Friday, June 07, 2013

World of Samardan: Five Lairs...

Good Afternoon, All:

In reviewing my list of activities in order to build the World of Samardan campaign setting, I realize that I've totally skipped the step in which I create some lairs to sprinkle about the countryside. With that in mind, I think I'll offer some examples over the next few posts, to help with beefing the setting up with lots of adventure ideas and opportunities. If some of the examples I use seem somewhat familiar, you should know that I am basing some of these lairs on stories from the Planetary Romance genre.

(Hex) Airship Wreckage

A large pride of hatagati have claimed the wreckage of a shattered airship as their lair. The cargo hold contains several crates of rotted medicinal herbs and the skeleton of the unfortunate pilot. A crystal pistol and a spare power crystal still hang from the pilot's harness.

(Hex) Crater of the Star Creatures

Several seasons back, a star fell from the sky, leaving a great crater behind upon impact. Since then, strange mutant creatures began hunting in this region, apparently lairing in or near the crater itself. These bizarre tarfarkati ("star"+"alien/aberration" + "carnivore") frequently threaten nearby settlements, and these villages are often too small to adequately defend themselves from the bestial hordes.

(Hex) Fungal Forest

A small copse of giant mushrooms fill a small depression in the wastelands, protected somewhat from the winds above. An isolated band of Varrani ("leaf+men") warriors have claimed this site as their own, and will fiercely defend it from all intruders. When water becomes scarce, the Varrani warriors will raid nearby settlements for the precious liquid.

(Hex) Shrine of the Sun

This ruined building standing alone on a hillock is honored by local Husrani tribes as a shrine devoted to the sun. Offerings of food and other consumables are left here by the tribes. A human hermit hides within a secret chamber inside the ruins, stealing the offerings at night and leaving behind cryptic pictographs as omens. A growing cult of sun-worshipping warrior-priests has started to interpret the omens left behind, and their spiritual leader, Sen Devakusan, advocates a holy war against non-believers.

(Hex) Tamasol, Independent Citadel

Pansanu Luso Fortahen once held the citadel of Tamasol as an outpost of distant Torkobalem. After his son died as a soldier in Torkobalem's armies, Pansanu Luso Fortahen announced that he could no longer support the tyranny of Raganu Pekadevi Rekatur, and declared the citadel independent of Torkobalem's rule. The Pansanu of Tamasol continues to fortify his position in preparation for Raganu Pekadevi Rekatur's eventual response to the citadel's secession from the Empire.

Standard Disclaimer: As I have not yet decided where to set these particular lairs on the map as yet, I've left a placeholder to remind me to come back to this in the future. Later on, I'll replace (Hex) with the actual hex location, when I put all of this together into a single document.

Enjoy,
Flynn

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