Worlds of Kummer Wolfe: Hoist the Colors

Marquee Brotherhood

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 08 Dec 2024 22:14:24 GMT

So, with that said, this one takes us into one of the more famous, or infamous, organizations found across the known world. A group that lives at the fringe of societies and works at their underbelly. This delightfully dire group is absolutely in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors, and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Marquee Brotherhood

Specialists who work a grim trade. If you ever need their help, this is the guild you talk to. If you can afford their price.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

There are always those who work at the edge, or even outside, the bounds of society. Professionals that, in many ways, serve the common good of a city, town, or any other settlement they call home. Their methods can be unorthodox, but their lethal results are reliable.

Rumors and tales say these assassins and hunters work alone. Sometimes, on rare occasions, in pairs, to practice their bloody trade. In many places, those stories are true. But in others, especially in the years following Crossings Fall, there has been the Marquee Brotherhood. A secluded and secretive guild of assassins and bounty hunters.

Neutral Arbiters For a Price

Legends say that there has always been a Marquee Brotherhood lurking in the shadows of society. In fact, the Brotherhood’s roots may run as deep as an ancient order of alchemists in the Akkadian Empire in 2334 BC. A few scattered records found in Rome suggest the rumors might be true. But the Marquee Brotherhood of today has little to say on the matter. They certainly don’t confirm or deny any of the stories.

What little is known is that the Brotherhood is a guild of bounty hunters, assassins, and alchemists. Specialists that banded together to share their particular skills and knowledge. Some of which are ancient and dates back to the Akkadian Empire. This body of knowledge spans tracking and wilderness craft, to poisons, locksmithing, and healing techniques.

The Brotherhood of today was first mentioned in 1709. During the War of Spanish Succession, two members of the Marquee Brotherhood were hired to capture a Prussian scout and spy. Since then, and especially after the global disaster of 1712, the Marquee Brotherhood has stepped out of the shadows and partially into society. Protectors, or executioners, for hire as merchants peddling swift and unpleasant death.

Masters of the Hunt

Hunters of the Brotherhood are infamous for their skills at tracking any type of prey, from pirate to blood-hungry beast. They are persistent predators that study who or what they hunt for hours, days, or even weeks before they make a move. Methodically learning about the habits, nature, and movements of what they hunt. Including where their prey might run to when chased.

They enhance their skills through dedicated training, but also with a wide assortment of tools and gadgets. Some are clockwork, arcane engineering, or in rare cases, Otherworld relics. They’re used for even the smallest advantage for a member of the Brotherhood to ensure the success of their mission.

Loose But Lethal Structure

The Marquee Brotherhood is not like other guilds with structure and titles. Instead, they are closer to an alliance of smaller groups and organizations. Some would call them ‘clans’ but they are more akin to noble houses who adopt members based on their specialties and skills. Some Marquee Houses specialize in poisons, lotions, and other elixirs that are often lethal. Others hone their skills as trackers to locate and capture, or eliminate, a particular prey their employers want dealt with.

No one knows how many Marquee Houses exist. Some reports say there are only a dozen, others say there are hundreds. What anyone can say for certain is that there are always at least five houses represented at any time in a local Brotherhood Hall. Also, those five houses will change each season, moving to different Brotherhood Halls in Europe, North America, Asia, and elsewhere.

The reason behind this is straightforward. Members of the Marquee Brotherhood owe allegiance to their House, but above all, the Brotherhood. Anyone accepted into the Brotherhood swears an oath to uphold the Marquee Code, which includes balance and to never seek power for its own end.

Therefore, the Council of Five, the body that oversees the Brotherhood, maintains that no Marquee House may occupy a Hall longer than one season. This is to prevent any House from being tempted to rule a city or region from the shadows.

Council of Five

Sitting over all the Marquee Houses is a group called the Council of Five. This is a council that monitors and manages the Brotherhood and its Code. It’s a group of the five most senior hunters from across the Marquee Houses. This council doesn’t reside in a particular location, but convenes once a year at a Brotherhood Hall in a major city to debate and discuss policy. Any other time they meet would be in times of trouble, catastrophe, or to handle a problem that faces the entire Brotherhood. It was said that the Council of Five was meeting the very night the catastrophe struck the world at midnight on October 31, 1712.

House of a Different Kind

Marquee Houses lie at the core of the Marquee Brotherhood. They are small groups of hunters that banded together because of shared values, skills, or common goals. Often, these also result in family bloodlines like a noble family, but that isn’t a common occurrence. A Marquee House has its own identity and even long-standing traditions. But, no matter what, all Houses honor the Marquee Code that unifies them all under the Brotherhood.

House Structure

Every Marquee House is led by one or two senior hunters, called Huntmasters. These individuals are experienced hunters that embody that House’s philosophy and expertise. They maintain the traditions, oversee any training, and act as final arbiter of internal House disputes. When necessary, they likewise pass judgment against rule-breakers who violate the House or the Brotherhood itself. Often, this judgment is execution or exile.

Each House has a sigil or mark that is unique. A heraldry symbol that shows their allegiance to the house, any by extension, the Brotherhood. The master list of these sigils are maintained by the Council of Five. New Marquee Houses are only allowed to form under the permission of the Council of Five during their once a year meeting.

Notable Marquee Houses

House Mortis: The Enforcers of the Code

Specialty: Enforcers of the Marquee Code and the Council of Five. Tracking, Espionage, Matters of Law.

Symbol: A skeletal hand gripping scales.

Philosophy: “Balance for One and All”. In a society of feared boogymen, House Morits frighten even the Brotherhood members. They take their job seriously to root out traitors and enforcing the Council’s will as directed. They’re known for being relentless, impartial, and uncompromisingly deadly.

Rite of Passage: Initiates must successfully track and execute a fake ‘rogue’ member of the Brotherhood, that does their best to avoid being caught.

House Jadescale: Masters of Alchemy and Poisons

Specialty: Members of House Jadescale are renowned for their poisons, alchemical weapons, and antidotes. This house is allied with medical colleges, so that all surgeons must apprentice with a member of House Jadescale for one year. In this way, they learn all the ways to kill, so they know how to preserve life.

Symbol: A coiled jade serpent with a single drop of venom from its fangs, overlaid with a flask.

Philosophy: "Mercurial Cunning". Members of House Jadescale are meticulous planners. They favor cunning and subtly over brute force.

Rite of Passage: Initiates are expected to create either an original poison along with a delivery system. Then they are to demonstrate its effectiveness, and the antidote.

House Frostsin: Stealth and Subterfuge

Specialty: Members of House Frostsin are espionage, sabotage, and silent assassination experts. They prefer to work quick and unseen if possible.

Symbol: A dagger, its blade frosted with icy patterns, partially concealed behind a flowing cloak.

Philosophy: “Seen once but with Death". Members of House Frostsin are practically ghosts of the Brotherhood. They excel at infiltration and vanishing without a trace.

Rite of Passage: Initiates must successfully infiltrate a building or guild house maintained by House Mortis and retrieve an item left by House Frostsin.

House Hawkguard: Wildland Hunters

Specialty: Members of House Hawkguard are professional trackers that specialize in capturing live targets.

Symbol: A stylized hawk in mid-dive with shattered feathers radiating outward like a starburst.

Philosophy: "To the Chase". Members of House Hawkguard are the most patient of all the houses. Methodical to a fault, they are known to track a quarry for days, sitting still as stone if necessary. No terrain is too difficult for them.

Rite of Passage: Initiates must track and capture either a dangerous beast, or one of the top hunters of House Hawkguard over wild terrain.

Marquee Code

Above all, the houses and mystery, the Marquee Brotherhood lives by “the Code”. These are a set of guidelines that protect the Brotherhood and bind them together. The Code spans all Houses, no matter their affiliations or personal ambition.

Writ of the Code

Loyalty to One is All: All contracts are a sacred oath. No member of the Brotherhood may take, steal, or poach a contract that belongs to another member of the Brotherhood.

No Collateral Harm: Members of the Brotherhood must take pains to avoid harm to innocents or anyone that isn’t a target of a contract or Warrant. If it can’t be avoided, the Brotherhood member must make anonymous restitution.

The Warrant is All: Once accepted, the contract must be completed. Failure brings dishonor to the particular the Marquee House of that member. The hunter has full rights to determine how to complete a given contract or Warrant.

Respect Among Members: Personal ambition through violence between members of the Brotherhood is forbidden. Disputes are settled by the Huntmasters of a given Marquee House, or the Council of Five.

To Break the Code

Breaking the code is a serious offense, perhaps the most serious any Brotherhood member could commit. Code breakers are brought before the Council of Five for a trial by House Mortis. There, they present their case around the reasons the Code was broken. If the Council is not convinced there is a good reason, the Code breaker could be exiled or executed on the spot.

Bonds of Blood

Unlike other guilds, there is no single way to join the Brotherhood. This is because a person doesn’t join the Marquee Brotherhood, but instead they join a Marquee House. New members, called initiates, to a Marquee House have to be sponsored by at least two existing members in good standing. These sponsors are responsible for the initiates’ conduct and training for a year until the initiate has been either rejected or completes their rite of passage for the House.

Rites of Passage for a House are distinct for each house and based in their specialty. For some, that would be poison crafting. While others require an initiate to survive being hunted by the entire house in a city for a day. No matter what the Rite of Passage is, if the initiate succeeds, they are formally adopted into the Marquee House in good standing, then presented to the other houses in a yearly ceremony of the House Gathering.

Those that fail are either sent on their way, if they aren’t killed by the Rite of Passage itself.

Shadows and Balance

Methods and motives of the Brotherhood are as varied and mysterious as their members. For some, it’s personal, while for others it is business. Complex, yet straightforward in how they approach the world.

There are many that see the Marquee Brotherhood as a threat. An organization of lethal shadows that could, if they chose, eliminate any rival, including a government. Merciless villains that kill without morals. But then there are others that see the Brotherhood in a different light. Reluctant heroes who have an uncompromising view of justice behind the Code they hold dear.

I’ve seen them in action, and sometimes wish I hadn’t.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Game Notes

Threat: 4

Faction Contacts:

Veyra Foxthorn: Human. A shadowy diplomat and a skilled negotiator for the Marquee Brotherhood. Veyra is known for her ability to diffuse tense situations or stoke conflict when it suits the Brotherhood’s goals.
Kaelen Mournshade: Morasu. A hunter from House Hawkguard with a reputation for never losing a trail. Kaelen often takes contracts to eliminate elusive targets, and almost never fails to track any target.
Selina Vexrune: Grimling. A master alchemist of House Jadescale, Selina crafts poisons and antidotes sought after by kings and mercenaries alike. She’s also known to offer experimental creations to those desperate enough to test them.

Notable Assets and Resources:

An unparalleled network of informants and spies within governments, guilds, and criminal syndicates.
Access to rare poisons, antidotes, and alchemical inventions through House Jadescale.
Temporary access to Brotherhood Hall facilities in key cities worldwide, offering a safe haven and resources.

Allies:

Trade Guild Syndicate: Mutual benefit through access to smuggled goods and black-market channels.
Bonewright Order: Occasional collaboration in securing or neutralizing Otherworld relics.

Enemies:

Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast: The Brotherhood's moral ambiguity often clashes with the Kelstani's cultural beliefs.
Liberty Alliance: The Alliance views the Brotherhood as a shadowy threat to their ideals of freedom and justice.

- Kummer Wolfe

At the stroke of midnight ...

Kummer Wolfe — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 06:36:46 GMT

At the stroke of midnight on October 31, 1712, the world came to an end.

It wasn’t done in by blood or war, fire or famine. No, nothing of the kind.

The world ended when a green comet flashed across the full blood moon that night, chased by a haunting, thin laugh. As the comet passed, the laugh faded and took our world with it. The world that we knew.

On that night, the myth of magic turned all too real. It came back in force, no matter whether or not anyone was ready.

That was ten years ago. Since then, the world has never been the same. Lands of myth crashed into Earth, creatures of legend now walk the streets, and the forgotten arts of magic have new practitioners. A new world has risen from the old.

And there’s no turning back…

… Dead Men Tell No Tales…

- Kummer Wolfe

Manta Leech

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 17:51:52 GMT

Author’s note: Hoist the Colors may eventually inspire fiction. Most likely will and I’ll gladly write it. But right now, it’s a role-playing game setting with what I hope is an interesting take and look at an “Alternate History” of Earth. It isn’t really “steampunk”, though I can see how someone would get that impression. For me, it’s more a “flintlock fantasy” set on Earth of 1722 in all it’s historical mess… that I’ve stirred up even more!

So, with that said, this one gets us to a creature feature for this month! A predator that looks all too innocent, which does prove that sometimes looks can be deceiving. This nasty critter is absolutely in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors, and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Manta Leech

Beware the Devil’s Blanket. It sails below the water, looking to fish for you!
- Fisherman’s Warning

The sea holds secrets close to her briny heart, protecting each one with a persistent predator. Beasts with an uncanny talent for dealing out death in a moment’s glance. But the sinister secrets from Otherworld didn’t stop at the sea’s shoreline. Freshwater ponds, rivers and lakes also contain their own mysteries. Some are benign, while others make a monstrous meal out of the unwary.

One of those is an ambush predator that combines the grace and appearance of an Earthly cousin with the feral ferocity of night terrors. They’re beasts born of Otherworld that slipped through to live among the other deadly dangers of Earth. They are the manta leech, which should never be dismissed or taken lightly.

Silent Hunters of the Swamps

The manta leech makes it home in the muddy, murky waters of swamps, bayous, and river deltas. A freshwater horror that thrives at the fringe of those regions, wrapped in sinister silence and shadows. This animal is shaped like its cousin, the manta ray, with a few unique features all its own. But unlike its cousin, the manta leech is anything but a gentle giant of the waves.

This perilous predator blends seamlessly into the dark, swamp water of its home. Survivors describe it has a smooth dorsal surface that comes in a variety of mottled patterns from gray to green, and even a shade of muddy red cream. This natural camouflage lets it blend in with underwater reeds, floating plants, and swamp slime while it stalks its next meal. But this coloration only covers the top of the beast. Below, in stark contrast, the ventral side is a ghostly, if not corpse white, like dead flesh moving. It’s nature’s own foreshadowing.

Like the manta ray, this beast shares many of the same physical features. Its eyes are positioned to the side and behind manta ray-like horns. Its body is thin and sleek, perfectly adapted for the water. The manta leech also has a pair of wing-like pectoral fins and a long, thin tail. That is where the comparison stops.

Unlike its cousin, this twisted terror has twelve retractable, hook-like claws at the edge of its fins. Needle sharp, they can easily latch onto, and slice through most cloth, including wool. Padded armor helps, as does leather and metal. But this isn’t the only weapon in the creature’s arsenal.

Along with the claws, a manta leech has a whip-like tail with a barbed end. This tail is highly flexible, allowing the beast to stab a victim, then deliver a tranquilizing toxin that also contains the animal’s digestive juices. Once stung, a victim is drugged into a compliant stupor while the digestive juices devour the victim from the inside, slowly turning them into a thick slush. Meanwhile, the beast siphons off its bloody meal using a lamprey-like mouth and its double row of fanged tooth bands.

A manta leech? Survivors call it the Devil’s Blanket. Given how it catches prey and eats, the name is fitting and accurate.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Dire Dining of a Swamp Devil

It wouldn’t surprise me if this nightmare from Otherworld inspired the stories about kelpies.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Most everything, save some undead, must eat. But few do that in a method more gruesome than a manta leech. As mentioned, survivors describe a circular mouth like a lamprey, ringed with a double row of tooth bands. Each row contains small, bat-like fangs it uses to rend a suitable hole in its prey to drain it dry. That is, once the creature’s toxin and digestive fluids have done their dire work, which can take up to several minutes depending on the size of their meal. During that time, the manta leech will keep its wings tightly wrapped and hooked around its prey. A literal warm hug of death.

When it hunts, the manta leech slides silently through its swampy home. They hunt during early morning or early evening hours when it’s not too cold or hot for a kill. A manta leech lurks just below the surface, relying on its camouflage to mask its approach. Once close, it leaps out to ambush its prey by wrapping its wings around the victim in an iron grip before it delivers a sharp stab with its stinger-tail. Manta leeches swim as fast as any racehorse, which allows them to knock any victim off their feet and into the water.

These deadly beasts prey on goats, geese, and similar creatures. Unsuspecting sailors are also not immune. Many stories describe a sailor walking the docks alone only to be wrapped tight in a manta leech’s hooked wings, then dragged screaming into a watery grave.

The venom is unique, but not a death sentence. Most alchemists like myself have a recipe to counter it. The trick is getting to the victim before they’re lost to a manta leech’s gullet.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Predators and Prey

There are few creatures that can tackle the sinister manta leech, since most of its natural enemies never left Otherworld. On Earth, alligators and bull sharks were quick to take up that mantle. Survivors have told more than one story of a surprise rescue by an alligator or bull shark looking for a meaty meal of manta leech. Besides those two, freshwater sirens consider the manta leech a delicacy. Rumors persist about freshwater sirens who travel the swamps alongside fishing boats for the chance to sink their claws into an unsuspecting manta leech or two. More than one unlikely partnership has developed over the years between local fishermen and a nearby siren pod.

Myths and More

Coastal tales from around the Caribbean Sea whisper dark stories of missing sailors or livestock stolen from docks or river boats. Most are blamed on the manta leech, where the watery horrors swim. Those myths list all manner of suspected protections against the creatures. They range from wearing a garland of fresh garlic soaked in hot sauce to tossing bags of peppered frog legs into the water. The latter is supposed to be an offering for safe passage along a river.

No one has proven if any of those measures are effective. The stories are never clear and every survivor had their own method. But no matter the story, they all serve a similar purpose of warning travelers who wander the swamps to be careful of the water. If they wander out during early morning or evening, they may not come back.

Deadly Trade

As lethal as the creatures are, there are some that try to profit off the bloody beasts. If caught, a manta leech isn’t suitable to eat by people. Traces of their toxin lace every part of their body, even in small amounts. But that doesn’t mean the meat is useless. Manta leech meat is an effective lure to attract catfish, alligators, and bull sharks. Also, it isn’t the only part of these animals that is useful.

In particular, their mottled hide is durable when tanned and cured. A skilled tanner can make a durable vest other garment that has been known to turn aside sharp knives or a manta leech’s claws. They’re expensive, as catching a manta leech is risky, but for some sailors, fishermen, or others who work near the water in swamps, it’s almost a necessity.

A manta leech? That’s a living, breathing life lesson, deary. They’re a reminder that not everything that can kill you roars, shouts, or screams. Sometimes they might be that harmless-looking thing that glides by without a sound. An ugly price for not being respectful of old Mother Nature.
- Morowen Waxbend, sea hag of Port Royal

Game Notes

Manta Leech Vest

Quality: 1, Armor: 3

This vest is made from the hide of a manta leech. Popular for its four front pockets and one hidden inner pocket, it can turn aside most blades for a short time. Against anything beyond a blade, the vest has an Armor 1.

Manta Leech

Threat: 2

Suggested Complications

Venomous. A quick stab from its tail injects a thick dose of manta leech toxin. The poison leaves the character sluggish so that even the simplest action is performed from a desperate position with limited effect. At this point, the character is poisoned by this serious complication and will pass out at the end of a progress clock as determined by the game master.

Grip of Death. The manta leech latches onto the character using its pectoral fins and their needle sharp claws. Beyond any Harm that is imposed, the character is in a desperate position. They will need to work to get free. If a serious complication, the character has been knocked into the water as well.

- Kummer Wolfe

Trade Guild Syndicate

Kummer Wolfe — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 00:16:27 GMT

So, with that said, this one gets us into another of the powerful guilds in the world. One that is as infamous as it is famous. It is absolutely a faction that characters in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors can deal with, and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Trade Guild Syndicate

If money is the root of all evil, then they’re the gardeners.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Some guilds are a like-minded group of people that work hard to practice, and perfect, a particular craft. Others have more commercial pursuits in mind, such as regulating trade in a city or a region. Last are ones that follow an ideal, much like a firth guild for the downtrodden. Then there is the Trade Guild Syndicate. They are nothing like any other guild. In fact, they’re in a category all their own. Just ask them.

The Trade Guild Syndicate isn’t a single guild, but an alliance of guild spread from Europe to Japan and China. While they work together for common goals of commerce, they constantly struggle with each other inside the guild. Where each member works to undermine others for their own gain. All with a goal to gain complete control over the Syndicate itself.

But, rumor has it this is by design to keep the trading company members in line and under control.

Some, like the Kelstani, claim that the Trade Guild is an empire of commerce that has the power to challenge or manipulate monarchies to suit their goals. So far, the Trade Guild has limited themselves to building new trade routes and opening up new markets. But there are whispers that suggest they have greater plans with darker origins and far-reaching goals.

Empire of Coin

Syndicate ships slowly appeared in June 1713. These white hulled, brass trimmed vessels few the flag of the trading company that owned them, but also the colors of the Trade Guild Syndicate. The most prominent trading company among their members was the East India Company, which gave the Syndicate an air of legitimacy when they made their public debut.

The Trade Guild Syndicate was formed from a partnership between the leading trading companies around Europe and the Mediterranean in early 1713. This contract was built out of desperation. The cataclysm had taken place months before at the end of October in 1712. With trade routes disrupted, or impossible to navigate, many trading companies had gone bankrupt in weeks. Meanwhile, the larger ones struggled to survive. This partnership under the banner of the Trade Guild Syndicate was a breath of fresh air for them.

It was the brainchild of Stefan Borta, a trader renowned for his charm, shrewd negotiation skills, and effective cutthroat tactics. Borta, an up-and-coming employee of the East India Company, had been working to build this trade confederation since 1710. It was slow going, with little progress. The catastrophe in 1712 was a surprise that gave him the opportunity he needed. With trading companies in dire straights, those not already bankrupt were willing to listen about this ‘Trade Guild Syndicate’.

Smaller trading firms were eager for help and signed up right away. Borta used this as leverage against some of the larger companies, some of which were rivals of the East India Company. Borta eased their concerns about losing their autonomy and more through careful wording of the confederation’s bylaws. Dubbed the Trade Guild Syndicate, it quickly expanded across Europe, the Mediterranean and into the Middle East.

But there were also dark rumors that followed in Borta’s wake. Stories that claimed that while Borta was employed by the East India Company, he was actually an agent of a dark sect based out of Rome. What some say is the last surviving collegium illicitum, or unlawful collegium, from the Roman Empire. One bent on controlling trade, and through that, the major powers of the world. The rumors continue to explain that this collegium has been working behind the scenes for generations, and may even know what caused the world-wide disaster of 1712.

Today, the Trade Guild Syndicate has built on the success of those deals and the East India Company to gather as much power as any nation-state. But no matter the deal, or how innocent it seems, it’s the Trade Guild Syndicate that reaps the benefits.

Their deals are often at the expense of the locals they claim to help. Improving their quality of life? Rumor is that this is more forced labor than anything else.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Tally of Rank and File

Like any guild, the Trade Guild Syndicate maintains personal ranks and an organizational structure that allows this trade confederation to operate. Their rank structure is thin by design, which serves the need to coordinate the efforts of their member trade companies. But some believe the structure also is a direct reflection of the shadow collegium that supposedly controls the Trade Guild Syndicate.

These ranks are granted to those ‘hired’ from member trading companies of the Syndicate to work as part of the Syndicate’s administration. Rumors say there are more, but only three are known to the public. They are the Magistrate, Curia, and Initiates.

- Magistrate. A Magistrate is considered the highest rank among the Trade Guild Syndicate. Most believe there is only one, but that is actually not true. In fact, there are three Magistrates who serve the Syndicate as part of a triumvirate called the ‘Augur’. A magistrate keeps their rank until they either die, or are cast out by a vote of no confidence by the Trade Brethren.

These magistrates are selected from among the Curia based on their negotiation, and to a lesser extent combat prowess, skills. As the public face, or faces, of the Trade Guild, their role is to handle the broad strategies and plans of the Syndicate. This includes making deals with monarchies and other governments, especially when it involves working with or borrowing assets from the Syndicate.

- Curia. The bulk of the members who make up the Trade Guild Syndicate hold this rank. They work in various roles across the organization, processing trade paperwork, handling the flow of resources, and more. Curia Syndicate members are also involved in making deals with other guilds, privateers, and even pirates. A member of the Trade Guild Syndicate administration is elevated to the rank of Curia after six months as an Initiate.

- Initiates. Initiates are the basic probationary rank of the Trade Guild Syndicate. While often considered ‘apprentices’, they are nothing of the kind. Initiates are recent hires who have been elevated from a member trading company to the Syndicate itself for a temporary period to evaluate and polish their skills. This can last between three to six months, depending on the talents of the individual person.

At the end of that six-month period, or sooner if they show a keen aptitude at negotiation and trade-craft, an Initiate is promoted to the rank of Curia. At that point, they aren’t assigned to a group in the Syndicate, but may choose where they would prefer to work for the good of the Trade Guild.

A Nimble Organization

The Syndicate’s organization of its ‘departments’ and how they relate to the confederation’s members is less like a guild and closer to a country. Each group is serves a specific role in the guild’s daily activities, from their wide collection of deals to regulating trade in regions they control. But they also monitor and negotiate between the trade company members, ensuring that despite how bloody the rivalry gets, it doesn’t interfere with the Trade Guild’s ultimate goals.

There are many who call the Trade Guild Syndicate and their back door dealings, a viper’s nest. Others are more poetic, calling them a ‘hydra of commerce’.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

- Augur. At the top of the guild is a triumvirate of leaders called the Augur. These are the three Magistrates that coordinate the guild actions, alliances, and business efforts. Out of any group in the Trade Guild Syndicate, this is the most well-known and public. Matters of trade, what to trade, and related items come under their authority.

- Trade Brethren. If there was any group in the Syndicate that could be a ‘ruling council’, it’s the Trade Brethren. This assemblage is a collection of representatives from each of the trading company members of the Syndicate. Each member company is allowed one representative to serve as part of the Trade Brethren for two years.

This council acts as a balance against the Augur. A board of overseers that determine bylaws, rules and even settle disputes between member companies to avoid conflicts of interest. Above all, their most important function is to review and approve Augur deals to make sure they comply with providing financial benefit for the member companies.

Outsiders have often compared the Trade Brethren with a collection of noble houses in a city state. The comparison isn’t far from the truth. Member companies have a seniority based on their own profits. Which has led to more than one trading company to quietly undercut, bankrupt, murder, or even attack and destroy another Syndicate company. Such actions are considered in poor form and not encouraged openly. But privately? It’s their method and means of doing business.

- Centauri. For every guild, there are guards. In the Trade Guild Syndicate, that would be the Centauri. These skilled fighters act as both guards and enforcers, protecting the interests of the Trade Guild and its members. They are a quiet presence hovering in the backgrounds and corners of merchant ships and caravans, protecting the assets and resources of the Trade Guild Syndicate. When they are not guarding resources, the Centauri are sent to deal with anyone, including trading companies, violating Syndicate bylaws on trade.

Outside of their role as guards or enforcers, the Centauri are also hired mercenaries. This company of 100 skilled fighters has fought in some of the worst conflicts seen since the guild’s formation in 1713 to date. Often, they’re hired as military advisers, other times as a full fighting force. But no matter what capacity they serve, the Centauri are feared opponents on any battlefield.

There’s a saying, ‘Worry about the Centauri you cannot see instead of the one you can.’
Wise words, really.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Webs Of Influence

As guilds are, the Trade Guild Syndicate can be both friend and foe who wields a smile like a deadly knife. The influence of these ‘plain and simple merchants’ reaches well beyond the marketplace. Members of the Syndicate have been found in many courts or governments around the world to broker arrangements or secret deals. Some are for simply commerce, others allow the Trade Guild Syndicate to act on a country’s behalf where they have full rights to act as that country’s agent.

But not everyone is comfortable with the Syndicate’s methods. Some, such as the Liberty Alliance and the Kelstani, see the Trade Guild as a clear and present danger. A secret nation all its own, working in the shadows to manipulate the world for their own gain, no matter who they have to step on or make disappear.

Describing them as spiders waiting in their web for a victim, insults the spider.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Game Notes

Threat 4

Faction Contacts:

Caterina Sortino. Human. One of the most skilled Envoys working in the Trade Guild Syndicate. She always seems to know what to say to strike a deal in her favor.
T’lena’sor Valeen. Morasu. Quiet and reserved, T’lena is a highly skilled and respected member of the Centauri. Her deadly skills as a duelist are only surpassed by her talent as an assassin who can eliminate any threat.
Tholos’tai Kurenji. Morasu. Tholos has an uncanny ability to understand the value of something, or someone, with only one look. This includes any relic, no matter how rare. He’s often never wrong.

Notable Assets and Resources:

Influential connections with governments and powerful trading companies.
Inside access to Smuggler Markets.
Centauri mercenaries on call to assist, or erase, a problem as necessary.
Exotic, or hard to find, material and other trade goods through their members.

Allies:

Bonewright Order
Marquee Brotherhood

Enemies:

Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast
Liberty Alliance

- Kummer Wolfe

Navigator Guild

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 06:02:00 GMT

So, with that said, this one gets us into one of the more powerful guilds in the world. One that exploded into view in 1712 as a result of the catastrophe that reshaped the world. It is absolutely a faction that characters in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors can deal with, and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Navigator Guild

If you’re looking for an odd map or rare journal about a ruin or distant location, they’re the ones to see. If they trust you near their collection.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

October 31, 1712. The night that shook the world.

That moment reshaped the Earth. Every nation, down to its people, faced the horrible truth that the world they knew was gone. Trade routes were lost, mountains shifted, and once peaceful forests and coastlines turned deadly for everyone, from honest trade folk to rogues and scoundrels of the seas.

The world was now something else.

Maps had become obsolete overnight as new lands, if not continents, appeared in the middle of the deep ocean. Lakes either dried up, expanded, or appeared where they hadn’t been seen in a thousand years. A mad scramble started around the globe to make sense of this new world. Into that need stepped the Navigator Guild.

Old World Guild, Born New

The Navigator Guild of today was founded in 1712 by Minerva Goodsong, Ferrum Anvilson, Salvador Almeida, and a young man named Wohali from North America. All four were highly experienced navigators in their own right. They came from distant places such as the Mississippi basin in North America, Portugal, Afalon Isle, or the grimling sept settlements in Newfoundland. Strangers from far lands with shared experiences that bound them together.

Those four founders understood the problem ahead of them. Not just how it affected trade between nations, but how smaller settlements who relied on those same trade goods might suffer. Also, these four were the first to feel the uncanny pull of the Etherwave. They heard the mystic song of the Arcane Gates from their lonely places among the deep ocean currents and tall waves.

Minerva and Ferrum knew those songs all too well from their time on Otherworld, but never thought they would hear them on Earth. As for Salvador and Wohali, it was a new experience. The Arcane songs brought the four together outside Lisbon, Portugal, where they established the first guild house in November 1712 out of an abandoned warehouse.

They worked with the local mapmakers and privateers to collect what information they could. Slowly, this new world came into view. The Navigator Guild grew while they redrew maps, proposed new and safe trade routes, and recorded locations of the mysterious Arcane Gates. Most important of all, they also expanded the guild with a branch that was an institute of learning to train new navigators in the ways of Arcane Gates and more.

It wasn’t long before stories and accounts of unknown places came to the guild. These filled in some blank spaces on maps, but showed us just how much we didn’t know.
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Loose But Nimble Structure

The founders were skilled navigators and explorers who understood how important it was to stay organized. Their guild was no exception. A nimble organization was needed for this group to not drown in the ever-increasing flow of new maps, journals, and students looking to become new Navigators. This guild would need to act like a traditional craft guild, but also an institution of learning.

Each member in good standing of the Navigator Guild has a rank that is used as a rough measure of their skills and responsibility. Overall, there are four ranks in the Navigator Guild. They are Grand Cartographer, Master Navigator, Journey-Pilot, and Inkrunner. Unless a Navigator says otherwise, most Privateers are often Master Navigators or, occasionally, Journey-Pilots.

- Grand Cartographer. This is the highest rank in the Navigator Guild, and only held by one person at a time. A Grand Cartographer keeps their position for only two years as the leader and overseer of the Navigator Guild. They make decisions that affect the entire guild, such as negotiations with other guilds, trading companies, and governments.

While they cannot overrule the decision of the Navigator Council on matters like curriculum, a Grand Cartographer’s word carries a lot of weight. The Grand Cartographer is selected by the Navigator Council from eligible Master Navigators in good standing. But, per guild law, once a Master Navigator has served as the Grand Cartographer, they aren’t eligible to serve again for another three years.

- Master Navigator. Members of this rank make up the bulk of most any Navigator met out in the world, especially as Privateers. Master Navigators are fully trained navigators, able to handle any type of voyage, no matter how risky. They also will take up roles as teachers to instruct Journey-pilots and sometimes Inkrunners. It’s not uncommon to see Master Navigators take up the trade of a Mapmonger as well.

- Journey-Pilot. Also known as Journeyman-Pilots, these are Inkrunners who have finished their apprenticeship and now work under the guidance of a Master Navigator. It’s uncommon, but not unheard of, for a Journey-Pilot to take on the job of a navigator for a ship or crew. Often, it’s more common that a Journey-Pilot accompanies their Master Navigator out into the world so they can continue their studies and gain real world experience.

They continue this training until they can prove their mastery over their skills to the satisfaction of their mentor. Often this is through a series of tests or trials designed by their Master Navigator to test their student’s abilities. Usually this takes place in ever increasingly difficult situations.

Once they pass the test, the Master Navigator sends word to the Navigator Council that the Journey-Pilot has qualified for the ranks of the Master Navigators. The Journey-Pilot is officially given the rank of Master Navigator during a ceremony held in the guildhall called ‘Walking the Map’.

- Inkrunner. The last and lowest rank are the Inkrunners. These are new apprentices who have joined the guild to learn the Navigator craft in the hope to become a Journey-Pilot and study with a mentor. As new students to the craft, they spend their days in intense study. It’s rare to see an Inkrunner out as a Navigator. If they are, it’s under the close watch of a Master Navigator for a specific purpose.

Each year, dozens of hopeful students enter the Navigator Guild with visions of being a Navigator. But not all pass the trials to become a Journey-Pilot. Some Inkrunners that fail are offered a chance at another guild that’s in good standing with the Navigators. Others simply leave out of frustration over the rigorous training, or are expelled for breaking the Navigator Guild’s strict rules of ethics.

Guiding Hearts and Minds

Along with ranks, there are the Navigator Guild’s departments. These are group that help guide the guild’s direction and shape its teaching curriculum for Inkrunners and Journey-Pilots in becoming Master Navigators.

- Guild Council. Composed of the Grand Cartographer and seven senior Master Navigators, this assembly oversees daily operations of the Navigator Guild. Also, when the need arises, they act as a legal court in matters of Navigators who act against the guild, its members, or guild law.

Commonly, these are cases of an actual crime, such as murder or theft. In those situations, a Wheelhunter brings before the council the accused. After which, the accused pleads their case to the Guild Council, while the appointed Wheelhunter acts on behalf of the Navigator Guild regarding the charges. The council will decide based on the answers if the accused should be stripped of guild rank and turned over to local authorities or not. If the council finds them innocent, a Wheelhunter is sent to defend the guild member in a local court of law or act as their second in a duel of honor.

- Wheelhunters. The infamous Wheelhunters are the small legal branch of the Navigator Guild. Each one is a Master Navigator in their own right, but they are also bounty hunters and lawyers as well. Wheelhunters are the enforcement arm of the Guild Council, tracking down errant Navigators as needed. They are sent to bring navigators back to the Council for judgment, or to help defend a navigator against any legal trouble they might have out in the world. It isn’t unheard of for a Wheelhunter to defend both a Navigator or their allies when the need arises.

- Mapmongers. They are the most well-known, and the most vital, group of the entire guild. Mapmongers are the guild’s caretakers, librarians, and instructors. They are Master Navigators that, either by choice or injury, remain at the guildhall to study and maintain maps or journals for the guild to use. Mapmongers create copies of these valuable journals and maps, then store the originals in locked vaults guarded by Wheelhunters.

As instructors, Mapmongers handle training all Inkrunners through their basic lessons from reading and writing, to mapmaking and simple Etherwave channeling. All the foundation skills necessary to progress through the guild ranks. Their duties also cover the final test all Inkrunners take to prove their skill to become a Journey-Pilot. Ones that succeed these ‘Ink Trials’ are given an engraved compass to mark the special moment. Rumor has is that these fine quality watches were designed for the guild to act as a compass as well.

It’s uncommon for Mapsmongers to venture out into the world away from their maps, books, and Inkrunner students. But it has happened. When it does, it’s often for a Mapmonger to investigate a rare map or navigation relic that can’t be moved from its original location. The other reason is to advise about a sensitive expedition to a dangerous location.

A Rising Power

The Navigator Guild is young, as most guilds measure time. But in just ten years, the guild grew from four determined navigators to several hundreds, with small guild halls scattered Portugal to the Caribbean and beyond. This has caught the attention of many governments, guilds, and kingdoms. Most of the attention has been favorable, and many approach the Navigator Guild for trade route advice or to consult on a dangerous expedition. Other attention aimed at the Navigator Guild has been less kind.

There are some that see the Navigator Guild as a threat. A rising power that could challenge long held monarchies or the iron grip of the Trade Guild Syndicate. The common claim is that the Navigator Guild hoards the most rare journals, logbooks, and maps for themselves. Then use them to hunt down and fill their own guild coffers with relics and other recovered valuables. One item drives this jealousy, the legendary Mistrunner Logs that supposedly detail the location of every Arcane Gate that exist on Earth and Otherworld.

It’s a common rumor they have maps and more the guild keeps to themselves. Notes on dangerous places that aren’t safe for the world to know about. At least, not yet…
- Doctor Pedro Sangre, Alchemist and Privateer

Game Notes

Threat 3

Faction Contacts:

Obadiah Liggett. Human. Master Navigator with a talent for finding sunken ships or hard to find Arcane Gates.
Garnet Bronbur. Grimling. Always seems to have a smile and look on the bright side. Mapmonger with a talent for ‘Weatherbinding’. Some say she can speak with the Spirit of the Sea herself.
Jal’rek Klossuv. Morasu. Cartographer well steeped in the sea's lore and said to have a natural talent for working with Arcane Gates. Even to where some say the Gates obey his every command.

Notable Assets and Resources:

Extensive maps with notes concerning Otherworld ruins on Earth
Wheelhunters who will help allies deal with troubles both in and outside the courtroom.
Materials and supplies for repairing or crating a ship’s ‘portal platform’ that a navigator uses to open an Arcane Gate.

Allies:

Cogworks House
Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast

Enemies:

Trade Guild Syndicate
Bonewright Order

- Kummer Wolfe

Tuyasha: Way of the Wavebinder Student

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 15 Sep 2024 18:56:39 GMT

So, with that said, this is about the students of Wavebinders who are coming into their skills to adjust and control the Etherwave Arcana. A title that’s rich in its own history. It is absolutely in the background of the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Tuyasha

Mastery of any skill is a journey, not a destination. Study of the Etherwave Arcana is no different. It takes intense study and concentration to use this craft.
- Archbinder Elara Evensong

Magic, or the study of the Etherwave Arcana, isn’t for the feint of heart. It takes intense study and concentration on the craft. A Tuyasha, also known as an apprentice, are the students aspiring to master their craft of channeling the Etherwave Arcana. They learn from the teachings of an Archbinder, a fully trained Wavebinder and master of the Arcana mystical arts.

The term ‘Tuyasha’ dates back a thousand generations to the thayan people on Otherworld. It originally comes from a Silvashar thayan word for “one who learns”. During those ancient times, it was a rank for students in a monk order devoted to the Etherwave Arcana. Since Crossing’s Fall, it has grown to encompass students of the Arcana around the globe.

Becoming a Tuyasha

A Tuyasha is often considered ‘just a student’ or ‘just an apprentice’, like for any other craft like shipbuilding or glass blowing. But they are actually so much more. The path of the Tuyasha is a portrait of dedication and perseverance. Requiring discipline to withstand challenges of both the mind, body, and their moral compass.

All too often, a Tuyasha’s discipline slips. The Etherwave Arcana overwhelms as a result. There are many stories told about Tuyasha becoming engulfed by the uncontrolled magic of the Arcana. Some lose an eye or limb. Others are burned. Still more are consumed whole in a flash of light, never to be seen again.

That is why, above all, Archbinders remind any prospective Tuyasha that this path isn’t for the feint of heat. These skills must be wielded with responsibility and wisdom.

Intense Study and Practice

The Arcana doesn’t give its secrets easily. A Tuyasha needs to learn they’ll have to walk through fire and shadow to earn them. It’s an endless challenge, with each step a lesson in humility.
- Archbinder Soren Leyvinder

The road from Tuyasha to Wavebinder is long and painful. It spans long hours of study under an Archbinder, a master Wavebinder. Historically, Tuyasha have been thayan, grimling, or morasu. But since Crossing’s Fall, humans have swelled the Tuyasha ranks. Many fail, but humans have shown a remarkable resilience to the Arcana’s risks.

Those long months to years of apprenticeship are not just academic, but involve practical application and physical conditioning. A precise regime for the Tuyasha that helps them learn to channel the Etherwave Arcana without being consumed by it. A training that’s similar, at times, to ancient Earth warrior monk traditions.

This intense and grueling training also includes a lesson in ethics. An understanding that channeling spells into reality can lead to far-reaching, or dire, consequences.

Many Tuyasha often fall to the temptation of cheating the Arcana to avoid paying the personal cost of channeling the power. Most try using a living victim, such a small animal or similar. The Etherwave Arcana is unforgiving, and any Tuyasha trying it is scarred with the Dark Mark. A curse that also means they fail the test.

But most Tuyasha are allowed to try again in a year. The only exception are those students who get a taste for the dark arts. The dire side of the Etherwave Arcana that takes a Tuyasha down a corrupt road of living victims to fuel spells and worse. Those are handed over to local authorities, unless they run.

A Bond Beyond the Books

The relationship between a Tuyasha and their mentor often goes far beyond the academic. An Archbinder imparts knowledge, but they also guide the Tuyasha learner in their personal growth. Helping them navigate the deadly complexity of channeling the Arcana and wielding such potent force. It forms a bond like a found family or siblings as the teaching shapes not only their skills but also the student’s character.

But if this bond breaks, it’s often traumatic for both. It has happened before, with stories that tell cautionary tales of a Tuyasha taking up the Dark Path of the Arcana. In the end, leaving both deadly enemies instead of allies.

In the Service of Balance

A Tuyasha’s training is not just about skills or depth of character. It’s also about understanding the Etherwave Arcana’s place in the world. Most Archbinders teach that Wavebinders should respect the Etherwave Arcana as a natural force. No different from storms, the ocean, or other natural powers. Connected, yet different in its own way.

Archbinders teach their Tuyasha that when they channel the Arcana, they must maintain the balance. That the Arcana exacts a price. An equivalent exchange of power from the Wavebinder, and in return, it grants power to shape into a spell. The exchange maintains the balance and harmony between the Etherwave Arcana and the natural world.

Beginning of A Journey’s End

Once a Tuyasha nears the end of their training, they undergo a trial. A test where they must show their skills at manipulating the Etherwave Arcana. Most Tuyasha call this test, ‘riding the lightning’, as many wind up struck by mystical lightning on their first few attempts.

The trial isn’t a single exam, but tests of survival. A dangerous obstacle course designed to push a Tuyasha learner to their limit. Challenging the student’s mind, body, and ethics where the only tools they have are themselves and their skill in the Etherwave Arcana.

But, once they succeed, the Tuyasha graduates from being a learner to a fully trained Wavebinder.

In the heart of every Tuyasha, there beats the rhythm of the Etherwave Arcana. Their journey is more than learning to channel the power. It’s about weaving themselves into the very fiber of the universe.
- Archbinder Thaddeus Thalios

- Kummer Wolfe

Archbinder

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 25 Aug 2024 13:48:30 GMT

So, with that said, this is about Wavebinders who teach others how to use their powers. A title, but also a responsibility that was touched on with Archbinder Pin. It is absolutely in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors and may show up in Legends of the Privateers, a Hoist the Colors serial fiction!

Archbinder

An Archbinder is a unique role for any Wavebinder. Not just anyone can do it. They are the quill that draws the path for the next generation of Wavebinders that may shape the world.
- Archbinder Emeric Thorne of the Dawnrunner Order

For every student there’s teacher. In the delicate study of the Etherwave Arcana, it often requires a teacher or mentor to guide a student safely through their studies. Where the Tuyasha is the student, their mentors is the Archbinder. A trained Wavebinder, skilled in the delicate art of channeling the Arcana’s raw power.

Like ‘Tuyasha’, the title of ‘Archbinder’ can be traced back over a thousand generations to Otherworld. There, ‘Master Wavebinders’ were called ‘Arc Benders’ in recognition of their mastery over channeling the Etherwave Arcana. Over time, the title passed through thayan, morasu, and grimling cultures until it became what it is today. The Archbinder. A title that recognizes a Wavebinder as certified to teach young apprentices of the mystic arts.

Pillar of Guidance

An Archbinder’s authority is rooted in their deep mastery of the Etherwave Arcana, and their recognized ability to teach this knowledge. Many Wavebinders can claim skill in the first, but few possess the skill, and patience, to pass on what they have learned. It’s for that reason an Archbinder isn’t just a title a Wavebinder is given. That title must be earned.

Wavebinders that aspire to teach must undergo a special training. Learning new skills from how to teach proper meditation techniques to quick channeling of counter-spells. All the knowledge to both guide a Tuyasha along their path and counter any out-of-control spells they might cast.

Certification Trials

The act of earning the title of ‘Archbinder’ is a major milestone for any Wavebinder. It’s a road paved with long hours of advanced training in skills necessary for a Tuyasha’s training. Aspiring Archbinders are taught various methods of instruction for all types of learners, from written to visual. In addition, they learn delicate counter-spells. Methods of ‘unweaving’ a spell while it’s being cast. A critical skill needed to save an apprentice, and Archbinder, from runaway spells improperly cast by that apprentice.

This training takes up to a year or more to refine a future Archbinder’s skill. At the end of that time, they undergo a certification test not too different from the endurance obstacle course given to a Tuyasha. Only this one is more lethal, packed with broken relics and a review of teaching methods by a council of Archbinders from a guild such as the Dawnrunner Order.

Once they succeed, they are awarded both a parchment and pin that signifies their right to take on a Tuyasha as an apprentice. The parchment is the official teaching certificate signed by a council of Archbinders that recognize the Wavebinder’s right to teach. Since a parchment certificate is clumsy to carry with them daily, Archbinders wear an enameled silver pin instead. On the pin is the engraved portrait of two owls facing each other with wings spread and an oval sapphire held between them.

There’s a thriving business in attempting to forge duplicates of these pins. Masquerading as an Archbinder, if successful, often opens doors to halls of power and more. But to counter that, each pin is enchanted at the moment it’s awarded. The item is tied to the actual owner with a mystical 'silver cord’ that can be seen through the Arcana. Also, the gemstone is enchanted with a ‘living portrait’ of the Archbinder. If anyone else attempts wears it, the pin will glow a fire red and the living portrait will shriek and yell in alarm.

But, similar to the examination given to a Tuyasha, a prospective Archbinder can fail the examination. If they do, they’re allowed to try again after another year of intense study.

Archbinders wield great power and influence. But if they stray from the path, even they aren’t beyond reproach. Their fall is a stain of infamy and a reminder that even the mighty can fall.
- Miranda Vael, High Councilor of the Royal Academy of Arcana and Science

Fall From Grace

It’s a rare and unpleasant situation when an Archbinder is stripped of their title, but it does happen. Most offenses are academic. Aside from training a Tuyasha, an Archbinder is expected to contribute to the body of knowledge around the Etherwave Arcana. These contributions, which are often new and inventive methods to weave and twist the Arcana into spells, are rigorously reviewed.

Archbinders often adapt and change techniques from other Wavebinders. Refining or incorporating them in different ways to tap into the Etherwave Arcana. But they are always required to site their sources once they submit their discoveries or inventions. If they cannot cite their sources, or even outright plagiarize another Archbinder’s work, the order that gave them the title strips it from them. Their certificate will mysteriously char, and their Archbinder Pin will crack down the middle. Often, it shatters into charred pieces.

The worst offense of all would be to sacrifice their apprentice to channel the Arcana. This dire act does more than cause an Archbinder to lose their title. It earns them a death sentence no matter where they go.

A Matter of the Pin

Creating an enchanted item is no small feat. The Etherwave Arcana dislikes being contained in any way, much less in a physical object. It wants to be in motion. So creating an item like an Archbinder’s Pin takes time, money, and resources.

No order pays the full cost for these pins. In fact, the creation of these pins quickly became its own craft and trade. Certain Wavebinders specialize in creating these pins, working with silversmiths and other craft professionals on the materials. The cost? That money comes from the prospective Archbinder.

Wavebinders pay for the privilege to study to be an Archbinder. This money is set aside to pay for the pins. In fact, the order pays half the cost of the pin from their own coffers. The other half comes from the tuition paid by the Wavebinder who wishes to study to become an Archbinder.

Archbinders don’t just teach. They ignite the spark that lights the fire of wonder. Fuels the imagination of a prospective apprentice. In their hands, they hold the keys to better understand the mysteries of the Etherwave Arcana.
- Archbinder Seraphine Elara, Author of 'Whispers of the Etherwave'

- Kummer Wolfe

Archbinder Pin

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 18 Aug 2024 17:11:15 GMT

So, with that said, this time I’m pulling out an item in the setting. This item is valuable, but really it’s value comes more from what it represents. What it stands for and the ideas behind it. For some in the setting, it can even be considered a symbol of hope. It is absolutely in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors and will possibly show up in the upcoming serialized fiction!

Archbinder Pin

An Archbinder’s Pin is more than just a symbol of authority. It contains the story of their journey. The whisper of their memories and the essence of their wisdom.
- Lyndon Blackwood, Arcane Engineer and master artificer of the Cogworks House

There are many symbols of authority around the world. Some are granted, others are assumed, a few are inherited. The Archbinder Pin falls firmly in the first of those and is possibly both the most rare and most recognized.

The pin isn’t just a symbol of authority. It’s also a testament to a Wavebinder mastering their skills and dedication to pass on what they’ve learned. They’re far more than a piece of jewelry, but represent a pinnacle of achievement in the mystic arts.

Importance of Symbols

Archbinder Pins aren’t just a symbol or a badge of office. They represent history and lineage. Each one, though similar, carries layers of unique wisdom and meaning unique to each Archbinder that wears it. These pins embody a personal journey for an individual Wavebinder from their first moments of study to achieving the rank of Archbinder. It’s also a pledge to guide the next generation of Wavebinders.

Outside of anyone looking to master the mystic arts, the pin serves another purpose. A symbol of a person steeped in wisdom of the Etherwave Arcana and things that touch on that strange power.

Thayan, morasu, and grimling refugees from the shattered Otherworld have been an invaluable source of knowledge about the Arcana. Especially those that were already Archbinders in their own right. But even they are quick to explain they have barely scratched the surface of what is there. Since the disaster of Crossing’s Fall, the Archbinder Pin is a symbol to anyone in search of advice or council on the power, or even creatures touched by the mysterious Arcana.

A Deep Loss

Those reasons and more are what make losing an Archbinder Pin even more painful. It isn’t common, but Archbinders do lose their pin. Often the Archbinder is simply careless, but at times, enterprising thieves steal them. But at worst, this is both embarrassing and painful for the Archbinder. The embarrassment is simply losing such a valuable pin. Painful is because the Wavebinder that owns the pin is mystically attached to it by a silver cord. They feel the sharp tug of the pin pulling at them.

Perhaps the worst loss of all is when a Wavebinder is stripped of their title as ‘Archbinder’. True, this is a personal disgrace that resonates through the mystic community. But the pain goes much deeper than a sharp tug.

The moment that the Archbinder is sentenced for their crimes by their order, the pin cracks and shatters. Its silver cord that binds it to the former Archbinder explodes in the Etherwave Arcana like a lit fuse. The Wavebinder once tied to the pin, is scarred and burned. While the wound will heal, the scar will never fade, not even through the mystic healing arts.

Deeper Meanings

The symbols used for the Archbinder Pin were chosen long ago with great care. All pins use the same heraldic components of two owls with wings spread that are holding a sapphire. Simple imagery, but still heavy with meaning.

To start, the owls individually represent wisdom, knowledge, and keen insight. Guardians of sacred knowledge, such as skill in using Etherwave Arcana. Used together, this duality represents a balance of teacher and student, master and guide. The dual role of an Archbinder. At a deeper level, this also is said to represent the balance between academic knowledge and practical experience. Having them face each other displays mutual respect and a constant exchange of knowledge, showing that learning is a two-way process.

The spread wings are a subtle, but important aspect. Like most of the symbology used on the pin, the wings also have a dual meaning. The stretched, almost arcing shape, represents the protection and nurturing role an Archbinder has with a Tuyasha in their studies. But it also represents freedom and a readiness for action. Another of the dual role and dynamic nature of the Archbinder’s responsibilities.

Last would be the sapphire itself. This polished gemstone is the cornerstone of the enchantment placed on the pin. But the stone holds a meaning all its own. A sapphire is believed to represent wisdom, intelligence, and the ability to make wise choices. It also symbolizes that the Archbinder’s precious knowledge is shared. A quality that is at the core of any Archbinder’s teachings.

The pin itself - dual owls, spread wings, the sapphire - collectively symbolize balance, which is at the core of all studies of the Etherwave Arcana.
- Archbinder Lyra Valtor of the Dawnrunner Order

Craft and Artistry

Creating the pins is a meticulous process. It combines artisan skill with infusion of power from the Arcana. The enameled pins appear silver, but this isn’t the case. In fact, the pins are a unique alloy of metals. A precise combination that is another method to prevent forgeries. The alloy is a blend of copper, silver, and tin. Both the materials used and the amounts of each are critical to allow the item to house power from the Etherwave Arcana. But it’s also durable enough to endure the rigors of an Archbinder’s life and rough travels.

In the lower center lies the sapphire. This stone is polished using sandstones, olive seeds, and powdered volcanic glass. An unusual combination that gives the stone its lustrous sheen but also prepares the material for enchantment.

The above process isn’t entrusted to just any craft hall. Only select silversmiths, jewelers, Elementalists, and others specialize in this type of work. Those craftspeople work in close collaboration to weave together their unique skills in metallurgy, gemstone preparation, and the mystic arts. Many parts of the process, from exact amounts for the alloy to polishing techniques, are kept a close secret. Each member of the group is sworn to uphold both this protected knowledge and the highest standards of their craft.

Proof in the Forging

Once complete, and a Wavebinder has passed their Archbinder trials, the pin undergoes an enchantment ceremony. This is where the essence of the Wavebinder is woven into the pin. That channeling creates the ‘silver cord’ that binds Wavebinder to pin. A tether only visible to a fully trained Wavebinder. This is one of the primary methods to determine the rightful owner of an Archbinder’s Pin.

A second method is the sapphire itself. The stone is there for symbology but also as a storehouse of power from the Etherwave Arcana. The process of creating the ‘silver cord’ also captures a ‘living portrait’ of the Archbinder. An image that can speak, answer questions, or carry on basic conversation. This portrait is nothing more than a mystic duplicate that acts as a watchdog for the pin, and in some ways the Archbinder. Unlike the cord, the living portrait is visible to anyone who can see the sapphire.

If anyone other than the pin’s owner tries to wear it, the sapphire will glow a fire red and the living portrait will cry out in alarm. When not acting in its role as a watchdog, many Archbinders will occasionally use the living portrait as a sounding board. A willing listener to the Archbinder’s theories who will contribute critiques and suggestions on its own.

When a Wavebinder wears an Archbinder’s Pin, they carry the weight of history, the trust of the present, and a hope for the future. It’s a heavy burden, and one not suited to just anyone. But those that carry it wear it with humility as a constant reminder of the path walked by every Wavebinder.
- Archbinder Seraphine Elara, Author of 'Whispers of the Etherwave'

- Kummer Wolfe

Ghost Blade

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 11 Aug 2024 15:20:09 GMT

So, with that said, this time I’m pulling out an item in the setting. More of an uncommon item, but meant to bridge that gap between ‘mystic sword’ and ‘magical tech’. It is absolutely in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors and will possibly show up in the upcoming serialized fiction!

Ghost Blade

I tell you now, when your blade glows, that’s just her whispering there’s trouble on its way. Trust me, she’s never wrong. If only she didn’t sometimes lead that trouble right to your doorstep…
- Marissa "Calico" Kreed, Privateer and Corsair for hire

There are countless swords, blades of all kinds, around the world. From cutlass to rapier, katana to dagger or machete, they come in all shapes and sizes. But of all the different types, the ethereal Ghost Blade stands out from the rest.

A Ghost Blade is an uncommon type of weapon. Often a sword, it’s a hand-held bladed weapon forged using a mix of metal powders and arcane arts. A deadly, often gently curved, sword that glows a bright blue-white when the owner is in danger. Deadly against the living, they’re also no less lethal against the supernatural, such as Tumble Mists, wraiths, and more.

Ghost Blades are forged using ancient Otherworld techniques, both in blacksmithing and art in the Etherwave Arcana. They’re considered both weapon and guardian, with a crystalline metal edge.

Essence of the Ghost Blade

Ghost Blades are uncommon and difficult to forge. The forging process itself and channeled power from the Etherwave Arcana forces the metal into a specific shape. Most Ghost Blades take the form of either a short or long sword with a gentle curve to the blade. The curve, while similar to some types of sabers or even a katana, is said to be a side effect of the process. Supposedly, the curve results from capturing a portion of the Etherwave Arcana into the weapon, which warps the metal. An effect Wavebinders, Gunners, and blacksmiths familiar with the technique compare to capturing a single ocean wave and all its potential into the metal.

The blade is forged from a mixture of mineral and charcoal powder placed between alternating layers of steel. This is heated, shaped, and folded at least twenty times during the process of shaping the blade itself. At each step, when folded, the Etherwave Arcana is channeled into the metal to meld in a small portion of the raw magic. Until, during the last fold, when the final protection magic is enchanted into the blade.

It’s the combination of folding, powder mixture and mineral water used that causes the metal to change. Until in the end, the metal blade resembles a piece of worked, smooth crystal with veins of smoke-like minerals woven through the weapon. Veins that are the heart of the weapon’s magic. A hazy, blue-white glow constantly seeps out of the glassy metal, even when sitting idle on a shelf.

Beacon in the Night

This glow is a hint of the weapon’s true enchantment. When the holder is threatened, the Ghost Blade’s hazy blue-white glow bursts to life, magic burning through the glassy metal with a faint, deep, musical hum. A vibrant warning of an impending threat.

Both the color and light burn in that moment like a small sun. An aura is so intense and steeped in magic that it cuts through any darkness, even magical. It’s light so intense that it defies any attempt to hide it. If sheathed in a scabbard, the light bleeds out. When placed behind a door, it will glow along every fiber and vibrate with the blade’s melodic hum. Even magic fails, as any attempts to silence the hum or douse the light with an Etherwave spell instantly crumbles away.

While a benefit, it’s also a small curse. As once the blade detects a threat, the holder goes from hunter to being the hunted. The first target for whatever creature, supernatural threat, or person nearby.

But stories talk about a side effect of this curse that, depending the owner’s point of view, isn’t so deadly. The potent magic that powers the light and hum reacts strongly against supernatural threats.

Unlike mortal attackers, more supernatural threats are bound closer to the Etherwave Arcana. As a result, the mythical monstrosities are trying to destroy both the Ghost Blade and its owner. The blade reacts to this, as the attempt is nothing short of trying to douse the hum and light. Which results in the blade being far more effective in cutting supernatural threats than found with other weapons.

A Rich Legacy

Not everything’s a deep, dark secret, ya know. Sometimes, it’s just that forge-blasted hard to get the technique to work right!
- Menek Yorsteam, master blacksmith and retired Gunner

Techniques and methods of creating a Ghost Blade are thought to be a closely guarded secret. But the truth is less dire.

Only a select few refugee blacksmiths that survived Otherworld’s destruction know the processes and necessary formulas. On top of that, the process is delicate. For every fifty attempts to make a Ghost Blade, only one might succeed. Coupled with that, each Ghost Blade is a unique creation.

No two sets of glowing mineral veins in the glass-like metal are alike. Also, the forging process varies between cultures. What technique a blacksmith or Gunner from a morasu Tomia uses differs slightly from any of the thayan or grimling traditions. The differences are even more pronounced when compared to master blacksmiths from human cultures.

This makes each Ghost Blade’s uniqueness like a fingerprint of its maker. Easily identified by another blacksmith or Gunner who examines one. That, along with the difficulty in making just one Ghost Blade, is what makes them a rare to uncommon sight. Most are generations old, having been first forged in now long lost forges on the shattered Otherworld.

Dangerous? Oh, yes. A risk? Without a doubt! But you know, I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s like my second pair of eyes when I’m walking some place I ought not be!
- Marissa "Calico" Kreed, Privateer and Corsair for hire

Threads Across History

At their core, below the unique waves of minerals and glowing glassy metal, lies a common ancestry. Below the different techniques for mixing minerals, folding metal, or drawing the lines of Etherwave Arcana rests the ideas of a single master weaponsmith. The elusive figure of Skaldi Anviliron.

Master Skaldi lived over a hundred generations before Crossing’s Fall and Otherworld’s destruction. A brilliant weaponsmith and inventor, he was a grimling who hailed from Emberlair Sept. His designs were beyond his time and are still studied and debated by weaponsmiths around the world.

It was his ideas, fueled by the patronage of the morasu Tomia, Vargoth, that Skaldi invented the technique of ‘metal glass’. Following that came the capture of the minerals to hold and store the raw essence of Etherwave Arcana. Provided the power was channeled with care and intent.

Stories say that some of Master Skaldi’s Ghost Blades survived to reach Earth during Crossing’s Fall. There are rumored to be seven of these Ghost Blades. Fabulous relics, with abilities far beyond that of normal Ghost Blades. Treasures that many treasure hunters would give their right arm to own.

In the hands of a skilled swordsman or woman, a Ghost Blade isn’t just a weapon. It’s a statement. Calling out the Fates to try their worst, because you’re ready for anything they want to throw your way.
- Captain Thaddeus Grim of the vessel Night's Whisper

Game Notes

Ghost Blade: A mystical sword that glows a gentle, but ominous, ghostly blue-white with unearthly hum once the owner is in danger. The glow and hum from these blades cannot be concealed by any means, not even by magic. Magical attempts to douse the effect crumble away.
Stories tell that these blades are effective against supernatural threats as well as the living. When used against a supernatural creature, the blade grants a *+1 effect* for one scene.
These are uncommon weapons. How did you get one? Did you inherit it? Steal it? Was it a gift? (1 load)

- Kummer Wolfe

Sargasso Traveling Islands

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 28 Jul 2024 06:19:55 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into the mystical a bit. This one is a bit different and covers a location that will show up in the roleplaying game for Hoist the Colors, and quite likely or the upcoming serialized fiction!

Sargasso Traveling Islands

To seek the Sargasso Traveling Islands, look for where they’re not. Search where the horizon shivers, and you’ll find them waiting for you. They’re not just a place, but a test by the Sea Goddess to see if you’re worthy of what is there…
- Volana Marofo, Kelstani Navigator for the Tami, in Clan Zozimar

The world is no longer what it once was. It’s a mix of fantastic with deadly, wrapped in a frame of mysterious. A new Earth coming to terms with dramatic change it didn’t ask for, but certainly deserved.

One of the most dangerous regions on this new Earth is the infamous Sargasso Sea. Known as the ‘Lost Ship Graveyard’ or the ‘Sea of Fear’, it was transformed during Crossing’s Fall. Before, it was a mid-Atlantic area devoid of wind and thick with sargassum seaweed. Today it’s a region of intense, seasonal destruction and chaos punctuated with periods of calm.

At the heart of this lies a set of legendary islands. Modest landmasses that seem to appear then move without warning. They are called the Sargasso Traveling Islands.

Islands of Myth and Mist

The Sargasso Traveling Islands are a collection of seven floating islands said to be located deep within the Sargasso Sea. But according to the stories, they are more than geographical points on a map. Instead, they’re the epicenter where nature is at war with itself and the Etherwave Arcana. A place where storms, both natural and mystic, push the islands like ships caught in a strong trade wind.

To most, the islands are the stuff of rumor and legend. Stories say the islands wander the wide expanse of the Sargasso Sea, following patterns that, so far, only Kelstani Navigators can partially predict. Even the Kelstani warn their maps are temporary at best, since these islands are always in motion.

Finding a good map is just the start of your worries. The sea keeps her secrets close, and will punish anyone trying to take them…
- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

Mystic Wave and Fury

The island’s strange movements are thought to be from a combination of forces. Ocean currents, fast energy streams from the Etherwave Arcana, and powerful storms all play their part to move the islands through the ocean. Some even believe there may be a greater force at work. Ancient powers or relics that fell to Earth from Otherworld that now live deep below the seaweed-choked waves.

For those that know the islands believe the primary fuel that drives their motion is the collection of natural, and unnatural, storms. Disasters that brutally scour the region. Wavebinders who have researched this region believe that this may be the actual point where the Etherwave Arcana broke through to flood the world with its power. A tear in the world's fabric, where the Etherwave continues to flow unchecked. As a result, this region and these islands suffer the brunt of the effect. In a way, like a barrier reef protecting Earth against a tidal wave of raw power.

Naturally Unnatural Disaster

Etheric Storms are the most common, and worst, that both hammer the islands and churn the surrounding ocean. These storms range in size from modest thunderstorms to wide hurricanes charged with raw arcane energy. Wavebinder researchers agree that this magical energy is the same as what powers the mysterious Arcane Gates scattered across the world, or created by Navigators.

Only here, without the mystical construct of the ‘gate’ itself or the mind of a Navigator, the energy is wild and aggressive. Lashing out with bright flares of arcane power that are suspected to come from the remains of the now shattered Otherworld. Perhaps even a remnant of the catastrophe that caused Otherworld to shatter.

These bolts lash out with incredible force, striking a target with the force of a cannon. All the traveling islands bear lingering scars and craters from arcane flare strikes. While it looks as if anything in their path is consumed, this hasn’t always been the case. Whatever the flare touches is badly burned, but will be transported elsewhere to other locations on the islands.

Beside etheric storms and arcane flares, there are also mystic hailstorms. Unlike the natural variety, these contain a special twist, where each frozen stone is a charged piece of elemental magic. When it hits, the stone shatters, covering its target in chilling, painful, thin sheets of ice. More than one tall tale recounts the story of a hapless sailor who froze to death on a hot summer day when caught out in one of these storms.

Last of these unnatural disasters are the Charybdis Vents that follow in an island’s wake. Charybdis Vents are a strange phenomenon of violent, moaning, temporary whirlpools that can spawn behind an island while it moves. While they vary in size, most are wide. Large enough to swallow a galleon whole. Rumors say that once it swallows a ship, that vessel or its wreckage, are spit out on the far side of the world.

No one knows what causes the Charybdis Vents, though many have suggestions. Some say they are just a side effect of the traveling island, similar to a ship’s wake. Ship captains and certain cartographers believe the cause is from rifts along the ocean floor that occasionally tear open. Another remnant of what may have brought the shattered remains of Otherworld to Earth.

A Realm of Resilient Life

After all that, if you think those islands are battered and barren, think again. There’s plenty living there, and it’s as tough as you might expect…
- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

The storms and other disasters are a threat, but despite their occasional appearance, unique life is said to thrive on the traveling islands. A wide variety of plants and animals call the islands home. These creatures quickly adapted to survive despite the periodic, and seasonal, storms that batter the islands.

In both shoreline, shallow pools and just offshore grow long strands of glitterweed. Giant, blue-white sargassum seaweed that glows a soft blue, especially at night. The glow is both a reaction to the sun it’s absorbed during the day and how it protects itself from storms. It’s a natural enchanted aura that is armor for the plant, defending itself and anything under it from the freezing effects of the mystical hailstorms.

Onshore there are the broad-leafed thunder palms, clumps of snailgrass, along with a wide variety of tropical flowers, vines, and sand grass. These plants thrive on these islands and possess their own defense mechanisms against the dangerous storms.

As for animals, they are no less unique. Some are native to Earth, but others come from Otherworld. Both types thrive in the islands unusual, and mildly enchanted, environment. Sargassum fish, Conger eels, and hawksbill sea turtles are a common sight. But so are sirens, Spearfisher birds, amphibious palm squids, and the unusual hammerhead flying iguanas that lurk in the trees.

Native Visitors

Beyond plants and animals, according to legend, there are other local inhabitants to the islands. But unlike the average flying iguana, these are as much visitors as they are natives. That would be the mysterious ship-bound Kelstani. The seafaring people that wander the ocean in their ship-based caravans.

The Kelstani remain true to their origins, so their homes are aboard their unique ships. But they have a strange kinship with the Sargasso Traveling Islands through resources and tradition. With resources, the Kelstani understand the wildlife there and often harvest certain plants and herbs to replenish their hanging gardens aboard ship.

Wood is taken carefully and thoughtfully from thunder palms for ship repairs and other needs. As for animals, the Kelstani know the secret ways of the flying iguana, palm squids and more. So, unlike any other visitors to the islands, the Kelstani are least likely to be harmed or harassed by the local wildlife. Kelstani folk are so accustomed to the danger that they have curatives for the more common venoms and toxins that the islands try to use on unsuspecting visitors.

But the islands also hold a special place in Kelstani traditions, as well. The seagoing nomads use the traveling islands as a rite of passage for younger generations. Each year, Kelstani clans send out young men and women in small crafts to chart the new path these islands have taken across the sea.

These young explorers are expected to work together, helping each other as a crew. Since the seven islands travel as a group, the Kelstani cartographers only have to locate and land on one island. Then return in ten days with the evidence they have found the new, erratic path the islands are taking. In between those trials, experienced Kelstani Navigators also understand the challenge once a season, just to update Kelstani clan maps.

Dreams of Avarice

There’s more to those islands than just a fancy tale or a squid in a palm tree. Parts of lost ruins, buildings and more from Otherworld are there, too. If you're willing to risk getting to them…
- Elara Blackwater, Captain of the Silk Duchess

The Kelstani are the most frequent visitors, but they aren’t the only ones. Legends lure researchers and treasure hunters each year, with dreams of a chance to find the islands and their ruins. Some survive the trip over the rough seas, through storms, and the historical trouble of the Sargasso Sea itself. The rare few that arrive, then return alive, tell tales about deadly discoveries.

Stories abound of ruins, ancient libraries and more, torn away from Otherworld in 1712 only to be cast across the traveling islands into their humid, thick jungles. Survivors say they’ve seen ancient books, treasures, gems, and other relics found nowhere else on Earth, or the remains of Otherworld that can still be reached.

Etherwave Arcana

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 06:31:35 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into the mystical a bit. This one is a bit different and covers a lot that will show up in the upcoming web serial for Hoist the Colors, and the roleplaying game.

Etherwave Arcana

Magic. The Etherwave Arcana. It isn’t simple mind tricks, but altering the rhythm of the universe with the force of a person’s willpower and determination.
- Professor Elistar Riley, Archbinder of the Royal Academy of Arcanum and Science

Across the world, natural forces are at work. Storms, oceans, wind, and more clash in unending struggles for power. A delicate, but devastating dance as old as time itself. But there is another natural force, one that flooded the world after Crossing’s Fall. A power as deep and ancient as the earth itself. Often called magic, scholars and those who study this power call it the Etherwave Arcana. An enigmatic force that binds the very air, sea, land, and perhaps reality itself.

Many believe that the Etherwave Arcana has always been present. A force in the background of the world that has been hard to reach until Crossing’s Fall. Pulsating, rhythmic energy that flows like water or air, but can only be reached once a person is attuned to those steady currents.

To Harness the Arcana

Practitioners who cast magic, or students of the Etherwave Arcana, are often called “Wavebinders” or “Navigators”. Skilled students who have learned to tap into this mysterious force. They use intricate hand gestures, resonating incantations, and more to shape their miraculous ‘spells’.

These ‘spells’ are often simple, such as lighting logs in a fireplace, or making something lift into the air and fly backwards. But a practitioner’s skill with the Etherwave Arcana can extend to the miraculous, such as arrows of lightning or glowing light-shields. Then there is the most dramatic of all, a Navigator opening an Arcane Gate using a ship’s portal platform. A mystical means to let a ship cover vast distances in the blink of an eye.

Wavebinders and Navigators don’t just “cast spells” on a whim like from a tall tale. Instead, it takes concentration, if not deep focus, to channel magic. Practitioners must attune themselves to the Etherwave Arcana’s ebb and flow. They must be able to feel the currents of power moving between themselves and the world around them. The sensation of an ever moving web of energy that flows between all things, from rocks and trees to clouds, water, and even people.

As they focus their mind, practitioners can channel the arcana and use their skill at manipulating its rhythm. This lets them blur the line between magic and laws of nature. Skilled Wavebinders have created many types of effects. Some are more physical, like generating blasts of lightning or fireballs. Others perfect their skills at magical stone shaping, or moving objects with the power of their minds. Then there are the Wavebinders who dabble in air and light-bending to create illusions, fog, or alter sounds.

Risk of the Reward

It’s all fun and games until you dissolve part of your arm.
- Professor Elistar Riley, Archbinder of the Royal Academy of Arcanum and Science

Manipulating the Etherwave Arcana is as much art as it is science. Wavebinders and Navigators tread carefully when channeling this power. Anyone that loses their concentration on its rhythm and pulse, risk being consumed by its currents.

If a Wavebinder or Navigator loses control this way, the result is always the same. The Arcana turns on them with a vengeance. Power floods uncontrolled through the practitioner, like lightning through a tree. If they’re lucky, the Wavebinder or Navigator might only suffer a purple, lightning bolt shaped scar or have a limb vaporize. In the worst case, the practitioner is swallowed whole by the Arcana and vanishes in a blast of hot, white light.

But that isn’t to say anytime a practitioner fails to channel the magic, it ends in a scar or even death. Far from it. Wavebinders and Navigators can fail to channel enough of the Arcana’s power to fuel a spell. When that happens, the spell simply fails with a fizzle and brief sparkle of light, leaving behind one frustrated practitioner.

Limits of the Craft

Most would say that given enough time and skill, a Wavebinder could create any sort of magical miracle. Or a Navigator could open an Arcane Gate at any time for any ship to sail through. But this isn’t the case, as there are limits to using the Etherwave Arcana.

The power takes as much as it gives when channeled by a practitioner. Many call it a rule of equivalent exchange. When casting, the more complicated magic requires a greater cost from the Wavebinder. Simple effects, such as lighting a fire or even creating a fireball, are not that taxing. The practitioner may become tired or stressed by each casting, which will require them to rest.

But more complicated efforts, such as a glowing shield of light to protect a building. That wears down a Wavebinder, causing them strain which becomes purple lightning-shaped scars. A physical result from the Arcana draining away the same amount of the Wavebinder as they have channeled from the Arcana.

Some ‘spells’ are beyond the ability of any Wavebinder. Chief among those is the mythical teleport spell. Many Wavebinders have tried it, only to vanish and never appear again. As best as any know, those Wavebinders become lost inside the Etherwave Arcana itself, where they are slowly dissolved. The reason is that the Arcana’s price for transporting an entire object through time and space is the entire practitioner and all they own.

The closest to this method of transportation any practitioner has managed are Navigators. Their gate casting is exhausting work and is only possible because of the ship portal platforms they stand on. These large portal platforms maintain a consistent place always in harmony with the Etherwave Arcana while a Navigator casts. Once a gate is open, the Navigator must maintain it while the ship sails through. Navigators are always exhausted once done, needing to rest after such a feat.

Channeling at a Price

This cost to the practitioner has taken many a Wavebinder, and a few Navigators, down a dark path in the Arcana. The Etherwave Arcana demands energy given for power granted, simply because the magic follows the age-old rules of nature and balance. But some practitioners are unwilling to pay that price themselves. Instead, they find other means.

Some rely on special ancient relics, designed to act as fuel to feed the Arcana. These items are rare, and difficult to create. The process of making one requires a Wavebinder to connect relic to Arcana for an owner to use. To accomplish that, the Wavebinder or Navigator must be holding or touch the relic when creating it, but also the owner must hold it to use the enchantment.

When a relic’s owner uses the enchantment, the cost of the spell slowly consumes the item itself. Over time, the relic does decay or crumble, if not repaired. This is often a simple means to cast magic, but limited. As the enchantments are often simple, where a Wavebinder or Navigator’s castings can be far more powerful. For Wavebinders or Navigators, using relics is a common way to fuel their spells instead of allowing the Arcana to draw off the practitioner. Unfortunately, these relics are often quickly used up, where the practitioner has to rely on their own willpower and stamina.

But there is another way beyond rare relics to try to cheat the Arcana of its painful price.

To Walk a Dark Path

This last is a dark road for any Wavebinder or Navigator to follow. One that marks them by reputation, and at times by scars in the attempt. It’s a symbol, a warning, to anyone who might get too close to that practitioner.

Those Wavebinders or Navigators that choose this path prey upon the living. They connect to a living victim, or even just a fresh part, to fuel a spell. The results are powerful, dramatic, and always lethal for the victim as the process leaves behind a burnt husk. But, while the practitioner has cheated on how to pay the Arcana’s price, the method has downsides that cannot be avoided.

Using a living victim to fuel a spell is more difficult, even if it does result in a more powerful result. The reason is harmonics. While the Wavebinder or Navigator are in tune with the Etherwave Arcana, their victim is not. A living essence naturally resists the intrusion of being consumed by the Arcana.

Another drawback is that practitioners of this dark path are marked by the Arcane. Using a living victim to fuel a spell causes a special type of scar. One that cannot be erased called the Curse of the Dark Mark. The Mark is a soot-like, gray-black stain on the center of the practitioner’s palms and back of their hands. A round, jagged spot that can’t be removed by any means, even magical. If the practitioner continues, the mark spreads like corrupt vines along their arms and even around their eyes.

No one is sure what actually causes the Dark Mark. The subject is a highly debated topic. Most believe that it’s a magical burn caused by the connection of the Arcane while it consumes a victim. Others, however, believe these Wavebinders and Navigators are being marked by a dark, corrupt aspect of the Etherwave Arcana. An ancient, evil force that is doing so for dire reasons of its own.

This tradition for Wavebinders and Navigators us looked down on in most places. Often, it’s considered murder and against the local laws. It’s for this reason that anyone with a Dark Mark is viewed as suspicious and kept under close watch.

Riddle of the Relics

Channeling the Arcana is the bread and butter of Wavebinders, but relics are often their lasting legacy. Devices and items imbued with a portion of the Arcana to fuel a persistent magical effect, such as a Ghost Blade or Truthseeker Amulet.

These devices are finely crafted with careful attention to detail. A Wavebinder takes hours to days to imbue them with the magic. Binding the power of the Arcane into the item to perform a certain task or effect. This is also a taxing process, draining the enchanter who spends a portion of who they are to bind power to the device. Which is all the more reason such items are both expensive and uncommon.

But this strong tie to the Etherwave Arcana comes with a cost. When a relic and its imbued spell is used, the cost is taken from the device itself. The cost to power each spell effect is wear and tear upon the item. Metal dulls and tarnishes. Fabric frays and holes appear at the seams. Stone or wood crack as if weathered.

Over time, the item will break and become useless unless repaired. More than one Wavebinder has taken work to repairing enchanted items for a price. These enchanters are highly prized and sought after, since not any student of the Etherwave Arcana can enchant or repair an item. Those that can often demand a high price for the materials, and their skill, in doing the work.

Path of the Practitioner

Practitioners spend months, if not years, honing their minds and bodies to resonate with the Etherwave Arcana. Many find a teacher, such as an Archbinder, who will take them on as a Tuyasha. An ancient term from thayan cultures that means ‘one who learns’.

These students are often recognized by medallions, rune-covered gloves, pocket watches, or even cryptic tattoos as a part of their studies. Items, such as the pocket watches or tattoos, serve as a meditation focus when they form a bond with the ever present power of the Etherwave Arcana. If lost, it doesn’t mean the Wavebinder or Navigator is powerless. Far from it. Those items only serve as an aid when focusing. Without them, a Wavebinder and Navigator can still channel the Arcana, it only becomes a little more difficult.

The world is ruled by gunpowder and steel. But, in that world, the power of the Etherwave Arcana is a wild card. A strong reminder that there are still mysteries beyond the reach of current understanding… and possibly even control.
- Professor Elistar Riley, Archbinder of the Royal Academy of Arcanum and Science

- Kummer Wolfe

Creature Feature: Thesaurus Crab

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 06:10:48 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into another Creature Feature! This one is a bit different and will show up in the upcoming web serial for Hoist the Colors.

Thesaurus Crab

At first, it’s an eerie rustle of pages without any wind. Then comes the scuttling steps. After that? All you see is a swarm of books spilling off a shelf with far too many teeth. It’s a bookworm’s nightmare made real…
- Professor Helia Gramwell, Zoologist for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

In the wake of Crossing’s Fall, countless new creatures appeared around the world. Both large and small, they resembled ancient myths and more than a few nightmares. Then there were a strange few that refugees from Otherworld barely knew anything about. This didn’t make them any less real.

Deadly in their own right, being practically unknown made them far more dangerous. One of these misshapen monsters is the Thesaurus Crab.

Under the Shell

This crab is a bizarre blend of fungus and animal with rumors of a mystic origin. From the outside, they appear to be no different from perhaps a Dungeness crab, save for a circle of white bumps along their back. But this is just a disguise.

Unlike a normal crab, the shell of a Thesaurus Crab is leathery and slightly soft. This gives it some protection, but not the same as an actual shell. So, to combat this, a Thesaurus Crab will use an old book as a shell. They burrow inside a volume, eating away at ink and paper until they carve a space for themselves. After that, the crab uses a mushroom-like root system to attach to the book itself. Literally making itself part of the tome.

These types of crabs have six legs like their distant cousins and are covered with natural armored plate. Here on the legs, this armor is a hard shell, like any other crab. A Thesaurus Crab also has four retractable arms, all with sharp pincher claws. These four claws are serrated, which they use for defense or to catch a quick meal of fish, eel, or bird. All together, it’s a deadly combination packed into a creature no larger than seven inches across, four pounds in weight, living up to ten years.

Last of all, Thesaurus Crabs do have teeth. These aren’t in their stomach like a normal crab, but in their mouth. A Thesaurus Crab’s teeth form in multiple rows, like found in a shark, with each tooth having a noticeable point. If a crab loses one of those teeth, another one folds out fully formed, ready to fill the gap.

Beyond books and unique appendages, Thesaurus Crabs come in both a freshwater and saltwater variety. Freshwater are often a blue-white color, while their saltwater cousins are a mix of orange, red, and white. Besides color, all other parts of these crabs remain the same.

More Than Just A Toothy Smile

Their bite is painful, as these crabs can break through turtle and other crab shells with some effort. Likewise, their claws are no less deadly. But that isn’t the only weapon in their arsenal. With a single bite, a victim is injected with a venom that carries a rare fungal infection. A mold and mushroom-like growth called Wordbender’s Fever.

The illness is aggressive and can consume a victim in seven to ten days if not treated. Healers have to work fast to counter it while their patient breaks out in patches of angry fire-orange or blue mushrooms. Fungus that are said to be one of the key ingredients for a cure.

Damp, Yet Elegant Home

Unlike their distant cousins, these crabs burrow into old basements, abandoned homes, and forgotten libraries. Anywhere that’s damp, draped in shadow, and thick with stacks of books. Stories from Otherworld tell they’re found in the oldest of libraries, often ones that once belonged to ancient Wavebinders or Alchemists.

Once inside, a Thesaurus Crab will search for the thickest, most durable book to sink its claws or roots into. They aren’t picky but often favor enchanted Wavebinder journals, dictionaries or a stout thesaurus. All the better to provide both camouflage and thick armor while they lie in wait for their next meal.

They redefine ‘voracious reader’. Actually, I think it’s more accurate to say they stopped at ‘voracious’ and might never have reached ‘reader’.
- Professor Helia Gramwell, Zoologist for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

They primarily eat fish, eel, and the pages of a good book, ink and all. But that doesn’t mean other options are off their menu. Thesaurus Crabs are aggressive scavengers that use ambush hunting tactics, always ready to sink their teeth into any unsuspecting victim. But they don’t eat what they catch right away.

Any prey they catch is stashed in a dark recess, cave, or closet, out of sight. This is a ‘food vault’ where they stuff their future meals out of sight for up to a week, letting their catch of the day rot and soften. After that, the entire crab community, called an ‘Edition’, will come down from the shelves to feast. When done, the crabs won’t need to hunt again for at least two weeks. In between that time, the Thesaurus Crabs slowly draw sustenance through their roots from the books they inhabit.

Over time, a Thesaurus Crab will devour all it can from a given book. Which means it will go through a ‘moulting’ to change books. To do this, a Thesaurus Crab slowly withdraws its root system, then itself from the book it’s finished. Once done, it leaves the ruined book behind on the shelf, and sets out in the library to pick up another one.

Malignant Mushroom Crabs With Attitude

That isn’t to say these scuttling terrors are dormant during that time. On any day, an Edition of Thesaurus Crabs has a handful of their community to stand watch. These sentries, called ‘Indexes’, watch for potential food, or any hostile threat to the Edition. Which, for these crabs, any hostile threat would be anything entering their territory.

True to their nature, Indexes don’t warn the other crabs right away. Instead, they scuttle quietly along to ambush the interloper. Then, in a flurry of frantic tapping, they call out a warning to the community before they attack in a whirlwind of teeth and claws.

These communities, or Editions, can range from small to large depending on the mansion, library, or other location they’ve taken over. Typically, the average Edition is 15 to 30 Thesaurus Crabs at any time. Though there are stories of old communities three times that size.

Lethal Predator and Prey

As dangerous as they are, these mysterious monsters are also prey. In particular, they’re hunted by sirens, who consider the Thesaurus Crab a delicacy. But for anyone outside a siren, these crabs are a dangerous food option. Residue of the crab’s venom permeates all parts of its body. Sirens, though, have a unique immunity to that venom and so never suffer Wordbender Fever.

As a result, it’s common knowledge that if an Edition of Thesaurus Crabs is found, a siren pod or pods are not far away. But sirens aren’t the only ones to eat a Thesaurus Crab. Some communities in the Caribbean will, on certain occasions, feast on these animals.

The rumor is that there is a certain way to cook a Thesaurus Crab to remove its venom. Preparation takes several careful hours with a blend of acids, herbs, and a specific cooking temperature. If the recipe isn’t followed to the letter, the person eating the crab will be infected with a severe case of Wordbender Fever. But if the cook is experienced, and follows the instructions, it’s been said that Thesaurus Crabs have a mild, almost nutty taste that goes well with asparagus.

Eating a meal of well cooked Thesaurus Crab is often compared to a well-prepared blowfish meal. The danger is no less real, or lethal, but when prepared correctly, the results are rumored to be worth it. At least, to those who enjoy the taste and the risk.

A Certain Kind of Trade

Despite the danger and great personal risk, there are some enterprising souls that see opportunity with a Thesaurus Crab. Select members of the Bonewright Order, Marquee Brotherhood, and the Trade Guild Syndicate hunt the crabs down to milk their venom. A potent poison in its own right, even a small vial fetches a large sum of coin. This lure of profit isn’t lost on the trade-minded of those guilds. Also, Thesaurus Crab venom is a rare and valuable tool for any Alchemist or Assassin at work.

Dire Origins

Many zoologists often wonder at the origin of Thesaurus Crabs. A bizarre creature that’s both part plant and animal isn’t unknown, but is certainly rare. While these venomous crabs are deadly, they by far aren’t the most lethal or nightmarish thing that has tumbled out of Otherworld’s destruction. An explanation lies in the last surviving records that reside in the morasu noble house, Tomia Kurenji.

According to their oldest legends, the origin of the Thesaurus Crab can be traced back to a Wavebinder named Vangar Rasho. The legend recounts how Vangar was intensely curious about the deepest secrets of the Etherwave Arcana itself. He would spend many long hours into the night, studying the secrets of the mysterious energy and the bizarre creatures said to live inside.

But one night, Vangar delved too deep into the Etherwave. Records suggest he found something dire, possibly a cousin of a Tumble Mist, and attempted to channel a spell to defend himself. The spell backfired and turned Vangar into an equal volume of crabs. It’s said the descendants of those crabs are still devouring books to this very day, in search of a technique to undo the magical accident.

Perilous Precautions

Since the first discovery of Thesaurus Crabs after Crossing’s Fall, they have quickly become labeled as a lethal pest and curiosity. There are scholars and librarians who study the crabs to learn best how to protect valuable book collections. Advice from ancient Otherworld records has proven the most effective at keeping these insidious terrors at bay. Regular cleaning of shelves and basements is required to prevent the spread of the crab spores. Otherwise, these new spores will quickly sprout into new Thesaurus Crabs.

All we saw in the dark was a rolling wave of books, scuttling after us with so many pointed teeth. At least, until our lantern blew out. Then we couldn’t see at all…
- Morgan Reedweather, Survivor of the Umbral Library Incident

Game Notes

Thesaurus Crab

Threat: 2

Suggested Complications

- Venomous. A painful bite from a crab’s sharp teeth in inject venom thick with Wordbender Fever, leaving the victim immediately dizzy and flushed.

- Tougher Than It Looks. Their book “shells” are still durable even after all the punishment they’ve taken. Normal melee weapons are less effective than high quality weapons.

- They Come in More! These creatures are rarely alone. Where there’s one, there is ten. Attacks are coming from all directions as the character is swarmed.

- Kummer Wolfe

Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 07 Jul 2024 06:01:27 GMT

So, with that said, now we touch on one of the major factions in Hoist the Colors. Mysterious nomads that may play host to the greatest inventors of the time. The Kelstani, also known as the Covenant of the Coast!

Kelstani, the Covenant of the Coast

They’re a traveling people, fed up with the world. Traveling about like a caravan on water.
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

The ocean is a harsh, exacting mistress. Quiet and soothing, yet still cold and merciless as the winter sea. It’s a hard life for anyone that travels the waves, seeking adventure, fortune, or a means to an end. But then there are those that look to the ocean and her turbulent temper as a safe refuge from their past lives.

It isn’t any different in the Caribbean where allegiances shift as quick as the tides while honor runs twice as deep. Among the islands, intrepid souls haunted by circumstance or a clouded past leave the land behind. They have nowhere to turn and no place to go. So they built their home from the sea itself and the timber that floats on her.

An Unlikely Gathering

They come from all walks of life. People from different cultures and places that blend to form a nomadic way of life. They’re often shunned by town and Trading Company alike, and considered dangerous outcasts at best. In the worst case, they’re considered vagabonds, outlaws, or pirates. But unless you cross or cheat them, they’re nothing of the kind. They are the Covenant of the Coast, or the Kelstani.

The Covenant’s name for themselves is the Kelstani, but many nickname them the Sea Rovers. They’re a nomadic people, always on the move and owing no allegiance to a single land or country. A culture living most of their lives aboard extra-wide ships turned floating islands that roam the waves between actual islands and coastlines.

They sail in small convoys of ships, often up to six at a time. This forms the basis of a Kelstani village, what they consider a tribe or a clan. Each ship in the convoy has a special purpose, with the wide galleon or galleons serving as the ‘heart’ of the village. A ‘town square’ which is central to the community.

Tale from Before Time

One of those Kelstani clan ships sailed up about a year after the ‘Fall, in 1713. I’d seen nothing like it. When asked where they hailed from, they just said that they’d always been there…
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright

The first Kelstani ships were spotted off Havana in 1713, a year after Crossings Fall changed the world. A galleon similar to Spanish make, she was the Malumbe, but was far wider than any normal galleon. With her sailed two frigates named the Shagar and the Nargol that kept a protective watch on the larger vessel.

Little is known or recorded about Kelstani clan history. Most of it came from the crews of those first three ships that day in Havana harbor. Tales from those crews, and any Rover clan since, simply explain they’re Children of the Sea, and that the Sea Goddess watches her own. But rumors suggest a more complicated origin.

References from grimling Sept records suggest that Sea Rover history spreads back to Otherworld before it shattered. There, legend has it that the first Sea Rovers were a morasu fleet that owed allegiance to the Tomia Harogara noble house. But Tovec Masatame, the fleet’s admiral, or Saj’ni in the ancient morasu language, disagreed with his Imperial leaders over their suicidal battle strategy. Instead of open war, he took his followers and fled to the deep seas.

Over time, their numbers grew slowly from among those across Otherworld that felt lost, cast aside, or were displaced from their own lands. When Crossing’s Fall shattered the Otherworld, it also sent the last of the surviving Kelstani to Earth. As is their tradition, they simply kept moving.

Strength of the Clan

The Kelstani are divided into clans, with each clan spread across a collection of ships in a given convoy or flotilla. No one knows how many Kelstani clans there are, just that there are several. This network of convoys makes up the Covenant of the Coast, that encompasses all of what people think of when the Kelstani is mentioned.

A single clan comprises one convoy, usually three to six ships. The core of this floating village is the House Galleon. That vessel is the seat of power and government for that Kelstani clan, where the chieftain and Elden Council reside or at least hold court. House Galleons are typically where many Kelstani clans also keep their main workshops, vertical gardens, libraries, and clan essentials.

Support ships range in both type and size, from sloop to frigates. They also bear the unusual wider than normal shape like the House Galleons. These smaller ships are a combination of home, gardens, and sometimes barns. Goats, chickens, swans, and donkeys are a common sight in the case of a ‘barn’ ship.

In general, the Kelstani only keep smaller animals aboard, including dogs, cats, and gargoyles. They avoid anything larger than a donkey, such as cows or horses, simply because of the lack of space.

No matter their day to day use, all Kelstani ships are well armed and stocked warships. If anyone dares attack a Kelstani clan, they face a coordinated force that uses weapons not seen anywhere in the world. Devices that are a product of Kelstani engineering that can have a devastating effect on attackers.

A Unique Sort of Design

Their ships, like anything they make, are a pure work of art. But that art also tells a long, long story…
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright

The Kelstani have many secrets and their ship design is high on that list. All their ships have an unusual double hull. This grants each vessel a unique stability not found in ships made by other lands. But besides the stability, the double hull serves other purposes as well. It reduces the risk of flooding in lower compartments and provides the support for devices supporting hanging gardens that line the inside hull of most Kelstani ships.

At first glance, it would seem an impractical design that would hinder efficient use of the ship itself. Instead, nothing could be farther from the truth. Each section of hanging garden is kept within a compartment with a door. Slits above allow sunlight, air, and rain to filter down.

Rainwater, once it passes through the garden, is caught and channeled into the ship’s water stores. There it’s filtered before use by the clan. If the water stores are full, the Kelstani system automatically funnels the excess out to the ocean.

Kelstani ships use similar sails, rudder, and propeller system as most ships of the day. But the latter, like most any vessel, is used only in an emergency to propel the ship when the wind isn’t sufficient, or a Wavebinder isn’t able to conjure enough wind.

Likewise, Kelstani ships have clockwork engines that charge the powerful Hauksbee Batteries. These clockwork mechanisms are critical, as they provide the excess power used by their Navigators to open, close, or manipulate the mysterious Arcane Gates scattered across the world’s oceans. In a dire emergency, it’s also used to power the ship’s Archimedes Screw inspired propellers or defenses like a ship’s clockwork cannon, if any.

This and more are why Kelstani shipwrights and engineers, if not their ships, are highly prized in many places around the world.

All But One

Even though the Kelstani often keep a respectful distance from people, they are always interested in ships, alchemy, and other inventions. That is, save one exception. They are cautious to a fault regarding a ghost ship.

Most Kelstani are wary of ghost ships. Among their people, ghost ships are a haunting plague. A living embodiment of cursed creatures from the lost Otherworld that lie in the dark spaces between the world and the Etherwave Arcana. Evil echoes, hungry to consume a ship’s crew.

Not that the Kelstani won’t have anything to do with ghost ships. They will work on one for a close ally or, if paid enough. Though, it isn’t easy to convince a Kelstani to help since they believe any ghost ship is cursed by the Dark Mark.

Kelstani that agree to help, are easy to identify since they follow ancient tradition and wear tar-colored facepaint made of driftwood soot on their face and hands. The Kelstani believe the mixture shields the wearer from being infected by the dark curse for a short time. Only the Kelstani know if this is true, and they won’t admit details.

Communication

Some say it’s whale song, others claim its sirens. More often than not, it could just be Kelstani having a talk. They can be a bit chatty...
- Elias Johann St. Claire, Shipwright

Ships traveling any long distance have many challenges to overcome. Weather, supplies and even Arcane Gates are three of many. Communication between ships and their crews is one of the most important. Most ships-of-the-line use signal lanterns, signal flags, or even trained animals like parrots to deliver messages. These work in most situations but may not be the most effective in fog or other inclement weather.

But this was not enough for the Kelstani. They are a people who spend much of their lives at sea on their wide, almost floating-island like ships. Being able to communicate between ships in a single clan-flotilla is essential to survival.

To overcome the problem of bad weather and other hazards, they developed a unique clockwork-magical device used on all Kelstani vessels. One that has become a popular device outside the Kelstani and a rich source of trade for them. This device is called an Ansible.

Invented by Gilbert Rakotobe, this clockwork-magical device is a type of glass harp controlled by clockwork driven harpsichord keys. The sounds produced aren’t just random notes or even music, but a full language.

Similar to whale song, Ansibles allow one ship to transmit complex thoughts and sentences to other ships that also have an Ansible system. In return, the device listens for tones it’s been tuned to receive. These tones and music are soft, low notes to any human, grimling, thayan, and morasu ears. Background sounds to an already busy ocean. But these devices hear them loud and clear.

All Ansibles have two frequencies that it can ‘hear’. One is a ‘general’ frequency that all Ansibles can play across. This one is used for distress songs, all call songs, and other messages that are for any ship nearby. The second frequency or tone is personal, one set just for that ship. A private chord that is only handed out to allies for private communications, and more valuable than any coin.

Art of the Traveling Sea

The Kelstani are known for their ingenious clockwork, and even enchanted, devices. Many of which defy the current body of knowledge on both subjects. But like any culture, the Kelstani have many sides, such as the art they create.

All Kelstani art uses the materials they have on hand, such as the sea and what lives there. Driftwood, kelp, shells, and bones from large fish are key ingredients, since the Kelstani clan traditions are to ‘waste not, want not’ as often as possible. So much of their art takes on a practical value as well or supports their traditions as a people.

Driftwood is used and carved into tools for kitchens or parts for ships. These carvings are similar to the work done with scrimshaw in design, depicting myths or stories from Kelstani history. Master carvers, called driftshanders, are also Kelstani scholars. Historian who record Kelstani stories, myths and important events in wood and the very ships the Kelstani call home.

Kelp is often used as food but also is used for specific ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, or even dispelling haunting thoughts or ill-will. In all cases, kelp is kept lightly damp, then woven into a sculpture related to the tradition. After the kelp is woven, it’s treated with a resin and gently heated. This hardens it into the durability of thin wood.

With weddings, two sculptures are made, where each is intended to connect to the other like a puzzle. This represents the formation of a partnership and family. But with a funeral, the extended family makes only one sculpture that represents the story of the person who has passed on. In the case of nightmares or even a dispute, the kelp sculpture represents what has upset the person, which could be an event or even someone that the dispute is with.

In the end, the sculptures are released. With funerals, the sculpture is set loose on the ocean on a small raft, representing the loved one moving onto their next life. Wedding sculptures are also released to the sea, which represents the partners moving ahead with their life together. But with nightmares, hauntings, or disputes, releasing a sculpture takes a different path.

There, they are burned to let fire consume the ill thoughts or even ill spirits. Most Wavebinders who have studied this Kelstani tradition agree there is some sort of ancient ritual at work. One that interacts with the Etherwave Arcana, and the Arcana with the Kelstani in return.

Shells and bone are also used, but more often as decoration or support for kelp sculptures. At times, large shells are scrimshawed with events from Kelstani life.

The last, and most prevalent of Kelstani artwork, are their clan tattoos. Made from squid ink, they are unique to a person but also a clan, telling both stories intertwined. Rumors say that, once set, tattoos will change over time on their own as the person’s story grows.

Children of the Sea, Keepers of Secrets

The Kelstani remain unique among the tapestry of cultures across the world. More than any other, they’re a blend of both old and new. A bridge between ancient traditions, stories, and at times myths, of Otherworld and the people of the present-day Earth, post-Crossing’s Fall.

Shunned but also sought after, they are nomads with a unique language, traditions, food and more. But while they are considered Children of the Sea, it’s said they keep secrets of their own. Among those is the legend of the Sargasso Traveling Islands. Floating islands with hidden safe harbors and ruins found nowhere else in the world.

Rumors suggest that the Kelstani are the only people who know the truth of these mythical islands and the routes they take. There is some hint the myths are real, since it’s a rite of passage for young Kelstani is to update and correct the charts once a season.

When the Sea Goddess calls, you go, and the ocean welcomes you home.
- Volana Marofo, Kelstani Navigator for the Tamir, in Clan Zozimar

By Any Other Name

Kelstani names come from a wide collection of sources. Since they tend to adopt lost newcomers looking for a home, there are few rules to a common naming practice. But family names are passed down over generations that come from the far corners of Otherworld, and more recently, Earth.

Women

Sowena, Maria, H’ana, Sorna, Garnet, Helja, Zola, Amara, Helena, Zoe, Brigid, Kaya

Men

Heyden, Lochin, Tholos, Takoda, Benjamin, Lysander, Jengo, Kenji, Ferrum

Surnames

Goodsong, Fairbarin, Vargoth, Harogara, Torgazi, Papadopoulos, Mensah, Nakamura, du Lac, Anvilson

Game Notes

Threat 4

Faction Contacts:

Hiram Peirson. Chief of Clan Taneti. Human. Disciplined, stern. Former commander of the British Navy.
Ayesha Baka. Master driftshander and Arcane Engineer. Human. Brash but friendly lady. Prefers clockwork to people but is loyal to a fault.
Heyden Fairbarin. Thaye. Alchemist that specializes in anti-toxins.

Notable Assets and Resources:

Charted routes to the Sargasso Traveling Islands.
Enhanced, long-range Ansibles.
Last of the Arcana Clockwork journals from Magi Halls of Otherworld.
Well-trained Arcane Engineers and Navigators.

Allies:

Liberty Alliance
Navigator’s Guild

Enemies:

Trade Guild Syndicate
Bonewright Order

- Kummer Wolfe

Caribbean

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 18:57:59 GMT

So, with that said, this time we get into one of the many locations in Hoist the Colors. The Caribbean, but maybe not as you know it!

Caribbean

It’s the crossroads of the world. Those islands are rich with history and hope for a fresh start. But behind all that lurks monsters of our own making…
- Helena Barrow, Captain of the Horizon’s Rose

The Caribbean. A wide archipelago made up of the Caribbean Sea with its collection of islands and island chains. It’s a tropical region between North and South America, known for its diverse cultures, settlements, trade, and a storied, bloody history. The region has always been home to one culture or another for over 7000 years.

It has been witness to, and withstood, invasions from Europe, trade wars of conquest, plagues, bloody pirate rampages, and a worldwide cataclysm. Specifically, the event called Crossing’s Fall that shoved the region and its inhabitants into the world’s view.

At midnight on October 31, 1712, the mysterious events of Crossing’s Fall changed the world. Warped it with shattered fragments of Otherworld appearing and melding with Earth. Near mythical animals appeared around the globe along with refugees from Otherworld. The landscape changed as well. In some places, it was dramatic, but in others, subtle. In the case of the Caribbean, it was more the former instead of the latter.

Changed Lands

Like elsewhere on Earth, the land itself had changed. Fragments of Otherworld became new mountains or foothills in places like Cuba, Jamaica, or Puerto Rico. Rocky islands rose along the coastlines of South America, New Spain, and Florida. The Bahamas, an island chain of scattered small islands, became even more fragmented, and dangerous, with primeval jungles having overrun the more remote ones.

Across those islands are towns and cities nestled in those dangerous jungles. Ports of call for ships from around the world from Europe, Americas, Japan, China, and beyond. Not to mention local ships such as pirates prowling the waves for a fresh kill. Deeper inland, lost Earth cities are mixed with Otherworld ruins, from ancient stone forts to lost tombs and forgotten libraries. Riches and relics wrapped in fog-shrouded mystery or lethal curses.

But the most remarkable change was not on land, but in the water. Sirens and other threats joined sharks and other perils already there. Then, across the Caribbean expanse, there was the appearance of the mysterious Arcane Gates. Those alone changed everything.

Riddle of the Gates

The gates appeared for a moment at the stroke of midnight, October 31, 1712, in flashes of emerald lightning. It was dozens of Arcane Gates across the Caribbean, each with their own unique knotwork and mysterious lettering. Then, as quick as they appeared, they vanished. But they weren’t gone.

As learned in later years, the Arcane Gates had gone ‘dormant’. Waiting to be sensed by a Wavebinder, Navigator, or anyone trained in the Etherwave Arcana. Later, Maria Fairbain, a Sunweaver thayan and seasoned Wavebinder relic hunter, ‘discovered’ the first of many Arcane Gates in the Caribbean. It lay in the middle of the sea between Puerto Rico and Hispanola islands and wasn’t alone.

To date, Navigators and Wavebinders have discovered more Arcane Gates in the Caribbean region that exist anywhere else in the world. No one understands why and the Gates gave no clue. But dozens of Arcane Gates were enough to upset the balance of trade and power around the world. Which was already overturned by the change to the lands, people, and a flood of the Etherwave Arcana into the world.

Transformation of the Trade

Trade, and traditional trade routes with their goods such as the infamous slave trade, had been shattered because of Crossing’s Fall, changed it brought, and the Arcane Gates. In the latter's case, the ability to sail through a gate and cross to the other side of the world in a second upended the balance of power. New trade routes opened and new goods were in high demand.

This has been most visible in the Caribbean. Most trade ships use Arcane Gates from their home ports around the world to travel through the Caribbean to use the gates there. Gate use is risky but less dangerous to Navigator and crew if the gate is a ‘natural Arcane Gate’. This has caused many countries, and specifically trade guilds, to use natural Arcane Gates where possible.

As a result, the Caribbean has become a melting pot of the world. A transportation hub around which the world now revolves. People from dozens of cultures and all corners of the world now pass through, or stay in, the Caribbean. Not that the region is heavily settled. Far from it. Cities expanded and grew, but few new settlements were built. This has entirely been because of the threats that roam the Caribbean, such as pirates.

The rise in trade and traffic from the Gates caused a rebirth in piracy, which had been on the decline by 1712. Now? Piracy is alive, healthy, and well in the region. As is the number of bounty hunters or privateers devoted to curbing piracy, provided the money is right.

Pirates? Oh, they’re a right proper problem. But if you think that’s the only thing that keeps the waters churning and dangerous, you’d best think about that again. Mother Nature herself is out to get her own pound of flesh, too…
- Helena Barrow, Captain of the Horizon’s Rose

Mysterious Islands

Even after Crossing’s Fall, the Caribbean has much of its historical geography. Tropical islands are scattered through crystal-clear turquoise waters with white sand beaches and lush, dense rainforests. Rolling hills on the larger islands give way to rugged mountains. Meanwhile, freshwater streams and rivers wind through the larger islands, supporting a wide variety of life.

But Crossing’s Fall left a mark all its own. The jungles are more dense, and in many places larger than before. Giant jungle vines and other plants dwarf local houses and towns. These over-sized plants remind many a visitor of myths about the ‘Fae lands’ and ‘Underhill’, where the average human, grimling, thayan, or morasu are often dwarfed by a Barbados Lily the size of a small tree.

The changes didn’t stop at just flowers. Trees, bushes, vines and animals were far more than what they were. Toads, butterflies, crocodiles, iguanas, and even the simple pig became giants compared to what they were. Iguanas and toads the size of small dogs, and crocodiles larger than horses. Some could be partially tamed, like the iguana, but others, like the crocodile are considered a deadly threat in the area.

While enlarged, the animals and plants still seem to maintain a healthy natural balance. The only imbalance being the towns and settlers there. But the imbalance is small by comparison in more ways than one.

Phantom Sails and Misty Lands

There is far more to the Caribbean than its towns and over-developed jungles. The region possesses its own mysteries brought on by Crossing’s Fall. Some are dangerous, or tragic, but can be explained, while others defy even the simplest explanation. That is, aside from guesswork and more than a little superstition.

To compile a list of the strange phenomena that now call the Caribbean home would take years. But there are some that stand out to the point of being infamous. First are the Phantom Sails.

Ghost ships are an uncommon to rare sight in the Caribbean and more than a little unnerving. Translucent, glowing ships that sometimes still have a working crew prowl the waves between islands. In the first years following Crossing’s Fall, there was no explanation for them. Other than they would harass, attack, and sometimes sink the living. But an explanation was eventually uncovered.

Those lost souls, and I even mean the ship itself, are as much alive as they are dead. Cursed by the Gates to wander eternity…
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

Phantom sails, or ghost ships, are a deadly hazard in the Caribbean. Tales from Navigators and Wavebinders talk of ships and crews that are trapped halfway between the living world and inside the Etherwave Arcana. The place where ships sail through when they use an Arcane Gate. Most theories say these empty ships, or even the crewed ones, are serving out a curse or punishment. One that calls them to hunt other ships for a relic, or even a person, to satisfy a desire by the Gate that cursed them. But in the Caribbean, the phantom sails are not alone.

Other than the phantom sails would be the Mists, also called the Tumble Mists. Despite the innocent name, the reality is far more sinister. Tumble Mists, as the name describes, are low-lying patches of dense fog that roam the Caribbean Sea. They have been encountered during the day, but largely happen upon a ship at night.

There isn’t much known about the Tumble Mists, other than tall tales. Most believe that the Tumble Mists are a predator. A slow-moving creature that glides along the surface of the water, searching for its next meal. Once the beast encounters a ship, it billows up at night to surround the ship to confuse navigation and lead them astray.

If the ship has moved off course, or the Tumble Mist is tired of waiting, the creature slowly encompasses the ship. Almost, in a way, as if swallowing it whole, crew and all. Once it covered a ship and her crew, the Tumble Mist quickly devours the crew, with their clothing and items left behind. After feeding, it withdraws, leaving the ship abandoned and spotless, while it slithers off over the water in search of its next meal.

It was an abandoned merchant hauler. Perfectly spotless. That was our only warning…
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

For reasons unknown, Tumble Mists mainly prey on ships. There has only been one story of a town swallowed whole by a Tumble Mist. But it’s dismissed as just a tall tale.

For Everything a Season

The Caribbean is known for its tropical climate and occasional fierce storms. It has a distinct wet and dry season, with little change in between. But the events of Crossing’s Fall even brought changes to the weather.

Storm surges in the change from wet to dry season are now more common. Hurricanes and impressive tropical storms still appear, but a few are not what they seem. On rare occasions, at the center of those terrible storms lies a rogue Arcane Gate searching for an island or town to destroy.

Last there are the rare earthquakes. These are more common in areas such as Cuba or the Bahamas where mountains, said to come from Otherworld, impacted the world. While the earthquakes are dangerous, the small tidal waves that race out across the Caribbean Sea are no less deadly. In the years following 1712, the larger cities and forts have built seawalls in hopes to deflect some of the deadly force of those waves if they appear.

Natural and Unnatural Resources

Minerals, metals, crops, and people were four of the largest trade goods and items before Crossing’s Fall. But the disaster, and the emergence of the Etherwave Arcana, broke that trade system to pieces. The balance of power shifted, taking control away from monarchies and into the hands of trade guilds. But those guilds had to contend with new and powerful factions and nations across the world. Many who embraced the use of “Wavebinding” and channeling the Etherwave Arcana.

The Caribbean was one such a place where that happened first. But, in its place, rose a new economy and trade. Agriculture still maintains a solid place among trade goods across the Caribbean. Fruit and vegetables grow large and lush in soil enriched by the Otherworld remnants that merged with the islands.

Minerals and metal mining were unaffected. Other than that mining guilds were no longer able to use forced labor. It’s hard to force miners into dangerous holes in the ground when one or two of them can channel a fireball to demand better pay, and a better way of life.

As for the rest, the infamous slave markets were abandoned almost overnight. Skills in channeling the Etherwave Arcana supplanted forced labor, as did the brilliant clockwork devices that suddenly appeared. The latter were from collaboration between grimling Septs, human craft guilds and other inventors the world over.

New trade goods also appeared. The wealth of relics the world over, in Otherworld mixed with ancient Earth ruins, has given rise to the ‘relic hunter’. These relics either find their way into private collections, trade guilds, or back to the cultures who the items belong to. But it’s a dangerous, but lucrative trade for Privateers who take on a warrant to hunt for those lost items.

Along with relics, the mix of Otherworld landmasses with Earth has brought rise to new fruits, vegetables, and even minerals. From gemstones that can harness the sun for a time, to strange metals not even the refugees from Otherworld have seen before. Then, there is the act of trade itself.

With so many Arcane Gates in one small location, “island hopping” to use the Caribbean as a ‘middle ground’ for trade appeared quickly. With a skilled Navigator, ships from Africa, Europe, Japan, China and even farther soon appeared. They brought rare spices and other goods from around the world. In return, part of the Caribbean economy turned its eye toward supporting being a ‘crossroads of trade’. Which put the towns and cities in competition for who could offer the most lucrative deals to these trading companies.

As a side effect, piracy became more lucrative than before. Pirates plied their bloody trade against merchant ships heavy with cargo. This caused a rise in bounty hunting for those pirates, another risky, but lucrative, job for Privateers. Conflict between factions looking to free people from the tyranny of trading companies or old Imperial ways also comes into this dangerous trade of blood money.

Last in the Privateer trade is dealing with the supernatural and other threats. Tumble Mists are a clear and present danger. As are saltwater sirens who stalk unwary ships for a quick meal. Warrants are often issued to Privateers to hunt, and prevent if they can, supernatural or other threats that threaten lives, shipping, factions, and more.

A Forge For Tomorrow

Despite the conflict and turmoil, weather and wealth, the Caribbean has become a place of opportunity. One where humans, thayans, morasu, and grimlings come to find a fresh start. Forge a new future for themselves, even if it may be founded in old grievances. Here, the past shatters against the present and future. But in the collision, it has created new, if not dangerous, opportunities for those willing and curious to explore what is out there.

In the bloody history and heart of the Caribbean lies the promise of adventure mixed with the peril of the unknown. The dark legacy of the old world meets the magic and ingenuity of the new. A tempting lure of learning about the unknown for those looking to leave their old lives behind for new stories of tomorrow.
- Jasmine Elara, Historian at the New World History Society

- Kummer Wolfe

Arcane Gates

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 06:38:55 GMT

So, with that said, here we get into more supernatural phenomena of Hoist the Colors. Arcane Gates!

Arcane Gates

Arcane Gates appeared right after Crossing’s Fall. They changed the world and how we scurry over it. But make no mistake, those portals are a harbinger of just how dangerous the world has gotten. Even if the Gates are a necessary evil.
- Captain Elias Driftwood, Captain of the Mystic Seas

Once the Rainbow Bridge collapsed, or so the story is told, the shattered remains of Otherworld crashed to Earth. This caused all manner of catastrophes, disasters, and changes. But the one that stand out most are the Arcane Gates.

These gates, either natural or temporary, are glowing sentinels to how much the world was changed. Arcane Gates are portals of raw magical power that stand silent watch in the Earth’s oceans and seas. Menacing, glowing portals that towered over the tallest ship’s mast by 100 or even 200 feet or more.

Once visible, they often appear as magnificent arches with frames of ever-shifting glowing knotwork, mystic amber symbols, and ethereal images from myth and legends. In the center flows a cobalt-blue, water-like power, as turbulent as the ocean. A mystic energy flowing and undulating within the archway, while fog billows up and out where the entire mystical structure touches water.

No one understands why they only appear in oceans and seas. But one thing quickly became clear, a ship can use one to travel from one side of the world to the other, or to Otherworld remnants, in a second. Arcane Gates changed the nature of travel, trade, and naval power forever.

About the Gates

Some Arcane Gates are natural. Mysterious structures that appeared immediately after the Crossing’s Fall disaster. As best as the most skilled Navigator or Wavebinder understand, these are a direct manifestation of the Etherwave Arcana itself.

These Arcane Gates sit in certain locations on both Earth and the shattered remains of Otherworld. Places where the veil between Earth, Otherworld, and the Etherwave Arcana is at its thinnest. But, for unknown reasons, these nexuses of power are only in the ocean, even if offshore from a mainland or island.

The gates resonate strongly in the Arcana. They are felt by anyone who can Channel the mystic powers from miles away. It isn’t a direction as accurate as a compass, but a strong feeling. A compulsion drawing a person attuned to the Etherwave Arcana to these natural magical knots.

Once a ship sails close, such as a cannon shot away, the gate appears in a flash of emerald lightning. Power boiling along their edges waiting to be used. But, while Wavebinders can sense the Gates, the raw chaos mixed with the forces of nature, it eludes their control. Only a skilled Navigator has the mind and arcane skill to plot a course through them that allows a ship to wind up where it should be on the other side. Many a ship with her crew have been thrown against rocks, shattered against the side of a Gate itself, or vanished forever, without the help of a trained Navigator.

Most wonder why, since it should be a matter of sailing straight through. Which would be simple enough, but sailing through a gate isn’t a matter of setting a course ahead. The power in between the magical arches is as thick as the most blinding fog. Sailing through a gate is a matter of resolve. Seeing where you want to go, since sailing through an Arcane Gate, is also sailing through the Etherwave Arcana itself.

To Harness Chaos

Casting a gate isn’t like dusting crops or lighting candles with the Arcana. It takes a bit of skill and willpower. It’s a bit like trying to lasso a hurricane.
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

But not all Arcane Gates are gifts of nature and the Arcana. Many are temporary creations of Navigators. The only profession that is capable of harnessing the wild combination of primal nature and the Etherwave Arcana to manifest these archways for their vessel. Wavebinders find the chaotic energy of the gate creation beyond their reach. Even Elementalists, with their deep connection to Nature herself, find it impossible to manage. Those that try often come to a bad end. A few wind up with Scars, such as Cursed or Haunted. Most vanish with a scream into the Etherwave Arcana in a burning flash of light, lost forever.

Navigators, on the other hand, learn to use their innate sense of the sea to read the combination of ocean power, nature, and the Etherwave Arcana. They hear that siren’s song it makes, then Channel that into being. But, like any attempt to Channel the Etherwave Arcana, an equivalent exchange of material for energy must be paid. Which is where a ship’s portal platform comes in.

These platforms are marvels of engineering and arcane craftsmanship. Earliest known platforms were an invention by grimling cultures over a thousand generations ago. Since Crossing’s Fall, it took human craftsfolk no time to alter, adjust, and at times improve the designs. They aren’t found on all ships, as they take time to make, but many have some sort of portal platform for a Navigator to use.

Ship portal platforms are crafted from a rare blend of metals and materials that are then imbued with arcane properties. Engravings of flowing water, clouds and more line the raised edge. These are more than just decoration but grooves used by the Etherwave Arcana when it’s Channeled by a Navigator. As a Navigator draws on the Arcana and creates a gate, the cost is paid by the platform itself. Over time, the once polished platform loses its luster and the engravings become worn down. Once cracks appear or the engravings have almost worn away, the platform will be useless.

Creation of these platforms is a well-guarded secret, known only to a select few skilled Engineers and Navigators. Spreading this secret draws down bounties, if not a death sentence, as the creation of the platforms is as dangerous as Channeling the Arcana to assemble a temporary Arcane Gate. Also, no two portal platforms are alike. The engravings, alloys and more reflect the personality and style of the creator, if not the ship the platform rests on.

Gate Casting

The process to Channel the Arcana to form a gate is intricate and dangerous. It requires the utmost concentration and precise hand gestures. Some who have watched a Navigator in action describe it like a conductor at a symphony. Only the conductor uses ghostly glowing runes, symbols, and light to direct invisible musicians. Then there are other stories that talk about a Navigator ‘painting’ the air, causing the gate to rise in a flurry of mystical, glowing lines from fog and ocean water.

No matter how they’re created, Arcane Gates are an awe-inspiring sight. They are, beyond any doubt, the most complicated and magnificent example of the Etherwave Arcana affecting the world. Despite his complexity, it takes a skilled Navigator only a few seconds to craft one from the Etherwave. This has become a powerful tool in the hands of a clever crew that needs to evade a lethal storm, pirates, or worse threat.

A Will Of Its Own

Don’t be fooled. The Gates will give you the fight of your life. If they can, they’ll try to drown out of spite, or worse…
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

But any crew that thinks once they cross through a gate is safe will be in for an ugly surprise. Arcane Gates, for all their power, are an open door. Ships fleeing pirates might find those pirates willing to chase them to the other side. The same is true for any other threats, from krakens to storms.

Once the Navigator has seen the ship safely through a gate, they’ll have to close it. This seems a simple task save for once open, an Arcane Gate doesn’t want to be closed. What most students of the Etherwave Arcana find surprising is that natural Arcane Gates are far easier to close than Navigator-created ones.

For a natural gate, a ship’s Navigator simply needs to Channel the Etherwave Arcana to tap the gate’s runes to close it. Most Navigators compare this to forming a magical key to turn in the gate’s lock. Once done, the Arcane Gate vanishes in the same way it appeared, with bolts of emerald lightning. Unless another Navigator opens it up again.

A Navigator made gate? Well, that’s a beast of a whole other shade…
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

A Mighty Tempest

Those gates appear in a flash of lightning and look similar to a natural Arcane Gate, complete with knotwork and ethereal images of myth. But these gates are wild and untamed. A Navigator has to guide the ship through, but also keep control over a magical creation that fights against being tamed. If they fail, all manner of disaster could claim the Navigator and their crew.

Most often, the gate simply slams shut with the ship partway through. The doomed vessel is split in two with pieces, and crew, scattered across the far corners of the globe. Other tales tell of tossing a ship to some unknown place on Earth or the shattered remains of Otherworld. Worst are the rare tales of a wild Arcane Gate trapping a ship and crew partway between reality and the Etherwave Arcana. Ghosts to wander the worlds, cursed by some mysterious entity from within the Etherwave itself.

We call those ‘phantom sails’. If you’re smart, you’ll steer clear of them…
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

After they reach the other side, Navigators close these temporary gates just as they do natural ones. They have to Channel the Arcana through mystic gestures designed to close an Arcane Gate. Once that gate closes, it closes forever, until the Navigator has recovered enough to open a new one.

The only exception is if the Navigator loses control over their gate and it throws Navigator and ship elsewhere. That’s when the real threat appears.

The Jaws of Hell

Arcane Gates that break free of a Navigator are a danger to ships, crews and coastlines. They are a mystical storm of mythic proportions, often forming a hurricane around themselves before they charge toward land, thirsty for destruction. Some consider them a mystical beast a thousand times worse than the most bloody-minded kraken. Nature itself unleashed at her worst.

But the Arcane Gates can’t exist on land, as for unknown reasons they need the oceans. That doesn’t stop them from their deadly rampage. Many have carved a lethal path inland ripping through forests and erasing entire towns. Until, at last, both magic and storm exhausts itself, then fades to nothing.

To counter this, a special guild of Navigators called the Stormchaser Guild hunt these rogue gates. Considered both fools and brave by others, these Navigators chase the rogue gates and try to tame, then close them before they strike land. Undaunted, Stormchaser Navigators take their duty seriously. Even though, they know their chosen profession may one day take their life to save others.

It’s a dance of wind, wave, and magic. We Navigators weave portals between the lands of living and unseen, all to guide a ship around the world in seconds. Maybe even to a broken part of Otherworld, if you’re just plain fool enough to try.
- Lyrandar Starwhisper, Navigator of the Sea Path

To Channel An Arcane Gate

A Navigator Channels a gate much like a Wavebinder Channels the Etherwave for a spell. Only an Arcane Gate is a much larger spell, if not perhaps a living thing on its own. Like a spell, Channeling a gate has a cost.

Where a Wavebinder’s spell cost is taken from their own body or an item they carry for that purpose, a Navigator and their portal platform pay the cost to create, control, and close an Arcane Gate. It wears on the Navigator and their portal, just as a spell wears down a Wavebinder. Once the Channeling is complete, the Navigator will be exhausted and will need to rest. Provided they don’t have a potion, lotion, or other means to recover quickly.

It bears repeating that while many might have the knack, skill, or natural talent to Channel, only a Navigator can create or use an Arcane Gate. It takes skill and the sense of the wind, water and more to feel the flow of the Etherwave Arcana interacting with Mother Nature herself.

For normal situations, Channeling to open an Arcane Gate would only cost a Navigator 1 to 2 stress. This is the strain of concentration to harness the mix of Etherwave Arcana and primal natural forces to make a gate. This changes if the conditions become more challenging.

If in combat, during a storm, or traveling through a treacherous area, the cost goes up. Here the stress cost would be 2 to 3 points. This is just to reflect how much harder it would be for the Navigator to concentrate and maintain control.

Critical situations drive the cost even higher. If the Navigator has to help the crew make an emergency escape, or even if they have to close a rogue Arcane Gate, the stress cost would be 3 to 4 points. A serious mental and physical toll on the Navigator.

Naturally, a Navigator might feel the need to push themselves to open a larger than normal gate, or hold a gate open longer than it takes for a single ship to pass through. Perhaps the Navigator is trying to pilot the ship through a gate to a rarely visited, dangerous location, such as a rumored fragment of Otherworld. That alone can cost a further amount of 2 or 3 stress points at the Game Master’s discretion.

Failure, of course, is always an option. If a Navigator fails to Channel an Arcane Gate, there will be consequences. This could be as simple as an additional 1 to 2 stress cost because of the backlash of power from the Etherwave Arcana. Perhaps even the portal platform had a hidden flaw, which means it cracked and has to be repaired. In the worst cases, a Navigator might become Cursed, Haunted, or other appropriate Scar.

To recover from this stress, a Navigator will need to rest. This could be through downtime, help from their crewmates, or even using special abilities or items.

- Kummer Wolfe

Creature Feature: Wood Wraith

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 16 Jun 2024 06:27:34 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into another Creature Feature! A type of wraith called a Wood Wraith! (I swear this is the last one!)

Wood Wraith

Face off against a wood wraith? I’d rather lick a shark. That’s a whole lot safer…
- Eleanor Vane, Captain of the Wind Eagle

Last of the all wraiths are the ones least understood, most rare, and utterly lethal of any undead creature that stalks the living. Otherworld myths describe these fiends as lurking dryads of death wandering dense jungles, forests, or other wooded wonderlands. They claim those primeval places hold a dark, corrupt power that delights in raising these foul monsters to torment the living.

Nothing could be more wrong.

Splintered Origins

Truth is often stranger than fiction… and twice as deadly. Wood wraiths aren’t an exception.
- Eleanor Vane, Captain of the Wind Eagle

There is nothing woodland or fantastically floral about their origins. Instead, a wood wraith is born from a terrible tragedy. Those final moments when a dying person is caught inside a ship while it collapses around them.

It could be when a ship shatters against a reef, or when it sinks below the waves, dying from cannon fire. At that moment, the victim’s spirit is snatched from the cold sea by what some say are the death throes of the ship itself. If these dark rumors are true, the person and dying ship merge into a single creature driven by the fury of cold, seething revenge.

A human-sized horror that hunts down any person responsible for their death. If not them, then anyone related to them. These creatures are methodical destruction made of bone and weathered wood, sewn together by the angry shreds of a tormented soul and a lost ship.

Deceptively Frail, Yet Fatal

Wood wraiths resemble the person they were in life like any wraith, even if they are a vicious undead mockery of that memory. Their skin is worn, weathered, and gray like a battered piece of driftwood. It even feels like frayed wood laced with rot. Permanently damp hair, layered and dark, frames a face like a gaunt wooden skull that holds eyes burning like orange coals in a forge.

These murderous monsters look as fragile as they are terrifying. Bedraggled and withered, they often look like nothing more than a wooden skeleton in a ruined long coat. This, like the wraith’s ability for enchanted disguise, is a lure to catch the overconfident and unprepared off guard.

It doesn’t matter how frail they look. A wood wraith is the most durable of all its kin. Their rough skin, thick with the fragments of old ship timbers, gives them a natural armor against physical and some magical harm. Almost any wound they take will heal back, given enough time. But if time isn’t on their side, they have a way to tilt those odds in their favor.

Wood wraiths can regenerate wounds or even lost limbs in seconds if they can touch a living tree or plant. The moment they do, the wraith siphons all life out of the plant, which renews the wraith but dries out the tree or bush until it crumbles.

If a tree or bush isn’t available, a wood wraith can make do with people to fuel their healing. Once they latch onto a victim, the wraith will heal in minutes instead of seconds while the person’s life drains away. That is, provided the wraith’s victim of choice isn’t able to escape.

A Sinister Sort of Scepter

The wood wraith’s summoned weapon isn’t a sword or any type of blade. Instead, it will appear as a simple wooden quarterstaff. But first looks can be deceiving. They often use it as a walking stick, so it’s never out of reach. But while it looks rotten, this wraith-bound weapon is nothing close to fragile. Instead, it’s as hard as steel, fused with undead energies from the Etherwave Arcana.

It’s a cursed weapon, as dark as a moonless night, wrapped in stained brown canvas with dried leather along the middle. Some legends say those wrappings are the ragged remains of sails and trim from the dead ship that gave the wraith unlife. At either end of the weapon, jagged flecks and scales decorate the staff in a chaotic mess. These finger-length bits of ivory bone lie dormant until the staff is used in a fight. At that moment, they come alive with a blue-white flame that burns as hot as a funeral pyre.

Once that staff strikes any target, the blue-white flams explode in a shower of corpse light sparks that singe anything close at hand. The fire itself doesn’t burn, but instead instantly petrifies what it touches. An agonizing condition for a living victim, but one that can be treated by a healer armed with the right potions or skilled in the Etherwave Arcana.

The wraith-bound curse on the staff is quite lethal. Able to transform any foolish mortal into a wood wraith in seven painful days, unless the weapon is destroyed. Breaking this staff takes more than just fire or hammer, but it can be done. To destroy it, the staff must be slowly covered in boiling tar, then left outside where the cool moonlight will dissolve it to dust.

Dark Twist of Wood

A wood wraith’s touch is no less lethal than their weapon. These creatures can, when they need to, drain the life out of the living. A terrifying take on the legendary vampire, but with a wooden twist.

Unlike the typical wraith, these undead predators have retractable wooden claws. They’re deadly in combat, not unlike a dagger, but wood wraiths prefer to sink them into a victim to hold them still. Once caught, those claws are the way a wood wraith drains a person’s life force. When the wraith has finished, they leave behind the ruined person, now transformed into a rotten, petrified statue of wood.

Draining a victim of their life isn’t quick work for a wraith. It takes several seconds, if not a minute. If the victim breaks free on their own or with help, they’re still in mortal danger. Each cut or stab of the wraith’s claws can inject a necrotic poison. This poison, if left untreated, will petrify a victim after seven agonizing days.

The only known cures for the wraith’s drain or poison are healers with a certain potion or skills in the Etherwave Arcana. A potion of jasmine tea mixed with enchanted honey, lemon and yak’s milk can neutralize the wood wraith’s venom in seconds. Also, the necrotic poison and even the life drain can be healed by a wood wraith, but only for a dark bargain.

Burning Proposition

Sunlight is the worst enemy of a wood wraith. If caught in the sun, they don’t burn but are petrified in seconds. They are transformed into a nightmarish statue of bone and wood that crumbles to a pile of smoldering dust at a touch. But sunlight isn’t the only weakness of these cryptic creatures.

Potions and lotions made from pitch and enchanted honey will act like burning oil on a wood wraith. Potions can be tossed on the wraith, but lotions coated on a sword or staff deliver the same searing result. The mixture makes the creature’s skin burst into white-hot flames where touched. If at least half the undead horror is soaked with this mixture, the entire wraith explodes into white, bright flames that burn the wraith down in seconds into a smoking ruin.

Lethal Loners

Wood wraiths typically shun settlements, keeping their lairs hidden along wooded cliffs or in the beached wrecks of dead ships. If they visit a town, it’s at night while disguised after the sun sets and only for a specific reason. That’s often either to chase down a thief who stole from them, or hunt the people responsible for their initial death. But on rare occasions, they seek out sinking or beached ships and their wounded crews.

Once among the living, they weave enchanted disguises using their mystical aura. But despite the magic, their undead nature seeps through. Any living appearance they make is gaunt and thin. Skin pale and drawn, as if it’s someone who doesn’t see the sun often. Wood wraiths prefer plain clothing worn by the average tradesfolk or dockworker. A common, ordinary style that helps them blend into a city crowd, especially if they leave a trail of petrified statues in their wake.

Despite this list of mortal dangers, there are still some who try to track down a wood wraith’s lair. Some go to study the creatures, others to steal what valuables the wraith has taken from sunken ships. A rare few seek out the wood wraith to bargain with their life. Those last are folk who have heard the legends that wood wraiths contain the unique ability to cure any poison and even remove the wraith-bound curse from a victim. But those same legends make it quite clear that these creatures don’t do this out of compassion. There is a price for their help, and it may cost the person dearly, just not in a way they expect.

Nothing’s free. Their help always comes with a price. You take them up on it? Mark me now, it might cost you all you’re ever be.
- Morowen Waxbend, sea hag of Port Royal

Game Notes

Wood Wraith

Threat: 2

Suggested Complications

- Necrotic Poison. The wood wraith’s wooden claws drain life and energy from a victim with a single slice. Unless healed of the toxin, the victim is poisoned, suffering twice the stress than normal.

- A Little Give and Take. Suddenly, the wood wraith summons its necrotic powers of the Etherwave Arcana and heals the nearest wounded character. The character’s harm is healed, but wounds are now petrified or rotten wood, like the wraith’s skin. That character and the wraith are bound, so any harm on the wraith is shared by the character. Destroying the wraith, or performing one service for it, removes the bond.

- Wraith-Cursed. Blue-green flames from a wood-wraith’s staff petrifies where it hits a victim, leaving them poisoned with a portion of the wraith-curse. If the wraith or weapon isn't destroyed, or the victim cured during downtime, the curse runs its course. Which means the victim will petrify in seven days, crumble to dust, then rise the following night as a new wood wraith.

- Kummer Wolfe

Creature Feature: Soot Wraith

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 06:11:50 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into another Creature Feature! A type of wraith called a Sand Wraith!

Soot Wraith

They’re forgefire, rage, and brimstone with a sword…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

Where a salt wraith comes from rage and waves, the soot wraith is born screaming out of an inferno. A hot alloy of vengeful spirit melted into a primal elemental of fire that burst to unlife like a murderous, undead phoenix.

These wraiths are the most devious and daring of all. Similar to the sand wraith, they are most likely to have a hidden lair in a city or town. Soot wraiths often take on the disguise of a duelist, minor noble from another country, or well-off trade merchant. Often, the fashion they adopt is inspired by the culture of their past life.

A soot wraith’s love of finer things only equals their drive for murder and mayhem. A balance complicated by their hot temper. But older soot wraiths learn to stoke that fire of revenge, lashing out only when the time and place are right. Especially when there are no witnesses.

Soot wraiths will form some alliances with the living, but not as extensive as happens with a sand wraith. This acts like an extra layer to their disguise when their tempers get the better of them. Often these associates are a gang of thieves, pirates, or a small mercenary company known for their fighting skills.

But no matter their style, or what false life they wrap around themselves, they are bound to their nature. Their predatory ways and wraith’s chill hover around them and in their wake, like their trail of victims. Which is often their ultimate undoing.

Of Fire and Fury

A soot wraith’s natural form is a burning nightmare. Their eyes hold a blue-white flame that burns searing hot, while their body is a bronze-gray soot that conceals a semi-soft, molten core. When cut, they bleed, but it’s a molten liquid that will try to burn through anything but metal or stone.

Soot wraiths will heal from any wound given time. But the best bandage for them is touching warm soot, absorbing hot steam, or being caught in an open flame, even enchanted ones. That is one of, if not the most important, reasons many soot wraiths have a hidden lair near a blacksmith’s shop.

Appearance aside, soot wraiths have all the same abilities as other wraiths. Including, to the surprise of many, a wraith’s undead cold aura despite a soot wraith’s boiling blood. But there is one searing ability soot wraiths have that other wraith’s lack. For a few quick minutes, a soot wraith can make themselves temporarily insubstantial, magically turning themselves and anything they touch into boiling hot steam.

They pass around and over their attackers or any obstacle, scalding anything in their wake. It’s a fast way to avoid being attacked or even escape, while leaving their attacker blistered and battered behind them. This boiling ability is what many believe contributes to the legend that all wraiths are nothing more than violent ghosts.

Death’s Black Blade

A soot wraith’s cursed weapon is hard to miss. Unlike their corrupt kin, soot wraiths prefer to keep their summoned weapon with them at all times. It’s an essential piece of their ensemble and a bloody promise to the world.

The weapon is often a sword blade, such as a cutlass or similar sword. But it’s more common for them to summon a rapier to carry instead. No matter which kind, they carry it with pride and use with a lethal and dashing flair. The blade is midnight black, splattered with specks of deep, blood red that glow the same color once the weapon is drawn.

White-hot sparks erupt when the blade touches anything, searing hot embers that scald the target. The sword’s edge is razor sharp and will cut skin, leather, or similar material like paper. Any wound it makes is deeper than normal, but rarely causes bleeding. The intense heat from the black blade cauterized every wound it makes, which makes healing twice as difficult.

Unearthly durable, the curse is wrapped through every fold of metal. They can’t simply be broken, but have to be melted down under the light of a cold, full moon. After that, the molten metal is poured into a pool of salt water to destroy the curse forever. This will also lift the curse from anyone foolish enough to claim the wraith-bound blade. Otherwise, the victim will explode to burning unlife as a new soot wraith after seven days of painful, overheated agony.

Embrace of Flame

Their touch can burn to the bone…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

A soot wraith’s touch is as hot as molten metal, able to burn even a grimling with that searing heat. Just a brush of their fingers puts blisters to skin, painful wounds that spread the wraith’s steaming dark rot into their victim a piece at a time. Given time, and enough wraith-blisters, it will destroy a victim, which could cause them to erupt like a bonfire as a new soot wraith.

These wounds can be lethal, but are curable. Boiling blisters from a soot wraith can be magically healed, depending on the healer’s skill with the Etherwave Arcana. They can also be treated through more alchemical means. Potions and salves made of salt, orange blossom mead, mixed with ground marigolds close the steaming wounds and help them heal quickly.

Blinded By The Light

Sunlight can disable or destroy most wraiths, save for a few like a soot wraith. For them it’s an inconvenience, an ever present irritation. It won’t destroy a soot wraith, but being caught in the sun can indirectly lead to their destruction. Sunlight temporarily robs soot wraiths of their unique and deadly powers.

But while the sun steals their burning abilities, it doesn’t take their skill. All soot wraiths are skilled duelists and practice daily. Anyone trying to challenge a soot wraith to a sword fight will easily find themselves in a desperate, if not lethal, situation. Especially since, while they have dark undead powers, a soot wraith prefers a duel of blades over magical abilities any day.

Sunlight isn’t their only weakness. True to their wraith nature, they have an alchemical weakness as well. Potions made of fresh boiled water, smoked salt using an enchanted flame, and honey soap are the bane of any soot wraith. Any part of a soot wraith hit with this elixir will bubble and dissolve like a warm paste. If hit with enough of the mixture, a soot wraith will melt screaming in pain until it’s nothing more than a gray slime paste.

Game Notes

Soot Wraith

Threat: 3

Suggested Complications

- Scalding Surprise. The soot wraith bursts into a hot blast of steam, then surrounds a victim for a second before appearing behind them. Their target is now scalded, but also in a desperate situation. Damp soot is smeared across their equipment and clogs the inner workings of clockwork based devices. Open flames or lights, such as oil lanterns, are snuffed out from the passing steam.

- Hot Stuff. If a soot wraith is cut, the fiend’s molten blood splashes on a nearby opponent, burning a hole through armor or clothes, causing immediate harm. If the soot wraith touches a victim, this would be the same complication.

- Wraith-Cursed. A burning cut slices deep through skin, infecting a victim with a wraith-curse. The victim overheats easily, with a faint curl of smoke rising out of their mouth. If the wraith or weapon isn't destroyed, or the victim cured during downtime, the victim will explode on the seventh day into a cloud of soot, then rise as a new soot wraith the following night.

- Kummer Wolfe

Creature Feature: Sand Wraith

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 26 May 2024 05:01:14 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into another Creature Feature! A type of wraith called a Sand Wraith!

Sand Wraith

Never bargain with a sand wraith. If you play their game, you’re betting with your life…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

The sinister sand wraith is another type of wraith that plagues the world. Sand wraiths are an uncommon undead, encountered far less than their soot or salt kin. Of all the wraiths, these are far more insidious, intelligent, and diabolical than their brutal cousins. A quality that has attracted more than one Engineer or Wavebinder to track down a sand wraith just to strike a deadly deal.

Sand wraiths are born from tortured souls that died in arid places like desolate islands or the deep deserts of the world. On the brink of death, the merciless sand claims those poor, unfortunate souls. Swallowed whole, the victims are mummified and molded with corrupted earth. After a full day and night, they rise a scheming creature of rage and unliving sand. No one knows why this happens, only that it does and the shifting sands refuse to say anything on the matter.

Death Dealers

They’re motivated by revenge and even pain, but aren’t controlled by either. Instead, sand wraiths follow a different path. Methodical, consummate planners, sand wraiths avoid the violent, often unpredictable, outbursts of their deadly cousins. Not that sand wraiths aren’t bound to their vengeance like any other wraith. In fact, they are.

This type of wraith follows close to the saying that revenge is a dish best served cold, or in their case, it would be ‘cold and dry’. Sand wraiths are patient predators, willing to make any bargain that helps them reach their goals. Bargains that are often more deadly for anyone other than the wraith.

Even though they are solitary spirits of revenge, their lairs are often in or near towns. They use their natural instincts for planning and scheming to their advantage, posing as local merchants or advisers. They go to great lengths to conceal themselves, using their aura and disguise, they wear loose-fitting, comfortable clothing that is shades of earth tones. Nothing that would stand out too quickly in a person’s memory. In addition, sand wraiths often build alliances through bargains, building up a protective ‘disguise’ of living associates that helps hide the wraith’s true nature.

A Dry and Desolate View

In their natural form, these are dry and withered creatures. Like a mummy that’s mystically merged with shifting, living sand. A sand wraith’s skin occasionally ripples as the sand moves on its own. Multicolored bands of soil drift along their skin like wandering tattoos. But this sand isn’t just for looks or simply a connection to the darker side of the Etherwave Arcana. It does much more.

This enchanted sand allows them to withstand more punishment than any other wraith. It acts like a natural armor, proof against weapons, enchantments, and most threats. But it's not indestructible. This natural protection can be broken down, which means the wraith can and will bleed.

Each wound chips away at their living sand ‘armor’, which makes them bleed a gravedust-like sand. Sand wraiths can heal any of these wounds, given time and rest. If they have any sand nearby, such as from a desert, beach, or similar, they can regenerate in minutes or seconds. It all depends on how badly they are hurt. It’s for this reason that sand wraiths keep a supply of sand in their lairs for such a healing emergency.

Deadly with a Dire Blade

They are as quick as the shifting sands they’re made from…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

These creatures are known for their movement and agility in a fight. Nimble and quick, they prefer weapons that complement their natural agility. Most sand wraiths prefer a saber, katana, or even a weighted chain where one end comes to a sharp spear point. These weapons look as if made from a dark iron with flecks of gold scattered through the metal. But that precious gold is fake, nothing more than “fool’s gold” since anyone that steals it is transformed into a sand wraith after seven days and nights.

When used, a sand-like dust hovers around the weapon at all times. A persistent, lightly enchanted cloud that carries the wraith’s undead chill. Each hit or cut from this weapon sends a crippling stab of icy cold through the victim. As the cold subsides, the wound, and the surrounding skin, are consumed by a dark, mummified rot. It’s a deadly infection, but it can be cured through skill with the Etherwave Arcana or a mixture of fresh water, clove oil, and honey.

Once the wraith is destroyed, their weapon will survive. This wraith-bound relic will withstand almost any punishment to break it. Once recovered, it may be destroyed by submerging the weapon in a mixture of honey and wine under a full moon, leaving it undisturbed for seven hours. After that, it will have melted into a sand-like sludge. But, if not broken, anyone who claims it will be condemned to the unliving sands as a new sand wraith.

Withering Fate

But that cursed weapon isn’t the only tool in their arsenal. A sand wraith also has a toxic touch. These formidable fiends can, at will, can mummify any part of a living creature they touch, creating a brittle, agonizing wound. It slowly drains the victim of energy, eventually taking their life. But these painful wounds aren’t permanent. They can be healed through power from Etherwave Arcana or using a sticky mixture of honey, wine, and water applied to the wound. No matter how this healing is done, the wounded victim must rest a full day before they can completely recover.

They’ve got cursed weapons and an even worse touch, but it isn’t the nastiest trick up their withered sleeve. It’s just the obvious ones…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

A Cutting Wit

It isn’t unheard of for a sand wraith to challenge an opponent to a game of chance, such as cards and dice, or a game of skill such as chess. A duel of wits instead of one with bloodshed and swords. Only here, a loser doesn’t always lose their life but instead owes a favor. Sand wraiths always pay their debt, and if the winner, they always collect one way or the other, often leaving a trail of victims in their wake.

These scheming masterminds are infamous for keeping to the letter, if not creative interpretation, of an agreement. A trait that has led many to wonder if sand wraiths have some connection to the legendary djinn. So far, no sand wraith has ever confirmed or denied this rumor.

Standing out from the Undead Crowd

Sand wraiths are like other wraiths in many ways, such as a shared weakness to sunlight. But even with those common traits, they stand out from the rest of their undead kin. In particular, if caught out in the sun, sand wraiths aren’t destroyed. Instead, they temporarily lose their enchanted aura, abilities and the connection to the necrotic powers that fuel them. But they aren’t helpless, since they still have their diabolical minds and cursed weaponry.

Destroying a sand wraith is a tricky affair. They can be broken apart using physical attacks such as swords or the like. Spells channeled from the Etherwave Arcana are especially effective. But the most efficient way to destroy a sand wraith is to use a special mixture of fresh water, clove oil, and enchanted honey.

This elixir is like acid to a sand wraith, burning into their undead hide while turning whatever the potion touches into a harmless, dust-like powder. It’s a sand wraith’s greatest vulnerability that strikes fear into their shriveled heart. They can smell it from yards away, and often attack, or at least confront, anyone carrying it.

But these aren’t the only way a sand wraith differs from its undead kind. Wraiths are hunters, predators of the living. But as mentioned before, sand wraiths are schemers, planners, and masterminds. This is reflected in what they treasure most. Where some wraiths collect weapons, items and more, a sand wraith collects knowledge. For a sand wraith, it’s more precious than delicious revenge against the person who first condemned them to their undead existence.

This could be books on how to manipulate the Etherwave Arcana. But it also extends to other topics, from lost maps, puzzles, and other esoteric lore. It isn’t unheard of for a desperate academic or scholar to employ Privateers to track down a sand wraith. All for the chance to ask questions and learn what the fiend knows and collected. Provided they can survive the bargain or price the sand wraith requires.

A sand wraith’s lair is both a death trap and a grand library. It’s the legendary dragon’s hoard, provided the treasure you’re looking for is books, scrolls, or lost maps. Just be sure you can pay the price to see them…
- Lysander Riverwind, Navigator and cartographer for the Royal Institute of Otherworld Studies

Game Notes

Sand Wraith

Threat: 3

Suggested Complications

- Sandy Reception. The dust and sand cloud from around the wraith’s weapon billows up to blind the victim for a moment, putting them in a desperate position where they are vulnerable.

- Wraith-Cursed. Even a small cut or simple wound from the sand wraith’s weapon cuts too deep. This infects a victim with a portion of the wraith-curse into the target. If the wraith or weapon isn't destroyed, or the victim cured during downtime, the victim will die on the seventh day, wither to dust, then rise as a sand wraith.

- Relative Relations. Where there was one wraith, there are two! Using its unliving sand, the wraith has made a duplicate of itself. This is a near-perfect duplicate. While it lacks the wraith-bound weapon or toxic touch, it has a rock hard punch and can take as much damage as the original wraith.

If in combat, it will haunt the wraith’s chosen target until they are unconscious. But if someone makes a deal, this talkative undead doppelganger is bound to that person, haunting them until they satisfy the bargain with the sand wraith. The doppelganger will help, or not, the person as necessary, provided the wraith-bound person is trying to fulfill the bargain.

- Kummer Wolfe

Creature Feature: Salt Wraith

Kummer Wolfe — Sun, 19 May 2024 06:06:58 GMT

So, with that said, lets get into another Creature Feature! A type of wraith called a Salt Wraith!

Salt Wraith

The most common of all wraiths is the ‘salt wraith’, but other than what the name suggests, they aren’t made of salt. Instead, salt wraiths are born from a person lost or murdered at sea. At the moment of their death, the ocean herself reaches out for the victim’s ghost, claiming it as her own. There, the wronged or murdered victim is raised as a corrosive combination of enchanted, brine-filled water and vengeful ghost. One that haunts the waterways, ships and more seeking victims to soothe its rage, unless it can find the person who wronged them in life.

Sea-Born But Unbound

Salt Wraiths are often found near or in salt water, where they draw the most strength. But that doesn’t mean they are helpless on land. When they travel on dry ground, they still have all their nefarious abilities. A salt wraith simply heals more slowly when hurt. If they reach salt water, they regenerate from wounds in seconds.

Like any wraith, they have a physical body, despite part of it being made of brine. In their natural form, they a ghostly, gaunt figure with flowing sea water visible below their blue-white transparent skin. Blue-white fire, like any wraith, burns hot in their eyes. A glow their aura can barely conceal.

A Burning Blade of Brine

This beast’s blade of choice is often a salt-encrusted rapier whose blade glimmers like a ghostly emerald in the twilight. Cursed to the metal core, its razor-sharp with a blue-green flame that runs the length. Where this wraith-bound weapon cuts, its flame flows and burns skin like a hot acid. If recovered, once the wraith is destroyed, the blade can only be destroyed by being thrown into the deep ocean under a full moon. Otherwise, its new owner will be condemned to be swallowed by the ocean as a new salt wraith.

Touch of Sweet Death

Like any of its kin, a salt wraith’s touch is as deadly as their blade. Salt wraiths can, when they choose, produce a sticky acid from their fingers. Thick like honey, and smells just as sweet, this deadly toxin will cling to a victim’s skin. Once there, it tries to burn through the victim’s skin to dissolve them away. It can’t be washed off with mere water, only a mixture of rum, wine, and soap will remove and make the sticky toxin harmless.

Sun Struck

But the beast isn’t without its flaws. If this wraith is caught in sunlight, it melts like soft, rancid butter on a hot day. But sunlight isn’t the only way to bring down this nightmare. Enchanted ice or fire, channeled from the Etherwave Arcana, will freeze or boil the creature in its tracks. Then there is the matter of a potion.

Clean, boiled water mixed with lime is acid to a salt wraith. Each splash that soaks it, melts the creature where it stands. Until, when doused enough, the salt wraith dissolves into a harmless, light green ichor.

Game Notes

Salt Wraith

Threat: 2

Suggested Complications

- Slimy and Not Satisfying. This wraith’s touch is a sticky acid that smells like warm honey. This could burn a victim, but it could land on the victim’s weapon or equipment. Gears become clogged, firearms will jam, and hand held weapons are too painful to touch. None of it will be useful until cleaned.

- Dash of Salt. In a flash, the salt wraith splashes corrosive spray of brine at a victim, temporarily blinding them, putting them in a desperate position where they can only defend, not attack.

- Wraith-Cursed. The simple slice of the salt wraith’s sword cut too deep, releasing a portion of the wraith-curse into the target. If the wraith or weapon isn't destroyed, or the victim cured during downtime, the victim will dissolve on the seventh day, then rise as a salt wraith the following night.

- Kummer Wolfe