Parasite Architecture Quivering Stone

The designs are innumerable, hidden in the tombs of infamous architects - sealed in lead, cast to the bottom of seas now deserts - the ugly centre of star-metal deposits - the dead basins of volcanoes.

They speak of a tower.

Mind-breakingly gigantic, both in scope and physically immensity. Koan made stone.To gaze upon it, even the ruined stubs of hundreds of failed attempts, is to be rendered as nothing before sheer mass and determination.

It demands to be built, the idea of it too large to die, but also too large to force its way into being - perhaps a cousin of the spell, lurking on the edge of reality, waiting for a opening. The portal is the structure is the idea is the behemoth, craving a physical permanence complete and resplendent, the gravestone of a world.

Entire empires would collapse under the construction project - a hundred thousand slaves could perish in the foundations, a mere speck, the very beginning. Hope a mad, royal architect does not first find the plans, and then discover a previous generations work - a solid foundation to build upon.

Incremental with the fall of empires, nestled in the rhythm of collapse, it will grow and break minds and enslave relentlessly until complete.

Somewhere in your world, the foundations were always ready, if only you had eyes to see before.

Acid Death Fantasy - Thousand Sultans Generator

The petty sultans and emirs are many, ruling in luxury across the broken lands, precious water cupped in mailed palm. It is a hobby among them to compete with their titles.

1d10	Title	of/the	Honorific	and… (roll again)
1	Emir		thousand stars
2	Malik		Supreme Wisdom
3	Sultan		Rider on the Wind
4	Haleim		Crusher of Serpents
5	Sharif		Jewelled Eminence
6	Ensi		Chosen by a Legion of Divines
7	Patesi		Sage of Sages
8	Lugal		Boundless (Mercy, Strength, Riches, Wisdom)
9	En		of [titles]
10	Lord		Gift to all Peoples

Though war does sometimes erupt across the wastes, they prefer to compete in other ways, an endless cycle of fashions and fads.

d20	Current Fad
1	Beasts - the most exotic, dangerous or mundane.
2	Slaves - the most beautiful, athletic or educated.
3	Poems - the most ground-breaking or traditional.
4	Palaces - the most humble or spectacular.
5	Feasts - the most sumptuous or daring.
6	Drugs - the hardest or the most cultured.
7	Esteemed Guests - the most noble, educated or barbaric.
8	Bound Demons - the most, the most hideous or otherworldly.
9	Personal Champions - the least likely or most proficient.
10	Ugliest Wretches - quantity or quality?
11	Arcane Lore - the most hidden or powerful.
12	Largest Harem - most mixed or heterogeneous.
13	Finest Garments - the most beautifully useless or practical.
14	Most Pious - to a known or unknown deity.
15	Sponsor of adventurers - the most widely spending or focused.
16	Most beloved or despised.
17	Finest Personal Guards - obvious or subtle.
18	Deadliest Dungeon - fair or totally unfair.
19	Most illustrious genealogy.
20	Most non-materialistic.

Of course, each sultanate has its own problems.

d10	Troubles afoot
1	Slave Uprising.
2	Rouge Wizard(s) attempting usurpation.
3	Mercenaries, unpaid, running rampant.
4	Infestation of monsters has taken hold.
5	Plague.
6	Disturbed ruins causing havoc.
7	A huge lack of money on all levels.
8	War with a neighbour.
9	A prophecy of doom approaches the promised date.
10	Migrant population causing issues with locals.

10 Islands

*Go Away Sunday Players*

Part of a larger sea-based encounter table.

d10	Island
1	A pathetic spit of land, where the survivors of a shipwreck squat, miserable. They have enough rations to last another d12 days. 3d8 of them remain. They were : 1.       Nilfenbergian Navy 2.       Angmarrian Privateers 3.       Merchants 4.       Whalers 5.       Unaffiliated pirates. 6.       Colonists set for the new world.
2	The Tower
3	A witch-prison colony, run by the Nilfenbergians before the war. They are running out of supplies. Some of the soldiers think they should wake the wizards up, see if they can summon supplies. The priest threatens to throw them to the sharks. 3d12 wizards, drugged brainless. 3d20 guards, with 1d10 cannons. 1 priest.
4	A larger island, dotted with huge stone heads. Each contains an aborted embryonic god, killed by their jealous parents. The culture who built them destroyed themselves in the process, and so their gods died with them.
5	Kidknap crab spawning ground (See Broken System #0)
6	The final degenerate remnants of an island forced to cannibalism. 5d20 remain, squatting in rotten huts or else hunting one another. Each has 2HD, and fights with bone weapons.
7	The Cage (See Broken System #0)
8	A pirate king and her fortress. All are welcome, if they pay her extortionate docking fees (100sp a night). It is still filled with pirates and slavers. Her captive sea-priests destroy any ship causing ruckus in the waters surrounding.
9	A thin lip surrounding a huge yawning bit, many ship-lengths across. The pit is lined with: 1.       Fresh/Aged stone brick. 2.       Perfect/cracked glass. 3.       Living/dead flesh. 4.       Bones. 5.       Shimmering metal. 6.       Light - blinding white.
0	The Funeral Isle, a grave for a civilization long dead. Six black granite pillars ring a central point, each encrusted with the achievements of this dead people. The central point contains grave goods. Disturbing the goods awakens the Guardian. The island is pockmarked with craters from the weapons of the Guardian. Achievements : 1.       Creation of the Humans. 2.       Puncturing the womb of sky. 3.       Creation of concept-driven war machines. 4.       Taming the soul itself. 5.       Capturing the senses with their art. 6.       Their own destruction. There are three items of value to loot : 1.       Painting of Blinding Beauty. Alien suns and stars above a landscape barren. Utterly beautiful and haunting. Studying it for over a minute causes a choice : either destroy your eyes, and never behold a pretender to the beauty of the painting, or else dedicate yourself to the destruction of all beauty bar the painting. Worth 50000sp. 2.       The control panel for their flying vessels, all long departed or destroyed. It could be used like a shield, intricate, complex yet sturdy. Worth 8000sp. 3.       A miniature version of the concept-bombs, containing the concept of the perception of time. It has two settings - compress, causing the target to experience a thousand years in a single second, or elongate, making a second seem like a thousand years. It is good for one use, and does not give immortality. Worth 50000sp. The Guardian. A colossal titan of brass, emerging some miles off the coast of the Funeral Isle, kicking up huge waves (potentially destroying any ship too close to the isle). Three large spheres make up the body, from which sprout seven legs, shimmering in the sun. The largest of the spheres is the brain, and is filled with conceptual killing. Given enough time, the killing would evolve into violent, chaotic art. The other two spheres are Spelltrap Arrays, which absorb up to 50 spell levels worth of spells each. If overloaded, they explode, killing the Guardian. It can use the arrays to fire beams, which deal 1d8 per spell level expended, and requiring a save vs paralysis to dodge. A kick or stomp from its legs could easily destroy any ship. If one were able to clamber up the leg, the conceptual killing could be tamed with a truthful oath of pacifism, leaving the entire machine inert. It has 50 Ship HP. Replacing the grave goods satisfies it, but it will watch until the intruders leave.

Urythx, the World Whale, the Eater of Stars, Extinguisher of Suns

Urythx protects and provides, albeit unknowingly. The bone spires of the Good Folk, teased out from her flesh, erupt across her star-bleached back, whilst the degenerates cling to her belly, reveling in their parasitic relationship with Urythx, siphoning the light she feeds upon. As she moves to claim another sun as her own, they drift down on their corded tubes of gut and raid the sun-slaved worlds, bringing back slaves and such exotic goods.

Death-driven fanatics dwell upon each of her eight ponderous paddles, each waging war upon their neighbors to advance to the front-most position, ignorant of their cousins on the other flank of Urythx.

Upon her wise crown cling the starmad Sunseekers, gazing on as Urythx drives onward to another distant fleck of light.

The tail is forbidden. The cold of the Outer Dark intrudes strongest there, and those who supposedly squat among it have madnesses of long darks and blistering void - the Outer Dark having wrapped itself about their minds and spines.

People of the Tail
Skill 9
Stam 13
Init 1 (4 in darkness)
Armour 1 (frost-hardened flesh)
Damage as Small Beast or Weapon
Mein - 1 - show 2 - observe 3 - sacrifice 4 - embrace 5- capture 6 - imitate
Has access to the spell Drown, but functions as them filling your lungs with vacuum instead.

Urythx glares forwards and about with her six eyes, each crusted with the debris of stars extinguished. It is not known if she is the only one of her kind, but nowhere across the spheres as her like been seen before.

Upon the tips of her slender whiskers are madmen-prophets, caught between the Outer Dark and the light Urythx seeks so hungrily. The pilgrimage to seek their wisdom is perilous, many drifting free of her blessed gravity and drifting into the Outer Dark, extinguished forever.

Goods are either pirated from the sun-slaved worlds, grown and harvested from Urythx or her parasites, or the rare native metals caught from her blow-hole, which expels the waste from a digestion system built for suns. Monsters are far more common than metals, but the desperate try still.

All vegetation upon Urythx is parasitic, stealing their sustenance from her flesh. The native animals do not fly, but favour armour or camouflage.

HookCrab
Skill 9
Stam 21
Init 3
Armour 3
Damage - 2 attacks, one with small gripping claws (small beast) and then, if successful, the large crushing claws, attacking as a large beast.
Mein 1- hungry 2- idle 3 - evasive 4- cautious 5 - protective 6 - terrified
Something like a crab, but with a shell curving into a sharp point, hanging over their mandibles. They have two sets of claws, a huge killing pair and a smaller grappling pair for holding prey in place. They have 4 jewelled eyes, placed evenly around them, and scuttle across Urythx's hide with their six hook-tipped legs.

Gaseous Giants
Skill 8
Stam 18
Init 2
Armour 3 (mostly incoporeal)
Damage as Fusil but melee range
Mein 1 - morose 2 - confused 3 - homicidal 4 - vengeful 5 - accepting 6 - hopeful
The few sundwelling gaseous giants who avoided digestion by Urythx, belched forth from her blowhole.Many of their siblings have been obliterated, yet they were spared, lost, aimless and guilty. Why us?

Ghostsun Embryos
Skill 11
Stam 15
Init 5
Armour 2
Dam - casts Ember
Mein 1 - curious 2 - hungry 3 - upset 4 - betrayed 5 - needy 6 - berserk
The spirits of potential suns never birthed due to Urythx, their potential cut short. They now haunt the essence of their parent-to-be, which has been absorbed by their killer. They roam both within and without, uncomprehending of their fate, unless told. This is what causes them to go berserk, tearing about the villages until their unformed minds forget once more.

Solar Wraiths
Skill 7
Stam 12
Init 2
Armour 1
Damage as Weapon
Mein 1 - seeking 2 - begging 3 - depressed 4 - bitter 5 - raging 6 - satisfied
The ghosts of sun-worshippers, now denied their afterlife, their god extinguished forever. They crave light, but it merely reminds them of what they have lost.

Treasures Locked Beneath Ash and Snow

**GO AWAY SUNDAY PLAYERS**

BAUBLES OF THE SLAVES

x Precious Metal Molars - what wealth was left was hidden in the back of mouth. 2d20 sp each.

x Hands of the Matriarchs - a mothers blessing kept secret and safe for bleak times. By the time they were opened, it was far too late. Snapping off a finger casts a spell at 3rd level. Worth 5000sp, -1000 per used digit.
  Thumb - Cure Light Wounds
  Index Finger - Magic Missile
  Middle Finger - Bless
  Ring Finger - Dispel Magic
  Little Finger - Sleep

x Fingerbone Lockpicks - single use but incredibly easy to hide. +1 bonus to checks with these picks. 20sp each.

x Curried Meats - frozen fresh, still good to eat if defrosted. 1sp each, 1000sp to a trained chef due to lost techniques which could be learned.

x Dead Idols - The many gods of the enslaved peoples, all dead and forgotten. The ire of these dead gods lingers still, and each has a curse associated with it. Worth 400sp in precious materials, 1000sp to a historian.

d8	Ire of a Dead, Forgotten God
1	Weakened spirits of vengeance, still bound to empty duty, will attack the holder each night until the statue is given away. HD 2 / AC AS CHAIN / ATTACK +1 1D8 CLAWING / MOV as DOG / M12 / 3D4 APPEARING
2	The idol draws away all sustenance from food, starving the bearer until the statue is given away.
3	The idol compels the bearer to sacrifice either 200sp or 1HD of life every three days until given away.
4	The idol assaults the bearer with hideous nightmares every night, denying them healing from sleep, and stopping magic users preparing spells, until given away. -2 penalty to all rolls after a week of this.
5	All animals will hate the bearer until the statue is given away, with a 2-in-6 chance of attacking, or else simply running away.
6	The bearer is inflicted with leprosy until the statue is given away. The leprosy will be healed overnight.
7	The user must respond to all violence with pacifism, and all offers of peace with violence until the statue is given away.
8	There is no curse. This god has faded more than the others.

WEALTH OF THE CITY

x Overseers Eyes - Eyes of ancient overseers, given to slave-holding families. The eyes are a reminder of authority, and can be used to command slave-derived creatures if they fail a save vs magic. Worth nothing outside of the city.

x Desperation Furs - As the terrible fury of the Riven Wolf fell upon the city, the clothiers and tailors desperately tried to create winter clothes for the people as they burned all books and papers to stay warm. This desperation sunk into the furs themselves, and they reek of fear. Avoid any natural cold-based damage, halve damage from cold-based magical sources, but roll random encounters twice as often. Predators can smell the weakness. 200sp each.

x Forgotten Saints - The people of the city would not burn their Saints to keep warm, but they were forgotten, bedecked in gold and bone-dry in their sealed chambers. Each will defend itself, although it has long forgotten it's name and it's martyrdom. Worth 3000sp -200sp per point of damage over HP dealt, HD 6 / AC AS PLATE / ATTACK +3 AS WEAPON +3 / MOV AS MAN / M12 / 1 APPEARING

x Crown of the Senator - Each week, this crown passed from one senator to a chosen rival, bestowing authority and benevolence upon the wearer. (Save to take malicious action, others must save to not agree with you. Must be worn for a week.) Worth 4500sp.

Beyond the Mountains

*Sunday Players Go Away*

Across the Northern border of the Nilfenbergian Empire lies the Petty Kingdoms - each run by a self-styled autocrat, all too aware of their insignificance. It is said the witches have saved them from being absorbed. The truth is the Empire is under threat from the Demon Sultanate. But this is of little interest. The Petty Kingdoms end abruptly with the Mountains. Some call them the Brokejaws. Others the Spinal Peaks. Yet others the Marginal Range. But to most, they are simply the Mountains.

Some small villages lurk in the shadows of these imposing peaks - folk scraping by in the crags and fearful of the creatures that crawl from chasms in the deeper ranges. They have little to trade but furs and warnings.

Beyond the Mountains is ash and ice. A desolate terrible plain, marred only by the broken teeth of buildings long-hidden by the ice and snow, appearing more like dunes after the many years of frostbitten burial.

People once lived in these buildings, but now they live above them, grim scavengers atop their dog-driven sledges, tearing across the dead country, either starving or committing to cannibalism. They know not of the secrets buried beneath them, but whisper to their rare children that things forgotten should stay that way. None will enter the ice-bound city beneath them, and they are right to.

A name forgotten a thousand times, no expedition ever returning to restore the torch of knowledge, the city evoked it's own end, as such things always go. A people enslaved by another, joint in a collective plea for revenge - and so it was when the Riven Wolf heard their plight. The plain was blasted for six hundred days with storms and snow, the wind tearing skin free and stealing children into the sky, their screams lost in the howling, their tears freezing in their eyes, tumbling blind through snow thicker than castles.

Seeking a weapon here is madness - all that could be learned is an end to both the Empire and the Sultanate. Yet the expedition left, and is now sealed in the glacier-riddled city with the creeping horrors.

*TREASURE HERE*

SURVIVOR PACK - 4d4 Humans w/ Spears, Dog-Leather Armour. They fight from the back of Dog Driven Sleds (treat as mounted). Each sled has a team of 6 dogs, and can have 3 men fighting and a fourth driving.

FROST MAD DEAD
The people of the city gathered together to conserve warthm - from each cluster emerged one frozen by the cursed flesh of their peers, forever seeking warmth.
HD 4
AC as CHAIN - HARD FROZEN FLESH
MOV as OLD MAN
ATTACK +4 - 2D8 ICY GRIP (8+ damage freezes random limb - cannot be used until thawed out).
M 7 / 12 IN PRESENCE OF FIRE. OH TO BE WARM AGAIN.
2d6 APPEARING

CHAINED OVERSEER
Before the slaves realised what they had invited, they rose up and bound the overseers in chain. The numbing effect of the chains protected them from the blasting to come.
HD 6
AC as PLATE - MANY CHAINS - MAGIC IS ROUTED INTO CHAINS, HAS NO EFFECT IN 30FT RADIUS
MOV as MAN BEARING GREAT WEIGHT
ATTACK +6 - 2D4 WHIP + SAVE VS ENTANGLE - TAKE NO ACTION UNTIL CHAIN BROKEN. EACH ENTANGLED PERSON REDUCES AC OF OVERSEER BY 1.
M 10 / 3 IN PRESENCE OF SLAVES (That is, anyone dressed in rags)
1D4 APPEARING

SLAVE SPIRIT CONGLOMERATION
So too did the slaves gather for warmth in their rags and chains. They pressed closer and closer until their very souls touched, fusing them together in anguish and fear and regret. The only thing that could drive the result away is the whip of their tormentors.
HD 1
AC as INSUBSTANTIAL - CANNOT BE HARMED WITH PHYSICAL WEAPONS. (Except Whip)
MOV as CRIPPLED HORSE
ATTACK +0 (IGNORES ARMOUR) - SAVE OR 1D8 CON DAMAGE FROM UNEARTHLY COLD.
M 2
1d4 APPEARING

What Stirs

These are the reason for the lack of posts as of late. More are in production. They'll be in a booklet-thing. The project continues. Words are both myself and Alex, design is Alex, and the art is public domain. Images after the break due to breaking the layout.

Criminals and Canines

‘We look around for a place to rob’

Now you can blame the dice for that damn dog.

The table below gives the number of houses displaying a vulnerability. Note that the number is modified is the players are looking for a certain wealth level of house (specified in the next table)

# Vulnerable Houses	Settlement Class	Special Notes
1d4 -1	Village	Maximum wealth is Middling.
1d6 -1	Town	Organised guard force present 90% chance.
1d8	Large Town	Organised guard force present and a thieves guild may operate (5% chance)
1d20	City	As above, but 15% chance of a thieves guild.

This table is used to generate the wealth level of vulnerable houses. The Search Penalty applies to the above roll as previously discussed.

d12	Wealth Level	Likely Security Measures	Search Penalty
1 – 2	Destitute – you’ll get some coppers at best. 2d4 cp in overall wealth.	None.	-
2 – 6	Poor – perhaps they’ve stashed some silver? 2d20sp in movable wealth.	Simple Lock	-
7 – 9	Middling – they’re doing okay, something in here should make the fence smile. 10d20sp in movable wealth.	Secure Locks & 5% chance of guard dog.	-1 to vulnerable houses
10 – 11	Rich – some decent loot should be about. 2d100sp in movable wealth.	Secure Locks, 10% chance of guard dog & 1d4 guards.	-2 to vulnerable houses.
12	Extravagant – the big heist – you can’t believe this place has an opening. The amount isn’t an issue, finding the time to get everything is!	Great Locks & 1d10 guards.	-7 to vulnerable houses.

Simple locks raise your effective tinkering skill by one. Great locks do the opposite.

d6	What, exactly, is vulnerable about this house?
1	Open window(s) with relatively easy access.
2	A door has been left ajar. Weird that.
3	Incredibly on-display wealth makes this worthwhile. (re-roll for extravagant)
4	You’ve got a key – dropped outside or perhaps left in the lock?
5	Rumours abound that the owner is out of town for a while.
6	A disgruntled guard let you know that the cellar door is always unlocked.

Just because you’ve got guards doesn’t make them any good. Add 1 to the roll for Extravagant houses. Guards are assumed to be equipped with leather armour and longswords, and fight as standard humans.

d10	Guard Skill
1	Inept. +2 to Stealth skill, unlikely to follow clues etc. Guards are asleep 1-in-6 times. No patrols.
2-3	Poor. +1 to Stealth. Will miss subtle clues. Very loose patrol structure.
4-7	Average. About what you’d expect. Regular patrols, informal check-ins every couple of hours.
8-9	Skilled Guardsmen. -1 to Stealth, relative diligent. Good patrol routes and check-ins every hour.
10	Exceptional. The very best money can buy. -2 to Stealth, well designed patrol routes and check-ins every 20 minutes.

(Tinkering is the LotFP lockpicking skill, and is rated 1-6 to give you a rough estimation for conversion)