawn out if the Soul is in the jurisdiction of  a panethelon and the particular rigamarole involved there. Most bonded souls then exist on the Realm in some ideal existence. 

 Tends to look like its favourite version of itself when it was alive. Limited ability to form new memories , no ability to grow in power. Can’t leave the Realm. No easy way to permanently destroy them, Realm will regenerate keep rebuilding them. Under certain circumstances the regeneration will cause loss of memory and therefore identity. If enough of that happens the Realm will absorb them . These circumstances tend be “got self in trouble acting in way uncharacteristic of what drew them to the Realm in the first place  



Some bonded souls, however, desire or feel duty bound to continue to grow and gain power. 


IMMORTALS

Immortal: A bonded soul that has been turned into something else by a Realm and can increase in power. Your demons and other afterlife agents. Can be killed, temporarily. They will regenerate back in the Realm but always lose some amount of memory, identity  and power.  Depending on the enemies in Realm they have , this loss of power and status could set off a chain of assassinations each knocking the Immortal further and further down the food chain, until they can’t remember enough of themselves to not be absorbed by the Realm. 

Immortals can leave the Realm. If killed off Realm they will reform on their Realm after a week if it’s their first time. The 2nd times its a month, the 3rd a year the 4th a century, the 5th an eon.. Immortals killed on their Realm will they will lose a “rank” i.e become a the next weaker monster of that type. If killed again before they advance themselves, they will lose 2 levels/demotions. A third death without advancement will reduce them to protean mass and they will be absorbed by their Realm

Characters becoming Immortals

High level characters or characters that have gained the attention of powerful beings can be justifiably fast tracked into become an Immortal. 

If you, the g.m want to run this, instead of levels, the character now advances through monster types. So go through various monster manuals, make a sorting list of appropriate other worldly beings. Each monster is a “rank”, and progressing up a rank is the equivalent of going up 3 levels. If they were above 4th level, advance one rank for every 4 levels they obtained in life. 


Depending on your base system and your love of fuckery some ungainly hybrid of allowing them to keep some class abilities or exchanging out the Immortal Abilities 


Exp can be earned by obtaining Sekem/Salt and consuming it, basically like the gold for exp system. Additionally any Immortal embedded in a pantheon can earn exp by doing missions for their gods. 

bonded souls that do this become Immortals, and these are what most demons, angels, and other afterlife classical beings are. The Immortals progression in power will then depend on their access to Salt. If they embedded in a pantheon, this will be steady but still dependent on their favour of their superiors and ability to stand out from their peers.


Immortals not part of pantheon source their own supply of Salt through patrons, mercenaring, exploitation, rackets and tribute. A lot of this Salt comes from off Realm via the Vermin Road and Immortals Salt fueled ambitions are one of the core reasons Vermin Road exists.


It is entirely possibly to be an Immortal getting a regular supply of Salt via your dutiful service to your gods, and also getting a little extra through your own industrianess. No Pantheon openly condones, it and most are quick to punish it, but all are forced to accept that it’s rampant. 


The main reasons Pantheons are opposed to it are:

  • Subverts the role of Gods as the determiners of Salt distribution 

  • It’s seen as Bad that Salt leaves Realms and a Bad that could provoke the Realm into purging itself with Titans and establishing something else that can manage Salt better.

  • Salt is suspected to be able to taint the consumer with its specific origins. Weird personality shifts, falls from grace, unexpected incompetence, etc are often blamed on Vermin Road Salt use

Side Bar:





GODS AND PANTHEONS

For an Immortal god-hood is the potential end goal here, commonly by replacing an existing god, but keeping the name. Most gods known to mortals have actually been replaced numerous times over the aeons, the name and titles remaining more or less unchanged. The inconsistent behaviour of any god as inscribed in the canons of any religion are the results of these. 

As the actual power of the god, consider having it be reasonably higher than the upper tier monsters but not so high that they couldn’t be defeated by a vast plot. 


Gods are replaceable, and most of their actual power is bestowed to them by the Realm. Think of them as Super Kings or something. This book doesn’t have any pantheons covered in any detail, as the real world mythology has massive amounts of material readily available. 

The gods tend be self contained in the realms, like (pearly) gated communities. Few panethelons benefit from their followers knowing about the greater meta-reality of the Realms.


OTHER OCCUPANTS OF THE REALMS

EXILES

Most mortals here come from worlds or timelines that no longer exist. Rendered unlivable due to apocalypse, invasion, or reality shearing incision, their lives are here now. Very few of them entertain the idea of returning, even the ones that remember their worlds are often too bitter or defeated to see any merit in this.


Countless exiles disappear into existing mortal populations that exist as part of a pantheon or a realm. The ones that remain independent (as opposed to overly influenced by the Realm ) are concentrated in two population centres, Dead Flags and 3-Hares.


Dead Flags is found the outskirts of Blazing World and is named for the field of abandoned flags that surrounds it. 3-Hares is on the other side of Serene Night, near Pinnacle. The exiles living in both these places both reject their former cultures but also build from them, having no other anchor for their identity. The most obvious effect of this is a people with a lot traditions and customs that they don’t seem to care about but fiercely cling to. 


Other Exile populations centres are located in Bedlam (in Solitary), Detropolis (Protean Ocean) and the sprawling cityscape in Heart of It All

INCARNATES

Incarnates are aspects of a Realm itself manifested. 


If you’ve ever noticed supernatural agents in the early stages of a religion seem weird and inconsistent that’s because the Realm was manifesting some incarnates to do the yelling and the burning before the pantheon has had chance to mold souls into immortals.


Incarnates can be encountered by delving into some deep Realm stuff; layered strata or ruins indicating destroyed former pantheons, or even alternate Outer Realm configurations. Messing about here tends to trigger the Realms equivalent of an immune system, The Incarnate.


If a Realm needs to purge itself of gods it will manifest Primordial Titans (Referred to as Titans elsewhere in the text). These are God-killing Godzilla type deals. If represented mechanically, it should be at the breaking point of the mechanics. 



Time and Travelling in the Realms

Traveling in the torus is a little different as the physical distances and even the passage of time are not stable, and warp and shift to currents unknowable to most.


The time units used for describing travel time and encounter frequency are the Dérive and the Fugue.


Dérive: Time spent focused on something with incomplete concentration, like a half day trek or the first day on a new job. A mix of stimulus and boredom that makes awareness of time difficult. Roughly corresponds anywhere from an hour to a day. 

Moving through a dense area will take a Dérive. 


If the exact time is needed for purposes of spell durations or meal consummation roll a d12 and assume that many hours. This is more a guideline and if there seems to be any more natural criteria for ruling if a duration has finished, use that (i.e everyone has forgotten about it). 


If the party is separated you can determine different amounts of time for each grouping if that would make things more interesting or significant.

Fugue: time spent in routine, but one with stuttered cycles. Adjusting to night shift, jet-lagged air travel, recovering from bad illness or injury. Could be a day, could be a week, could be a month. Again if you want an exact number, d20 days or d30 if you have one.


Fugues are use for pissing about in safe areas or travelling through environments with scattered points of interest.



Night and day:


There is no central light source like a sun. Light is effectively everywhere , the more open the surrounding area , the more light there is. The more closed off , the darker. Effectively like it was a property of the air like oxygen.


Night is an additional quality which comes in an erratic tide from Serene Night, and pours from there  clockwise around the realms , like a somewhat behaved flood. 

Even if time did not stretch , dawdle and jump in the individual Realms themselves, the Night tide would not provide a regular cycle.


Night is basically reverse light here, however smaller (i.e not sun sized)  light sources are still treated the same

 

 


 

 

Tuesday, 3 November 2020

Velvet Hooks: Crimson Contrarodron and Cryptospider

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 Sorry it's been awhile , a lot of life admin and big slog projects, and nothing to announce yet.


And you only get another one of the Velvet Hooks series! Such a cruel fate dripple! 




Crimson Contrarodon 

A polyheaded reptile beast, crippled and deluded by its diet of poppy fields, that speaks of ancient and potent knowledgeWhat it could be if not addicted , is equally unknowable to the amount of truth in its stories.

1.The original species , capable of chameleon powers . If not as a living beast, as the origin for a magical cloak or armour. (pretty much in the text)

2. Turns out her stories where true! A chunk of her flesh, was taken and resurrected and raised on a diet free of opiates,, this grew a terrible lizard king with vast psychic powers. Potentially the only thing capable of standing up to its powers is the original crimson contraodron , if it can be rehabilitated and motivated.

3.She has eaten some wise figure, and the knowledge of said figure must be deduced before it gets too muddled with its other thoughts. (pretty much in the text)

4. Her memory of the old world allows the location of the bones of great and potent beasts.

5. She can speak the language of the elements when they were people,

6. It's most obviously a location based beast, but potentially other species of psychoactive flower could have an equally entrenched Contrarodron, such as Datura or Morning Glory.


Cryptospider

 A intelligent spider whose webs catch thoughts that would otherwise be lost.


1.One has formed a partnership with non-human thinker, non-human thoughts have potential to reshape the human mind into one capable of new insights or holding alien perspectives.

2.As a hex encounter, the spider approaching the party and trying to convince them of its value.

3. A town or city that use these spiders as a justice system. By feeding the guilty the lingering pains of their victims, they hope to create empathy or at the very least appropriate punishment.

4. Artists murdering each other over thought theft via spider

5.Thought fishers, people who maintain a relationship with a spider, and offer 10 secrets for a gold coin. `    

6. A cocoon is found amongst the protected wealth of someone. Somehow this cocoons contents are known and valuable enough that it has become a unit of trade, worth equal of jewels and rare metals.