The Least Demons

Robert Parker, author of the Rogues and Reavers blog, said nice things about the collection of Tekumel monsters I had in Fight On! Issue 3 and asked me to stick them on my blog. So here they are.

In the original Empire of the Petal Throne the Creatures spell summons one hit dice monsters from the original rules. They are a fun collection of beasties, but you can meet them by the dozen in the underworld and this spell is supposed to be bringing allies of the sorcerer's deity from other planes. I have also added some special abilities to these creatures so it can double as a utility spell. Stats are for EPT, but will work for any old school D&D style RPG.

Hnálla

The Radiant Ones

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 4, T: nil, M -/24”, L: 0

The radiant ones are levitating glowing ovoids some 50 cm tall devoid of any surface feature. They talk in a melodious unemotional version of the native language of the summoner and can manipulate objects using telekinesis, punching their foes with invisible bolts of raw force which are very hard to parry, ignoring any bonus to AC due to a shield. They defend themselves with electricity in a similar manner to Ru’ún, and anyone striking them with a steel weapon takes 1 dice damage from an electric shock.

They will serve for longer periods in return for clear crystals, especially diamonds, and will be very keen to acquire any ancient technological items or power cells.

They have considerable knowledge of such devices, and can aid a summoner in researching their use and even help repair them if suitable materials are available. They can also use their fine telekinetic manipulation to open modern locks and disable traps, usually commenting on the crudity of such devices and the ease of the task, disparaging the current fallen state of Tékumeli humanity.

Any resemblance to the Drone class robots from Iain Banks’ Culture novels is purely intentional.

Drá

The Flautists of the Mighty Orchestra

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 6, T: nil, M -/18”, L: 0

These creatures are only ever partly corporeal on Tékumel’s plane, and consist of a levitating vaguely spherical body made up of gelatinous tubes and peculiarly formed orifices. They continually emit melodious chords vaguely reminiscent of a clarinet, flute or organ, backed by angelic singing or chanting. They cannot be attacked physically except by steel or enchanted weapons or by magic, and they in turn cannot physically assault any solid creature. They can however use their eerie song to hypnotise and immobilise a foe who fails to save vs Eyes; the person does fight back if attacked however, or they can use the Group I spell Fear to cause an enemy to flee in panic. In any case their stirring music will give +1 to attack rolls of any worshippers of the gods of stability within 30 feet, and -1 to the attacks of any change worshippers.

They cannot talk as such, only communicating by parroting anything said to them in the form of a musical phrase, but can be persuaded to take spoken messages to a named person anywhere on Tékumel, or sometimes even on a plane beyond, in return for being sung or played to on an instrument. Being incorporeal they can move through any solid object and are unhindered by the majority of foes, and though slow for a flying creature they will always get through eventually.

With thanks to HP Lovecraft, Cthulhu and Azathoth.

Thúmis and Keténgku

The Dwellers in the Mist

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 6, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

These tall, thin humanoid beings appear wreathed in mist as if in a garment and are only visible as dark patches with the impression of large sorrowful eyes looking through a veil. When they fight this mist expands, confusing friend and foes alike – any attack made within the mist has a 15% chance of fumbling and being accidentally directed at an ally, in addition to the base chance of fumbling for those with low Dex, and any bonus to hit or damage gained from Intelligence is nullified as people flail about at random at fleeting shapes.

The Dwellers themselves are perfectly able to see, and reach out languidly with long clawed hands to tap their foes. Each tap leaves a wound of 1 dice -1 damage.

The Dwellers never speak, they merely nod and point towards things they want with gaunt hands, and hold their palms up in admonition when they are presented with an unfair deal. In return for magic scrolls the Dwellers can assist in a number of other ways. They can become partly immaterial and merge with a summoner, surrounding him in a pearly grey nimbus of cloud which gives +2 AC. +2 on all saves, +4 vs Illusions or magic directed at his mind. Any hits against the summoner do damage to the Dweller first however, and when the Dweller reaches 0 HP the mist fades and the bonuses are lost.

The Dwellers can also cast Cure Minor Wounds on 1d6 people at once, Cure Serious Wounds on one person, and Cure Disease and Neutralise Poison, but will only do so in return for scrolls of spells of equivalent power.

Avánthe

The Gnomes of Dedé

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 4, T: nil, M 12”/6” tunnelling, L: 0

Servitors of Dedé the Lord of Earth, these brown-skinned creatures are a mere meter fall, with four thickly muscled arms, huge hands, four legs, a pot bellied body and a round bald head with one wide yellow eye, no nose and a wide mouth. They are immensely strong and they punch, kick and headbutt foes into submission doing 1dice +1 damage, and have +1 to attack.

They are always hungry and in return for large amounts of food, which must always be strictly vegetarian and accompanied by copious quantities of héngka beer, they will help the summoner dig tunnels and demolish doors or buildings, or hold back foes by building earthworks or walls if the stone is available.

Dilinála

Daughters of the Sea

NA: Special, HD: 1-1, AC 2, T: nil, M 12”/12” swimming, L: 0

Appear as Aridáni warriors with delicately scaled pale green skin dressed in highly decorated blue armour made of giant sea shells, wielding elegantly designed polearms with speed and grace. They can walk on water, or swim beneath it as easily as they can run, and fight at +2 to hit and +2 damage.

In return for blue gems and blue tinted glass coral they will lend one item of their equipment for a short time. Their helmets confer the ability to breathe under water, their sandals enable water walking and they will lend their polearms for one formal combat against a male only. These do +2 damage and can be used by any female character as if she was skilled in the weapon and with the same potential for multi-dice damage as a Warrior of the same level.

Belkhánu and Qón

The Áspisai

NA: Special, HD: 1-1, AC 4, T: nil, M 3”/30”, L: 0

Gold and iridescent green dragonflies with a 1.3 meter wingspan, these beautiful and delicate creatures strike at blinding speed with the razor sharp edges of their wings. In addition to doing half a dice damage each attack also drains one use of any spell or magical ability known by the target, starting with professional skills and ending with Group III enchantments. If the target is an apparition or a summoned creature it is immediately dispelled or dismissed, though creatures of 3 dice or more get a save vs magic. Undead attacked by Áspisai must also save vs magic or be immediately de-animated.

In return for gold leaf to burnish their carapaces the Áspisai will guide the summoner to safety from wherever he may be in the multiverse via a series of nexus points. Some these transits across different planes may be fairly hazardous, but there is never any danger of accidentally walking into a plane devoid of breathable air or with an unsurvivable temperature or pressure. Ones sanity might be at risk when traversing two or four dimensional planes (five dimensions are a no-no for humans and most other sentient species, though Pé Chói can just about cope, six plus are too weird for all but the Mihálli), but you will probably arrive back at your home plane and time physically intact.

Áspisai will also act as magical bodyguards, hanging around the summoner in an invisible and incorporeal state. They will then appear to intercept any hostile spell directed at him, taking it through the nearest nexus point for disposal. Only one spell can be taken care of in this fashion per Áspisai guardian.

Karakán

Lightning Bugs

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 2, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

These are giant stag-beetle like insects with shiny silver carapaces and glowing lamps for eyes. Between the tips of their metallic mandibles is a constant electric arc which gives foes a nasty 1 dice+1 shock. Against foes with metal armour this is doubled, and anyone using a metal weapon against them who misses has a 50% chance of being parried by the spark and receiving a 2 dice shock in the arm. A fumble against a Lightning Bug automatically hits the arc.

Two bugs can create a bigger spark between them, stretching up to 3 meters and doing 1 dice+3 damage to anyone who touches it. It is only about 60cm off the floor so brave souls can jump over it if they make a Dexterity roll.

In return for spools of silver wire wound round amber rods the lightning bugs will also permanently magnetise any metal object, giving it anti-magic properties, or they will ‘spot-weld’ any two metal objects together.

The usual bug is a meter long and 40 cm high, but larger versions have been encountered with correspondingly larger sparks. The very biggest are five or more meters long and comparable to a Lightning Bringer siege engine in their damage.

Chegárra

The Legion of the Red Axe of Contingent Justice

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 4, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

These are handsome bearded warriors dressed in red lacquered antique Salarvyáni style armour and wielding red two-handed battle axes at +1 to hit and +3 damage. Legend has it that they were a crack unit in the service of the Fisherman Kings dedicated to wiping out corruption among the nobility, who fell foul of the Black Priesthood of Ksárul which was growing in power at the time. This is nonsense according to the Ksárulites, as Chegárra was not contacted by Pavár until several millennia after the Fisherman Kings were no more, but it is a fact that the Legion speak an ultra-archaic dialect of Bednálljan and wear armour of that period.

They are not very reliable servants however, and will inevitably involve any summoner in a debate (in Bednálljan) about the honour and justice of his actions in bringing them to this plane and requiring them to slay his foes. If they decide they are not following a just cause they may turn on the summoner. If however the summoner is eloquent enough in his pleas and can make sufficient citations of legal precedent they will serve without further payment, and may provide assistance over and above that asked for. Any law code will do, but that of the Fisherman Kings (unfortunately only known in fragmentary form) has greatest weight, and summoners must be aware that the Legion’s enthusiastic pursuit of their own version of justice may lead to a mini-crusade that violates the Concordat or breaks Imperial law.

Their usual help other than fighting is to advise the summoner when someone is telling a lie in his presence (and offering to decapitate him on the spot), leading a military unit in a forced march at double speed (though any slackers will be decapitated), dispelling illusions and enabling anyone near them to save vs Illusion at +2 (and insisting on hunting down and decapitating the lying illusionist who cast the spell).

They are also prone to sexism, a vice of their apparent historical age, and any female summoners will have even greater trouble controlling them and they will fight at -2 to hit against female foes for fear of hurting the dear ladies. This does not apply to their hereditary enemies, the followers of Ksárul and The Daughters of the Sea who follow Dilinála.

Hrü’ü and Wurú

Notules

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 6, T: nil, M 3”/10”+2” per hit point, L: 0

The Notules are fluttering scraps of unreflective darkness, like a piece of the night sky given animation and a desire to kill. They are extremely hard to hit in the dark, gaining +2AC in twilight or in shadowy areas, +6AC in darkness. If slain with a slashing weapon like a sword or axe they rise again as two Notules, each with (original HP-1)/2 hit points, and are immune to damage from blunt weapons (though they will take damage from any magical bonuses such a weapon may have), and take half damage from piercing weapons.

Their attack is to drain heat energy. They do 1 damage per hp they have, gaining 1HP per 5 damage they inflict. A save vs magic halves this damage. In addition they drain 2x damage inflicted from the targets Strength, which can only be regained by magical healing.

On a critical hit they plaster themselves across the target’s face, blinding him and suffocating him in 3 rounds, in addition to any damage they may do by draining his body heat. Any attacks against the notule will also harm their victim at half damage.

They dislike bright light however and attack at -2 within the confines of a Light spell or in open sunlight. They will by preference attack the source of any Light spell in the hopes of dousing it.

They have no other functions and do not bargain or negotiate. Some more powerful sorcerers do have spells to keep them trapped in little metal boxes as surprises for their enemies, and others can direct them to seek out and assassinate named vicitms.

Blatantly stolen from The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

Ksárul

Those Who Stand Aside

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 4, T: nil, M 15”, L: 0

These creatures are never actually seen, their presence being announced by their thin whispery voices and the hair raising feeling that one is not so much being watched as quietly appraised for nutritional potential. At best they are seen as a shadow cast from behind the observer, a flickering indistinct shadow that tells nothing of their shape or size. They do reveal themselves fully to those they attack, but those who survive remember nothing clearly and describe fur, feathers, slime, claws, tentacles, eel-like bodies and avian demeanours each victim saying something different.

They do not attack physically, but deploy magical terror and shifting shadows. Each round they can terrify a victim, as per the Fear spell. They roll to attack as per AC9, their mere touch being enough to create the effect. Anyone who fails a save vs Magic must lose 1d20 Intelligence as well as flee in abject terror, and those reaching 0 intelligence have gone permanently insane. 

Those who fail their magic save must make second save vs Eyes must be made or the person takes 2d6 damage from an immediate heart seizure, losing another 1d20 Intelligence, and if they survive that they must make a third save or lose yet another 1d20 Intelligence and be paralysed with fear.

They do not ask for payment, they just quietly steal what they like from a summoners’ goods and depart, usually taking magic scrolls, talismans and amulets, but sometimes they will take the summoners’ child or spouse.

They can be called upon to help translate difficult writing. They do not know Thu’úsa or the Tongue of the Lord of Worms, but do know Sunúz and Mihálli, as well as the writing systems of other non-humans.

They can also guide a party to their nearest nexus point, but there is no guarantee that the point will be safe to use; it may lead to an airless void or the heart of a sun, or a plane infested with vicious inimical demons, they cannot tell.

Finally they can also follow the summoner in incorporeal form and materialise to push him aside when he is about to take a blow that will take him to 0 HP or below. They will do this once only for any given payment however.

Grugánu

The People of the Monolith

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 4, T: nil, M 0”/special, L: 0

These really are monoliths, 2.5 meters tall, 1 meter wide and 25cm thick, made of some very dark almost opaque glassy substance. They do not move as such but can teleport themselves into position near their targets (usually surprising them) or to wherever the summoner would like them to deploy.

They are masters of density and substance, and have a number of peculiar forms of assault. They can make themselves as hard as diamond and heavier then lead, giving themselves AC 0, but are unable to attack while in this state. They can also make a target semi-solid, making it impossible for them to attack physically as their weapons just pass through solid objects without causing harm. A target can only be harmed by steel weapons or magic while in such a state, and is in danger of being blown away by any psychic winds that may be blowing into or out of nearby nexus points. They may also make a person and their weapons very heavy and dense, slowing their movement and rate of attack by half, but increasing their AC by 2. All of these attacks are automatic requiring no throw to hit, have no saving throw and have a range of 20 feet.

They also increase the chances of spell casting success of any worshippers of Grugánu or Ksárul within 20 feet by 15%, and reduce the saving throw against their magic by 2.

They communicate by producing pale blue writing on their dark glassy surfaces, and know Sunúz, Ai Chè, Duruób, N’lüssá and Llyáni. They demand human sacrifices in return for their services. These are made in a particularly unpleasant manner; the sacrifice is bound and placed in a magical square ten feet in front of the Monolith. A tiny spot of light appears on the monolith which then sucks up the victim, stretching his physical being out like piece of screaming spaghetti.

A typical use of such a demon is to temporarily block a corridor or hold up a collapsing tunnel, though canny magicians have summoned them while they are falling into very deep chasms and had the monolith make them temporarily incorporeal, or had them make heavy golden treasures lighter and more portable. These demons can also act as a kind of transplanar webchat panel. A summoner may ask one of a pair of demons to teleport to a friend’s location and then speak to the one that remains. It translates his message, telepathically sends it to its mate, who then projects the message in the form of writing on its surface, sending back any reply made by the summoner’s colleague in the same fashion. The only drawback is the comparative obscurity of the languages known by the Monoliths.

Sárku

Mrúr

As EPT p. 68

The priests of Sárku summon the relatively prosaic Mrúr as other priests summon demons. These Mrúr arrive equipped with armour and weapons from all periods of Tékumel’s history (including some yet to happen), though in a dilapidated state. The Mrúr cannot do anything other than fight and eat brains.

Durritlámish

The Voices of the Unwilling Dead

NA: Special, HD: 1, AC 6, T: nil, M 0”, L: 0

These peculiar demons manifest as maces made of spinal columns with attached skulls. They cannot move of themselves, and teleport into the hands of the summoner and his allies, causing them to drop their currently held weapons.

Despite having no vocal chords and lungs these maces keep up a very lively screaming and gibbering, reducing enemy morale and their chances to hit by -1. The Voices give +1 to hit and do +1 damage. Each hit there is a 20% chance that the skull will manage to sink its teeth into an enemy, causing an extra 1d3 damage and passing on a terrible wasting disease. This disease immediately reduces Constitution by 1d20, and then by another 1d10 per week until it is cured. Starting with the fingers and toes the person begins to rot, losing the use of their hands and feet after a week, then their arms, knees, shoulders and so on, until nothing is left working except the torso, and even that goes mostly putrid. All that is left in the end is a screaming skull and a spinal chord.

The disease can be cured by the Temple of Durritlámish, but only in its early stages and the price they charge is steep. They will offer to care for the victim of the infection and ease their pain, on the understanding that they will be required to serve as an undead weapon from time to time.

The Voice can be deliberately targeted by an enemy, blows being directed at the weapon during combat rather than the wielder, but this requires some expertise in combat and can only be done on a successful % roll under Dex +10% per level , and only by a Warrior using a weapon he has some skill in.

In return for being allowed to infect a human sacrifice with their awful curse Voices will consent to serve as guards in the tombs of the faithful of Sárku and Durritlámish, usually sitting in a niche near a sarcophagus and raising a blood curdling scream to summon Mrúr and Shédra should it be opened.

Dlamélish

The Everbabies

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 4, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

The Everbabies look like pale skinned toddlers of 2-3 years old, with chubby cheeks, wide blue eyes and fine curly blond hair, but expanded to about seven feet tall, and wearing body suits of chainmail with pot shaped metal helms adorned with pom-poms. They are armed with great bronze maces with little silver bells attached, and shields painted with brightly coloured designs depicting demonic beasts unfamiliar to people on Tékumel (teddy bears and fluffy ducklings).

They find great pleasure in violence, and once unleashed on an enemy they giggle and gurgle at the sight of blood and find screams of pain utterly hilarious, dancing happily in pools of gore as real babies do in rain puddles and stomping their enemies to meat paste. Their weapons do +2 damage on the first round, and if they hit they gain a further +1 to hit and +1 damage as the Everbaby works itself into a killing frenzy. They must save vs Eyes at the end of a combat or they will fail to disappear back to their own gruesome playpen of a plane and continue attacking any living thing in sight. A sorcerer or priest can attempt to dismiss any Everbabies he himself summoned, but needs to roll a successful spell casting roll to make it work.

They speak a simple lisped form of Tsolyáni, as well as their own gurgling tongue. They will offer to stay and ‘play’ with the summoner in return for all kinds of random and sometimes outrageous demands; flowers, a glass of milk, a crate of strong beer, the skull of a Sró, a pet Chnéhl, a moon on a stick, ten thousand káitars cash, all have been recorded in the annals of the Temple. The summoner should have the words of dismissal handy though, if the Everbabies are angered in the course of their bargaining they will throw a homicidal tantrum.

Their usual use by the temple is as assassins. Spells known to the highest circle sorcerers of the Temple will temporarily shrink the demons down to normal toddler size, and with a bit of hair dye and make up they will pass for a normal Tsolyáni child. Once smuggled into their enemy’s home in this innocuous guise, the spells are dispelled and the great infant thug gets to work.

They have a special animus towards Sárku and his more worm-like followers, taking great delight in throttling them with their bare hands and eating them. They are immune to all the poisons used by such creatures.

With thanks to my nieces.

Vimúhla

The Bruvverhoud of the Dyslexicon

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 4, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

The Brothers are short humans about five feet tall clad in heavy red and orange sackcloth robes that cover their entire bodies. They wear rubber masks with glass eyepieces and strange cylindrical attachments on the front (gasmasks) and thick rubber gloves and boots. They wield shortswords for 1 dice damage and also have an unusual missile weapon, a three foot long tube with a flexible attachment that connects to a backpack made up of two glyph covered red and yellow cylinders (a flamethrower). This tube has various handles and attachments, and spews a gout of burning oil out to a distance of 30 feet. This does 1dice damage, plus 1 further dice per turn from burning until the target saves vs Eyes or has the fire extinguished by a friend. This is not so easy, mere water does not douse the oil and the flame must be smothered. They can also create pools of burning oil as a barrier.

The Brothers hate the written word, magic and intelligent non-humans, which they regard as evil in the eyes of their aspect of Vimúhla. They will accept that the God has sent them to aid a fellow worshipper by dint of a holy prayer, but if they witness any other magic of any kind being practised they will become angry and hostile. If they see any written words, or any hieroglyphs that look as though they might be words they will immediately try and seize and destroy the offending material. If they see a non-human organism behaving in a sentient fashion such as talking, using a tool, wearing clothes etc. they will attack them without mercy. They sometimes carry books with large brightly coloured pictures (never any words) of things that they say their deity has commanded them to burn, which they will consult if in doubt. Their robes are fireproof and they take no damage from flame-based attacks, though explosions such as Doomkill will still do concussion damage. Their masks make them immune to gas attacks as well.

They do not speak any language known to the scholars of the Five Empires and can only be communicated with via telepathy – which of course involves use of magic and immediately raises their suspicions. They can be persuaded to aid worshippers of Vimúhla in missions to destroy libraries, non-humans and spell casters, and with a sufficiently glib negotiator can be convinced that the use of magic by Vimúhla’s loyal priests and sorcerers can be tolerated if it is done in a holy cause. They can never accept non-humans as anything other than fuel for the holy fire however. If sufficiently impressed by the fervour and fighting ability of their Tékumeli allies they may also ask if the summoner can find a way to come to their aid in their endless crusade in their own universe. Those that have found the appropriate nexus points have not returned to tell any tales of the Brothers fiery war.

Their weapons are much coveted by the warriors of Vimúhla, but unfortunately they disappear when the demonic owner returns to his own plane or is slain.

Any resemblance to the Temple Avesti from the Fading Suns RPG is again intentional.

Hriháyal and Chiténg

The Dichotomanes

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 9, T: nil, M 9”/18”, L: 0

These are more or less humanoid, but with some major differences from the standard human body plan; firstly they have decidedly confused sexual identities, sporting both large breasts and a penis, they have hands equipped with sharp claws, their feet have talons and they have bat-like wings. They have no body hair and are a pale grey colour, and wear no clothes, but do have needles stuck into their flesh at approximately one inch intervals, all over their bodies, and have heavy brass rings piercing their nipples, lips, noses, ears and various parts of their sexual organs.

They make two attacks per round, one using a long whip studded with bits of broken glass which does 1dice -1 damage, and anyone hit must save vs Eyes at +4 or lose a turn writhing in agony, the second using a barbed rod which injects a drug into the victim causing hallucinations and extreme ecstasy unless they save vs poison. This likewise makes them lose one turn, and they must save vs poison at +2 per turn there after to return to the fray, unless rudely awoken by a blow from the whip.

Pain and pleasure are all one to the Dichotomanes, and will demand to be tortured or allowed to take part in one or more of the 32 Unspeakable Acts as part of their payment. They have an uncanny ability to locate lost objects, as long as they are on the same plane as the Dichotomane, and will direct the summoner to the nearest hoard of emeralds, rubies or silver, though they cannot say how much the hoard is worth or what is guarding it.

Unallied demons

Not all demons worship one of the 20 Pavárian deities; some worship only the greater demons, some follow a Livyáni Shadow God, and certain documents hint at the awful servants of the Pariah Deities. Others worship no known deity at all, and act as trans-planar mercenaries, serving anyone who knows the spell to call them and meet their price.

Ürghk

NA: Special, HD: 1+1, AC 4, T: nil, M 9”, L: 0

The summoning spell for the Ürghk is contained in the epic poem ‘The War of the One Eyed God’, copies of which are found in several temple libraries. The priesthoods vigorously discourage the summoning of these demons, as they are far from easy to control, and summoning even a couple of them carries a risk of eventual invasion of the entire planet (see below). The Priesthood of Dlamélish have tried to convert them, since their behaviour suggest they are kindred spirits to the Green Lady’s followers, and have been eaten for their trouble.

They appear as humans with horrible snouted and tusked heads, slightly larger and stronger than the average man. They have thick hides, wear crude leather armour and wield stone axes and wooden shields. They stink and express themselves in the crudest and most guttural version of Tsolyáni imaginable. They appear in twice the usual numbers for minor demons (ie a Type I creatures spell will call 2d3), 80% of them being male and 20% female, and they will demand human captives to torture to death and eat before they will even consider fighting. They sometimes settle for sexually abusing their captives though, leaving them severely battered and often mutilated but alive (and unfortunately pregnant, see below).

They fight well enough once placated, but are very unwilling to return to their home planes and will flee from their summoner given half a chance. The males will attempt to mate with anything that moves out in the Tékumeli wilds, usually leading to their deaths, while the females will have litters of Ürghklings that will run wild and die trying to fend for themselves.

Any creature, male or female, that has mated with an Ürghk become pregnant, the foetus being parasitic on the intestine of any male victim and killing him by eventually eating his liver and bursting from the abdomen. The offspring of these unions are half-Ürghk, bizarre looking and often semi-intelligent beasts, but with the same insatiable sexual urge, and the ability to produce viable offspring, no matter how different their parents were. The products of mating with half Ürghk are of course quarter Ürghk, and so the Ürghk character becomes diluted – but eventually two organisms carrying Urghk genes will mate, producing an Ürghk with sufficient native characteristics to survive in Tékumel’s unforgiving environment.

Interplanar explorers have claimed to have found worlds where Ürghk have become endemic, breeding out in the wilds in such numbers as to be unextinguishable by the most determined attempts at genocide, and yet others where the Ürghk have managed to take over completely, savage planes full of interminable tribal warfare, rape and cannibalism.

The Ürghk are capable of gaining levels in professions as humans are, and it may prove very difficult to eliminate a high level Ürghk Warrior before they lead their demonic band to colonise the wild, and Ürghk Priests are the most dangerous of all, as they may be able to summon yet more of their brethren to this plane.

The Nebísh, aka The Screaming Pink Midgets aka The Blemmyae

NA: Special, HD: 1 hp each, AC 7, T: nil, M 12”, L: 0

There are demons greater than humans, and there are some, like the Nebísh, who are definitely lesser. The summoning spell is said to have been discovered by accident by the wizard Metállja, who ended up being captured by these creatures.

They are 6-9 inches high, humanoid but with no head, their faces are on their torsos. They use tiny bronze spears and polearms doing 1HP damage each, attacking at -2, but wear no clothing or armour. One Type I summoning spell will bring 3d6, for what it is worth. They will do whatever their caster asks of them to the best of their very limited abilities, but are utter cowards and will run away and hide if too many of them are getting killed.

They will ask that the caster or one of his servants accompany them back to their home plane to assist them in their wars; this is not usually possible as the spell to create a nexus point to this world is not now known. Sometimes a Nebísh priest will be among the horde summoned and he will know how to open such a gate. If the summoner disagrees he will find himself being kidnapped and dragged through against his will.

Those who have ended up in this peculiar situation (like Metállja), will be worshipped as a manifestation of the Nebísh wargod, and will be required to sit in a throne while his worshippers caper round him doing wardances, banging tiny cymbals and sacrificing endless processions of screaming victims to him. Every now and again he will be asked to smite enemy tribes of Nebísh, a gruesome and pathetic task involving much blood and suffering.

Known Worlds 3D Mapping

How to do it

3D maps are a bit more fiddly that 2D ones, but far from impossible to do.

Step 1

Make a 10x10 grid of squares on a big (A3 or more) bit of paper or computer graphics file. Hexes are OK, but squares are easier to draw, and once you get beyond jump 2 it's as much of a pain to work out distances as it is with squares.

Number it 0-9 along the X and Y axes.

Step 2

Roll 1000d10. Or do what I did and use a spreadsheet. Do it by groups of 10, one group for each square of map, and note where in the sequence of d10s you got a 1, stick a spot in your square with a number on it for each 1 you got, the number being the Z axis (how far 'up' your system is), again using 0-9. Some squares will have no planets, some multiples, just jig 'em about so they fit.

Example: I roll 7, 1, 3, 10, 4, 6, 7, 1, 3, 7. I put spots marked 2 and 8 in my square. If the tenth one had come up a one I'd have put 0, we want a range from 0-9. Makes writing the positions a tiny bit easier in the UPP, you just put xyz as three digits without having to stray into hexadecimals and use A for 10.

On the example map I used a bit of colour coding as well, easy to do with a graphics program.

Step 3

Eyeball your map and look for planets close together and mark key jump routes. I'm going to explain this by long-winded stages as I know maths evades many people.

Now to be generous I'm allowing Jump 1 ships to cover everything out to 1.99 parsecs, anything short of 2, Jump 2 covers 2 to 2.99, Jump 3 out to 3.99 and so on.

Distance between two points is √(x² + y² + z²), where x, y and z are the distances on the x y and z axes. Set up a widget on your spreadsheet to do the maths.

Example: Planet Alpha is at grid 137, planet Beta is at 145, so distance is 1-1 = 0 on the x axis, 4-3 = 1 on the y axis and 7-5= 2 on the z axis.

Square them, 0, 1, 4, add them up, 5, take the square root, 2.236... and it is a Jump 2 between these two worlds.

In practice you don't have to get your calculator out and do hundreds of sums, as anything one square over, one along and one up or down or less turns out to be jump 1; 2 squares difference in just one or two of the axes jump 2, and 2 squares difference in two and one in the other is jump 3.

On the example map I have marked all the jump 1 routes in magenta, some of the jump 2 routes in blue and a couple of jump 3 routes in yellow. Putting in all the routes will make the map an utter mess of lines, but make sure each has at least one connection.

Go on doing this until you have a web of connections joining every planet and you have an idea of how planets cluster and which are comparatively isolated, though such worlds may be easily accessible from neighbouring sectors. If players want to go off these lines, fine, they will have to get their calculators out and see if they can do it.

Download from Google Docs here

Where is my sector?

Earth is at the centre of Known space and occupies the far corner of the eight central sectors. Your sector's 0,0,0 square will be some multiple of 10 parsecs spinward, trailing, coreward, rimward, north or south of Earth. The first four directions will be familiar enough to old Traveller hands, north and south refer to being 'above' or 'below' the basic galactic plane. The example map, Aquila Sector is 0 parsecs spinward, 10 parsecs rimward and 0 parsecs north of Earth.

On the diagram below the eight core sectors are in blue and Aquila Sector is marked in yellow, with the 000 point marked as a spot in one corner.

Didn't you say something about distance from Earth affecting population?

Yup (see last post). Now you know where Earth is relative to your sectors 000 point (0, -10, 0 for the Aquila Sector) you could work out the exact distance for each planet in it, but that being a ball-ache, you could use a rule of thumb and say everything left, right, above or below a certain line will have a certain pop mod. In the case of the Aquila Sector I deem everything one the left half of the map up to column 4 to be close enough to Earth to merit a -2 pop modifer, so pop is rolled on 2d6-4, everything in column 5 or above a -3, so pop is rolled on 2d6-5.

The right half of the map will have plenty of sparsely inhabited or uninhabited systems, places with nothing more than a few dozen people eking a living on the frontier, making up a scientific expedition or perhaps a military unit left as a 'place marker' until their home nation can get enough people together to make up a proper colonising expedition. Some places will be a name and a number on a star chart somewhere, visited briefly by a scoutship years ago to count how many planets they had and rarely visited since, if ever.

The real edge of Known Space is another 10-15 parsecs out, with places ever more vaguely mapped and more systems not visited at all. Anything could be out there, anything... That lost colony of space Nazis you hear about it starport bars, that interstellar equivalent of the Donner expedition, stranded on an airless moon eating each other, an asteroid made of gold, a monastery of psionic Buddhist monks, real live bug eyed monsters with tentacles and everything...

Filling in the details

Don't. Start with one planet, maybe roll up the planets within one jump in case the players decide (or have to) skip town. The players might want to know where the highest tech place is they can go to and stock up on gear – tell them a random blank one some way off and dice it up when they get there. Ship's Star Atlases are generally an out of date mess (see Scouts below) and further out from Earth you get the sparser the data gets. The only reliable info will be the actual location of the stars themselves. Some crackpots claim they have seen wandering stars and that the Russians/Americans/Chinese/Freemasons/Secret Cabal of Lizard Overlords have deliberately introduced falsified data on that to hide secret systems and lead enemies into jumping into interstellar space light years from anywhere.

Scouts

There is no unified scout service in Known Space. Each large nation and alliance on Earth and the well established independent colonies has their own, and private companies and freelancers operate as well. With colonies springing up, amalgamating, splitting and fizzling out all over the place much of the work of the national scout services is surveying, visiting known worlds and seeing what is going on, and as couriers maintaining contact with colonies set up by their home nation. Exploration still goes on, with scout companies sending ships hither and yon gathering data and selling it to the highest bidder, all hoping to strike it rich by finding a new Earth and selling it's location and resource data to any nation willing to pay for getting a head start on its exploitation and colonisation.

Next week - the Known Worlds Wiki, and, hopefully, an adventure.

Flailsnails Traveller

Here are some ideas I have been kicking about for a while, that may well not work but could be worth trying.

Lots of fun has been had over on G+ with hangout based games of D&D and near D&D, with players with characters made up in any number of different systems dropping in and out of various GMs games more or less on a whim, GMs linking different campaign worlds, running games in other people's homebrew settings, all kinds of unholy inter-game miscegenation and perversity.

While there have been some Traveller games run, there hasn't been the same buzz. The closest thing to it has been Jez Gordon's Star Wars game, with ever changing parties drawn from a moderate sized group of characters.

Traveller ought to be ideal for the Flailsnail style of play – PCs are space bums, liable to turn up on any planet anywhere (any GMs pet planet/subsector) and dive into the first outrageously daft money making scheme dangled in front of their snotty noses by a patron (whatever evil scheme the GM has up his sleeve for this session).

But things have got a bit chaotic in the Flailsnails looniverse – I have to say I roll my eyes whenever a mutant race/sub-class undead amphibiod PC whips out a ray gun these days.So rather than colliding universes, how about a loose-ish collaborative meta-setting thingy in which a GM can concoct some pretty outlandish planets and scenarios, but which maintains some internal coherence and puts some limits on the crazy? If it takes off a wiki will have to be organised to collect the bumph, but I'll worry about that later

Known Space 2312AD

Tech level maximum 12

Guns and lasers, no (or very, very few) twerps turning up in power armour with a plasma cannon and wasting everything in sight.

No Psionics

State of play with spooky powers is as it is today, the province of a lunatic fringe, charlatans and conspiracy nuts. Doesn't happen, won't work, and if your cousin's brother-in-law's mate's sister reckoned she saw some twit levitating on Epsilon 5 it was because she was high as a kite on Cake (THE party drug of the 24^th century). Of course if the GM wants to deploy them then that's just fine, as long as they are in the hands of some drastically alien villain NPC, but see below...

No Aliens

The human race has bimbled across a good couple of thousand cubic parsecs of the galaxy and has found some alien ecosystems with suitably oddball animals, but no actual intelligent alien civilisations. There's arguments as to whether species A is actually intelligent, and whether humans would recognise an alien civilisation if they saw it. But no blokes in furry suits and bandoliers making bear noises, no people in fake tan with corrugated heads, humanity it appears is alone. Of course there almost certainly will be alien civilisations out there someplace we just haven't met them yet.

As with psionics, aliens should be something truly spooky and out of this world, and first contact fraught with strangeness and unguessable hazards and complications, not something you meet by the zooload down at the local bar.

Limited Cybernetics

Not that many people have managed to successfully stick silicon into themselves in Known Space and most of those only did it to replace genuinely injured and damaged parts of the body. I have no idea of how real science is really doing at splicing electronics onto nerves, but in the Known Space setting it's dubious and unreliable and the people that do it are regarded as a bit wrong in the head and to have eaten too much Cake.

Anarchy!
Human beings in the 24^th century are no better organised than humans now. World governments? Only on worlds of a million or fewer people of the same general origin, otherwise there is bound to be several rival statelets, factions, commercial exploitation enterprises etc.

When the human race made jump drive work every country on Earth launched colonisation missions, mostly grabbing land on the same few vaguely inhabitable planets. Then it got cheap enough for corporations to have a go, then every separatist, religious, extremist, utopian, libertarian, authoritarian and otherwise misunderstood gang of loons leapfrogged the lot and plunged into the void looking for a place to set up their dream society away from anyone else. Some worked, some didn't. Any world in known space could have any kind of society on it, usually several, and usually at loggerheads with each other, if not actual war.

Genuine interstellar wars have been few and far between, but plenty of Earth states and alliances and the more established and populous off-world colonies are geared up with space navies. With Known Space so vast and sparsely populated and so many colonies having hostile planetbound rivals to fend off there hasn't been much call for them as yet.

A world of your own

When a player generates a PC he generates a home nation and sketches in a planet for that PC too, all of which will become setting canon, to be drawn on by any later GM or player if they so wish.

Earth

In 2300AD Earth is still the centre of the human universe, and I have no better idea than the next man as to what is likely to have happened to it in the next couple of hundred years. Players and GMs will be free to make up whatever stuff they like about the history of their own nation or district, and how this affects Known Space at large.

Rules

I only know Classic 1ed Traveller and Mongoose, but any Traveller ruleset should in theory be permissible, and if reliable conversions from other sci-fi systems can be made then lets use them.

House rules for world generation

As per the Mongoose Traveller/Classic Traveller rules with the following exceptions:

Starport roll is at -1, -2 for pop 6, -3 for pop 5, -4 for pop 4 or less. Refers to the biggest atarport on the planet, often multiples exist.

Population is maxed at 8 for everywhere except Earth. Colonies simply haven't been there long enough to get that big.

Population is still rolled on 2d6-2, with -1 for size 0-2 or A+, -1 for atmosphere not 5,6 or 8, +1 if it is 5,6 or 8. An additional -1 is levied per 5 full parsecs away from Earth – the frontiers are sparsely inhabited.

Government stat refers to the number of different governments, what type they are is up to the GM.

Number of 'states' table

Population	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
D6 roll
1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1d3+1
2	1	1	1	1	1	1d3+1	1d3+1	1d6+1
3	1	1	1	1	1d3+1	1d6+1	1d6+1	2d4
4	1	1	1	1d3+1	1d4+1	1d6+1	2d4	3d3
5	1	1	2	1d4+1	1d6+1	2d4	2d4	3d4
6	1	2	1d3+1	1d6+1	2d4	2d6	2d4	3d4

For the proportion controlled by each state roll 1d10 for each state and divvy up the population accordingly. Eg Ares has a population of 3 000 000 and 5 states. Rolls are 1, 5, 6, 10 and 10. State 1 has 1/32 of the population = 93 750, state 2 has 5/32 = 468 750 and so on.

Law level refers to the largest state on the planet and is based on population, not govt type.

Tech level always has a +2 and a maximum of 12.

3D Mapping

IMO the main reason Traveller maps are the way they are is the A5 format of the original LBBs and lack of space in them. 3D subsector maps won't make a huge difference to the game, but I like them for atmosphere's sake and they are honestly not difficult to do, as I will show in a future post.

A planet to start on

Epsilon C 643 643 A

Epsilon is a moderately sized rather cold world, with massive ice caps reaching down into the tropics and a water sea surrounding its equator bordered by inhabitable land and with a few islands. It has a primitive ecosystem, algae and bacterial sludge in the oceans with a few multicellular sponge and graptolite-like creatures, and a few hardy liverwort-cum-lichenoids on land. Humans have mucked about with this quite extensively in many areas, but the air remains low in oxygen, low in CO2 and high in SO2 and thin as the high Andes even at sea level.

Epsilon has a population of 7 000 000 and four rival colonies, Neuland, New Canaan, Adelbert PLC and the Cyber-Raj (relative sizes 8, 7, 2 and 3)

Neuland (the Bakhuninite Extents)

Leftist Euro-anarchists with a participatory democracy (Govt Type 4, Law level 3, TL 10) and a bit of a fetish about computers and software (TL 12 electronics available), often called 'the Bakhuninite Extents' or 'Sodom and Gomorrah' by the New Canaanites. One of the few places you can get cyberware, but it is expensive. Everyone is an eternal student plugging into online university courses, only local currency is used (Roks) and handcrafted goods are sold offworld at premium prices. Main exports; subversive MMORPGs, expertly pirated media and software, freelance 'creatives', punk rock bands, designer drugs and financial brigands who use corporate buyouts to break up other states economies to keep their own ramshackle system going.

New Canaan

Dominated by fundamentalist Christian religious nuts, theoretically an extra planetary territory of the US. Govt Type 13, Law level 8, except for guns, TL 8, but with plenty of higher tech imports. Everyone is required to be armed and all males required to put time into the national guard. Plenty of small farming communities defecting to the Neulanders as they like the libertarianism and lack of interference by pontificating religious busybodies. Government is a not very representative democracy (only true believers may vote and only pastors can stand for office) and is heavily influenced by the corporation running the only viable industry, dredging biological gunge off the sea floor and turning it into oil. Exports are petrochemicals, a little bit of farm produce and missionaries. Many people hate the Neulanders and claim they are 'squatters' on New Canaan territory and limbs of Satan to boot, while corporate contractors and bored US colonial marines love going there to have some un-Biblical fun on their days off.

Adelbert PLC (the Napoleonic Tendency)

A corporate state within Neuland, citizen/employees have traded in a lot of democracy for stability and protection. Govt Type 3, Law Level 5 (within their own installations and when protecting their own people), TL 10. Often called 'the Napoleonic Tendency' by Neulanders, and has a constantly rotating citizenship as people fall out with the petty bureaucracy and snotty Francophone bosses and leave, or get equally pissed off by the uncertainty of self-employment, temporary workers coops and outright violence of some bits of Neuland. With tensions rising with the New Canaanites many feel being part of something with a proper army would be a good idea, not trusting the bolshie survivalist eco-terrorists who 'defend' Neuland by picking fights with the Christian Militia and blowing up oil installations. Adelbert's execs are trying to get recognition as an EU member state. Mainly involved in mining, but also food production and manufacturing.

The Cyber-Raj (the Principality of Silikanbagh)

The oldest colony on Epsilon, the Cyber-Raj occupies an equatorial island where the eccentric CEO of an Indian cybernetics firm has created a Hindu Bollywood version of North Korea with robot peasants and computerised Brahmins. Govt Type 10, Law Level 11, TL who knows? Have extensively mucked about with the environment, and have a forest they claim is stiff with cloned Bengal tigers who will eat intruders. Export only foodstuffs, including tea and spices, their robot technology while obviously advanced is a secret. Very few people go in or out. What are they building in there?

So what is your planet like?

Redwyrm

Redwyrm is one of the sacred sites of Balazar, a 100m long artifical mound shaped like a snake about to eat an oval object. The mound itself is turfed over but the whole area has a peculiar form of red ochre under a thin layer of topsoil. The ochre is red when the Red Moon is full, and darkens as the moon darkens to become black. It is dug up from a pit in the oval at the mouth.

According to the shamen there the ochre used to be always red, until the rising of the Red Moon 375 years ago, when its peculiar transformations began. Legends say the Redwyrm was a vast monster that terrorised the land during the Godtime, slain by Foundchild and buried on this site and the ochre was its congealed blood, and he showed the warriors of prehistoric Balazar how to paint themselves in the ochre and gain great power. Later, when the dragonewts and their human servants dominated the land the Redwyrm warriors were their great foes and never accepted their rule, and were suppressed and the site abandoned. When Balazar came the Red Wyrm itself raised itself out of the ground and attacked him only to be defeated once again, and the Redwyrm warriors were re-formed and went with him to Dragon Pass to fight in the Dragonkill War.

The site was a mustering point for the old rulers of Elkoi on their raids into the lowlands, but when the Lunar Empire invaded the Redwyrm warriors allied themselves with them and helped overthrow the Tiger clan (who ruled the city at the time) and install the Black Dog clan. They are allies still, and act as guides and scouts to Lunar patrols, and they hire themselves out as mercenaries to the lowland kings and queens of Tarsh, Holay, Imther and Vanch.

The Redwyrm warriors are great rivals of the Crow warriors, and bands of men from the two warrior societies at least hurl insults at each other whenever they meet and frequently fight.

Follower

To enrol as a Redwyrm warrior one must dance the length of the mound on a night of the full moon painted in red ochre while being avoiding being assaulted by spirit-snakes, a Heroquest of Resonance 40%. The River Snake clan has always been an enemy of the Redwyrm and the resonance is at +10%, and if the person has ever been an ally of the Crow Stone is is at +20%.

He must make the right moves (Dance 20%), avoid the snakes (Evade 40% or Stealth 40%), survive being bitten if he fails (Resilience 60%), and stare the wyrm itself in the eyes without flinching (Persistence 20%). Failure results in the warrior having a mortal fear of snakes until he gets it right.

The Shamen teach followers Speedart, Mobility, Javelin, Club and Shield combat, Spear and Shield combat and Lore (Tribal Warfare). The follower can now see snake spirits, and gets +20% on resilience rolls when resisting snake venom.

He may be called up by the cult to serve for a maximum of 49 days in every year with no pay, and while on operations must wear non-magical black and red warpaint and must obey the commands of his superiors explicitly and without question or face immediate dismissal and cursing by the snake spirits. This is a great contrast to most tribal warbands who fight only if they feel they have a stake in the fight, and may abandon their warchief and go home if they disagree with him with no more than a few harsh words exchanged.

Redwyrm Warrior (Votary)

The Redwrym cult skills are: Stealth, Resilience, Evade, any Ranged Combat, Lore (Tribal Warfare), Lore (Poisons) and Athletics. Any follower with 30% in five of these skills and the Speedart spell can try and become a Redwyrm warrior. There may only be 49 members of the cult at any one time, and when a member dies a competition is held at the Redwym to see which follower will be promoted, or a follower may challenge any existing member to a single combat and take his place.

Warriors get to wear the ochre warpaint of the cult (see below), and bind one snake spirit, and carry the distinctive snake club and shield. This is a heavy baton with a round head with two stone fangs which may carry poison, and a small round hide shield marked with a sinuous red snake.

He must obey the orders of his superiors without question, even if it means taking part in a suicidal attack. Redwyrm warriors are respected for their devotion and any who disobey orders are subjected to the snake bite ordeal. He gets one share of any proceeds in loot or pay.

Redwyrm Captain (Seer)

Must have 75% in five cult skills and may learn Oratory, Lore (Lunar Provinces), Speak Lunar and Lore (Lizardkind). This last skill gives them the ability to know what wyrms, dragons, wyverns, dragonewts and snakes weaknesses are and increases their chance of a critical hit against them in combat. Captains may bind up to ½ their Charisma in snake spirits, with spirits increasing stealth, movement speed and strike rank being the most popular. Fetishes involve snake skulls and snakeskin headbands and clothing. He gets seven shares in the proceeds of any mission.

Captains can quest to bind curse spirits, phantom snakes that sneak up on enemies and bite them and enchant reptile slaying arrows and darts, which does not make them at all popular with the Crocodile and River Snake clans, as these weapons will also slay their clan members due to their spiritual connections.

One of the most famous captains, Cadwallaun is not even a Balazaring, but a Holayan soldier who worked alongside the Redwyrms when he was part of the Lunar garrison at Elkoi and decided to join (or was perhaps ordered to by his superiors, the better to impress this potentially dangerous native unit and get them 'onside'). Another captain, Razadan Longtooth, is a Tiger clan member and a Seer of Jakaleel as well, commanding moon spirits.

Redwyrm Shaman (Shaman)

There is only one shaman, Ulvarang Seven Snakes of the Great Sable clan, and he rules his warband with an iron rod, literally; he has a an iron warclub that was gifted to him by the current head of the Lunar garrison, and wears a Lunar officers chainmail hauberk. Since he can claim 49 shares from any pay or loot whether present on an operation or not, and the Redwyrms have been pretty much taken on full time as scouts and enforcers by the Lunar Provincial army he has accumulated a lot of personal wealth for a Balazaring. He wears a gold ring, dresses his wife in fine linen clothing and jewelled necklaces and indulges himself with imported wine from a silver tankard. He is a friend of King Glyptus, has a house in Elkoi and spends a lot of time at the palace. He also has a well made lodge out at the mound he has been planning on replacing with a lowland style thatched roundhouse.

The shaman appoints his successor from among the captains, and his word is final. Cadwallaun is the current number two, and Ulvarang is confident that his warband will stick to their oaths of loyalty and accept him without question, for all the fact that he is a foreigner. Mutterings among the troops have been ruthlessly quelled with administration of the poison ordeal and in some cases a smart blow to the back of the head with his iron club.

Redwrym Shaman may only serve until they are 49 years old, or until they are too old, ill or wounded to do the snake dance. After that they are ritually sacrificed to the snake spirits and, after sky burial for a few weeks, their bones are interred in the oval earthwork at the snakes mouth. Ulvarang is 47, but still hale and hearty and likely to remain so as he hasn't personally led a warband for a decade or more, so the issue of his 'retirement' and the succession is going to be a live one quite soon.

Hiring Rates

Redwyrms can be recruited for 7 or 49 day contracts, minimum 1 lunar a day for a follower, 7 for a Warrior, 49 for a Captain. More is charged for a known danger and the Shaman will negotiate looting rights and a cut from the ransom of any captives taken. Ulvarang only accepts Lunar Empire minted coin these days, and expects the money to be paid directly to him, up front. The days when they would fight for bundles of hides and right to take a few slaves are long gone. On the plus side the Redwryms are very reliable, and will fight to the death for their employer.

The Red-Black Ochre

The shaman enchants lumps of this in a yearly ceremony at the sacred time, in batches of 49 lumps good for 3+1d3 applications each.

Full Moon (Red) +1 AP, +10% Persistence, +10% Resilience, +10% Combat

Crescent Come/Crescent Go +1 AP, +10% Persistence

Empty Half/Full Half +10% Stealth

Black/Dying +20% Stealth, -10% Persistence, +3 magic points

Favourite Poisons

Sleeping Wyrm

Potency 60+1d20%. Injected, Onset Time 1d3 rounds, Resistance time 1 round, Duration 1d6 hours, Resistance: Persistence, Conditions: Exhaustion

Each failed resistance roll causes one extra step of fatigue until the target is asleep.

Red Venom

Potency 20+1d20%, halved at Black/Dying Moon, doubled at Full Moon, Injected or Ingested Onset time 5 minutes, Resistance time 1 day, Duration 2d6 days, Resistance: Insight, Conditions: Sapping, Confusion, Hallucination

This slow acting poison is a potent hallucinogen, making the victim a gibbering wreck, convinced the snakes are writhing out of the ground, the trees and ultimately even his comrades,and unless restrained he will run away and cower in terror. A favourite for hit and run attacks on large groups, slows advance of enemy forces immensely as they have to care for insane comrades for days before they calm down. If the Rewyrms can sneak into a camp and poison the food, so much the better.

Black Venom

Potency 20+1d20%, Injected, Onset time 1d3 rounds, Resistance time one roll, Duration 5d10 minutes, Resistance: Resilience, Conditions: Paralysis

Affects the hit location only, doing 1d6 extra damage, which is regained at 1 HP per hour after the effect ends. If it hits the chest, breathing is affected causing exhaustion, if it hits the head the victim must roll 1d4; on a 1 they become dumb, 2, deaf, 3 blind and 4 roll twice.

Ordeal Poison

Potency special%, Ingested, Onset time 1d10 minutes, Resistance time 1 hour, Duration 6+1d6 hours, Resistance: Resilience, (Dance, Athletics) Conditions: Death

Taken by disobedient Redwyrms, the effects are mitigated by constant movement, usually constant strenuous dancing, but in fact merely running and jumping will do the trick. The first instance of disobedience is punished with potency 30+1d20% poison, the second by a more potent batch of 50+1d20% and so on. Each hour of dancing will cause a check vs fatigue, and the poison will reduce DEX permanently by 1, even if resisted.

Sample Lunar Cults

Jakaleel, the Lunar shaman

Lunar missionaries have had some success in spreading the cult of Jakaleel the Witch in Balazar, as in many ways it resembles the native cult of Votank. Five Spirit Moons and Jakaleel the Witch are separate practices, but Jakaleel shamen always follow both. The Tiger clan are almost all converted, and followers and votaries can be found in many other clans. A coven of Jakaleel shamen is based at Elder's Rock.

Cult Skills: The Lunar Way, Spirit Walk (Jakaleel), Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons), Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch), Speak Lunar, Persistence, Lore (Ancestors), Perception, Meditation, Dance, Craft Mask.

Follower

Followers may see and identify Five Moon or Ancestor spirits within range, and may be taught the Common Magic spells Countermagic, Countermagic Shield, Detect Magic and Glamour.

They may hold one spirit fetish (the Jakaleel cult likes to use human bones decorated with silver and red cords or ribbons).

Votary

Votaries need 30% in five cult skills and can speak with ancestor spirits in their own language and with moon spirits in Lunar. They can hold up ¼ CHA in spirits, but cannot bind spirits themselves.

They may learn the common magics Spirit Bane and Bearing Witness.

They may be part of a group of six bound to a Moon Guardian (see below).

Seer

Seers need 50% in five cult skills, and may bind Moon spirits if they have Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons) 60%+, and ancestors if they have Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) 60%+. Ancestors will be hostile if not themselves Lunar worshippers, but may be converted to Lunarism by a successful Spirit Combat followed by a Lunar Way averaged with Influence roll. This aggressive conversion of ancestors is becoming a major source of disquiet among the Balazarings. They may have a maximum of ½ their CHA in spirits.

Balazaring Seers may also summon and bind Nature spirits of their own totem using their Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) skill.

Shaman

Needs 75% in five cult skills, one of which must be a Spirit Binding skill, and may summon ¾ of their CHA in spirits. May gain the use of a Moon Guardian Spirit, which is bound collectively to six followers of Jakaleel of rank Votary or above. Shamen can summon Spirits of the Dead using their Spirit Binding (Jakaleel the Witch) skill; the shaman need not be related to these ancestor spirits, and they will always initially be hostile. They may be converted to the Lunar Way as per ancestors but the roll is always at least hard (-20% per intensity of spirit).

Their fetch is a moon spirit and can be seen using Spirit Walk or Second Sight as an unearthly red glow around the shaman.

High Shaman

Needs 90% in five cult skills, including both forms of Spirit Binding taught by Jakaleel and Spirit Walk. Can bind up to CHA in spirits.

High Shamen can also lay the dead permanently to rest, conducting a funeral ceremony such that the person's spirit cannot be cajoled back to earth by anyone but its rightful descendants as an honoured ancestor. This will work on any spirit, even malevolent ghosts and undead if you can get hold of a part of their physical remains.

There is only one High Shaman in Balazar, Marusa the Moon-Woman, who wanders the country trying to convert the locals, and spirit plane trying to convert their ancestors.

Available Spirits

Spirits of the Five Moons Tradition are Full Moon, Half Moon, Hollow Moon, Waxing Moon and Waning Moon, and a shaman may have no more than one of each. Full Moon spirits are of the intellect and mind, Half Moon spirits are combat oriented, Hollow Moon spirits are demented curse spirits that drive people insane, Waning Moon spirits cover fertility, innocence and healing, while Waxing Moon spirits aid hunting, including hunting other spirits.

In addition a shaman may also have a Guardian Moon spirit as part of a group of six worshippers. This is created in a ritual involving a masked dance and spirit quest (Dance of the Empty Mask, Resonance 40% +10% per intensity of spirit). Combine the POW of the six worshippers, and divide by 5 to get the POW of the Guardian Moon, plus 1d6 per intensity of the spirit, combine the INT of all worshippers and divide by 7 to give the INT and combine CHA and divide by 8 to give CHA. It can donate magic points to any of the six people it is bound to, pass messages over any distance, add its POW as a bonus to any Persistence or Common Magic rolls, its INT to Insight and its CHA to Influence. It knows Countermagic at 1/3 its INT and may cast it at a worshippers request. If the mask it was originally summoned with is destroyed it will be banished, and if the worshipper loses the fetish they lose contact with the spirit.

Spirits of the Dead can be used to enhance skills and mental stats, but the best ones are curse spirits, though the shaman releasing them must be very careful that they don't turn on him. Using a Spirit of the Dead will earn the enmity of any of that spirits living descendants.

The shaman's own ancestors may be used as personal Guardian spirits, no more than one at any one time. Shamen may also bind an ancestor into a mask he has made himself, and when he dons that mask he allows that ancestor to possess him, hopefully temporarily.

Order of Jakaleel the Spindle Hag

This is a sorcerous school based on the teachings of the wizard Tetese, who journeyed to the spirit realm of Jakaleel and found other ways of working with the spirits of the dead, and going beyond what Jakaleel achieved to summon Lunar Demons. The Spindle Hag and Witch cults are separate entities, even though they both follow the same Immortal, and it isn't common for a single practitioner to join both. Jakaleel shamen are usually found on the fringes of the Empire and in poor peasant communities, Spindle Hag is more urbanised. Cyriel Endlekar is rumoured to have a Spindle Hag adept on his payroll.

Cult Skills: The Lunar Way, Manipulation (Spindle Hag), Grimoire (Book of Vile Secrets), Read/Write Lunar, Persistence, Insight, Meditation, Perception, Stealth, Lore (Demonology), Dance

Novice

Novices of the Spindle Hag order are usually only required to watch corpses to ensure they do not revive without permission, bless funerals where foul play is suspected, and perhaps cause a little light mayhem themselves, with minor curses and mischief.

They may learn the common magic spells Bandit's Cloak, Bearing Witness, Detect Spirit, Push/Pull and Fate. The only sorcery they may learn is Mystic Vision.

Apprentice

Requires 30% in five cult skills. The Apprentice may learn more common magic, with Darkwall, Demoralise, Disruption, Chill and Boon of Lasting Night. They may also learn more of the Book of Vile Secrets and can have up to INT x ¼ in spells. They must have Mystic Vision, and can learn Resist Spirit, Speak with Ghost, Manifest Ghost, Blind, Silence, Attract Spirit, Banish Spirit

Adept

Must have 50% in five of the cult skills, including Grimoire (Book of Vile Secrets). The Adept may learn up to half their INT in spells, including Bind Ghost, which enables them to take the spirit of a newly dead person and ensure it becomes a ghost. It is bound to a charm made of human bone decorated with silver and red ribbons and may be hidden in a house to ensure its haunting. They may also learn Darkvision, which enables them to see normally in darkness, Animate Darkness, Project Vision, Diminish (STR, CON, INT, POW, CHA) and Protective Ward.

Adepts sometimes find jobs as house exorcists or assassins for noble families where ghosts and spirits have been used as part of Dart Wars.

Mage

Mages of the Spindle Hag need 75% in five skills, including Grimoire (The Book of Vile Secrets) and can learn ¾ of their INT in spells, and get to use the most feared and potent spells of all, Summon (Demon), Command (Demon), Command (Monster) and Tap (Spirit).

Each class of demon has its own summon and command spells, and the size of demon is determined by the Manipulation (Spindle Hag) skill. Demons that are available include Strix, Destixin, Shades and Lunes, but others are possible, even demons serving deities such as Ikadz and Deshkorgos. Since it is not possible to banish a demon, these creatures are not summoned lightly.

Command (Monster) is also a separate spell for each class of creature. The cult knows how to command snakes and spiders of all kinds, wraiths, cave trolls, Voralans (Dark Aldryami), Broo and possibly some other chaos creatures as well.

Tap (Spirit) can only be used against disembodied spirits, but can absorb POW and CHA with the one spell.

Archmage

There is only one Archmage of the order, the crone Tetese herself, who serves at the court of Takenegi as exorcist and demonist. She has a network of loyal spies, and is trying, unsubtly, to take over the Jakaleel shamen.

Polytheism and the Lunar Way

Over the years the many many books have been published about Glorantha's Lunar Empire and its major feature – it's supposedly unifying universal religion. Since MRQII was set in a period before the rising of the Red Moon nothing was written about it for the MRQII/Legend rules, so here is my take, adapted freely from Issaries' Publications Imperial Lunar Handbook volumes I and II and Champions of the Reaching Moon.

Polytheism and magic

The natural state of the Gloranthan public is polytheism. A spirit worshipper calls on many spirits from his local area and traditions; a theist prays to the farming god when he plants his crops, the gods of the elements and weather when he wants them to grow, the god of war when danger threatens and so on, and even the monotheistic westerners call on multiple saints and guilds.

And all these gods, spirits and orders allow the person to use magic. Trying to combine magic from different pantheons gets difficult however, if the hierarchies controlling them will even allow you to do so. For example an Orlanth cultist might be able to go up to a Yelm temple and drop a coin in the collection plate, but the hierarchy will be deeply suspicious and will want him to repudiate his previous god before letting him in. A Balazaring shaman who binds a Praxian spirit will be seen as being guilty of kidnap and worse and Praxian shamen will pursue him and punish him, and the fate of a Rokari churchman who is found to have learned spells from a heretical Hrestoli Idealist grimoire will be painful to say the least.

And it is even harder to combine types of magic. Adopting the mindset required to command and control spirits makes the subservience to divine will and the logical frame of mind of sorcery harder and vice versa.

There are exceptions of course, there always are. The Lankhor Mhy Temple at Jonstown contains a grimoire of sorcery spells reformulated and blessed for use by their sages, and priests of Orlanth Thunderous have often controlled wind spirits of the Kolat tradition, but on the whole people who try and combine two or more forms of 'higher' magic are limited to mere dabbling.

Game Mechanics:

Each PC has a maximum number of spells based on his highest rank in any religion, which is his Primary Religion. Each spell from a different pantheon counts as 2 spells, each spell from a different style of magic counts as (Rank in primary religion+1) spells.

For example Tazos of Trilus is a Soldier of Tharkantus (Rank 1) with POW 12. He can have a maximum of POWx0.25 = 3 divine spells. He is also a Hawk Warrior of Balazar (Rank 1), but since his Pact skill is 50% and his Spirit Binding only 30%, Tharkantus is his primary Religion.

Tazos binds a Hawk spirit, counting as 2 spells (his rank in Tharkantus+1). He can now only have one divine spell.

If Tazos joined the cult of Orlanth and sacrificed for an Orlanth divine spell this would count as 2 spells, as Orlanth is from a different pantheon to Tharkantus. If he tried to bind a wind spirit from the Kolating spirit tradition it would count as (2x2) = 4 spells, as it is a different pantheon and a different magic type, and he just couldn't do it.

Primary religion can change if the character puts more effort into learning the new cult theology than in increasing his current one; his access to spells will change if he does so and jealous gods and spirits may well withdraw the magic hey have granted him.

The Lunar Religion

The Lunars are the big exception. The Lunar 'pantheon' is bewilderingly broad and diverse and it includes spirit traditions, gods and sorcerous orders. Lunar worshippers are positively encouraged to follow multiple gods and their most powerful mages will deploy a mix of spirits, sorcery and divine magic.

Lunar gods fall into three main categories:

First are the Moon goddesses. Sedenya and her priests demonstrated that she had always been a part of most Pelorian pantheons, and that the diverse and obscure moon goddesses were all in fact one and the same and were all reincarnated in her, the glorious Red Moon. Ulurda, Gerra, Lesilla, Natha and so on are all older moon goddesses whose worship has been updated to take into accont their status as previous incarnations of Sedenya.

Then there are the 'Healed' deities, mostly minor gods or demons from other pantheons who were converted to the Lunar way through heroquests by Sedenya or major Lunar heroes. These include Yara Aranis, Erelia and Verelia, Alanthor, Blaskarth and others. One favourite Lunar tactic is to find a demon from an enemies pantheon, such as Yara Aranis from the Horse Nomads, convert it and deploy it against them as an Imperial ally.

And finally a there are a whole range of Immortals, mortals who have raised themselves to godhood through devotion to the Red Moon. These are motley crew to say the least, including the original Seven Mothers, deified charioteers and accountants and living demigods like Hon Eel and the Emperor Takenegi, who are descended from the Goddess herself. They include the founders of various sorcerous orders such as the Orders of Borovich, Makabeus and the like.

Most people in the Empire worship these gods from time to time, but are not initiates. A worshipper of the Dara Happan pantheon still owes his primary allegiance to Yelm and will possibly be an initiate of one of the gods of his divine court, but will occasionally pray to Sedenya or one of her aspects as well, and will accept the Red Emperor as his legitimate ruler.

Any Lunar initiate of any cult who knows something of The Lunar Way (see below) can learn and use any moon related spell from any other with no penalty. A Sorcerer of the Order of Makabeus will have the skill Grimoire (Tome of Bleak Despair) and a head full of Makabean spells, but can also learn Pact (Irripi Ontor) and use his Divine magic with no penalty, and Jakaleel the Witch's Spirit Binding (Five Spirit Moons) and have a spirit or two handy as well.

Without this skill the Lunar worshipper has the usual penalties for learning spells from other gods of the same pantheon and different magical traditions.

In addition many of the Lunar gods count as being in a local pantheon as well as the Lunar one. The Red Emperor is not just a Lunar deity, he is a Dara Happan one as well, and a dedicated follower of the Emperor can learn the magic of Yelm, Lokarnos or any of the other Solar deities at no penalty.

Game Mechanics:

If you know the Lunar Way to any level, all Lunar spells count as 1 spell against the maximum known, no matter what type and no matter what rank you are in your primary religion.

The Lunar Way

This is a skill that any initiate of one of the specifically Lunar deities can learn as an Advanced skill.

The starting score is POW, but there is a bonus of 1% per 10% Speak Lunar and 1% per 5% in any Lunar spell casting skill such as Grimoire, Pact or Spirit Binding. This skill cannot be increased by improvement rolls, and training is very scarce and limited to high ranking members of the Lunar hierarchy. Gains can also be made through deeds benefiting the Red Moon.

This link between the Lunar Way and the Lunar language is one reason why barbarians sometimes refuse to learn it, to speak the tongue of the Moon really is to become it's servant.

The Lunar Way can be used to substitute for any Lunar magical skill such as Spirit Walk, Theology or Manipulation, a Lunar learning any new moon-related magical skill can start at this level if it exceeds the usual basic %age.

The skill also affects how influenced a character is by Lunar cycles beyond the Glowline. On the day of the full moon he adds his Lunar way skill, or 20%, whichever is higher, to any Lunar magic roll, on half moon days the bonus is half the Lunar Way or 10%, on crescent moon days there is no penalty or bonus and on Dark Moon days the penalty is the skill in The Lunar Way or -20% whichever is greater. Within the Glowline there is never any penalty or bonus as the magic influence of the moon is 'evened out' by the Temples of the Reaching Moon.

The Lunar Way is also used in the rites of the so-called Lunar Illumination or Sevening, a key stage on the way to becoming a Lunar Immortal oneself. Illuminates receive a bonus of +the crit range of their Lunar Way skill to all magic skills if within the Glowline.

Most initiates of Lunar cults will know the Lunar Way as the knowledge is required to become a Lunar Citizen and is always useful in advancing in the hierarchy of these religions.