DMing Chemistry

 Rather rare and elusive, the woolly hippos of the northern lands are just as ferocious as their southern cousins. They are slightly larger than normal hippos, and their fur can make them seem even bigger. Like otters, they have special glands on their skin that excrete an oily substance which makes their fur waterproof. This hippo-oil is sometimes used in perfumes, incenses and magical concoctions, so even though hunting these animals is rather dangerous, there is a lucrative market not just for their meat and fur, but other body-parts as well. Woolly hippos are less social than southern hippos, they usually live in groups of only up to around five members, most of the time a female and her children. This makes hunting them a bit easier, but finding them a bit harder. Old hunters will tell you that they used to be more common in their youths, and there may be something to that. Some Sorcerer-kings even tried using them as living weapons , but it seems even with magical help, getti...

 Bands of Brothers is the name of a pair of magical leather wristbands. They are decorated with brass, and depict a ceremony in which two people cut their hands, mix their blood in a chalice, take and oath, then drink from the chalice. This is a representation of a common ceremony where two people declare each other blood-siblings, meaning they vow to treat each other like family. The ceremony itself is rather popular with the northern humans, and the eastern nomadic peoples, but almost every culture has a variation of it. When two people put on the Bands, their life becomes linked. If one is hurt, the other is also hurt. Additionally one may sacrifice some of their vital energies to heal the other (both need to consent to this). Once two people have put on the bands, they cannot be removed. Even if an arm is chopped off, the band will just appear on the other one. If both are missing, it moves to the legs, then to the neck. The bands may only be removed after one of the wearers di...

 Some say, that all gods the orcs venerate are gods of war. While this is not true, it's undeniable that orcs pray to many war-gods, and that they often ask even their less warlike deities for boons in combat. Of course some orcish gods are more than happy to provide this sort of benefit. Astor, the Most Brilliant Star, is one of these gods. While as the most brilliant star in the sky, Astor has been the patron of sailors and travellers, he is also a brutal and unforgiving god of combat, slaughter, and the horrors of war. Just as his star shines to lead people to their destination, so does it glow brilliantly over the dead and the wounded. This duality might seem paradoxical, and it is true that no small amount of ink has been spilled over Astor's true nature, but most orcs will just shrug, and say that the sea or the road can be just as cruel as a battlefield, and that just as Astor guides sailors home, so does he guide armies to war. In art, Astor is usually represented as a...

 Vampires don't exist. Alternatively, many types of vampires exist that are so different from each other, that lumping them under the same umbrella term isn't all that useful, as all of them have different habits, strengths, weaknesses, origins, and lifecycles. So here are some creatures that can be called vampires:  The Kirki-Turo are a species of remora-like creatures, which can inhabit a humanoid's body, eat the organs inside, then take control of the husk, puppeting it around, occasionally emerging from its mouth to garb onto new prey, and suck its blood. By devouring the brain, they can gain access to the memories and intellect of their host, but concepts like compassion and love are alien to them. They will always view themselves as predators, and humanoids their prey. The Laernians, are a people cursed by the gods for long-forgotten sins. While humanoid, they take on the aspect of giant ticks, their bellies swollen and red with blood, their mouths elongated and harde...

 Brother to Atar-Numash , Adan-Imros is the god that rules over all saltwater. He his petty, and can be quite antagonistic, even if he allows humans to fish from his waters. According to myth, he was co-ruling the skies with his brother, but then got banished to only rule the oceans after a drunken rampage, during which he insulted most other gods, and passed out in a pig pen. He retained his dominion over snakes and meteors however, and he is credited with sinking Ei-Lantis when its people unknowingly helped someone he cursed to perish on the waves. He is often depicted as a bearded man with the lower body of a fish, holding a fisherman's spear. His sacred symbols are the snake eating its own tail, the armor-headed fish, and the seven-spoked wheel, as a representation of a myth where he was challenged to make the best wheel for a chariot race, so he forged the world into a wheel, with the earth being the hub, the sky being the rim, and the seven seas being the spokes. His holy da...

 Many strange creatures inhabit the bogs of the Starfallen Beast , but none are stranger than the alien creatures known as the parasites from beyond the stars. As the name suggests, they were most likely parasites on the body of the fallen behemoth, not unlike lice or ticks. However, with the death of their host, they were forced to adapt to a more terrestrial lifestyle. A change, which they have successfully made, despite some difficulties. Nowadays these parasites fit well into the ecosystem of the bogs, functioning as large carnivores, that are still kept in check by crocodiles, and other apex predators.  While not sapient, these creatures do show signs of intelligence, as they are capable of working together, and form packs of up to ten individuals, which sleep, move, and hunt together. The outward appearance of the parasites leaves no doubt about their alien origins. They look like a curious mix of a tick, a spider and a monkey, completely hairless, and covered in whit...

  This horn is made from an unknown keratinous substance, and its origin is said to be one of the horns of a strange creature that fell to the earth . It has a strange, purplish hue to it, and is decorated with elaborate carvings of the many otherworldly creatures the beast bore onto this world. It is currently in the possession of King Tarmakan, one of the preeminent leaders of the people of the bog, though he often loans it to his sons when they are sent on diplomatic missions to the surrounding lands.  Whenever the Horn is blown, its sound can be heard in the entirety of the bog. It will also attract some of the stranger creatures dwelling there, which will arrive after a few moments if within the bog, or within minutes or hours, depending on the horn's distance to the body of the Starfallen Beast. Nobody currently knows how these creatures are able to traverse entire kingdoms in a matter of hours, but theories abound. Some suggest teleportation, others that they move thro...

  The Bogs of the Starfallen Beast, are a strange place. Long ago the carcass of a massive creature fell from the stars, landing in a riverbed, forcing the water to take unpredictable courses around and under it. So huge was the body that the river could not just go around it, instead having to form lakes, bogs, and bayous in the vicinity until it finally finds its way back into the riverbed. This created an environment those that know their way around the myriad waterways can cross easily, while foreigners are left lost and are thwarted every step of the way.  The decaying remains of the titanic creature that fell also warped the land in strange and mysterious ways. Plants and animals are always just a bit strange, and even people from the area exhibit a sort of ethereal quality rarely seen in folks from elsewhere. Sometimes it also seems as if the land itself was protecting its inhabitants, shielding them with strange mists, winds carrying their voices close when they are fa...

 The Eiridian Clam is a rather average merchant vessel sailing the seas. Previously most of its business was coming from ferrying tin from Caeledor all the way around the mainland to the various empires of the Inner Sea. However, with the political instability in Caeledor and the threat of the Invaders plundering sea trade, the crew was forced to run less ambitious trading routes, where their lack of familiarity, and the frequent raids caused the enterprise to slowly run out of money. The ship is currently anchored in the harbor of Ak-Setresh, a city on the northern coast of the empire of the Reptilians .  The captain of the Clam is a morose orc named Telemakhos, who is all too aware that he cannot afford to buy cargo anymore, and is desperately looking for either a patron, or someone rich that might hire his ship and crew. If he doesn't find one soon, he will be forced to choose between piracy or selling his ship, neither of which sits well with him. Other important people o...

 The land of Ei-Lantis is protected by many enchantments. They have been weaved over hundreds of years, by many Sorcerer-Kings, priests, and other masters of the divine arts. However there is one item that, that is so interwoven with the magic of the land, that its wearer can control all these spells, and through them, assume almost direct control over much of the land itself. This artifact is of course the Royal Crown of Ei-Lantis, bestowed upon its Sorcerer-King. The Crown itself is a strange design: a steel circlet, with golden spikes jutting upwards from it, decorated with coral and pearls. It emits a subtle bluish green glow that always illuminates the wearer. It also makes the wearer's eyes glow menacingly, if they wish. Besides its use as a sort of control panel for the kingdom's defensive spells, the Crown also has a few enchantments on its own, that are independent of the land of Ei-Lantis, and work outside of it. The first is that it grants the wearer a sort of echolo...