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...

 All cultures in the world have legends about a strange being approaching rulers and offering their services. They wear a long purple cloak, and their face is always shrouded in a strange shadow. They call themselves the Royal Advisor Tecarys. They ask only for  a token payment for their services, but they always have a few stipulations. First, nobody is to see what they look like under their cloak. Second, nobody is to enter their room uninvited, no matter what. Third, they require a black goat on every winter solstice to do with as they please. If a ruler agrees to these stipulations, Tecarys will serve them for an undisclosed length of time. The shortest they agreed to remain was three years, and the longest just over a century. However if any of their stipulations are violated, they leave on the spot. According to all available records those rulers that listened to their counsel and stuck to the agreement all left a flourishing and powerful state to their successors, but t...

 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...

 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...

 The Weaver of Five Dooms is a spider demon who lives in the mines of Caeledor. Due to the services she performed to the gods, she was allowed to decide the fates of five mortals of her choosing. Obviously she chose the five greatest heroes she knew about, and has decided the most humiliating deaths for each of them. However she has a problem: Conn, the fourth hero has escaped her clutches, and now wanders the world, his destiny unfulfilled.  The Weaver of the Five Dooms looks like a giant black spider, with multiple animal skeletons for heads, the eye sockets of which burn with ghostly purple flames. She can stand more than two meters tall, and has the bodies of her previous three victims rigged up like marionettes with her silk threads, making a confrontation with her quite dangerous (the bodies of the heroes still have their fabled magical items, and Weaver knows how to activate them). The one weakness of this setup is that if someone spots the very fine threads she uses to...

  Old Man Death is the colloquial name of an huge and ancient dragon that lives near the eastern side of the mines of Caeledor . While the old beast is quite temperamental, he has been known to on occasion help the locals in exchange for vast amounts of gold and iron. This help comes usually in the form of him sniffing around for new tin deposits (he boasts that his nose can smell all sorts of metals, and judging by the fact that he can tell the grade and purity of metals offered to him without even looking), but he sometimes lets humans use his fire for melting metal. On at least one occasion he even used his gigantic claws to dig around for tin, but that came at such a gigantic price, that no.one has attempted to ask such a thing from him ever again.  Of course dealing with a dragon is never easy, but especially one as old and bad-tempered as Old Man Death. The locals will tell you that even if you bring unimaginable wealth to his doorstep, he's just as likely to eat you th...

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...

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...

Narmor-Amon is one of the only two survivors of the Five Sorcerers of Satnak . He is a rather large reptilian , standing almost two meters tall. He usually wears a fearsome mask made from a dinosaur skull decorated with feathers. He is very muscular, and delights in every opportunity to show off this fact. His magic is that of the waters. He can summon rain, make a spring to form with a touch, and more crucially he can cause rivers to flood and huge waves to form and wash away his enemies. He used these powers to great effect during the Uprising, almost sinking the Blessing of Sem , the pride of Nashat-Ippur ’s river fleet. He has always been jealous of Nimir-Esh , and now, after his death, Narmor-Amon seeks to take his place as the foremost sorcerer in Satnak. He believes that the city needs a strong guiding hand to survive the catastrophes that have brought so many others low, and that only he has the power and the will to prevent its destruction. His dominating attitude did not ...

Mykenos is the leader of the orcish mercenary group, the Two Hundred Shields of Thile. They are equipped in the traditional orcish style with a large shield and three spears, but they wear heavier armor than orc warriors usually do. Their biggest claim to fame is that they helped to stop the Invaders from sacking the city of Andereas, which almost bankrupted the city from the number of mercenary companies they employed. Mykenos herself is a veteran with a cheerful attitude and a serious competitive streak. She likes to boast about her company and downplay their allies’ contribution to their victories, yet can complain endlessly about battles lost because some other unit broke at an inappropriate moment. She takes her position as a mercenary leader very seriously, she even changed her name to sound more masculine, as orcs tend to think of war as something to be done exclusively by men. She has two sons and a daughter, none of whom are interested in the mercenary life, much to her ch...

The Lord of Brass is one of the most feared demons in the world. In fact his ability to do harm is so great, that the gods wove new magic into the world to stop him from taking a physical form in it. Now the only way for him to influence the world is if a mortal willingly offers their body for him to inhabit. This obviously doesn’t happen often, but desperate people with nothing to lose sometimes decide to take everyone else down with them and let the Lord of Brass lose on the world. The Lord of Brass has free reign over the flesh offered to him, so technically he can look however he wants to, but usually he takes the form of a gigantic brass scorpion with a humanoid torso where the head would be. The Lord of Brass is completely immune to fire, and no weapon made from copper or any copper alloy (including bronze) can ever harm him. His gaze can turn his foes into brass statues, and his breath causes those nearby to fall ill, and later die while vomiting blood. His skin is also made ...

The Golden Lion is a large man-eating lion living near the town of Niqur. It is not actually made of gold, the name is a reference to its light, yellowish mane. It cannot be permanently killed, as at the next sunrise its wounds close, poisons leave its body, its chopped off pieces reattach, and even if its body is burned, it is reconstituted from the ashes. The Lion has a large stash of gold coins and imperishable goods from the traders and tax collectors it has devoured, as well as some magical weapons and armor from would-be heroes that tried to slay it. It also keeps a small herd of cows it stole from town. It cannot speak, but it understands the local language, and is addicted to gambling. As its immortality is actually a gift from Cur-Atesh , it can be lost in a gamble, and gambling for it is probably the easiest way to kill the Lion.  Image by William Warby

Some say that the Iron Crab was the first being created by Pafatra, Patroness of Craftsmen. Others say it predates even the creation of the world itself. Whatever the case, this gigantic metallic crustacean is incredibly ancient, and very mysterious. Standing at almost three meters high, and covered in an iron carapace, the Iron Crab is an impressive sight. It cannot speak, but it seems to understand most languages. It is also, unexplainably, an incredibly talented blacksmith. Unlike mortal smiths, it doesn’t need a forge or hammers, it can just pick up any piece of metal in its claws, and shape it however it wants. It is also willing to use this talent on behalf of mortals, if they can provide something it wants. Though negotiations are a bit difficult, many Sorcerer-Kings and legendary heroes have sought out the Crab to have items commissioned from it, for it can create many wonders of metallurgy that are beyond the ability of even the best mortal smiths. The Iron Crab is always o...

Emish is the most powerful of spirits, beloved by all, husband to Soo-Eh , friend to mortalkind, and just all-around cool dude. According to Emish, that is. You certainly wouldn’t think so after meeting him. He manifests as a creature resembling, but not quite a large wolverine. When manifesting in the south he will complain about the heat. When in the north, he will complain about the lack of sunlight. When in the east, he will complain about the dry air. When in the west, he will complain about the rain. Naturally, when when he’s in the more temperate zones, he will complain about all of these things. Emish has a long, and complicated history with all nearly peoples in the world. When a new city is founded, when a tribe of nomads settle down to form a village, or even when a couple of families break off from their group, and seek to move elsewhere, after a few years, without fail, Emish will turn up, and demand to know why he wasn’t informed of the event. He will do this, even if c...

Not much is known about Aga of the Five Sorcerers, not even their gender. They always wore heavy robes, hid their face behind a veil, and whoever spoke to them always heard them talking in their own voice. Despite the eerie atmosphere, however everyone who has ever interacted with Aga described them as a rather cheerful, carefree and humorous individual. They were always enthusiastic about listening to other people’s problems and helped where they could. Their life before coming to Satnak is a complete mystery. It’s as if they just appeared out of thin air one day. Some say they were a sibling of Nimir-Esh , others that he learned his blood-magic from them. But these are just rumors, and in the end no-one alive knows. Aga was very skilled in divination, quickly rising to be the Great Oracle of Satnak even before the Uprising. They could also control blood to move as they wished, or to form into sharp blades that could cut stone. Sometimes they would even control blood still inside ...

The Great Oracle is said to be blessed by Pafatra and Nir so that their sight covers both the present and the future (they cannot see the past). They sit in an underground chamber at the temple-complex dedicated to the three rivers , the Crafter and the Patron of Haulers. The chamber has a gigantic carved stone head, which depicts a giant bird. The Oracle drinks a special beverage made from dates and certain herbs that help them get into their trance. Afterwards the Oracle speaks in a long-forgotten tongue, that only the priests of the temple can decipher. The Oracle does not remember what they said while in the trance. While the Oracle is technically open to anyone, and renders their services for free, the priests usually expect a generous donation to the temple for their services as translators. Right now the seat of the Oracle is empty, for Aga , the previous Oracle has died less than a year ago. There is intense competition for the honor amongst the priests and sorcerers of the...

Sasmir is the wife of the late Nimir-Esh . After her husband’s death she dressed in a white burial garment and sealed herself inside the tallest tower in Satnak . For years no-one entered, or even knew what was going on. Last summer, however people began to notice strands of hair growing out from behind the sealed gates. As Sasmir did not answer to magical or non-magical summons, the seal was ordered broken, and the gates opened. What was found no-one could have anticipated. The inside of the tower was overrun with vibrant, luscious locks of hair. They grew from unseen roots, high up in the tower. Although they grew slowly, they seemed to grow with purpose, like a plant growing towards the light. The higher one would go, the more tightly packed the locks would become, until finally one would enter the room it all began. The hair grew, of course, from the head of Samsir, now unmoving and unresponsive, yet still undeniably alive. None could tell how, but she seems to have achieved a s...

Nimir-Esh was the most powerful of the Five Sorcerers of Satnak and, perhaps surprisingly, he was the first of them to die. When the news broke, hundreds fell to their knees crying on the streets, in their homes, even on the balconies and terraces of the temples and palaces. He was a large man, with a thick beard and a thicker arm. His eyes gleaned red, and his hair ran wild. He claimed to be descended from Soo-Eh , and wielded the magic of rage and the magic of blood. Yet he was kind, and he was thoughtful. Once he spent a day thinking on how to help a man stuck under a collapsed house, as to not cause him injuries while saving him. It is whispered he knew the names of the demons of the winds, and that he foresaw the hour of his death. With his passing the shadows grow long, and the hearts of men grows bitter. The remaining members of the Five now turn to their own machinations, and his legacy seems to already be corroded. It is not all lost, however. A few of his old followers sti...