The City of Emination, a Newer Crobuzon

Following Anne at DIY & Dragons, I've made a city out of some monsters (three "humanoid" minorities and three "bizarre" creatures).

Humanoids

Doppelgangers

Recent refugees of distant war, they are not trusted. Good merchants, negotiators, tour guides. Some rumors about doppelgangers:

• They bleed a different color (true, but so do some Aasimar).
• They can read minds (true).
• They can't stand garlic (false).
• They'll replace the recent dead (sometimes: they consider dead people's identities "unclaimed").
• They'll leave you to raise their children for them (false).
• They'll steal your stuff (rarely: they have different ideas about property).
• They can't drink alcohol (true, or at least, they can't keep it down).

Ghouls

Unable to enter the inner city (which is hallowed ground) sprawl has forced the ghouls to integrate. Well-fed, they work as laborers. Otherwise they don't think so good and eventually go dormant. Those that let hunger drive their actions are swiftly dealt with.

Aasimar

Aristocratic upper-class, descended from celestials that followed Wormwood (they claim). The original celestials have long since moved on, leaving their progeny to manage the city.

Bizarre

Aboleth

In the city square, a mound of unrotting flesh. It spasms in the rain, and it's good luck if it twitches when you spit on it. It's unknown how it got there, as Emination is landlocked.

The Angel Wormwood (Solar)

Millenia ago the angel Wormwood came to the mountains and there made itself a throne. It never speaks. It has not moved. Ancient pilgrims cut paths through the mountains from all sides, making Emination into an important crossroads.

Earth Elementals

Before the city were the mountains, and the elementals there. Taking the forms of rams and bears, they cut swathes through the outer city until they smash on the inner city walls, raining down charged earth. They always travel in a North-South direction and are more active around geomagnetic reversals.

Other New New Crobuza

• New New Crobuzon (Githyanki Diaspora)
• The City of Stones & Spirits (DIY & Dragons)
• New Twain (Tales of the Grotesque and Dungeonesque)
• The Last City (The Sorcerer's Skull)
• Thaw (Archons March On)
• [Unnamed] (Dead Tree, No Shelter)
• Styx (Games of the Void Rust Medusa)
• Pandeimos (Throne of Salt)
• Deadwind (Goodberry Monthly)

There are also some entries from 2009 collected at The Book of Judd. Sphinxcorland (Sea of Stars) was a late addition (2010).

Here Are Some Characters

Here are some backgrounds for characters. It's mostly specialists, because that's where I started.

Your specialist . . .

• is a jeweler, seeking gems of great value.
• is an explorer, seeking or returned from exotic lands.
• is an archaeologist, searching for the secrets of lost civilizations.
• is a political exile, waiting to return home.
• is a black priest, charged with keeping the church's secrets secret.
• is a barbarian, skilled in ways that civilization has forgotten.
• is a migrant worker, willing to help out locals for a bed or a meal.
• is a tinker, but will take on other odd jobs.
• is a busker, but with a lost instrument.
• is a common beggar.
• is an organ grinder, whose monkey ran away.
• comes from a nomadic culture.
• is a traveling merchant, freshly cleaned out from a deal gone awry.
• is a fence, but is branching out into "acquisitions".
• is a jester who spoke too much truth to power.
• is an actor, separated from their troupe.
• is an acrobat.
• ran away from a terrible apprenticeship.
• is a sailor on shore leave.
• trained as a domestic servant.
• is a smuggler, on the lookout for new routes.
• is a quack doctor, peddling alcoholic tonics.
• is a professional burglar.
• is a pickpocket street urchin. Singing optional.
• is a con artist, in search of a mark.
• is a con artist, whose parter was recently taken in.
• is a gangster, whose connections have soured recently.
• is a rake, seeking to take his mind off of a doubtless life-threatening liver disorder.
• is a spy, awaiting orders from a foreign nation.
• is a bandit/pirate (depending on feasibility).
• is a poacher.
• is a halfling in search of adventure.
• is a trained assassin.
• was a military scout.
• escaped slavery.

Your fighter . . .

• was a bouncer.
• is a bodyguard.
• is a noble knight on an inscrutable quest.
• is a digraced knight, exiled from the court.
• was an infantryman.
• is a mercenary, between jobs.
• is a bounty hunter.
• is a barbarian, unmatched in the art of combat.
• escaped from a laboratory.
• was a prizefighter, but is getting old.
• apprenticed as a blacksmith.
• was a collier or miner.
• escaped from prison.
• is a lawman.
• is a bandit/pirate (depending on feasibility).
• is a dwarf.
• is from a long line of warriors.
• is a deserter.
• is a berserker.
• is a local hero in their remote hometown.
• was an Olympian athlete.

Your magic user . . .

• is a wild talent with psionic powers.
• made a pact with the devil.
• speaks with elementals.
• is an elf.
• is proud to be self-taught.
• learned Atlantean secrets.
• was abducted by aliens.
• apprenticed with an insane wizard.
• graduated valedictorian at Wizard Academy.
• dropped out of Wizard Academy.
• was taught magic by nature spirits.
• has dragon blood running through their veins.
• has no memory of his life before now.
• happens to have not died in the last century (but is still mortal).
• was an advisor to kings and generals.
• died once. Might even still be dead. Isn't sure.
• is a bard.
• can't return to it's home dimension.

Your cleric . . .

• is an orphan, raised by the church.
• once was blind, but now can see.
• once could see, but now is blind.
• is a pacifist.
• is a reformed death cultist.
• once received a vision.
• is personally an atheist.
• is a millenarian, convinced that the end is nigh.
• is an inquisitor, charged with rooting out heresy.
• acts obsessive about rituals. Practices them like clockwork.
• is a shaman, who calls upon ancestral spirits.
• is a druid, who remembers the old ways.
• is not the child of prophecy, but sees how you could make that mistake.
• was an ascetic monk, living on the fringes of society.
• was recently accused of heretical beliefs.
• is a street preacher, spreading the gospel to all who will listen.
• is a pamphleteer, too shy to preach on the streets.
• almost died once, but was saved by grace alone.

Meet Your Representative

The 48,151 duly-appointed members of the elemental parliament are in charge of shaping the material plane. The four major parties correspond to the four classical elements and each hold a large amount of power. There are also countless smaller parties representing various other "elements": poison, ice, smoke, electricity, etc. More puissant interests (magic, gravity, time, etc.) do not participate in the parliament but may retain a token representative, while positive and negative energy were not invited and are generally viewed with great suspicion by the rest. In addition, the parliament employs huge numbers of workers, aides, emissaries, diplomats, couriers, and soldiers to enact its will.

Like this, but all the people are elementals, and there's more of them (image source: Wikimedia Commons).

The parliament's schemes often reach beyond spans of mortal comprehension, and it generally does not liaise with mortal politicians or involve itself in material-plane politics. However, during delicate political negotiations, most parties are not above using mortal cat's-paws to get what they want.

The parliament has a bicameral structure, with a general assembly and a high council of the four largest parties. Motions can only be introduced by the high council, and the high council members all have veto power. If a resolution is not vetoed, it must pass a simple majority in the general assembly (quorum is also a simple majority, which arises often because at any given moment representatives are all over the place).

The high council currently consists of:

• The Flaming League (Fire)
• The Allied Waters (Water)
• The Free Atmospheric Union (Air)
• The Venerable Chthonic Party (Earth)

Notable lesser parties include:

• Crystal
• Electricity (The Storm)
• Ice (Her Lady of the Glacier's Party)
• Lava (The Ancient Flame)
• Light
• Metal
• Mud
• Poison
• Rot (The Life Reform Party, or "Rotters")
• Sand
• Shadow
• Smoke
• Sound (The Sonic Party)
• Steam
• Vapor
• Water
• Wood

I'm not yet sure I want to use the parliament directly in any sense, but if nothing else I think it will help create interesting situations. I plan to detail individual parties in future posts, as I work through their motivations, their methods, and their interactions with other parties.

Incidentally, 48,151 is a lot of members to divide up, and I'd like to do it roughly by importance. I've made a poll, where I invite you to rate the various elements by importance and interest. It doesn't close or anything, I'll just leave it up as an evolving thing.

Fire! Fire!

It was my intention this summer to collect my works and put together my own website and make everything tidy and presentable. But it occurs to me now, more than halfway through, that I would much rather have less content but have a website than have a pile of unfinished things that can't be shared.

I will begin then, by posting my entry to the Wampus Country Summer Contest:

Fire! Fire!

Lost in the woods, our heroes make camp for the night. Ms. Lulubelle lights a Fire using the matchbook earlier picked from the pockets of the Rude Gentleman. She swears the Fire speaks to her, but Mr. Rumpscullion reminds both her and the Fire that fires simply do not speak, and retires for the evening. Ms. Lulubelle wishes aloud for some company and, overhearing, the Fire offers to assist her in the matter, if only she will carry him to a nearby tree. Ms. Lulubelle obliges, but the spreading fire attracts the attention of a family of bears who knock over the tree, stomp out the fire, and abduct Ms. Lulubelle to be tried on suspicion of arson. Mr. Rumpscullion awakes in the morning and reluctantly begins to follow the bear tracks deeper into the woods.

The Rude Gentleman’s Matchbook

This matchbook has a glossy red finish with an elegant, but apparently meaningless gold symbol stamped on the front. It is found with 1d10 matches in it, each of which functions normally. However, the first time one is used to light a fire each day, it summons a weak fire elemental which is not hostile to the caster, but under no obligation to be helpful either.

Weak fire elementals have only one hit die, but the same special qualities as their stronger kin: they can only be harmed by magic or magical weapons, any victim using cold-based attacks will suffer an additional 1d8 damage from their attacks, and they are unable to cross more than 1’ of water.

A full complement of dormant elementals (source: Wikimedia Commons).

The smaller fire elementals are popular with infrequent summoners (source: Wikimedia Commons).

Quench Bears

It is commonly known that some water spirits take the form of fish. It is less known however, that rarely a fishing bear will eat one of these fish, and take on some aspect of its spirit. These “quench bears” invariably hate fires and seek to put them out immediately by whatever means available, including smothering them with their own incombustible hides.

A quench bear has statistics as a grizzly (brown) bear, but lacks the “bear hug” ability. Instead, the bear is treated as though it wears a ring of fire resistance: it is resistant to all normal fire, all other fire damage is reduced by 2 points per die, and it makes saves against fire at a +4 bonus.

Quench bears fighting an elemental (source: Wikimedia Commons).

Firefighters in quench bear hides (source: Wikimedia Commons).

	Weak Fire Elemental	Quench Bear
No. Enc.	1 (1)	1d4 (1d4)
Alignment	Neutral	Neutral
Movement	120’ (40’)	120’ (40’)
Armor Class	6	6
Hit Dice	1	5
Attacks	1 strike	3 (2 claws, bite)
Damage	1d8	1d3/1d3/1d6
Save	F0	F2
Morale	10	8
Hoard Class	Nada	VI
XP	16	200