Zaidan's Blight

I worked out this campaign outline a while ago and never ended up going anywhere with it. It's fairly setting neutral, but it is situated in the Warlords of Lingusia campaign (and could just as easily work in any era of the campaign). Enjoy...



Zaidan’s Blight


Suitable for a party of 2-3rd level adventurers (or some very foolish 1st level adventurers!)

Deep in the Halale Wilderness, along the edge of Mitra’s Woods lies the remote barony of Osterman. Here in the town of Gray’s Retreat a hardy folk live, skirting constant danger for the local profits from a very prosperous mining operation as well as a local timber mill.

The town of Gray’s Retreat wasn’t always such a prosperous location. As the story goes, Lord Gray Osterman in his youth forged out in to the wilds, far away from the comfort of the provinces of Octzel proper, skirting the very edge of Mitra’s Woods to seek his fame and fortune. With him was a small company of loyal soldiers and allies who believed in the young baron’s cause.

The troop of men led by Osterman eventually happened upon a lush region of hills and woodlands in Halale, where they settled for a time, while the baron and his advisors decided upon a course of action. The stone in the region was plentiful and useful for construction, there was no end to the harvestable wood and a nearby river provided fresh water. It was clear to the baron that this was an ideal location to build his remote keep and establish a name for himself.

Only Osterman’s eldest advisor, the seneschal Grimark, suggested otherwise, pointing out how dangerous the region was and how close the hills were to the ominous Mitra’s Woods. The baron paid no heed, though, for the old terrors and mysteries of the land were largely unknown to him and his men.

For months the baron and his men labored to build a keep, and a small settlement of his loyal soldiers and soon their families began to spring up around it. During the first new moon of the third month however, a small army of monstrous beings descended from the hills upon the settlement and attacked, burning houses and pillaging in the night. Dozens of people were killed or kidnapped, and though Gray’s men mounted a strong defense and drove the beasts away, the damage had been done.

With morale at a new low and many suspecting that the seneschal was right, Osterman took a squad of his best soldiers in to the deep woods of the hills to follow the trail of their attackers to its source. He eventually happened upon an ancient castle, overlooking a hill riddled with shallow caverns and an occasional, deeper warren that appeared to delve deep in to the earth. They happened upon a small tribe of orcs and engaged in a brief skirmish, after which prisoners were taken and an interrogation of one of the captured warriors revealed that the hill was called Zaidan’s Blight, and it was shunned even by the orcs in the region. \

“Zaidan dwells here,” the orc said in his crude mastery of the human tongue. “Zaidan is evil, in a way my people find disturbing.” This news left Gray and his men with a new determination. He let the orc go, and told him he would demand peace from the orc and his tribe if he braved Zaidan’s Blight and put an end to the evil. The orc agreed.

What happened when Zaidan and his men journeyed up the hill and smashed their way through the ancient gate to enter the courtyard of the ruined castle, none can say. All that is known is that Gray Osterman and his men spent three days inside, and when they at last emerged, half of them were dead and all had a haunted look about them. Gray returned to the settlement and resumed building, stating only that the evil was gone, for as long as he lived. About this he was right; the settlement prospered, and turned in to a thriving township named Gray’s Retreat after rich gold veins were discovered. Soon the young barony was recognized by the King of Octzel, and the baron and his family became very wealthy and important, even in so remote a location.

The story of Gray’s Retreat and its early years is known to all locals. Recently, sixty years after the incidents which happened in those first months, Lord Osterman came down with a terrible illness that ate away at him and in months he went from a strong 85 year old man who had lived a full life to a hollow shell. He at last perished, and a funeral was held the next day, with his body interred in the fresh family mausoleum, blessed by the local priest of Death, the Nameless One to insure safe passage to the afterlife. All seemed well, and his immediate heir, his son Davin Osterman, who had already been participating in managing the barony stepped up to the task in a public ceremony two days after the funeral. Davin was already an older man at age 60, being the eldest son, and he was no longer in much condition to fight, though he had a son and daughter who handled such affairs for him.

Eight days after his burial, a new raid took the township by surprise. In the middle of the night an army of monstrosities, including chimeric creatures ridden by mihidr trolls as well as ground forces consisting of wolven and goblins descended upon the town and attacked. When the monsters were at last driven away, it was determined that several dozen townspeople had been killed or kidnapped once more, and even stranger, the Osterman family Crypt had been smashed open and the body of Lord Gray Osterman had been stolen away! This blashphemy drove Davin Osterman mad with rage, and he rode off in to the deeps of the woods, where his father had gone so long ago to find the mysterious hill and castle known as Zaidan’s Blight. He and his force of one hundred men were never seen or heard from again.

Now Erik Osterman, son of Davin, has been forced to step up to the mantle of baron while his father is absent and possibly dead. On the day the PCs begin the adventure with their arrival in town, a strange messenger from the hills appears. The misshapen goblin bears a scroll, from which he reads a new proclamation.

“Lord Zaidan has claimed the soul of Gray Osterman, lord and Baron of these lands!” The goblin cackles. “Per his agreement with the late Lord Osterman, all of the lands under his lord’s barony are now Zaidan’s to claim. Let any who would oppose his great and evil master step forth, to be struck down at his convenience!” The cackling goblin will then toss the scroll down and try to make good an escape, certain that the humans of the town will try to kill, capture or enslave him.

Thus does the adventure of Zaidan’s Blight begin, with Erik Osterman declaring a great reward to the first hero who puts down the threat of Zaidan once and for all, and possibly deliver’s his father’s and grandfather’s bodies back to him, for he has no hope his father yet lives.

Pathfinder: The Saturday Chronology

In the realm of D&D-esque games that sometimes have a D20 stamped on them or an OSR reference therein, it appears that I have finally and irrevocably surrendered to Pathfinder. I've got my weekly Wednesday night game going (which has gone gonzo and the group now runs two alternating adventuring parties....lets just say there was too much plot for just one group and leave it at that!) and of course my now closing in on three years long Pathfinder Saturday group. There comes a time when I realize, "well dang, this is the only fantasy RPG with D&D-like themes I'm running right now," that maybe I should hand it the prize.

Now, this has no bearing on Traveller (the other game I am running Saturdays), nor does it affect plans for the near future with Mutant Epoch or BRP/Magic World. Those are decidedly not D&D-likes or D20 variants. But it does mean that I think I can pat myself on the back. I stuck to my new year's resolution and by golly we're four months in and I have not fallen off the wagon.

To celebrate, I am going to print a brief summary of the campaign chronology for the ongoing Saturday group. It's not heavy on specifics, and it is mostly use as a quick recap or an intro for new players on "what has come before." So, here you go:

Current Crew of the Ship With No Name:

 The crew changes a lot, but the following characters have remained consistent throughout the tale:
Captain Salmut, ratfolk swashbuckler
Horus, human monk
Reyvan, elvish monk
Pennywhistle, Halfling bard
Jerro, human sorcerer
A medley of NPC sailors and henchmen as well as rotating and new players flesh out the mix.

The Warlords of Lingusia: Tales of the Ship With No Name
The campaign opened with the tale of our intrepid adventurers on their unnamed brigantine warship. They had returned to Port Sadrys, their home, after some absence out adventuring. On arrival, they thwarted a pirate assault by Golmadran privateers and drove them out of the harbor.

The group spent a bit of time in port before being hired to escort a group of religious pilgrims ot the Temple of the Red God, thirty miles east in the mountains near the city of Senempar, home of the ratfolk captain Salmut. After some adventures in the mountains they arrive.

Senempar is a sprawling, cosmopolitan city in the mountains dominated by several humanoid races, and was founded centuries ago near the Monastery of Ashuar during the Plague Years, when the undead plague of the Shadow Gods ran amok across the world.

The adventurers spent some time in Senempar before taking leave. During their time here they pursued a shape shifting beast that favored the form of a giant slug and was murdering drunks in the night, they assisted the temple of the Red God on some errands and then turned on the temple when they realized that the ancient artifact they were to deliver to the Tomb of the Red God in the eastern Tomblands was actually a device that might awaken a deity which was aligned with chaos and sought the destruction of mankind through dreams, and they got involved in the local criminal guilds, attempting to set up an extortion racket by which they would play one guild off another and make money off of it.

Eventually the group left Senempar and journeyed south, taking with them the mysterious Key of the Red God, the artifact that would awaken the ancient deity of nightmares, to find a way to dispose of it. They were also escorting an ashtarth dark elf woman who intended to marry a high ranking noble in Golmadras to the south, but who needed protection from a former suitor who had been turned into a drider scorpion man.

The adventurers headed south along the Nyarlith Straights to the Inner Sea, and along the way cultist fishmen (skum) of the chaos lord called the Kraken attacked the ship. They were then accosted by shadow demons while in a southern Octzellan harbor, and subsequently journeyed eastward to a Golmadran Port. At the port they were confronted by the drider who pursued them for his former bride, but one of the crew, a mixed-breed dark elf woman, convinced the drider to forget her and left with him. The patron drow was able to continue on to her arranged marriage and settled her debts with the adventurers then.

No sooner had they settled into port and resolved the matter than did the Kraken itself manifest to take vengeance upon them. As the Kraken descended to destroy the city, the seraph Aion, agent of the god of time (Huuarl) manifested and spirited the entire crew of adventurers and their unnamed ship back in time nearly 1,600 years, with an urgent mission: they had to stop an ancient prophecy from coming true, one which would ultimately see to the unbinding of twelve ancient chaos gods called the Skaeddrath, of which the Kraken was but one. When the twelve are freed by this prophecy, Aion explained, they would begin to awaken from their perpetual slumber and escape into the world to wreak untold havoc.

The adventurers were told by Aion to seek out the man who started it all: a priest and scholar studying an ancient ruin in the High Plateau near the Octzellan city of Dagger Falls to the west. As a final act of assistance Aion teleported the entire ship to a small lake near the edge of the ruins, where the adventurers could seek out this scholar and stop him. Aion gave them the Hourglass of Huuarl, a sacred relic, to aid them. The rat captain abused it a lot.

The time in the ruins was fraught with danger and mystery, and at first the scholar and his assistants appeared to be innocently discovering the relics of an ancient cult in the ruins, while the scholar wrote down the mysterious language he was translating, but in time it was revealed he was receiving messages to translate in his dreams, from an ancient entity that was trapped beneath the plateau, one of the chaos gods. At last when his treachery was revealed as a true cultist of the Kraken seeking to do the bidding of this god through its dreams, the adventurers confronted him and defeated the chaos beast he summoned to stop them.

After destroying the scholar’s book and insuring that the prophecy would never be written and so could not come to pass, the adventurers traveled to a nearby ancient cave where a hidden temple of time to the god Huuarl could be found. The angelic Aion manifested after the hourglass relic summoned him and informed them that the timeline had been changed, and the Kraken and its ilk were no longer certain to destroy the world in the current era. When asked, the adventurers chose to return to the future, their present, and Aion did so, repairing their damaged vessel (it was shattered when it hit the shallow lake) and setting them in the grand lake off Dagger Falls nearby.

The heroes returned to the present, where they began to find subtle changes. Octzel as a kingdom was no longer a wasteland of small baronies fighting against the monsters and the foreign invaders of Zatacan, but was united into three kingdoms, of which they were now in the domain of southern Pheralin.

The group became embroiled in a mystery in the city of Drakhan, where murders with a demonic influence were happening. They discovered that someone had unleashed a powerful ancient demon, the cambion half-demon bastard son of the ancient northern giants (Balor himself).

The group traveled to a monastery and while defending the monks from rampaging cyclopses learned that the taint of the demons may stem back to an ancient elvish city which once existed in the middle of the northern Halale Wilderness, near a sacred tree. They traveled to these ruins and discovered that the sacred tree had been corrupted long ago in whatever conflict destroyed the surrounding city. A series of adventures led to the revelation of the demon himself, and his subsequent banishment, as well as the restoration of the Sacred Heart of the Tree, which purged the region of this evil influence.

The group returned to Drakhan and spent a bit more time there before journeying to Pheralan, capitol of the kingdom, just south along the river delta from Drakhan. There they met with Queen of the land and learned that her son had been missing for over a year, and a dignitary from the distant eastern city of Carapus in the Sea of Amech region had just arrived, bearing the sword of her son which he said had been recovered from the wreckage of his ship, and though no body was present, he felt news of this matter had to be delivered to the Queen.

The queen asked the adventurers to accompany the ambassador as well as her own agent, named Biramon Black, agent of the queen, to go to Carapus and recover her son, alive or dead. She provided them with rare resurrection scrolls to insure he came back alive if possible. The group accepted.

A lengthy journey north from the Inner Sea to the Nyarlith Straight, then eastward through the Baldric Gulf along the shores of the Northern Hyrkanian Kingdoms was fraught with various minor dangers, but the group stopped for a time in the city of Eor’nin to repair and resupply before journeying into the Sea of Amech region.

While in Eor’nin, they picked up a priest and paladin and became involved in the investigation of a haunting at the local museum of antiquities sponsored by Eor’nin’s king. The haunting was actually from a Hettanar Warlord’s sarcophagus that had somehow become a portal to a mysterious demiplane which abutted with the Far Realm. The adventurers were trapped (sort of) here for sometime before they sealed the portal to the Far Realm and escaped, haunting purged.

The group eventually found their way in the Sea of Amech region, dealt with trollish piracy and captured a trollish war galleon filled with an ancient, evil idol of the mysterious troll god Tsthaqqua. They were close to Carapus at last when they witnessed an island rise from the sea, beckoning with naked elf maidens on its shore. So naturally they dropped anchor and rowed to the mysterious isle.

Here they discovered an ancient island of somehow artificial construction that could submerge at the will of an ancient abolethic demiurge named Seredath. The aboleth had an obsession for kythien elvish women, whom more than a hundred were kept on the island for reasons unknown. While there the adventurers discovered that local ape men and kobolds worshipped two local beast lords, a massive girallon and a giant tyrannosaurus rex. They also encountered the terrible volcanic “fire god,” a volcanic dragon, which the monks smacked down in about eighteen seconds while Captain Salmut lopped its head off.

The group found the crater at the center of the island and an ancient abolethic city within. They had taken refuge inside one of the buildings with the elvish women they sought to rescue when the island submerged once more. Now traveling like a mile wide submersible beneath the Sea of Amech, the group made their way through the maze of the city until they reached what the elvish woman called “The Great Machine.” Aquatic Giants , skum and other evil agents of the aboleth operated this machine that appeared to be powered by the spirits of the elvish women, who were drained like batteries in the machine.

The group tried to get to the center of the machine for sabotage but discovered that it was also apparently a tether to multiple planar rifts, one of which opened up into a fragment of a shattered plane which was once the Great Cog of the Modron of old. They acquired two relic modrons while fighting the corrupted machine-monsters of this planar fragment before making it safely back.

The group reached a point where they had alerted the denizens of the island to their presence, and Seredath’s watchdog, a terrible shoggoth, began pursuit. The group took refuge in a bathysphere which they learned to operate and make a quick escape. Now free of the island, the group found themselves deep beneath the Sea of Amech, near one of many ancient ruins from the pre-deluge era of old.

Finding a cavern within the submerged ruins along a great and ancient mountain, they discovered an ancient hollow that contained what seemed at first to be an ancient monument and tomb to a forgotten king or god. They determined it was a monument, commemorating an ancient victory when the avatar Avokta of the lost war god Vishannu destroyed the ancient lizard man empire of Codam, and imprisoned their dark god Orcus within a demonic soul gem. The group, while battling various evil entities, uncovered the soul gem.

Some time ago the rat captain Salmut had found two weapons. One was a shadow blade that wa tethered to the demiplane of shadow and reflected the ancient spirit of the lost god of that realm named Avarath, slain by the Shadow Pantheon of Unarak who usurped his realm. The other was forged from the bones of chaos gods and was a tether to the Far Realm. It was during this inopportune moment that the ratfolk captain used the blades to forge a portal to the Far Realm where it could not quickly be closed, and the means of getting to that portal was sealed off. This insured that the army of the star-faring Neh-Thagglu brain collectors now had a permanent passage to the earthly realm of Lingusia.

The group also encountered the missing prince while exploring the aquatic hollow, as the prince and his surviving compatriots (including a psionic warrior of great skill) had been delving into the subterranean realm looking for a lost artifact to the god of knowledge, Nistur, whom the prince believed could be revived if one took up the mantle of the artifact and became an avatar of this fallen god from the old empire. Instead, it was revealed to be a trick, and the voice which compelled the prince was that of Orcus and his demonic minions seeking escape. The group fought the demons which manifested with the prince’s possession and also freed the prince momentarily from Orcus’s control.

The group eventually left by way of a teleport established with their tiefling sorcerer on board their still unnamed ship. They resumed their journey to the city of Carapus.

At last reaching Carapus, the group held court with the queen, the ambassador, the prince and the dignitaries of the realm which included the naga of the sunken citadel of the coast, which had now had a tentative alliance with the surface dwellers for a while now. It quickly became problematic as it turned out the prince had engaged in an affair with the queen of Carapus, her daughter, and the naga queen. The warlord naga king took great umbrage at this reveal and challenged them all to a duel, but wa defeated.

The group spent several weeks in Carapus, with the monk Horace staying to found an orphanage in a city that very much needed it. The psionic warrior Galvado began investigating the connections revealed through a series of adventures of mind flayers that belonged to a mysterious Guild of the Spheres and seemed to have gained some trust from them. The other adventurers got embroiled in stopping a slavery ring and the group also earned the ire of a guild of war mages who did not like the influence the group was having on the city political scene.

The naga warlord eventually struck and took the prince hostage in revenge for the prince’s indiscretions, and held him for an outrageous ransom. The group attained underwater spells and journeyed to the sunken city of the naga, where they found a back way in, gained some Locathah allies, and assaulted the inner citadel.


While in the ruinous dungeons beneath the citadel the group accidentally awoke a vampiric priest lord of Set named Ollaram. As it turns out there was a guardian spirit servant of the goddess Phonatas present, an entity which resided there in a ruined shrine to the goddess to suppress the vampiric avatar from awakening. This spirit channeled the essence of the goddess, who made a pact of assistance with the bard Pennywhistle, granting him a divine bowl by which he could commune with her, and ask a favor of her in times of dire need.

Meanwhile, the less scrupulous side of the party found a portal to the Nine Hells in the bowels of the ruins, and somebody thought this was a good time to get rid of the Demonic Soul Gem in which Orcus’s spirit was trapped, so they threw it in. This led to a large explosion and much confusion. The group retreated to the locathah village, where they mended themselves for a day or so.

When they returned to the citadel of the naga, it was clear an undead plague had been unleashed by an Orcus who had been freed from his soul gem. The group eventually found and rescued the prince from a slavering horde of fresh vampires after securing the aid of an ancient reef dragon, and they then made good their escape.

Captain Salmut was asked on his return to Carapus to next investigate a ship which had been wrecked in battle that contained the remains of a powerful ancestor of a local noble. The group also got wind of rumors that the island kingdom of Kadantania was preparing to set sail to attack Carapus in a bid to expand its power base. They opted to pursue the wrecked ship.

The group sailed to the region in question, and along the way were accosted by giant froghemoths that emerged from the Vyrindian Isles. They discovered these beasts had been made by a witch woman who used these transformed sailors from the wreck to guard an ancient temple. The group saved two fo three transformed sailors, the made their way to the coast where they found the wrecked ship.

The ship was surrounded by undead, but they survived. The adventurers found the crate with the remains, but the canopic jars within had been stolen. The sorcerer Jerro took the ornamental rune in silver that protected the crate for a talisman, however.

The tracks led past an ancient half-dome with a tower in the jungle, inside of which an ancient clockwork golem acted as caretaker for a forgotten temple of the old gods. The trolls protected the temple from entry but the adventurers fought their way in. For their reward they were recognized as divine emissaries and allowed to access the lower temple. There, the monk Reyvan communicated with the high god of the old empire’s pantheon, Naril, and learned that the ancient artifact he had come into possession of, a gauntlet-like weapon called the Star of Naril, was the weapon of the chosen avatar of the god, and it would let him find the lost island of Sol’Dranir where Naril’s temple of light could be found. The island had been clouded by agents of the Shadow Pantheon long ago, for the temple of the god of the sun and man was the greatest threat to Unarak and his cronies. Naril’s spirit charged Reyhvan with going to the temple and freeing it from the shadow’s grasp.

They also learned that eastward in the mountains was a great excavation underway by the troll queen, who had stolen the relics of the dead saint-avatar they had been sent to recover. Her vanity led the troll queen to seek out a means to abolish her race’s impurity and seek perfect beauty by use of the saint’s otherworldly power. The adventurers are also charged with recovering these artifacts.

The adventurers entered the second temple of the demiurge of knowledge, Warenos, and successfully petitioned the living demiurge for an audience in the Weirding Realm (the feywild). There they gained access to his copious body of knowledge, and also discovered an agent of Orcus that had been trailing them, a creature that could not hide in the fey realm. After destroying the demon, Warenos provided them with copious advice and urged them to seek out more answers in the domain of the troll queen.

The group left the temple after some more antics, and did indeed proceed to scout out the vast excavation site unearthing the ancient temple of the trolls. They learned several important bits of information, including the fact that lizard men had an encampment there with diplomats seeking to open relations with the troll queen, a weird race of invisible winged monkeys plagued the ratkin captain Salmut, and that most of the labor force were demihuman slaves including humans, orcs, dwarves, some elves and Halflings. The worst news was that the troll queen Sytaria was sacrificing children and Halflings to the dark god Tsathoquaa at the top of the temple each night to perform rituals to improve her beauty (though precisely how much a troll woman could benefit from this was ill defined). She was using the canopic jars of the solar avatar in this deed as well, a heinous act.


The group took action that night, assaulting the height of the temple in a furious battle to free children and Halflings while defeating the troll guards and priests, as well as a massive troll abomination that was the temple guardian. The fight was brutal, but they recovered the jars and captured the queen in the process. Pennywhistle the bard then called upon his gift from the goddess Phonatas, beseeching her to intervene.

The goddess did indeed intervene. It was revealed that the trolls were actually a corrupted fey race of proto-elves from twenty thousand or more years ago, the first of whom had been lured to an ancient pool where the whispering voice of Tsathoquaa came in dreams and tempted them with immortality and power in exchange for undying devotion. When the first Endreti fey accepted this offer, she became a troll, and she was charged with luring or capturing her kin and bringing them to the pool for conversion. Thus did Tsathoquaa create the first endreti trolls. The current troll queen harbored a racial memory of that lost age, being a direct descendent of the first troll queen.

Phonatas channeled holy energy through the spirit of her bardic champion, and purged the temple and the trolls completely of Tsathoquaa’s influence. Within moments the trolls were stricken and carbonized as if burned to cinders, but from their husks emerged the true elf-like endreti fey that existed deep within, lost for eons. The troll kingdom was wiped out in moments. The temple itself was swallowed up by the earth, to insure the Skaeddrath did not awaken.

The adventurers stayed for some time to assist the newborn endreti fey in re-establishing their culture and keeping some control, as their evil and corrupt forms had been utterly purged. The slaves were freed, and efforts to return them to their proper lands enacted. The temple to the west was properly secured and offered to the newfound endreti fey as a place to restore worship of the gods of order. But at last they had to leave, faced with the task of returning the canopic jars of the avatar-saint of Naril.

By now the group had determined that they had a magical sextant and the Star of Naril, two devices that would let them find the shadow-shrouded isle of Sol’Dranir, where the ancient Temple of the Star Mount could be found, the proper resting place of the sun god’s avatars, and the conduit of his ancient power. The Shadow Pantheon had long suppressed the dominion of Naril, and they decided to head to this isle in the northern straights off the lands of Covarte and put this matter to right once and for all.

Along the way they found evidence that the Kadantanian Empire, emboldened by the return of Orcus as their chief deity, were now cutting a swathe of conquering destruction through the Amechian kingdoms. Covarte’s entire naval fleet was decimated, and a surviving ship was found horribly corrupted by demonic necromancy. The group pressed on, avoiding distraction, until they at last arrived at the shadow-shrouded realm of Sol’Dranir, made visible by the use of the magical artifacts.

The group fought off a wave of shadow demons as they transited into the demiplane where the isle had been displaced, and at last made a beachhead on the eastern shores, just south of another ancient temple, this one to Unarak himself. They encountered an expatriate shadow demon who identified himself as a true follower of the old shadow gods Avarath and Penumbros, and he offered to serve as a guide. The group forged their way through the dense, swampy wooded inland toward the great mountain chain at the center of the isle. Along the way they encountered other-dimensional undead demons (devourers) that floated in the woods, and befriended a tribe of indigenous lizard men who had been living here since long before the island was displaced into the realm of shadow. The lizard men had a shaman who said the adventurers’ arrival was prophecied, and that their best hope for penetrating the dangers of the mountains was by traveling under them….

And this is where the campaign currently rests.

To be continued, every other Saturday!

The troll queen before her transformation

Isomular: Locust Men!

And with the Locustoids my Isomular Month ends. Perhaps someday in the future I will get a chance to design some more material for it should inspiration hit...or even get to at last run a campaign in this setting! Who knows...

Locustoids (Locust Men)


Type: 2nd level Monstrous Humanoid Expert

Size: Small

Speed: 20 ft, 40 ft Jumping

Str  Dex Con Int Wis Cha
0      +4     -1    0    0    +1

Skills: Notice +4, Stealth +13

Feats: Double Strike

Traits: Armored Carapace +3 Toughness, Darkvision 60’, Amazing Jump ability

Combat: Attack +6, Damage +1 (claws) or weapon (usually swords +2 damage), Defense +16, Grapple +2, Initiative +4

Saves: Tough Fort Ref Will
              +2     -1    +7   +3

Jumping: Locustoids can move by jumping with their powerful hind legs. They are built for landing, and do not sustain damage from a controlled fall of 100 feet in height or less.

Short creatures of about 3 feet in height, locustoids look much like their name (chosen by men long ago) suggests: short, humanoid locust men, with two strong hopping legs and four lean but armored arms, the locustoids lack the ability to do much damage with their limbs, but they become pretty good swordsmen in short order.

Locustoids are fairly intelligence pests, once the throw-away race of the Isomular empire, now a strange mixture of menace and cheap labor. Locustoids breed like flies, literally, and if a Hive queen of the locustoids sets up shop in the area, they can multiply in to the thousands in short order. After enough of them crop up, they start getting grand visions of conquering the world, which is only made impossible by their thorough lack of loyalty to anything save themselves and their queen.

Locustoids which have been neutered so as not to be able to breed (male locustoids are necessary for the queen’s eggs to be fertilized) and female locustoids which have been “snipped” so that they cannot ever transmogrify one day in to a locustoid queen are considered perfectly decent creatures to live with. Most human lands either tolerate them as cheap labor or enforce laws enslaving them. In the wilds, locustoids that are not regulated can quickly get out of hand, and some entire cities have been overwhelmed by enraged locustoids searching for food for their queen.

When not under thrall to a queen, the locustoids are pretty agreeable, friendly folk who often dominate social scenes and take on rapacious, insatiable appetites for entertaining and being entertained. They are also known for their thievery, and some make excellent scouts. Locustoids almost always wear some mark to show that they have been “fixed” so that they are never mistaken for wild locustoids.




Locustoid Queen

Type: 10th level Monstrous Humanoid Adept

Size: Huge

Speed: 20 ft

Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
+6    -2   +4   +4   +1   +5

Skills: Notice +4

Feats: Double Strike, Diehard, Improved Grab, Improved Pin,

Traits: Armored Carapace +3 Toughness, Darkvision 60’, Trample

Combat: Attack +3, Damage +3 (claws) or +5 (trample), Defense +13, Grapple +7, Initiative -2

Saves: Tough Fort Ref Will
            +11   +11  +5   +8

Powers: Each queen has a unique set of powers, of one or two particular foci. Choose 6 powers of Power Rank 13; Save DC 15

The enormous 25 foot long queen of the wild locustoids is an immense, bloated version of her tiny children. She can lay hundreds of eggs a day, and the males can busily fertilize the eggs, which will in about six weeks hatch to create a veritable army of locustoids. The ravenous young need food, which the elders bring to them. Given that locustoids only need about three months to reach full maturity (3 feet tall), it doesn’t take long for a queen to generate a ravenous army of loyal kin.

Most queens live delusional states of fantasy. They are always transmogrified females, which undergo a process wherein a chemical is released in to their body sometime after their fifth year of life (occasionally later). They enter a chrysalis like state and emerge three weeks later as a young queen. After another few weeks, they have eaten enough to gain the mass necessary to begin producing eggs. The queen looks essentially like an enormously bloated version of a normal locustoid.

Most females intentionally cut out the chemical sack which activates their chrysalis stage, but a handful embraces it, seeking to flee in to the wild to become new queens.

Isomular: Octogashi, the Octopus Men

Octogashi (Octopus Men)


Type: 6th level Monstrous Humanoid Adept

Size: Medium

Speed: 30 ft, 40ft swimming

Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
+2   +4   +2   +2   +2   0

Skills: Escape Artist +8, Notice +7, Survival +6, Stealth +8, Swim +14

Feats: Chokehold, Grappling Finesse, Improved Pin

Traits: Darkvision 60’

Combat: Attack +10, Damage +3 (tentacles), Defense +14, Grapple +8, Initiative +0

Saves: Tough Fort Ref Will
              +2     +2    +4    +5

Powers: Water Shaping (Int), Body Control (Wis), Drain Vitality (Wis), Mind Touch (Cha), Pain (Cha), Power Rank 9; Save DC 13

Swimming: +8 racial bonus to swimming

The octogashi appear to be tall, almost creatures with thick legs and a bulging torso. These parts are almost humanoid, except for the head, which is replaced by the body and tentacles of an octopus. The body and head are fused, such that there is no neck and a fair portion of the torso and octopoid component are one and the same. Moreover, the torso has no arms, instead relying entirely on the mass of tentacles to provide manipulative appendages.

Octogashi are a very mysterious race of the aquatic depths, and appear to be venomously hateful of the surface dwellers of Isomular. They worship a strange demon god that they call Ith’quill and will often force other aquatic beings to worship this god. The octogashi are fond of raiding the surface world for possible slaves and general mayhem. They have a unique creature which they breed, called the Chargash Mussel, a sea creature that, when placed along the skin of a human’s throat will bond like a parasite to that person. It simultaneously replaces their own breathing mechanisms, converting water in to breathable filtered oxygen for the land-dwelling host, but that person will not suffocate in open air without a very radical surgery (DC28 Medicine check with surgical tools to succeed) to remove the parasite.

Isomular: Scorponids

Scorponids (Scorpotaurs)


Type: 5th level Monstrous Humanoid Warrior

Size: Large

Speed: 30 ft

Str Dex Con Int Wis Cha
+6     0    +2   0    +1    0

Skills: Notice +7, Survival +7

Feats: Improved Critical (Claws 19-20/+3), All Out Attack

Traits: Armored Carapace +3 Toughness, Darkvision 60’, Double Strike (both pincer claws)

Combat: Attack +4, Damage +9 (pincer claws), Defense +14, Grapple +8, Initiative +0

Saves: Tough Fort Ref Will
              +7      +3   +4   +5

These enormous predators are tall, scorpion-like creatures averaging 10-15 feet in length and about 8 feet in height. They are vaguely centauroid, as where a normal scorpion’s head be there is instead an armored torso from which a multi-eyed head, mandibles, and two large pincers on carpaced arms extend.

Scorponids are one of the more fearsome predatory sapient races of Isomular. The Scorponids were once a warrior-thrall caste in the old Isomular empire, said to have been enhanced in intelligence and prowess by alchemical processes. Since the collapse of the Isomular empire and the rise of humans, the Scorponids have been cut free, and those which survived the old wars now wander in large tribes, ravaging the region in to which they seek to settle.

Scorponids have a callous disregard for most human races, but they are strangely in awe of the Isomular, with some scorponids reacting in fear or anger upon encountering their old slave masters. Curiously, scorponids love the myrmidons, and it is not unknown for one or more scorponids to take up guard as protectors of the myrmidons, who they recognize as another slave species freed from Isomulii rule. These scorponids will usually defend the myrmidon families they protect with their life.

Isomular: The Vile Worm

Before I gave up on this campaign, I designed several monsters for it. Actually, a key reason I gave up was the monumental task of monster design, which in D20 3.X era systems is a laborious pain for the time-challenged (plus I just found it tedious and uninteresting). Anyway, no reason to let the ones I did finish go to waste, so first off we have....

The Vile Worm


Type: 20th level Adept Aberration

Size: Colossal (Reach 15’)

Speed: 30 ft, 40 ft burrowing (both earth and stone)

Str   Dex Con Int Wis Cha
+12   +2   +8    0   +4    0

Skills: Notice +14, Search +10, Survival +14, Intimidate +18

Feats: Great Fortitude, Endurance, Run, Track, Diehard, Stunning Attack, Improved Grab, Trample, Tireless

Traits: darkvision 60’, Blindsense, Swallow Whole, Frightful Presence (DC 20)

Combat: Attack +4, Damage +15 (bite), Defense +14 (dodge), Grapple +20, Damage +15 (Swallow), Initiative +2

Saves: Tough Fort Ref Will
             +16  +16  +8  +10

Powers: Variable, but usually all of the Empathy Focus powers (cha), plus Blink (Wis); Power Rank 23; Save DC 20

Vile worms look like immense, heavily carapaced earthworms, with large sucker-like maws and a ring of glimmering eye-like growths along the first several feet of their head region. The worms are lean, usually about 5-10 feet in diameter but are upwards of 150 feet in length.

Dwelling in the deep wastelands of the largest deserts of the Whispering Kingdoms, the Vile Worm is a ferocious species which has terrorized many communities in its time. There are only known to be a few of these immense creatures, and a handful of ascetics have formed a dedicated cult (The Followers of the Worm), following these enigmatic beasts around, seeking to learn the ways of their kind. The known psionic power of these ancient beings makes them especially fascinating to their followers, who believe the worms are actually an ancient, enlightened race, possibly the first progenitor race of Isomular.

Vile worms are usually encountered as solitary creatures, although they often have a flock of dedicated pilgrims following them. On rare occasions they will encounter another of their kind, at which time the worms will usually go in to a curiosu trance as they seem to communicate with one another telepathically. On very rare occasions (once every hundred years) a few dozen of the creatures will converge in one location for some sort of enigmatic gathering. This can be problematic if they choose an inhabited region.

Isomular: Monstrosities

Introducing new Creatures to Isomular


When deciding to include a new creature in Isomular, consider the following: fey creatures, most outsiders, and many magical beasts and aberrations with non-psionic magic effects should be excluded. Any beast which has an effect that can be psionically duplicated, as well as any beast which is sufficiently exotic and alien (reptilian, insectoid, or just weirdly alien) will probably work. Humanoids should be excluded, as the only hominids on Isomular are those who arrived on the Coral Ark (the true humans, transgenics, and mutations). If a humanoid does look like it could be a previously undiscovered or forgotten mutation or transgenic species, then feel free to work it in. The key idea here is to preserve the sense of the alien an exotic about Isomular, and to stay as far away as possible from elves, dwarves, orcs and other classic trappings of fantasy. Some beings can have names derived from fantastic elements, but also bear in mind that much of the ancient lore of earth was lost to the men of the Coral Ark even before they left Earth. Notions of medieval magic did not exist for the founders of the modern Isomular cultures, and so they have never been prone to identifying such notions of fanaticism with their strange world and psionic powers.

One good trick you can always use to borrow a monster for Isomular is simple: make it insectoid or reptilian. The planet’s native flora and fauna are dominated by these two types of life, and making almost any species one or the other will allow it to “fit in.” Ogres, for example, could be revised as Great Lizard Men, hulking two-legged brutes that are giant kin to the Kamodons.

Creature Types of Isomular

Alien: The creature is of alien origin, not native to Isomular, but not necessarily an Astral visitor. Such beings may also have traveled to Isomular from space.

Annunaki: The creature is or has been known to work for the enigmatic Annunaki. It is eminently hostile to humanity and all other beings.

Architect: The creature is a disciple and creation of the Architect and appears at his behest.

Construct: The creature is created through the old clockwork technology of the Isomulii, the animating forces of a psionicist, or is a remnant of the ancient apocalyptic civilizations of a million years ago. Some undead (skeletons) are really psychic constructs.

Exotic: The creature is exotic, and does not seem to fit the normal ecosystem, but is also not obviously a visitor from another realm. Such beings may be remnants of older ecosystems destroyed, or products of genetic or psionic experimentation.

Insectoid: The being is part of the insectoid kingdom of animals on Isomular, and is usually a native animal.

Mechanoid: The creature is mechanical, or robotic. It is usually a relic of a forgotten age, or a product of the Architect (a survivor of the Coral Ark).

Native: The creature is a native of Isomular.

Reptilian: The creature belongs to the animal kingdom of the reptilians, and is likely a native to Isomular.

Subterranean: The creature belongs to the strange ecosystem of the subterranean realms of Isomular.

Terran: The creature is part of the transplanted life created by the Architect when man was brought to Isomular. Many creatures from Terra were recreated, though there are many more that did not survive the times during which the native and imported ecosystems fought for cohabitation. Animals which were most useful to man, or most self-subsistent and quick-breeding did best (dogs, rabbits, etc.)

Undead: The disembodied spirits of psychic energy which linger in the astral or return to animate their corpses. These are psionic undead, and all magic traits are changed to psionic traits.

Isomular: Ecology

The Ecology of Isomular


Isomular is a world with a diversity of strange ecologies. The Isomulii and other insectoid species reflect the most ancient of the ecological niches in the long history of this world, but there are a number of strange, reptilian species which are part of a more contemporary stretch of Isomular evolution, as well. Some Eldaran who are privy to the ancient lore suspect that the reptilians and amphibians of Isomular are part of a transplanted ecology, just like the Terran ecology created by the Architect.

When humans arrived, the machines of the Architect began to convert local materials in to a newly created ecosystem derived from Old Terra. The result was a fairly balanced ecology which immediately sought to insert itself in to Isomular’s own rough, predator-heavy ecology. The smaller mammals and beasts of man were better at avoiding predation, and were quick to spread. The result was a devastating shift in Isomular’s newly blended ecosystem, with a sudden dominance of the transplanted mammals. Many native herbivorous species on Isomular died out as small species such as rabbits, rodents, and birds fought for resources. The new species were cultivated by the Arechitect to be compatible with their new environment, even as the region was also seeded with Terran flora to further advance the terraforming process.

After nearly two-thousand years, few scholars can speak much of what the pre-Terran ecology was like. Isomular is now a blended ecosystem, with a strange balance between the insectoid, reptilian, and mammalian groups throughout the land. Some native beasts have still done well, such as Ankhegs, which are caught as young and raised as beasts of war and burden by both men and Isomulii. Likewise, horses and ponies are prized by both men and myrmidons, as well as other sentient species. A few strange niches have kept to their own. Except for the invasion of the mutated grimlocks, a human variant which survived the great journey of the Coral Ark in the deepest bowels of the vessel as beings hideously mutated by cosmic radiaton leeching through he Ark’s protective armor, most of the underground caverns and subterranean ruins of old still harbor a unique ecosystem unsullied by the presence of Terran lifeforms.

The following is a list of Isomular’s native life, as well as a short list of creatures which manifest that have a clear extraplanar origin, deriving from the Astral Realm. These beings from the astral definitely manifest from other dimensional planes and worlds, and some may even be beings from other civilizations on distant worlds which have discovered the secrets of planar gate travel.

When deciding if you want to use an existing creature for an Isomular campaign, consider that some beings which are of the “magical” type have that changed to the “psionic” type instead, and their special abilities are redefined as psionic abilities. This will mostly prove relevant in a cross-worlds campaign, in which real magic users appear in Isomular. Otherwise, assume all powers are psionic in nature.

Sentient, intelligent species are also note so as to provide a basis for those beings which are tribal, engage in civilization, trade, warfare, and communication. Some of these species are sentient, but due to numbers and interest are extremely isolated, but they are included anyway.

Special types of undead are found on Isomular. The undead are psionic manifestations, beings created when a strong psionic mind dies and retains an impression in the psionic energy which permeates the quantum strata of creation. Undead which are appropriate are listed below, and include both corporeal beings animated by a potent psionic presence (a possessing poltergeist) or incorporeal beings which have found a new level of existence in the Astral (a ghost of spirit). The understanding of psionic energy as a binding force of the universe has led psionic practitioners to identify death with transcendence in to deeper understanding of the universe. The afterlife, if it can be seen as such, is thought of as a form of ascension to an immaterial state, in which one joins with the forces of creation. Reincarnation is the return of that soul if it has not learned enough in its mortal journey, to be reborn as a new life. Undead appear when these spirits are unwilling to ascend or be reborn. A strange, reverse form of undead are called the soulless, mortal beings born without souls or psionic ability. These entities are anathema to psionicists, for they are immune to the powers of the mind and can never manifest such abilities, either. The soulless are strange, driven beings, and often outcast in some societies for their nature as anathema (see more on the feat which can be chosen to reflect a soulless character).

The Unbodied are psionic beings which have made and recalled the transition from death to psionic formlessness, and have learned to control this process to the point that they leave their mortal forms behind. Such beings are technically considered undead according to the description above, but they are also much, much more.

As a rule, any undead which is manifested through its own willpower, hatred, or other strong need or emotion is pemitted and considered a viable psionic entity. Undead which can only manifest through magical means or divine means do not exist on Isomular (mummies and skeletons, for example). A few corporal undead, such as ghouls and ghasts, do exist and are classified as undead by most advernturers, but are in fact human off-shoots who suffer from a terrible mutant disease that forces them to live lives as beast-like cannibals. Such undead are classified as “mutations.”

There are a great many different Terran-analog species among the insectoid fauna. Giant and varied sizes of scorpion, centipede, spider and other insects exist, though they are not biologically the same creatures as their Terran counterparts. Most of the human names for these things stem from their own titles, but the native Isomular name will be listed for such creatures in parentheses. These beings, while superficially similar to earth insects, have some startling differences, including stronger shells, larger brains and fully developed lungs with large mouths that extend proboscides for feeding along with mandibles of all sizes.

A small number of the creatures below are classified as “alien.” These beings are not native to Isomular, and clearly do not belong, but if they arrived by space or by the Astral realm, no one can say. Such beings are usually inimical to other life, have strange or unfathomable purposes and natures, and are often opposed to the Annunaki as well as humans and other native beings.

Isomular: More on Technology

Technology on Isomular

There are two sources of ancient technology on Isomular. The Isomulii created many wondrous clockwork items, and their ancient civilization was harnessing steam power when it was shattered in rebellion. The distant apocalyptic society that once existed on Isomular was very high-tech, and while almost nothing of this civilization remains, occasionally a very unusual artifact will surface.


In contrast, the Coral Ark brought with it both men and technology, and while the long voyage of the ark had left much of its wondrous technology exhausted and damaged, enough artifacts survived to make a measurable impact on the future of man.

These artifacts were built to last, and certain small, dedicated orders (especially among the Engineers and the Eldaran) have taught the rituals of maintenance, to insure that these fabulous items are not lost to disrepair and damage. Some of these items include the lightning and fire guns, the war helms, and the communicators. A few air skiffs still survive, held in jealous possession by the noble families of Zymvaj and Kalashtam. There are even a few of the ancient mechanoids, tirelessly serving the needs of the Architect and the Coral Ark out in the Whispering Ocean.

Essentially, almost any old world and science fiction technology described in True20 can have an interesting place in Isomular if the GM wants it to.

Isomular: New feats for True20

New Feats in Isomular


There are a number of new feats which characters of Isomular may take. Among these feats, all characters should have the option of choosing the Hidden Talent feat at 1st level in the EPH (pg. 66). Some feats are unavailable in Isomular, such as all spell enhancement metamagic feats and item creation feats. All of the psionic feats in the EPH are available. Additional feats available include:

Adapted

The harsh ecosystem of Isomular is not too friendly to the human races which settled here. Some humans have developed a good resistance to the local flora and fauna, such that they can eat and partake of plants most people find barely digestible. These people can also resist poisons and toxins in the native environment better.

Prerequisite: 1st level only

Effect: You get a +4 Fortitude save when exposed to poisons and toxins from a native-born plant or animal. You may also get a +4 modifier to your Survival skill rolls to forage for edible food from the native wildlife, as your range of options is somewhat wider than normal. This does not apply to other characters unless they also are Adapted.

Psychic Linguist

You are unusually well-versed in the strange languages of Isomular, even the insectoid ones which are unpronounceable and sometimes incomprehensible to most humans.

The insectoid languages of Isomular all have an ancient, common root and all insectoid species of intelligence derive their language from the same root source. As such, the nature of these languages is similar enough for a wisened linguist to grasp as a spectrum. Similarly, the simplistic languages of the reptilian species are also, apparently, derived from a common source and work much the same way.

Effect: Your keen ear and psychic propensity for the strange languages of the myrmidons, Isomulii, lizardfolk and other species lets you make an Intelligence check at DC 15 whenever communicating with these beings to grasp what they are saying, even if you do not know their languages as skills. You may apply this to any species’ language you encounter, even if it is for the first time. You may also attempt to communicate back, making a DC 20 Intelligence check to try and replicate the strange clicks, whirrs, and hoots of the language to make a basic point known. You won’t be quoting Shakespear, but you will be able to get ideas like, “Don’t kill me,” and “I’ll give gold for food,” across.

Past Lives

You are an old soul, and you have probably reincarnated many, many times. As such, you seem to have a unique grasp on the world around you, and sometimes can relate your current events to spontaneous memories from prior lives. These memories are sudden and usually disconnected. Occasionally, they are older than man’s time on Isomular.

Prerequisite: Wis 15+, psionic abilities

Effect: You may periodically ask to make a Wisdom check against a variable DC to see if a given situation awakens a past-life memory. You may do this a number of times per game session equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Past Lives DC Results:

DC 10< A fun, odd, or otherwise interesting but useless memory of a past life, not relevant at all.

DC 10-14 A vague memory, with some allegorical or suggestive reference to the present quandary.

DC 15-19 A useful memory that provides a +1 circumstance modifier to the current problem.

DC 20-24 A distinct memory that offers a +2 circumstance modifier and some insight.

DC 25+ A vivid memory, which allows the PC to take 10 on the situation even if he normally couldn’t, or a +4 circumstance modifier, whichever is better.


Soulless

You are born without psionic ability, and are described by the cosmology of the psionicists as a being without a soul. You can never manifest psionic ability, and are remarkably resistant to psionic effects.

The philosophy of the psionic colleges and monasteries says that all beings seek true enlightenment in the fabric of the universe, but that until they achieve this goal, they will eventually wander back to the mortal plane to reincarnate. Some children are born that do not have a reincarnated soul, secular vessels which, while biologically alive, are not gifted with the psionic essence of the universe.

Prerequisites: No adept powers at all.

Effect: You can never manifest psionic powers, and can never learn any powers or take levels in the Adept role. Instead you receive a few unique resistances: First, you can never be contacted using the Mind Touch power. Second, you gain a Psionic Resistance score equal to 10 plus your Intelligence modifier. This value increases as your character’s level advances. The trade-off, of course, is that this resistance value is always on, and will work against beneficial psionic effects as well as hostile psionics. The Psi Resistance works like this: any time a power is used that would affect you directly, you must make a Psi Resistance check by rolling 1D20. If your score is equal to or less than your Psi Resistance score, the power fails against you, automatically. If you roll higher than your score, then the power’s normal process continues (including any subsequent saves and effects) as normal.

Isomular: Racial Backgrounds

Source

Racial Backgrounds of Isomular


Humans are the only core book race to be found in Isomular. The following races are also permitted as player characters:

Bael

Bael are physiologically similar to human beings, but have black skin and large, grey orbs for eyes, as well as mere slits for a nose and ears. The spine and back of their arms, legs and neck have smooth but ridged spinal outgrowths, a sort of exoskeletal carapace that serves to reinforce their musculature and makes them more resistant to damage from broken bones or nerve injury.

Nonetheless, the smooth and graceful features of the Bael have often been found attractive to some humans, and some humans have Bael heritage, as well. Bael tend to remain isolated from humans in communities, but as a species they have lived in the presence of humans so long now that it feels natural, even if they keep their own community tightly entwined within the larger human cultures they find themselves nestled in.

• Ability Adjustments: Con +1, Cha -1

• Bonus Feats: Iron Will, Night Vision, Natural Armor +1 AB

• Favored Feats: Tireless and Body Control

• Physical Data: 5’6”-6’6” feet tall on average; 150-250 lbs; Age: Bael can live 200+ years.

Eldaram

Eldaram are ancient controllers, once the humans who had engineered the great exodus of the Ark and later the humans who became the psychic controllers and manipulative agents of the secret priesthood dedicated to the Coral Ark’s location off the coast of the continent. The Eldaram are firmly entrenched in society as keepers of lore, historians, advisors, and voices of the ancient power that is the Coral Ark.

Eldaram are physically identical to humans, but their brains have changed, and all Eldaram are inherently psychic. Even the least potent of the Eldaram know at least one technique or skill in psionics worth mentioning. Additionally, although they look human, they radiate a presence that belies their human nature, and makes it difficult for Eldaram to disguise themselves as anything else.

• Ability Adjustments: +1 to either Cha, Int or Wis (player choice) and -1 Str

• Bonus Feats: One power of player’s choice. Eldaram also have a Psychic Aura, which makes it difficult to avoid detection. This aura acts as a -2 penalty against stealth and any effort to avoid being seen, felt, heard, or psychically revealed.

• Favored Feats: Any two powers

• Physical Data: 5-6/6” feet tall on average; 125-250 lbs; Age: most live to 70-80 years old.

Empathics

The descendants of the socialites, the social controllers and charismatic personalities of the Coral Ark, Empathics have evolved today into strange, semi angelic beings who have an overwhelming impact on humans and other creatures around them. Empathics appear as graceful, slender humans with an almost radiant glow about them. They have a naturally calming effect if they so desire.

Empathics are valued in the courts of kings as advisors and diplomats. They are popular as entertainers and thespians, able to bring crowds to literal tears of joy or fear with mere thoughts. Some lands fear and hunt Empathics for their reputation as manipulators.

• Ability Adjustments: Cha +1 and Con -1

• Bonus Feats: One power from the Empath Focus group of choice (most Empathics have calm). Empath Adepts must choose the Empath Focus. Empaths also gain the Talented feat (Diplomacy and Bluff) and the Fascinate feat.

• Favored Feats: Any two Empathic Focus powers.

• Physical Data: 5-6 feet tall on average; 120-200 lbs; Age: most live to 70-80 years old.

Engineers

The stout, muscular engineers are strong, resilient, and very efficient folk who descend from the ancient engineering class of the Coral Ark. Most engineers appear to be burly, muscular men and women of short stature (usually no taller than 5 feet). Engineers have a get-it-done kind of attitude, and tend not to mince words. Engineers are the least likely of the human offshoot races to manifest psionics, curiously, and their dour attitude toward all non-technical things make it likely that even if they did have psionic potential it might well be suppressed or disregarded. Nonetheless, the engineers have founded some of the societies of the technomancers, and those engineers who do manifest psionic potential tend to become very good in the Psychometry Focus.

• Ability Adjustments: Str +1, Con +1, Dex -1 and Cha -1

• Bonus Feats: Great Fortitude, Talented (Craft and Disable Device)

• Favored Feats: Diehard, Skill Mastery

• Physical Data: 4-5 feet tall on average; 200-300 lbs; Age: most live to 80-90 years old.

Half-Giants

The last of the human offshoots from the Coral Ark, the half-giants are a curious mixture of humans and the now nearly extinct original giants. Despite their stature, half-giants are actually very slim and delicate, as their bones are brittle and hollow like a bird’s, and they are extremely flexible, with double-jointed knees and elbows, an adaptation transgenically engineered long ago on the Coral Ark to make them more flexible in zero gravity. Some humans describe them as gaunt and bird-like in their features and movement.

Today, on the normal gravity world of Isomular, the half-giants are a slowly dying breed, weak and poorly adapted to their environment. Nonetheless, the half-giants struggle to persevere and maintain their own culture and society within the greater kingdom of humanity. Most half-giants develop excellent psionic talent, and many are widely regarded for their skills of philosophy and esthetics, as quiet and contemplative artists and writers.

• Ability Adjustments: Str -1, Con -1, Int +1, Wis +1

• Bonus Feats: Improved Evasion and Lightning Reflexes

• Favored Feats: Supernatural Talent, Inspire

• Physical Data: 7-8 feet tall on average; 125-200 lbs; Age: most live to 50-60 years old.

Isomulii

The Isomulii are the native species of Isomular, tall and fearsome looking insect-like humanoids with four arms and two legs, a body that is vaguely reminiscent of a cockroach’s, and an ancient legacy upon their world. The Isomulii still have hidden cities, usually in caverns or remote valleys, where they continue their ancient traditions and maintain their curious clockwork and steam-powered technology while revering their mysterious gods and fearing the Drauga, the demon-gods, who most Isomulii, even the ones friendly to humanity, believe were the cause of this alien invasion so long ago upon their world.

• Ability Adjustments: Str -1, Con +1, Cha -1, Dex +1

• Bonus Feats: Night Vision, Natural Armored carapace +2 AB, Razor sharp claws (+2 damage melee), Heightened Senses (+2 Notice)

• Favored Feats: Lightning Reflexes, Mind Touch power

• Physical Data: 7-8’6” on average; 225-350 lbs; Age: most live to 250-300 years old.

Myrmidons

One of the lesser sentient native races on Isomular, the Myrmidons are ant-like and very social, with a keen interest in humanity and a strong willingness to integrate with other cultures. Myrmidons are short, no larger than human children, and very tenacious, often to the point of being very annoying. Myrmidons make great allies, but can be terrible pests.

Myrmidons physically look like small, carpaced gnomes with large ant eyes and antennae, but they only have two arms and four legs, unlike their Isomulii relatives. They can move very fast.

• Ability Adjustments: Str -1, Dex +1

• Bonus Feats: Night Vision, Natural Armored carapace +2 AB, Mandible attack (+1 damage), Lightning Reflexes

• Favored Feats: ElusiveTarget and Improved Evasion

• Physical Data: 2’5”-3’6” on average; 50-150 lbs; Age: most live to 40-50 years old.

Shedahai

The quasi demonic Shedahai were one of many races forced to serve as thralls to the Annunaki. Shedahai who escaped have proven to be very prolific, and their numbers have dramatically risen. Some lands are dominated by the Shedahai now, and the old, warlike nature of these creatures is resurfacing.

Physically, Shedahai are tall, red-skinned humanoids with human-like qualities, but covered in spiny scales and with long tails. They have clawed hands and feet as well as hinged lower legs, like an animal’s, letting them run faster than normal. Shedahai make natural fighters, and those that have psionic ability make excellent psychic warriors, though Bael rarely let them join the orders of the mindblades. Instead, Shedahai like to form their own mercenary companies, offering up services to the highest bidder.

• Ability Adjustments: Str -1, Dex +1

• Bonus Feats: Night Vision, Natural Armor +1 AB, Claw attack (+2 damage), Fast move 7

• Favored Feats: Spirited Charge and Tough

• Physical Data: 6’-7’6” on average; 250-350 lbs; Age: most live to 70-80 years old.

Optional Races in Isomular

There are a few additional races that may be permitted as characters, if the GM is willing:

Greys

The greys would be obvious alien or other-dimensional visitors who are in all likelihood studying the curious phenomenon of Isomular, with its mish-mash of foreign cultures. Greys as player characters might not be seen as terribly strange, just mistaken instead for some foreign race “over the mountains.”

Nords

Much like the Empathics, Nords are a charismatic and ethereal race. This could be a rare off-shoot of humanity or a genuine alien visitor, depending upon your story needs and tastes.

Reptoids

The reptoids might be aliens, or possibly natives of Isomular. Native reptoids are the remnant survivors of an ancient civilization that fought the Isomulii and lost, dwelling in deep caverns of the world and plotting their revenge against the insectoids. Alien reptoids are possibly visitors from a foreign world, discovering Isomular and fascinated at the remnant civilizations of an ancient Reptoid presence that was long ago forgotten.

Calibans

Described as monsters in True20, Calibans are nonetheless representative of mutations and transgenic sample groups gone wrong. The calibans have banded together and taken refuge in the depths of the earth, where they harbor a deep resentment against the more powerful and beatific humans and their kin. Calibans would make excellent villains, but a crafty player could make a character of one, as well.

Isomular: Heroic Roles

Specialized Roles of Isomular


Each of the three core roles is common in Isomular, although it is not uncommon for multi-classed Warrior/Adepts and Expert/Adepts to be encountered. At the GM’s discretion characters may begin also as level 2 heroes with two levels in each role. Multi-classed combinations can then work to create some of the following specialized types:

Ascetic
Role Suggestion: Adept, Adept/Expert
Power Suggestion: Psychometabolism Focus
The ascetics of Kalashtam are famous for their dedication to the perfection of mind and sould through psionic oneness. Ascetics are usually devoted to achieving this mastery through the abstinence of all worldly pleasures and goods, as a means of honing their personal focus to the point where some say that the strongest ascetics are able to go without food or water for years, and are able to reach reserves of strength undiscovered by lesser psychics.

Assassin
Role Suggestion: Expert/Adept or Warrior/Adept
Power Suggestion: Psychic Weapon, Drain Vitality, Harm
The assassins of Isomular are well-versed in their trade, relying not only on their physical capacities to slay foes but their mental abilities, as well. Some well-known assassin’s guilds include the Order of the Red Cloak out of Zymvaj, and the Nightblades of Kalashtam.

Assassins are seen as a vital political tool by most cultures of Isomular, a tradition that goes back to the old culture of the isomulii, who felt that a single killer was infinitely superior to a thousand soldiers on the battlefield. The ancient Isomulii tradition of assassination in the arena of diplomacy and intrigue continues in to the present.

Diplomat
Role Suggestion: Expert, Adept
Feat Suggestion: Psychic Linguist
Diplomats are a much-desired resource in Isomular. A good diplomat needs to be experienced in dealing with many distinct and alien cultures, and ready and willing to learn strange languages, customs, and beliefs in order to best work with the diversity of alien life on Isomular. Those few who have the unique talent for psychic linguistics are considered especially valuable. There is even the College of Diplomacy in Kalashtam, where professional diplomats are trained from the elite citizens to work toward furthering peaceful relations throughout the lands.

Explorer
Role Suggestion: any (esp. Expert)
Feat Suggestion: Adapted feat
The explorer can be everything from a lone adventurer and cartographer looking to make a name for himself on down to a trained member of the Imperial Zymvajian Explorer’s Society, in which organized and well-funded expeditions are regularly sent forth at the whim of wealthy Zymvaji nobles looking for ancient relics, hidden mysteries, fabulous treasures and precious resources.

Mindblade
Role Suggestion: Warrior/Adept
Power Suggestion: Psychic Weapon, Supernatural Weapon
The mindblades are a feared and respected collection of highly skilled warriors who maintain a number of hidden monastic enclaves throughout the world. The mindblades seek perfection in the melding of physical and mental prowess, much like ascetics, but do not abstain from physical pleasures and goods to do so, instead seeking to harness their inner strength by embracing the emotional impulses of violence, letting their empathic sense for battle guide their way.

The mindblades of the Bael have formed long established military orders who hold no allegiance to the kingdoms of the world, instead offering dedicated military contracts as mercenaries. Some orders have been under the employ of specific cities and nations for centuries, others only engage in short-term contacts. Known orders of the mindblades include the Silver Thorns, the Fire Scorpions, the Gilded Knives, and the Sword Saints. Not all members of these orders are Bael, as they accept anyone of sufficient skill and worth, but the Bael are certainly most common.

Oracle
Role Suggestion: Adept
Power Suggestion: Vision
Oracles are actually surprisingly rare in a world rife with psychic powers. The power to see the future, and to witness visions of things to come is a rare blessing and curse. Most children who manfest oracular powers are quickly taken to one of the known mountainous enclaves of the land, where oracles gather in designated neutral regions, to offer up their powers of vision to the kingdoms of the land, for a price.

As often as the enclaves of the oracles receive great wealth from kings who seek their wisdom and portents, there have been times when the oracles offend with terrible visions of disaster, and some rulers, unwise and unwilling to accept their visions of doom, have gone on to disaster, then turned around and struck out at the oracles for producing the vision in the first place. As such, many oracle’s compounds are well-protected, either with a garrison of soldiers recruited from dedicated locals, or sometimes hired from a mercenary order of mindblades.

Psychic Apostate
Role Suggestion: Expert or Warrior only
Feat Suggestion: Must have Soulless feat
On certain rare occasions a human is born who lacks the power of psionics, and indeed seems to be utterly resistant to such powers (see the Soulless feat for more.) These people are valued for their strong resistance to psychic powers, and an almost indomitable mind against psychic intrusion. Nobles will pay generously for the services of such an apostate to aid them against dangerous psychics seeking to manipulate their courts and very persons.

Some psychic apostates group together and seek to find a new life away from the greater world. The children of two such psychic apostates usually, though not always prove to be resistant, as well. These communities are usually quite remote and hostile to foreign intrusion.

Psychic Warrior
Role Suggestion: Warrior/Adept
Power Suggestion: Enhance Ability, Combat Sense
The psychic warrior is the most common psionically adept soldier, often elevated to elite rank as a knight for his proficiency in both mental and physical arts. Not unlike the mindblades, psychic warriors are skilled at integrating their total mental and physical skill in to a fine-tuned weapon, but they tend not to belong to any specific order, and are often found as knights in service to the local nobles. Some psychic warriors wander, seeking to make their own way in the world.

Technomancer
Role Suggestion: Adept/Expert with Psychometry Focus
Power Suggestion: Object Reading
Technomancers are valued for their unusual talent for understanding machinery and other objects usually perceived as psychically inert to most. Technomancers are often prone to skills in which they become especially adept at understanding and creating machines, and are fascinated with ancient artifacts. Some become employed for their curious gadgets they can create, and others gain employment by helping to design weapons of war. A few work with antiquarians to unravel the mysteries of ancient artifacts.

Voice
Role Suggestion: Expert/Adept, Eldaram
Power Suggestion: Fascinate feat, Telepathy and Psychometry Foci
The Voices are the enigmatic priesthood, consisting only of the Eldaram, who have not invited any other humanoid or insect sentient to join their elite order. The Voices serve to keep the Coral Ark functioning, and listen to its ancient voice for guidance in the world, and to act upon its wisdom. The Voices are a mixture of priest, scholar, teacher and student. They gather information requested by the Architect, and in turn are sent forth to disseminate information or perform deeds it has decided are important to its children, the descendents of Terra.

The Voice is a great role for characters who want a built-in plot device that insures they will always be given something to do, sooner or later, no matter how bizarre or incomprehensible it may seem!

Isomular: Mechanics

Rules of the Game


Isomular is a unique sort of blend of fantasy and science fiction (popularly referred to as “planetary romance”), so pretty much any and all of the rules for either genre can be applied here, within the specific restrictions given (i.e. many people perform “magic,” which is really psionics, and the world is seen as a fantasy realm by its denizens, but is really an alien planet colonized long after Earth was destroyed or occupied by other-dimensional aliens. The world is inhabited by many demi-human races and monsters, but most all humanoids are really transgenically altered human descendants or alien natives.)

Within the above scope you can add or implement many elements of the True20 rules to this setting, but many more should be excluded to insure Isomular retains its distinct look and feel apart from standard fantasy settings.

World Profile

Planetary Characteristics

Isomular is 13,900 km in diameter, slightly larger than earth normal. The local gravity is actually a little less than Earth (.97), and it has a surprisingly weak magnetic field; the poles shift position every few centuries, in fact. Although few scholars know of such forgotten lore, data in the knowledge banks of the Architect can reveal that geosurvey information suggests that Isomular’s metal core is smaller and less dynamic than Earth’s was.

The atmosphere of Isomular is surprisingly close to earth-normal, with minor traces of nusual gasses such as chlorine in higher than normal concentrations. For practical purposes natives are fully adapted and experience no trouble breathing.

Isomular has more water than earth and is currently in a period of global warming. The exact cause of this warming effect is unknown, but as a result, there is very little ice locked at the polar caps, and more than 84% of the world is covered in ocean.

Isomular is a warm world in the middle of a global hothouse effect. Whether it will get worse or better over time remains unknown.

People of Isomular

The population of Isomular is not precisely known, but may be thirty million strong, among sentients, of which man is at least accountable for one third of that.

The governments of Isomular are fragmentary, diverse, and vary with the seasons at times. Feudal kingdoms, anarchy, egalitarian societies and more all await discovery in the land. There is little law beyond that instituted from city to city and by the dictates of whatever passes for authority in one region or another. Most natives strongly value their freedom and independence, and are deeply offended at the suggestion that they disarm, anywhere, anytime.

Technology

Although some of the cultures of man and Isomulii are budding on the cusp of tech level 3, the world is by and large a primitive land of swords and bows, beast-drawn carriages and muscle power.

Psionics


The powers of Isomular are psionic in origin, and all Adepts of this setting are psychically powerful. All of the powers in True20 are permissible. Adepts in True20 should choose a Psionic Focus, in which the powers of the psionic favor a certain type of ability or approach to psionics. The adept can still learn other psionic powers, but he gains an automatic +1 modifier to Will saves against difficulty when using the powers of their focus. Additionally, the Psionic Focus determines which attribute applies to a given power set. Finally, an adept must devote halfof his learned powers to his preferred psionic focus; the others can be used for different powers. Example foci include the following:

Isomular: The Secret History Plus a World Map

The Secret History of Isomular


Isomular is a world orbiting a distant star, thousands of light years from the Sol system and the world called Terra. The Coral Ark was the last of a great fleet of STL generation ships, dispatched to the far quarters of the galaxy in a great wave of human expansion. The Coral Ark, so named for the startling web-work of its assymetrical hull, was the greatest of these vessels, carrying nearly a hundred thousand humans in to the depths of space. The reasons for this outward expansion were varied, but man had reached the end of a singularity in social and cultural evolution, one in which no further development as a species was possible without this great migration. The generation ships were designed to be self-sustained ecosystems, fully developed worlds in their own right, floating cities between the stars. As mankind traveled towards an unknown destiny, each ship would be the seed of a new potential evolutionary branch.

Some of the world ships were lost, never to be seen again. Others found habitable worlds and settled upon new planets for mankind to conquer and develop. A few remained, wandering through the endless night of the galaxy, developing unique ecosystems in an artificial environment. The Coral Ark was the last of the great generation ships, and by the time it launched, more than two hundred such vessels had preceded it. During the decades of its construction, a terrible alien presence, using other-dimensional technology, began to manifest in the Sol system. These entities, ancient, cosmic beings of great power, were served by many minions, including the rapaciously evil Psychic Vampires. These entities had been discovered, somewhere in the depths of space, by one of the generation ships. The ship was seen as an invasion by the species, which was known only as the Annunaki according to their minions. Humanity had almost forgotten the most archaic of references to such beings in their own founding mythologies, and was very nearly destroyed for this lack of knowledge. Man had passed through a million years of social and evolutionary change since the era of the Sumerian cultures founded all civilization, and the realization that there was an undisclosed relationship between humanity and the Annunaki was disturbing. Worse yet, the minions of the Annunaki included humanoid beings, such as the Bael and Shedahai, and other hominid species that had evolved psionic potential. Humanity, in a million years, had discovered the potential of psionic energy, but had barely advanced it beyond telepathy, whereas the minions of the Annunaki could manipulate space and time.

A war which lasted for decades raged between Annunaki forces invading from the Astral Plane, a dimension outside of time and space, while humanity itself struggled to survive against an attacker that seemed to have unlimited resources, as well as the ability to attack any location, anywhere and anytime it wished. As the conflict escalated, the Coral Ark project came to be seen as the final Ark of the generation ship project. A plan was hatched to take the brightest and best of mankind and place them on the Coral Ark, as a final effort to escape the Annunaki assault. The secret location of the ship was compromised, however, but the invaders did not let on to this fact. When at last the ship made its escape, it did so to an earth overrun by the enemy, and the first of the cosmic entities manifesting on the planet. The Coral Ark came under sudden and intense assault, then, in an effort to take the ship intact, for the biotechnical and psionic minions of the Annunaki had no capacity for conventional space travel, and the limits of travel through the Astral Plane depended upon exact knowledge of the destination point.

The invading aliens were thwarted by their own kind. Traitors among the enemy, human psions who may have descended from the stock of the first generation ship to come across the Annunaki homeworld, and Bael aliens who were close relatives of humanity and descended from another planet which had also been conquered by the Annunaki, had conspired to escape aboard the Coral Ark. In the assault, they switched sides and assisted in repelling the assault. The Coral Ark survived the attack, barely, but with serious casualties among the crew and its systems. It escaped the Sol system and gradually crept up to nearly three quarters of the speed of light, headed for the NGC 22778 star system, a world which observational evidence suggested contained a habitable world. The system itself was centered in the ancient Isomular Nebula, remnants of an ancient supernova in the region. For a time, the Coral Ark moved safely along. The handful of psions who were now aboard were quickly integrated in to the active crew compliment, and presented themselves to the scientists of the vessel for study.

Unfortunately, one of the key components of the Coral Ark was its bussard ramjet, which provided a renewable power resource as well as a protective element against stellar particles which would otherwise damage the ship at .70 speed of light. An unknown collision annihilated the bussard ramjet, and severely damaged much of the onboard artificial intelligence, which served as the ship’s master controller. Most of the active crew, not in suspended animation, were killed or madly injured, but they managed to begin the slow down and reverse the ship’s passage. The AI, called the Architect, was brought back online, but most of its functioning systems were corrupted, and the Architect was cut off from its irrevocably damaged library banks. As power systems fluctuated, the surviving crew realized that they had no choice but to awaken the sleeping passengers of the ship.

The Coral Ark seemed doomed. A ship built to comfortable manage no more than ten thousand crew and passengers while the remaining ninety thousand rested in cold sleep, and loaded with the genetic materials to create a new earth-like ecosystem, had been terminally compromised. The managing crew learned to operate the automated backup system as best they could, and put the bio-domes in to full swing. With luck, they felt that they could find a local star to stop at, one which could provide a terra-formable or Earth-like environment, if they could just hold out for a few decades.

Decades turned in to centuries, and centuries turned in to a period of time both undefined and unknown to the inhabitants of the Coral Ark. The inhabitants of the Coral Ark lost much of their advanced knowledge, and only the engineers and crew retained such lore. The anagathic processes of the elite became sparse, and the genetic modifications necessary to reach immortality were distributed only to those who committed to the secret knowledge of the Ark. The infantile voice of the Architect was taught how to learn once more, and how to try and restore its lost knowledge, to little avail. It was centuries before one of these elite, now called the Eldaran, helped restore the higher learning skills and some astrographic data for the AI, returning the Architect to a state of higher intelligence.

The Architect was reawakened to a ship filled with factionalized survivors of the awakening from the long sleep. It discovered that the transgenic variants of humanity had broken into distinct cultural groups, and that these groups had evolved complicated and often misinformed beliefs about the true nature, origin, and purpose of the Coral Ark. Except for the original crew, which had evolved in to the secretive Eldaran, no one truly recalled the real purpose and nature of the Coral Ark. Terra had become a mystery to ponder, the destiny world was now called Isomular and was considered a paradise promised as an escape from the demons of the Planar Realms, the Annunaki and their minions now depicted as monsters from a hideous afterworld sent to slay humanity. This knowledge, it seemed came from the works of the psionically gifted descendants of the original psion defectors, who had become a special cult of sorcerous beings, themselves. More amazing, these original psions had interbred with the human population, and psionic powers were now prevalent throughout many people in the ship, with perhaps one in fifty displaying some talent. The powers displayed were incredible.

The Architect realized there was a problem. The population seemed to have thinned out to about forty-five thousand humans, larger than the ship should have sustained, but made possible by the cooperative nature of the different groups, and the secret direction of the enigmatic Eldaran. The Empathics were once the politicians, leaders and socialites of the ship, transgenics bred for charisma, empathy and charm. They had remained so, as social manipulators, prostitutes, and rulers among the human groups. The people now called Engineers were once the transgenic template for laborers and engineers, bred for hard work in space and high gee environments. They continued to labor, ritualistically, in the bowels of the ship’s great engines and control the production resources of the ship. As such, the ship’s capacity to continue recycling and processing waste in to useable form was intact. The so-called giants were humans who dwelt in the low-gee sections of the great vessel which had lost spin, and no longer held gravity. These great men and women had sometimes grown to twelve or more feet in height, but their strength was limited in the full-gee sections of the ship, and so they had interbred with common men to create the half-giants, who served as intermediaries for their section of the vessel and others. Several of the bio-domes were in the zero-gee section of the ship, and these important resources made the culture and trade of the giants and half-giants vital. Finally, Bael descendants of the original aliens who defected aboard the ship dwelt in small communities of their own, and had evolved in to a rather efficient warrior culture of mindblade practitioners, who provided enforcement to the different human factions.

Over time, it was inevitable that the existing population would swell, and once again a period of warfare would force a thinning. With each period of conflict and collapse, more knowledge of the ship and its past would be lost. The Architect calculated that, in a period of no more than twenty generations, the system would suffer a terminal collapse, if some piece of technology vital to the process did not fail, first. The Architect decided it was time to end the voyage of the Coral Ark. It used its restored knowledge to recalculate its stellar location, and was amazed to discover that the ship was now within two light years of the original star destination; though it had slowed to no more than .31 speed of light, it had never actually deviated from its plotted course. NGC 22778 was just a few generations distant. To speed up the process, the Architect decided it was worth the risk to begin a new acceleration. The damage to the bussard ramjets was extensive, but the Engineers had faithfully repaired what they could long ago, at the direction of the Eldaran. The architect, in preparing for the journey, had relied on its Eldaran contacts to reinstitute itself as an object of faith, a voice of the gods, to be obeyed. With its direction, the cultures of the Coral Ark were instructed on how to prepare for the voyage.

The acceleration was initially successful, and the Coral Ark made the remainder of the journey in less than a generation; the children who were born during the beginning of the acceleration were of middle age when the ship decelerated in to the NGC 22778 system, on approach with the world now dubbed Isomular. Though the Architect detected the presence of sentient beings and primitive civilizations on the two super continents of Isomular, it knew that nothing could be done about this. It’s efforts to establish some sort of contact with the indigenous species were thwarted, as the suborbital shuttle with its crew of enlightened landed in the capitol of the aliens, the insectoid Isomulii. The Eldaran were quickly identified with the Isomulii notion of demonic gods called the drauga, and were enslaved. The Architect searched for an isolated, possibly safe landing point, and concluded that the subcontinent that would come to be called Hadrushar was an ideal location. The Coral Ark was designed to separate and drop its colonization units leaving behind the massive skeletal frame, command station and engine structure of the ship. As the vessel prepared to begin descent and separation, the Coral Ark discovered that it could not release the colony units in to a safe trajectory without compromising the orbital integrity of the skeleton itself. The Coral Ark’s frame and engine would have to come down, as well.

In the end, it was probably a terrible landing, but most all of the human residents in the care of the Architect survived. The great frame of the Coral Ark plunged in to the Whispering Ocean, and the tidal effect devastated the coastline of the Isomulii Empire and its people. The eighteen colonization modules descended like enormous, barely aerodynamic discs from the heavens, slowed only by the nuclear thrusters that properly ignited in all but three. The biodomes almost all arrived intact, and the seeds of Terra were immediately sewn.

Thus did man arrive on Isomular, and a new era of history began. The history of man as recorded in the introduction is a fairly accurate tale as known by the most learned of Kalashtam and Zymvaji scholars. Mankind’s initial presence was seen as a fearsome affront by the gods, but the pragmatic Isomulii, locked in a society of medieval monarchies and slave systems, readily enslaved the diaspora of humanity. Over the generations, all but a few of the true giants died out, unable to survive for long in the nearly earth-normal gravity of Isomular (.97 G). The Bael, ever insular, traveled far to the south, and continue to migrate even in the present. When the Architect fell silent, it was due to systems failure, and the absence of its voice proved the undoing of the secret lore of the Eldaran, who lost much of the knowledge of humanity’s origins. It was not until the gifted Eldaran Vedderik Non sought out the ancient passages of the rusting hulk in the shallow coastal waters that he accidentally awakened the Architect’s power reserves and discovered the AI once more. He restored the secret society, and the Architect chose specific prophets through which to once more carry its voice to humanity, to try and protect its children. By now, the poor AI was so badly damaged that its mind was largely constructed around notions of fantasy and memories of old earth, and it’s grasp of reality had faltered, but the Voices became very good at interpreting its will.

In the present day, Isomular is a world dominated by multiple insectoid species, all in competition with humanity, which has swelled in number to more than fifty million people worldwide, among the various transgenic descendants. Isomular is a world only slightly smaller than Terra, and with two modest moons trapped in orbit, named Krinos and Theris by the Isomulii after the twin creator gods of their old religion. Humanity holds the Architect as their caretaker and savior, but little or no knowledge from old Terra remains. Instead, a complicated society built on the foundations of a million years’ of alien civilizations, which at one time (about a hundred thousand years ago) had reached a scientific peak in a nuclear age before bombing themselves back to the Stone Age has developed. The current level of technology is just barely renaissance level, and developments such as gunpowder are not far off. The ecosystem of Isomular has been thrown in to disarray by the arrival of the Terrans and their bio-domes, as the planet became home to both the strange and menacing local species and the biogenically recreated flora and fauna of old Earth. This is the world of Isomular today.