DMing Chemistry

 Inhabited by humans, bronze elves , and some even stranger creatures, the Southlands of Kheb is home to many tribes and small settlements. It lies to the south even from the lands of the reptilians , and ends at the slopes of the jungle mountains, that must surely demarcate the edge of the world itself.  While its inhabitants know not of bronze-working, the southern mountains are full of gold and precious stones, which they mine and trade for with the cattle-herders who live in the grasslands to the north of the mountains. These riches are then put on caravans and traded with the reptilians for bronze, wine, and other products of the industries of the reptilians. In order to facilitate this trade, the people of Kheb have recently finished a grand undertaking: the domestication of camels. While they are slower than horses, they can carry much more cargo, and they have much less trouble navigating the challenges of the deserts separating Kheb from the lands of the reptilians. W...

 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 the deserts to the south-east lay the ruins of forgotten city-states inhabited by ghouls . They watched as the deserts slowly devoured their lands , just as people devoured each other. But ghouls aren't that bothered by this, after all they are always hungry. Occasionally a lost caravan finds these ruins, and ghouls fall upon them, regaining some of their former intellect, and civilisation starts again, until inevitably food runs out, and the inhabitants of the city return to hungry predators, then just ravenous bodies lying in wait once more. Like mayflies, the ghouls race against time to finish their projects as their memories return for a short while. A civilisation that lives in bursts. Of course the deeper a city is into the desert, the fewer people end up there, and the less frequent these periods of activity are. On the other hand, cities that are close to active trade routes, or just places where mortals live in general, are much more active. The city of Yttir-Gham for ...

  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...

 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...

  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...

  It is said that the best copper in the world comes from the island of Demros. While that may or may not be true, it is certain that the island exports a lot of copper. Located between the Orcish , Reptilian and Bronze Elven homelands, the isle is a natural meeting point between cultures, and also occupies a prime position to be a trading hub.  First settled by the orcs, Demros has since became a home a to many different peoples brought in by the siren song of trade and wealth. Many empires tried to control it, but not only could it always pay the best mercenaries, it could always call on the other empires to protect it, since if it were ever to fall under the yoke of a single empire, the shipments of copper would surely cease to the other great powers, or at least they would become much more expensive. Thus the continued neutrality of Demros is in the interest of all. Recently Demros has been hit hard by the Invaders , and for the first time in living memory its mighty wal...

 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...

 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  

 In the far northwest, in the lands of Caeledor, the land overflows with tin. While the frequent storms make it extremely difficult to sail to the island, it is also a very lucrative endeavor, since the tin brought from here can be used to make the highest quality bronze , when combined with an appropriately good grade of copper. A large boatload of the stuff can make a person rich enough to never have to work again in their life, and even just a few ingots can fetch a nice price on the many markets of the southern empires. Of course the locals have begun extensive mining operations, with various kingdoms vying for control of these lucrative mines. As of now king Hebras of Wynnig runs most of them, but with southerner traders coming less and less frequently, he is losing ground to various upstarts, who don't quite know or in some cases care that revenue from the mines just isn't what it was in the days of their fathers and grandfathers. Hebras is looking for allies, but the gr...

 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...

Legends tell of an old city, long claimed by the deserts . In ages long past, this city was the crown jewel of the world, its walls tall, and its sorcerers mighty. According to these legends, when the favorite wife of its Sorcerer-King, Enki, died in childbirth, he became obsessed with getting her back. Now, for the meager men of today, such a feat is impossible, but people have grown feeble since the times of their ancestors, and indeed, Enki’s magic was so powerful, that he reclaimed his wife from the Underworld . The gods, however were not happy with this violation of the order they set up at the dawn of time. They sent ferocious beasts, one after the other, up from the depths of the Underworld to reclaim their prize, and to drag Enki down as well. But the city held. Monster after monster fell before they could breach the walls, killed by the magic of Enki. Enki, on the other hand was worried. He knew he couldn’t hold out forever, so he made a daring plan. He traveled to the mout...

Glass deserts are, as the name suggests, deserts where the ever-shifting sands have frozen into crystalline glass. They are created by gods, sorcerers or other powerful beings fighting so fiercely the very sands of the desert melt. Several cities are also said to have been turned into glass deserts by divine punishment. People generally avoid these places, as nothing grows there, and the lingering aftereffects of such powerful magics can be dangerous. However some glass deserts still contain the ruins of the long-dead cities that were punished so long ago, their treasures presumably still there for the taking. Of course only the most foolhardy of adventurers would try to steal something from a place like that, but these days more and more people are forced to make foolhardy decisions if they want to avoid starvation.  Image by Cain Denney

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...

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...

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...

The Depths of Ichairos is the popular name of a cave system near the river Hapy, in the southern part of the reptilian Double Kingdom. It has a long and convoluted history, being used as a burial site, a place of worship for Underworld deities, a hideout for bandits, a sanctuary for refugees, and many more purposes besides. Parts have been enlarged, artificially collapsed, flooded, and otherwise changed for centuries, resulting in a rather hard-to-navigate and at times quite confusing maze filled with monsters, squatters, undead, and worse. I owes its name to the famous orcish traveler and playwright Ichairos, who made several expeditions down to the caverns, meticulously documented them, then disappeared and presumably died down there. His writings make references to several well-known chambers, as well as some that have since become inaccessible. Perhaps the most controversial of his claims is that there are vast vaults filled with treasure down in the depths. These supposed vaul...

All around the world one can come across huge black monoliths. They are made of a substance that most closely resembles obsidian, but is much more durable and entirely resistant to magic. Their shape varies: some are giant cubes, others are tetrahedrons or pyramids. Some seem to be cut with mathematical precision, while others look like they were hewn with primitive tools. They can be found far from each other. They are often seen as a warning, a portent of doom, so people mostly avoid settling near them. The Sorcerer-King Kesh-Eur did have one of them uprooted and moved to the central plaza of the city of Agarit, But he later died of a plague, and the townsfolk blame every single misfortune on the monolith ever since. They avoid touching it, and moving it back, or simply getting rid of it is unimaginable to them. As for the origin of these monoliths, many theories have been put forward. Some say that they are the work of demons, put up to entrap the unwary. Other think that they ar...

Deep in the mountains near Satnak there is a small village, that few know of. The inhabitants are reluctant to let outsiders into their homes and they simply vanish into the mountains when taxmen or administrators come from the city. Sometimes a few of them turn up to trade either on the caravan routes or in the city, but these encounters are few and far between. They also worship a strange and mysterious god. Ak-Tar, as the god is knows, is a strange being. Unlike many other gods, Ak-Tar is a fully physical being. It is an intelligent, psychic slime, mold, or fungus (it has characteristics of all three) that grows in one of the many caves in the mountains. It claims to be as old as the universe, but in reality it was brought here by a spaceship of those who came before that lays undiscovered at the bottom of a chasm not far from the village. Ak-Tar’s ultimate goal is to return to its home planet, but it knows that it will take thousands of years for the technology of this planet ...