Blog Archives
Spring Elves
Spring Elves
Spring elves are between 25 and 110 years old—physically adult, but still in what staid and traditional elven society considers their “Spring Years,” too emotional and impulsive to be allowed to leave the safety and education of the home. They are essentially eternal teenagers, sure of their own intellect and ability, but largely incapable of considering the long-term consequences of their actions—a particularly troubling trait for the long-lived race. Spring elves are always, always supervised and watched over by older, most experienced elves, and kept from adventure, and as much as possible kept from any decision-making. While spring elves are physically and mentally capable of the same kind of training and education as young humans, these decades are a time when they are so wild, so free of consideration, that over the course of eight decades they only manage as much preparation for life as a typical human manages by age 16.
However, in rare circumstances, a spring elf lacks any of the careful parenting and sheltering from life the races has learned from long experience is necessary to prevent the just-post-adolescent elves from setting the world on fire. For example, the Elves of Solstice are an entire race rules by spring elves, given power and authority with no sense of responsibility. And the gods help everyone else.
Spring Elf
Standard Racial Traits
Ability Score Racial Traits: Spring elves are nimble and amazingly likable, and still have their youthful resilience, which is the only reason they aren’t all killed for weeklong benders and experimental magic, but they lack the intellectual focus of properly raised, adult elves. They gain +2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, and –2 Wisdom.
Size: Most spring elves are Medium creatures and thus have a 30 foot base speed and receive no bonuses or penalties due to their size. Some are still size small, and have all the normal bonuses and penalties for that size and a base move of 20 feet.
Type: Elves are Humanoids with the elf subtype.
Languages: Spring elves begin play speaking Common and Elven. Those with high Intelligence scores are drawn to “fun” languages and can choose from the following: Abyssal, Aklo, Cyclops, Dark Folk, Draconic, Gnome, Necril, Protean, and Sylvan. See the Linguistics skill page for more information about these languages.
Keen Senses: Spring elves receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception checks.
Impulsive: Spring elves gain a +2 bonus to Initiative checks, but they cannot delay an action (though they can ready), and take twice as long to take 20 on skill checks (as they are constantly distracted).
Elven Proclivities: Spring elves are immune to magic sleep effects, but take a -2 saving throw penalty against enchantment spells and effects. They gain a +2 bonus to charisma checks, and to the save DCs of their own enchantment spells and effects.
Low-Light Vision: Spring elves can see twice as far as humans in conditions of dim light.
Reckless Abandon: A spring elf can reroll a single attack roll, ability check, skill check, or caster level check (but not concentration check) per encounter, immediately after determining the result of a failed roll. However, if the spring elf does this, the GM earns an impulsive token. The GM can later spend a token to force the spring elf to move to anyplace within the spring elf’s base move that is not obviously hazardous, as the spring elf is overcome by an impulse. This can begin a fight, set off a hidden trap and so on, though the spring elf gains +4 to AC and a +4 to saves against the initial effect of anything set off by this impulsive move.
Want More?
I have a Patreon. It’s how I justify taking the time to write a lot of this material on my blog. I’d love your support.
The Forty Kings of Solstice
The governing of Solstice is a complex affair, involving avatars, councils, guilds, divine proclamations, churches, alliances, gangs, consulates, great houses, merchant princes, crime leagues, and adventuring companies. Much of this is built around the Intercession Compact, the rules the gods and their avatars use to regulate their dealings within the city, and the charters of the two Astrological Guilds who hold considerable power as the only bodies proven to regularly predict with accuracy the planar conjunctions that can empower of destroy the entire city.
This mish-mash of regulations, edicts, recommendations, and raw threats has, over the centuries, formed a fairly stable system of determining who is taxed, who takes out the garbage, who brings in the water, and who gets thrown in jail. The so-called Quilt Law manages to give rules for most situations in part by insisting all the charters, laws, and proclamations in Solstice treat all individuals of the same rank as equals. It doesn’t matter if you are a smoke knight of the dusky dimensions or a knight-champion of the shining crusade – a knight is a knight under the law. And while Quilt Law is complex and imperfect, and the fact that all elves everywhere are at best going through their Spring Years and running amok with no elven adults to reign them in (or even slow them down), has put it under immense strain, it is generalyl considered “functional.” There’s rarely more than one riot per night, a few murders in each borough each week, and never more than a few dozen building on fire at once, so overall most citizens are content.
Of course, that raises the question of who is a citizen. And who is a knight, who a priest, who a lord, who a prince, and so on. More than anywhere in the world, the titles an individual can claim and which titles are equivalent in which languages are crucial to the day-to-day workings of the patchwork legal system. For the basic underpinnings of Quilt Law to function, someone must have final say in who has what title, and what individual words mean.
When the Quilt Law was young, and avatars of gods of language and order were more common, all the existing major political powers of the day agreed a single scholarly chamber of heraldic and linguistic experts would be assembled to make these decisions. More than mere pursuivants or heralds, these were the kings of arms, who could define each title, match it to cultural and legal equivalents, and split the hairs between squires and esquires or draw the lines from merchant princes to trade barons. Forty wise men and women of all ages, genders, and races were drawn together, and given vast autonomy to pick their successors and determine their own guidelines. To ensure no single force would ever attempt to take all the power of Solstice under a single banner, the kings of arms were given a single inviolate decree – no title or rank greater than duke/duchess/prince/princess would ever be acknowledged within Solstice.
Thus it is often said. “There is no King of Solstice, for Solstice has the Forty Kings.”
The Forty Kings have broad rules determining who becomes a citizen of Solstice at birth, who can gain citizenship and how, and who has a title automatically accepted by Quilt Law. In addition to their “rules ordinary,” which can be applied in nearly all cases, the Forty Kings can also grant an ancient title, local appellation, or even nickname the power of legal authority by declaring a “rule extraordinary” which applies in just one case. If Bloodburn Jill is a pirate captain of great renown who has worked diligently to aid and protect Solstice from naval threats, the Forty Kings can declare “Bloodburn” to be the equivalent of being a countess under Quilt Law as a rule extraordinary that applies only to Jill. Or they can decide to make it a rule ordinary, that when Bloodburn Jill gives up her ship, whoever she chooses as her replacement becomes the new Bloodburn.
The Forty Kings also have vast influence over the definition of words for the dozen languages in common use within Solstice (which are the definitions Quilt Law uses when interpreting a contract) and what are acceptable names for newborn citizens (which may not count as citizens if their names aren’t recognized as being names). As scholars and influential people with no one but themselves to answer to they are often catered to by the rich and powerful within the city, causing them to also be fashion setters and trend-makers in matters of clothing, art, music, culture, tradition, festivals, and even what is and isn’t considered socially acceptable public behavior.
The membership of the Forty Kings is made up of forty numbered “chairs,” numbered 1-99, with 17 numbers retired (to never be used again, either out of respect for their past owners, or as a mark of shame), and 42 numbers not yet ever assigned. When a chair becomes open, which happens only at the death of the previous holder, anyone may send an application to take the chair’s position. In addition to letters of recommendation, scholarly works, and a written argument for why the applicant should be accepted, each applicant must also write a eulogy for the fallen King of Arms, the delivery of which is the new King’s first official duty. As a result, some scholars refuse to apply for specific chairs, as their academic feuds with the previous occupant were so great they are unwilling (or unable) to write and read a noble and praising send-off speech.
Once all applications within a designated period have been received, the Dean (the King who has served the longest), Perpetual Secretary (voted on by all Kings when the previous secretary dies), and the Chancellor (determined at random every three months from among the members, and possibly also the Dean or Perpetual Secretary) go over them, and each may veto up to one quarter of the applications. Then 5 randomly selected chairs are given the task of choosing from the remaining applicants using whatever method they all agree upon, but coming to a final agreement within 180 days. If no agreement is reached in 180 days, the front page of the 5 applciations are all soaked with buttermilk and placed equidistant from a hog that has not eaten in 12 hours. The first application touched by the hog wins the seat.
The current Dean is Tranth Urhudoun, a 120-year old uriphant, that has the distinction of also being the oldest member of the Forty Kings, as any humanoid is limited to 110 years as a result of the Fiery Time of the Necrologer. The current Chancellor is Forgrim the Forgemaster, a 110 year old dwarf who is believed to be the oldest humanoid left in the world (by a matter of seconds over the next-oldest, the elven “Spring Queen” Feyla Feylona, ‘she of the golden ink’). The current Dean is Miserrle Fallenbrook, a half-elf of 31 years who is trying to avoid having her studies interrupted by an unwanted position of great power.
Drekar never sleep.
Drekar make war on every city and nation other than Solstice.
This is because drekar never sleep.
Most other races, from elves to humans to dwarves and even ctheph and tyhnt, don’t really understand how crucial that is to understanding how drekar think. The commoner masses, if they are aware of drekars constant consciousness at all, thinks of it as a quirk no different from the fact they have nictitating membrane rather than eyelids. Even scholars among these races tend to focus on their total rejection of deities as anything more than beings of vast power, no different than mages a thousand time greater than any other mages, and ignore the fact they don’t sleep.
This is a mistake. It is the linchpin of drekar psychology.
From the moment light first strikes their eyes after birth, an event known as the Spark, a drekar gains and maintains consciousness. Unless killed, a drekar never loses the ability to perceive its surroundings and remember those perceptions. Unlike races that sleep, pass out drunk, or just get knocked unconscious, a drekar has an unbroken line of consciousness from the moment of the Spark, to the moment of death. A drekar never wonders if it missing time, or wonders why nightmares it had. It knows, in general terms, what has happened through all its (often many) years.
Drekar also do not believe in souls. Since they accept no gods, and see miracles as nothing more than magic, they do not accept that they are more than their meat. While they acknowledge some energy passes on to the outer planes when they die, they see it as no different from the fact a body of soon-rotting flesh is left behind. And neither reincarnation nor resurrection is considered a restoration of the dead. Magic can create a spoon, or a talking spoon, or a construct made of talking spoons that think they are a mighty general. But it is still just magic creating a thinking thing.
To drekar, being resurrected means a perfect copy of the original person has been created with magic. But since the original existence ended, the reincarnated person is not the same person, even if it has all the memories and feelings of the original person. A wish spell can, after all, create a perfect duplicate of someone who thinks it is that person, but since there are then two people it is clearly not the original.
Even if it is the drekar that is resurrected, it knows with total certainty that is a new being, instilled magically with the memories of a dead drekar. It knows this, because there is a break in its consciousness. A time when it was not aware. That means the previous memory-holder’s unbroken stream of consciousness ended, and that means it is dead.
And this is why drekar feel no shame or guilt for warring on and slaughtering every other race. Because to the drekar, anyone they kill was no more than a day or two old, and only a day or two to live.
This view is held because to the drekar any break in the line of consciousness, even just sleep, is death. Anyone they meet is a brand-new creature, no older than when it last awoke, and not even the true owner of its thoughts and memories. It is instead an amalgam, a colony, of thousands of creatures, each of which lived roughly one day, from awakening to sleep. They view any creature that sleeps much as other races view the undead–as thinking, moving, animate beings capable of making plans and feeling emotions, but not as alive in any useful sense of the word. They are, at best, moiety.
And thus in the lands where drekar septs are strong, they wage merciless, ceaseless, brutal wars against the moieties around them. The moiety aren’t just short lived and doomed to quick deaths. They are perversions of true life, and not to be tolerated if any other choice remains, much as many races war on the undead.
And as drekar are tall, strong, resilient, and adept with war magics, they often conquer vast regions, limited only by how far they can march or fly (as drekar never teleport or engage in planar travel other than physical gates).
But they take no offensive action against the city of Solstice, or those within it. The Mage-God claimed that his vast machine recorded every second of every entity that dwelled within it. The drekar believe this was to done to prevent people from being moiety. That his true purpose was to reclaim true life for all races, as only the drekar have it.
Because it was well known, the God-Mage did not sleep…
Spellbane Armor
Spellbane
Aura faint abjuration; CL 3rd; Weight —; Price +18,000 gp
DESCRIPTION
A suit of armor or a shield with this special ability protects against any magaic hp damage. The armor absorbs the first 5 points of magic hp damage per round (not per attack, as with energy resistance) that the wearer would normally take (similar to the resist energy spell).
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, dispel magic; Cost +9,000 gp
…
The improved spellbane (for 10 points of magic damage/round) costs 42,000 gp and the greater version (for 15 points of magic damage/round) costs 66,000 gp.
Races and Ethnicities of Solstice
As the location that saw a mortal challenge the gods with near success, the only place where divine avatars sometimes walk the streets, a place of ancient power and apparently endless wealth, one of the largest cities in the world, and a major stop for both sea and land trade routes, Solstice is a place of interest to nearly every thinking species in the world. Its streets are filled with humans of all shapes and colors, dwarves from a hundred clans, laughing and carousing elves of their Spring Years getting into trouble and partying through the night, gnomes, halflings, orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, an entire grippli slum, drow famously common in the Webwood Distract, and three score other common races from around the world. But there are also races one can encounter with regularity in Solstice which are rare or unknown anywhere else. Races that are truly… alien.
Ctheph – 150-200 lb. civilized octopoids, with 4 stubby flippers along the back of their boneless bodies that allow them to (slowly) move along the ground. Able to survive both in air and water (salt or fresh), excellent spellcasters, cheerfully cannibalistic, strongly dislike fire, and covered in a thin coat of protective slime, ctheph’s native “homewater” is a large section of ocean to the east of Solstice. Feared and reviled by a large percentage of the humanoid and uriphant populations. However, since ctheph can gain racial memories by eating their elders, their culture is also now seen as a potential repository of crucial knowledge, since they lost very little of their total racial memory in the Crimson Conjunction 35 years ago.
Esigil – Sapient living runes, that can move on their own but must bond (normally with a humanoid, sometimes an idiot or mindless humanoid, and rarely with an ape) to communicate (even with each other) and interact with the world. Esigil are believed to be living spell effects created by the God-Mage as part of his plan to assault the heavens, but the race as a whole claims to have no loyalty to his ancient plan, and to have no memory of their origins. Most Esigil (the race name being capitalized any time it is in use, for reasons lost to the halls of eldritch grammar) have a short name the combine with the name of a host, through some place it first and others second. A typical Esigil is a complex rune the size of a Medium humanoids hand, and once they settle on a humanoid they are stationary until that host dies. Esigil have various ethnicities depending on the exact style of rune they represent, from the warlike erthak Esigil to the more ethereal vlenevae, but no one is sure how serious the Esigil are about these distinctions. Similarly, Esigil personalities are, according to rumor, strongly influenced by where they sit on a host body with those on the face seen as polite and thoughtful, those on the arm or front torso militant and short-tempered, and those on the lower back hedonists… but there’s significant debate about whether there is any truth to these generalizations.
Iri – Fist-sized floating snakelike eyeballs with 5-10 stingered tentacles coming off the back (where the optic nerves are for a normal eyeball). Iri are the remnants of an ancient race of larger floating eye-creatures that had some kind of central sphere and numerous eyestalks, but that race was not only destroyed by the God-Mage during one of his early conquests, all knowledge of the race’s name and its true form and powers was permanently erased from existence so that no one, not even the Gods of Knowledge, know more than scant details about them. No one is sure if the God-Mage created iri intentionally, or if their existence is an unintended side-effect of their progenitor race’s destruction.
Iri reproduce by stinging other creatures that have eyes, and sometimes one of the eyes pops out as a new iri, but they try to only do that to those about to die or close dear friends who don’t mind. Often employed as spies, librarians, and accountants, but also make good assassins, and many are druids, witches, and shamans.
Most right-thinking sentient beings revile iri as disgusting, but both elves and Esigil are exceptions to this. Indeed, some groups of elves become very intimate with iri, and see wearing an eyepatch as a small price to giving their friends the power to continue as a species. Everyone else thinks this is stupid.
Tyhnt – There is some debate about whether tyhnt even truly exist, or if they do whether they are a race, a leftover spell effect, or some form of minor conjunction. Tyhnt can only be perceived as a shift in color in an area (normally roughly 5-feet in diameter, though some are larger) which changes to look more bluish. The effect is subtle most of the time, but tyhnt are also psychic (both able to communicate telepathically and generally members of the occult character classes) and when using their powers change the area around them to be more strikingly blue. They can also communicate their presence mind-to-mind, with roughly the same range as the spoken word. Except for the use of psychic powers tyhnt can’t impact the physical world, but they are not immune to attack. Magic affects them normally, and even mundane weapons can harm them, as long as they are wielded by thinking foes. A tyhnt takes no damage from a mindless rockslide, but a sword swung with the intent to cut a tyhnt damages with through the sheer will of the wielder.
Uriphant – mule-to-rhino-sized highly intelligent woolly mammoths, with five opposed nubs on the end of their trunk that allow very agile fine manipulation. Excellent warriors and smiths. The uriphant were once native to the plateau where the Great Gnomon Spire was built, and have the distinction of being the only race to have opposed the God-Mage at every step of his empire. While a few independent groups of uriphants have attempted to begin colonies elsewhere, most of their small population remain in Solstice.
Uriphants are well-regarded by most other races, though they seem to have a special affinity for orcs and dwarves, and often act as a bridge between those two groups. Uriphant society conditions them to be suspicious of Esigil, who they see as children of the God-Mage and thus agents of their displacement from their original home, though that culture of mistrust has been significantly reduced since the Crimson Conjunction 35 years ago.
Dungeon Loot of Solstice
Things recovered in the four major dungeons of Solstice (the Dark Vaults, Grand Arena, Great Gnomon Spire, and Warcogs) are often warped and influenced by the planar energies and dread magics that have gathered and focused within Solstice over the centuries. As a result, they are not exactly like typical magic items. A few are cursed, and many have eldritch aspects and origins. Rather than a +1 keen longsword, you may find a reaping +1 keen longsword of resurrection.
[In a full version of this idea there would be charts for every kind of magic item, and each type would have 30-40 different entries. This is an abbreviated version covering just weapons, and with just a few options for aspects and origins.]
When a magic weapon is recovered as loot in a dungeon, roll on the table below to see how it differs from a typical version of that magic weapon.
Table 1: Magic Weapon Dungeon Loot
01-03. Weapon is cursed
04-05. Weapon is cursed, but only acts cursed if an attack roll made with it is a natural 1. It stops acting cursed after that fight, until another 1 is rolled. Weapon has two aspects and an origin.
06-35. Weapon is normal.
35-60. Weapon has one aspect
61-80. Weapon has one origin
81-89. Weapon has two aspects
90-95. Weapon has one aspect and one origin
96-98. Weapon has two aspects and one origin.
99. Weapon has two aspects, two origins, and a secret cult trying to steal it for use in dread rituals.
100. Weapon is intelligent. It also has aspects or origins, reroll on this table until a result gives at least one of those two properties.
FAQ
How Much Do Unusual Weapon Abilities Cost? I dunno. A little. A lot? Depends on how much you want them. Roleplay it with your GM and see what they say.
I mean, how much does it cost if I am crafting them? That’s easy – you can’t craft these. They’re effects of energy leaking out of the Planar Conjunctions of Solstice over centuries. You can only find them as Dungeon Loot.
Okay, how much can I sell them for? That’s ALSO easy. They sell for the normal amount. No one trusts the powers granted by weird energy from Planar Conjunctions, so no one is paying extra for them, as a merchant. But yeah, they’ll CHARGE extra. That’s how they make a profit.
How much extra? Tell your GM you want to buy one, and enjoy roleplaying the negotiations!
I AM the GM! Oh! Why didn’t you say so?!
Then it’s however much you want! But remember, respectable and trusted adventuring gear vendors don’t deal in these things. And shady vendors aren’t going to allow someone to cast spells on a weapon just to they can identify it can feel safe buying it So when the PCs have a little adventure and find someone to buy these things from, phrases like “What’s your Sense Motive bonus?” (followed by some secret dice bouncing), and “I’ll sell such a legendary weapon to a hero such as yourself for only 1,000 gp more than a typical weapon of its kind, but I cannot promise what strange powers it has.” (followed by random checks on the Unusual Weapon Abilities chart) work great.
Identifying Unusual Magic Items
The magic properties of Solstice Dungeon Loot is not easily identifed with mere magic or Spellcraft, because it includes strange eldritch energies that are twisted and warped in ways never seen before. While it’s easy for a player to understand how a furious +1 keen scimitar of the hive is just adding two new abilities to a +1 keen scimitar, to a sage trying to identify it there is a mix of the pure magic of rage, eldritch sharpness, and the power of extraplanar insects all blended into one strange and unique weapon.
A normal Spellcraft check to identify the item will determine if it *has* aspects or origins (though not if it is cursed). Aspects can be correctly identified with Knowledge (arcane) or (religion) checks. Origins can be correctly identified with Knowledge (nature) or (planes) checks. Either can be identified with Knowledge (history) or (local), but the DC is 10 higher. The base DCs for these checks are the same as identifying magic properties with Spellcraft.
Aspects: An Unusual Magic Weapon Aspect is listed before the rest of the weapon, such as a furious +1 flaming scimitar. The power of an Unusual Magic Weapon with an aspect has been twisted toward a second (and sometimes third) function, as if it almost became a different magic item entirely. In the rare cases when a weapon with an aspect is also intelligent, it’s aspect also describes one element of its personality.
Roll 1d12.
- Cautious: Select one creature type from the list of ranger favored enemies. When creatures of that type are within 30 feet the weapon glows. This is blocked by anything that blocks detect magic. The wielder gains a bonus equal to their base attack bonus to Perception checks made to act in surprise rounds initiated by creatures of the specified type.
02. Eclectic: The weapon has dozens of odd fetishes and trophies tied to it and dangling from it. Having it in hand fulfills the material component and focus of any spell for material components and focuses with no gp cost.
03. Furious: Wielder can go into a fury once per day, for a maximum number of rounds equal to her base attack bonus. While in this fury the character has the drawbacks of rage (no spellcasting, limited skill use, no activity that requires concentration), but also gains a +2 circumstance bonus to Will saves. If the character actually has rage, instead once per day she can maintain her rage for a number of rounds equal to half her base attack bonus without it counting against her maximum number of rounds of rage per day.
04. Overblown: The weapon has additional blades, striker surfaces, bow arms, or similar apparently over-the-top weapon elements. When the weapon threatens a critical hit on a natural attack roll of 20 and confirms it, it deals additional damage equal to its base damage dice.
05. Prejudiced: Select one creature type from the list of ranger favored enemies. The weapon’s enhancement bonus is +1 higher against creatures of this type, and it deals an additional 1d6 damage to such foes.
06. Reaping: When the weapon scores a critical hit against a foe, or is successfully used with Vital Strike (or higher level versions of that feat), that foe’s fast healing and regeneration cease to function for 1 round.
07. Revealing: Can detect magic as a standard action (both to initiate and to maintain) at will.
08. Ruthless: Can penetrate the DR for 24 hours of any creature that scores a critical hit or sneak attack against the wielder.
09. Screaming: Can countersong, as the bard ability, using the wielder’s base attack bonus for the countersong check. By screaming. Loudly.
10. Shifting: Weapon can become a specific, randomly determined second kind of weapon. It takes a swift action to change from one form to another. A character proficient with one form is treated as proficient with both, and can use any appropriate feats that apply to one weapon type to both weapon types.
11. Spiderslaying: Wielder is immune to mundane and magic nets and webs (though not other forms of entanglement or difficult terrain), and gains a Climb speed equal to half base speed when within 60 feet of a spider swarm or spider of Tiny or larger size.
12. Whirlwind: Once per day the weapon can be used to make a full attack action as a standard action during a surprise round.
Origins: An Unusual Weapon Origin is listed after the weapon, such as a +1 flaming scimitar of the dragon. The power of a weapon with an unusual origin is at least partly drawn from something connected to its name. The GM may, at her discretion, have creatures with strong opinions about such creatures treat the wielder of such a weapon with particular respect (75%) or disdain (25%), as if they were an agent or noble connected to the power source.
Roll 1d12.
- Of the All-Seeing Eye: Can create dancing lights as a move action at will. Wielder can make Perception checks to see anything within the illumination of the dancing lights, even if they are not in line-of-sight of the wielder.
02. Of the Beast: Select a type of bag of tricks at random. A decorative animal shape on the weapon can be activated as that bag of tricks.
03. Of the Dragon: Can use breath weapon 1/ce day. Select damage type below. Breath weapon deals a number of 1d4 hp of that damage type equal to wielder’s base attack bonus in a 15 foot cone (Reflex half, DC 10 + base attack bonus).
01-15: acid
16-35: cold
36-50: electricity
51-90: fire
91-99: sonic
100: Damage is half pure holy damage (if good or neutral) or half evil damage (if evil), and half a second type from a new roll. If 100 is rolled again, damage is half fire but deals 1d6 per base attack bonus rather than 1d4.
04. Of Eternity: The weapon is a unique runeblade powered by its own internal self-consistent universe. It is immune to dispel magic, mage’s disjunction, antimagic field, and similar effects that would remove its magic abilities. It can be sundered normally.
05. Of Gates: Once per day as a move action the wielder can teleport a distance up to its move rate.
06. Of the Hive: Once per day the wielder can become a swarm of diminutive bees. This swarm has a fly rate equal to the wielder’s move rate, a base AC of 10 and a deflection bonus equal to the wielder’s base attack bonus (with no other bonus to AC applying). The creature gains swarm traits, but has no attack. It does gain the distraction ability, but the save DC and concentration check to cast spells have a base of 10 + wielder’s base attack bonus rather than a base of 20.
07. Of Patron’s Will: If the wielder can cast spells and use hexes, whenever the wielder damages a foe with a spell or forces a foe to fail a saving throw with a spell, the wielder can expend a second prepared spell or spell slot of the same level as a swift action to also use a hex against the target (allowing the normal saving throw) regardless of the target’s range.
If the wielder cannot both cast spells and use hexes, it gains the ability to use a single randomly determined hex (not major or grand hex) once per day, using its base attack bonus as its effective witch level.
08. Of Resurrection: If the wielder is killed as a result of hp damage, the weapon immediately casts breath of life as a free action, except the amount of healing is a number of d4 equal to the wielder’s base attack bonus. If this restores the wielder to life, he avoids any consequence of dying (and may choose to not even fall prone). This ability may only be used once per year, and once used the weapon loses all magic abilities for 365 days (and shows no sign of having any magic properties, even if examined by wish or similar magics).
09. Of Shadows: The weapon is constantly blurred and veiled in flickering shadows. Wielder gains a bonus equal to its base Reflex save to all Bluff checks made to feint with the weapon.
10. Of Sigils: Wielder gains +4 to saves against language-dependent effects and spells with sigil, symbol, or rune in their title. Also, wielder treats his hp as being 50 higher when effected by power words. Once a day, wielder may choose a language to speak for 24 hours, but only when holding the weapon in a threatening manner.
11. Of Traps: If the wielder sets off a trap without being aware of it, and the trap’s attack misses or the wielder makes a save against the trap, the wielder can absorb the trap into the weapon (preventing it from harming anyone else). The wielder can then unleash the trap on any target the weapon scores a critical hit against, forcing it to suffer the attack or make the save. The trap is then relocated to this new location, and resets normally (if it has a reset). Only one trap may be stored at a time, and the wielder has no special protection against traps and cannot absorb a trap while one is stored.
12. Of the Warmage: Randomly select one school of spells. One per round as a free action when the wielder or an ally causes one or more targets to fail a saving throw against a spell or take damage from a spell from that school, the wielder may also make a melee weapon attack against one of those creatures (regardless of range), effecting the target as if it had been hit by the weapon on a successful attack roll.
Great Gnomon Spire of Solstice
The most visible and well-known landmark in Solstice is the Great Gnomon Spire, a massive tower standing exactly one league high (15,840 feet), with a base half a mile in diameter and a spire that is (reportedly) a quarter-mile across. The Spire, as it is commonly referred to, is the anchor for the most powerful Skyward in Solstice which prevents any creature from flying more than 60 feet from a surface anywhere in the city. Roughly halfway up the Spire the strength of this ward increases to limit flight to 30 feet from a surface, and for the upper 2-3,000 feet flight is impossible. As a result reaching the top of the Spire is only possible by fighting through the traps, guardians, wards, and denizens of its hundreds of levels and is very rarely achieved.
The God-Mage built the Spire are part of his overall Necropolis, and it acts as the shadow-casting menhir of the city’s original function as a planardial. Like a sundial it shows the position of various sources of power and energy. Unlike a sundial, rather than cast a single shadow, the Spire casts eight – one a typical shadow cast by the sun, and seven others of various colors (crimson, bronze, gold, viridescent, azure, amethyst, true black, and the glowing white anti-shadow). Each of these progresses based on the relative position and strength of inner and outer planes, shooting out at different speeds, lengths, and darknesses. When one or more of these “shadows” lines up, it indicates a Planar Conjunction.
In addition to the Great Gnomon Spire’s obvious power as a tool of planar observation, the God-Mage had designed it to perform thousands of other arcane functions, and filled the interior with vast and complex mystechnological relics, summoning chambers, soul forges, rune repositories (which are believed to be the true origin of the sentient living runes, the Esigil), teleport circles, gates, portals, and communing halls. All of these he guarded with his famed Spellborn living magics, devilbound traps and objects, and the dreaded ethereals (filchers, slayers, and trapmasters), hundreds of which are believed to survive to this day (though mostly lairing in the upper levels).
To add to those risks, since the God-Mage no longer maintains his planar rituals and machines, many of his connections have broken inward, allowing quasielementals, astral roamers, and things of pure chaotic evil from the farthest reaches of the Abyss to invade inward into the Spire. Some arrive entirely by accident, while others are agents of powerful otherworldly master who seek to take control of the Spire for their own purposes.
The lowest fifty levels of the Spire have long since been cleared out and secured by agents friendly to Solstice and mortals, with the bottom two dozen housing numerous consulates, churches, guilds, and their related shops and barracks. The 36 levels above that are claimed and held by a few divine Avatars, several mortal archmages, champions, high priests, and heirophants, a pride of sphinxes, a choir of angels, a well-monitored house of devils, and a lich known as The Librarian that fully admits that it is a force for eternal evil, but also points out its not in its best interest to oppose to powerful defenders of Solstice, or risk the destruction of the plane of existence it happens to dwell on.
It is forbidden for anyone to attempt to move above these 50 levels… without a sponsor. Every guild, avatar, and denizen that the two Astrologer Guilds of Solstice acknowledge as owning a place in the Lower Fifty can sponsor an expedition by an individual or group to venture higher into the Great Gnomon Spire. The purpose of such expeditions is supposed to be to keep the various forces running amuck in the upper levels from ever taking control of too much of the structure, and to continue to explore the mysteries still undelved from the God-Mage’s time. Because of the work of the ethereals, the original machines of the spire, and the forces of Abyssal chaos, upper levels of the Spire are always in flux, making any trip up a risk, with the highest levels those that are the least well-scouted as well as the most changing and most dangerous.
Since sponsors are held responsible if an expedition causes trouble or damage that spills into the Lower Fifty or Solstice itself, most sponsors only allow experienced groups passage up, and only to deal with specific threats they believe to have arisen, through divination, rumor, or gut instinct. However some patrolling must be attempted, and as the fortunes of the denizens of the Lower Fifty wax and wane, sometimes a powerful group buy or bully sponsorship in order to undertake an expedition for their own goals… and such groups sometimes cause problems that force other groups to sponsor additional expeditions to fix what has been broken, unleashed, or awoken.
As the base of the Great Gnomon Spire abuts the Grand Arena, and is close to many of the known Dark Vaults and Warcogs beneath the city, it is assumed that connections exist between these four common adventuring areas, though if they do they are either well-guarded secrets, or temporary affairs that exist only during the proper conjunctions.
Gods of Solstice
When the God-Mage’s vast necropolis-in-construction was revealed to be a complex plan to invade and take control of Heaven with an army lead by his 100,000 terra-cotta monsters during the Prismatic Planar Conjunction, the gods of the multiverse took notice. Though his assault ultimately failed, it remains unclear if the God-Mage might not have succeeded if so many of his mortal servants had not turned against him when his true plan was discovered. The mortals who inhabited the city of Solstice, which grew out of the remains of the God-Mage’s launching pad, came to work against the remaining elements of the God-Mage’s plan in order to survive, but could do little to tear down the powerful Astrologos Configurations, Clockwork Orrery Chambers, Great Gnomon Spire, or other structures the God-Mage had built to perfectly predict and channel the Prismatic Conjunction. In short, though unlikely, it was possible some mortal might someday attempt to recreate the God-mage’s assault on the Outer Planes.
Obviously, no deity could allow this.
But neither could they all intercede directly. Thousands of deities took notice of the assault on the concept of godhood itself, representing millions of philosophies which often directly contradicted one-another’s plans and preferences. When scores of omnipotent beings all attempted to change the remnants of the God-Mage’s edifices, not only did their efforts neutralize each other, they weakened the bridge that normally divided mortal and divine powers.
In short, they made the risk greater.
And so the Intercession Compact was reached. No divinity would be allowed to directly affect anything within Sanctuary or any area within a radius equal to the farthest point that could be seen by the sharpest-eyed mortal from the top of the Great Gnomon Spire under the best conditions. Agents, priests, and temples could act and draw upon their gods power within the normal limits of mortal ability, but no god could take direct action.
However every god, from every pantheon, would be allowed to send a single mortal avatar, no more powerful than the most powerful mortal, to observe and act within Sanctuary. If such an avatar was lost, it could never be replaced. Nor could such avatars take any action beyond the sphere of the Intercession Compact.
Scores of avatars now reside within Solstice, often as semi-divine heads of churches or local potentates of boroughs of the city. They rarely act, both because to do so is to invite other avatars to oppose their actions, and because the loss of an avatar can never be replaced. But in rare moments an avatar may bring its considerable power to bear on its foes… or use it to ensure no mortal ever again attempts the feat of the God-Mage.
Of course there are hundreds of gods who have yet to assign an avatar. And there are mortals who dare claim to be avatars, and avatars who conceal their true status and go cloaked among mortals.
In some cases this means gods unheard of anywhere else in the world have powerful followings in Solstice, because a powerful avatar resides there. In other cases gods common and popular in distant lands are scoffed at within Solstice, as their avatar is dead (or has yet to appear), limiting the god’s ability to impact life within the city.
And, rarely, a god in its infinite wisdom decides its best choice for an avatar is not something at the height of mortal power, but a lowly adventurer, no more powerful than a fresh recruit, who may have only an inkling of its true nature…
Elves of Solstice
During the Crimson Conjunction, 35 years ago, every humanoid over the age of 75 in Solstice (and surrounding lands for thousands of miles) was killed by the Fiery Time of the Necrologer, and none could be restored to life through any means. While the loss of scholars and wise folks of society as a whole was devastating, some races were more seriously impacted than others.
Orcs and half orcs barely noticed. Humans lost only their most wizened and experienced, but most positions of authority remained filled (though many by those with less long-term experience than might be desired). Dwarven and gnomish societies were devastated, as most guild leaders, matriarchs, kings and great heroes dropped dead with no warning. This is still seen as a dark time by these races, who struggle to regain the lore and experience stolen from them.
Elven society simple ceased to exist.
No elven adult survived. The majority of the race was caught in the Spring Years, physically adult enough to care for themselves but still incapable of long-term thought and short on reasoning and empathy. Worse, for decades this continued, with the entire race essentially ruled by the elven equivalent of teenagers, driven by hormones and spur-of-the-moment decisions, in some cases backed by birthrights of vast wealth and eldritch power inherited from those who had known better than to use it.
More than half of all elven nations, guilds, and families imploded within a decade. Those that survived either did so through sheer wild abandon, or due to allies who felt compelled to honor centuries-old alliances and pacts. But even now, elves are still a race of younglings and the oldest of them would only know be considered the most junior of adults. Elves are eternal children, and have been for decades, and have embraced the clothes, jewelry, piercings, slang, and devil-may-care attitudes of teenagers in a nonstop party that threatens to drive other races crazy.
The Grand Arena of Solstice
The Grand Arena in the city of Solstice is build around the largest Astrologos Configuration, which also happens to be the site where the God-Mage attempted his assault on Heaven. Every day at dusk the Configuration spawns powerful Ravening Beasts, which immediately attempt to break out of the arena grounds and head for the Widderlands. As with any Configuration there are also specific summoning events during various conjunctions, and two full guilds of astrologers are employed full-time to examine the Configuration and predict when other Events will occur.
Since nonstop diligence, constant study, and a sizable military force must be maintained at all time, the Arena was built to allow the needful acts of putting down the Ravenings to double as major entertainment, to bring in money to offset the cost of safety. Usually the two astrologer guilds are fairly accurate about the type and power of the Ravengings to appear, though specifics are rarely available, and thus gladiators who are sufficient to deal with each threat are always on hand (without needing to keep a group any bigger or more expensive than necessary on the field). Of course the Arena includes Skywards to ensure nothing can fly away and Earthwards to prevent anything from burrowing off. And the Solstice Guard keep a few siege machines manned at all times, to deal with Ravenings if the gladiators fail their task.
In addition to making money from the Solstones dropped by any Ravenings they kill, gladiators often receive money from sponsors and patrons, and may make some sideline betting on themselves. A fair number of gladiators are also adventurers, though the most successful gladiators consider delving into the megadungeons around and below Solstice a pointless risk, and the most successful dungeon delvers consider simple arena combat unlikely to result in the truly history-changing discoveries.
Owen K.C. Stephens 