I love background stuff like this. Adds life to a universe. Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

Historical campaign material? I'm interested. Please complete. :D Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

War Drummer - Part of a fife-and-drum marching duo, the drummer is the only survivor with the fifeman having caught an arrow in his chest. A strange sort of frenzy has come over him; he marches on, drumming silently and never sleeping.
The Runner - The lightest footman in the nation, it's his job to relay messages from headquarters to the battlefield. He regularly darts back and forth between the marching army and the capital leagues away. Secretly, he's been selling the marching orders to enemy commanders.
The POW - The only soldier who doesn't officially work for this army, he was captured weeks ago. They've been keeping him around to try to get him to talk or, barring that, use him as a bargaining chip. He's been beaten and abused severely, treated as an effigy of the hated enemy to be assaulted. In truth, he is the lowliest of conscripts and barely knows what end of the sword to hold, let alone the strongholds and plans of his home team.
The Satrap - Though she works for the nation, she is not a soldier but a bureaucrat. She careful watches the action of the army, especially the performance of the generals, sending back notes and reports via the runner. She is also claiming any territory marched on in the name of the king, making sure to expand the empire and get herself promoted. Since part of her job is to find what is lacking in the unit and eliminate the weakest links, most of the troops dislike her. Go to Comment

Based loosely on this fella: http://cellar.org/iotd.php?threadid=12855 Go to Comment

Eerie cults run by weird sorcerers are always welcome in my book. :D

I like the idols. They're appropriately vague, effective for any setting. Ifrengal seems an interesting character. I'd love to read more about him. Why is he a master of sorcerery? Why does he have this desire to control people so? Background on him would be pretty sweet.

I'd like some more detail on the cult itself as well. What kind of pitches do the Shithiran use? How do they deal with existing religious groups? What exactly is Na'Shithiran? This kind of detail would really work well for this sub.

As a first sub, this one's got great potential. I won't vote just yet, but I'd be happy to once you can work out some more of this detail. Hope to see lots more like this, epsilon! :D Go to Comment

I promised five years ago to vote once you edited it, and now I shall fulfill that promise!

I like this. You did a great job expounding the the questions we offered. A neat little plot. Go to Comment

Castaway

The glint of metal is seen near the horizon, regular and rhythmic: a signal. Following it reveals a tiny makeshift raft occupied by a single, bedraggled sailor. Pulled aboard, between grateful mouthfuls of salt pork and fresh water, he explains the ship he was serving on sunk in a storm, and he landed on a tiny uncharted island some distance from here. After a year of managing survival, he finally got the supplies and courage to try a voyage.

More than that, the survivor describes a treasure-trove on the island, a hidden redoubt of some lost civilization or pirate. Glittering gold, enchanted goods, secret artifacts: an incredible pile of loot for the waiting. As proof, he offers a brilliant jeweled dagger, the only thing he dared to weigh his rickety craft with. Thankful for the rescue, he offers his knowledge to seek out the gilded atoll. When pressed for more information about himself, however, he is quiet, saying the harsh year of survival has caused him to forget much.

Does this man tell the truth? Who is he really - before his lost year or after? Is the island a true treasure, or a waiting trap?

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Can't believe I missed this before. I love high seas adventures.

I encourage everyone to add at least one maritime encounter. Go to Comment

The Sea Serpent Smugglers

Out in the deep waters, the ship encounters a trio of sea serpents. A known deadly danger, the crew arms themselves to fend off the beasts as the approach. The serpents, however, begin to merely circle the boat, occasionally popping out a head with jaws agape and expectant.

A further investigation reveals oiled leather sacks attached to the serpents with harnesses. Within several layers of oiled leather are various valuable goods, some illegal. Evidently, someone has trained the sea serpents to act as smuggler mules. The animals go from place to place on a trained route, rewarded with ample food upon landing. This trio is either wayward or otherwise confused. Where might their original destination be? And who is using them?

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Hat tip to Naomi Novik's "Temeraire" book series. Go to Comment

Only voted Go to Comment

A great discussion that's taken place here. Ties in those parts of worlds we may otherwise forget to bring together.

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Dream eating creatures aren't a new idea, but the twists you've given make them more unique and more believable. A very interesting beast indeed. I look forward to seeing more from you! Go to Comment

Very interesting... Might be entertaining when snuck into a game's taverns. Go to Comment

Yin-Tsu's Thinking Cap

Formed into a perfectly even cylinder, this is a fine looking cap lined with ermine and wrapped in bright green silk. Runes are embroidered in royal blue all around and a tall, narrow cone sticks out the top, a golden tassle hanging from its peak. For a finishing touch, thin yellow silk forms a veil flowing around the shoulders and the back of the head.

When the apparently wise Prince Shexing could not come to a solution to his royal problems, he consulted his vizier Yin-Tsu, the famous mage. Yin-Tsu could always divine some solution by searching his great tomes of knowledge and reading of omens. Eventually, the Prince became overly dependent his vizier, demanding solutions to the simplist of problems. For a while, Yin-Tsu was only slightly annoyed by his liege's constant cries for help. The wizard's resolve broke when Shexing began claiming Yin-Tsu's solutions as his own, granting no credit to the eternally wise advisor. The next time the prince asked a favor of his vizier, Yin-Tsu presented him with a gift: a magical cap that would grant its wearer the wisdom of the spirits. Delighted, Prince Shexing accepted the gift and dismissed Yin-Tsu from the viziership, a move he was happy to make so that he could finally focus on his life's work. Knowing that Yin-Tsu was wise indeed, Shexing put on the cap and prepared to solve all the Empire's problems. Just as Yin-Tsu had said, the prince's mind was filled with knowledge. Ah, finally! he thought, I can be a great ruler now! Summoning his scribes, Shexing began to dictate new commands and laws to answer the Empire's needs. The scribes looked dumbfounded as they wrote. After he finished, the pleased prince demanded to look upon his work. The scribes awkwardly handed Shexing the scrolls he dictated to them. Anger and confusion grew in Shexing as he read the scrolls: they were complete babble, a seemingly random assortment of verbs, nouns, and adjectives strung together with no syntax or style. The prince angrily dismissed his scribes and began to write the commands himself. After they were all written, he looked again upon his work. To his utter dismay, it was again prattling nonsense. What could be wrong? he thought. This hat gives me great knowledge! What causes this miscommunication?! Shexing ruled for only a few more months before going mad and forcibly displaced from the throne. The remainder of his reign was marked by a bizarre pronouncements and angry chattering.

When a person wears the Thinking Cap, they are immediately filled with complete knowledge. Even the most complex puzzle or equation becomes child's play in their mind. However, when it comes to expressing these great thoughts, they are at a complete loss. Although the words make sense to the wearer, they come out as complete nonsense. There is no code hidden in the words, and they follow no pattern: they are simply the ramblings of madmen. The unfortunate wearer, however, is completely unaware of their nonsense and will continue to prattle on their eternal wisdom. The wearer also develops an attachment to the cap, convinced (rightfully so) that it does grant wisdom; if the wearer is not told that this is a Thinking Cap or does not know its purpose, they will simply develop an irrational emotional attachment to it. The wearer will refuse to remove the hat and will resist any attempt to forcibly remove it. After 2d12 weeks of wearing the Thinking Cap, the wearer will go insane. Go to Comment

Ah, knew I was forgetting something! Added to the freetext. Go to Comment

Table o' contents added. :D Go to Comment

Such detail! I'd say the most detailed 30 yet. Even better, it's not bogged down by the details, but bolstered by them. Well done! Go to Comment