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Post by rorrik on Feb 9, 2018 17:54:34 GMT
That is a sweet retcon. LOVE IT. No retcons here, just building the giant ruin parfait and shaking out some of the bubbles. The Unblighted
4. The Unblighted had no magic, so their security systems are purely mundane. They were killed quite suddenly, so little more than locked doors will stand between explorers and the limited treasures they left behind. |
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mjrollins
Commoner
Posts: 15
Favorite D&D Class: Bard?
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Post by mjrollins on Feb 18, 2018 18:52:49 GMT
(I know a kraken would not have bones, just put pic in for the vibe  ) 5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind? Rune powered everythings… whatever you need to place in front of your party could be there. But at what cost? What will the hungry runes harvest when removed from the dead gods remains? Will they work at all? Thinking of a kraken not having bones, I thought about cuttlebones from cuttlefish. And then I thought about the runes thing, and pictured runes carved into cuttlebone as magical items. Anyway, I like your idea. Sparked the ol' imagination. |
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Post by tigrannosaurus on Mar 17, 2018 10:48:11 GMT
THE BONE CARVERS OF THE DEAD GOD 1. What is characteristic of their architecture? Their whole civilisation existed in the one mountain and was carved into the dead bony fossil of a gigantic ancient aquatic god. How this dead dread god came to be buried in a mountain nobody knows, how they carved into the apparently nigh indestructible bones is also unknown. (I know a kraken would not have bones, just put pic in for the vibe ) 2. How did their civilization end? The bones still carried faint echoes of the dead gods great magical power, the bone carvers eventually found a way to tap into these dormant flows. And in doing so it appears they eventually awoke the long quiet hunger of the beast they dwelt within. Sufficeth to say – it did not go well for them. And now the dead god lies silent and waiting again. The empty bone caverns and homes wiped clean of every trace of life. 3. What kinds of technology did they attain? Magic runes that can tap into, store and channel magic. These are on everything from the walls of the Ribcage Castle and the weapions that dot its all the way down to tiny ones on tankards – designed to capture nascent magic energy and cool your beverage. 4. What kinds of security measures might they have in place? It’s an angry dead god. That might not in fact be dead. Tread very, very…. VERY carefully. 5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind? Rune powered everythings… whatever you need to place in front of your party could be there. But at what cost? What will the hungry runes harvest when removed from the dead gods remains? Will they work at all? 6. What was their relationship with the ruins of the civilization before them? The dragon blooded who were rejected by the Unblighted eventually tapped into their innate sense for the magic of the world and, via the power of the Dead Gods Bones destroyed the city and civilization of the Unblighted. It is believed that the bone carvers fled into the mountains to escape the wrath of the civilisation that immediately preceeded them. They were lower status in some way – how is not known. It appears that they then used their runic powers to scour their predecessors from existence.7. Anything else that might be relevant. Vibe wise I’d run this as an underdark / aliens / Cthulhu mashup. Ghosts, spectres, apparitions, pulsing runes. Tension slowly ratcheting up, and up, and up. Maybe send them in to retrieve something from the very heart of the dead gods remains – perhaps even the heart itself – and have an epic Indiana Jones temple run escape once that trigger gets pulled. Props to Rich Howard on this one too I think (or was it you Neal?), he once mentioned it would be fun to run an aquatic adventure in a dungeon that was a dead kraken. I immediately thought it would be cool to put that wildy out of place – in a mountain. I once saw sea floor fossils in a mountain pass and it blew my mind. This is just that – to the DnD maxx. #80skid #turnitupto11  Don't know if this will come out well as an attachment but found a cool map of a dungeon inside the hollowed out remains of a giant spider. Speaks to the vibe I was going for of a civiklisation inside the body of an epic beast. Found it late at night, save pic, forgot to save link though =[ If i find again will post. |
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Post by joatmoniac on Mar 18, 2018 0:41:27 GMT
That is amazing!!
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Post by dmnate on Mar 19, 2018 7:41:29 GMT
The Kane empire
1. What is characteristic of their architecture?
Many shrines of worship to their devil saviors and an obsession of flames in there architecture
2. How did their civilization end?
The empire was doomed to fall to the destruction of the tarrassqe. Even The sorcerer king Artemis Kane wasn't powerful enough to defeat the titan. So he turned to the archduke of hell to save his empire. Making a deal with the clever devil Artemis doomed his people to another fate.... the devil and his infernal army bound the tarrassqe deep in the earth and in return they aloud his army to walk freely among his empire. They quickly corrupted the people and eventually the mortals started to turn on each other causing a civil war they couldn't recover from.
3. What kinds of technology did they attain?
I was thinking a very eberron style of technology. Magic punk if you will. When the devils took over I feel like a lot more war machines where being made.
4. What kinds of security measures might they have in place?
A lot of clockwork guards and hellish mechs. Very advanced magic technology like scrying cameras or minor image television.
5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind?
Dark tomes, hellish mechs, powerful items of darkness, cursed relics
6. What was their relationship with the ruins of the civilization before them?
The ruins are said to be cursed and any who tried to build a new kingdom on the ruins will fall the same way.
7. Anything else that might be relevant
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Post by 00dlez on Apr 16, 2018 23:52:29 GMT
((Consolidated from other posts by rorrik )) 5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind? In now buried bunkers where some of the last Micheans resistors hid sit the pinnacle of Michean war technology, regrettably unfinished to this day - steel golems. The automatons were wildly powerful indeed and due to their advanced alloy composition were able to resist the rampaging dragon's breath, giving the Michean's a fighting chance... In theory. Regrettably the Michean's were forced to abandon their project before it could be fully implemented, but the unfinished work was left intact and recoverable in case the Michean's were ever able to return. |
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Post by 00dlez on Apr 17, 2018 13:28:51 GMT
The Istak Colonies
The Istak colonies were a collection of Formian hives connected back to a central Queen, known as the Dark Mother. The Istak occupied much of the central, interior Salt Garden Desert and lived a vast majority of their lives underground in either natural caves or subterranean tunnels they created themselves.  1. What is characteristic of their architecture? The below ground tunnels, both natural and carved, had little distinct about them. However, even today some of their above ground structures are visually stunning and occupied by a new generation of desert dwelling people. Using a specialized fire magic, the Formian workers were able to make a unique hardened sand material without use of water and created impressive above ground formations that have stood of over 4,000 years at this point. Obviously, some erosion from the powerful winds and sand in the Salt Garden Desert has occured, and scholars who study the architecture today marvel at just how potentially massive these above ground hives may have once been.  2. How did their civilization end? As with many great empires, hubris brought an end to the Istak Colonies. The Dark Mother's soldiers had retrieved a magical lamp from the desert and brought it to their Queen. The lamp contained a wish granting Genie and the Dark Mother wished for great wisdom. Her wish was granted, and her empire began to crumble before her. Slowly through time, the Dark Mothers link with the hive mind corroded as her free will and wisdom grew great. Successive generations of Formian were born with weaker and weaker links to one another via the hive mind as well. After a relatively short time, there was no longer unification among the Istak colonies, factions developed around different usurper Queens and the Istak devolved into brutal civil war from which they would never recover. So terribly weakened from infighting, it was not long before the various horde-kin tribes (orc/goblin/kobald/etc) returned to reclaim their home territories and eliminated the last of the Formains. 6. What was their relationship with the ruins of the civilization before them? When the Istak Colonies were on the rise, their rapid expansion forced out many disparate orc, goblin, and kobald tribes to the outer coast lines and took over what they had left behind. Of particular use to the Formains were the expansive abandoned mines from centuries of industry. The abandoned tunnel networks were ideal to keep the Formian's out of the oppressive desert sun and offered deep and hidden reclusion for the Dark Mother to expand her brood. These foundational tunnels provided the backbone of the Istak colonies to later develop their above ground hives. Many such hives were built atop the mines, though connections between the two are now mostly lost or covered through the passage of time. Anyone can tackle: 3. What kinds of technology did they attain? 4. What kinds of security measures might they have in place? 5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind?
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Post by rorrik on Apr 25, 2018 21:14:29 GMT
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Post by letterlost on Oct 18, 2020 19:19:42 GMT
Long ago before the gods cared for this world, when beasts huddled in their caves dreaming of being men, when elves danced in forgotten lands, and when orcs were somebody else’s nightmare; there were other gods. They called themselves Lords of the World. We call them dragons, but dragons are only the shattered remnants of their lords.
They cultivated the barren wasteland to suit the struggling life they found there, merely to find out what hid in the dark places. They taught the lesser creatures to think and speak simply to satiate their curiosity. whether land, sea, or air they always favored the scaled ones. It took thousands of years and yet they did not mind.
1. What is characteristic of their architecture?
Upon underwater plateaus, the peaks of what once were mountains, large open clearing were surrounded by high columns of carved gemstones. On the edges are large openings descending deep into the earth. The ground was well worn (with the occasional deep gouge) from claws and rough feet, now covered in silt, while walls are glazed Basalt (if light were to shine brightly upon them it would reflect off in rainbow hues) with tunnels and halls large enough to accommodate the Lords of the World (now referred to as Dragon Lords) as well as their small sized subjects.
2. How did their civilization end?
You have this harsh wasteland of a world and fix it up really nice over millennia. Next thing you know heads start turning and all of the sudden those big powerful guys over there start wanting a piece of the loaf. You try to tell them they didn’t help plant the seeds, cut the wheat, grind the wheat, or bake the bread; but they just start throwing meteors and ice ages at you.
Dragon myth tells how Olorun was struck by such a meteor and fell from the ocean in the sky down to the earth, shattered. Olokun gathered his shattered pieces, placed them in eggs, and planted them in earth. Upon completion, she left this world. In time the other Lords, who still lived, followed. These eggs hatched into your modern day dragon centuries later.
3. What kinds of technology did they attain?
Stone Age supplemented by considerable amounts of magic (emphasis on strengthening and manipulating the elements). Rather than mining, they were able to use elemental magic to move the rocks, gems, or nearly any other elements out of the way or into pure goblets of that type (rods and staves were frequently enchanted for this purpose).
Used the barter system
Advanced language (ancient draconic), recorded on stone tablets as well as massive carvings on cave walls.
4. What kinds of security measures might they have in place?
The tunnels were flooded by Lords of the World when they left and octopus like guardians were placed inside. These guardians eventually evolved into Aboleths.
5. What kinds of treasures might they have left behind?
Small (small creature sized) gemstone statues.
Metals were used in their raw form for comforts and leisure (they had a team game involving rolling a 4ft diameter sphere of solid lead).
Beds of solid gold marbles 1 in. diameter
Mercury hot tubs
Extremely sturdy clay pots with fill (create) water 3/day
Weapons were uncommon (fighting was rare and most creatures used natural weapons), though knives/daggers, spoons, needles, staves, scepters, rods, wands and such other items could be crafted from nearly any material (wood, stone, gems, obsidian, etc.) and magically enhanced to be stronger then steel. These items have weathered the ages so well despite being millions of years old that they are often mistaken for more recent creations.
Vats of raw elements with a staff of manipulating that element stuck in to it.
6. What was their relationship with the ruins of the civilization before them?
The civilization preceding the Dragon Lords had suffered some kind of Armageddon, archeologic evidence points to thousands of volcano’s erupting. Though the trigger is unknown, this super-heated the planet, causing all the water to evaporate and an ocean in the sky to form. Small pockets of a preceding civilization remain buried underground.
While very little is known of this time, fossil records do not show signs of “dragons” before this age. A few non-dragon scholars theorize that the “Dragon Lords” may have traveled to this world and caused the Armageddon event; dragon scholars refute these claims as unfounded bias.
It is very rare, but a few of the dragon lords had treasures of preserved books: books of great one eyed creatures in settings of complex machines and workbenches (even the nature settings look like nature is fabricated with are machines), dark secrets, and a first person account of transformation into a ghost like wrath. It is believed that both the making of paper and machines was never accomplished during this Age, indicating that the “Dragon Lords” were aware of such things and still no evidence has been found of them using it.
7. Anything else that might be relevant
The idea am going for from the previous age is a machine like world with Nothic (MM pg 236) society that transformed into wraths which “possess” creatures (probably as a way of escaping the global warming), manifesting as obsessive thoughts and eventually a physical manifestation. Spoiler: The Nothics used machines/ super weapons which damaged the earth’s crust, creating volcanos beneath their enemies. The Dragon Lords protected their society from the Nothic spirits of obsession by hiding their dark secrets and never advancing past the Stone Age.
It is notable that during this time the majority of the water was in an encircling sphere around the planet, fog clouds frequently fall and form misty pools in some places. Due to the high temperatures of the planet the water usually evaporates back up into the ocean in the sky.
The ice ages inflicted upon the planet by the invading gods (after the meteors) caused deadly sheets of ice to fall from the sky, eventually melting into oceans. This was devastating to the survivors of the meteor storms and effectively terraformed the planet.
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