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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 10:51AM
#21
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Date Joined:
Jun 22, 2009
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Offering: dowlette(bird)
The dowlette is a strange flightless bird sharing a unique symbiotic relationship with a fungus, unimaginatively called dowlette caps. The adult animal has much of its body covered in these short, broad headed mushrooms, obscuring its reddish brown feathers with large, blotched caps. It stands at the height of a typical chicken, but with longer, more slender legs and a smaller body. The fungi survive by leaching nutrients from their avian host. In return, the dowlette caps provide the birds with a unique self defense mechanism. In addition to providing camouflage in the bird's swamp habitat, the caps release great quantities of spores when the dowlette vigorously flaps its wings. These spores bind and harden in contact with mucous membranes of eyes and throats, causing temporary blindness, coughing, and perhaps infection in potential predators. The dowlettes themselves are immune to these effects due to their dry throats and a second set of eyelids. dowlette chicks begin to grow fungus a week or so from hatching, from spores fallen from their parents. Both mother and father dowlettes care for the young, and are difficult for the untrained eye to tell apart.
Offering: kshev vine (plant)
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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 11:13AM
#22
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EDIT: Damn, you beat me to the punch. There goes my "Care for a moist dowlette?" joke.  Offering: kshev vine (plant)
The kshev vine is dark green with light green and brown mottled splotches and is indigenous in jungle climates where thick mists are common, such as the outer edges of waterfalls. Since it is well nourished, the fragile kshev vine does not sprout any leaves to speak of. However, the skin of the vine is very tacky to the touch, allowing it to grow on just about any surface. The kshev vine is sought by natives for its ability to soothe open wounds, although it does not offer any direct healing properties. It is often used in native cooking as well, as it adds a subtle and cool, almost minty, flavor to soups and broths.
Offering: Aaristrar (constellation)
Reflavoring: the change of flavor without changing any mechanical part of the game, no matter how small, in order to fit the mechanics to an otherwise unsupported concept.
Retexturing: the change of flavor (with at most minor mechanical adaptations) in order to effortlessly create support for a concept without inventing anything new.
Houseruling: the change, either minor or major, of the mechanics in order to better reflect a certain aspect of the game, including adapting the rules to fit an otherwise unsupported concept.
Homebrewing: the complete invention of something new that fits within the system in order to reflect an unsupported concept.
Default module =/= Core mechanic.
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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 12:42PM
#23
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Date Joined:
Dec 15, 2006
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Offering: Aaristrar (constellation)
The constellation Aaristrar is also known as the Kinslayer; it resembles a dragonborn wielding two blades, shooting a cluster of stars, its breath weapon, in the direction of nearby Ixthelion, the Last Icelord. The legend associated with Aaristrar, and by association Ixthelion, takes place in the last days of the war between Bael Turath and Arkhosia. The mighty Arkhosian warrior Aaristrar was famous for the number of tieflings he had killed in missions to infiltrate high-security locations; these locations, because of his division in the army, were only ever to secure intelligence, and rarely to control new ground. On the day of one mission in particular, a callous dragon overlord named Ixthelion made a move to secure the emperor's crown for himself, and in the aftershock of the politico-military move, Aaristrar's mate and hatchlings were slain in an influx of Turathi infantry. Aaristrar was ignorant of this until he had nearly completed his mission; in the bowls of a tiefling ritual chamber, a devil appeared before him, and revealed the "truth" behind the slayings, and offered him the power to avenge his family. Aaristrar obliged, and paced steadily to face Ixthelion, slaying all in his path with hell-bolstered might. He and the great Icelord finally met in combat, and the devastation was cataclysmic. But the battle never ended, for a great earthquake shook the lands and, according to legend, Ixthelion and Aaristrar flew into the sky to continue their fight - which continues to this day.
Offering: Old Green Lake (song)
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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 2:54PM
#24
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2009
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Offering: Old Green Lake (song)
"Old Green Lake" is a lament for fallen warriors of an ancient battle. The nation of Kharlamen faced certain doom at the hands of demon-worshiping barbarians, the brutes' ranks bolstered by gnolls, orcs, and other races of chaos.
Their forces shattered from repeated clashes with their foes, each skirmish resulting in another crushing defeat, Kharlamen attempted one final gambit: they gathered their forces around Lokhursce's Tear (known to commoners as Green Lake), a location with no real tactical value but well-defensible nonetheless. The plan was to lure the attackers to Green Lake and stall them for as long as their defenders possibly could, affording the noncombatants and leaders of Kharlamen to flee into anonymity.
After initially winning the upper hand, Kharlamen's champions attempted to end the war once and for all, abandoning their defensive position to mount a suicide charge into their enemies' ranks. While the charge ultimately failed, it did cripple the barbarian legions such that they eventually dissolved.
The song itself is soft, almost haunting, rising to a crescendo reminiscent of screaming for the battle itself. Tapering off into despair, the song cuts off mid-verse as it begins rising into happiness again.
Offering: alamence's knot (landmass)
The original core books said that this was our game too. It doesn't feel like that anymore.
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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 3:13PM
#25
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Offering: alamence's knot (landmass)
Legends tell of three great Borograv sailors who were first to land in what is now called Esterlandia. Two, Caldamane and Bonaveir, founded cities which would become capitols of new nations. Alamence longed to do better, and he sailed his triremes between the courses of his contemporaries, hoping to find vast fertile plains on which to found a new Borograv nation. What he found instead was a rocky, barren isthmus, barely capable of holding a small settlement. Each attempt at development met with disaster, and now the twisted terrain of Alamence's Knot remains a home only to shipwrecked sailors and a few hardbitten fishermen.
Offering: Githmas Morn
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3 years ago ::
Jun 25, 2010 - 3:38PM
#26
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Date Joined:
Dec 15, 2006
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Offering: Githmas Morn
[You did not specify a word to disabiguate this, so I am just going on a limb here.]
Githmas is the Githyanki and Githzerai day of independence, remembering the time they broke free of their ilithid overlords. Among githyanki, youths earn their independence from their parents on the morning of Githmas, supposing they can best them in a non-lethal duel. Failing youths are sentenced to menail physical labor for twenty-four hours, which traditionally consists of working in mines. Among the Githzerai, Githmas Morn is "celebrated" by parents taking away a valuable toy from youngsters. This is to symbolize the self-sacrifice that must be to achieved to lead a good, free life, and also serves to bolster a sense of monastic detachment.
Offering: Book of Pages (tome)
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3 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2010 - 2:34AM
#27
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Offering: Book of Pages (tome)
[That was an entirely appropriate limb, incidentally, though I would have been fine with someone choosing an odder disambiguation.]
Countess Zorozadny, called the Witch-Countess, was known for her insatiable appetites. After her husband became a death knight in 672 CY she turned to her young pageboys to satisfy her lusts. Villages across her domain feared the countess's recruiters. A boy who displeased the countess would merely be executed in the morning, but a far worse fate awaited those who she enjoyed. Using her mastery of necromancy the countess bound their souls into a tome, each onto a page, so that she could summon them up whenever she craved them. Each page of the tome features a lavishly illustrated picture of the boy bound into its parchment. This sinister Book of Pages is rumored to still exist in the ruins of the Witch-Countess's castle.
Offering: mimsy bandersnatch (monster)
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3 years ago ::
Jun 26, 2010 - 9:29AM
#28
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2009
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Offering: mimsy bandersnatch (monster)
(Kudos on the Alice in Wonderland reference)
So named by the gnomes whom they harass, bandersnatches are small insectoid critters rather like pixies that flutter around on six rainbow-colored wings. These creatures are kleptomaniacal and have an obsession with, as their mispronounced elven states, "Teh shineez." A subset of bandersnatches, known to the gnomes as mimsies, can actually be somewhat tamed if bribed with the periodical gift of baubles. Mimsy bandersnatches are very useful as personal thieves and first-alert living alarms. As any gnome will tell you, it's impossible to mistake or ignore a bandersnatch's scream of distress.
Offering: the gorian desert (location)
The original core books said that this was our game too. It doesn't feel like that anymore.
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3 years ago ::
Jun 27, 2010 - 8:23AM
#29
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Offering: the gorian desert (location)
Admiral Gorian, high Morninglord of the Radiant Armada, was the first sane being to see what is now known as the Gorian Desert. One of the few semipermanent features of the Far Realm, the Gorian "Desert" is a vast stretch of emptiness, where infinitely thin planes of sand intersect at angles that change whenever the viewer closes their eyes. Surprisingly empty of the plane's usual denizens, the Gorian Desert serves as a passable staging ground for voyages into the wider Far Realm, as it did for Gorian's colorful band of half-elf companions on their quest to slay a greater avatar of Ulban.
Offering: St. Cuthbert's Folly (flower)
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3 years ago ::
Jun 27, 2010 - 11:06AM
#30
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Date Joined:
Apr 23, 2009
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Offering: St. Cuthbert's Folly (flower)
Legend tells of when St. Cuthbert was a young god, just after having been raised to divinity, he set about claiming his spheres of divine influence, as new-made gods are wont to do. At the time, he was not known as the merciless even hand of justice as he is known today. St. Cuthbert found it within himself to forgive people if their crimes were minor, provided that he received a promise that they would never again draw his ire.
St. Cuthbert's resolve was tested the day a woman of unfathomable beauty appeared before his gaze, standing above the body of her lover, whom she had slain. So enthralled with her was the new god that he descended from the heavens to speak with her personally, inquiring of her what had occurred. The woman told him a tale of abuse and hardship that stirred his heart. Had he been thinking clearly, St. Cuthbert would have notice contradictions in her narrative, but he was indisposed, paying attention to her preternatural beauty instead. He offered her clemency for her crimes, and she accepted.
Not ten years later, he saw her once again, standing above the body of a dead man. This time, it was her husband. Again, Cuthbert descended from on high, and again she told him a tale that made his heart melt. She had confessed her former sin to her husband, and he was not as forgiving as the god of justice had been. He tortured her as punishment for her crime in lieu of St. Cuthbert's intervention, until she could no longer take it and slew him with his own knife.
Again entranced by her beauty, St. Cuthbert spared her life and set her free.
Decades passed, until yet again St. Cuthbert saw the woman in his frame of vision. She was old, and her beauty had faded. A husband of equal age had died in his sleep, poisoned by his beloved wife. When St. Cuthbert moved to confront her, he found himself no longer entranced by her lost beauty, and a litany of crimes appeared before him. She had gleefully murdered her lovers, stolen, bribed, and lied even to a god himself.
Enraged beyond imagining, St. Cuthbert shed his mortal disguise and stood before her as a full god, shattering her mind with his glory.
She had polluted the world with so much ugliness, he said, that retribution was too good for her. Instead, what remained of her mind would be trapped within a thing that existed for no other reason than to be beautiful, to make people happy.
The woman let out a final scream as she shrank, turning into a flower of unfathomable beauty. So that none would ever forget the legend and allow affection to cloud their judgment, he decreed that the flower be named St. Cuthbert's Folly.
And from then on, the god of justice never again granted clemency, no matter how minor the offense.
Offering: mah jedaira (place)
The original core books said that this was our game too. It doesn't feel like that anymore.
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