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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 5243333" data-attributes="member: 60965">The Song of the Prophet A Star Wars Saga adventure Glossaryal-Gawym: “Clouds” in the ash-Shtat language.  The new home system of the ash-Shtat where the majority of the adventure takes place. Mrydah: A dying one-year old ash-Shtat girl, daughter of al-Menfa al-Menfa: The father of Mrydah, ex-Rijil ad-Dyn priest Shub Fy ash-Shtat: The near-human race the adventure centers around. Rijil ad-Dyn: The ruling ash-Shtat theocracy whose fundamentalist beliefs restrict technologies, clothing, and strictly govern the lives of the ash-Sthat people. Zindyq al-Qurash: The splinter group of the ash-Shtat that favors technology and joining the Republic.  Yam at-Thryr: The holy ash-Shtat festival where the Song of the Prophet is told.  an-Nby Kābāryh: The building where the Song of the Prophet is told.  A Father's Sin The group finds themselves in a cantina on whatever world they are on.  The cantina is inhabited by full of tall, slender figures in colorful full-body robes.  Strange red-white flowers in long garlands string the room, filling it with a strange sweet smell.  The people are dancing to soft, exotic music that has a longing, sorrowful undertone while on a stage, a group of costumed dancers are performing a dance and singing in a soft, rhythmic language.  The number seems to be telling a story, something ancient, haunting, and tragic, though exactly what the story is about is aside from some arduous journey is beyond you without speaking the people's language.  When the group enters, a near-human man with a small bundle on his back walks up to the group, pulling back the hood of his strange robe as he does so; “I saw your ship land earlier and, the Prophet of al-Gawym guide me, I feel you are the ones I have been waiting for, the ones seen in my dreams.  Please, come and let me buy you a festival drink, though here they only have imitations of the sweet juice of the mist-pear that saved our peoples when the Prophet led us to al-Gawym, our home.  Come, come.”    When the group sits, light, fruity drinks are brought, the near-human sits to join them, removing the bundle from his back to reveal a young girl, only a couple years old.  He looks at her with an expression full of love and sadness as she sleeps and he rocks her gently as he speaks.  <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/al-Menfa.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />  “I used the last of my faith and the last of the drug of the blossom that I owned to seek the Dreams of the Prophet.  He said you would come and lead me and Mrydah back to redemption... salvation.  He looks up at the party, soft determination in his eye.  I am al-Menfa and I would pay you all that I own if you would help me and my daughter return to my home system of al-Gawym.  It will not be easy and there are things we must do along the way, but my daughter is dying and only the will of  Prophet al-Gawym will save her where my hubris failed.  I will pay you ten thousand credits – in advance – if you will do this.   If the group needs more information before they accept, they can glean the following information from asking al-Menfa or making appropriate knowledge checks:   * The al-Gawym(“Clouds”) system is a forming planetary system around a young star.  The system still swirls with rock, dust, and dozens of rocky planetoids.  It is in the Outer Rim, at the very edge of Republic Space.   * The system is not part of the Republic, the majority of the Shub Fy ash-Shtat near-humans that live there having rejected membership on religious grounds. * The ash-Shtat live scattered on marginally-terraformed sections of the largest planetoids, scattered throughout the system.  * A splinter group known as the Zindyq al-Qurash live on the outskirts of the system, running illicit trade and smuggling between the ash-Shtat and the Republic.  There has been much violence between the fundamental, conservative Rijil ad-Dyn and the pro-Republic, technologist al-Qurash.  Tension remains high between them. * The Rijil ad-Dyn don't appose all technology, but do appose any technologies not considered “sanctioned” by the Prophet.  Their arbitrations as to which technologies fall into these categories reject all technologies not in common use in the time of the Prophet, the Seedships, and the Great Journey hundreds of years ago, its history only held in the Song of the Prophet, a story preserved by the Rijil ad-Dyn and told once a year at the festival of the Yam at-Thryr.  * Several less-than-scrupulous Republic corporations fund the al-Qurash, seeking to gain access to the rare trace minerals and gasses that are found in the al-Gawym system.  The Republic itself honors the ash-Shtat peoples' wish to remain isolated and it is technically illegal to travel to the system, though one the far fringes of the galaxy, it is little-enforced.   Once they accept, al-Menfa continues, either there in the cantina or while on the way to the ship, preparing for launch, and/or while preparing to jump to al-Gawym(whose coordinates al-Menfa gives):  “I was once a member of the Rijil ad-Dyn ruling priest-caste that interprets the will of the Prophet, preserves the Song of the Prophet that is the history of our people, and governs the people.  When my wife died, I despaired, but believed it the will of Prophet al-Gawym, and focused on raising our daughter.  When her little heart began to falter, so again did my faith.  I stole a pouch of rare Mist-Pear blossoms and inhaled the smoke so to receive the Dreams of the Prophet, but even these were cloudy and uncertain. “Lost and watching my little Mrydah dying before she had yet a chance to live, I searched everywhere for other options.  The prayers of even the holiest Rijil ad-Dyn seemed to have no effect, even an illicit visit to an al-Qurash doctor did nothing.  The al-Qurash said that only in the Repuplic did they have the forbidden technology to save her, but it would cost a great deal.  I began to see the Republic hospitals that the al-Qurash described to me in my dreams and I was almost feverish in my determination to somehow buy my daughter's life and health from these Republic doctors.  “I agonized for weeks and, in the end, I committed a grave sin.  In desperation, I stole two minor relics of the Prophet, most importantly the waste receptacle used by him on the Seedship he used on the Great Journey that led our people to al-Gawym from our dying system.  I sold it to the al-Qurash in exchange for passage to the Republic and enough credits to fund my daughter's operation several times over.  “The al-Qurash left me on a backwater system where I lost much money to charlatans and swindlers. I then moved from system to system, my credits dwindling with my hope, searching for one who could save me daughter.  When I finally found an actual surgeon, he removed my daughter's heart in three pieces – he taps a small case with a blinking light on his belt - and replaced it with what I learned later was an artificial heart designed for short-term emergency operations only.  My daughter even has a plasti-flesh door in her chest that allows easy removal!   “I came to this world, hearing that there were some al-Qurash here that might help me, he says, gesturing at the people around him.  But unfortunately these ones still observe the holy month of Yam at-Thryr, with its prohibitions on travel.  I do not know if little Mrydah will survive a month!  I must return to al-Gawym.  I will face punishment, perhaps death, but if I return the relics to the Rijil ad-Dyn, perhaps they will yet intervene on Mrydah's behalf with the Prophet, even allow her to be placed as the Miracle Child in the Song of the Prophet – rumors say that some who play the part experience similar miracles...”  The Second Relic, Nothing to Sneeze At  Barring any hyperspace mishaps, the group arrives at al-Gawym and finds the system as predicted:    <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/Clouds%20System.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> A small yellow sun burns in the midst of a spinning disk of gas and dust.  Dozens of rocky planetoids tumble through the swirling clouds along with tens-of-thousands of asteroids and comets.  Beyond the edges of the system are massive nebula clouds, strange towering shapes that seem to shift and change as the ship travels through the system.    Al-Menfa says prayers of thanksgiving for several minutes, then points out into the system.   “I hid the other relic, a bit of cloth used by the Prophet for hygiene purposes, in a stasis capsule somewhere in the outer system.  It transmits a short-range beacon that we can track, but we have to get near it first.  I was afraid that the Rijil ad-Dyn might be pursuing me, so had little time to determine precisely where I left it, but I do have a fixed landmark.  “They call the dust clouds you see out there around the ecliptic of the system the Wings of the Prophet.  They are relatively static and, without your sophisticated Republic navigation systems, many ash-Shtat used them as landmarks for navigation.  What we need to do is find the spot in the system where three of the clouds align in such a fashion that they make the shape of a Mist-Pear.  The resemblance was so uncanny when I notice it that I took it as a sign from the Prophet.  Once we have them aligned, we should be close enough that for your ship to detect the beacon."  Achieving this requires the standard array of starship travel skills to navigate the dust and rocks.  Added complications include energy storms in the gas, stray comets and asteroids, false navigational readings due to electrical disturbances in the debris of the tumultuous proto-system, and guess-work on trying to align the nebula.  <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/Nebula.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />When they eventually detect the beacon, they must then pinpoint it, discovering it deep in a gas cloud full of asteroids.  They must either have someone spacewalk between the asteroids to retrieve it or carefully navigate their ship into the murky dust and gas to retrieve it without colliding with anything.  When they eventually retrieve it, al-Menfa secures it in his room.   “They say a drop of the Prophet's blood could heal a thousand diseases, let's hope his other fluids are as potent miracle workers in the hands of the hands of the Rijil ad-Dyn.  Now let us meet the al-Qurash.”   The First Relic, Waste Not...  Al-Menfa guides them to a hidden al-Qurash base amidst a jumble of asteroids at the outer edge of the system, saying:   “They have the Prophet's liquid waste receptacle here – assuming they haven't moved it elsewhere since I left – and I need it back somehow if I am to get Mrydah help from the Rijil ad-Dyn priests.  Let us not start hostilities unless there is no other recourse.”   Getting there is as difficult as finding the beacon, though heavier on asteroids and lighter on dust.  Eventually, they reach the al-Qurash asteroid-base where they are hailed by an al-Qurash corvette that streaks towards them from the tumbling rocks.  <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/Asteroid%20Base.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />    If the group opens fire, they face a tough fight with a crude but effective warship, fire from platforms mounted on the al-Qurash base, and a wing of fighters launched from hidden platforms throughout the asteroids.  Otherwise, assurances that they are simply Republic traders (along with easy Persuasion checks) will get them access to the base.<img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/InsideBase.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />   The massive blast doors slide open and your ship enters, docking with a crude but functional airlock once inside.  The base is larger than it looks from the outside, ancient-looking trains running the length of the interior, running robed figures back and forth constantly.  Most of the robed figures wear flat black robes, but here and there one wears bright red or blue or orange and even a few wear flashy, relatively-revealing Republic styles that draw distasteful glances from the black robed figures.  “Not all al-Qurash want the same degree of immersion into the Republic.  In fact, if it weren't for their struggle against the Rijil ad-Dyn, they'd probably be fighting each other.”    Once inside, they must first track down whether the Prophet's receptacle is present(it is) and where it is (the base's laboratory).  This will likely involve Gather Information or Persuasion checks with the local al-Qurash.  Getting the unit is another matter.    If the party wishes to negotiate, they must talk with Tajer Shab, the commander of the base.  She is dressed in flamboyant spacer garb and is eager to hear about anything the group is willing to tell her about the Republic.  On the matter of the receptacle, however, she is less open.  She refuses to give the party the receptacle for anything short of 50,000 credits, claiming their scientists are examining it for trace elements the Prophet may have left behind that will prove “certain theories the al-Qurash have that will help us sway the common ash-Shtat against the Rijil ad-Dyn's brainwashing.”   Tajer Shab will make another deal however: they will trade it for the Prophet's stasis-locked corpse from the center of the Inner Sanctum, the Prophet's high temple in the heart of the temple-city of Prophet's Sepulcher, on the largest planetoid in the system.  Al-Menfa seems shocked at the suggestion, but with a glance at the steadily-weakening Mrydah in his arms, his resolve stiffens.  “Prophet, let any sins fall upon me and spare her, I will take them gladly!”   If the party simply blasts their way into the base, they face poorly-equipped but determined resistance from the al-Qurash in the base and must fight the corvette and fighters in space outside once they escape from the base (assuming they haven't fought them already).    They might instead sneak into the laboratory, which will involve sneaking in, avoiding security, wandering al-Qurash, and getting the bulky receptacle out undetected.  If they are detected and don't immediately blast their way out, they are taken to Tajer Shab, who will then make the corpse-napping offer to them.  Otherwise, they must fight their way back to their ship.    If the party negotiated, Tajer Shab offers the group a crude ash-Shtat ship that they can use to travel freely in the inner system without drawing attention to their Republic-built starship.  If they didn't negotiate, al-Menfa will suggest they steal a small ash-Shtat ship as they flee or blast their way out. The Inner Sanctum, Prophet's Sepulcher  Navigating to the Prophet's Sepulcher is easier than the outer system approaches as the ash-Shtat have set up navigational beacons and antiquated space craft travel constantly between the inhabited planetoids of the inner system.  Of course, the group can only use these lanes if they have an ash-Shtat ship, otherwise they will be swarmed by ancient-yet-numerous attack craft and fighters that they can only escape from by diving into the dangerous haze of the accretion disk.  If they don't have and/or don't use the ash-Shtat ship, they will have to fight their whole way to the Prophet's Sepulcher or face the daunting and dangerous navigational challenge of trying to fly the whole way there through the dust, gas, and debris.    Regardless, al-Menfa leaves whatever relics he has in the party's ship when they head to the Sepulcher, which is most likely stashed away as far into the inner system as the party could get it.    If they have the ash-Shtat ship, al-Menfa guides them through the space lanes to the Sepulcher.  If the party is not trying to get the Prophet's body (i.e. they blasted their way out or stole the Prophet's receptacle from the asteroid base), skip to the next section.    Once there, al-Menfa uses an old but usable Rijil ad-Dyn security code to get them access to the Sepulcher itself.  After landing the ship, al-Menfa produces black robes for everyone (creativity might be required for disguising abnormally large or small characters) and leads them into the heavily guarded and fortified Inner Sanctum of the Rijil ad-Dyn.    <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/Inner%20Sanctum.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />  There are several checkpoints, at each of which the short interrogations of al-Menfa in the ash-Shtat language that apparently mostly satisfy the guards, though a few seem hesitant and suspicious and argue with each other as the party passes.  “Several of us disappeared at the same time, made to look like an accident with our ship – I thought I'd never be coming back here.  We probably don't have much time.”    Half-a-dozen temples form a circle in the Inner Sanctum, with a domed structure at the center.  Al-Menfa leads them to the central building.  “They don't like letting the 'unclean' guards allowed beyond the outer wall, they would profane the place, according to the Rijil ad-Dyn.”    The central building does have a massive blast door with a security panel on the side.  Al-Menfa heads straight to the panel and presses his palm against it.  If there are any computer or security-proficient characters in the party, the panel doesn't recognize him, giving those party members a chance to shine and get them access.  Otherwise, the door accepts his hand-print and the massive blast doors open just enough for the party to file through single file.  <img src="http://barney.gonzaga.edu/%7Emaustin/The%20Prophet.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />  The room is massive and round, the lightning dim except for strategically placed lights that spotlight the body floating preserved in the middle of a stasis field.  Al-Menfa gestures at the robed figures, many of whom stare blankly, others rocking back and forth chanting, some lying sprawled out sleeping on the floor.  “These are the lower priests of the Rijil ad-Dyn, come for their once-a-year imbibing of the sacred Mist-Pear blossom.  The Mist-Pears were found growing on a comet stuck in an elliptical orbit of the sun.  The Seedship nearly collided with it, its food processing systems failing, and the Pears provided enough food for the Prophet and the rest of my people to survive long enough to set up here.  It's so rare and expensive now that only the high-priests can afford it.  These ones around us are deep in the Dreams of the Prophet, I doubt we will encounter much resistance from them, though best keep your eyes open."   Presumably, the group sets out to steal the body – a task that could involve disabling ancient but many-layered security systems, hacking computers to lower the stasis field, taking the body in its ancient space suit, perhaps replacing it with one of the semi-comatose worshipers, and maybe chasing down and subduing the few Rijil ad-Dyn coherent enough to see what is going on.    Once they have it, al-Menfa directs some of them to sneak it back to the ship – another challenge in the sanctum full of guards that will vary in difficulty depending on the preparation of the players (if they brought a cart full of food in advance or the like to hide the body amongst for example).  It's possible a firefight will break out if the party is caught (or if they don't have a plan when they try to get back through the checkpoints).  The body itself is immaculately preserved, the ash-Shtat was a handsome man and still is despite his age. He retains a sense of elegance and power even in death. A Father's Demands  In orbit of the Prophet's Sepulcher, al-Menfa hails the Inner Sanctum.  Depending on how openly hostile the party ended up being with the Rijil ad-Dyn up to this point, the ash-Shtat in the Sepulcher can vary anywhere from blissfully unaware that the party is there to launching every fighter and ship they have, requiring evasive action on the party's part while al-Menfa (perhaps with assistance from socially-oriented party members) negotiates with the Rijil ad-Dyn high priests that answer his hail.    The main negotiating terms are:  * The party will be allowed to collect the relics unhindered by the ash-Shtat, including going back to the al-Qurash base.  * The Rijil ad-Dyn will allow Mrydah to be the center point of the Song of the Prophet when it reaches the Prophet's miracle in the story.  Al-Menfa will be allowed to replace the prefabricated heart in Mrydah's chest with the three segments of her own heart, using a drop of blood from the cadaver, a drop of urine from the receptacle, and a drop of phlegm from the cloth to anoint them as per the ritual in the Song.  * The party will be free to leave al-Gawym after the Song of the Prophet has ended, whether Mrydah's miracle transpires or not.  * al-Menfa will return to the Inner Sanctum, there to await the judgment of the Rijil ad-Dyn.  * Failure to agree to these terms will result in the destruction of the Prophet's relics, and even the body of the Prophet himself.    The Rijil ad-Dyn don't like it, but they will accept, unwilling to lose the relics.  Al-Menfa will fly the party to their ship.  If they are working with the al-Qurash, al-Menfa will then fly back to the Inner Sanctum to await them.  “Don't take too much time, Mrydah has too little left.  The Rijil ad-Dyn will keep their word.  They are many things, but oath-breakers are not among them.”    If they aren't working with the al-Qurash, they already have all the relics.  Jump to the final chapter.  When the group returns to the al-Qurash base with the Prophet's body, it is immediately taken to a lab.  An hour later, Tajer Shab returns with the body and the waste receptacle in their stasis pods.  She is jubilant and there is a festive air in the asteroid base.   “The Prophet had cybernetics installed, as I suspected; an augmented hip and an artificial lung!  This proof makes the Rijil ad-Dyn's interpretations of the Song of the Prophet suspect, we will spread this information and bring the theocracy to its knees.”   The party has other concerns however. The Song of the Prophet  When the party returns to the Inner Sanctum at the Prophet's Sepulcher, they are escorted brusquely, the relics taken from them even though they are going to the same place, the an-Nby Kābāryh temple where the Song of the Prophet is being recited to preserve the ash-Shtat's oral history.    The temple itself is a large room with scattered tables for the Rijil ad-Dyn.  At the front is a stage where the Song of the Prophet is retold in song and dance, an ancient tale of hope, sorrow, loss, courage, and perseverance.  Garlands of Mist-Pear blossoms are hung from every pillar.  As the party watches, the black-robed figure of a Rijil ad-Dyn high priest picks one of the blossoms and sets it into a small brazier full of coals, leaning close and wafting the smoke into his nostrils.     “The Dreams of the Prophet, each blossom would take a month's pay for the common people to purchase...” al-Menfa says as he notices them staring at the blossoms.      The party is led to a seat with al-Menfa, the Rijil ad-Dyn obviously unhappy with the arrangement, but they endure it.  As the Song nears a climax, a figure in an exotic space suit that al-Menfa reverently names “the Prophet al-Gawym” steps forward, hands outstretched.  Al-Menfa carries his daughter to the stage, collecting three small black vials from the Rijil ad-Dyn as he goes.  As the party watches, he sets down his daughter and takes the small stasis cube that holds her heart from his belt.    The “Prophet” sings a song in the ash-Shtat language, with many gestures to the sky as the other figures on stage sing in chorus, then settle into a meditative hum.  The “Prophet” takes the three vials and places their contents into the stasis cube then gestures at Mrydah's chest.  Al-Menfa hesitates briefly, then unwraps his daughters blanket, opens the plasti-flesh door in her chest, quickly extracts the three pieces of his daughter's artificial heart, then replaces them with her old heart.  The “Prophet” makes a series of elaborate gestures over the girl and a short while later the Song of the Prophet ends.    At this point, what happens is up to the GM, depending on personal preference:  * The Miraculous – Mrydah's heart beats again and the child lives.  The Rijil ad-Dyn break out into hallelujahs and al-Menfa weeps at the “Prophet's” feet.  * The Tragic – The “miracle” fails, Mrydah's little heart stops beating, and al-Menfa curses the Prophet, pulling his hair and tearing his clothing.  * The Unknown – The Rijil ad-Dyn evict the party immediately on the Song's end, escorting them straight back to their ship with no delays or hesitation.    Either way, before the party leaves, a stone block is dragged into the room by dozens of armed guards.  It should be obvious to the party that fighting them would be a terrible idea.  If his daughter lives, al-Menfa gives her to the party, “let her remember me,” then kneels before the block.  Before the headsman takes off his head with a giant scimitar, al-Menfa speaks in a whisper barely loud enough for the party to hear. “When the doctor was going in to remove her little heart, I saw it.  He said it was malformed, but I saw in it the shape of a Mist-Pear.  A sign from the Prophet...”    The party is banished from al-Gawym regardless, at least while the Rijil ad-Dyn are in power.  If they fought the al-Qurash, they will be banished regardless of who wins the escalating conflict between the Rijil ad-Dyn and the al-Qurash.   Ingredients Exquisite Cadaver – The body of the Prophet, needed by the party to force the Rijil ad-Dyn to negotiate and also for his blood to augment the “miracle” in the Song of the Prophet.Festooned Cabaret – The an-Nby Kābāryh, the building where the Song of the Prophet is sung, festooned with the Mist-Pear blossoms the bring the Dreams of the Prophet when their smoke is inhaled.  Also the initial cantina where the party meets al-Menfa.The Girl with the Prefabricated Heart – Mrydah, the ash-Shtat girl around whom the adventure revolvesDreams that money can buy – al-Menfa's dreams of saving his daughter buy buying her surgery in the Republic.  Also the dreams brought on by the extremely expensive Mist-Pear blossoms.Prestigious Urinal – The waste receptacle of the Prophet, needed to force the Rijil ad-Dyn to negotiate and also for a trace of urine to augment the “miracle” in the Song of the ProphetHandkerchief of Clouds – The Prophet's handkerchief, hidden in the dust clouds of al-Gawym.  Also, the Prophet is also known as al-Gawym (“Clouds” in the ash-Shtat tongue) and it's his handkerchief.  It's also needed for the Prophet's mucus to augment the “miracle” in the Song of the ProphetThree Pieces in the Shape of a Pear: The three pieces of Mrydah's heart.  The alignment of the nebula that reveals the location of the Handkerchief.</blockquote>

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