Description

A Distiller Worm, a breed of Dreamkin, look like a 6-foot-long, pasty white caterpillar with an imbecille-looking human face in one end. Its bulky, gelatinous body seems to be glowing from the inside with a weird phosphorescence. It usually rolls its eyes and grimaces - almost as if in pain - around the tubes inserted into its mouth and nose, but never makes a sound.

If one would cut one open, one would find that the bulk of the Distiller Worm is comprised of a complex, interconnected mass of sacs, tubes and interlinked organs that glows with an otherworldly light, and ripples with peristaltic movement.

They are found exclusively in the catacombs beneath the Moon´s Lair, where they spend their short life digesting mundane alchemical compounds and excreting refined alchemical products of a purity even the best of human alchemists cannot attain. Their unusual hybrid metabolism allows them to synthesize, process and distill material and immaterial compounds in a way impossible by a fully Material creature.

In the various tunnels, alcoves and caverns beneath the Moon´s Lair, these strange creatures are kept in sarcophagus-like stone coffins, usually with numerous tubes inserted into their orifices (or straight into their inner organs) that either feed unraffined alchemical fluids into them, or collects the product. The Moon´s Initiated move among the sarcophagi, tending to the creatures, inserting new tubes into them, or collecting the various produce.

The output quality of a Distiller Worm depends on the kind of chemicals it is fed, where in its vast digestive apparatus it is collected, but also on the skills on any individual Distiller. Older, skilled specimens are able to synthesize more complex and purified alchemies than a young, inexperienced one.

A Distiller Worm lacks any real form of intelligence - its brain is completely dedicated into controlling the vastly complex reactions taking place within its body. It is also unlikely to put up any sort of resistance in combat - its invertebrae body is soft, and can easily burst under a single kick. However, if a Worm is damaged, whatever volatile compounds currently filling its insides can mix and create all kinds of unhealthy vapors or even make it explode outright.

The Moon uses the alchemies secreted by the Distiller Worms in different ways. Some she sells to the Guild of Alchemists, some she uses to produce even more refined specimens to add to her Dreamkin menagerie.

Plot Hooks

An alchemist who by accident has gained possession of a Distiller Worm pupae would, should he learn its true nature, quickly become a rich man indeed. Maybe so rich so fast that the Guild of Alchemists would take notice, and start an investigation.

Overview

The Orbats are lifeforms created by The Bloated Moon, sorceress of Locastus, to act as her spies and servants. They are spun out of the marriage of the stuff of dreams that their mistress taps from the Well of Dreams (a gateway into the spirit world), and the coarse, mundane matter of the material world.

These hybrid entities take the form of a flying eyeball attached to a slim, dark snake´s body and with a pair of delicate, leathery wing sprouting from its back. The whole creature weighs less than a pound and has a wingspan of no more than 2 feet.

DSC00357.jpg|left|Orbat]

The quasi-natural material woven into their bodies gives them a slight resistance towards material concerns such as gravity, magic or the elements. The same dreamstuff also reduces the need for nutrient intake. The only time one can see them "feed" is when they circle the Moon´s barrow in great flocks to bask in the emanations from the Well of Dreams, far beneath the ground.

Orbats are hatched by the dozen in the incubation crèches in the catacombs beneath the Moon´s hilltop lair. They have a lifespan of 8-10 months before their delicate dreamstuff start to unravel by exposure to the material world.

Orbats communicates via a primitive form of telepathy, the residue of which can be felt like the ghost of an unpleasant memory. They also communicate directly (and on a much larger bandwidth) with their mistress - they are her eyes in the city.

The people of Locastus see them as pests, much like the pigeons of another city, but dare do nothing about them, for fear of antagonizing the Moon.

Habitat

The only place in the world where these strange critters can be found is Locastus, City of Mirrors. The founders of the city quickly came into contact with these creatures, and as the City grew, so did its Orbat population. They infest the rooftops of the City, roost in its many ivy-choked towers and circle high over its streets. When something particularly interesting (such as a riot) happens, great flocks of curious Orbats congregate to enjoy the show from eaves, treetops and the ever-present ivy, looking on with their unnerving, single-eyed stare.

Combat

The Orbat is a physically weak creature, and prefer to avoid any physical confrontation by using its supernatural speed and agility. If cornered, it can release all its stored biothaumaturgic charge in one burst. The resultant spark of energy is too weak to do actual harm, but stings enough to drive, for example, a hungry dog away.

If an Orbat is severely damaged, the dream-substance filaments that holds it together will instantly dissipate, leaving behind only a puff of smoke and a handful of essential salts.

Roleplaying Notes

The Orbats, being basically inoffensive (although irritating and immensely curious) creatures, make poor opponents. They can be put to better use as a prop to set the atmosphere or as a minor nuisance to the PC´s. Let the PC´s be followed by a growing flock of these curious critters and watch them get more and more nervous. Or let one of the PC´s get zapped by an Orbat just for comic relief.

Full Description

A Moon Maiden is a type of Dreamkin, a creature created from the stuff of the spirit world by the Bloated Moon, the Guardian of the Well of Dreams, to do her bidding. The Maidens are her bounty killers, the unrelenting bringers of her swift, merciless justice and they represent the peak of her creations. She only sends them on missions of the utmost importance, such as the removal of the Moon´s enemies, or to defend those she, by her own obscure agenda, considers to be worthy of protection. To anger the Moon enough to have her set a Maiden on your trail is an almost certain death sentence, To this day, no one has faced a Moon Maiden and lived to tell the tale.

Physically, a Maiden appears as a naked female of otherworldly beauty, her pale skin shining with an internal light, like that of a full moon. Her hands and feet are slender and delicate, tipped with long, nacre-coloured nails and her stride fluid, languid, like that of a cat. Her nakedness is half-covered in her knee-long silver hair, the strands moving sensually over her curvaceous body on their own accord, as if in water. 

The picture of absolute, perfect beauty lasts until she raises her head and one can glimpse her face…

A Moon Maiden has no face in the real sense, the front of her head just a smooth, unbroken expanse from hairline to jaw. In the middle of that horrible non-face yawns a huge, circular, lamprey-like mouth studded with concentric rings of small, pointed teeth, that palpitates with peristaltic motion.

To look upon a Maiden´s face is to be enthralled by her power, standing there engulfed by her etheric glow right up until the point when she sensously steps up and tears out your throat.

Once released, a Maiden will not relent until she has eliminated her designated target, using her supernatural tracking ability to track him down, wherever he hides. She will use stealth and cunning to get close to her target, but always reveal herself at the last moment, letting her target relish his last moments. 

Like a cat playing with a mouse, she will toy with and taunt her mark, before finally moving in for the kill. Maidens have been known to release their victims, only to re-capture them immidiately, almost as if they enjoy prolonging the terror and pain of their quarry.

The Maiden, while in possession of great strength and superhuman speed, relies heavily on her mind-lulling ability to render her victim (and any bystanders) helpless. She will never use any sort of weapon, prefering to confront her opponents with hands and feet, or her fearful bite. In combat, she moves with a snake-like, boneless grace, slithering away from any attack with lightning speed. There are tales of swords and bullets hitting a Maiden, only to bounce off without a mark.

Despite her power, the Maiden is a temporary construct - once her mission is accomplished, her existence will end, her body crumbling as the Aetheric power evaporates, leaving only a scatter of salt crystals and a wisp of vapor to mark her demise.

Additional Information

The Maidens are the Moon´s enforcers, sent to deal with people she considers a threat to her, the city or those she has chosen to protect, such as the women of the Amber House in the Maul. The Mother Superior of the Amber House is granted the power to call upon the Maidens in times of great need.

The last time this happened was twelve years ago, when Mowar Dusk, the rising crime lord of the Maul, tried to extract protection money from the Guild of Whores by letting his army of thugs beseige the Amber House. A single Moon Maiden showed up, and the resulting slaughter left most of Dusk´s gang bangers torn limb from limb in the gutters.

Dusk never made another attempt to take over the Guild, which shows even the King of the Maul can learn from his mistakes….

Roleplaying Notes

When I´ve playtested the Locastus setting, I´ve always kept the Moon Maidens hidden, nothing more than a legend and a myth. They are a terrific tool for keeping the PC´s from doing something really, really stupid, such as trying to break into the Moon´s lair. If you really want to scare the crap out of the PC´s, let them witness a Maiden dealing with someone.

Oh, and these critters are heavily inspired by Steven Erikson´s Forkrul Assail as well as the more traditional Succubi. Credit where credit is due….