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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Carnifex" data-source="post: 324237" data-attributes="member: 227">The Kobold Hulk:The actual name of this massive ironclad hulk is the Chariot of Maia, but it is largely just referred to as 'that kobold hulk'. The exact origins of the oil-powered vessel are unknown and clouded by myth, but a number hold more water than the others.. It is generally agreed that at some time, pre-Fall, the ship was the personal vessel of some demi-god or deity to cruise the oceans in grandeur and intimidating might; some say that it was owned by a once-human demi-god called Maia, others say that Maia was a great dwarven craftsman who made the vessel for his deity, the fire goddess. The kobolds themselves, worshippers of the fire goddess, cling to the latter story as legitimacy for their claim to the Hulk.Far larger than any other vessel that plies a trade on the ocean waves, the Hulk;s prow rises high over the water, a behemoth entirely made of metal. It's an unknown alloy; although streams of rust have dribbedl down its flanks in some places, and it has an overall stain of red-brown, it seems resistant to serious damage and corrosion by the water.Two thirds of the way back down the ship, on either side, the massive paddle-wheels slowly propel the beast forwards, powered by great, noisy piston-engines with tall vents that spew out oily black smoke. Large enough to provide an entire kobold colony with a home, it is obviously far from its former glory, but still cuts an awe-inspiring sight as it grinds along.The Hulk itself is sentient, though to what extent is unknown. At the core of the vessel, the control room holds a large growth of some sort of multi-coloured crystal from which cables lead into the surrounding, humming walls. The kobolds call it the 'god-tech', and they really don't understand it very well. Whether the god-tech is just an advanced machine or genuinely intelligent is unclear, and some believe it may in fact be manipulating the kobolds to suit its own ends. They certainly follow any advice it gives them.The leader of the kobold tribe is Kramack (LN kobold male Clr 5/Sor4), a kobold of quick and nimble mind even if his aging frame isn't quite as dextrous anymore. Wise and intelligent, he is unchallenged in his position and a real storehouse of knowledge - the Hulk has travelled many seas and seen many strange lands. Most of the kobolds of the tribe are able engineers or alchemists, to an extent; aided by the god-tech the tribe is capable of keeping the engines and systems of the vessel running, if not at optimum efficiency. The inefficient engines in particular have to be fed with crude oil or whatever material comes to hand. As alchemists, with knowledge gleaned from the god-tech, they are almost unrivalled, and are always carrying out experiments and tests; from dropping experimental depth-charges onto sahuagin villages to concocting particularly potent acids and testing them on the hulls of other ships. They've been able to reactivate a crude machine which the god-tech uses for refining chemicals and substances from out of the sea-water itself, providing them with a small but constant flow of materials to use.Despite this callous attitude when it comes to testing their advances, the kobolds are largely inoffensive. The Hulk is virtually immune to even very bad weather on the seas, and can easily make journeys through dangerous waters and stormy seasons when other vessels would be dashed to pieces. The kobolds take part in some trading as they meander around the oceans, both of goods they have bought from distant and difficult-to-reach places as well as alchemical substances; in return they usually buy more goods as well as raw materials for their alchemical experiments.Of course, such a settlement needs feeding and other essential materials just to keep existing during the weeks and months at sea, and deep in the hold Snasak (NE kobold male Drd5) has his domain. The druid is the tender to the herd of what the tribe calls 'meshlak', some sort of large slug about three feet long that hasn't been found anywhere else in the world. These slugs are used as food for the kobolds; their skin is dried and used as a form of leather; some of their innards are taken by the alchemist-engineers and have useful chemicals extracted while other parts are boiled down into a crude fuel for the engines. The kobolds hate the taste of fish, so instead when they net them in they feed such things to the slugs instead.Two types of alchemical substance in particular come from the slugs. Their slime is used to coat the skin of those kobolds who venture into the water (usually to scavenge below the surface), providing Cold Resistance 2. Furthermore, a power refined from slug organs is placed in small bottles of air that the divers breath from when they dive; the white powder slowly turns brown and then black as it recycles the air in the bottle, giving an hour of oxygen for the divers.All this isn't aimless though. The kobold leader Kramack plans to put their growing alchemical expertise to good use. His plan is to try and set off some underwater volcanoes into fiery activity, with twofold effects; firstly a grand act of worship to honour the goddess of fire, and secondly to create a new land from the lava and volcanoes, a land which the displaced kobolds can live upon. He's something of a visionary really, seeing it as the first step of the reestablishment of the ancient kobold civilisation from the dregs that exist of it now.</blockquote>

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