Reading
the spell descriptions in Ben Laurence’s Through Ultan’s Door, I
was impressed with how efficient a simple reskinning is for giving
flavour to d&d staples. The Fleischguildsmen don't use cause light wounds but Cook Flesh, Shaltromo protects himself with a Shield of Memories instead of Sanctuary. Here's a riff on the ‘just use a bear’
notion (is Jack Guignol the originator? Google points in that
direction, at least), using a bandit stat line instead.
By dropping the vacuum prefix,
these d13 tribes should be fairly easy to spirit away from their Red
planet surroundings, either as nomads crisscrossing the wilderness
around one Lost City or other, or as strange warrior-mystics/cultist.
EMPTY SKIES OF THE RED PLANET
(introductory lore dump)
Shamash
raised up against Humbaba mighty tempests’–
Southwind, Northwind,
Eastwind, Westwind, Whistling Wind, Piercing Wind, Blizzard, Bad
Wind, Wind of Simurru, Demon Wind, Ice Wind, Storm, Sandstorm–
thirteen winds rose up against him and covered Humbaba’s face.
The Epic of Gilgamesh,
Maureen Gallery Kovacs’ translation
The major Winds of the Red
Planet have all dissipated, the minor ones forming local climes and
wandering trade winds, hermit breezes and dwindling whirlwinds in an
ever-present Vacuum. A rare few flock around the Phobian court, vying
for the privilege to fan the brow of the Imperial Throne, courtiers
anthropomorphized beyond (and into) recognition.
Some,
such as the Weather
of Jokk and
the indentured Breaths of the Canal cities, remain bound through
brute force or ancient contracts.
A
small number roam the empty plains of the planet, as poisonous ill-winds or
sandstorms. Fewer still travel with bands of vacuum
nomads.
The latter day civilizations
of the Red Planet huddle around the Canals, attempting to hold the
Great Vacuum at bay. Trade routes and war campaigns are made
according to the concatenations of available climes. Only seldom is
travel done in a straight line.
If the citizens of the Canal
States do their best to ignore the emptiness next door, the vacuum
nomads have embraced it. They form mysterious tribes traversing the
silent landscape of a dying planet, bent on bizarre undertakings and
moved by strange ethics.
VACUUM NOMADS AS ADDED COMPLICATIONS
The tribes are, as implied by
their name, seldom stationary for any longer period of time. Include
them in your wilderness encounter table as a small scout force (1d8, without
wind, 25% leader). When rolled, generate the tribe (3d10, with leader
and wind) and place it in an adjacent hex. Stats as bandits.
Hieroglyphs
as spoor of the nomads
The
spoors of the nomads arefirst and foremost signs saying
something about the hex or an adjacent hex. The vacuum nomads speak
their own dialects of the lingua
martia, understandable to any native of the Red planet. But in addition, the tribes use
ancient hieroglyphs to mark out places of great danger, resting spots
and hidden secrets among themselves. They could be modelled on
hobo signs or cuneiform.
A character with 13+
intelligence may use a spare language slot to decipher the meaning of the hieroglyphs.
THE TRIBE
The members of the tribe
wear...
1 Layers of thin veils, moving
as if under water
2 Crusts of glittering mud,
made from rare earths and slowly dwindling supply of ancient wines
3 Practical, no-nonsense
clothing
4 Elaborate, non-figurative
glass masks. Heirlooms.
5 Amber-embroidered kaftans,
ever rattling
6 Copper chainmail, covered in
verdigris
7 Swarms of overbred
hummingbirds in yellows and purples
8 Long hair manes that have
never been cut
9 Religious symbols and signs
of office from fallen enemies
10 Scales of hydra
11 Impractical but light
mineralised tree frames covered with primitive wind chimes
12 Millstone collars of much
too long finger bones
13Tight fitting acrobat's leotards
...and are currently...
1 Selling their services to
local potentate
2 Robbing travellers dressed
in red
3 Bartering for an abstract
concept with bewildered locals
4 Protecting a canal caravan
5 Fleeing a battle
6 Preparing a ritual
7 Negotiating a marriage with
another tribe
8 Excavating their presumed
ancestral home
9 Their chief is arguing with
the tribal wind. The children cries.
10 Playing for their tribal
wind. Smoking, drinking age-old teas.
11 Starving and thirsty
12 On a pilgrimage
13 Finding and abducting a new
avatar for their patron
1 The Empty Lady
2 The Mineral Mirth
3 The Hidden Constellation
4 The Torso of Evenus
5 The Lichen Covenant
6 The Bull of Six-And-Seven
Horns
7 The Petitioned Drought
8 The Clay of Many Colours
9 The Tindalos Hound-Mother
10
The Palace of a Thousand Suites (The
Anemochory Godhead)
11 The Deimosian Litter
12 The Mystery of the Burning
Lungs
13 The Tiger-of-Three-Shades
...who demands...
1 That the tribal song never
ends, even for a moment
2 The co-mingling of disparate
bloods
3 The shrouding of all hands
4 The desecration of
long-forgotten temples
5 The damming of canals
6
The protection of travellers and massacre of the
sessile
7 The decoration of abandoned
architecture
8 That the tribe breeds and
multiplies
9 Impossible wagers
10 The excavation of
Phaëton-from-the-Skies
11 Novel culinary sensations
12 That sun beams never touch
members of their congregation
13 Expeditious assaults and retreats
THE WIND
It is impossible to cross the
Great Vacuum without wind, and every tribe has bound its fate to one
of those fickle elementals. Use djinni stats, but with the weakness Addicted to music: Will be mesmerized by any new song or music it encounters.
d13 Tribal Winds
1 Lacks a tribal wind, wear
masks with imprisoned sylphs.
2 A perfumed summer breeze,
gentle and forgiving
3 (The still before) a
thunderstorm
4 A sophisticated dilettant
searching for its primeval roots; doesn’t want to expose itself as
a poser to tribe
5 Plague wind. Careful not to
infects its humans.
6 An addict of wind chimes,
tormented by bad conscience
7
An autumn gale, memento
mori incarnate
8 A storm in a tea cup,
choleric
9 A whirlwind, moving
everything within reach
10 A mordant mistral, making
everyone ill at ease
11 A former sandstorm,
arranging mandala like grain patterns
12 A whispering cross-wind,
tearing your eyes
13 A major Clime, tricked into
service. Looking for a way out.
THE TRIBE IS LED BY
A lvl 1d4+1 fighter (1-2), thief (3-4), cleric (5) or magic-user (6)
Name
1 Polypée
2 Tseresia
3 Aimo
4 Ceder
5 Twelfth
6 Vers
7 Önska
8 Tranĉilo
9 Kahle
10 Enterigita
11 Sonĝo
12 Ĉenataj
13 Elfosaĵo
Title
1 Sparapet
2 Tribune
3 Reciter
4 ... the Anointed One
5 ...the Eunuch
6 -Speaks-Last
7 Sibyl of Kison
8 of Monochrome Visions
9 Shofet
10 Prytaneis
11 Nomarch
12 Marasi
13 ...the Mnemonic
Personality
1 Opportunist
2 Resentful
3 Erratic
4 Loyal
5 Stubborn
6 Amorous
7 Brutal
8 Melancholic
9 Vain
10 Extravagant
11 Ancient
12 Howling
13 Stoic
...who carries...
1 A complicated metal flute.
Belonged to a virtuoso at the Continuous Opera of Ochus. Charms
audience once/week.
2 A wig made of impossibly thin
strands of copper. Shields the wearer’s thoughts, but imparts a
more-than-human coquetry.
3 Beautiful polydactyl white
leather gloves. Wearer gains extra thumbs (+2 thief skills, no
disadvantage for using two weapons).
4 A tardigrade shaped golden
censer. Incense of the Sea (sealed minor water elemental, produces a
cup of salt/day).
5 A necklace with kernels and
seeds in impractical ampoule. One from each plant in the botanical
garden of the Sleeping City.
6 Tattoo needles and green
ink. Infected: Any tattoo will spread over the body until stopped by
scars or burned skin.
7 Sandals with tribal history
in pictograms engraved into soles.
8 The Executioner’s axe of
Niph-Below-The-Sand. Attacks those that abuse hospitality in its
presence, wielded or not.
9
The
Ark of Dybbuk. Carries
1d4-1 ancient souls, waiting for new bodies to inhabit (demands a
ritual).
10
Unbound verse by The Poet in the Tower. ST or
inflicts madness if heard by the uninitiated.
11 A sturgeonite copper scroll.
Ciphered map to caviar cache.
12 The Key of Second Solomon
(opens any mundane lock once)
13 A Mantle of sand. Minor sand
spirit forms a stylish mantle around the wearer of the contract (+1 AC, can’t cross water, encumbering when wet). Signed contract
in silver locket.
