Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Boojum's Shattered Skies campaign (background and plans so far--story coming soon)
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Boojum" data-source="post: 1816991" data-attributes="member: 21028"><p><strong>Shattered Skies Primer</strong></p><p></p><p>Shattered Skies Primer</p><p></p><p><em>Yenner looked up from his control panel long enough for a harried glance behind him. Cursing under his breath, he turned back to his task. His agile fingers deftly flew over the array of switches and knobs. A crewman shouted something to him, but the words were lost in the cacophony of clanks and hisses as the already overworked engines strained to push the zeppelin to speeds it was never intended for. Spinning the wheel, Yenner dove his craft, the Purple Raven, into a cloudbank and swung it in a tight arc, attempting to elude his pursuer, but it reemerged out of the cloud right on his tail as he burst once more into clear air. </em></p><p></p><p> Welcome to Shattered Skies, a D&D campaign world that blends fantasy steam-age technology, aerial swashbuckling, and Lovecraftian horror with the traditional hunting of monsters and exploration of dungeons for glory, justice, and loot. This document is intended to provide a taste of the campaign world along with the basic information necessary to make a character to play in it, but doesn’t go into much depth on any subject; it is intended as a primer rather than an exhaustive source of information. </p><p></p><p>I. The World of Shattered Skies</p><p></p><p><em>A sudden blast cut through the racket and the airship lurched as a piece of machinery exploded in a shower of sparks, sending a gear whirring past Yenner’s outstretched arm with the force of a bullet to bury itself in the wooden railing. With a muttered oath, he throttled the engines back to a more rational level and tilted the craft upward, gaining altitude rather than speed as he began to jockey for better position. This was one fight they wouldn’t be able to outrun, and any mortal foe was surely better than they unspeakable horrors they would face if forced to the surface by an engine failure.</em></p><p></p><p> Nearly 500 years ago, a cabal of mages, manipulated by the demon prince Abaddon and threatened by the rise of industrial technology, called into being an unimaginable force of pure entropy, the Devourer. In the ensuing struggle for survival and some way to fight back, hordes of fiends were released from their prison in the center of the planet and infused with the horrific energy of the Devourer, and the gods which had for so long watched over the humanoid races were bound there in their stead. When all mortal life was on the brink of extinction, a last-ditch plan was hatched, in which many of the few remaining mages sacrificed their lives in powerful rituals, binding their essence into gems known as magesouls, ripping whole chunks of land out of the surface of the earth and suspending them high in the air, out of reach of the Devourer and its minions. </p><p>On these fragile and isolated islands, the mortal races were able to cling to existence. In the intervening time, civilizations have rebuilt themselves from their near-annihilation and new ones have sprung up. For most of that time, each island was utterly isolated, with contact among them possible only through powerful magics. Recently, however, the rebuilding of society, with its attendant magic and technology, at last reached a point that allowed the development and construction of vessels capable of bridging the gap between islands. These airships take a wide variety of forms—some looking like the sailing ships of old and powered by magic, others giant gasbags driven by steam engines. Both types proliferated rapidly as contact with the outside world stimulated an explosion of trade and exchange of ideas, leading to a widespread Renaissance. But all is not well among the islands. Vicious monsters and evil races prowl the skies, renewed contact has brought opportunities for war as well as for trade, and always the Devourer lurks far below, its maw open to consume all that fall to the surface.</p><p></p><p>What You Should Know About Shattered Skies</p><p>• It’s D&D. The standard assumptions of heroic fantasy are here, used as a baseline to build on. Any monster, spell, or magic item from other sources can have a place here. In fact, the fragmented nature of the land makes it easy to find a place for just about any element—just say it was on an island that has just recently drifted close.</p><p>• It’s industrial fantasy. Steam-age technology pervades much of the world. However, it is a fantasized version of that technology, more powerful and versatile than the real thing, in order to make it a viable alternative to magic. Additionally, actual physical laws are glossed over if not ignored completely—the cinematic feel and mechanical balance of steam-tech is far more important than what is or is not really possible. Note that it is not steampunk as such, which suggests a dystopian view of technology and generally draws from Victorian society. By contrast, here the steam-age is dropped into a heroic fantasy mold.</p><p>• Magic and technology tend to clash. Although it is by no means universal, practitioners of these two paths often don’t see eye to eye. Science is a methodical approach to utilize the natural laws of the world to one’s advantage, while magic is a way to break or ignore those laws. In many cases, as with airships, the two approaches compete to solve problems in the best or most efficient manner. This is not a hard and fast rule, however. Some characters and societies are quite willing to combine the two in a mix called magitech, with each part accomplishing the tasks it is best suited for.</p><p>• Flying islands are the basic building block of civilization. This fact has immense ramifications on how the world works. Because of the prolonged time of isolation, cultures on different islands are very different from each other. All travel among islands is done through airships, and most people never leave the island they are born on. Without land travel, transporting large amounts of goods or people from one island to another is very difficult. Islands are constantly drifting in relation to each other, so standard trade routes can’t be established, and prolonged contact with a specific island is rare, making the establishment of solid alliances or enmities rarer and more difficult. </p><p>• Heroes take to the air. In addition to defending against monstrous threats and delving into forgotten tombs, heroes tend to spend a substantial amount of time aboard airships. This leads to great opportunities to come into contact with new places, experiences, and challenges, not to mention swashbuckling, ship-to-ship battles.</p><p>• Unspeakable horror lurks on the surface. Whispered tales of the Devourer keep children lying awake at night. The twisted and corrupted realm of the Undersky, as the surface is known, is a source of vast, primal terror for all. The few who have returned from expeditions to the surface report sanity-sapping monstrosities, strange nightmares that snapped the minds of their companions, and a faint gibbering constantly echoing in their minds, just short of intelligibility.</p><p>• Religion is a contentious issue. With the banishment of the gods at the time of the Sundering, a massive void was opened up in the lives of the people. A plethora of faiths sprang up in the vacuum of the gods’ silence, but a few have survived and prospered. The majority of people follow the ways of Elementalism, Pantheism, or Ancestor-worship, with a few stubbornly clinging to the old gods or following any of a thousand other faiths. The three main faiths have come to an uneasy truce in most areas, though when one gains local dominance it tends to oppress the others. God-worshippers are alternately pitied, mocked, or scorned, depending on the individual and region. </p><p>• The inhabitants are a bit different than you might expect. Most of the standard races have been tweaked to provide a fresh experience compared to playing them in other campaign worlds. Additionally, several new races are available, such as the chaos-infused entropon and the insectoid myrmidus.</p><p></p><p></p><p>III: Races</p><p><em>Reaching an optimal point, Yenner shut off the engines to wait for the arrival of the other ship. An unnatural hush descended over the flight deck as everyone strained for a better look at their pursuers, then a swelling of groans, whispers, and curses as they hove into view. The ship was of a strange design; a black, crystalline deck with sails suspended in a ring all the way around it. The sails were of a shimmering silver color, and they bowed with wind, tearing the ship along at a rapid clip, although it was a calm day. Yenner raised a spyglass to his eye for a better view. No doubt about it, they were dealing with myrmida. Beetle-like creatures with massive fluid sacs on their backs lined the sides of the deck, ready to spit globs of corrosive poison at anything in range. Creatures looking like three-foot tall ants scuttled around, adjusting lines, staying out of each others’ way with an eerily clockwork-like precision. In the center of the deck, on a raised platform, sat a monstrosity that looked too ungainly to move. Its bulbous head was nearly as big as the rest of its body, and it constantly pulsed, small tendrils of brain matter writhing out of openings in the cranium. Larger versions of the ant-like creatures, these ones with jagged, chitinous weapons and armor, lay supine around it, seeming to twitch every time the brain pulsed.</em></p><p><em>Shuddering, Yenner lay down the spyglass and looked around at his companions as they prepared to meet the onslaught. Khavtar was emitting a gravelly hum as he traced a sigil on the back of his hand, making it glow with an arcane light. Nearly naked except for a loincloth, every inch of the dwarf’s deep red skin was covered in indecipherable glyphs. Clirixa’s eyes glowed with a disturbingly eager light as the enemy ship came closer. The tiny blade elf had drawn her twin kukris and was moving in a dance-like pattern, slashing at the air with blinding speed. Jazlyn, the halfling sharpshooter, stood next to the railing, loading her rifle while the large bat next to her stretched its wings, preparing to carry its mistress into battle. Grigmak, the most recent addition to their band, stood with arms outstretched to the sky, intoning strange syllables. The clouds above the myrmida ship seemed to darken in response to the kobold’s plea, and electrical discharges played around the edges. Yenner himself handed the helm over to a crewman and snatched up his satchel, trying to decide which of his gadgets would be the most effective. </em> </p><p></p><p></p><p>IV: Classes</p><p> <em>The myrmidus ship bore down on the Purple Raven. As they came into range, the crew began firing cannons and ballistae, scoring a few hits, but none causing major damage. The bugs along the railings began spitting globs of acidic spittle, and several men fell to the ground with bubbling holes burning in their chests. One even collapsed backward over the railing, falling to certain death. A few bolts of lightning blasted into the enemy ship, scorching and scattering a few clusters of the disgusting creatures. As the enemy ship reached them, the creature with the grotesque cranium seemed to shake itself from a trance. As it did so, the sails suddenly went slack and the creatures sprawled around it scrabbled to their feet, snatching up jagged, chitinous weapons. </em></p><p><em>Jazlyn launched her bat into the air, swooping around the far side of the ship and raining bullets down on the beasts, but she was soon beset by ghastly monstrosities with membranous wings flying out to bite at her. The rain of lightning came to an abrupt end as a torrent of force lashed out from the giant brain to slash at Grigmak, sending him reeling and collapsing to the deck. The ships thudded together with a sound of rending wood, and both sides staggered. With a ululating war cry, Clirixa launched herself into a leaping somersault, landing in a crowd of bugs and scattering them as she began to slash them, spilling green ichor over the deck. Khavtar, his body glowing with arcane runes, grabbed a rope and swung down to the black deck. His feet thudded into one of the warriors, catapulting it backwards and off the ship to its doom. Yenner’s steam-powered construct chugged to life, the buzz saw on its arm whirring as it clanked over to join the melee. </em></p><p><em>The insectoid warriors, however, had recovered from the initial onslaught and moved with terrifying precision to surround the combatants. A webbed conduit of energy formed going from the brain among all the warriors, and it seemed to force them to new heights of speed and ferocity. The spitters continued their deadly attack, bringing down more crewmembers and beginning to damage the Purple Raven itself. Jazlyn had fought off the winged beasts, and began concentrating her fire on the brain, but her bullets seemed to strike an energy field and veer off. Surrounded and bleeding from several wounds, Clirixa and Khavtar followed her lead and began trying to fight their way through, but the warriors closed ranks, blocking their path. The construct, enmeshed in a mob of warriors, clattered to the deck in a heap, though several insectoid corpses lay near it. Yenner leaned over the railing and raised a device, sending a gout of flame washing over the bugs near the disabled hulk of his creation. Grigmak seemed to come back to his senses, but remained on the deck, calling on the spirits of the air to heal his wounds. The mass of jet-black warrior bugs threatened to overwhelm Khavtar and Clirixa as they stood back to back. Carefully gauging his throw, Yenner tossed a small metal sphere a ways beyond them, into the press of bugs protecting the brain. With a thunderous report, it erupted in a blast of flame and smoke, and for an instant, the way was almost clear. Seizing on the opportunity, Khavtar grabbed the nearest warrior and pushed it away, clearing the path completely. Clirixa ran forward, sustaining several grievous parting blows from the warriors around her, but she nimbly leapt atop the brain. The energy web shattered and the energy began to coalesce into a hammer that swung at her, but before it reached her she had plunged her kukri into a gap in the cranium. The creature emitted a horrid gurgling shriek as it began to thrash around, and the warriors seemed to stagger under a backlash of mental energy. They stood there stunned as several were quickly dispatched, and those that came out of it were too few to fight back effectively soon falling under the rain of blades, fists, and bullets.</em></p><p></p><p>V: Religion</p><p>There are a number of different religions found within the realms of the Shattered Skies. Each religion has a particular class that tends to the spiritual needs of followers of that religion. Members of that class must be a follower of the religion, and if they cease to be, they lose all class powers and abilities. Apart from that restriction, characters can belong to any of the religions.</p><p></p><p>Animism: Spirits are everywhere, inhabiting all parts of the natural world. A believer might beseech a cloud for rain, a nearby rock for strength, or a tree for fortitude. They believe that the spirits hear them, and will offer aid if properly appeased.</p><p>Practitioner: Greenbond (Arcana Unearthed)</p><p></p><p>Ancestor Worship: The souls of the dead remain able to affect the world, if we only listen to them. Those ancestors who are particularly worthy are powerful in the spirit world, and want to help their descendants succeed. As well as their ancestors, shamans can call on the spirits of animals, plants and the natural world in a similar manner as animists, although the ancestor serves as an intermediary. Despite this similarity, however, followers of both religions see each other as totally wrong and misguided.</p><p>Practitioner: Shaman (Shaman’s Handbook)</p><p></p><p>Deity Worship: The old gods of the world were somehow separated from their mortal worshippers during the Sundering. In the wake of this, many churches disbanded, and worshippers deserted in droves, as they saw the clerics unable to perform the simplest tasks. Some, however, saw it as a test, and persevered. Recently, the actions of a group of these believers forged a conduit for divine power to the mortal realm. However, it is incomplete, and some of the power for spells is always drawn from the caster. The pantheon used is that found in the Book of the Righteous.</p><p>Practitioner: Cleric.</p><p></p><p>Elementalism: The way to the divine is found in the materials that make up the world. Elementalists strive to emulate what they see as the virtues of these materials and concepts, and may venerate one of the elements, or all of them as a whole. The six material elements are air, earth, fire, iron, water, and wood, and they are bound together by the three mental elements of glass (representing light), thunder (representing sound), and thought.</p><p>Practitioner: Witch (Arcana Unearthed)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Boojum, post: 1816991, member: 21028"] [b]Shattered Skies Primer[/b] Shattered Skies Primer [I]Yenner looked up from his control panel long enough for a harried glance behind him. Cursing under his breath, he turned back to his task. His agile fingers deftly flew over the array of switches and knobs. A crewman shouted something to him, but the words were lost in the cacophony of clanks and hisses as the already overworked engines strained to push the zeppelin to speeds it was never intended for. Spinning the wheel, Yenner dove his craft, the Purple Raven, into a cloudbank and swung it in a tight arc, attempting to elude his pursuer, but it reemerged out of the cloud right on his tail as he burst once more into clear air. [/I] Welcome to Shattered Skies, a D&D campaign world that blends fantasy steam-age technology, aerial swashbuckling, and Lovecraftian horror with the traditional hunting of monsters and exploration of dungeons for glory, justice, and loot. This document is intended to provide a taste of the campaign world along with the basic information necessary to make a character to play in it, but doesn’t go into much depth on any subject; it is intended as a primer rather than an exhaustive source of information. I. The World of Shattered Skies [I]A sudden blast cut through the racket and the airship lurched as a piece of machinery exploded in a shower of sparks, sending a gear whirring past Yenner’s outstretched arm with the force of a bullet to bury itself in the wooden railing. With a muttered oath, he throttled the engines back to a more rational level and tilted the craft upward, gaining altitude rather than speed as he began to jockey for better position. This was one fight they wouldn’t be able to outrun, and any mortal foe was surely better than they unspeakable horrors they would face if forced to the surface by an engine failure.[/I] Nearly 500 years ago, a cabal of mages, manipulated by the demon prince Abaddon and threatened by the rise of industrial technology, called into being an unimaginable force of pure entropy, the Devourer. In the ensuing struggle for survival and some way to fight back, hordes of fiends were released from their prison in the center of the planet and infused with the horrific energy of the Devourer, and the gods which had for so long watched over the humanoid races were bound there in their stead. When all mortal life was on the brink of extinction, a last-ditch plan was hatched, in which many of the few remaining mages sacrificed their lives in powerful rituals, binding their essence into gems known as magesouls, ripping whole chunks of land out of the surface of the earth and suspending them high in the air, out of reach of the Devourer and its minions. On these fragile and isolated islands, the mortal races were able to cling to existence. In the intervening time, civilizations have rebuilt themselves from their near-annihilation and new ones have sprung up. For most of that time, each island was utterly isolated, with contact among them possible only through powerful magics. Recently, however, the rebuilding of society, with its attendant magic and technology, at last reached a point that allowed the development and construction of vessels capable of bridging the gap between islands. These airships take a wide variety of forms—some looking like the sailing ships of old and powered by magic, others giant gasbags driven by steam engines. Both types proliferated rapidly as contact with the outside world stimulated an explosion of trade and exchange of ideas, leading to a widespread Renaissance. But all is not well among the islands. Vicious monsters and evil races prowl the skies, renewed contact has brought opportunities for war as well as for trade, and always the Devourer lurks far below, its maw open to consume all that fall to the surface. What You Should Know About Shattered Skies • It’s D&D. The standard assumptions of heroic fantasy are here, used as a baseline to build on. Any monster, spell, or magic item from other sources can have a place here. In fact, the fragmented nature of the land makes it easy to find a place for just about any element—just say it was on an island that has just recently drifted close. • It’s industrial fantasy. Steam-age technology pervades much of the world. However, it is a fantasized version of that technology, more powerful and versatile than the real thing, in order to make it a viable alternative to magic. Additionally, actual physical laws are glossed over if not ignored completely—the cinematic feel and mechanical balance of steam-tech is far more important than what is or is not really possible. Note that it is not steampunk as such, which suggests a dystopian view of technology and generally draws from Victorian society. By contrast, here the steam-age is dropped into a heroic fantasy mold. • Magic and technology tend to clash. Although it is by no means universal, practitioners of these two paths often don’t see eye to eye. Science is a methodical approach to utilize the natural laws of the world to one’s advantage, while magic is a way to break or ignore those laws. In many cases, as with airships, the two approaches compete to solve problems in the best or most efficient manner. This is not a hard and fast rule, however. Some characters and societies are quite willing to combine the two in a mix called magitech, with each part accomplishing the tasks it is best suited for. • Flying islands are the basic building block of civilization. This fact has immense ramifications on how the world works. Because of the prolonged time of isolation, cultures on different islands are very different from each other. All travel among islands is done through airships, and most people never leave the island they are born on. Without land travel, transporting large amounts of goods or people from one island to another is very difficult. Islands are constantly drifting in relation to each other, so standard trade routes can’t be established, and prolonged contact with a specific island is rare, making the establishment of solid alliances or enmities rarer and more difficult. • Heroes take to the air. In addition to defending against monstrous threats and delving into forgotten tombs, heroes tend to spend a substantial amount of time aboard airships. This leads to great opportunities to come into contact with new places, experiences, and challenges, not to mention swashbuckling, ship-to-ship battles. • Unspeakable horror lurks on the surface. Whispered tales of the Devourer keep children lying awake at night. The twisted and corrupted realm of the Undersky, as the surface is known, is a source of vast, primal terror for all. The few who have returned from expeditions to the surface report sanity-sapping monstrosities, strange nightmares that snapped the minds of their companions, and a faint gibbering constantly echoing in their minds, just short of intelligibility. • Religion is a contentious issue. With the banishment of the gods at the time of the Sundering, a massive void was opened up in the lives of the people. A plethora of faiths sprang up in the vacuum of the gods’ silence, but a few have survived and prospered. The majority of people follow the ways of Elementalism, Pantheism, or Ancestor-worship, with a few stubbornly clinging to the old gods or following any of a thousand other faiths. The three main faiths have come to an uneasy truce in most areas, though when one gains local dominance it tends to oppress the others. God-worshippers are alternately pitied, mocked, or scorned, depending on the individual and region. • The inhabitants are a bit different than you might expect. Most of the standard races have been tweaked to provide a fresh experience compared to playing them in other campaign worlds. Additionally, several new races are available, such as the chaos-infused entropon and the insectoid myrmidus. III: Races [I]Reaching an optimal point, Yenner shut off the engines to wait for the arrival of the other ship. An unnatural hush descended over the flight deck as everyone strained for a better look at their pursuers, then a swelling of groans, whispers, and curses as they hove into view. The ship was of a strange design; a black, crystalline deck with sails suspended in a ring all the way around it. The sails were of a shimmering silver color, and they bowed with wind, tearing the ship along at a rapid clip, although it was a calm day. Yenner raised a spyglass to his eye for a better view. No doubt about it, they were dealing with myrmida. Beetle-like creatures with massive fluid sacs on their backs lined the sides of the deck, ready to spit globs of corrosive poison at anything in range. Creatures looking like three-foot tall ants scuttled around, adjusting lines, staying out of each others’ way with an eerily clockwork-like precision. In the center of the deck, on a raised platform, sat a monstrosity that looked too ungainly to move. Its bulbous head was nearly as big as the rest of its body, and it constantly pulsed, small tendrils of brain matter writhing out of openings in the cranium. Larger versions of the ant-like creatures, these ones with jagged, chitinous weapons and armor, lay supine around it, seeming to twitch every time the brain pulsed. Shuddering, Yenner lay down the spyglass and looked around at his companions as they prepared to meet the onslaught. Khavtar was emitting a gravelly hum as he traced a sigil on the back of his hand, making it glow with an arcane light. Nearly naked except for a loincloth, every inch of the dwarf’s deep red skin was covered in indecipherable glyphs. Clirixa’s eyes glowed with a disturbingly eager light as the enemy ship came closer. The tiny blade elf had drawn her twin kukris and was moving in a dance-like pattern, slashing at the air with blinding speed. Jazlyn, the halfling sharpshooter, stood next to the railing, loading her rifle while the large bat next to her stretched its wings, preparing to carry its mistress into battle. Grigmak, the most recent addition to their band, stood with arms outstretched to the sky, intoning strange syllables. The clouds above the myrmida ship seemed to darken in response to the kobold’s plea, and electrical discharges played around the edges. Yenner himself handed the helm over to a crewman and snatched up his satchel, trying to decide which of his gadgets would be the most effective. [/I] IV: Classes [I]The myrmidus ship bore down on the Purple Raven. As they came into range, the crew began firing cannons and ballistae, scoring a few hits, but none causing major damage. The bugs along the railings began spitting globs of acidic spittle, and several men fell to the ground with bubbling holes burning in their chests. One even collapsed backward over the railing, falling to certain death. A few bolts of lightning blasted into the enemy ship, scorching and scattering a few clusters of the disgusting creatures. As the enemy ship reached them, the creature with the grotesque cranium seemed to shake itself from a trance. As it did so, the sails suddenly went slack and the creatures sprawled around it scrabbled to their feet, snatching up jagged, chitinous weapons. Jazlyn launched her bat into the air, swooping around the far side of the ship and raining bullets down on the beasts, but she was soon beset by ghastly monstrosities with membranous wings flying out to bite at her. The rain of lightning came to an abrupt end as a torrent of force lashed out from the giant brain to slash at Grigmak, sending him reeling and collapsing to the deck. The ships thudded together with a sound of rending wood, and both sides staggered. With a ululating war cry, Clirixa launched herself into a leaping somersault, landing in a crowd of bugs and scattering them as she began to slash them, spilling green ichor over the deck. Khavtar, his body glowing with arcane runes, grabbed a rope and swung down to the black deck. His feet thudded into one of the warriors, catapulting it backwards and off the ship to its doom. Yenner’s steam-powered construct chugged to life, the buzz saw on its arm whirring as it clanked over to join the melee. The insectoid warriors, however, had recovered from the initial onslaught and moved with terrifying precision to surround the combatants. A webbed conduit of energy formed going from the brain among all the warriors, and it seemed to force them to new heights of speed and ferocity. The spitters continued their deadly attack, bringing down more crewmembers and beginning to damage the Purple Raven itself. Jazlyn had fought off the winged beasts, and began concentrating her fire on the brain, but her bullets seemed to strike an energy field and veer off. Surrounded and bleeding from several wounds, Clirixa and Khavtar followed her lead and began trying to fight their way through, but the warriors closed ranks, blocking their path. The construct, enmeshed in a mob of warriors, clattered to the deck in a heap, though several insectoid corpses lay near it. Yenner leaned over the railing and raised a device, sending a gout of flame washing over the bugs near the disabled hulk of his creation. Grigmak seemed to come back to his senses, but remained on the deck, calling on the spirits of the air to heal his wounds. The mass of jet-black warrior bugs threatened to overwhelm Khavtar and Clirixa as they stood back to back. Carefully gauging his throw, Yenner tossed a small metal sphere a ways beyond them, into the press of bugs protecting the brain. With a thunderous report, it erupted in a blast of flame and smoke, and for an instant, the way was almost clear. Seizing on the opportunity, Khavtar grabbed the nearest warrior and pushed it away, clearing the path completely. Clirixa ran forward, sustaining several grievous parting blows from the warriors around her, but she nimbly leapt atop the brain. The energy web shattered and the energy began to coalesce into a hammer that swung at her, but before it reached her she had plunged her kukri into a gap in the cranium. The creature emitted a horrid gurgling shriek as it began to thrash around, and the warriors seemed to stagger under a backlash of mental energy. They stood there stunned as several were quickly dispatched, and those that came out of it were too few to fight back effectively soon falling under the rain of blades, fists, and bullets.[/I] V: Religion There are a number of different religions found within the realms of the Shattered Skies. Each religion has a particular class that tends to the spiritual needs of followers of that religion. Members of that class must be a follower of the religion, and if they cease to be, they lose all class powers and abilities. Apart from that restriction, characters can belong to any of the religions. Animism: Spirits are everywhere, inhabiting all parts of the natural world. A believer might beseech a cloud for rain, a nearby rock for strength, or a tree for fortitude. They believe that the spirits hear them, and will offer aid if properly appeased. Practitioner: Greenbond (Arcana Unearthed) Ancestor Worship: The souls of the dead remain able to affect the world, if we only listen to them. Those ancestors who are particularly worthy are powerful in the spirit world, and want to help their descendants succeed. As well as their ancestors, shamans can call on the spirits of animals, plants and the natural world in a similar manner as animists, although the ancestor serves as an intermediary. Despite this similarity, however, followers of both religions see each other as totally wrong and misguided. Practitioner: Shaman (Shaman’s Handbook) Deity Worship: The old gods of the world were somehow separated from their mortal worshippers during the Sundering. In the wake of this, many churches disbanded, and worshippers deserted in droves, as they saw the clerics unable to perform the simplest tasks. Some, however, saw it as a test, and persevered. Recently, the actions of a group of these believers forged a conduit for divine power to the mortal realm. However, it is incomplete, and some of the power for spells is always drawn from the caster. The pantheon used is that found in the Book of the Righteous. Practitioner: Cleric. Elementalism: The way to the divine is found in the materials that make up the world. Elementalists strive to emulate what they see as the virtues of these materials and concepts, and may venerate one of the elements, or all of them as a whole. The six material elements are air, earth, fire, iron, water, and wood, and they are bound together by the three mental elements of glass (representing light), thunder (representing sound), and thought. Practitioner: Witch (Arcana Unearthed) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Story Hour
Boojum's Shattered Skies campaign (background and plans so far--story coming soon)
Top