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An Earthmote Falls? Reimagining Kuluth-Mar for Tomb of Annihilation
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<blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7375072" data-attributes="member: 20323"><p>Tl;dr How would you imagine a floating city (like Sokovia from <em>Avengers</em>) that crashed into a jungle basin?</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/gaNC0z4.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Kuluth-Mar appeared in the <em>Age of Worms</em> adventure path in Dungeon Magazine; it was an ancient city that Kyuss ruled from, where undeath was glorified as the ultimate goal. Though loosely set in the Amedio Jungle in Greyhawk, it was a site unconnected to the rest of the world; like much of the adventure path, it was meant to be adapted to the DM's setting-of-choice. Pretty much the only area detailed was the Ziggurat of Kyuss; the city was just painted in broad strokes with shallow monster factions vying for control. Eric Boyd (a prolific D&D author who co-wrote <em>Serpent Kingdoms</em> among others) wrote in <a href="https://paizo.com/dungeonissues/130/DA130_Supplement_H.pdf" target="_blank">Dungeon #130 supplement</a> that Kuluth-Mar could be placed in Chult, and offered a compelling history for doing so. It's not canon, but the idea struck me enough to include in my <em>Tomb of Annihilation</em> game.</p><p></p><p>Instead of doing a straight conversion – which [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION] has already done a fine job <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?440668-Age-of-Worms-Adventure-Path" target="_blank">over here</a> – I decided to advance the timeline, focus on the city holistically, and incorporate a friend's idea of a "crashed sky city." Adventurers raided Kyuss' ziggurat at the center of the ruined city, causing the cactus/key-shaped spire at the top to crumble. When it fell, it destroyed the obsidian wall around the ziggurat keeping spawn of Kyuss within, but also led to destruction of many monsters/traps in the ziggurat.</p><p></p><p><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DOGdbcvTBcc/S2KHp28NRzI/AAAAAAAAAzI/tUqSQe0yEck/s400/Spire+of+Long+Shadows.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>During the Spellplague (which I'm making more like "Acererak's Cataclysm" to tie it to the adventure without involving lots of FR meta-plot), an earthmote lifted up the entire city of Kuluth-Mar...as if it was Ubtao's hand itself lifting the corrupted place toward the sun...or perhaps Acererak's magic lifting the city up to reach something beneath it? The city already rested in a swampy valley, so this uplift turned the valley into a vast basin into which surrounding rivers poured, creating a murky lake at the bottom. However, eventually the magic holding Kuluth-Mar aloft faded ...just as Ubtao's presence faded from Chult... and the city crashed back into the jungle basin (star destroyer style). Only a few of the most prominent structures survived this fall, as well as those structures at the city's periphery which were never lifted up by the earthmote & were clear of its impact zone. </p><p></p><p>Falling prone in certain areas of the slanted city could lead to precipitous slides/falls, and periodically the city trembles and groans as it sinks/settles into the muddy waters below.</p><p></p><p>I was struck by this concept art in my re-imagining:</p><p></p><p><img src="https://www.diabloii.net/gallery/data/505/medium/art-trailer-world05.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>And I started to brainstorm interesting sites according to the 4 quarters of the city...</p><p></p><p><strong>CENTER</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Ziggurat of Kyuss</strong>: overgrown & changed since the <em>Spire of Long Shadow</em> adventure, not sure how yet, likely new occupants</li> </ul><p></p><p><strong>NORTH QUARTER (HIGHER)</strong></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Public Baths:</strong> Lair of <strong>death tyrant</strong> Ballaxxus, territory marked with <strong>zombies</strong>, Ballaxxus was captured by yuan-ti and experimented on - in the DMs Guild adventure <em>Ruins of Hisari</em> - so fears the yuan-ti in Kuluth-Mar, claims heat of baths "soothe his insufferable nightmares", also is served by charmed river <strong>trolls</strong> "scrags", gate to Elemental Plane of Water spills from baths to create a river running through city which mingles with other waterfalls occurring naturally.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> </ul><p></p><p>SOUTH QUARTER (LOWER)</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Necromancer's Market:</strong> Vast amounts of spell components, gems, even corpses were traded in Kuluth-Mar, where undeath was pursued with religious fervor. Small flocks of <strong>eblis</strong> inhabit some of the ruin-islands amidst the sunken lake. <strong>Crocodiles</strong> swim about in the murky waters. Caves formed from the initial impact and exacerbated by rain/erosion line the southern banks of the lake. An aquatic <strong>thessalhydra*</strong> lurks in the depths, feasting whenever it senses a creature fall into the water. Treasure likely lies among sunken ruins.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> </ul><p></p><p>EAST QUARTER</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Wight Estates:</strong> The powerful and wealthy of Kuluth-Mar who served Kyuss well were transformed into <strong>wights</strong>, and treated as a superior class of citizen. Their dwellings once went up the walls of the basin, so only a few of the lower lying ones remain after the impact. Wights in ToA's random encounter table are mentioned as pre-dating Acererak and the Spellplague...so having them originate in Kuluth-Mar makes a lot of sense. However, a group of<strong> yuan-ti</strong> heretics inhabit these ruins; they have abandoned worship of Sseth after their empire was wiped out but refused to embrace Dendar the Night Serpent who offered only total annihilation; instead they revere the vestige of Kyuss, seeking to unlock the secrets of undeath.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> </ul><p></p><p>WEST QUARTER</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"><strong>Arena:</strong> Once the site of horrible bread-and-circuses wherein the living were pitted against undead to demonstrate the weakness of mortal beings & traitors were killed via executioner's axe wielded by enslaved minotaurs (tying into the minotaur culture once present in Omu & hinted at in ToA). Some <strong>spawn of Kyuss</strong> are still trapped in the arena, which has been taken over by <strong>troglodytes</strong> who've scavenged the old culture of Kuluth-Mar. Cultural parasites, the troglodytes seek to make captives more troglodyte-like via nasty tortures even as they seek to fill the void in their loathsome non-identities. Their shaman-chief collects skulls of Kuluth-Mar's dead, speaking with them to recreate a ghoulish facsimile of what once was.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">?</li> </ul></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Quickleaf, post: 7375072, member: 20323"] Tl;dr How would you imagine a floating city (like Sokovia from [I]Avengers[/I]) that crashed into a jungle basin? [img]https://i.imgur.com/gaNC0z4.jpg[/img] Kuluth-Mar appeared in the [I]Age of Worms[/I] adventure path in Dungeon Magazine; it was an ancient city that Kyuss ruled from, where undeath was glorified as the ultimate goal. Though loosely set in the Amedio Jungle in Greyhawk, it was a site unconnected to the rest of the world; like much of the adventure path, it was meant to be adapted to the DM's setting-of-choice. Pretty much the only area detailed was the Ziggurat of Kyuss; the city was just painted in broad strokes with shallow monster factions vying for control. Eric Boyd (a prolific D&D author who co-wrote [I]Serpent Kingdoms[/I] among others) wrote in [url=https://paizo.com/dungeonissues/130/DA130_Supplement_H.pdf]Dungeon #130 supplement[/url] that Kuluth-Mar could be placed in Chult, and offered a compelling history for doing so. It's not canon, but the idea struck me enough to include in my [I]Tomb of Annihilation[/I] game. Instead of doing a straight conversion – which [MENTION=6776887]Tormyr[/MENTION] has already done a fine job [url=http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?440668-Age-of-Worms-Adventure-Path]over here[/url] – I decided to advance the timeline, focus on the city holistically, and incorporate a friend's idea of a "crashed sky city." Adventurers raided Kyuss' ziggurat at the center of the ruined city, causing the cactus/key-shaped spire at the top to crumble. When it fell, it destroyed the obsidian wall around the ziggurat keeping spawn of Kyuss within, but also led to destruction of many monsters/traps in the ziggurat. [img]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DOGdbcvTBcc/S2KHp28NRzI/AAAAAAAAAzI/tUqSQe0yEck/s400/Spire+of+Long+Shadows.jpg[/img] During the Spellplague (which I'm making more like "Acererak's Cataclysm" to tie it to the adventure without involving lots of FR meta-plot), an earthmote lifted up the entire city of Kuluth-Mar...as if it was Ubtao's hand itself lifting the corrupted place toward the sun...or perhaps Acererak's magic lifting the city up to reach something beneath it? The city already rested in a swampy valley, so this uplift turned the valley into a vast basin into which surrounding rivers poured, creating a murky lake at the bottom. However, eventually the magic holding Kuluth-Mar aloft faded ...just as Ubtao's presence faded from Chult... and the city crashed back into the jungle basin (star destroyer style). Only a few of the most prominent structures survived this fall, as well as those structures at the city's periphery which were never lifted up by the earthmote & were clear of its impact zone. Falling prone in certain areas of the slanted city could lead to precipitous slides/falls, and periodically the city trembles and groans as it sinks/settles into the muddy waters below. I was struck by this concept art in my re-imagining: [img]https://www.diabloii.net/gallery/data/505/medium/art-trailer-world05.jpg[/img] And I started to brainstorm interesting sites according to the 4 quarters of the city... [B]CENTER[/B] [list][*][B]Ziggurat of Kyuss[/B]: overgrown & changed since the [I]Spire of Long Shadow[/I] adventure, not sure how yet, likely new occupants[/list] [B]NORTH QUARTER (HIGHER)[/B] [list][*][B]Public Baths:[/B] Lair of [B]death tyrant[/B] Ballaxxus, territory marked with [B]zombies[/B], Ballaxxus was captured by yuan-ti and experimented on - in the DMs Guild adventure [I]Ruins of Hisari[/I] - so fears the yuan-ti in Kuluth-Mar, claims heat of baths "soothe his insufferable nightmares", also is served by charmed river [B]trolls[/B] "scrags", gate to Elemental Plane of Water spills from baths to create a river running through city which mingles with other waterfalls occurring naturally. [*]? [*]?[/list] SOUTH QUARTER (LOWER) [list][*][B]Necromancer's Market:[/B] Vast amounts of spell components, gems, even corpses were traded in Kuluth-Mar, where undeath was pursued with religious fervor. Small flocks of [B]eblis[/B] inhabit some of the ruin-islands amidst the sunken lake. [B]Crocodiles[/B] swim about in the murky waters. Caves formed from the initial impact and exacerbated by rain/erosion line the southern banks of the lake. An aquatic [B]thessalhydra*[/B] lurks in the depths, feasting whenever it senses a creature fall into the water. Treasure likely lies among sunken ruins. [*]? [*]?[/list] EAST QUARTER [list][*][B]Wight Estates:[/B] The powerful and wealthy of Kuluth-Mar who served Kyuss well were transformed into [B]wights[/B], and treated as a superior class of citizen. Their dwellings once went up the walls of the basin, so only a few of the lower lying ones remain after the impact. Wights in ToA's random encounter table are mentioned as pre-dating Acererak and the Spellplague...so having them originate in Kuluth-Mar makes a lot of sense. However, a group of[B] yuan-ti[/B] heretics inhabit these ruins; they have abandoned worship of Sseth after their empire was wiped out but refused to embrace Dendar the Night Serpent who offered only total annihilation; instead they revere the vestige of Kyuss, seeking to unlock the secrets of undeath. [*]? [*]?[/list] WEST QUARTER [list][*][B]Arena:[/B] Once the site of horrible bread-and-circuses wherein the living were pitted against undead to demonstrate the weakness of mortal beings & traitors were killed via executioner's axe wielded by enslaved minotaurs (tying into the minotaur culture once present in Omu & hinted at in ToA). Some [B]spawn of Kyuss[/B] are still trapped in the arena, which has been taken over by [B]troglodytes[/B] who've scavenged the old culture of Kuluth-Mar. Cultural parasites, the troglodytes seek to make captives more troglodyte-like via nasty tortures even as they seek to fill the void in their loathsome non-identities. Their shaman-chief collects skulls of Kuluth-Mar's dead, speaking with them to recreate a ghoulish facsimile of what once was. [*]? [*]?[/list] [/QUOTE]
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