DMing Chemistry

Dragons being a mostly solitary species rarely came into contact with each other, save to mate or to fight. This of course meant that over time mortals with their increasingly complex and efficient societies were eventually able to overcome even the strongest dragons. Dragons, being an intelligent species saw what was happening, and were desperately searching for a way to avoid extinction. The solution ironically came from mortals as well. Originally developed for the convenience of Sorcerer-Kings, long-range communication magic in the form of crystal balls, sacred pools and the like were perfect for enabling meetings between dragons without triggering their instincts to tear each other apart. Thus the draconic society was born. Being so new, their society is barely more than a forum for them to share information, but still it has enabled dragons to somewhat anticipate and be better prepared for mortal incursions into their territories, and with more and more of those who refused to j...

Copperbugs, also known as bronzebane bugs, are curious little critters. Growing to about the size of an adult’s fist, the carapace of these beetles is made from the purest copper. While the smaller, younger ones may be able to fly, the adults are too heavy for their wings to actually lift them off the ground. In order to gain the copper necessary for building their carapaces, copperbugs eat raw copper, and copper alloys, neatly depositing any other metals and any impurities in small little piles. This obviously makes them very dangerous for anything made out of bronze, as a dozen or so copperbugs can and will eat render an entire suit of armor unusable in less than an hour. On the other hand, feeding them low quality copper, then harvesting their carapaces is a very cheap, reliable and easy, if quite time-consuming way of getting high quality copper. They can even be used to separate low quality bronze to its component parts, so that a better alloy may be made. Of course military ap...

Hoktar are strange magical beings with limited shapeshifting abilities. Normally they look like horses, but they are usually bigger than any normal horse, large enough that even a human could easily ride them. They usually come in striking colors, such as blood-red, sunset orange, or jet black. Unlike horses, however, hoktar are strictly carnivorous, and seem to prefer the meat of intelligent beings. Their usual hunting strategy is to pretend to be normal horses, then when the prospective rider gets too close, they transform into their true form, which is still quit horse-like, but features long, sharp fangs, powerful claws, and a jaw that can open to an almost 180 degree angle. Some hoktar like to hunt near bodies of water, where they can drown their victims, others are content to just tear them to shreds. While it is extremely difficult, it is possible to tame hoktar, and use them as mounts, though this is mostly relegated to myths about demigods, and the most heroic of mortals. ...

According to legend, long ago mortals were ruled by monster-headed giants. They are said to have been about six to seven meters tall, and have heads like that of an elephant or a tapir. In the old stories they are portrayed as cruel masters, who cared little for mortals, and viewed them as livestock, if that. It is said that each day they would take one of their slaves, and eat them. Thankfully they are no more. After much crying and praying and sacrificing what meager offerings mortals could get, the gods helped mortals overthrow them, and kill them to the last. At least that’s what the temples and the nobles say, and any half-crazed adventurers who comes back to civilization after months of being lost in the frontiers claiming to have seen a monster-headed giant hiding in the unexplored parts of the world, far from the reach of mortals, are quickly and quietly gotten rid of.   Image by Enrique Alcatena

While the word ‘dragon’ gets applied to many wildly different creatures, the ones most consider to be ‘true’ dragons, are an interesting bunch. They look neither wholly mammal nor reptile, scales and fur both covering their towering frames. While no two are exactly alike, and they can vary in their size, color, number of limbs, or abilities, they do have some things in common, which mark them as belonging to the same group. The first one is their aforementioned mixture of traits, the second is their batlike wings, which allow them to fly, unless they have grown too fat on their many victims. The third is their affinity to some kind of ruin. They spread this ruin around their lairs merely by existing, and they can focus it into a kind of breath weapon. For example a fire dragon’s domain would be permanently burnt out and it would be able to breath fire, while a poison dragon’s demesne would produce choking fumes, and the dragon itself would be able to breath poison strong enough to ki...

This small, ornate bracelet is made entirely out of blood-gold . It is made to resemble vines, and it has small leaf and thorn motifs on it. The bracelet is enchanted with a devastating spell. The wearer can call forth a mass of thorny vines that can reach to dozens of meters, and move as directed by the wearer. The vines can also drain the blood of their victims through the thorns (they are hollow, like injection needles). The most common way to use this ability is to entangle someone with the vines, then use the thorns to suck them dry. When allowed to drain blood, the vines will slowly turn more and more red the more blood they have drained. If the vines are cut, the blood will slowly drip out, like sap. The bracelet is currently in the possession of a demon named Ikhadi, who has been cursed to only be able to sustain himself by drinking blood. He values it very highly for obvious reasons, and will do anything to get it back, if he ever loses it.

The Flute Mountains lay to the west of the former Ippur Empire , and are sparsely inhabited by nomadic tribes. The mountains are home to a unique geological formation: mile-long tunnels crisscross the peaks, from small ones, whose diameter is barely a span, to ones so gigantic that ten men standing on each others’ shoulders wouldn’t be able to reach the ceiling. Some of these tunnels also end in strange chimney-like formations, not unlike the tubular corals that live in the seas. The mountains get their name from the otherworldly noises the wind makes when moving through the tubes. It is said that anyone who stays up for a whole night listening to it, inevitably goes mad. How the nomads manage to stay sane is anyone’s guess, but the most popular theory is that they stuff cotton in their ears before the night falls. The place is also popular with musicians, after the legendary piper Amal-Nur allegedly gained magical powers by deciphering the music of the mountains. It is held that th...

This small copper coin is so worn, that it can’t be determined who issued it or when. It has a strange magical property: when put into an empty purse or pocket, its owner can pull an unlimited amount coins from there. The coins are always of the smallest local legal tender, and they must be pulled out one by one. While it is possible to eventually gain a large sum of money using this item, it has a nasty habit of getting lost if its owner tries to live an extravagant lifestyle, almost as if the coin had a mind of its own, and didn’t approve of being misused. The coin is, of course a popular topic of myths and folktales, its creation variously attributed to the gods, spirits, a race of small subterranean humanoids, or an ancient sorcerer wishing to teach someone a lesson. It is currently held at the royal treasury of the Paired Kingdoms of the south. Apparently the coin doesn’t mind being owned by a rich individual, if it’s not actually being used.

The Scholars of the Wandering Forest are a loose group of mystics, priests, and sorcerers whose goal is to achieve a more systematic understanding of magic. They have already made huge contributions to the field of enchanting, compiling a list of “common” enchantments that any magic user can learn, regardless of how they obtained their power. While there are still enchantments that are so specialized that only those with specific divine connections can use them, giant leaps have been made in making the production of self-sailing ships and enchanted war-chariots much easier. Their current aim is to find a way for sorcerers to find a way to transcribe the most common spells, so that magic users can learn them without relying on the innate power of their bloodline, or divine help. This is obviously very destabilizing to the status quo, and consequently the Scholars are treated as outlaws almost everywhere. Some lesser nobles might shelter a few of them for a little while, hoping to ga...

Just taking a quick glace at the Illustrious Decatron shows them to be one of the metal men , but they emphatically denies this. The fact that they can use the languages of mortals (and several languages not spoken by mortals) is quite curious, as is their strange form. Unlike most metal men, whose heads look like crude replicas of humanoid faces, the illustrious Decatron has a strange, tubular head which can project images on the side the face should be. Their frame stands almost two meters tall, but is quite wiry, and it looks like a normal adult could easily knock them over. They dress in strange garments, as if from another time and place entirely. Unlike the “lesser automata” as they call them, the Illustrious Decatron doesn’t spend their existence holed up in one place, but they travel the world looking for something they can’t describe (or at least not in any terms normal mortals would understand). Many claimed to have destroyed them, but the illustrious Decatron seemingly k...

When people blessed with great magical powers die, their family takes great care to prevent their body being stolen. They are however, not always entirely successful. Bits and pieces of powerful sorcerers fetch quite a good price on the black market, and those learned in the magical arts can coax from but a single bone, a shadow of the powers its owner once commanded. Fingers are the easiest to cut off steal from a corpse, so any body-parts of dead sorcerers are referred to as the fingers of the blessed in colloquial speech. Most sorcerers own at least a few of these “fingers”, as they are the easiest way for them to access powers they were not born with themselves. Of course careful study of the fingers is required, as the methods of calling forth those powers are unique to each individual the finger belonged to. These methods can be figured out, but that required knowing the time of the past owner’s birth and death, as well as an intimate knowledge of astrology. Attempting the wro...

Occasionally one can happen upon gigantic humanoid remains when wandering the world. These corpses, dead for untold thousands of years, lean against mountains, lay in riverbeds with only a hand poking out, or curled up, become mountains themselves. For most the cause of death is impossible to determine, but at least some seem to have met a violent end. These corpses are colloquially known as the corpses of titans. They are usually left alone by people living in the area, as something that gigantic must hold some power even in death and whatever power remains is sure to not look kindly upon those who would disturb its rest. The real value such a corpse has, actually lays under it. Whatever minerals lay under the corpse often become tainted with its blood, becoming blood red in the process. Metals made from such ores retain a bit of this red coloring, and accept and retain enchantment much better than the common variant of the metal does. In order to commemorate their victory against s...

Originally constructed to fight against monsters with petrifying gazes, this round shield is coated with silver, forming a reflective surface when polished properly. Unlike most shields, it is mostly undecorated, although there is a small relief depicting the gods defeating and disassembling Gar . This shield features in multiple myths around the world, though how it got from one hero to another is usually missing from the narrative. It is currently believed to be housed in the royal armory of Morgonda .

In the dark depths of the world, there are many dangerous creatures surface-dwellers would never believe exist. One such creature, which priests and scholars will argue cannot possibly be real is the magic-eater. Since magic is always the manifestation of the divine, the gods would surely have eradicated such creatures, they say. Unswayed by their passionate arguments, the magic-eater continues to be real, and a danger to all who dare enter its hunting grounds. The magic-eater looks like a curious cross between a weasel and an ant with large mandibles, an elongated furry body, and six spindly legs. As the name suggests its main ability is to each magic, both from enchanted items (destroying the item in the process), and from spells lobbed its way. Since the magic-eater is the size of a large rhino, it is quite difficult to bring down with just mundane weapons. Since the magic-eater can subsist on the magical energies flowing freely through the air, it can essentially live forever, ...

Chariots on the battlefields are used by the wealthiest of nobles who either can work magic themselves, or can pay someone to do it for them. This means that while enchanting an entire warchariot is a lot of work, most nobles who can afford a chariot can afford to enchant them as well. The most common enchantments are those that allow the rider (most commonly equipped with a bow and arrows) to stand more securely on the moving vehicle, or ones that protect the people inside the chariot’s body from arrows or hostile magic. Other, more niche enchantments also exist, such as the ones on the Chariot of Mekineios . Image by Johnny Shumate

The city of Morgonda lies far to the west. It is inhabited mainly by humans , but it is a highly atypical settlement. Not just because of its size (it’s easily the largest human city), but because it was not built by the ancestors of its inhabitants. Instead it is an old facility of those who came before , repurposed into a city. It essentially a single, gargantuan building made of some unknown green metal. On its four corners there are four statues of robed humanoid figures holding strange devices that emit a soft red glow. The inhabitants of Morgonda managed to get some of its ancient systems working, such as the hydroponic gardens, the lights and the transport tubes. They can even awaken the strange driverless chariots housed in the city, but they are used only in emergencies, as they have correctly deduced that they stop working when the fuel gauge reaches zero, and they have no way of refueling them. While Morgonda is famous for its metalworking (they managed to reverse enginee...

Kug-Muti was said to be the craftiest of the Five Sorcerers of Satnak , but now no-one dares speak of him. He was there in the beginning, when the flames of rebellion first flared in the city, before mighty Nimir-Esh set foot on its soil. When the Five were first formed, he was among them, his name and likeness carved on walls and pillars across the city. It did not last. His name, his deeds, even his likeness was erased following his betrayal. Yet Kug-Muti escaped with his life, and is now in hiding. None have seen him for the past forty-four years, but every time a band of raiders is sighted near the city, every time a caravan gets massacred to the last man, every time a convoy of ships is lost with no survivors his influence is suspected. This might be paranoia, or some may really be his doing. It doesn’t matter. For as long as he is out there, the would-be tyrants of Satnak can use his threat to further their own agenda in the city. Kug-Muti’s magic is that of shadows and misd...

Sakar-Nim is the youngest and ostensibly the least powerful of the Five Sorcerers of Satnak . He is a tall but lank man who is periodically overcome by a rattling cough that can only barely be kept away by a special tea brewed from exotic herbs. He dresses modestly and in the traditional bronze elven style. He is the last remaining rival of Narmor-Amon , and positions himself as the defender of the progressive values that Satnak rallied under during the Uprising. Although publicly he denounces Narmor-Amon’s view that political power in Satnak need to be consolidated in the hands of a single powerful individual, many fear that if Sakar-Nim were to be the only remaining sorcerer who was part of the Five, he would take absolute control just as readily as his rival. Sakar-Nim comes from a line of petty nobility, and can trace his family tree back before the founding of Satnak. One of his ancestors is said to be one of the sky cattle . His magic is that of the wind, flight, and sandsto...