DMing Chemistry

 There are three God-Spider sisters who weave the tapestry of fate in pale silk. Their names are Naru, Nefalla, and Niktar. One is responsible for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. One is the size of a coin, one is the height of a human, and one is so massive, her webs are wide enough to stand on. Nobody knows which one is which. They live in the deepest parts of the Underworld , away even from the other Underworld deities, who are usually more than happy to give them their space. Occasionally however, all sorts of creatures turn up at their doorstep looking for answers. This is rare, because only the truly desperate decide to brave the Underworld for such knowledge, but for those who are prepared to pay any price, no source of information can be more valuable. Despite their fearsome appearance, the three are quite nice, and are usually willing to entertain any guests for a bit. They will even serve tea, although they have an unnerving tendency to sound just li...

  Out of the many monsters that crawled up from the Underworld to take Enki , most were slain, and the survivors scattered across the face of the world. One of them, the great black serpent Nekerat, fled all the way to the deserts of the Reptilians , where she found her new home. While she mostly spends her time sleeping under the sand, she is sometimes unearthed by the winds, which wakes her and sends her on a hunt through the sands and oases. Her maw is great enough to swallow a cart whole, and she often devours entire caravans when she feels like it.  Whenever she feels truly hungry, she lunges after Hath-Ur  herself, and sometimes even catches her. However the violent flames of Hath-Ur burn her mouth fiercely, and she always ends up spitting her back out. This is the reason for some solar eclipses. When not sleeping, and after she has fed, she is, according to the priests of the desert tribes, quite reasonable, and willing to bargain. She is delighted by music, espec...

 While there are many legends both amongst the Humans and the Orcs about people who are able to turn into wolves, amongst the tribes of Caeledor , there is an unusual myth about some werewolves that are different from the rest. According to the elders, these werewolves don't fear the traditional wolfsbane, and are not harmed by silver. In fact they seem to be wholly unaffected by any weapon or magic, except an eclectic collection of materials.  The first thing anyone can tell you about these wolves is that they can be hurt by weapons made from bone or teeth, but not of claws, talons or beaks. Those even more knowledgeable will say they are also vulnerable to limestone, and sometimes other rocks as well, though other than limestone or chalk, it seems really hard to decode what's actually effective. A legendary hero named Bole is said to have defeated one such werewolf by getting his hand bitten off, then driving his sharp ulna through its neck. Another one called Shelik is re...

 The Underworld is protected by seven gates, watched over by the White Lady . There used to be six, until a man named Enki built the famous White Gates that bear his name. The next set, however is the one where the Underworld proper begins. These gates are immaterial, as befitting for something meant to keep the spirits of the dead from escaping. They are made of a scintillating blueish mist, that sticks to the dead, forever marking them as the property of the Underworld. For those so marked, these gates are just as solid as the finest steel.  These gates are mostly known as the Cold Mists, and they are often used in euphemisms for death. "Passed through the Cold Mists" is a popular one, and someone who came very close to death is often said to have felt the Cold Mists on their face. Mist-marked is a popular poetic term for the undead, even if most corporeal undead don't have their original souls inhabiting their body, and most incorporeal undead have never passed throu...

  In almost every civilized place the name Nitir-Tan is a curse, only to be spat out with disgust or whisper fearfully inside, where it's more difficult for the god to hear. His home city of Amar-Itish (whose name had to be changed, and its temples re-sanctified after the full extent of his sin was discovered) holds a festival, where they ritually burn effigies of him. Any books written by him are burned, any tablets ground to dust. Any spells he helped to create are to be forgotten, and any mention of his name in the royal chronicles is erased. His followers, when found are tortured and killed. Yet people still follow his teachings, cast his spells, and read his writings. He had a certain way with words, and many still find his arguments persuasive. Those who follow him, refer to themselves as Tannites. During his life, Nitir-Tan copied and wrote many books, but the one that made him so reviled was called Man, and Divine. For this reason his followers are often called Mandies, tho...

  While every culture has their own myths and stories featuring the local flora and fauna, there are certain animals that are almost universally associated with and/or used as an allegory for certain things - most commonly personality traits. Exactly where these associations come from is lost to the mists of time. Mortals have been travelling and sharing stories for thousands of years after all. The following list is of course not exhaustive. Worms are associated with curiosity. It is widely believed that certain birds will tap their feet on the ground to entice the curious worms to poke their heads out, so that the bird can eat them. Another common theme is curious worms spoiling the fruit they inhabit. This is usually meant to parallel how curious people can bring misfortune to their entire community. Otters , mammoths, and ducks are collectively known as 'the three wise beasts'. They are popular symbols for sorcerers, clerics, mystics, and others who commune with gods and sp...

  Old Khepsu is the name of the largest river of the lands of the Reptilians , and the god that dwells in its waters. While usually calm, once a year the river floods and buries everything in its path with rich black sediment, which allows for the cultivation of the best crops in the known world. However woe betide anyone caught in these floodwaters, as they will be swept along, and their mangled corpses shall be a feast for the vultures and the crocodiles. Old Khepsu as a god is usually calm and benevolent, however he is sometimes suddenly overcome with rage, then he just attacks and destroys everything around him. According to legend, he sometimes even strikes the face of Atar-Numash , so hard he stars to cry. This is why it sometimes rains, even when the sun is shining. After he calms down, he is always very apologetic, and it is believed that his blessing of good harvest after the flood is is his way of making up for his acting in anger. To his clerics Old Khepsu bestows the po...

  Nim-Kippur was a Bronze Elf hero who lived a few hundred years ago. He founded the city of Nim-Artash, slew many monsters including the dragon named The Flying Pestilence, and the man-eating giant Martok. According to the priests in Nim-Artash, when he died, he was raised to dwell among the gods. The same priests claim that one of the swords in their care once belonged to this legendary hero. The sword in question is a nice, but not overly decorated one, made out of bronze with brass decorations along the crossguard and the hilt. It is made in a style that has fallen out of style in the last century, being somewhat shorter and thicker than most swords made today, but since it is maintained so well by the temple, it is hard to say its real age. Various myths of the surrounding lands ascribe magical powers to the sword, such as being able to cut anything, up to and including boulders, chariots, and even solid bars of copper. Another often mentioned ability in those legends is its...

 In the lands of the Reptilians , in the city of Khetesh, there is a continual flame watched over by an order of clerics, which is said to have been going since the creation of the world. According to the clerics, it was lit by Hath-Ur , when she came down from the sky for a brief moment, and her heat lit a tarpit alight. After the tar was gone, the clerics kept feeding the holy flames and finally moved them to a temple built specifically to house it. While there is some debate about the authenticity of this account, it is undeniable that the Flame of Khetesh is not an ordinary flame. It burns brighter than any other fire of its size, and its color is more washed out than normal fire. There have been accounts of little pieces of the Flame being taken to dangerous quests of unparalleled importance, and reportedly no demons were able to come into the area lit by the Flame, and those that found themselves there, were immediately paralyzed with pain. There is also a report that describ...

Em-Nitir is perhaps the oldest, and most graceful benefactor of mortals, as her first gift to them was wheat. She also taught them how to farm, and how to make bread. The demons upon hearing this captured and killed her, burying her underground. Thankfully one of the Underworld deities, Etim-Naqtar, fell in love with her, and agreed to restore her to life. So now she spends half of the year up in the world of the living to help grow crops, and half in the Underworld with her new husband. For this reason, she is also the messenger between the gods of the sky and the gods of the Underworld, and thus she is also the patron of messengers and travellers who walk uncertain roads. She also helps lost souls find their way to the Underworld when she makes her yearly voyage down there.  Her holy days are the various harvest festivals in autumn, when wheat is cut and collected. These vary in their precise timing from place to place, and there are a few pilgrimage routes set up, where the fai...

 Blood Screamers are the lowest form of demons , and are generally very little use to sorcerers, as their only two talents are making a hellish noise and biting things and people. They generally look like red lumps of flesh with eyes, limbs and mouths haphazardly distributed on the surface. Some are even incapable of moving, or can only manage a slow crawl of a pathetic flop. They are quite dumb and all in all pathetic. One could almost pity them if they didn't scream constantly and didn't try to bite anything and anyone they can reach.  According to legend, they were once powerful demons, whose name would strike fear even into the hearts of the gods, so the gods came up with a plan: during the night, they hacked these mighty demons to pieces, and scattered the pieces all over the world, and the Underworld , and the in-between-places, so that their fearsome enemies could never reassemble themselves. This has mostly worked, though there have been recorded cases of several Blood...

  Most often encountered north, near the lands of Caeledor , the Mists of Eternity are an enigma even to the most learned scholars. Where they come from, how they are formed, and how they disappear has sparked many debates amongst those well-versed in arcane secrets. Even their effects are a matter of debate, although it’s certain they must change those that enter somehow.  According to the testimonies of those that have emerged from the mists, they change how time flows: an hour in the mists might be but a moment in the outside world, or it might be several centuries. Some have even claimed to have emerged from the mists before they went in. Others describe fantastical cities hidden in the mists, whose inhabitants exist beyond time, and bestow boons and curses in equal measure. Of course the veracity of these claims cannot be confirmed, just as the claims that some have exited the mists tens of thousands of miles from where they entered, and of course some have never returned...

 More than just the simple absence of light, the Deep Dark has existed for longer than the gods. It is a small piece of the primordial darkness that existed prior to creation. Banished, it no longer belongs in the world, yet in the deepest caves systems, at the bottom of the most perilous dungeons, at the crushing depths of the oceans, it endures.  While trapped in those places, it hates. It hates the gods, it hates their creation, but most of all it hates light. Being older than the gods, spirits and demons that provide magic, it cannot be disspelled. Natural fire can temporarily drive it back, maybe even hurt it, if it's large enough, but the Deep Dark can fight back, blowing out candles, extinguishing torches, and if strong enough, even swallowing bonfires. There are different types of Deep Dark, which all act slightly different, but they are all malevolent, and they all seek the downfall of the gods and their creation. Some may even offer some sort of accord to foolish mor...

 The Silent Watchers is a name commonly given to a number of gigantic statues, or possibly petrified corpses found all around the world. Some stand alone, some in small group, and occasionally many of them are lined up on the sides of roads, or halfway embedded into the walls of great canyons. Their origins are a mystery, even the fact that they are statues are debated, though most think they cannot be the remains of living creatures, since surely if they were once alive, they would have left more evidence of their time on this planet than just their corpses. Surely. Just as widespread as the Silent Watchers themselves, are legends about them. Some say they are ancient deities, petrified for some great transgression, others that they are yet to be born. What they all seem to agree on, is that the statues (if they are statues at all) are watching. This may seem strange, since the legends vary in almost every other aspect, but one needs only to glance at the eyes of the statues for o...

  Niq-Astart is said to have been the most talented musician who ever lived. He once performed a song so beautiful, that the Sorcerer-King of Nashat-Ippur wept tears of joy, and instead of executing him for his crime, he let him go. He is also rumored to have seduced goddesses and spirits with his music. He finally met his match when he challenged the White Lady to a musical competition for his own soul, and was consequently dragged screaming into the Underworld , to the great relief of many a husband and father. His great success is in part attributed to his magical harp, which he stole from the god Cur-Atesh . The harp is made from the darkness that dwells among the roots of mountains, and the golden hair of Hath-Ur . Gods, demons and spirits always hear its sound, and a sufficiently skilled player may manipulate these entities into performing magic for them, with the music being payment enough. The Harp is currently housed in the Grand Temple of Hath-Ur in Nashat-Ippur, displa...

 It is well-known that bogs can preserve bodies. They can remain under the surface for hundreds of years, and still retain their hair, skin, and flesh. Sometimes however, bogs preserve more than just the body. Sometimes people who fall in, instead of drowning, just fall into a deep sleep, from which they awaken as soon as they are fished out. The catch is, just like with the dead, this can last for decades, even centuries. There have been records of people fished out from the swamps so ancient, their language could not be understood by anyone. While the exact causes of this phenomenon are a mystery, there have been some inquiries made into its nature. Sorcerers have been able to replicate the ageless sleep inside the bog by forging a pact with the spirits of the swamps, but spirits often express ignorance of the people preserved in their bogs, hinting that this may be more complicated than just the will of spirits and gods. It is also not clear how long one can remain in the bog fo...

  Far to the West, beyond the great mountains and forests, out in the open ocean float the islands of Tir above the waters. As one might imagine very few have made it there, and even fewer came back to tell of it, but some did, and so some things are known about these strange faraway lands.  Tir is said to be inhabited mostly by Chiropterans and Sky Cattle . Not surprising, given how being able to fly is a huge help in getting around on these floating isles. However some also claim to have met local Humans as well. These people grow very little wheat, and instead rely on fishing and the omnipresent fruit trees to supply them with food. They dress in colorful garments dyed with pigments from many kinds of clams and seasnails. They worship one god above all others called Nim-Zerath, whom they claim is a dragon slumbering inside the larges island in Tir, and whose power they claim keeps the islands from falling into the sea. Image by Jonathan Lam  

  It is a well-known fact that beavers that live to a hundred years old, become a bit magical. They start to grow, and by the time they are a hundred and twenty, they are the size of a hippo. The scholar Herocleitus reports a hundred-and-fifty-year-old beaver that was the size of an elephant, but Herocleitus is well known for repeating whatever he was told without checking if what he heard was the truth, or just a tall tale. These enormous rodents also learn to communicate by telepathy, and according to those who met them, they are every bit as cunning as a man. The giant beavers usually stay with their family, though they greatly remodel both the dam and the den to suit their increased size. If both members of a breeding pair hit this venerable age, their offspring are born more intelligent that the average beaver, and these litters are capable of coordination that can put some militaries to shame. Usually though things don't get to that point, as only one giant beaver is usually ...

  It is said, that on the island of Karsos, in the mountains lives a tribe of Orcs , among whom the most strange custom is observed. Every year, on the night of the first full moon after the spring equinox, a man or woman who has come of age that year is chosen by lots. The young person must come down from the mountains, take off their clothes, and swim to the neighboring island of Niktea. Once there the young Orc is transformed into a wolf, and they must remain on that island for nine years. After the nine years are up, they can swim back to Karsos, and if they haven't attacked anyone during their years as a wolf, they turn back into an Orc, and can rejoin their tribe. Otherwise they remain a wolf forever.  Of course some people are skeptical about this tale, saying that nine years is much too long of a time to be away from home, and asking what kind of idiot would harm someone under these circumstances. But it is worth noting, that the Orcs of Karsos do have many rather larg...

 It is said, that after the Gods made the world, they watched the People grow, and they were content. Until one day, when the People became too numerous, and the noise they made threatened to wake Gar . The Gods knew this was dangerous, so they bid the People to build an ark of metal, while they thought about what could be done. After much deliberation, the Gods decided to take away the Sun and the Moons, and all the stars and planets of the night sky, and to unleash a wave of darkness that shrouded the land, so that if Gar woke, he would think nothing else existed, and would hopefully go back to sleep. Meanwhile the Gods labored to remake the world better than it was, so that Gar would not wake again, even with more People living on the Land. While this was going on, the People were bade to live in the metal ark, without coming out, without looking at the sky, and without eating anything from the outside world. After ninety-nine days and ninety-nine nights, the Gods were finished...