Numenera Liminal Shore by Monte Cook [PDF]

Zitiervorschau

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TM

LIMINAL SHORE

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CREDITS Designers Creative Director Managing Editor Editor/Proofreader Art Director Cover Artist

Bruce R. Cordell and Sean K. Reynolds Monte Cook Shanna Germain Ray Vallese Bear Weiter Federico Musetti

Cartographer Hugo Solis Artists Bethany Berg, Biagio D’Alessandro, Sarah Dahlinger, Michele Giorgi, Doruk Golcu, Inkognit, Raph Lomotan, Federico Musetti, Grzegorz Pedrycz, Angelo Peluso, Audre ‘Charamath’ Schutte, Matt Stawicki, Chris Waller, Kirsten Zirngibl

© 2020 Monte Cook Games, LLC. NUMENERA and its logo are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Printed in Canada

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 4

PART 1: OMNIPRESENT LIFE

5

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Liminal Shore Chapter 2: Biomechanics of the Liminal Shore Chapter 3: Living Landforms and Objects

6 10 23

PART 2: THE SETTING

33

Chapter 4: Reaching the Liminal Shore Chapter 5: Living on the Liminal Shore Chapter 6: The Skin Chapter 7: The Underhunger

34 38 43 65

PART 3: THE NUMENERA

85

Chapter 8: Cyphers Chapter 9: Artifacts

86 96

PART 4: CREATURES OF THE LIMINAL SHORE

107

Chapter 10: Creatures Chapter 11: Other Species

108 133

PART 5: ADVENTURES

139

Chapter 12: Unusual Vitality Chapter 13: Pieces of My Heart

140 153

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INTRODUCTION

Wax Sea, page 51 Living landforms, page 23 Luminiferous Delion, page 26 Kai, page 10

Tasm, page 10

Liminal sail, page 102

Second, the Liminal The human brain is Shore is not land; it’s wired to appreciate It’s alive! alive. The entire world, novelty. It lights from the ocean itself up (i.e., releases (known as the Wax Sea) to the continents dopamine) when we encounter something made of living landforms, even to the new, assuming it comes in a measured tower-like growths tall enough to touch the dose. Which is why reading about a brand-new place can be a road to excitement. sky (called luminiferous delions). It’s all alive! All stitched together and interconnected You can experience unfamiliar places by through kai, the tangible life force unique to exploring them from the safety of the the Liminal Shore. And everyone who comes written page. to the Liminal Shore, sooner or later, wakes Unfamiliar—and mysterious—places to their own connection to life through a like the Liminal Shore. People of the Ninth symbiote (called a tasm). The Liminal Shore World have heard of another region, calling demands it. And when a living thing the size it a “liminal shore” because they’re not of a planet focuses its attention on you, it quite sure where it’s located or what they’ll gets its way. find there. Though it’s theorized to be So, welcome to the Liminal Shore. And another continent, most who sail west into be ready to welcome, in turn, your new the Sea of Secrets find nothing. Just more symbiote. Are you going to name it? That’s ocean. A few, however, achieve landfall. up to you. They credit their feats of navigation to clues found in the datasphere. But successful passages to the Liminal Shore are rare enough that many questions remain. What new people live there? What Numenera Discovery Numenera Destiny wonders do they command? Do they know Throughout this book, you’ll see page more about the mysterious prior worlds references to various items accompanied than the Order of Truth does? Do they have by these two symbols. These are page cyphers and artifacts never before seen by references to Numenera Discovery and anyone from the Steadfast or the Beyond? Numenera Destiny, respectively, where Unfortunately, all these questions start with you can find additional details about two assumptions that are just plain wrong. that rule, ability, creature, or concept. First, the Liminal Shore is not part of Often, it will be necessary to look up the same world that holds the Steadfast the reference to find information you and the Beyond. Simply sailing every inch need. Other times, it’s not necessary, of the wide ocean will never succeed in but looking it up can deepen your finding it. Not unless, that is, you possess a experience and understanding of the special liminal sail or similar artifact able to game and the setting. transcribe you through the new “land.”

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PART 1:

OMNIPRESENT LIFE

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Liminal Shore Chapter 2: Biomechanics of the Liminal Shore Chapter 3: Living Landforms and Objects

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6 10 23

CHAPTER 1

WELCOME TO THE LIMINAL SHORE The vast majority of worlds are dead, having never hosted life of any sort, or long ago losing their biosphere due to an aging sun, ecological disaster, or strife. Much rarer are those worlds that support organic evolution, often in the form of tiny wiggling organisms hardly visible without a device for seeing very tiny things, or as vast mats of floating algae-like growth across cold lakes and oceans. A relative handful—the true gems of existence—are worlds that host verdant expanses of plants, a wealth of animals, and a robust ecosystem. But even these life-rich places are as nothing when compared to the Liminal Shore.

TRUE NATURE OF THE LIMINAL SHORE

Chapter 4: Reaching the Liminal Shore, page 34 Chapter 12: Unusual Vitality, page 140

The underlying truth of the Liminal Shore is best revealed to players in steps, like peeling away layers of an onion. But as the GM, you need to know all the relevant information up front. The Liminal Shore is not just another continent of the Ninth World, but a whole other world. A whole other world that is fully and completely alive, from the edge of the atmosphere all the way down to its core. Except that it’s even more complicated than that; the Liminal Shore is also a fully, perfectly simulated world in the datasphere. This chapter, chapter 4, and the adventure “Unusual Vitality” in chapter 12 are structured to help guide you and your campaign to naturally achieve these revelations, in the order described under Introducing Your Players to the Liminal Shore in Stages.

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INTRODUCING YOUR PLAYERS TO THE LIMINAL SHORE IN STAGES You can enhance your players’ enjoyment and excitement about discovering the Liminal Shore by introducing the location in a series of smaller disclosures, where each revelation is significant and exciting all by itself. Essentially, the progression should be as follows, from the PCs’ perspective: 1. How amazing—there’s a whole other continent out here! 2. Can you believe it? This entire continent is alive! 3. Amber Pope preserve me, this isn’t just another land; it’s a whole other world! 4. Wait. Is this a world at all? It’s simulated in the datasphere. What does that even mean?

THE LIMINAL SHORE DISCOVERED About a hundred years ago, explorers discovered what was thought to be a new physical part of the Ninth World unknown to the people of the Steadfast. A whole new continent! A part of the world never influenced by the Order of Truth, with no common language to unify the creatures (including some humans), no formal religious interest in the numenera to elevate and direct their civilization, and no Amber Pope to force tyrants to get along. Today, people still come across the Liminal Shore in the same way, finding their

WELCOME TO THE LIMINAL SHORE

The place is alive. By alive, we don’t merely mean that it has abundant flora and fauna. We mean that the entire world is a breathing, living creature. And all the many beasts, plants, and peoples that inhabit it are connected to everything else through a field of pure life called kai, whether they like it or not. ~Excerpt from Exploring the Liminal Shore, Amber Gleaner archives, Glavis

way to the outpost of Anepus. Explorers called this strange new land the “Liminal Shore” due to how difficult it was to find. And so it’s still called today, at least by those who venture there from the Steadfast using one of several methods for reaching the Liminal Shore. In particular, while perusing chapter 4, refer to the sections about reasons to go to the Liminal Shore and first encounters on the Liminal Shore.

THE LIMINAL SHORE IS ALIVE The Liminal Shore is an interconnected organism, all of it alive. Elaborate growths cling to the surface, in all shapes and sizes, some very much like regular plants and animals, and others as vast as mountains, reaching high into the stratosphere. These protrude from the land’s spongy upper dermal layers, which cover several layers of weird vesicles, strange subterranean organs, sedimentary tissue, and so on down. If an explorer descended all the way, they’d find a condensed metal-bone core suffused with magma-hot blood (or so it’s hypothesized). The Liminal Shore is more than merely alive. Its life force is a vital energy known as kai that is everywhere. The land maintains a direct connection with every creature that lives on it or within its flesh. That connection, when maintained in a healthy fashion, is symbiotic. Kai flows both ways, benefiting both the individual organism and the land. A physical manifestation of this symbiosis is often visible, whether as an additional growth or as a pet-sized symbiote (known as a tasm) that is never far from its host creature. However, situations can arise where a symbiotic connection turns parasitic, either for the land or for the organism connected to it. If this goes on too long, a

blight forms—a malignant mobile growth with dangerous properties that’s hard to kill and, worse, has the capacity to spread. Blights spread slowly at first. Usually, an outbreak of blight is dealt with by natural defenses that arise from the land itself. But if unchecked, blights increase in virulence, and the aid of nearby creatures (who are also symbiotically connected to the land) is required to bring an end to the threat. Landscapes of the Liminal Shore are, not surprisingly, also alive. The grasslands, forests, and other wide regions of vegetation are obviously so. Less apparent is the fact that large bodies of what seems like water are actually composed of a gel of living tissue. Great ramparts that resemble pitted mountains are in fact bony spurs of huge organs that weave up into the air and then back down to a larger series of organs deep underground. Magnificent towers and superstructures of many sorts rise up, some so high they touch the edge of the void, including the magnificent—and sometimes dangerous—luminiferous delions. Flying creatures, some of which are truly colossal, pass over the surface in great streams. Several living cities crawl, float, or fly across the landscape; many of these are inhabited, though some are mere shells, still moving but stricken with blight. As PCs are first introduced to the Liminal Shore in any number of locations (such as Anepus), they’ll discover that their non-living equipment and possessions are something of a novelty. But soon enough, as the land notices their arrival, the PCs must decide whether they want to make a connection, as described under Obtaining a Tasm.

Anepus, page 44 Blight, page 29

Steadfast, page 136 Chapter 4: Reaching the Liminal Shore, page 34 Why Go to the Liminal Shore?, page 36 First Encounters on the Liminal Shore, page 37

Luminiferous Delion, page 26

Kai, page 10

Tasm, page 10 Obtaining a Tasm, page 10

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THE LIMINAL SHORE IS AN ENTIRE WORLD

The Head, page 43 The Skin, page 43 Chapter 3: Living Landforms and Objects, page 23 Chapter 10: Creatures, page 108 Trade ship Vindication, page 34 Chapter 7: The Underhunger, page 65

Sea of Secrets, page 166

Though the biggest surprise is that the land is alive, two additional twists await explorers. The first is that the Liminal Shore isn’t a previously unknown continent on the Ninth World, but an entirely separate world. This revelation turns out to be true despite the fact that the handful of ships crossing the Sea of Secrets that regularly reach this shore—such as the trade ship Vindication— believe they are simply sailing to a new continent west of the Steadfast. Newcomers to the Liminal Shore often come first to Anepus. While many people in Anepus know that they live on a world, it’s not something that comes up in normal day-to-day conversation, trade activities, or tracking down some issue or problem that can only be solved by reaching the Shore. For instance, as you go about your day in the real world, how many conversations do you have that begin with “And as you know, given that we are all living on a planet . . .” Which is why PCs are likely to spend several days or even longer dealing with other pressing issues, such as the nature of the living world itself and its effects on

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them, before they realize they’re not just on another land, but on a whole other world. That realization might finally come as they look to investigate further. They’ll eventually learn that one of the most important regions of the Liminal Shore includes the aboveground continent known as the Head, apparently just one of many on the Skin. Host to living landforms and creatures of all types, the Head is home to different peoples, many of them not even human. The other equally important and far larger region is the myriad tunnels, chambers, cavities, and interstitial spaces that lie under the surface. This darkling and rumbling land is known as the Underhunger. As PCs learn about the Skin, the Underhunger, and all the various peoples of the Liminal Shore, they may well finally come to realize the truth. Such realizations may come about initially through innocent means. For instance, if a PC makes any mention whatsoever of the moon, note that they haven’t seen it at all since they came to the Liminal Shore. If the PC mentions to an NPC that they haven’t seen the moon for a while, the NPC will respond with some variation of “What’s a moon?”

WELCOME TO THE LIMINAL SHORE

HOSTED BY THE DATASPHERE The final twist in store for explorers is something that not even most natives of the Liminal Shore know. And if they are shown evidence of it, it is something they would prefer not to believe. But the underlying reality of the situation is that the entire “living” world is actually a completely realistic simulation hosted by the datasphere. If PCs could find and enter the specific node in the datasphere that hosts the Liminal Shore, they’d see the globe of an entire world revolving in the night, glistening with illumination outlining continents, as well as super-structures that are actually living creatures so large that many reach into space. Flying creatures, which must be colossal to be visible at the same scale as the planet, pass over the surface in great streams. From a datasphere perspective, explorers in virtual forms could determine that the simulation contains billions of instances of different creatures and beings, all unaware that they are but simulated lives within a fake existence that has spun on for millions of years since it was last rebooted. Of course, from the perspective of every creature on the Liminal Shore, they live a fully realized and self-determined life. And indeed, they have just as much free will as any given creature in the Ninth World. In that sense, thinking of the Liminal Shore as a different dimension of existence may be the best way of conceptualizing the situation. Mechanically speaking, characters within the simulation inhabit a world that obeys most of the same rules of existence that the Ninth World does. In fact, the simulation is so perfect that any modifications that happen to a character while they are on the Liminal Shore are retained if and when they return to the Ninth World. For example, if a PC chooses to undergo a physiological adaptation to inorganic degradation that turns all their metal parts biological, their biological parts continue to function outside the Liminal Shore. Given the resources available to PCs, their outsider perspective, and their ability to gather knowledge beyond that of most others, the player characters may eventually

discover the truth of the simulation for themselves. The knowledge could give them an edge in an otherwise impossible situation, if only as a means to shock and distract a foe. If PCs begin to suspect that they are in a simulation, they could query the datasphere and learn the truth (gaining a complete understanding as described above is a level 8 understanding numenera task; it’s only a level 5 task to gain a “glimmer” of understanding). Alternatively, PCs might discover a way to transcribe themselves into the datasphere itself, becoming avatar-like dataforms able to travel at will through the ancient network. Doing so requires that the PCs find vertices, which are locations, installations, or devices with the ability to transcribe creatures and objects into and out of the datasphere. This book describes a few special-case vertices, unique because they directly transcribe PCs from the Ninth World into the simulation of the Liminal Shore, without requiring them to enter an intermediary datasphere space first. Such unique vertices include the artifact known as a liminal sail possessed by several ships able to make the journey, and explain why most people don’t realize the entire place is a simulation. In other cases, these special vertices are described as portals or rifts (such as the one on the Violet Plateau), since they rely on the datasphere merely as a bridge from the perspective of someone traveling through.

The datasphere hosts a handful of hyper-realistic simulations, often running forgotten and untended. Some are too alien to comprehend. The Liminal Shore is one that happens to have a few connections to the Ninth World. A node is a particular location in the datasphere.

Liminal sail, page 102

Violet Plateau, page 36

VOICES OF THE DATASPHERE The Numenera book Voices of the Datasphere details transcribing into the datasphere and exploring its regions, and you can read it to learn more about dataforms, nodes, vertices, and more. But you don’t need that book to use Liminal Shore. Because the simulation is essentially perfect, you can and should treat the places the PCs visit just like you’d treat the weird locations described in the Steadfast or the Beyond. The PCs may still learn that they’re inside a simulation, but that knowledge becomes just one more mind-bending revelation as they adventure in this new living land.

Physiological adaptation, page 11 Inorganic Degradation, page 10

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CHAPTER 2

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE

Tokens, page 40 Anepus, page 44

Chapter 4: Reaching the Liminal Shore, page 34

Tasm, page 10

The life force that pulses through every particle of the Liminal Shore is a vital energy known as kai. This chapter describes the nature of kai and symbiotes, and introduces additional rules for characters who venture to the Liminal Shore (which also hold true for characters native to the land).

KAI Like the word “energy,” kai is a term denoting a transfer of capability. Kai connects every creature on the Liminal Shore with the living world itself. That connection, when maintained in a healthy fashion, is symbiotic. Kai flows both ways, benefiting both the individual organism and the world. This connection is mediated by a symbiote, or as natives usually refer to the symbiote, a tasm. However, newcomers to the Liminal Shore discover another quality of kai that begins affecting them immediately, even before they gain a tasm: inorganic degradation.

INORGANIC DEGRADATION

Those who’ve lost their tasm and can’t gain a new one are known as the “parted,” and they are often shunned.

Unless specially shielded, nonliving matter on the Liminal Shore—including dead things, artificial creations like clothing and equipment from the Ninth World, and most devices, cyphers, and artifacts—is colonized and broken down by kai. It takes several days before the process gets started, so PCs who visit the Liminal Shore only briefly may not experience it. However, the process kicks in for characters who spend more than three days on the Liminal Shore. Once the degradation begins, each additional day a nonliving object remains on the

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Liminal Shore degrades it by one level. This becomes noticeable as clothing begins to show signs of stress, equipment shows cracks, and so on. PCs can learn how to stop this degradation before it gets started by investing in tokens, available in Anepus and from many of the traders who move back and forth between the Steadfast and the Liminal Shore (as described in chapter 4). When a degraded object’s level drops to 0, it is gone, either converted to a rich loam or simply dissipated through kai and other processes. For example, a level 2 pair of boots is gone about two days after the process starts, while a level 3 set of fine clothes finally tatters to nothing three days after the degradation begins (a total of about six days after the character comes to the Liminal Shore). Devices like cyphers and artifacts are affected the same way. Thus, after the three-day grace period, a level 6 cypher takes six days to be reduced to nothing after degradation begins, but before that moment, it can still be used, though its effect will be at its reduced level.

TASM (SYMBIOTE) Tasm is the name of the tiny creature that serves to mediate kai’s flow between the living land and an individual creature. Some creatures native to the land directly mediate the flow and don’t require a tasm. Others that once had a tasm may have lost theirs, and live a much more difficult life as a result. OBTAINING A TASM Most creatures born in the Liminal Shore are accompanied by a tasm, sometimes

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE NEWCOMERS WITH INTEGRATED DEVICES Some PCs rely on integrated devices or biomechanical modifications to use their abilities. For instance, some of a Glaive’s fighting techniques could be wired into their nerves and muscles, or their joints could have surgically implanted servo motors. A Nano’s control over the “nanite spirits” all around them could come from circuitry lacing their skin, or implanted jacks and ports in their body where they plug in modules and other technological bits that provide different capabilities. And so on. When such a PC ventures to the Liminal Shore and stays for more than three days, they face a few issues. The PC may survive the experience with their powers intact in one of the two following ways, after undergoing an adaptation period. Treat As Biological: PCs who have integrated machines stitched into their blood and bones, those with just a few

directly connected to their body, other times existing as a separate creature. Assuming tragedy doesn’t ensue, a tasm remains with its host throughout the host’s life span, and passes on when the host does. Those visiting from the Ninth World are initially without a tasm. Having never had one before, they do not suffer the disadvantages for losing a tasm described hereafter. However, neither do they gain the benefits. In addition, natives may assume that such a visitor is one of the parted and give them a wide berth (or even seek to drive them away, fearing that someone without a tasm may be on the road to becoming blighted).

visible ports, or even those who are radically mechanical (such as those who Fuse Flesh and Steel) may be treated by the Liminal Shore as purely biological. In this case, once the degradation would normally begin three days after the PC’s arrival, a period of adaptation begins instead, during which time all abilities that rely on said devices are hindered. Each hour, the PC can attempt a difficulty 3 Intellect task; if successful, they are considered adapted and the hindrance goes away.

Fuses Flesh and Steel, page 74

Physiological Adaptation: A PC who is radically mechanical (such as someone who Fuses Flesh and Steel) can go a different route if they accept a tasm symbiote offered to all newcomers by the Liminal Shore. In this case, but only if the PC desires, their obvious mechanical portions are converted over the course of several days into living tissue that takes on the same functions. If the PC later returns to the Ninth World, their living systems remain functional.

Tasm Offer: Within a few hours of arriving on the Liminal Shore, a character has the option of gaining their own tasm. That option comes as a sensation of connection with the land, as if every living thing around them is vibrating with an offer to connect. If a PC concentrates on that offer and succeeds on a difficulty 2 Intellect task, they realize that the land is offering them a symbiote as a means to connect to its life force. The sensation is in no way aggressive; it’s more like a gentle, warm breeze, which the PC is free to ignore. If a character chooses not to accept the connection, the sensation fades into the background, becoming easily ignored.

Some creatures have no tasm, usually because of an injury or a punishment. These creatures often exist in a state of anguish, cut off from kai, and others who encounter them are horrified, at best.

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If the experience of gaining a tasm is potentially disquieting to the character, consider introducing it as a GM intrusion.

Offer Accepted: If a PC assents to an offer of connection, they gain their own tasm. This happens differently for each character. One might notice a strange swelling on their arm that soon splits and disgorges the tasm. Another might be startled when something drops from the canopy onto them. Another could be drawn to a particular seed or pod hanging on a nearby plant or animal, which opens to reveal the tasm. Or a tasm might burst up from the living ground and rush to them like a loving puppy. The GM can choose the new tasm’s form or ask the player to describe a kind of small creature. (See Tasm Form Options for inspiration.) A visitor with a new tasm can begin taking advantage of the base benefits of kai transferred by their new symbiote immediately, though a bit of experimentation is usually required. If a creature with a tasm leaves the Liminal Shore, their tasm accompanies them but becomes torpid, possibly even falling into a state of hibernation. During this period, the benefits of kai are not available to the character.

Declining a Tasm: PCs who choose not to gain a tasm do not gain the benefits of kai described hereafter. In addition, natives who notice that the PC has no tasm tend to be wary of the character, though that’s less true in Anepus, where newcomers sometimes forgo a tasm or wait to get one. Outside of Anepus, a subset of NPCs might harass a PC without a tasm, but that’s likely to be true in any case depending on where the character travels. A PC who declines the offer of a tasm can choose to accept the connection at a later time and gain a tasm then, or never choose one. Losing a Tasm: If a character’s tasm is killed or lost, the parted character moves one step down the damage track, a state rectified by resting for several days until the shock fades. All abilities granted by the tasm (and its transference of kai) are lost. Regaining a Lost Tasm: A character who loses a tasm can gain a new one. To do so, they must spend 3 XP and spend one week meditating on the Liminal Shore. At the end of that time, a new tasm appears. Any abilities previously gained are returned to the character at that time. TASM FORM OPTIONS A tasm has a different form for each creature that has one— he tasm of a trader in Anepus might appear as a small mouselike creature that rides on their shoulder. A carpenter in the same city might have a tasm that’s a weird birthmark in the shape of an eye on the back of their hand. An explorer newly arrived from the Ninth World might discover that their tasm has taken the form of a small snake that remains coiled around their wrist. And so on. A PC’s or NPC’s tasm might possess one or two of the following distinctive forms or features. A tasm is usually small enough that a PC could hold it in their palm, but it could be about as large as a cat, especially if not directly attached to the character.

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BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE

Usually, a creature with a tasm tries not to jeopardize its health by using it to relay messages, spy on competitors, or do anything even remotely risky, given the consequences of losing a tasm. Of course, there are individuals who think nothing of risking themselves or their tasm, but these are the exceptions on the Liminal Shore. d20 1

2 3

Form or Feature

14

Ice forms around this creature, its breath is condensed mist, and its droppings are ice pellets.

Branching black “stripes” cover this creature’s pale skin, always moving and reforming.

15

This creature seems to be a collection of bubble-like spheres.

This creature’s call is a booming bass chime.

16

Red, twining tendrils cover this creature’s head and body like a mane.

Legless and armless, this creature moves by a series of spastic jerks and convulsions.

17

Big-eyed and big-eared, this creature is considered “cute” by most humans.

18

Red fluid constantly seeps from this creature’s eyes. The fluid is sticky and acidic, attracting insects.

19

This creature’s mouth makes up half its body. Inside the dark interior cavity, tiny gleams move.

20

This creature’s horns end with flowerlike growths of red and yellow petals.

4

Crusted, bark-like growth covers this creature.

5

Rainbow-like color patterns vividly refract light through and around this creature.

6

This creature is like a birthmark, except its blinking eyes betray it as alive.

7

This creature sports a tail of treelike vines, each ending in floating white orbs that glow and hum.

8

This creature periodically vomits up tiny, many-legged mites that burrow into the ground.

9

This creature is like a connected vestigial wing, except its blinking eyes betray that it is alive.

10

Spines completely cover this creature, including its eyes, its hands, inside its mouth, and so on.

11

This creature is like a quadruped, but has only a single front leg and a single rear leg.

12

Spongy, somewhat translucent gel (red, blue, or green) makes up most of this creature’s flesh.

13

This creature is very similar to a praying mantis, but is translucent and glows blue.

TASM STATS AND BASE BENEFITS Regardless of a symbiote’s particular aspect, it has tasm statistics and offers its host the following benefits, mediated through a flow of kai. (Characters who specifically focus on kai and their tasm can unlock additional abilities beyond the base ones, as described hereafter.) A tasm is a level 1 creature, though it’s too small (or, in the case of many, too immobile) to serve as an effective follower or aid in combat like larger companion creatures sometimes do. It is intelligent but doesn’t speak; instead it communicates with its host via telepathic emotion. A tasm may be passive or have a specific personality, but it is almost always a personality that is ultimately companionable to its host. A tasm can never be more than a short distance from its host. If circumstances

A tasm that seems inimical to its host is usually a sign of a deeper dysfunction affecting the host itself.

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Though some Liminal Shore creatures can use kai to forgo the need to eat physical food, many still forage, predate, or garden for a multitude of reasons.

Other creatures on the Liminal Shore also benefit from using kai. Those benefits are reflected in their stats, and might be as simple as slightly more health or a minor healing ability. Branch, page 24

contrive to separate a host and symbiote farther, the tasm falls unconscious and the host moves one step down the damage track (and loses access to kai-derived abilities) until the two can reconnect. If the separation lasts for more than a few days, the tasm dies. If a tasm is part of its host’s body or is a separate being that closely accompanies its host, most attacks (including area attacks) don’t affect the tasm. Targeting a tasm in its host’s keeping requires a special effort by the attacker and is hindered by two steps. The tasm confers the following base capabilities to PC hosts, mediated through kai. Draw Kai: You call on the kai suffusing everything to grant you more life force than is your due. As part of another action, you can use a one-action recovery roll even if you have already used all your recovery rolls for the day. Doing so comes with attendant risk, because it puts you out of balance with the Liminal Shore. To use this ability, you must succeed on a difficulty 4 Intellect task with the following caveat: the GM intrusion range for this roll is increased by 3, to 1–4 on a d20. On a success, you gain an additional one-action recovery roll that you can use immediately. Each additional time you use this ability before making a normal ten-hour recovery roll, the GM intrusion range increases by another 2. Enabler. Recovery: By visualizing the life force— the kai—suffusing everything, flowing in complex patterns of color and sound from your environment, through your tasm, and thence into you, your recovery rolls always confer maximum results (so no roll is required). Enabler.

Chapter 3: Living Landforms and Objects, page 23

Surge: You expend an unused recovery roll in a nonstandard fashion. Instead of recovering points to Pools, you gain those points to a Pool even if the Pool is at its normal maximum. The extra points last until used, until another recovery roll is used normally to regain points to that Pool, or until a new surge adds extra points to that Pool. Enabler.

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Sustenance: You expend an unused recovery roll in a nonstandard fashion. Instead of recovering points to Pools, you benefit as if you’d consumed a sufficient quantity of food and water to physically satisfy and sate your hunger and thirst for 28 hours. Enabler. Tame: Since almost everything on the Liminal Shore is alive and connected through kai, anyone can attempt to influence a living landform or object, which responds according to its nature. Someone particularly skilled in taming can induce the land to grow specific structures, objects, and other useful things, though the process takes time and concentration. A taming attempt requires a suitably pliant living substrate (such as a branch) and a minimum of one hour to prepare, plus a number of additional hours equal to the level of the effect or object to be produced. However, the nature of the item to be produced makes a difference, depending on whether the tamer is attempting to produce a mundane item or one such as a cypher or artifact. Enabler. Taming Mundane Items: Taming mundane items such as clothing, food, or simple organisms designed to accomplish basic functions (like serve as a stool, reflect an image like a mirror, and so on) is the kind of thing that anyone with a connection to kai can attempt; merely wanting it is enough to make the attempt. The difficulty of a task to tame a mundane item is equal to the level of the effect or object to be produced, though the GM may further hinder (or ease) the task based on other circumstances. Natives often become skilled in taming particular kinds of items. For instance, one person may be specialized in taming a particular type of stylish living clothing, while another could be specialized in taming a nutritious food or beverage. Individual examples of taming are described in chapter 3 for various living landforms and objects. Attempts to tame creatures (as opposed to living landforms or living objects) into existence always fail; some underlying rule embedded in the Liminal Shore seems to prevent it.

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE GM INTRUSIONS FOR KAI DISRUPTION

8

A disruption in the smooth flow of kai causes a damaging energy spike that inflicts 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) on the character and all creatures within 20 feet (6 m) of the character that fail a difficulty 4 Speed defense roll.

9

Kai corruption lowers the character’s immune system and they become diseased for about a week, during which time all their actions are hindered.

10

Reroll. If rolled a second time on the same intrusion, kai disruption damages the character’s connection to kai and their tasm, a level 7 effect. The character’s GM intrusion range increases by 1 for all future rolls until such time as they are treated by a healer trained in controlling kai.

If a creature using Draw Kai triggers a GM intrusion, the following intrusions are appropriate. Other situations may also be appropriate for drawing inspiration from this table. d10 1

GM Intrusion A disruption in the smooth flow of kai wilts vegetation, rots sections of living structures, and kills small creatures within immediate range; tasms in range are dazed for one round.

2

A disruption in the smooth flow of kai causes a damaging energy spike that inflicts 5 points of Intellect damage on the character (ignores Armor).

3

Kai is drawn from the character, stunning them so that they lose their next action.

4

A kai feedback loop blinds the character for one minute (with a visualization of the patterns of kai suffusing all things so strong that it blocks out everything else).

5

A kai spike calls a dangerous predator—such as a trum—to attack the character.

6

A kai spiral confuses the character, causing them to mistake their friends for their enemies for one minute or until they succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect defense roll.

7

Kai blockage paralyzes the character for one minute or until they succeed on a difficulty 5 Might defense roll.

ADDITIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF KAI DISRUPTION If a creature continually suffers negative effects from attempting to draw too much kai, it eventually crosses some threshold and thereafter is viewed as a parasite by living tissue of the Liminal Shore. When this happens, the parasite’s tasm dies, cutting off their ability to draw kai. At least for most. Particularly adept or powerful creatures may figure out how to draw kai even without a tasm. These creatures are known as blights. Blights are a class of entity welcome nowhere in the world. Creatures, objects, and the land around blights sicken and die, because the normal safeguard regulating kai flow—the tasm—isn’t available to restrain them. Usually, their former motivations and associations are also severed. They are monsters.

Trum, page 128

Blight, page 29 A somewhat subtler benefit of kai is that since it connects all creatures, it acts as a sort of universal body language. In some situations, this can ease interaction tasks, at the GM’s option. On the other hand, interaction tasks with creatures who are not connected to kai may be hindered.

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Inability, page 101

Taming Cyphers or Artifacts: If attempting to tame a cypher or artifact into existence, the tamer relies on their ability to control kai. Controlling kai is a skill requiring detailed knowledge and practice. If someone isn’t trained or specialized in the controlling kai skill, they have an inability in the skill. The difficulty of a task to tame a cypher or artifact is equal to the level of the effect or object to be produced plus the level of the underlying substrate. Generally speaking, achieving a taming effect whose level is greater than the substrate level hinders the task an additional number of steps equal to that difference. Finally, the task for taming a cypher into existence is hindered by one additional step, and the task for taming an artifact into existence is hindered by three additional steps. For example, if a character wishes to tame a level 4 Liminal Shore cypher into existence using a living landform substrate of level 3, the starting task is level 7 (4 + 3). Because the substrate level is one below the level of the cypher, the task is hindered, becoming

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level 8. And because the character is creating a cypher, the task is hindered by one additional step, becoming level 9. So the only way the character can tame a cypher in this instance is to be specialized in controlling kai, use a lot of Effort, and maybe even get help from an ally to reduce the difficulty.

KAI ENHANCEMENTS Nearly every creature and object on the Liminal Shore is connected to kai, either directly or as mediated by a tasm. Some people and creatures develop an even greater facility with kai through study and practice, unlocking additional abilities. These abilities are known as kai enhancements. PCs visiting from somewhere else have the option to trade one or more of their standard abilities for kai enhancements. They can do so normally if advancing to a new tier; they simply take a kai enhancement instead of a standard ability. However, they can also do so even if not advancing their tier. To gain a kai enhancement in this way, they must have had their tasm for at least a few days, and have used some of the base benefits. Once familiar with their tasm, they can trade out a standard ability by expending a number of unused recovery rolls equal to the level of the tier of the desired kai enhancement. Instead of gaining the benefit of recovering points to Pools, they get the enhancement in place of their old ability. (To gain tier 5 or tier 6 trades, a character will have to use the Draw Kai base benefit once or twice, respectively, which entails some risk.) If a PC with kai enhancements leaves the Liminal Shore for ten days or more, those enhancements fade and their original abilities return. If they subsequently return to the Liminal Shore, they’ll have to go through the whole process again if they want to regain kai enhancements.

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE OPTIONAL RULE: KAI ENHANCEMENT POOL CHOICE Many kai enhancements have a cost of 1 or more points from a particular Pool. If using this optional rule, a PC can choose which Pool their enhancements are keyed on. Once this choice is made, it remains the same for all additional kai enhancements gained, if any. For example, a Glaive with Calm might decide that they’d prefer to use Might rather than Intellect when paying the cost of kai enhancements. FIRST-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Adaptation: Because of your deepened connection to kai, you now remain at a comfortable temperature; never need to worry about dangerous radiation, diseases, or gases; and can always breathe in any environment (even underwater) while you remain on the Liminal Shore. Enabler. Calm (2 Intellect points): Through a connection between a target’s kai and your own, you prevent the target from attacking anyone or anything for one round. Action. Healing Surge (1 Intellect point): A target within short range regains the use of a one-action recovery roll, which they can take on their turn or save for later. This ability is a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Each time you attempt this on the same creature, the task is hindered by an additional step. The difficulty returns to 2 after that creature rests for ten hours. Action. Kai Flare (1 Intellect point): You attack a creature within short range by projecting a pulse of kai that overwhelms the target, inflicting 4 points of damage. If the target successfully avoids the attack, and if your failed attack roll produced an odd-numbered result, the target instead regains 1 point of health by absorbing the excess kai. Action. SECOND-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Enervating Attack (2 Intellect points): You know how to take advantage of the disruption in kai that happens after physical damage occurs, magnifying the negative

effects. When you hit with a melee or ranged attack, you deal 4 additional points of damage. You can’t make this attack in two consecutive rounds. Action. Kai Disruption (2 Intellect points): You attack a target within long range by projecting a disruptive pulse of kai that interferes with the creature’s connection to the Liminal Shore for one minute. During this period, the creature is dazed. Action. Liminal Life: You gain a level 2 follower, disgorged from a landform within immediate range. The follower is no larger than you, and in fact somewhat resembles you, an effect mostly ruined by the obvious veins of vegetable matter growing through it. One of their modifications must be perception. You can take this ability multiple times, each time gaining another level 2 follower. Enabler.

Followers, page 17

Root Foe (2 Intellect points): Roots, tendrils, veins, and other entangling living matter protrudes from the ground or another living landform within long range of one target, entangling them so they are unable to move from their current location for one minute. An entangled foe can attempt to escape each round. Action. THIRD-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Connected to the Land: Your connection to all life around you sharpens, allowing you to visualize the flow of kai with a more discerning eye. You gain an asset in all perception tasks. In addition, most of the time, the GM should alert you if you’re about to walk into an ambush or a trap that is lower than level 5. Enabler. Detect Life (3+ Might points): You consciously send out a pulse of kai. You detect all living creatures, living landforms, and living objects within long range, even if they are behind cover, though not if they’re behind a force field. When you detect something, you detect its general location (to within an immediate range) and whether it is a creature, landform, or object. If you apply two additional levels of Effort, you can increase the range of detection to very long. Action.

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Objects gained by Gift of the Land are living, as described in Chapter 3: Living Landforms and Objects (page 23). GM Intrusions for Kai Disruption, page 15

Gift of the Land (4 Intellect points): You cause a landform within immediate range to disgorge a physical object to you. You can choose any piece of normal equipment on the standard equipment list, or (no more than once per day) you can allow the GM to determine the object randomly. If you call a random object, it has a 10 percent chance of being a cypher or artifact, a 50 percent chance of being a piece of standard equipment, and a 40 percent chance of being a tiny creature that scampers off. Action. Life Swarm (4 Intellect points): You cause the living land around you to disgorge a swarm of tiny flying creatures, all of the same general kind that you determine when you use this ability. The creatures last for one hour. During this hour, they do as you command through your kai connection as long as they are within long range. They can swarm about and hinder any or all opponents’ tasks. While the creatures are in long range, your kai connection allows you to perceive through their senses. Action to initiate. FOURTH-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Anticipate Attack (4 Intellect points): You can sense when and how creatures attacking you will make their attacks. Speed defense rolls are eased for one minute. Action. Kai Spasm (5 Intellect points): You attack a target within long range by projecting a destructive pulse of kai that severs the creature’s connection to the Liminal Shore for one minute. During this period, the creature is stunned, though it is allowed one attempt each round to regain its connection and thereafter act normally. Action. Self-Improvement (4 Intellect points): You’ve learned to tune your kai in specific helpful ways. Depending on how you choose to align your kai, you become temporarily smarter, faster, or tougher. However, when the effect ends, you suffer a relapse, so you use it only in desperate situations. You gain 2 to your Might Edge, Speed Edge, or Intellect Edge for one minute, after which you can’t gain the benefit again for one

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hour. During this follow-up hour, every time you spend points from any Pool, increase the cost by 1. Action. Soothe Kai Disruption (5+ Intellect points): When you would otherwise suffer the effects of a GM intrusion from the GM Intrusions for Kai Disruption table, use this ability to soothe the disruption and ignore the effect. Each time you use this ability, the Intellect cost increases by 1. The cost resets after you make a ten-hour recovery roll. Action. FIFTH-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Advanced Command (7 Intellect points): A target connected to kai within short range (including landforms that have the ability to take actions) obeys any command you give as long as they can hear and understand you. Further, as long as you continue to do nothing but issue commands (taking no other action), you can give that same target a new command. This effect ends when you stop issuing commands or they are out of short range. Action to initiate. Creature Call (5 Intellect points): You summon a horde of small creatures or a single level 4 creature to help you temporarily. These creatures do your bidding for as long as you focus your attention, but you must use your action each turn to direct them. Creatures are native to the area and arrive under their own power, so if you’re in an unreachable place, this ability won’t work. Action. Kai Burst (5+ Intellect points): You disrupt kai in all directions, up to short range. All within the burst (except you) take 5 points of damage. If you apply Effort to increase the damage rather than to ease the task, you deal 2 additional points of damage per level of Effort (instead of 3 points); targets in the area take 1 point of damage even if you fail the attack roll. Action. Saved by the Land: When you would normally die, the nearest landform engulfs you completely, putting you instead into a preservative coma for up to one day. At the end of this period (or sooner if you chose a specific amount of time when you used this ability), you are awakened and expelled,

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE having gained 12 points to restore your stat Pools. Until you rest for ten hours, you are treated as if debilitated. If you die again before you make your ten-hour recovery roll, the land does nothing to save you. Enabler. SIXTH-TIER KAI ENHANCEMENTS Kai Aggression (8 Speed points): You can take an additional action in a round in which you have already acted. Enabler. Parasitic Spasm (8+ Intellect points): You reverse the flow of kai in a target within immediate range, so that the land suddenly and swiftly draws out their life force. If the target is level 4 or lower, it is killed outright. For each additional level of Effort you apply, you can increase the level of the target by 1. Even if you fail to affect the target with this ability, they still take 5 points of damage (ignores Armor). Action.

OTHER KAI ENHANCEMENTS If a player wants a different kai enhancement that seems like a perfect fit for the concept of all things in the environment being alive and connected to each other and their character through kai, they should ask the GM. The GM may allow it if the player’s reasoning is sound. For instance, the player may request an ability that allows their character to use kai to shape living matter, akin to the Move Metal ability, except it works on almost everything in their environment. The GM may allow it, but decide that since there is no limitation to what can be affected on the Liminal Shore (because almost everything is connected by kai), the base cost is 2 Intellect points instead of 1.

Debilitated, page 110 Move Metal, page 67

When using Storm Liminal, if you damage a living landform with lightning, you must succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect defense roll or the effect immediately ends as the Liminal Shore itself reacts.

Storm Liminal (8+ Intellect points): You weave kai to summon a boiling layer of lightning-lit, rumbling clouds up to 1,500 feet (460 m) in diameter for ten minutes. During daylight hours, natural illumination beneath the storm is reduced to dim light. While the storm rages, you can use an action to send a lightning bolt from the cloud to attack a target you can see directly, inflicting 4 points of damage (you can spend Effort normally on each individual lightning bolt attack). Three actions to initiate; action to call down a lightning strike.

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FOCUS: WATCHES OVER THE SHORE

Blight, page 29 Parted egoist, page 22

Kai enhancements, page 16

A PC can more directly strengthen their connection to the land and their ability to draw up, use, and direct kai by choosing the focus Watches Over the Shore. As a character who Watches Over the Shore, you protect the world and the natural flow of kai between all its various creatures, living landforms, and living objects that make up, as you see it, a vast single life form. In a real sense, you are the land’s champion. As such, you pit yourself against anything that disrupts kai, but especially blights and parted egoists. Though almost anyone on the Liminal Shore can learn to see and use kai in small ways, you taught yourself (or joined an ancient organization that taught you) how to use kai as instinctively as you use your hands. Special Use: A visiting PC who wishes to gain one or more of the Watches Over the Shore focus abilities can trade out their regular focus abilities using the same method described for trading out abilities for kai enhancements. Similarly, a character can choose which Pool serves

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as the primary Pool for paying the cost for this focus’s abilities (instead of Intellect), though once chosen, they may not switch. Connection: Choose one of the following. 1. Pick one other PC. You found that character lying unconscious with no memory of how they got there. Without your help, they likely would have died of exposure. 2. Pick one or more other PCs. You’ve decided that you will mentor them to become more appreciative of the Liminal Shore and its natural beauty. 3. Pick one other PC. More often than not, that character is accidentally singed, snagged, bitten, or otherwise caught when you use one of your focus abilities. 4. Pick one other PC. That character’s sibling is responsible for felling a living landform that was important to you. Additional Equipment: A tiny, friendly creature that lives in your pocket, pouch, purse, or other container. Minor Effect Suggestion: A small flying creature attacks your foe’s head for one round, during which time the foe’s tasks are hindered.

BIOMECHANICS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE Major Effect Suggestion: A small flying creature snags and makes off with a piece of equipment worn or held by your foe. Tier 1: Caustic Tendrils (1 Intellect point). Living tendrils burst from a landform nearest a target within short range, and attack by battering it and spitting digestive acid from tiny mouths. The attack deals 3 points of damage and spatters the target with acid, which inflicts 1 additional point of damage per round for up to a minute or until the target uses an action to wipe away the acid. Action. Wilderness Lore. You are trained in wilderness navigation and in identifying plants and creatures. Enabler. Tier 2: Liminal Grasp (3+ Intellect points). Tendrils, ganglia, veins, roots, and even nearby small creatures snag and hold a foe you designate within short range for up to one minute. A caught foe can’t move from its position, and all physical tasks, attacks, and defenses are hindered, including attempts to free itself. In addition to the normal options for using Effort, you can choose to use Effort to deal damage with the initial attack. Each level applied inflicts 2 additional points of damage when Liminal Grasp first snags and holds your foe. You can also use this ability to clear an area in immediate range of entangling life, including creating a cavity by removing a solid section of living land. Action. Tier 3: Ability Choice. Choose either Communication or Soothe as your tier 3 ability. Communication (2 Intellect points). You can convey a basic concept to a creature, living object, or landform that normally can’t speak or understand speech. The target can also give you a very basic answer to a simple question. Action. Soothe (2 Intellect points). You calm a creature, living object, or living landform within short range. You must speak to it (although it doesn’t need to understand your words), and it must see you. It remains calm for one minute or for as long as you focus all your attention on it. The GM has final say over what counts as a calming effect on a living object or landform. This

attack is hindered against living creatures not native to the Liminal Shore, and is ineffective against nonliving creatures, such as automatons. On the other hand, against blights, this attack is eased. Action. Tier 4: Liminal Avatar (4 Intellect points + 1 unused recovery roll). You change into a powerful avatar of the Liminal Shore for up to one hour. Your shape may be monstrous, meant to strike fear into your foes, or wondrous, meant to cause bystanders to gape in awe. The particulars are up to you, though analogs of giant trees, wolf-birds, or bear-insects are options. In your new form, you add 8 points to your Might Pool, gain +2 to your Might Edge, add 4 points to your Speed Pool, and gain +2 to your Speed Edge. Reverting to your normal form is a difficulty 2 task. While in avatar form, you are prone to fits of rage (triggered by GM intrusion), during which you attack every creature within short range, and the only way to end the rage is to revert to your normal form. Either way, after you revert to your normal form, you take a –1 penalty to all rolls for one hour. Action to change; action to revert.

Watches Over the Shore GM intrusion: An injured creature or living landform is discovered, and evidence suggests that it is a blight.

Tier 5: Fingers of the Land (6 Intellect points). The nearest living landform disgorges thousands of tiny living fragments, akin to a sun-darkening host of swarming insects. They remain for one minute, and during this time, they do as you command while they are within long range. They can swarm about and hinder any or all creatures’ tasks, or you can focus the swarm and attack all targets within immediate range of each other (all within long range of you). The attacking swarm inflicts 2 points of damage per round. You can also command the swarm to move heavy objects through collective effort (for this task, treat the swarm as if it was level 6 and had a Might of 10), eat through living impediments, and perform other actions suitable for disembodied fingers of the land. Action to initiate. Tier 6: Ability Choice. Choose either Liminal Quake or Relieve Blight as your tier 6 ability. Liminal Quake (7 Intellect points). You ask the living land to shake with your wrath,

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Losing a Tasm, page 12

Blight, page 29

Draw Kai, page 14 GM Intrusions for Kai Disruption, page 15 Attempts to affect an unconscious target with additional uses of Relieve Blight are eased by two steps.

shaping your connection to the kai to trigger an earthquake centered on a spot you can see within very long range. The ground within short range of that spot heaves and shakes for five minutes, causing damage to any structures and creatures in that area that are not the shaking landforms themselves. Each round, creatures in the area take either 3 points of damage due to the general shaking, or 6 points of damage if in or adjacent to a structure or living landform shedding debris. Action to initiate; action each round to concentrate on maintaining the quake. Relieve Blight (8+ Intellect points). Instead of attempting to kill a dangerous creature suffering from blight, you attempt the far more difficult task of attempting to rebalance its connection to kai and the living land. This is a multistep process that begins with using this ability on a target within short range. If the target is level 4 or lower, it falls unconscious for one hour. For each additional level of Effort you apply, you can increase the level of the target by 1. Even if you fail to affect the creature with this ability, it still takes 5 points of damage (ignores Armor). If you render the target unconscious, you can then attempt to cure it of blight. Within the next 28 hours, you must affect the target with this ability one additional time (the initial use doesn’t count, other than to render the target into a receptive unconscious state). Once cured, the target may retain habits it picked up while it was a blight, but then again, it may have fallen into blight accidentally and be grateful. Action to initiate.

PARTED EGOIST Chapter 11: Other Species, page 133

The reason that the parted—those that have lost their tasm—are often shunned is

that some of them learn to directly channel kai, but without the checks and balances of natural symbiosis provided by the tasm. Known parted egoists are persecuted and hunted because they have the ability to parasitize the land without giving anything in return; however, they are harder to sense because they have a connection—albeit a corrupt one—to kai. To become a parted egoist, a character must first be parted from their tasm. This entails all the disadvantages described under losing one’s tasm. However, once the shock has faded after several days, the character can attempt to gain the ability to directly channel kai instead of relying on a symbiote. This requires the character to spend 3 XP and spend one week meditating on the Liminal Shore. At the end of that time, if the character succeeds on a difficulty 6 Intellect task, they regain a connection to kai, and can use any kai enhancements or other abilities depending on kai they previously had. The advantages of becoming a parted egoist are that whenever the character chooses to Draw Kai and a GM intrusion for kai disruption is triggered, the intrusion doesn’t directly affect the character, but instead affects the nearest creature or area, as determined by the GM. The clear and present danger of relying on the ability to Draw Kai endlessly without direct apparent consequence for the character is that a subtle corruption builds up over time, and eventually the parted egoist becomes a blight. The GM determines if, when, and how this happens, and (if the character is a PC) may allow a few chances for the parted egoist to save themselves with a defense roll. Hypothetically, nothing prevents a PC from going down this path, though it’s something they’d want to keep secret, even from other PCs (especially those native to the Liminal Shore), because abusing the advantages provided is considered highly immoral.

NATIVE PCs If you wish to start one or more player characters as biological natives of the Liminal Shore, check out the descriptor options for creel and wholkin PCs in chapter 11.

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LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS CHAPTER 3

LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS From a broad perspective, the entire world of the Liminal Shore is a single living entity. But what does it mean that the land is alive? It means that, like a normal living thing, the world is made up of countless smaller organs and biological systems. Smaller, but still the size of continents, mountains, and cities. In addition, innumerable smaller individual living things teem across and beneath the Liminal Shore, similar to the way that a profusion of single-celled bacteria infest creatures of the Ninth World. In a normal living creature, these tiny beings are too small to be seen without special devices. But at their own scale, they are everywhere, constantly competing with each other, predating each other, or cooperating with each other. On the Liminal Shore, humans and similar sentient species are akin to these smallest teeming things. However, they are dissimilar in that they are all interconnected via kai. This connection doesn’t mean the land is without strife; in fact, it is often quite the opposite. Kai has been used to empower one group’s ability to induce landforms to produce resources to their own advantage, while putting other groups in a resource shadow. All have learned to induce the land to grow specialized structures and objects that are useful for a wide variety of tasks, including war. In fact, the Liminal Shore

suffers myriad little wars over territory, honor, and resources. However, whenever the fighting grows too extreme, the living land itself reacts, first with minor quakes and the sudden profusion of dangerous landforms and creatures. If the fighting goes on, both sides of a war might be swallowed up and sucked down into the world’s interior to an unknown fate (though most assume that they are slowly digested).

Like everything else on the Liminal Shore, the air is also alive, awash in tiny microorganisms, each sustained by kai. However, taming them in a large enough quantity to have an effect at the human scale is difficult.

LIVING LANDFORMS Innumerable varieties of living landforms make up the Liminal Shore. The following list is not exhaustive, but instead provides broad examples. Under each landform, a section called taming indicates the way in which other creatures—especially humans—typically modify the landform’s growth to their own purposes. The taming entry provides an average level, though individual instances can and often do vary. For example, an average branch encountered in a grove might be level 3, but a branch tamed by a specialist to interweave in thick, hearty strands to create a defensive wall could easily be level 5 or higher. In addition to qualities like toughness and health, the level also indicates how difficult it is to tame a particular living landform or object.

Tame, page 14

Kai, page 10

“Alive. It’s alive! By the rusted metal skull of the Amber Pope, it’s alive!” ~Easa Jens, contributor to Exploring the Liminal Shore, Amber Gleaner archives, Glavis

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Despite the high quality of life of humans on the Liminal Shore, there is little evidence of industry, such as tools and machines. Instead of cutting, hewing, harvesting, or forging to obtain needful things, residents merely ask the living land to provide through a method called taming.

MARL Marl: level 5; Armor 5; can create a level 5 quake that inflicts 5 points of damage on all creatures within short range

Ingash, page 120

Marl crawler, page 123

The clay-like blue-green material that forms much of the ground is called marl. It has the ability to lie like a vast carpet over deeper landforms in a single enormous growth, or subdivide itself (or be subdivided) into units as small as pebbles. The flow of kai nourishes and sustains the marl, like blood vessels do for standard living things. Marl is not capable of complex reasoning, but it is as smart as an animal, and reacts to threats that can penetrate its high Armor to inflict damage. Usually, it responds by destructively shaking everything nearby. However, if a threat persists or regularly recurs, an area of marl might animate as a marl crawler and move elsewhere. Marl constitutes the most populous kind of landform on the Liminal Shore, and nearly every other creature and even most other landforms live upon it. Taming: Large creatures commonly tame marl to create big hollows or heaped hills, forming cavities to deposit eggs, to hibernate, or for passage deeper into the world. This sort of shaping typically takes about an hour per 10-foot (3 m) diameter of the area shaped or tunneled.

BRANCH

Branch: level 3; Armor 2 Branch heart: level 7

One of the most basic living elements on the Liminal Shore is a branch. Covered in flaky, mottled white and grey bark, branches grow everywhere across the world, always arising from a deeper system beneath the surface known as a branch heart. Branches form individual trees, groves, and darkling forests. They can be as thin as fingers or up to 300 feet (90 m) in diameter. Sometimes branches sprout flowerlike leaves of various colors and shapes, though these leaves are not absorbing sunlight, but rather kai.

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Branches are usually not capable of complex reasoning (with some specific exceptions), but most are as smart as animals and are capable of reacting to persistent threats. An initial response is to pull away or slightly shift its growth pattern. If that is insufficient, a branch releases a distress call into the kai, which alerts any nearby spiderlike ingash to viciously respond to the threat within a round or two. As with marl, branches are ubiquitous, though only on the Liminal Shore’s surface. In addition to humans and other reasoning species, branches host a multitude of smaller life forms. Taming: Branches are the landform that humans and other species on the Liminal Shore tame most often because they respond relatively quickly and reliably. Walls, ceilings, and entire multiroom structures can be formed (in the latter case, if several people bend their kai to the project) in hours or days. Though these structures are rough at first, continued taming can create smooth or curved surfaces, textures, colors, and protrusions that serve special needs such as sitting, sleeping, gathering, and more. Additional features can be added to structures created by advanced taming (taming tasks hindered by three or more steps, typically). These can create locked areas that open only to specified individuals; defensive cordons that can fill with sticky sap, poison, gas, or other deterrents; micro-gardens that grow custom fruits with essentially any shape or texture and which, if consumed, grant a variety of effects (though most commonly nutrition, intoxicants, and anti-intoxicants); and so on.

LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS

KELDAR One of the largest aboveground landforms are the keldar. Mountain-sized creatures covered in multicolored plumage, keldar rarely stir. Instead, they hibernate for thousands of years, alone or in prides of several dozen (creating groups similar to mountain ranges, upon which other lesser landforms accumulate and thousands of much smaller creatures grow). For example, part of Anepus is built on one edge of a single massive keldar. It’s true that sometimes keldar move. But it’s so rare— instances usually exceed several human lifetimes—that living or even building upon them doesn’t seem any more dangerous than building near the edge of the sea in the Ninth World. And moreover, everything is alive on the Liminal Shore, including the marl. So the idea of living on or even establishing a community on a keldar doesn’t seem strange to natives. The advantages of living on a keldar are many. Like marl, keldar are amenable to rooting branches in their upper dermis, so those who wish to tame structures into existence can do so. Other advantages

include the extended shelter and obfuscation offered by keldar plumage, a commanding height over the surrounding land, opportunities for hunting the many smaller creatures that also live upon a keldar’s skin, and most importantly, milk. Each keldar routinely produces a thick, snow-colored fluid with the consistency of honey from several star-shaped pools scattered randomly across its skin. Some people believe that keldar milk is liquid kai, given its restorative properties. Competition among creatures for keldar milk can be intense when a pool begins to produce, which it does for only a couple of days before drying up. Whether a keldar is capable of complex reasoning is a hotly debated topic in Anepus. Regardless of how intelligent they might be, there is so little that can hurt them that they rarely respond. Only extreme threats or a deeper need of the living entity of the world itself is likely to draw them into action. When this happens, an immobile mountain-like keldar becomes a keldar walking, which, like a hundred-year flood, is nothing short of a regional disaster.

Keldar: level 10; Armor 4 Keldar milk is a satiating fluid that improves the well-being of any creature that drinks it. It also serves as a full day’s sustenance for both food and water. Anepus, page 44

Unlike other landforms, Keldar are not amenable to taming; all efforts to do so are hindered by three steps.

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GRUME

Grume: level 5; bite inflicts 5 points of damage, and on failed Might defense roll, target is ingested, taking 5 points of damage from acidic digestion each round until it can escape

Luminiferous delion: level 7; Armor 3; taming tasks are hindered by three steps

Great swaths of the surface are covered in a sloshing expanse made up of watery living oozes at least as large as a small village, but often miles larger. In sum, grumes form the various large lakes, small seas, and oceans of the Liminal Shore. As with other massive living landforms, the flow of kai nourishes and sustains them, though unlike many other landforms, individual grumes sometimes spontaneously ingest smaller creatures and even smaller landforms. Usually this doesn’t trigger an immune response from surrounding grumes. A ship constructed for passage over regular water can also traverse a grume’s surface, though it’s not so much that the ship is buoyant as that grumes usually react to weight by lifting it. That’s convenient for ships, though every now and then a particular grume decides to slow a watercraft or hold it in place. Getting it to let go usually requires the crew throwing foodstuffs overboard, or someone trained in kai convincing the grume to do so. Some grumes linger in one position for months or years, while others are constantly on the move, flowing and weaving around each other to create great ocean currents. In some places, the surface of the sea lifts up to form great watery braided structures over a mile (1.5 km) high, folding and looping in eye-catching patterns reminiscent of the kai itself. For what purpose, no one knows, but it is an impressive sight. Grumes are not capable of complex reasoning, but most are as smart as an animal and react to direct threats. Usually, they respond by seeking to ingest the threat and hold it helpless until it is destroyed or can escape. If a threat persists, nearby grumes also respond, resulting in a wave-tossed sea as lethal as the most dangerous storms, even though the sky above may be clear of clouds. Grumes are not as populous as the marl on the Liminal Shore, but they are likely the

second largest group of living landforms extant. Taming: Most grume taming involves asking a particular specimen to speed the passage of the tamer’s ship, or at least asking an inquisitive grume to stop delaying or holding it. However, a skilled tamer can sometimes get a grume to pull up objects or larger items that have fallen to the bottom of the sea for inspection or, alternatively, to bring the ship down (in a protective bubble made of layers of other grume so the ship isn’t crushed) to explore something along the bottom.

LUMINIFEROUS DELION Appearing by themselves or in collections that stretch across 50 miles (80 km) or more, luminiferous delions are massive living stalks that reach over 1 mile (1.5 km) high, cresting with a patterned bulb that extends feelers toward the sky. An equally massive root structure extends deep beneath the marl. Occasionally, a tremendous electrical charge moves up through each delion, culminating in a terrific discharge that fires into the empty sky. Some people claim the delions are attacking distant targets that can’t be seen from the ground, but most assume the reason will remain forever inexplicable. When a single delion discharges (an occurrence that varies between once every few days during certain seasons, and not at all during most of the rest of the year), it creates a miniature rainstorm that drenches the area within long range for a few minutes. When a collection of delions discharges at the same time, a much more violent thunderstorm is called into existence that lasts for several hours, featuring incredible lightning displays and ominous thunder peals. As large as the average delion is, on rare occasions lone specimens undergo a growth spurt in response to unknown factors. These super delions can reach

Grumes make up the Wax Sea, the Sea of Salvation, and every other body of what looks like water on the Liminal Shore.

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LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS

Occasionally, a tremendous electrical charge moves up through each delion, culminating in a terrific discharge that fires into the empty sky. over a dozen miles into the sky. When they discharge, the resulting storm is an order of magnitude more hazardous, because it continues to spread outward, threatening to cover a vast region in a lightning storm whose strikes are dangerous to every creature caught beneath (though usually not to landforms). The only way to deal with such a super storm is to take shelter for the month-long ordeal or try to interfere with the super delion responsible. On at least one occasion, mercenaries hired by Anepus used a lysis cypher on a super delion to destroy it before the storm engulfed the city. Luminiferous delions are probably not capable of complex reasoning, but instead seem to have plantlike awareness. For instance, they don’t usually respond to direct damage dealt to their forms. However, the many creatures that make their homes on a delion respond in defense of their abodes. All manner of creatures live on the vast stalks of luminiferous delions. Contact with the delion while the stalk builds a charge seems to insulate them from direct harm (though the resulting lightning storm can still prove dangerous to them). Most creatures living on a delion are animals, but others are more dangerous, such as the leech-like alloc worm that reaches 15 feet (5 m) in length and adheres smaller creatures to its flesh so it can absorb their kai at its leisure. The nilvash is a caterpillar-like predator about 5 feet (1.5 m) long with poison pincers. In addition, creel often claim one or more delions on which to build their homes, outposts, or even cities. The creel create delicate structures from the living webbing they produce, forming bridges, hanging homes, and much larger structures that are sometimes open to the air and other times covered in a layered composite of web and tamed delion leaves. Taming: Luminiferous delions are especially hard to tame, possibly because whatever

their inexplicable purpose is, it’s too important to the overall biosphere of the Liminal Shore to risk being interfered with. The few bits of taming that are accomplished are minor, amounting to variations in stalk texture in a way that creates hollows or bulges suitable for external webbing to be applied by the creel.

EATER POOL Because kai helps the vast organism of the Liminal Shore remain in balance, living landforms known as eater pools are usually encountered in a placid state. In order for them to be agitated as part of an “immune response” generated by the land, the danger to surrounding tissue must outweigh the damage the eater pools will do merely by responding. An eater pool appears as a lake-sized lagoon of slime when quiescent, but becomes a roiling mass of toothed pseudopods when agitated. Most often, an eater pool fissions off a smaller version of itself (simply called an eater) to deal with an issue. But in the face of a major emergency, the entire pool can become a swarm of eaters, or in the worst case, a swarm of eater pools can respond, though woe be it for anything else in the location, because a swarm of eater pools doesn’t discriminate when it begins to consume. Sometimes creatures choose to live near eater pools because they are able to do so without triggering an immune response themselves, and they may enjoy some protection from predators. It’s uncertain whether an eater pool is capable of complex reasoning. Their motivations seem entirely derived from a complex, hidden decision tree mediated by kai, possibly responding to the desires of Underhunger organs with cognitive function.

Anepus, page 44 Lysis (cypher), page 92 Eater pool: level 8

Eater, page 116

Alloc worm, page 110

Nilvash: level 3; poison bite inflicts 4 points of damage Creel, page 133

Underhunger, page 65

Taming: It is dangerous to tame eater pools because any task ending in failure usually sees the pool absorb the would-be tamer.

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Kai echo (healing), page 90

Despite that, those with a demonstrated skill can glean many useful living substances from an eater pool, including living objects (such as a kai echo [healing]) that are efficacious in treating illnesses.

COALESCENT TISSUE

Coalescent tissue: level 2

Living Objects, page 32

Usually referred to as “coalescent,” this filmy white substance is most often encountered under the surface in variegated layers and thicknesses. As with Underhunger organs, coalescent tissue is likely a broad term that applies to dozens or even hundreds of different varieties of living landform. But for the most part, coalescent’s primary function is to connect large living landforms and Underhunger organs together in a physically direct way that kai is not suited for. Coalescent tissue is not self-aware, though a given layer or mass can react in the same way that a hive of insects would if threatened, either by pulling back or by attempting to envelop the threat in filmy layers of tissue in order to nullify it. Like branches, coalescent tissue can also

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instigate immune responses, but usually one or more eaters respond. Of course, it’s up to the eater to assess whether the distressed coalescent or that which caused it to send out an alert is the best candidate for being eaten; sometimes, it’s both. Coalescent is everywhere under the surface, though sheets and films of it are sometimes found growing aboveground, especially if a feature hasn’t shifted for several months or longer. Taming: If coalescent were more ubiquitous on the surface, creatures would likely tame it for the purpose of building, given its relative malleability. Though not as sturdy as branches, the filmy material can be thickened into protective sheets, or thinned to the point of transparency. That said, where available, coalescent does have a primary usage, because through taming it can be detached to form all manner of living clothes that alter fit and function according to the wearer’s desire. In fact, coalescent tissue is a primary component of many living objects.

LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS UNDERHUNGER ORGAN

HAZARDS

As with coalescent tissue, Underhunger organ (often individually referred to simply as “organ”) is a catch-all term covering thousands of distinct living components ranging from house-sized boluses of tissue to stomach-like fleshy bags the size of continents. Connected via kai and tissue, the organs of the Liminal Shore make up the bedrock, mantle, and deeper portions of the world. Presumably, all are required for the functioning and well-being of the planet-sized organism, but in truth the purpose of any given organ is hard to determine when viewed from a human scale. Some organs seem about as self-aware as organs in a normal creature’s body, which is to say, not very. But others react more like animals, and a few are as smart as (or smarter than) humans. It is difficult to say ahead of time what a particular organ’s response will be to interference or damage. If an organ is prodded enough, eaters are likely to respond eventually, though interstitial spaces that house creatures dependent on the organ may move to defend the organ even more quickly. Examples of specific Underhunger organs include a connective tissue in tubular form creating mile-long vessels and veins, waste-processing tubules hanging like living stalactites within subterranean interstitial cavities, and pulsating heart-like substations that continually filter raw kai (or, as some think, generate it). The organ that no human explorer has yet found is one that resembles an overarching brain, though most people expect that if they could only descend far enough, they’d find one at the planet’s core. Several other Underhunger organ examples are described in chapter 7.

Living landforms sometimes develop sections that are dangerous to smaller creatures as a result of sickness (indicating that the landform may be falling out of symbiosis into parasitism), as a defense mechanism against threats, or because some enterprising creature managed to tame a section of the landform to create the hazard as a defense for itself. Hazards share the same kind of tissue and produce the same kind of effects, regardless of the kind of landform they appear upon. If a hazard appears on an untamed section of a landform, there is a chance it will continue to spread until it overtakes the entire landform, or until a larger reaction of the Liminal Shore aids—or devours—the stricken landform. Though hazards sometimes look and act like separate growths from the landform that gives rise to them, they are more properly akin to cancer, and represent tissue that has gone its own way, sometimes helping the landform in the short term, though rarely in the long term. The following hazards are by no means an exhaustive list, but instead a rough and ready sample.

Taming: Creatures and adventurous humans who live in the Underhunger tame organs for their own purposes as frequently as those on the surface, creating a wide variety of useful objects. These include light sources called gleams, various flavorful nectars and foodstuffs, and a surprising number of substances that alter a user’s perceptions, often for the purpose of lifting spirits, intoxication, or in some cases, rendering the imbiber open to suggestion.

Underhunger organ, typical: level 6; Armor 1

Eater, page 116

BLIGHT One of the most dangerous kinds of hazard, blight can form on living landforms, living objects, or creatures. Essentially, blight causes an entire creature to go completely out of balance with its surroundings. It becomes akin to cancer and attempts to smother, consume, and/or absorb the kai from everything around it. Mechanically, it has the same features, abilities, and other traits it possessed before becoming blighted. It’s the behavior that is changed; it needs to constantly feed, because the Liminal Shore has cut it off from regular interaction with kai.

Chapter 7: The Underhunger, page 65

HUNGRY FILTH Usually found in fissures and pits “eaten” from the otherwise normal surface of a living landform, hungry filth initially resembles blobs of crumbling marl, ranging in size from 3 to 15 feet (1 to 5 m) in diameter while quiescent. But if a creature comes within immediate range of a fissure

Gleam: level 1; produces soft light within short range Hungry filth: level 5; Armor 4

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containing hungry filth, clay-like tendrils explode from the cavity, attempting to catch prey and suck them down where they can be consumed.

RINGING STALAKTITE Ringing stalaktite: level 2; Armor 4

Tasm, page 10 Ringer: level 5

A spear-shaped wedge growing horizontally from a landform could be ringing stalaktite. Sometimes found singly, other times in groupings of up to several dozen, ringing stalaktites produce a high-pitched whine that grows louder the closer a creature approaches. The whine is a side effect of a disturbance in the kai, one especially dangerous to tasms. If a tasm comes

BRAIN ROT

Brain rot spore: level 4

Trap tiles: level 5

Underhunger, page 65

Unless a previous victim is discovered, it’s hard for a creature to detect a puff of spores falling from a higher landform (or a higher section on the landform on which the creature is currently traveling). However, anyone exposed to brain rot spores must make a Might defense roll or be infected with brain rot. On initial infection, nothing obvious happens. Each hour thereafter, an infected creature must make another Might defense roll or take 4 points of Intellect damage. While infected, normal methods of natural healing (such as using recovery rolls to regain points to Pools) do not restore Intellect points. If the victim loses all points from their Intellect Pool (or if a creature loses a third of its health), the victim is essentially dead, though their still-living body is piloted by the fungal growth filling their brain cavity to the highest spot the body can reach within the next few hours. At that spot, several stalks emerge from the victim’s eyes and ears (a fruiting body) and shed spores over the course of the next few days, thus continuing the process. Someone skilled in taming could try to create an antidote if they can find a previous victim’s fruiting body for a tissue sample and a substrate landform amenable to being tamed. This process takes 1d6 hours and the task to counter the brain rot spore is hindered by three steps.

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within short range of a ringing stalaktite, the tasm becomes torpid, though it may not know why (and a creature with a tasm may not initially realize there is an issue). If a creature comes within immediate range of a ringing stalaktite, the creature takes 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) each round as kai is sucked from it through its tasm or its direct connection to kai. If the creature within immediate range has a tasm, the creature must succeed on an Intellect defense roll each round or the tasm is killed.

RINGER Shiny ebony bulbs known as ringers hang like fruit from affected landforms, alone or in groups of three to five. If a creature moves within short range, the bulbs begin ringing in a most pleasing fashion, creating surreal and stirring audible music. A kai component is also in play, and creatures that would otherwise go on their way must succeed on an Intellect defense roll to do so; otherwise they are subtly lured closer. Creatures that move within immediate range of one or more ringers must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or become enthralled by the sound. Meanwhile, over the course of several hours, veinlike tendrils grow out from the hanging stem of the ringer and merge with the targets that remain enthralled (they are allowed another defense roll each time an external event disturbs them; once they succeed on a defense roll, they remain immune to ringers for at least ten hours). A creature that remains enthralled by a ringer is drained of all their fluids over the course of ten hours, which kills them and leaves behind a very dry corpse.

TRAP TILES Simple but effective, trap tiles can grow on a landform and resemble its normal surface. But when trod upon, they hinge open to drop victims into the landform’s interior. Often, this is a drop into a vat of acidic digestive fluid that inflicts damage each round until the victim can manage some means of escape. Other times, it is a chute that delivers victims on a long, slippery ride to a deeper destination in the Liminal Shore’s interior—welcome to the Underhunger.

LIVING LANDFORMS AND OBJECTS SHOREDEW

FAUX BREAD

Growing alone or in small groves of up to twelve, shoredews are 30-foot (9 m) long tentacles speckled with attractive drops that glisten like dew. Experienced creatures understand that the shoredew is a carnivorous hazard, but the fluid that forms along each tentacle can serve as an asset to many taming efforts, as it is rich in concentrated kai. In addition, its smell is attractive, and even creatures that know better sometimes stray within reach of a tentacle. A creature that comes within short range of a shoredew is attacked (possibly by multiple tentacles, each of which is a separate growth). On a hit, the tentacle wraps the victim up and begins the process of drawing out their kai, inflicting Intellect damage (ignores Armor) each round until the victim escapes or dies. Upon the victim’s death, the tentacle tosses away the corpse, usually at least a short distance away so that some other creature or growth can dispose of the body.

White, wet, doughy-looking growths that give off a wonderful smell like baking bread could indeed be the result of some person or creature’s taming efforts to create succulent morsels for passing travelers. However, if there is no obvious provenance to the growth, hungry creatures should beware, because it could just as easily be faux bread. Those who eat it can’t tell the difference initially. But an hour later, they must succeed on a Might defense roll or fall one step on the damage track. This unfortunate gastronomic situation continues until the victim either succeeds or dies. From their remains, additional faux bread forms, completely using all tissue and other material, leaving no evidence of the previous victim to put off future potential connoisseurs.

Shoredew: level 4

Faux bread: level 3 Treat a melding wall as an eater (page 116), but one that can move only a few feet per minute so it is effectively immobile during combat. Blue mud: level 1

MELDING WALL Rather than eating the tissue or absorbing the kai generated by another creature, a melding wall takes a different tack; it incorporates other creatures into itself, without fully breaking them down. In this way, a melding wall is something of a horror. To see one is to see a fleshy surface roiling with half-merged limbs, stalks, hands, wings, and even faces and full torsos of various creatures (sometimes humans, if encountered near a human city or outpost), twisted and fused together in a single connective mass stretching across a hollow or between two separate landforms.

BLUE MUD This bright blue sludge can coat sections of landforms over vast areas, rendering passage difficult. Though not nearly as dangerous as many other hazards, blue mud hinders all movement through it, and smaller creatures can become stuck. If they can’t free themselves, they are sometimes pulled under eventually.

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Those exploring the Liminal Shore would do well to remember several rules of thumb for their safety. The first is to never stand or lie in the same spot for too long. Elements of the living land often interpret loitering as an invitation for a free meal.

RED EARS

Red ears: level 4

It’s not unusual for landforms to produce sections of flowerlike growth. Typically, there’s no danger in wandering into such areas. However, an expanse of white flowers with red earlike markings might be a hazard called red ears. The flowers themselves are not dangerous; the hazard lies beneath. Those who stop to gather flowers or smell the delicate scent are attacked by rootlets reaching out of the ground (or wall, or ceiling, depending on where the flowers grow). The rootlets attempt to hold victims in place while they inflict damage each round by draining fluids.

LIVING OBJECTS

Taming, page 14

Inorganic Degradation, page 10

Living objects include the enormous array of objects tamed by humans and other creatures for use in their daily lives. On the Liminal Shore, there is little or no carpentry, forging, farming, weaving, or similar sorts of crafting and agriculture. Instead, taming is how creatures shape and modify their environment. Anyone can try their skill (or lack thereof), though those who’ve developed a knack for it usually rely on a living substrate that works best for their needs. For example, a producer of a special kind of sweet fruit in Anepus has a special branch that they tame, one they’ve used for years, which has grown accustomed to the process, providing an asset to the taming task for that particular type of fruit. For the most part, if something is encountered on the Liminal Shore, it is alive in some fashion. Inert objects usually don’t last long, thanks to the inorganic degradation that affects lifeless bodies. Tools, toys, clothing, methods of transport, and many more types of living objects exist on the Liminal Shore, including the items listed below. Many thousands more items can be had in places where humans and similar creatures congregate.

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Most of the time, such objects are level 1 but could be tamed at a higher level. Courier: Small creature that carries physical objects to a distant named location or creature. Courser: Many living objects act like mounts. Others have interior spaces, modified for comfort, and act more like vehicles that can run, swim, or fly. Jolter: An example of a simple living weapon, many of which resemble blades or bludgeoning ends made of bone. A jolter is a blade, but it inflicts 1 additional point of damage for a weapon of its size from a crackle of electricity when it strikes its target. Mindful robes: These come in various colors and sizes, with some ability to self-modify based on the wearer’s desires. For instance, a wearer could cause the robe to grow a hood, become pants, or grow socks or gloves. Higher-level versions could serve as armor. Recorder: Living pod that is stationary or can be directed to wander a particular area, recording sights and sounds that can be played back on a membranous surface at a later date. Speaker bulbs: Carried or worn, these transfer speech via kai over great distances. Viands: These creatures come in various shapes, but generally they resemble hampers and secrete custom liquids, gels, and solids that are nutritious and tasty. The food itself is also alive (though quite simple) and can subsist outside the viand for several days before degrading. The variety of viands and the food they can produce in a place like Anepus, where people are always trying new things, is vast.

PART 2:

THE SETTING

Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

4: Reaching the Liminal Shore 5: Living on the Liminal Shore 6: The Skin 7: The Underhunger

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CHAPTER 4

REACHING THE LIMINAL SHORE Qi, page 144 Order of Truth, page 215

Hosted by the Datasphere, page 9

Liminal sail, page 102

Anepus, page 44

Marda Edellor: level 4, perception tasks as level 7 due to prosthetic eye; can jump a very long distance due to prosthetic leg

Most people in the Ninth World who find out about the Liminal Shore assume the place is another continent on their own world. That’s because reaching the Shore, though not easy, can be accomplished by those whose ships are outfitted with the proper equipment, or by those lucky enough to find the right kind of unique portal or rift leading to this all-new land. In addition, one could use the datasphere to reach the Liminal Shore, as described under Hosted by the Datasphere in chapter 1.

SAILING TO THE LIMINAL SHORE Only a handful of ships, including the Vindication and the Blood Tracker, provide explorers and passengers access to and from the Liminal Shore. Other vessels exist, but they are not detailed here. It’s a Secret: Note that for all ships that sail to the Liminal Shore, the liminal sail is a secret known only to the captain and first mate. Most of the crew is not let in on it. Instead, the secret of reaching the Shore is described as the captain knowing about “special currents” or knowing a “hidden water route” to the new land.

Blight, page 29

TRADE SHIP VINDICATION The Vindication is a five-masted, multilevel trading ship fashioned by boatwrights in

Qi. Originally purchased and operated by the Order of Truth, the craft enjoys several enhancements provided by Aeon Priests, including the ability to manufacture fresh food and water and, often enough, motive force that pushes the vessel through the waves without the need to hoist the sails. The Vindication doesn’t need to support itself through trade, given its wealthy owners; instead it is a vessel of exploration. But often enough, it takes on paying passengers and even rents cargo space to merchants, if it’s convenient to do so. Though not generally appreciated for its role, when the ship’s liminal sail is raised, it gives the Vindication the ability to sail from the waters off the western coast of the Steadfast into the waters off the western coast of Anepus on a “newly discovered land.” (After the liminal sail enables the transition, the direction of travel is reversed, though that’s not immediately obvious to anyone without instruments.) The Vindication is captained by a woman named Marda Edellor. She recently assumed command when the previous captain succumbed to a strange infection—probably contracted on the Liminal Shore—that no one was able to treat. Marda was struck by the same infection, but survived with the loss of a single leg and eye, now replaced with prosthetics (which look alive, if not quite human; she indicates she got them in

“It makes my stomach drop every time we sail away westward for three full days, then—though we make no apparent course correction—make landfall on the Liminal Shore’s western coast.” ~Naj Pameir

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REACHING THE LIMINAL SHORE Tokens, page 40

Most who find a way to or from the Liminal Shore via the pirate ship Blood Tracker do so as prisoners of a raid, not as paying passengers.

Anepus). She is considered by her crew to be a bit inexperienced for her role, but given that she saved the ship when it looked like everyone aboard it would fall to an attack by pirates, she has their absolute loyalty. Passengers and explorers can gain passage either by paying a nominal fee (a device or cypher that is useful to the crew) or by convincing Marda that the purpose for travel is important. Though Anepus is a prominent destination, it is not the only strange place the Vindication puts in. Passengers that get off at Anepus are offered tokens for the cost of 10 shins each (though Marda gives the PCs a few for free). The tokens are offered with the warning that after a few days, newcomers might notice something weird with their equipment if they don’t keep at least one token on their person.

reappeared as captain of the Blood Tracker, which preferentially targets those who have dealings with Angulan Knights or, if possible, the knights themselves. The cannon aboard the craft has a range of several miles, allowing Tarad to shoot the xi-drake-riding knights right out of the sky. Tarad has amassed some amazing treasures from the holds of the various craft he’s looted, including the cannon, which (unbeknownst to most) is a living object from the Liminal Shore.

Pirate, Blood Tracker crew: level 3 Tarad Nomella: level 5, interaction tasks as level 7; Armor 3 from artifact; two very long-range laser attacks inflict 6 points of damage from artifact The Blood Tracker can deploy a liminal sail, allowing it to sail between the worlds, though Tarad claims he can reach the Liminal Shore thanks to his knowledge of a secret sea route.

Xi-drake, page 259

PIRATE SHIP BLOOD TRACKER A group of ten two-person canoe-like boats and a handful of windriders operate out of a retrofitted freighter ship called the Blood Tracker, which usually sails out of Kaparin. About fifty pirates crew the ship, though only about thirty remain aboard when all the smaller vessels and craft are deployed during any given raid. The Blood Tracker has a special cannon aboard that is especially effective against flying craft or creatures. Tarad Nomella captains the Blood Tracker. His body is covered in a green-blue biometallic artifact. When he was young, Tarad was an up-andcoming member of the Angulan Knights. After witnessing some truly heinous acts by knights against otherwise innocent people accused of harboring mutations of the human line of descent, he broke with the organization. A decade later, he

Windrider, page 303 Kaparin, page 161 Angulan Knights, page 217

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Vertices are locations, installations, or devices with the ability to transcribe creatures and objects into and out of the datasphere. See page 9 for more information.

USING A PORTAL A handful of dimensional portals and rifts are able to transcribe travelers to and from the Liminal Shore. One such vertice is the Violet Plateau. Other portals exist that can do the same.

The Haunt, page 63

VIOLET PLATEAU Plains of Kataru, page 179 Nevajin, page 244 Chapter 12: Unusual Vitality, page 140

Located in the sprawling region known as the Plains of Kataru is a crystal plateau that glows dimly purple at night. A passage into the heart of the plateau is not so much guarded as watched by a nevajin that quizzes anyone trying to pass about their intentions. It doesn’t judge; it just wants

to know. In return—but only if paid with an object of the numenera—it explains that the plateau holds a kind of portal that grant access to another land that the natives call Verse, also known as the Liminal Shore. A chamber at the center of the complex beneath the plateau holds a fixed structure similar to a chair (not quite comfortable for humans) encrusted with the numenera. Those who settle into it and close their eyes are bodily transferred to the Liminal Shore, to a location called the Haunt. Unfortunately, there is no obvious method of returning. Travelers will have to find a different way back.

SPEELAND LOCUS The village of Speeland in the Steadfast is experiencing leakage from the Liminal Shore, as described in the adventure “Unusual Vitality.” Those who investigate could find their way to the Liminal Shore.

WHY GO TO THE LIMINAL SHORE? Player characters undertake journeys to new locations all the time, though perhaps less often to all-new lands. This section provides some reasons PCs might go to the Liminal Shore. The reason you select could be presented as an adventure hook, as something related to a PC’s personal history or entanglement with an NPC, as something a wealthy patron or noble hires the PCs to do, and so on. Find a Missing Person: A well-known explorer who had hopes of finding a mythical land to the west of the Steadfast is long overdue and presumed lost. PCs could follow a few clues to the explorer’s last steps, trying to retrace their route. Be First: Rumors of another land have spread for a few decades, but no one with any credibility has confirmed its existence or defined a route. Something about the Liminal Shore defies regular means of exploration. Great fame in Qi would be due anyone who could establish a reliable route.

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REACHING THE LIMINAL SHORE Knowledge: If the PCs aren’t inspired by the idea of exploring for its own sake, both the Order of Truth and the Amber Gleaners are, and a representative from either organization might engage the characters for a journey of discovery to the Liminal Shore. Medicine: In certain places, myths of the Liminal Shore are associated with stories of wondrous palliatives, cures, and medical marvels. PCs facing a dire medical situation could find clues that an answer lies in the new land. Iotum: Many numenera devices in the Ninth World are part machine and part alive. Finding a sufficient supply of smart tissue for a large project might be impossible unless the PCs heed the clues suggesting that a large supply can be found on the Liminal Shore, assuming the region exists at all. Bring Back Riches: Though this reason is less imaginative, some PCs are motivated simply by the idea that the riches of a new land could be exploited for personal or kingdom-wide gain. Solve a Problem: Many times a specific problem arises that can be solved by traveling to a particular place to find an item that can help. For instance, it’s possible that a recent rash of titanothaur appearances in the Ninth World, resulting in untold destruction, is traced back to the Liminal Shore. PCs hoping to put an end to the rampages need to go to the Liminal Shore, find the instigating agent, and stop it. Accidentally: PCs involved in a seemingly unrelated adventure could trigger a device or enter a special portal and find themselves on the Liminal Shore. Unless they have a well-defined method of returning, they’ll need to spend time exploring to find a way home.

A Place to Hide: If the PCs anger a powerful Aeon Priest or other formidable entity, their only hope in the short term might be to hide in a land that’s half mythical and, according to many, doesn’t actually exist.

FIRST ENCOUNTERS ON THE LIMINAL SHORE Given the general weirdness of the Liminal Shore, you as the GM may be wondering where you should have the PCs go first and which NPCs they should meet. If you’re using the adventure “Unusual Vitality” as an introduction, it provides the answers to those questions. However, if your PCs are traveling via liminal sail, you have a wide variety of options, as described in chapter 6. That said, it’s likely that their first port of call will be the city of Anepus. If so, be sure to read or paraphrase the description provided there on what it’s like to experience the Liminal Shore as they approach the city. A good first encounter for PCs in Anepus is Jiradn, a guide with access to tokens and a desire to acquire cyphers from the Ninth World before they deteriorate, mostly out of personal curiosity. She helps the PCs realize, if they haven’t already, that everything around them, including the land, the clothing of NPCs, and so on, is alive, according to the progression laid out in Introducing Your Players to the Liminal Shore in Stages. She may eventually introduce the PCs to someone who knows enough about geography to tell them the place is an entire world—such as Cas, proprietor of the Red Sector, though that’s not something Cas would blurt out immediately. Their fascination with humans also means they care about human feelings, and they don’t want to embarrass humans who have weird ideas about the world.

Order of Truth, page 215

Amber Gleaners, page 245

Smart tissue, page 113 Chapter 6: The Skin, page 43 Anepus, page 44 Experiencing the Liminal Shore, page 43 Jiradn, page 46 Token, page 40

Introducing Your Players to the Liminal Shore in Stages, page 6 Titanothaur: level 10; health 140; Armor 5; long-range attack inflicts 18 points of damage on the target and everything in short range of the target, or 7 points for those who succeed on a Speed defense roll; for more details, see The Ninth World Bestiary (page 126). Cas, page 46 Red Sector, page 46

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CHAPTER 5

LIVING ON THE LIMINAL SHORE Anepus, page 44 Marl, page 24 Spirant, page 135 Creel, page 133 Wholkin, page 137 Kai, page 10 Tasm, page 10 Taming, page 14

The Liminal Shore is a land that is literally alive, hosting innumerable living components, from the various kinds of landscape on the surface down through the marl to the countless gargantuan organs that make up the planet’s interior. From the perspective of someone from the Steadfast, the entire place is one vast artifact of the numenera. Awash in kai, which connects all living things, the land seems almost designed to allow people to achieve anything they want merely by wishing—or, as the natives call it, taming. On the Liminal Shore, nearly anything is possible.

MEASURING THE DAYS A warming sun shines down on the Liminal Shore, rising and setting on a 28-hour cycle of day and night. There are no obvious changes to the season; it all seems like one never-ending summer on the surface. Still, words like “week,” “month,” and “year” retain their meanings among the human populace versed in the Truth. Adherents of Reconciliation, page 63

THE PEOPLE OF THE LIMINAL SHORE From the perspective of a visitor to the Liminal Shore, the living land—especially parts that have been tamed to suit a particular function—exemplifies the numenera. Natives, however, take it for granted as the underlying nature of their reality and do not consider it to be “magic.” A substantial human population exists on the Liminal Shore. Those new to the land, at least those who arrive by ship from a trip across the Sea of Secrets, may

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encounter one such human population center called Anepus. In addition to humans, the major species of the Liminal Shore include the fungus-like spirants, the insect-like creel, and the towering, shell-armored wholkin. And just like the humans who’ve come to call the Liminal Shore their home, these and other creatures are accompanied by physical manifestations of their symbiosis called tasms (though many have a direct link, especially landforms and living objects). Except possibly in Anepus, the Liminal Shore was never influenced by the Order of Truth—it has no formal religious interest in the numenera to elevate and direct their civilizations, and no Amber Pope to force tyrants to get along. Thus, the land continues to suffer countless little wars over territory, honor, and resources (in this case, major landforms that produce important or luxury substances). Still, some people attempt to use the symbiosis provided by the land as a channel, hoping to broker a fragile peace. Those who preach such solidarity are known as the Adherents of Reconciliation (or usually reconcilers for short.) For people inclined to wonder, the Liminal Shore’s origin is a point of profound philosophical debate and religious awe. If the world is alive, what gave birth to it? Does it have a progenitor, and what must that creature be like? Or is it a singular being, first among its kind, and (as some would have it) the god of all creation, whose mere touch stirs life into everything? The idea that the living land is the body of a vast god that provides subsistence to every living creature through a symbiotic connection has its advocates. Believers point

LIVING ON THE LIMINAL SHORE to the fact that those who are most “holy” (skilled) can meditate upon their connection and in return be granted gifts of stamina and other wondrous abilities; the god of the land seems to reward “prayer.” However, skeptics point out that worship never elicits a direct response from any kind of higher mind, memory, or unified entity. And even though an individual creature’s symbiotic connection to the land can be elaborated upon and strengthened in ways that can improve it, these benefits arguably only help the creature in question, and may even turn to blight if relied upon too frequently. Still, believers often point to the Word of God to prove their case.

GROWING UP ON THE LIMINAL SHORE Unlike visiting PCs or colonists newly arrived from the Ninth World, most of the humans encountered on the Liminal Shore have never known a place where everything around them isn’t, to some extent, responsive to their desires, or at least alive. Everyone has a tasm, and a tasm is what connects humans to kai. Native humans share one other quality with the natural creatures of the Shore: their dreams sometimes connect to the same shared Dream. (Newcomers sometimes begin to have it too, but only if they stay for many years.)

THE NUMENERA The numenera of the Liminal Shore is the world itself; everything is alive and, to one degree or another, open to providing cognizant creatures whatever they desire. Asking the world to provide is known as taming, and even those without any training in it whatsoever can modify the living environment around them in countless small ways all the time. Those with more skill can produce true wonders. Some kinds of nonliving numenera that are more common in the Ninth World have made their way to the Liminal Shore, including machines that can be used several times before depleting (artifacts), smaller devices that can be coaxed into a single use before they burn out (cyphers), and generally weird devices that have strange functions with no obvious purpose

THE WORD OF GOD Those able to reach a sufficiently high altitude above the surface can begin to make out three large landforms that, from the vantage of the void, strongly resemble three artificial symbols in an unknown alphabet. Each of these landforms is the size of a small continent in its own right. These three symbols, which are supposedly where the name “Verse” originally comes from, are pointed at as clear evidence of intelligent design by a benign deity. However, some people, including the Recanters, view them more suspiciously.

The Dream, page 42

Recanters, page 59

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“Even the air is alive, teeming with tiny creatures too small to be seen. But sometimes, through the use of kai, I can sense them as I breathe them in and out.” ~Seanifar, resident of Anepus

Inorganic Degradation, page 10

Part 3: The Numenera, page 85

but are at least curious, if not downright entertaining (oddities). All these items have been stabilized through the use of tokens, which keeps degradation at bay. But for the most part, tamers use the living land itself to produce services and supplies for community needs such as illumination, warmth, water, defense, offense, and so on (these are essentially installations). Similarly, living creatures allow individuals or small groups to quickly move between distant locations (these are essentially vehicles). Though it may not be obvious at first, on the Liminal Shore, specialized living creatures can take on the role of artifacts, cyphers, oddities, installations, and vehicles. Some examples of these are described in part 3.

LANGUAGES AND NAMES Spirant, page 135 Creel, page 133 Wholkin, page 137

A variety of intelligent creatures live on the Liminal Shore, including the fungus-like spirants, the insect-like creel, and the towering, shell-armored wholkin. However, humans are also present, and they generally prefer the Truth. Naming conventions are thus in the Truth, but other intelligent creatures use their own languages and have their own names for things. For instance, most natives refer to the world as Verse (when translated to the Truth), not the Liminal Shore. But both are understood to mean the same thing.

LIFE ON THE LIMINAL SHORE The average quality of life of a human on the Liminal Shore is more akin to that of a 21st-century human than a medieval one, and in many ways, is likely better.

The day-to-day existence of the average human on the Liminal Shore, especially one that lives in a fortified location, is far superior to that of most humans in the Ninth World. The advantages offered by the environment provide for nearly every comfort. There are people who fill roles similar to those of farmers and hunters, but rather than tilling fields by hand or hunting down prey, food tamers are specialized

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in creating specific foodstuffs; each food tamer has one or two specialties they are known for. These tamers may employ shepherds to watch over the living landform serving as the substrate, because such abundance can draw other natural creatures (and landforms) of the world. Likewise, clothing tamers create all manner of garments, house tamers create buildings, and comfort tamers provide hundreds of quality-of-life improvements such as sweets, musical gewgaws, intoxicants, and more. Given the relative ease with which many of these things can be had, lots of people have more time to turn their minds to other projects, such as writing, reading, sculpting (often using a landform as a substrate), acting, singing, and so on. In other ways, humans of the Liminal Shore retain the traditions and mores of their old homeland, including attitudes and ceremonies related to commitment between two or more adults, child rearing, coming of age ceremonies, death, and burial. Because the average person is connected to the life force of the world and can directly sustain themselves through kai, situations where the desperate can be exploited by the wealthy are few and far between. Thus, distinctions of class have mostly fallen away on the Liminal Shore.

CURRENCY Humans can’t use shins for currency in Anepus for longer than three or four days, at which point they begin to deteriorate. What’s developed instead are two different currencies, tokens and muxen. Tokens are tiny numenera devices originally created to protect inert objects brought from the Ninth World from degrading. Over time, these heptagonal discs (usually magnetic) have become a currency in their own right; they’re worth about 10 shins

LIVING ON THE LIMINAL SHORE (and 10 muxen). Sometimes demand for them spikes (such as when a large group of travelers arrives in Anepus), and their worth increases dramatically for a brief period. A single token is usually enough to protect the clothing and equipment of someone from the Ninth World from inorganic degradation. That said, surges in kai (through GM intrusion) can endanger token-protected items, or even the tokens themselves. Muxen are a form of currency borrowed from the wholkin, and are now commonly used in Anepus and other places humans travel. Each mux is a tiny jewel-like insect that is highly resistant to taming and reproduces only once every few dozen years. In addition, wholkin keep a kai-encoded record of each mux. All of this means that muxen are hard to counterfeit. A mux is worth about 1 shin.

putting humans in the role of diplomats. It’s unclear whether that’s a role they really want. On any given day on the continent known as the Head, skirmishes between one or more domains are nearly certain, but large-scale wars are much less common. PCs exploring the Liminal Shore are likely to notice its warlike nature and may choose to be drawn into a particular skirmish. Use the following encounter ideas if they explore beyond the borders of Anepus. (You can still use the ideas if the PCs remain in Anepus, though with some modification, given that the Drille soon puts an end to outright hostilities.)

Drille, page 45

LAY OF THE LAND Various small continents and large islands of marl dot the often tumultuous grume seas. Artificial structures are entirely absent (though some argue otherwise regarding the Word of God). On one of the larger continents is Anepus and most of the other human habitations. The two largest and most different designations of location on the Liminal Shore are the Skin and the Underhunger. The Skin is the surface of the world, and the Underhunger is everything that lies beneath. Creel and wholkin are most numerous on the Skin, while spirants seem to have a natural affinity for the Underhunger and have many domains and kingdoms beneath.

Grume, page 26 Word of God, page 51

WAR ON THE LIMINAL SHORE Many of the native self-cognizant species of the Liminal Shore have engaged in constant warfare for so long that it’s become somewhat ritualized. Creel fight wholkin, wholkin fight spirants, and spirants fight creel. Why they do this isn’t clear, since resources are not really the issue. Mainly, it’s just what they’ve always done. Humans mostly try to stay out of it, but strangely, human presence can sometimes pause a conflict. This has the unexpected effect of

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d10 Luminiferous Delion, page 26

A group of fifteen creel skirmishers flies overhead, intent on reaching a downed flying landform of Nera before it can be recovered by the wholkin.

2

A group of four wholkin confronts the PCs, suspicious that they are military spies.

3

An upwelling of a dozen spirants skirmishes with a similar-sized group of hrath.

4

A lone wholkin conscientious objector seeks a place to hide from his kind.

5

The scene of a recent fight is discovered, the battlefield littered with corpses of various species.

6

A group of humans wearing the insignia of Nera is drinking at a local inn.

7

Rumors of a massive spirant force many thousands strong oozing up from the Underhunger are the talk of the town.

8

A force of creel warriors encircles the community, seeking justice for a war criminal hiding there.

9

A wounded wholkin with vital wartime information is struck down, but needs to get the message to the Empress of Everything. (The message is secret, sealed in a living pouch.)

Nera, page 54

Hrath, page 134

Empress of Everything, page 57

10

Followers of the Word, page 50

War-Related Encounter

1

Rumors circulate that the city of Nera coming under attack from a distant living landform is an act of war from another continent of the Skin. That continent is supposedly moving toward the Head.

WEATHER Generally, every part of the world works with other parts to create a consistently warm ambient temperature. That said, some landforms prefer it cooler, and others warmer. This is especially true in the Underhunger, where conditions that are ideal for a given landform or creature can be truly dangerous to humans.

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Storms are common everywhere, though it rarely rains (unless luminiferous delions cause the storm). More often it’s the wind that becomes hazardous, or at times the lightning that seems to grow out of disrupted kai, like a short circuit. Sometimes landforms have a psychic influence on their surroundings, which are akin to weather. The worst of these is a kind of weather known as a fatal mood. Landforms all have some level of consciousness, even if relatively low. With that consciousness comes an existential state of being that can be caught from other landforms attempting to cleanse themselves, triggered by an act of war, or developed spontaneously for reasons not wholly understood. But when a fatal mood passes through a living landform, the kai becomes suffused with mind-altering connections that rip through unprotected minds of nearby smaller creatures, who react in various random but usually egregious ways. The effect begins with simple delusions, but rapidly escalates to anxiety, anger, paranoia, and finally extreme violence. If no convenient target can be found, that violence becomes fatal self-harm.

THE DREAM The Dream is a phenomenon that usually visits every intelligent creature on the Liminal Shore at one time or another, sometimes for long periods, other times for just one night. It’s not much discussed because it rarely has any consequence. However, the Dream thrusts the dreamer into an amorphous mist of indescribable color that pulses in time to changeable music. The music is usually calming, though it can occasionally crescendo into more alarming sounds. Some attach great significance to the Dream, such as the Followers of the Word, who claim it is the mind of God reaching out each day to comfort its creation. Others see it as a meaningless side effect of kai. A few try to recreate the musical sounds with instruments when they wake, usually with only moderate success.

THE SKIN CHAPTER 6

THE SKIN Hundreds of landmasses make up the Skin, which is what natives call the Liminal Shore’s surface. One of the larger landmasses— the Head—holds over a dozen distinct domains. These domains are variously controlled by different species, including a few where humans rule. The others are under the command of different species of native creatures, primarily wholkin and creel. Some of the other major landmasses have similar arrangements, though with far fewer humans. A few are single island-sized living landforms with agendas of their own. War on the Liminal Shore is as constant as weather, though that’s becoming less so as humans further their claims on the land. It’s unclear whether that’s the new way of things, or if (as some mystics at the Shrine of Repose predict) all the violence is being saved up for a great cataclysm that’ll see the humans wiped from the Liminal Shore. Other mystics think these doomsayers are simply paranoid. The Skin is thought to contain more cognizant species than the Underhunger, but allowing for the Underhunger’s much greater volume compared to the relatively thin shell of the Skin, that’s more likely an “out of sight, out of mind” conclusion rather than the truth. Things that happen in the Underhunger tend to remain confined beneath the surface, with a few notable exceptions, such as the Hungry Extrusion. The Head is surrounded by the Wax Sea. The most notable regions of the Head are Anepus, the Territories, Nera the Windborne City, the Hungry Extrusion, Thersezon, and Three Spires. Though humans have successfully pressed their claim to Anepus so far, one of the ways they do so is by

appeasing the domain of Nera, ruled by the wholkin Empress of Everything. That includes allowing a sizeable contingent of wholkin to live in Anepus, as well as delivering a monthly bounty of Ninth World cyphers protected from degradation to Nera. To do otherwise risks the Empress destroying them (and everyone else) by using a doomsday option that she credibly claims to possess, which will “wake the Head into convulsions violent enough to shake everything upon it into the Wax Sea.”

EXPERIENCING THE LIMINAL SHORE First-time visitors to the Liminal Shore might encounter the following scene, which is what people see when they come to Anepus by way of ship from the Sea of Secrets: READ ALOUD The gelatinous sea, thick with slow waves and undulations that create a kind of physical weather, pushes your craft toward shore. Pale docks thick with colorful leaves reach out from a great city built on the lower edges of a mountain, if a mountain was feathered in iridescent plumes and slowly breathed. The city is an interconnected grove of trees that form roads and avenues, shops and plazas, homes, gardens, and hundreds of other urban amenities. Standing at regular intervals are single trees hung with hives alive with glowing insects, like lamps. Working the docks, walking the streets, and moving in and out of the various living structures are thousands of people. Most are human, but here and there are creatures completely at odds with human anatomy.

Empress of Everything, page 57

Wholkin, page 137 Creel, page 133 Living Landforms, page 23 War on the Liminal Shore, page 41

Shrine of Repose, page 48

Chapter 7: The Underhunger, page 65

Notable Areas Wax Sea, page 51 Anepus, page 44 The Territories, page 50 Nera, page 54 Hungry Extrusion, page 61 Thersezon, page 62 Three Spires, page 59 Lattice Forest, page 59 The Great Divide, page 61

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Chapter 4: Reaching the Liminal Shore, page 34

For information on ways to reach the Liminal Shore, see chapter 4.

ANEPUS With a population topping 100,000 humans, as well as sizable populations of other species, Anepus is a large city. Like all structures on the Liminal Shore, the architecture is alive. Towers breathe and eye their neighbors, walls are insulated with fur, and great domed structures resemble translucent jellyfish, complete with mantles of waving tissue. These structures stretch away from the Shore in great curves, finally rising partly up the side of a mountain slope covered not in trees, but rather treelike feathers because it, too, is alive. Roads and bridges pass below and between the living structures, composed of filmy connective tissue. People crowd the streets, the bridges, and even the air overhead on attached wings, or on (and in some cases, inside) larger flying creatures. They’re dressed in exotic living clothing, some so extreme that it’s hard to tell where the person ends and their clothing begins. To those taking the time to visualize kai, or for those with special sensitivity, the

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interconnected life force weaves a looping, curving, glowing braid of wondrous and constantly flowing designs of complexity too great overall and too fine in detail to fully comprehend. Anepus boasts various districts and areas of special note, including the Landing, the Gallery, and Kaitlyn’s Rest, among several more. A carriage (the common name for any creature that provides passage upon its back or within a comfortable interior) can reach most destinations in Anepus in about ten minutes if it has the ability to fly, or three times that if it is strictly terrestrial.

A WHOLE OTHER WORLD? People in Anepus don’t necessarily think of their city as being on a different world than where the PCs come from. Except for a few specially learned individuals, they believe that the Ninth World and specific places in the Steadfast are part of the same world as theirs, but just a more distant land on the Skin. Unlike in the Steadfast, where the Liminal Shore is half myth, those in Anepus are confident that the Steadfast exists, given that a ship arrives from there every few months.

THE SKIN Newcomers to Anepus say the city smells like cinnamon and citrus, with an undertone of unwashed seskii.

PARLIAMENT OF ANEPUS The Parliament of Anepus was formed over a century ago following the ratification of the Wholkin Treaty. Most people don’t realize it, but that treaty gave humans the right to settle the Head and govern themselves, but only at the sufferance of the Empress of Everything, who is technically the actual sovereign. However, the Empress hasn’t interceded in human affairs in more than fifty years, which is why most people consider themselves under human rule. The Parliament meets two days out of every seven in a spiraling shell the color of iridescent pearl, where issues great and small are discussed and voted upon. Various factions make up the Parliament, each concerned with special issues, as in any governing body. The current Speaker is Cader Meth, a white-haired and bearded human man, whose tasm is a blue snail-like creature. Cader also happens to own a fishing fleet that catches rare delicacies out on the Wax Sea. And as everyone suspects, he has a connection in Qi that provides tokens and the occasional standard cypher, which often serves as the tribute regularly sent to Nera. Two law-enforcing groups patrol Anepus, the Drille and the Grimshells. Only the Drille directly answers to the Parliament. DRILLE Composed of humans that answer to a special Parliament committee, the Drille enforce human norms, and are most concerned about theft, violence, and disorderly conduct that could lead to the Grimshell reacting. If war ever threatens Anepus, as has happened from time to time, the Drille openly and loudly seek new recruits into their ranks. The recruits are a mix of the willing, the uncertain, and, in some cases, the unwilling who have debts to pay off. Though not as highly trained as the typical Drille patroller, they do the job of creating the image of a vast army when the need arises.

GRIMSHELLS A force of half a dozen wholkin Grimshells have complete authority, answering to the Empress of Everything rather than the Parliament. Their towering whorled forms are scribed with bioluminescent red fungus, which sets them apart from the average wholkin that live in Anepus. What they originally called themselves isn’t known; “Grimshells” is what humans call them, and they’ve adopted the name. Grimshells are more concerned with humans who might exploit kai, especially those who risk becoming a blight or a parted egoist. Anytime a great amount of kai is used—even through the use of a Liminal Shore artifact or cypher, or a taming attempt of level 5 or higher—Grimshells may show up to monitor the situation. Usually, that’s all they do, but sometimes they take the so-called perpetrator into custody, and the person is never seen again (at least, not in Anepus). Grimshell captains are claimed to have the ability to call an eater in case backup is needed. Most people believe it, though few have ever seen it happen.

THE LANDING The area along the docks adjacent to the Wax Sea is known as the Landing by locals. Watercraft of every sort—sometimes including a nonliving ship that made the voyage from the Ninth World using a liminal sail—crowd the wharf. Foot traffic is thick, but living vehicles are also common. Those who venture to the Liminal Shore by way of sea voyage are most likely to spend their first few hours here. Dozens of ships (most alive but sometimes built and protected by tokens) come in, are unloaded, reloaded, and set out again at all hours. Human dockworkers, captains, crew, and warehouse workers mingle and shout. Among them is the occasional wholkin and creel. When a Drille patrol moves through, it doesn’t draw much comment, unlike when the Grimshell quietly pass, which puts a noticeable chill on everyone (including other wholkin).

Grimshell: level 4; Armor 3; short-ranged envenomed harpoon attacks inflict 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and, on failed Might defense roll, paralyzes victim for one minute

Blight, page 29 Parted egoist, page 22 Artifacts, page 96 Cyphers, page 86 Cader Meth: level 4, persuasion and deception tasks as level 6; carries a couple of random cyphers

Qi, page 144 Eater, page 116 Tokens, page 40

Liminal sail, page 102

Drille recruit, typical: level 1; Armor 1; melee and ranged weapons inflict 3 points of damage

Drille patroller, typical: level 3; Armor 1; melee and ranged weapons inflict 5 points of damage

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Mux, page 41

Jiradn: level 3, tasks related to getting around Anepus as level 5 Cas: level 4, interaction tasks as level 5; Armor 1; paralytic fur and other creel abilities (see page 133)

Besides piers and warehouses, the Landing is thick with establishments perfect for separating muxen (and tokens, if any are to be had) from crew. These include establishments such as Red Sector and the Cove. A few enterprising traders—such as Jiradn—keep an eye out for those obviously recently arrived from the Ninth World, spying them as they get off their ship and offering tokens and information in return for a few shins, a cypher or two, or favors. Jiradn the Money Changer: A young human woman who has a furry, snakelike tasm with a cat head approaches the PCs and introduces herself. She offers to show them the ropes, given their obvious newness to Anepus. For starters, she warns them about how, in a few days, their stuff will begin to fall apart. She offers to show them the

EATING AND DRINKING ON THE LIMINAL SHORE

Chindra: level 3, interaction tasks as level 5 Enforcer: level 4

Consuming food and drink is purely discretionary on the Liminal Shore, but many creatures (including humans) still prefer it to gaining sustenance through their connection to kai, just like many people in the Ninth World enjoy eating sugary food although it’s not a staple (and probably not healthy if eaten regularly). Since everything that isn’t alive on the Liminal Shore quickly degrades, food and drink preparation happens in the moment. Some people enjoy eating live food, but most humans prefer their vegetables, fish, and game to be still and not wriggling, and their drink to not try to escape their gullets. Food preparation can involve quick methods for killing and preparing right at the table. However, the Liminal Shore provides, as the saying goes, and many homes and establishments in Anepus include special living objects called cookeries that extrude food and drink of nearly any imaginable flavor, shape, and consistency that lasts for up to a day before degrading.

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way to the markets where they can get replacements, or to sell them a token each in return for one Ninth World cypher each. Jiradn answers the PCs’ questions to the best of her ability, though she has just as many questions about the “distant land” of the Steadfast. Her curiosity about cyphers from there is a precursor to her strong desire to one day explore the Steadfast herself. However, she has elder parents in the city and would not want to take off into dangerous waters while still tending to their care. Red Sector: Grown to resemble a Ninth World octopus of enormous size, this tavern serves fish and spirits. The proprietor is a creel called Cas by the regulars. Cas has an apparent fascination with humans, serving human food over creel food, and wearing human clothing and even a couple of prosthetics to make them seem so human that many newcomers to Red Sector never know the difference. Even more strangely, Cas’s tasm is a tiny human-shaped homunculus. Cas makes it a priority to meet anyone new who enters the place at least once during their visit, but pays special attention to those from the Ninth World, and is willing to provide much in the way of information or muxen for stabilized oddities or other devices from outside the Liminal Shore. The Cove: All sorts of games are played in this many-chambered structure of marl and branch, but almost all are games of chance where the house takes a cut, win or lose. In this case, the house is the proprietor, a human woman named Chindra, and her many enforcers who keep order. Chindra is large and brash, and her tasm is an elegant fox-like beast. Most of the games are tame enough, but Chindra has a secret level that only those in the know can access, where weekly tasm fights are staged. Tasm fighting, which is pretty much like it sounds, has recently been banned in Anepus because incidents have a high probability of attracting Grimshell attention. That hasn’t stopped the fights in the Cove; they’ve just become more illicit.

THE SKIN If PCs are looking for unsavory sorts, either to bring them to justice or to hire them, the Cove is not a bad place to begin asking around.

THE GALLERY In addition to all kinds of ad-hoc buying and selling in the Landing, Anepus boasts an impressive market district called the Gallery. Partly open-air under glowing folds of translucent membrane, and partly under crystalline shells that glitter with arcing bio-lights, the Gallery provides a shopping experience for every taste, from those with hardly a mux to their name to an expensive shopping experience for the elite. Here, nearly anything can be bought and sold, with no luxury too exotic or fantastic. It’s always swarmed with bizarrely dressed buyers and sellers. Flower-filled arcades and open-air cafés break up the shops and offer visitors a chance to rest. Custom-tamed living objects represent most of the goods in the Gallery, though services can also be bought, including massage, body sculpting, memory modifying, mood changing, and more. It’s rumored that illicit services, such as intimidation or even assassination, can be purchased from the right shop, but if asked, most people will say that’s just a story told to the credulous. Places of business in the Gallery include Tasmology and Tranquil Garments. Tasmology: This shop’s sign boasts “Tasm replacement service, guaranteed safe!” The proprietor is Dyur Uld—a wholkin with glowing spirals striping her shell and a tasm shaped like a white bird. If pressed, she admits that her success rate is only ninety-nine percent. Most would never imagine exchanging their symbiote, but every so often, a mismatch happens. Dyur Uld charges 1 token or 10 muxen for the base service. Elaborations for special shapes and abilities are negotiable. Sometimes she also helps people who’ve lost a tasm and their access to kai. Tranquil Garments: This Gallery shop sells operative garments tamed by the proprietor,

Braedden, known for his extravagant designs. The clothing he wears constantly changes color and shape, and it’s difficult to pick his tasm out because it does the same thing. The front room is like a forest, alive with appealing clothing of shifting hues and brilliantly alluring odors. Some of the garments grant additional abilities, such as an asset to falling asleep, the ability to sing tranquil tunes (or tunes that fit the circumstances the wearer finds themselves in), and similar quality-of-life enhancements. These garments usually cost at least 50 muxen and can go as high as 250. The back room sells much more expensive “heinous garments” that have

Braedden: level 4, taming tasks as level 8; Armor 2 from living clothing; two attacks inflicting 5 points of Speed damage (from poison) each from living clothing

Dyur Uld: level 3, taming tasks as level 5; Armor 2; short-ranged kai disruption attacks inflict 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) Wholkin, page 137

Operative garment, page 103

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Heinous garment, page 100

a hidden (or, in some cases, completely obvious) deadly aspect. Some have needles that can deliver poison with a touch, and others have retractable sword-like claws. The poisons secreted by these living garments can be as mild as causing stupor or suggestibility, or have far more lethal effects. The average heinous garment costs several tokens, or requires an in-kind trade of some other equally potent living artifact from the buyer.

KAITLYN’S REST Deep kai dreamer: level 3; answers one question about anything of up to level 7 after having spent at least as many days asleep in the Shrine of Repose Consider describing unexpected encounters in Anepus as GM intrusions.

Relya: level 3, interaction tasks as level 6

Pollen: level 5; addictive if used more than a few times

Chapter 7: The Underhunger, page 65

Dre-ikhol, page 115

When humans came to the Liminal Shore and discovered that life force could be visualized, some realized that, whether a side effect of the numenera or not, it was certainly a tool for those seeking spirituality, soul-cleansing, and rest. Named after a stowaway who found her calling on the Shore, Kaitlyn’s Rest is a large district of the city with a massive concentration of spiritualists, prophesiers, visionaries, and dream readers, all of whom regard kai as a divine grace. Though most of these people have a specialty, they’re generally referred to as mystics. Most mystics in the district are human, but many more wholkin can be found here than in other parts of the city. Those seeking emotional aid, whether human or wholkin, often end up visiting one of the many shrines, temples, and shops in Kaitlyn’s Rest. The Shrine of Repose is just one example. The Shrine of Repose: This shrine is a treelike tower with many branches and hollows set with blue bio-lights. Passages reach down into the Underhunger, and from there out into the Wax Sea—at least, so the mystics say. The main entrance is adrift with floating flowers scented with lavender and all manner of comfortable living furniture. Those seeking peace for an hour or an afternoon are welcome to come here, lie back, and visualize kai in the high chamber overhead. The mystics have specifically modified the chamber to promote peace and relaxation to the anxious mind, and, should one wish it, restful sleep. The living tree of the shrine has many connected chambers where the mystics who maintain the place can dream away

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whole days in communion with the “deep kai,” as they call the life force that comes up from the Liminal Shore’s core. These are considered the most holy of the mystics, and when they arise, they are accorded much honor in the sect. If someone comes to the shrine seeking a specific answer to a difficult life question (or any question at all), a mystic is chosen at random from among those who study the deep kai to awaken and try to provide an answer. Sometimes the answer is enigmatic, but often enough, the petitioner finds real value and even actionable advice in what the deep kai dreamer provides.

ENCOUNTERS IN ANEPUS Whether travelers are apparent natives or obvious newcomers, simply moving through Anepus can offer interesting encounters. For those who are not familiar with the place, such encounters might even be something of an adventure. POLLEN PURVEYOR Wearing a green cloak of twining tentacles, a human woman named Relya with a frog-like tasm catches the eye with a sudden smile that’s hard not to return. “You are just who I was hoping to find,” she entreats each new potential customer. “Have you heard of pollen? It’s your lucky day, because I am a duly designated purveyor of this most exalting material, which the mystics of Kaitlyn’s Rest call ‘kai made manifest.’ For you, for today, this ampule is yours to have, without charge.” Pollen is relatively new to Anepus, so the average person doesn’t realize that it, unlike many tamed secretions and bioproducts of the Liminal Shore, is strongly addictive. However, a single dose of this golden powder, which Relya shakes from the petals of a similarly golden flower, plucked from a (or possibly “the”) dre-ikhol, is almost certainly safe. A dost of pollen, if breathed in, has the following effects on a first-time user (though someone who repeatedly uses the substance may face more serious consequences): • Asset to taming tasks for one hour, related to the sudden ability to easily and without concentration visualize

THE SKIN the flows of kai through everyone and everything • Euphoria for one hour, related to the same vision of kai that unfolds • Feeling of connectedness for one hour BODY SCULPTING FOR THE UNWILLING A human male, whose tasm is a winding birthmark and whose living clothes audibly purr, approaches the PCs—except, as they soon note, it’s not clothing; the man’s furry flesh itself is purring and pulsing. “You’ve guessed it!” he intones to anyone who takes even a moment’s notice of him. “Clothing is ephemeral; sculpted flesh is personal!” The man, named Casian, takes any response by the PCs as an invitation to promote the benefits of body sculpting. His spiel describes body sculpting as the highest form of self-actualization; custom clothing doesn’t even come close. As he speaks, he subtly (and secretly) weaves kai, attempting to put the particular PC he is entreating into a suggestive state. If he succeeds, the PC begins to think that

Casian is making especially good points. So good, in fact, that when Casian offers to take a deposit of 50 muxen toward the body sculpting at his nearby kiosk (Casian’s Body Couture), the character pays it if they have the funds, or tries to come up with them. Casian sets a time for the character to come by and select from a full catalog of sculpting options. Then he’s on his way, claiming that he enjoys the selling as much as the sculpting. However, it’s all a scam; the “nearby kiosk” isn’t where Casian said it would be. Really, he’s just a thief. COMMON STREET THIEVES Unlike Casian’s cons, many thieves in Anepus thrive using standard tactics, even though the Drille has lately prioritized putting a stop to them. One thieving group is made up of three siblings—Jes, Mur, and Keth Marden. Their usual tactic is for Jes to bump into a target and fall (making it seem as if the character was to blame), faking an injury while Mur uses the distraction to

ANEPUS HEARSAY

THE WEIRD OF ANEPUS

Gallery Newcomer: A wholkin called Komorn has set up shop in the Gallery, specializing in colorful membranes that are worn like scarves and are warm (or cool, if desired) and able to trill, purr, or give off a pleasing aroma. Some do exactly that, but a rumor (perhaps planted by rivals, perhaps true) has begun circulating that Komorn is a spy for the Empress of Everything.

Red Cloud: About every month, a red cloud forms in the sky overhead, a vast thundercloud with a dark center. In the roiling mist, many people say they see patterns of kai that shake them to their core, leaving bad dreams. However, all attempts to intercept the cloud and figure out its significance have so far failed, as it fades within a few minutes.

Spirant Threat: An intrusion of bluish fungal growths has become an issue in various spots around Anepus. At best, the fungus is a pest that stubbornly grows outside the limits of kai set by city lifetenders. If allowed to fruit, the fungus disgorges tiny lizard-like creatures that scurry and bite, though they are more annoying than dangerous. However, some people worry that the fungus is the work of spirants from the Underhunger.

Casian: level 3, deception and stealth tasks as level 6; kai weaving attack subtly influences a target within immediate range who falls for Casian’s deception attempt Marden siblings: level 4, tasks related to thievery and deception as level 5

Dreams of Sterility: Rarely, dreamers in the Shrine of Repose share the same dream, but lately this has begun to happen often enough to be noted. In the dream, they seem to be in a dead and sterile environment composed of a polished smooth material that is like bone but not, with cloying floor coverings that give beneath the feet, and a variety of hard and cruel seats, likewise dead. Above this grisly scene, an illuminated world slowly revolves in darkness, glistening with light outlining continents, as well as living edifices so large that many reach into space.

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Abbess Barrula: level 5, tasks related to the liturgy of the Word as level 7; Armor 3; long-range Word of Peace attack on foe calms them for up to one minute on failed Intellect defense roll

steal a bag, a loose cape, or even a tasm (if nothing else is more easily obtained) and then attempt to slip away through the crowd. Keth helps deflect the chase by “accidentally” getting in the way of a pursuer or, if they are doing well enough, by swooping down with a flying mount and snatching Mur to safety. Those who stoop to stealing tasms are especially reviled. But there is a market for tasms among certain unscrupulous traders who believe that consuming their kai enhances one’s own connection to the land, or can help stabilize someone who is at risk of becoming blighted.

THE TERRITORIES Thersezon, page 62

The Territories consist of all the other major human centers of population on the Liminal Shore other than Anepus. A few are relatively close to Anepus, such as the Monastery of the Word. Others are scattered far more widely.

MONASTERY OF THE WORD

Follower of the Word, typical: level 2, tasks related to the liturgy of the Word as level 4

Detemer: level 3, tasks related to interaction and entertaining as level 5

This high monastery is perched atop a marl outcropping that rises hundreds of feet over a wide Wax Sea bay. Walled in brilliant white living barriers veined with delicate arteries filled with golden fluid, the monastery is home to the Followers of the Word. They are a sect of humans (as well as some wholkin and creel) who believe the Liminal Shore is a divine entity that provides wisdom through meditations. The proof is all around, say the followers, evident in kai itself, in how the world responds to the desires of its precious creatures, and, of course, in the physical existence of the Word of God. Though not directly visible from the monastery, a reproduction of the structure—sculpted from the marl—is at the compound’s center. There, followers perform daily rituals and enjoy mediations of the kai. Yearly expeditions to the actual

Word of God (or at least to a place where it can be safely viewed) are organized by Abbess Barrula, a stately human woman whose tasm is a doglike beast with no eyes. The abbess is a wholkin, but through body sculpting, her shell has come to resemble a human’s general shape, if one wore heavy religious robes. Her voice, rich and melodious, adds to the illusion of humanity when she greets newcomers to the monastery out in the courtyard. She offers them hospitality for a few nights, the chance to meditate, and, if they like, the opportunity to undertake “good in the name of the Word” to help purify their spirits. These good works usually involve clearing out pests or taming difficult living land substrates to better behave, though those with more significant abilities are asked to help deal with the incursion from the domain of Thersezon, a creel dominion of “pirates and desperados,” according to the abbess. Though the abbess is wholkin, most of the followers under her are humans. In addition to their meditations and rituals, they study philosophy and practice peaceful forms of self-defense called the Word of Peace. Only a few are adepts at it, including the abbess.

RAHBMAS, TRAVELER’S REST Along a trade route that roughly connects the Territories is a village of about three hundred humans called Rahbmas. Most of the residents are simple fungus tamers who create a variety of artisanal foods and beverages, some of which are popular in Anepus. The village is mostly known for its ideal position along the road as a resting place for travelers. As such, it hosts a couple of large inns in support of that custom. A somewhat celebrated storyteller named Detemer makes Rahbmas his home. Detemer—a man in his early seventies whose clothing is always evolving some new design—claims to originally be from

“The Word of God is the living manifestation of the divine mind that watches over and protects us, which is the Liminal Shore itself.” ~saying of the Followers of the Word

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THE SKIN THE WORD OF GOD Three massive living landforms south of the Head are almost miniature continents in their own right. From a great distance, they resemble symbols in a tongue only a scant few have deciphered. Long ago, someone decided they were a sign from Verse’s creator, signifying that the great living entity was a child of an even greater being. As such, these living landforms have become holy ground to many. While the provenance of these particular landforms is difficult to trace back, these marl-like growths are much tougher than other varieties, able to withstand nearly every insult, and grow back exactly as they were if harmed in some fashion. Though wars have been fought over their existence, the three entities making up the Word of God do not seem to care.

“distant Qi” on another world. His tasm is a white insect with red wings. The story he tells is that he arrived not by sea, but through something called a vertice, which lies in a dangerous region known as the Haunt. For those who have the time, the retelling is quite entertaining. Detemer is happy to lend a small cypher-like bulb that relays the story (or any of his many other stories and musings) upon request.

WAX SEA Living liquid makes up a much larger surface area of the Skin than does marl and other more solid living landforms. The portion of this watery expanse off the west coast of the Head is known as the Wax Sea. Composed of vast and pelagic grumes, the “moods” of the Wax Sea are more than poetic license. Sometimes the sea

is indifferent. But sometimes, its various constituents grow restive and become involved in some internal argument of kai flow. That’s when it warms up and becomes a ship-devouring expanse. And even that’s not bad compared to when a length of sea begins to lash the shore, and marl begins to lash back. When the land and sea fight, smaller creatures must flee.

ORAIN, THE DEEP Orain is considered part of the Skin by some, given that a portion of it is open to the sky. But most of the city is located in a vast interstitial cavity under the marl. The structures vary, depending on their location. Many are found along the ceiling of the cavern-like space, hollowed from gargantuan marl extrusions that protrude there. Some 2,000 humans live in Orain, moving between the structures on hardened connective tissue or by “swinging” (a sort of public transit system involving living cables that literally move people by swinging them over the great chasm, either individually or within protected pods). Many Orainians make their living by taming the exotic strains of marl that can be found far below on the cavern floor. Oddities of the marl are supposedly due to it being an upwelling from the Underhunger, which most people (including most Orainians) regard as exotic and dangerous. That danger is evident in how all workers are evacuated from the cavern floor each night via a series of retracting lifts. Only a few guardian creatures—mostly composed of kels—watch over their taming fields each night. The guardians protect the fields from whatever might ooze up from the Deep Way, a throat-like passage piercing the back of the cavity. The Deep Way is often thick with mucus and literally inhaling and exhaling a too-sweet smelling wind, hinting at dark mysteries deep below.

If one travels down the Deep Way far enough, they could reach Zgarrn (page 76), a location in the Underhunger (page 65).

Haunt, page 63

Kel, page 122

Grume, page 26

Whether day or night, much of Orain is constantly in the dark but glitters nonetheless with flittering bioluminescent motes similar to dragonflies. Sometimes Orainians catch individual motes and make pets of them, though only after teaching them to get along with their tasms.

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Master Tamer Keshina: level 5, taming tasks as level 7; has all manner of cyphers at her disposal for offensive, defensive, and mundane tasks Taming cyphers and artifacts, page 16

Trade with other places in the Territories, Anepus, and other friendly domains composed primarily of creel and wholkin is an important facet of Orain’s existence. The taming farms are harvested daily for eye-catching food, living textiles, and cyphers, though only Master Tamer Keshina is allowed to try to tame cyphers, given the dangers associated with failed cypher-creating taming attempts. Keshina is a large woman, thick with muscle and bedecked with all manner of past successful creations. She was once a Follower of the Word but had a severe falling-out with the abbess after a trip far inland. The abbess and the master tamer won’t even suffer to hear the other’s name spoken in their presence.

LANAMBER If there is a competitor for the center of human civilization on the Liminal Shore, it is

Lanamber. An entire village of humans was accidentally transcribed from its Ninth World location onto the Liminal Shore, the result of some kind of runaway glitch in a “transitional realm” called the datasphere, according to popular understanding. That said, of all the places where humans and creel mingle, Lanamber is the most equal, and evenly spread. There are no districts where creel live apart from humans or vice versa. Before Lanamber appeared, the location hosted a creel domain specializing in pushing the limits of kai, so perhaps the transfer of the village had something to do with that. A large portion of the creel originally inhabiting the site disappeared when Lanamber appeared; most assume they are now in the Ninth World. Today, Lanamber appears like a great cone of marl hundreds of feet high, hollowed and windowed with habitations, stairs, and places of business. Kite-like

The annual Lanamber Games is one of the most anticipated events in Anepus and the Territories.

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THE SKIN THE TERRITORIES HEARSAY Saving Face: Somewhere along the artery-like roads of the Territories is a pustule that no one wants to encounter if they can avoid it. This location, known as the Red Pustule, is an upwelling of connective tissue inhabited by humans who have succumbed to a blight that causes their skin to hang in lumpy bulges and makes them eager to consume the flesh of other creatures, especially other humans. They eat everything but the faces of their victims, which they manage through a corruption of kai to meld into their own flesh, creating gruesome visages. These cannibals have come to be known as facesavers.

Deleterious Migration: Hungry swarms of kjiks, insect-like pests, sometimes rise up from the Deep Way in Orain to trouble the tamed farms on the cavern floor. Usually, the Orainians easily handle such infestations, but this one is different. The swarm almost seems to act as if it has a mind and agenda. Unfortunately, the community’s master tamer lies sick with an unknown illness, and without her, things seem dire unless the city can find someone to help.

THE WEIRD OF THE TERRITORIES

Missing Followers: A group of Followers of the Word traveling about the Territories to bring their message to others is long overdue in the Monastery of the Word. The followers were said to have received cyphers brought up from the Underhunger that confirmed the core belief of the religious sect. The messages sent ahead were jubilant. But then all evidence of them disappeared. The monastery would give much to learn of their fate and, if possible, deliver them from a bad situation.

Mischievous Landform: Most living landforms are not all that mobile, and many can’t really be said to have cognition. That’s not the case for a living landform called the Wanderer by those who have encountered it moving about the Territories. The Wanderer is like a keldar in size, though on the smaller side—thankfully, because it constantly moves about on a thicket of legs. Sometimes ambling, sometimes dashing, it moves almost like it is trying to get the other landforms to play tag with it. It also sometimes notices much smaller creatures that approach it and reacts playfully, though the mismatch in scale presents its own dangers.

The Story Goes Ever On: Detemer of the village of Rahbmas is looking for a hardy few to help him write a new chapter in his life, which he’ll turn into another epic story. His idea is to commission a journey across the Wax Sea, to one of the distant continents that no one knows anything about. However, he’ll also gladly sign on to a journey that others are already pursuing, if they’re willing to have him.

Tasm Spasm: A traveler in the Territories recently showed up in Lanamber with a strange affliction. Every time they try to speak, their tasm—a green furry creature with six arms and a large mouth—begins to scream and convulse, as if having some kind of seizure. Nearby tasms freeze in place, and everyone whose tasm is so affected loses their access to kai during the episode.

strands of multicolored tissue fly high above the depression at the top, visible for miles. The wide, deep basin at the top has been tamed to create a massive amphitheater. Weekly competitions of all kinds occur here, and every three hundred days the Lanamber Games are held, which last twelve days. People—mostly human and creel—flock from all over to watch the elite compete in

a variety of competitions. The most popular involve fights between people and creatures tamed to the height of physical perfection. The co-rulers of Lanamber are Dakarn (a human male) and Brizzon (a creel). The two get on famously, though sometimes they stage disagreements that lead to inevitable rapprochement, a public display that usually begins when their two tasms

Facesaver, page 117

Dakarn: level 3, interaction tasks as level 5; Armor 2 from artifact Brizzon: level 3, interaction tasks as level 5; Armor 1; creel abilities (see page 133)

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Nera, the Windborne City, is the center of wholkin power and commerce on the Liminal Shore.

The wholkin refer to individual flying landforms of their city as “fliers.”

Zralan: level 5; Armor 1; long-range attack by artifact moves target one step down the damage track; creel abilities (see page 133)

are seen together (each of which resembles a many-tailed cat), soon to be joined by the two rulers, to general applause. In addition to the annual games, the rulers sponsor bright, noisy markets and festivals in the amphitheater and all up and down the main sloping road stretching from the base of the cone to the caldera’s edge. However, not all is bright and welcoming. Even as the two rulers push for increasing trade and openness, murmurs of trouble continue to spread. A well-organized gang of criminals preys on the community, targeting residents, visitors, and even nearby holdfasts and nonhuman domains. Known as the Ashen Veil, the group is secretive but intent on creating the maximum amount of mayhem in order to further enhance their notoriety. The Ashen Veil is secretly led by a creel called Zralan, who lost her entire family when Lanamber appeared. She gets her revenge as she can and sometimes strikes out on her own, randomly murdering humans in the night. Other times she accepts commissions on behalf of the Ashen Veil from domains that would prefer to see humans reduced or eliminated from the Liminal Shore.

SILVER OBSERVATORY Nera, page 54

Observer Nhuan: level 4, tasks related to running a flying observatory as level 7

Built upon a flying living landform leased from Nera, the Silver Observatory resembles a great silvery bag that strains ever upward, but is kept from flying out into the void by the great weight of a bony body bristling with eyes and hollows for riders. The body supplements the thin air in its hollows that would otherwise assault the observers who fly so high. Observers seek to understand the strange sky overhead, where the more they study the points of distant lights, the more it seems like they’re just that: points of light painted on a surface, not far more distant stars. Run by Observer Nhuan, a human woman with silver hair and a tasm covered in hair of the same reflective hue, the Silver Observatory flies for months at a time, but comes down to resupply at various

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locations, including Anepus, Lanamber, Nera, and other locations. Nhuan believes she is unraveling a great truth about the Liminal Shore, but most others regard her as amusing, and probably wrong about interpretations of the sky.

NERA, THE WINDBORNE CITY The center of wholkin power and commerce on the Liminal Shore is Nera, a magnificent flying city that soars across the sky’s expanse. It is composed of hundreds of massive living landforms (similar to marl, but with the ability to fly) and thousands of much smaller living bladders and gas bags attached by long strands of connective tissue. These fliers feature bioluminescent patches and stripes, dozens of massive sail-like wings, and the ability to stay aloft for years at a time. Wholkin live on and within them in artfully sculpted and tamed secondary landforms and interior hollows, exquisitely detailed with every comfort a wholkin could desire. Nera is the largest city on the Skin, though some locations in the Underhunger likely surpass it. Not that any wholkin would ever admit it, because the Windborne City is also home to the Empress of Everything and her magnificent snow-white flying palace called the Throne, largest of all the fliers. More than a million wholkin live on Nera, as do other creatures, including sizeable contingents of humans and creel. Sometimes even spirants live on Nera, though only occasionally, in an embassy set aside for their use. Nera is always on the move, stretching across the sky in a vast train visible from a few hundred miles away on the surface. The Windborne City follows a migratory path that sees it encircle the entire globe of the Liminal Shore every thirty to fifty days, generally speaking. The fliers ingest both kai and tiny insect-like swarms of nutritious clouds that are common at the altitude at which the city flies. The average altitude of Nera’s flight is about 2 miles (3 km), but

THE SKIN

that can vary from a height that just skims the marl to heights surpassing 5 miles (8 km). It’s up to the Navigator to determine the city’s exact path and height. Nera’s wholkin residents have no difficulty adhering to the exterior of a flier even in high winds that are common to the city’s airspeed, and little accommodation has been made for creatures not naturally sticky. After all, humans, creel, and other creatures can purchase tamed coverings for their feet that replicate a wholkin’s natural ability to cling, or if they are skilled enough in taming, they can create such prosthetics for themselves. Traveling between fliers is accomplished either by following thin webs of connective tissue that stretch between many of them, by calling down one of the many connected bladders and airbags above, or by hailing a cormorak, which is the best way to move relatively quickly between fliers that are many miles apart. The wholkin of Nera are confident in their central importance on the Liminal Shore, as they believe the Windborne City is the living heart of the world; how could it not be, given that the Empress makes her

home there? Humans who come to Nera sometimes find this arrogance off-putting, and it is probably the reason that other creel domains, especially Thersezon, constantly go to war against wholkin domains. Grimshells patrol the Windborne City, usually in pairs; they’re the same peacekeeping force the Empress imposed on the city of Anepus. Though humans and creel on Nera are wary of Grimshell presence, the patrols usually don’t discriminate when it comes to enforcing basic city laws.

Grimshell: level 4; Armor 3; short-ranged envenomed harpoon attacks inflict 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and, on failed Might defense roll, paralyzes victim for one minute

REACHING NERA Those with the ability to fly at least a long distance each round can generally rendezvous with Nera if they’re in the right place at the right time. However, that can be a bit hit or miss. (And in this case, sometimes a “hit” can be worse than a miss.) Of course, not everyone who wants to reach Nera can take to the air. It’s one thing to see the Windborne City soaring high overhead; it’s another for a traveler on the ground to find their way up to it before it

Cormorak, page 113 For those already on Nera, hailing a cormorak is a difficulty 3 Intellect task; skill in controlling kai (page 16) applies.

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Luminiferous Delion, page 26

The Gallery, page 47

Many wholkin shop owners employ yicts (page 132) as guardians when they are away from their shops.

Flier landform, cutter: level 7; 100 health; Armor 3; flies up to a very long distance each round; if crewed, can make up to three very-long-distance kai disruption attacks that each inflict 12 points of damage as an action Emenk: level 4, navigation and flying tasks related to being the Navigator as level 7; Armor 3; wholkin abilities (page 137)

Shanka: level 5, interaction skills as level 6

passes them by. Those wishing to connect, whether they can fly or not, can succeed only if they know generally when it will next appear in the sky. Anyone can attempt to read the kai and try to determine when Nera will next make its closest approach (a difficulty 7 Intellect task), though those with some training or specialization in controlling kai, or specially tamed artifacts to aid in the attempt, have the best chance of success. If a character is close enough to see the city pass over, they can attempt to hail a ride from one of the many cormoraks that flit about Nera, though hailing one from such a distance is hindered by two steps.

NERA’S DEFENSES Because especially skilled creatures can determine Nera’s location at any given time, those who wish to raid the city—as is commonly the plan in Thersezon—can try to set up ambushes. When the Navigator detects something untoward ahead along Nera’s route, it’s easy enough to direct the city along another path. But when caught in a surprise ambush, the city is defended by a handful of special defensive fliers called cutters that are up to most challenges mounted by marl-bound enemies. And if the cutters are not sufficient, there is, of course, the Throne of the Empress of Everything.

The Empress, of course, can make special requests. Emenk enjoys flying Nera through storms but will steer around a luminiferous delion forest with too many overly large specimens.

MARKETS OF NERA Wholkin delight in artistry and novelty, the same as humans. As such, Nera has many large markets, some of which encompass entire fliers. Though Anepus claims to have a monopoly on wonders in its Gallery, it takes only a few moments of wandering Nera’s markets to realize that the Windborne City has the most elite, expensive, and wondrous shopping opportunities on all the Liminal Shore. Most items on sale are difficult for humans to comprehend or appreciate, but their design, imprint on kai, and other characteristics are still impressive, and the shops themselves are cunningly set in architecturally impressive spaces. In addition to the many enigmatic wares, human visitors can also find anything they might wish or custom order something that can’t be immediately procured. However, humans should be prepared to pay all their muxen or provide other exotic objects (such as a token or two, or better yet, objects preserved from degradation by token) in return.

THE ENCLAVE THE NAVIGATOR The Navigator is the title bestowed on the lead flier, directed by a wholkin named Emenk. Emenk’s shell is decorated with dramatic black spirals, and its tasm is a snakelike ebony being often mistaken for part of the design. The lead flier is much smaller but more maneuverable than the typical fliers making up Nera. Emenk uses his own abilities and resources to control the flight of the Navigator, which the other fliers automatically follow unless some disaster prevents them. Emenk has the authority to fly Nera as he wishes, as long as the migration pattern is maintained.

A large flier called the Enclave is set aside for humans and creel who want to live and work on Nera, assuming they prove to have enough talents to qualify for permanent residence. Visiting humans and creel also often stay on the Enclave if they don’t have the patronage of a wholkin resident (in which case they’d stay in that wholkin’s dwelling). The flier also has embassies for Anepus and various creel domains, as well as a mostly vacant hollow where spirants are rumored to sometimes creep. A woman named Shanka is considered by some to speak for all the humans, by dint of the fact that she is Anepus’s ambassador.

The Windborne City has the most elite, expensive, and wondrous shopping opportunities on all the Liminal Shore.

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THE SKIN Usually dressed in green and bearing a swirling, rainbow-hued tasm, Shanka tries not to overstep her authority, because she knows how much that angers those who have no ties to Anepus. But sometimes it’s only her authority that can disentangle people from a misunderstanding with the Grimshells or, worse, the Throne.

THE THRONE At the heart of the stream of fliers making up the Windborne City is a magnificent, gleaming white flier more than twice as large as all the others: the Throne. Its expansive structures and hollows house opulent chambers for the storage of knowledge, high-level taming, quarters for administrators, the central headquarters for the Grimshells, and the residences and grand throne chamber for the Empress of Everything. Several hundred wholkin serve within the Throne. The Empress is a massive wholkin whose spiral-tipped shell stands nearly 20 feet (6 m) high, with a gleaming white surface that shines as if set with a series of spotlights. Her tasm is a scarlet lizard-like creature that usually curls up at her base. It’s unusual for people to directly address the Empress; instead, they are addressed by a nameless wholkin who takes up the title of Speaker for the day. The Speaker’s words are indeed those of the Empress, as she uses kai to take over her subject’s speech centers and senses. Those who serve as Speakers consider it a great honor. The Empress is known for being artful, relentless, and convinced of her own ultimate supremacy. It was her decree that humans be allowed to keep their colony of Anepus, as long as they agreed to her terms. Since then, she has allowed Anepus to grow. However, every ten years, she reconsiders the prospect, usually by randomly selecting a group of humans from Anepus, the Territories, and the Enclave and putting them in a stressful situation—such as a mission of some importance—to see how they perform. So far, each group she has selected has done well enough to keep her opinion of humans in the tolerable range.

Her abilities are many, not the least of which is her command of the Grimshells and other wholkin forces. In addition, she claims the ability to cause the marl making up the Head (the continent on which Anepus is sited) to undergo a convulsion that would destroy all lesser creatures inhabiting it. A catastrophe she would only cause, she threatens, if she were forced to do so in defense of Nera, or to enact some great vengeance.

ENCOUNTERS IN NERA Player characters in Nera can have all sorts of wondrous and dangerous encounters. Either sort can come to them rather than the other way around.

Consider presenting unexpected encounters in Nera as GM intrusions. Empress of Everything: level 5, defense as level 7; Armor 4; wields the Despoiler (a level 8 artifact that transmutes a target within very long range into a lump of living gel); wholkin abilities (page 137)

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Surly wholkin: level 4, deception tasks as level 6; Armor 3; wholkin abilities (page 137)

HIGH WINDS A fist of wind howls across the expanse of the flier, stripping loose connective tissue, stray trash, and everything else that isn’t naturally clingy enough to hold. Winds are a common, never-ending part of the environment in Nera; it’s even part of the city’s name. Wholkin are relatively immune given their ability to cling to any surface. Humans, even those who rely on tamed footwear to make them sticky, learn to be more circumspect. Newcomers are not always as cautious. Sometimes a sudden gust blows when the living landform underneath drops or jolts, which can send them flying. If someone comes unstuck, it isn’t automatically a death sentence. Other nearby fliers, strands of connective tissue, gas bags, and even cormoraks can possibly be caught by someone in desperate straits. But if all these second chances are missed, the ground is a long way down, even for a wholkin.

ILL-TEMPERED LOCALS “You don’t belong here. You smell wrong. The world rejects you. So do we.” Not all wholkin are open to humans having a domain of their own on Verse, as locals prefer to call their world. Though they must abide by the decisions of their Empress, a group of wholkin called the Iracund advance a philosophy of caution when it comes to humans. The Iracund never openly say so, but wholkin who are suspicious of humans can read between the lines and take the group’s statements as permission to treat them poorly, as long as they don’t get caught. A small group of humans moving about Nera may be accosted by a group of surly wholkin looking for trouble, especially as it gets dark and wholkin aren’t as active, or if they are off the main fliers. The wholkin will usually come just short of violence, seeking to incite their victims to that instead so they

NERA HEARSAY

THE WEIRD OF NERA

The Brave Wanderers Return: A group of wholkin calling themselves the Brave Wanderers have recently returned from an expedition into the Underhunger. They are lodging in an inn called the Spiraling Revelation, holding forth on their adventures. They claim to have uncovered a new route to the deepest sections yet of what lies below, new stories of spirant dangers, and trophies taken from the foes they defeated. And they say they encountered a living landform many times the size of the largest keldar on the surface. But more than its size, the Brave Wanderers say they were impressed by the fact that it was self-aware.

Singing Star: A red star winks and blazes whenever Nera passes under a certain section of the sky. According to some, the star can be heard to sing—not through sound or kai, but some other unexplained medium.

Sickly Flier: One of the larger fliers making up Nera has been suffering from strange boils and fatigue for many weeks, a condition that is resistant to regular kai purification techniques. It’s not clear what’s causing the problem, but a group of wholkin known as the Iracund have publicly asked whether those in the Enclave (primarily composed of human and creel residents) have been adequately screened for disease.

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Nondegrading Device: An automaton from the Ninth World, taken as an oddity and preserved with a token, has woken on Nera. A device of hundreds of metallic threads and glass spheres, it has pocketed itself in the belly of a flier and started building a strange nest of metal and flesh. Marl Mouths: As Nera flies over an unnamed continent to the west of the Head, observers claim to see massive gaps open and close on the ground far below, like great mouths straining after the fliers. If lights are directed downward, these “mouths” snap shut, as if they were never there. But a residue of hunger lingering in the kai suggests otherwise.

THE SKIN have grounds to have the Grimshells throw them off Nera.

their limb, allowing it to work on a project while they speak, or vice versa.

IMPERIAL SUMMONS “Please come with us. Your presence is requested by the Empress of Everything.”

Dugesi the Tamer: To learn more of the Watcher indirectly, the curious can speak with a tamer called Dugesi. Dugesi lives at the top of one of the spires in a hollow lit with golden fireflies that crawl constantly across her fur, so it’s impossible to tell where the tamer ends and the fireflies begin. If asked about the Watcher, Dugesi is reluctant to reveal her lore to anyone she suspects wants to use the knowledge to exploit the great landform. If supplicants gain her trust, she finally explains that those who attune themselves to the Watcher and who have the Watcher’s favor gain a special relationship to the Dream. According to Dugesi, the relationship allows a communal oneness with the living mind of Verse itself, which enriches the soul, gladdens the heart, and generally makes one feel right with the world and everything in it. But the attunement comes with a cost, one that’s different for each person who tries to sync their kai with the Watcher. Dugesi says that the first step is to spend a night “among the emberlings that live at the Watcher’s base.”

If PCs come to Nera, most likely they are originally from the Ninth World. Whether they arrive via liminal sail or a stranger method, the Empress can detect their otherness and may send a detachment of Grimshells to request their presence. If the PCs demur, the Grimshells explain that a request from the Empress of Everything is nothing less than an imperial order.

THE LATTICE FOREST The Lattice Forest is a domain of creel that live in harmony with the land. The forest is composed of a series of stalagmite-like marl spires perched on raised and curving highways of ridged branches. The spires each rise on average about 100 feet (30 m) into the air. All cluster around one that is easily five times as tall, known as the Watcher. Those not native to the forest tend to avoid the place because of the many conflicting rumors about the Watcher, most of which relate to it knowing your innermost thoughts. However, many creel—plus a handful of other creatures, including some humans—call the forest home. The primary creel habitation in the Lattice Forest is simply called “the village” by its residents, though newcomers, apparently preferring formality, call it Three Spires. (The village is tamed into the side of three adjacent spires whose bases touch.)

THREE SPIRES About 3,000 creel (plus a handful of humans and wholkin) live in Three Spires. The village elder is a creel called Rombicul, who has an additional limb that serves as their tasm. Rombicul can multitask with

The Recanters: A group of humans (and some creel) in Three Spires vocally and even actively work against the followers of the Monastery of the Word, mostly because many of them were once followers whose searches consistently yielded nothing definitive. They say the faith can take one only so far; after a while, one needs proof. The Recanters are mostly about opposing the Followers of the Word, but a few are developing theories of a radical nature that no one really wants to hear: that the Liminal Shore is an artificial world and the Word of God is merely the stamp of ownership its makers put on it. The principal Recanter is a male human named Draythen who has a prosthetic living

Dugesi: level 4, control kai tasks as level 6; health 20; Armor 1; flies a short distance each round; creel abilities (see page 133) Liminal sail, page 102

The Dream, page 42

Monastery of the Word, page 50 Rombicul: level 4, interaction tasks as level 6; health 20; Armor 1; flies a short distance each round; takes two actions per turn; creel abilities (see page 133) Draythen: level 4, interaction and control kai tasks as level 5; Armor 3 from taming; long-range kai disruption attack inflicts 6 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor)

The Lattice Forest is the domain of the Watcher, a landform that is both feared and revered by the creel that reside among the forest’s pointed branches.

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eye that is his tasm. Angry and driven, he would like nothing more than to prove the Monastery wrong. Though he doesn’t deign to explain even to his closest disciples, it’s clear that he feels he was wronged in some significant fashion. He is working on a plan involving the Watcher to “show everyone” that their faith in the Word is false. But the plan requires a lot of preparatory side missions, including several into the Hungry Extrusion, and from there, down below the Skin.

THE WATCHER The Watcher: level 9 living landform Marl, page 24

Emberling: level 2 The Keeper: level 6; health 50

The Watcher is a massive spire of living tissue, like marl but differentiated. At first glance, the Watcher seems implacable and immobile, like other nearby marl spires. However, it hides a secret cognizance that some may unlock via attunement, if they dare. At the base of the spire is a cyst-like lodging where supplicants sometimes stay. The lodging has hundreds of crannies and deep tunnels, most of which are infested with creatures that resemble foxes with insect wings. People in Three Spires call these creatures emberlings, and they regard the crannies and tunnels as their personal lairs. A being called the Keeper, who seems to be equal part creel and emberling in a single body (it has no obvious tasm; the Watcher itself serves that need), tends the emberlings and waters them with fluids

LATTICE FOREST HEARSAY Ringing stalaktite, page 30

Thersezon, page 62

Stop the Ringing: A growth of ringing stalaktites has appeared a little too near Three Spires, and someone needs to go out and destroy it or placate it before the Watcher is disturbed. Thersan Infiltration: The Keeper has reason to believe that some creel in Three Spires may secretly be hunters from Thersezon gathering information to launch a decisive strike against those of their own kind that don’t follow the “Law of the Hunt.” Discovering who these Thersans are in Three Spires, and what their plans are, has become a priority.

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collected like dew from the sides of the Watcher and other spires. The Keeper gives anyone who enters the cyst a kai-mediated telepathic greeting, then asks the reason for their arrival. If the reason is anything other than seeking attunement, the Keeper tells them to be on their way. Those seeking attunement, the Keeper explains, have a single task: sleep for one night in the cyst, opening themselves to the dream of the Watcher. If they succeed, the Keeper assures supplicants that they’ll have the attunement they seek. If they do not succeed, it means they’ve “entered the dream,” which is still a kind of success, and a better destiny than most ever achieve. If questioned more explicitly about what entering the dream means, the Keeper does the equivalent of shrugging, and gestures to all the emberlings. If a character takes up the Keeper’s task and sleeps in the cyst through the night, they are caught up in a dream relating to the most difficult challenge they’ve faced and failed in their past (PCs are encouraged to tell the GM what that is). Prior to waking, they must succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect task, which could be modified by any qualifying skills. If the PC fails, they probably never fully wake, and their body is transformed over the course of a few hours into another innocent emberling.

THE WEIRD OF THE LATTICE FOREST Missing Star: The people of Three Spires enjoy stargazing. About a month ago, one part of a constellation they called the Door winked out and hasn’t returned. Cerulean Fever: A sickness has afflicted some of the spires making up the Lattice Forest, visible as a blue glow. The sickness can be passed on to creatures that spend too much time there; they gain the same blue glow and complain of having a more difficult time accessing kai. Usually, it goes away with rest, but for some it worsens, causing fever and hallucinations, turning some afflicted violent or paranoid and the rest feeble and uncertain. But all have blazing eyes of cerulean blue.

THE SKIN

A “mountain range” divides the Head. To the west is Anepus and the Territories, where humans are most prolific; to the east is everything else. PCs who succeed on the task gain a connection to the Watcher that they can call upon anywhere, even if they leave the Liminal Shore. The connection allows them to ask the Watcher one question on any topic once every few months; the Watcher responds with a dream the next time the character sleeps, which points to (or directly provides) the answer.

THE GREAT DIVIDE Dark and foreboding, the Great Divide is composed of elder keldar that are said to brood massive eggs beneath their mountainous bulks. One day, legend says, they will be done, and the Great Divide will fly away for a new cycle of mating that will rock the Liminal Shore. In the meantime, this “range” divides the Head. To the west is Anepus and the Territories; to the east lies everything else. The living flesh of cliffs, valleys, and peaks of the Great Divide is a region of danger, though like anyplace else, it is inhabited. In addition to various lone creatures and colonies of lesser living landforms, cognizant beings like creel, wholkin, and a few human groups live in small settlements. Some merely tap kai for nourishment, but most supplement that by taming, hunting, trapping, or herding. The Great Divide also shelters many individual creatures that have gone out of balance with the Liminal Shore, having become no more than bestial predatory parasites, such as bearded walkers and withers. Two main passes lead through the Great Divide for those unable to take to the air to get across. At least one passage leads

beneath the brooding keldar, according to the Followers of the Word, but they keep it secret. The two main routes overland—Winding Way and Skelenim Pass—offer travelers and traders a way to cross the mountains with the least amount of trouble, although Skelenim Pass is named so for a reason; it seems to attract skelenim in the winter. Mt. Umbrage: The largest keldar of the Great Divide is called Umbrage because, of all the mountainous bulks making up the range, it is the one most given to shifting unexpectedly, shaking its hide as creatures pass across it, or even moving from its appointed location. Also, it often growls, a sound like nearby thunder loud enough to stun those moving upon it. Why Mt. Umbrage is always so upset is unknown; some say that’s just its personality. Others wonder if it is hurt in some fashion.

Skelenim, page 127

Keldar, page 25

THE HUNGRY EXTRUSION East of the Great Divide lies the creel refuge of Thersezon, nestled at the center of a land known as the Hungry Extrusion. To mention one is to implicate the other. Life is so competitive in the Hungry Extrusion that the various living landforms and creatures are in a constant cycle of predation on each other and everything else that falls into their grasp from outside. The air is a spray of poisons, the ground is mostly mouth and a series of digestive lakes rather than something solid and dependable, and the clouds more often than not disguise fliers eager to attack prey distracted by some other threat. Few residents in other parts of the Head willingly travel here, because even those

Creel, page 133

Bearded walker, page 111 Wither, page 131

The air is a spray of poisons, the ground is mostly mouth and a series of digestive lakes rather than something solid and dependable, and the clouds more often than not disguise fliers eager to attack prey distracted by some other threat.

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Branch, page 24 Brain rot, page 30 Each round that a non-native creature walks through an area of the Hungry Extrusion that hasn’t been cut back or otherwise made safe, it must succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect task to perceive the inevitable poison barb, digestive pool, hungry insect, or other danger that otherwise inflicts 1 point of damage, which ignores Armor at least a quarter of the time. Chapter 7: The Underhunger, page 65

skilled in taming have a difficult time with the unruly area. (Is that haze in the air simply visual, or is it brain rot spores? It’s probably brain rot spores.) This is just fine with the Thersans, the creel residents of Thersezon. Underhunger Access and Egress: Getting to the Underhunger isn’t as easy as digging; most specimens of marl resist that kind of abuse, and tamed entrances that lead down tend to “heal” over within a few days. So those who wish to make the transition, either into the Underhunger or out of it, may do so by braving the extrusion.

THERSEZON, THE REFUGE Like a seed in a rotting fruit, Thersezon rests seemingly placidly while all around it are savage carnivores, venomous storms, and lethal landforms. Also known as the Refuge, this creel city boasts a population of well over sixty thousand. Within, life seems to be highly ordered, safe, and full of tradition dictated by creel called the Priests of the Hunt, whose fur is dyed in elaborate pale green designs.

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The bulk of the city rests on a massive living landform (similar to a branch but far larger) whose arms rise up above a jungle-like morass, then spread mostly horizontally. Residents walk atop or in hollows within the arms. In Thersezon, hunting is one of the few trades that is considered worthwhile— that and, of course, serving as a Priest of the Hunt. All other ways of life, including various taming specialties, are sneered at by true hunters, even though without such taming, Thersezon would fail. The hierarchy among Thersans is strict. At the top are the Priests of the Hunt. Below them are the hunters, those willing and able to leave the Refuge at least once each month and come back with some kind of trophy. Beneath the hunters are probationer creel (those who can’t hunt or who have failed to return with anything of note during their last hunt) and outsiders like wholkin and humans. Probationers are always in extreme danger in Thersezon. As the Priests of the Hunt explain it, if you can’t hunt, your part of the life cycle is to be hunted. At any time, for any reason, a Priest may select

THE SKIN a probationer and have them thrown off the elevated city into the Hungry Extrusion below. Or more likely, they may enact the Law of the Hunt, designating the probationer as acceptable prey for any hunter for ten hours. If the probationer survives, they gain hunter status for the next month. (Outsiders usually have to go through this process if they want any status in Thersezon, which is required to even speak with a Priest of the Hunt.) Alternatively, probationers fill out war parties that Priests of the Hunt regularly organize to fly against other domains on the Head. This constant threat of violence from Thersezon is likely the reason the Head suffers from so much interspecies strife, since creel that are not part of Thersezon are still viewed with suspicion by others, and human and wholkin retaliations have not always been accurate, leading to further conflict with unrelated domains. Despite the often-steep loss of life from the rigors of growing up in Thersezon, fresh creel are always coming of age thanks to their highly prolific asexual reproductive method. Creel youth are automatically awarded the status of “young hunter” until they come of age, at which point they must hunt or be hunted, as the saying goes.

teach that kai is proof that all life on Verse is just another aspect of a larger interacting whole, and that when beings fight among themselves, it is sickness, not strength. However, the reconcilers are not absolute pacifists. They attempt to stop fights and rarely start them, but they defend themselves if attacked, often by engaging outside agents to do so on their behalf.

THE HAUNT The Haunt is an atypical region north of the Hungry Extrusion that, on first glance, seems dead. Kai stutters and dies. Ringed by patches of hungry filth, the wide plain stretches dozens of miles in every direction, made of dead and fossilized marl that is brown, crumbly, and turning to sand in many areas. Spiky formations like giant lost teeth dropped from high above are also common. A haze of ash limits visibility in this dry, hot area.

Hungry filth, page 29

ADHERENTS OF RECONCILIATION Not all creel in the Hungry Extrusion follow the brutal Law of the Hunt. A splinter group of creel made up of former Priests of the Hunt, creel from other domains, humans, and wholkin have tamed a haven for themselves on the opposite side of the region. They call it Haven, and name themselves the Adherents of Reconciliation (or reconcilers for short); Thersans call them heretics. Reconcilers teach that Thersans have been indoctrinated away from the true path offered by kai, where all things are connected. That connection should be used not for gaining an advantage over prey and enemies, but instead for forging bonds of understanding across lines of belief and between species. Reconcilers

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Violet Plateau, page 36

Crajon: level 6, tasks related to the numenera as level 8; Armor 3

The Haunt is one of the few places on the Liminal Shore where corpses and remains are left behind after something living dies.

Token, page 40

The Haunt is one of the few places on the Liminal Shore where nonliving things don’t immediately degrade. In fact, it’s more the opposite; living things in the Haunt tend to die from lack of food, water, and (for some) connection to kai. For instance, native creatures with tasms who enter the area immediately notice that their tasm becomes agitated. Spending more than a day in the Haunt risks tasm death. At the center of the Haunt is a vast basin filled with the dust of dead marl and the crumbling bones of victims of the region. Mixed in are remains that have not yet decayed—corpses of creatures that are recognizable as natives of the Liminal Shore along with those that are not. Every once in a while, apparently out of nowhere, a creature (often but not always a human) appears about 40 feet (12 m) above the basin. The startled creature falls, often to its death. Survivors are usually hurt, and even if they manage to limp away, they likely fail to find their way to the edge of the Haunt before perishing from starvation or thirst, or from predators that have learned to be on the lookout for such weakened prizes.

HUNGRY EXTRUSION HEARSAY

Coalescent tissue, page 28

Grume, page 26

Peaceful Wellspring: According to tales told by hunters in Thersezon, a pool composed of some heretofore-unknown living landform slinks around the Hungry Extrusion, camouflaged by a skin of coalescent. Unlike everything else in the area, this “wellspring” offers peace and a place to recover from the stress of continually watching one’s back. Apparently, no violence can be contemplated while one is in sight of the pool. Poison Storm: Really, it’s just one more thing in the region that wants to kill you. But sometimes those who witness manifestations of that theme wonder if there isn’t an intelligence behind each new atrocity. For instance, the storms that sometimes sweep through are composed of squirming, poison-seeping flesh, and they can change course, moving against the prevailing winds, to intersect with potential prey.

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The area where random creatures appear is the endpoint of a one-way rift. The other end is located in the Ninth World, on the Violet Plateau. While almost every creature that comes through dies, a few were not alive to begin with, including an automaton named Crajon, which moves like a massive metal land crab about 12 feet (4 m) in diameter. When Crajon isn’t moving, it appears to be a dusty boulder. Tired and bored, Crajon is usually happy to remain immobile when newcomers arrive, incuriously watching them die in the basin or drag themselves off to die farther away. However, it stirs to greet those who notice it, though it isn’t particularly helpful. The only way it provides aid of any sort is if a newcomer promises to help Crajon escape what it calls a “prison of infinite simulation” (though it never explains what it means by that). If Crajon ever left the Haunt and ventured into other regions of the Liminal Shore, it would begin to degrade and eventually disintegrate unless it could regain this area, where kai doesn’t reach, or it could accumulate a handful of tokens.

THE WEIRD OF THE HUNGRY EXTRUSION The Spinning Disc: Every nine days, a shiny disc-like object appears above the Hungry Extrusion, just visible from Thersezon and Haven, which means it must be fairly big. Most assume it is a landform, but others suggest that it is something out of the Haunt. Up From the Underhunger: Presumably coming from below are new humanoid-shaped living landforms easily 60 feet (18 m) tall. They’re composed of a greenish gel-like material; sometimes they flow like grumes, and other times stand upright and walk. If confronted by any creature other than a human, the landforms quickly degrade. If encountered by a human, the landforms attempt to wrap them in a protective gel sheath and suck them into the Underhunger to some as yet unknown fate.

THE UNDERHUNGER CHAPTER 7

THE UNDERHUNGER If the Skin is like the outer flesh of a living world-creature, the Underhunger is all of its organs, viscera, and support structures. Although the people of the Skin know that beneath them are regions full of more life— literally the entire world under their feet—few of them ever talk about the Underhunger, and even fewer visit or live there. To surface-dwellers, the world beneath is a vast frontier of predatory villages, strange kai currents, and intimidating creatures with unknown agendas—a realm more like a hell-dimension than a physical location. To those who choose to live there, the Underhunger is a place of isolation, profit, mystery, and a constant risk of sudden danger.

WHY GO TO THE UNDERHUNGER? Compared to the Ninth World, the Skin is a strange, alien environment, but it’s something the PCs probably get used to in short order. The Underhunger is weirder and more dangerous than the Skin, but that’s just a matter of degree, and once the PCs are comfortable exploring the surface of Verse, they’re ready to take a look at what lies beneath. Although most people of the Skin avoid the Underhunger and talk about it like it’s some sort of hellish place, the PCs are Ninth World explorers (a world with deadly beasts and invisible threats like the iron wind), so delving into Verse’s deeps shouldn’t be much more intimidating than looting a prior-world ruin or traveling to a strange dimension. If the PCs need reasons to go to the Underhunger, the GM can use the

following suggestions as adventure hooks or incentives for the characters to investigate the subterranean landforms and communities there (most of the reasons to go to the Liminal Shore also apply here).

Why Go to the Liminal Shore?, page 36

Stop a War: Although the three main species of the Underhunger have a peace agreement, individual towns and power-hungry warlords may come into conflict that risks spilling over into an allout war, either completely under the surface or between groups in the Underhunger and the Skin. Human PCs, with their unexpected roles as diplomats and negotiators on Verse, might be the key to stopping a war. Drugs: Most of the drugs created from unusual landforms in the Underhunger are meant for recreational purposes, but exotic or new drugs made there can just as easily be materials for numenera crafting, catalysts for learning or using a new character ability, or the treatment or cure for an existing medical condition. Discovery: This concept is a core tenet of Numenera, and beneath the surface of Verse are hundreds of vertical miles of creatures and bizarre locations waiting to be found. Some explorers seek out these challenges to spark their sense of wonder, and others do it for pride or to show their bravery. The best and luckiest come back with stories and trophies—weird goods, living artifacts, or even a unique pet. Lore: If the surface world doesn’t hold the answers to their important questions—such as “Who created Verse?” or “Is there a mind

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Followers of the Word, page 50 Marl, page 24

that controls all of it?”—then perhaps the deeps of the Underhunger are where those answers will be found. In particular, the Followers of the Word would like to know if the Underhunger can provide any insight about the nature of the world-god that is Verse. Home: If the PCs are trying to get back to the Ninth World and haven’t found a way to do that, the Underhunger holds many secrets encysted within unusual and unique landforms. One or more of them might be the means to leave the Liminal Shore, or move on to other realms entirely.

LIVING LANDFORMS Branch, page 24

As on the Skin, everything in the Underhunger is alive, including the walls, floors, and ceilings of its halls and chambers, its subterranean lakes, and the strange gases that creep and push throughout it. Some of these living landforms are the same as or similar to those on the Skin, but others are unique to the deeps.

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MARL This living clay forms many of the hollow spaces in the Underhunger, shaping itself into tubes, bubbles, spirals, and arches that support the weight of everything above them. Subterranean marl tends to remain in cohesive sheets rather than being divided into smaller units like boulders and pebbles. These larger pieces often develop striations similar to clenched muscle fibers, often interrupted with horizontal scoring, making Underhunger patches of marl resemble large-scale tile mosaics or puzzles. In some places, marl has a viscous liquid consistency, slowly flowing like lava or molten glass (regardless of the local temperature).

BRANCH Branches are significantly less common in the Underhunger than on the Skin, and whether an open space has any branches is usually what determines if the space is worth living in. Founding a new settlement in a location with no branches would inevitably create scarcity and hardship for the people living there. The most successful camps and settlements are made near or

THE UNDERHUNGER around the largest branches that extend deep below the surface, clinging to the branch like shelf mushrooms arranged around a tree trunk in the Ninth World. Even one finger-sized length of branch jutting into a subterranean space can be tamed to grow a web that eventually is as functional as a surface village, but some explorers believe that branch scarcity is a sign of some other deficiency in the area (whether kai or some other vital source of nutrition), and trying to support a large number of people there is unlucky and doomed to fail.

KELDAR Large portions of the mountain-like keldar visible on the Skin are usually out of sight in the deeps, and the Underhunger contains keldar that have been completely submerged for many human generations. Most of these are quite solid and form miles-long obstacles that explorers must navigate around, but some are riddled with small holes on their surface like pores, deep ridges like some kinds of sea coral, or tunnels and open structures like sponges, all of which make the keldar sites to explore (and perhaps rest at for a while). Some explorers believe that it is possible to get to a large open space at the heart of a porous keldar, and they tell of paradise-like caverns with lakes of keldar milk and thriving branches that produce intoxicating aromas unlike anything found on the Skin.

GRUME In the Underhunger, the ooze-like grumes slither their way through hollow spaces, seep around the edges of marl, and create ponds and lakes that are just as likely to cling to the walls of an area as they are to rest gently on the floor. Deep grumes are more likely to have an unusual color (compared to surface grumes), such as opaque beige or translucent violet, but these differences seem to be cosmetic. Some create luminescent patches and patterns in areas with strong kai flow, and it is relatively easy to tame grume to do this in a specific place (such as to light up a campsite or create a gleam). Grumes in the deep are likely to hibernate if left undisturbed for weeks or if the local kai diminishes, forming a flat icelike crust on

their outer surface, dotted here and there with tall braided spikes.

DELION ROOT These tangles of rootlike material extend hundreds or thousands of feet into the deeps, forming a support structure for the luminiferous delions on the surface. The harmful electrical discharges that occur on the surface either seem to originate in these roots or are drawing energy from something even deeper beneath the Skin. Creatures physically touching a delion can feel this energy pass through its fibrous flesh, but (like interacting with it on the surface) are unharmed by it. Some of the surface-dwelling symbiotes that live on delions can be found wriggling among the roots, but the Underhunger has its own species that increasingly take over these locations and ecological roles as the root winds downward.

Luminiferous Delion, page 26

Keldar, page 25

COALESCENT TISSUE These large masses of quiescent flesh make up the majority of the material of the Underhunger. In most regions, vast amounts of space are filled with alternating sheets of marl and coalescent like layers of paint on an old house. Because of its ubiquitous presence, most structures in the Underhunger are tamed out of coalescent instead of branches. Unusual varieties of coalescent are responsible for creating most of the exotic trade goods from subterranean settlements, including drugs and living objects such as clothing and cyphers.

Coalescent tissue, page 28

Grume, page 26

NOOMH This elastic Underhunger organ has a mottled surface mixing bright red and dark blue lumps and a pebbled texture. The pebbles are fleshy growths that slowly pulse in ripples that move across the entire landform. The growths squish alarmingly if pressed or stepped on, and most creatures avoid walking on patches of noomh. The landform has the limited intelligence of a simple animal (like a worm) and usually clings to walls or ceilings as if it doesn’t like being stepped on. Noomh seems to exist to agitate and refresh the air, replenishing oxygen, trace amounts of kai, and the tiny organisms that

Underhunger organ, page 29

Noomh: level 3; Armor 1

Gleam, page 29

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Glimmer, page 43 Catseye, page 276 Nightvision goggles, page 299

Noomh skin, page 93

float freely; an area with noomh usually has a very faint breeze caused by the landform’s actions. Sometimes noomh has been known to temporarily seal off a corridor or small chamber, forcibly moving invigorated air into a space that has become depleted. A typical noomh covers about 200 to 300 square feet (19 to 28 square meters) and is 6 to 12 inches (15 to 30 cm) thick. Noomh usually reacts to damage by creeping away, but persistent attacks prompt it to retaliate by wrapping, crushing, and smothering the creature harming it. Taming: Noomh reacts well to taming (attempts are eased), and a single patch can be encouraged to produce one noomh skin cypher about once per week.

VRIS Vris: level 2, perception and visual-based tasks as level 3 GM intrusion: A vris wraps a piece of itself around a character and sends a vision that overwhelms the senses and stuns the character for a round.

Pohledd: level 5, attack as level 6, resist poison and disease as level 9; as a single action, engulf up to five targets within immediate range or spray up to five targets within short range; repulsive slime inflicts 6 points of damage, and on a failed Might defense roll the target begins to suffocate unless it uses a few actions to remove the slime Spirants aren’t affected by pohledd odor. Tasm Stats and Base Benefits, page 13

Humans and other Ninth World visitors often mistake vris for a large honeycomb, as from a distance it looks like an irregular patch of tan and yellow cells that are pentagonal and hexagonal. A closer look reveals that the cells don’t contain bees (or similar creatures). Instead, most of them are sockets for eyelike structures that eerily follow the movements of anything that comes near them. The surface of vris is mostly smooth, and the cells with eyes don’t feel any different than empty ones. When they move, they twist into snakelike tubes, with most of their eyes on the inside and a splayed “head” at the front like a flower. Vris have been seen clinging to larger moving landforms, as if they are riding a vehicle or mount. This arrangement benefits the other landform as well, as the vris grants it an asset on all visual-based tasks (including attacking and defending against creatures the vris can see). A typical specimen is about the size of a large blanket, but they’ve been known to reach ten or twenty times that size. Vris are probably some sort of sensory organ that monitors activity in the Underhunger. Unlike most other landforms, vris never seem completely passive—they are always watching, and they anticipate the reactions of other nearby creatures (such as pulling away from anything that seems threatening). They can transmit images by touch, but most creatures find these

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images to be very confusing, partly because the vris mind isn’t (or doesn’t seem to be) sapient, and its method of sensing things—a composite image of thousands of tiny smaller colors and patterns—is hard to resolve into something coherent. Ninth Worlders who have received a glimmer say that the experience is similar to an image from a vris, and just as likely to be random useless information as something truly informative. Taming: Vris can be tamed to produce a fleshy skullcap that acts as a catseye cypher; some explorers also claim that they’ve been able to tame a large vris to produce the equivalent of the artifact known as nightvision goggles. With difficulty (attempts are hindered by two steps), a vris can be tamed to produce a cream-textured drug that causes intense visual hallucinations or a glimmer-like vision (although as with the images the vris initiates on its own, these visions might be incomprehensible or useless). Rarely, someone who tries to tame vris might see strange creatures in the periphery of their sight for the next day or two; whether these are hallucinations or are actually elusive invisible creatures is not known.

POHLEDD This Underhunger organ could be confused for a small grume if not for its strong smell, akin to vomit. Consisting of a pond- or lake-sized amorphous mass filled with liquid, semisolids, and large opaque toothy structures, pohledd slowly bores its way between other landforms and through the loam-like organic matter that makes up much of Verse, absorbing some materials and leaving others behind. As a pohledd picks up debris and other loose materials, its toothy structures grind large pieces into smaller chunks and the liquid erodes them, creating a lumpy slurry of fertilizer-like material that it expels before moving on to a new location. This substance smells awful to most sapients of the Liminal Shore, but is rich in kai and nutrients. Microbes, scavengers, and sessile landforms consume it. Using a tasm to draw upon kai is eased when within a short distance of pohledd excretions.

THE UNDERHUNGER THE RU-ZOEN ALLIANCE About a century ago, a hrath named Zoen was exploring the wilds when he encountered an injured tikri female named Ru. She needed to find a host before her ripe eggs expired; Zoen understood her desperation and agreed to let her implant them within him and (once he recovered from the injection) assisted her back to his village. The village healer was able to surgically extract the tikri grubs from Zoen’s body without killing him, and Ru was surprised to see that more grubs survived implantation than she had expected. After much discussion, a delegation of hrath accompanied Ru and her brood back to a tikri settlement, where they explained their discovery and negotiated a peace between their peoples under the condition that the hrath would provide a certain number of hosts to the tikri, and in return the tikri would provide the hrath with quantities of distilled ctav. This agreement became known as the Ru-Zoen alliance, and ended most hostilities between the two peoples, allowing them to focus their efforts on expanding their territories in the Underhunger. This put them into conflict with nearby spirant settlements, but one of the fungal leaders realized the best way to survive this change of circumstances was to make themselves useful to the alliance. After some focused research, the spirants found that immature hrath who fed on a specific internal organ from a dead spirant were able to complete their

Some pohledd have a greenish coloration and prefer different materials than the normal ones. These pohledd normally avoid their common counterparts, but if the two varieties are forced into close proximity, they attack each other in a sloshing, reeking battle that lasts hours before they break into multiple smaller units and scatter in different directions. Due to their smell and taste, pohledd are usually ignored or avoided by predators, but if agitated they attack with sprays of acrid acidic slime. In addition to inflicting

metamorphosis into adults with fewer deaths. The spirants used this knowledge to leverage their own treaty with the hrath under the condition that the tikri would be part of the inter-species truce. The hrath, tikri, and spirant have maintained this peace ever since, with only an occasional village tyrant interfering with the status quo (and these upstarts are quickly eliminated by concerned parties who wish to keep the peace). Each settlement has its own specific details for how they make these exchanges—one hrath village might call for volunteers or use a lottery system, another might use criminals. Healthy adult hrath are the best candidates and may undergo two or three implantations each year (assuming they have access to a surgeon who can safely remove the tikri grubs). Spirants process the bodies of their dead, preserving the necessary organs in powdered form so hrath can use them for metamorphosis, and doling out this material as needed through tikri intermediaries who also provide distilled ctav to hrath as a recreational substance. Merchants and diplomats who arrange these transactions usually also deal with other valuable goods, including drugs, useful animals, tamed materials, and cyphers. Ru and Zoen have been dead for decades, but they are remembered as great pioneers by hrath, spirant, and tikri, and it is not uncommon for hrath and tikri to honor their offspring with names of these heroes.

damage, the slime coats the foe’s airways, causing them to suffocate unless they spend time wiping the muck away. Anyone struck by this slime stinks like vomit for several days. A pohledd can also engulf creatures, drawing them into itself and beginning the digestive process (the landform’s interior has the same effect as its slime spray). Taming: A pohledd can be tamed to produce cyphers that destroy poisons and contaminants (similar to antivenom) or

Distilled ctav, page 88

The spirants are aware that they aren’t getting any direct resources from the alliance, but not having to fight the two other major sapient species of the Underhunger is considered well worth the trade imbalance.

The most common reason someone tries to tame a pohledd is to move it away from a camp or village.

Antivenom, page 276

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Living solvent, page 282 Metal death, page 283 Truce: see the Ru-Zoen Alliance, page 69

dissolve materials (similar to living solvent and metal death). However, when used, these items make the user stink like a pohledd, hindering them and anyone within short range who can smell them. A talented tamer can sometimes get a pohledd to produce a kind of silk that is almost as strong as steel, making about 20 feet (6 m) per taming, but it smells like the pohledd. The tamer can try to get the landform to produce scentless silk, but the task is hindered by two steps.

UNDERHUNGER TERRITORIES Hrath, page 134 Spirant, page 135 Tikri, page 136

The main sapient species living in the Underhunger are the humanoid hrath, the fungoid spirants, and the lizard-centipede tikri. For countless generations, these three peoples traded with and fought among themselves and each other for resources and territory, making peace agreements that were overturned or interrupted by warlords and other tyrants. These conflicts were short and bloody, always ending before Verse itself would retaliate for the disruption to

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the flow of kai. A surprise discovery about a century ago led to a symbiotic arrangement and a mostly stable truce, allowing each of them to focus more on exploration, expansion, and crafting than on war. The Underhunger is still a dangerous place of darkness, strange life, and conflict, but the hrath, spirant, and tikri villages are now anchors of stability in the deep realm, which resourceful folk use as a starting point for their own searches and conquests.

MORAV Morav is the largest, oldest, and most prosperous extant tikri community in the Underhunger. It is built into a broad valley, with a stairstep of marl forming its western edge and a unique kind of landform called shev on the eastern side. Hidden behind the shev are several grumes that spend much of their time hibernating under a crystallized crust, but they are easily tamed to project fingers into Morav, creating slow-moving waterfalls that spill down the eastern side of the town, collect at the lowest point in the valley, and worm their way eastward

THE UNDERHUNGER behind the shev to reunite with their main substance. The city has abundant branches and overlapping living architecture, with some structures having been tamed hundreds of years ago. The many terraces in the town are connected by ramps, stairs, and ladders, but because tikri are naturally adept at climbing, it is common to see hurried tikri scrambling up and down the angled walls between the terraces. The main avenues in and out of Morav are on the lowermost tiers and guarded by spiked archways (made of tamed marl and branches) that can be awakened to attack anything that passes through them. This overall structure gives defenders the high ground, whether against enemy armies (which haven’t been a problem in Morav since the Ru-Zoen alliance), raiders, or dangerous creatures. Morav is the seat of tikri government, consisting of a king or queen plus a council of advisors. The regent reigns for one or two years before appointing a successor, who must be from a different family than their own. The heads of the city’s six noble families can veto the regent’s choice (usually in order to prevent corruption) but rarely have cause to do so. The next regent is usually a member of one of the six noble families, but not always; in the past, the regent has been known to select a wise merchant in times of economic problems or a skilled soldier when war is looming. The regent is sovereign over all tikri settlements, but in practice they focus their attention on Morav and let the other communities govern themselves, intervening only when things get out of hand (like with a war or plague). The current queen is Ulasrik, who just started her reign and has ambitious goals about trade with other communities. Of the 20,000 sapients living in Morav, there are approximately 5,000 hrath, 2,000 spirants, and 1,000 creatures from the Skin (mainly creel, wholkin, and humans). A mostly safe tunnel road leads up to the Skin, so the city sees a reasonable amount of trade from the surface, as well as a trickle of explorers on their way to more remote parts of the Underhunger. Of all the tikri communities, Morav is the most welcoming toward the people of the Skin, but it still isn’t particularly friendly toward strange

creatures (and the other tikri settlements are even less so). The Shev Wall: This landform superficially resembles marl but has a rubbery texture and a reddish-brown color. Shev naturally removes toxins and stores kai, improving the overall health of the community. Several healing houses exist on the eastern side of Morav, each configured so that patients sleep on beds of tamed shev, which invigorates them and draws out any poisons in their body. Shev also speeds decomposition of dead flesh by removing its water (which might remain within the shev or be given to the grumes), leaving a desiccated corpse that quickly crumbles into nutrient-rich powder that is consumed by the omnipresent tiny life forms. Many have tried to tame the shev into producing a seed or egg that could be transplanted to a different community, but all such efforts have failed. Family Merchants: Several buildings on the marl terrace house a rotating population of hrath looking to rent their bodies as hosts for tikri grubs. These hrath are usually younger people with few or no prospects in their hometowns who came to Morav in search of opportunity. Each house has a staff of tikri arbitrators who negotiate terms between the hrath and wealthy local families who want a host for their eggs. Depending on the hrath’s health and size, a tikri female (or her family) might pay 50 to 100 muxen for permission to implant eggs, plus a fee to the negotiator and additional payments to cover the cost of safely removing the grubs. The host hrath might stay at the arbitration house or move in with the tikri family. Depending on how traumatic they found the process, a hrath might leave after one implantation-extraction-recovery cycle, remain to do more, or permanently join a host family.

Because female tikri don’t live as long as males, a tikri queen usually chooses to reign for a shorter time than a king before naming a successor. Shev: level 4; Armor 2 Spiked archway: level 5; Armor 3

A human in Morav looking to host tikri eggs has basically the same opportunities as a hrath.

Queen Ulasrik: level 3, social interactions as level 4

Gorlu Ranchers: Most tikri can’t afford to hire a hrath to host their eggs and have to rely on implanting them in less-suitable creatures. Although some adventurous females prefer to catch, tame, and implant a wild creature from outside the city, most of them use large domesticated goatlike

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MORAV HEARSAY Distilled ctav, page 88

Shev white worm: level 4, stealth as level 5

Ctav Shipment: A large supply of distilled ctav is being prepared for transport to the hrath capital of Pinnacle. Rumor has it that Queen Ulasric is including a sternly worded request that Pinnacle encourage more hrath to come to Morav to serve as egg hosts, else she will have to reduce the size of future shipments. Missing Hrath Host: An egg-implanted hrath visitor named Yox disappeared from his family merchant house a few days ago. There is much speculation as to what happened—he wandered outside the city and is lost or hurt, he was kidnapped by a rival family, he needed the eggs or grubs for some unethical taming, and so on. The tikri mother is worried because her children will be ready to hatch soon and she’d like Yox back safe and sound, even if he leaves again after the grubs hatch.

THE WEIRD OF MORAV Dancing Lights: Ever since the Ru-Zoen alliance, the flying insects of Morav

Gorlu: level 2

Sotris: level 2, negotiation and animal husbandry as level 3 Parasite crèche, page 104

creatures called gorlu. Those who don’t have their own gorlu can rent one from ranchers in the lower levels of the city. Usually the grubs are surgically removed so the animal lives and can be reused. A tikri rancher named Sotris (who has a lightning-like tasm on his head) is well known for his small herd equipped with parasite crèches.

ENCOUNTERS IN MORAV Morav is a hub for travelers from other nearby communities, and just cosmopolitan enough that humans don’t cause the locals to gawk. For the locals, strangers are an opportunity for profit, ethical or otherwise.

Foonst: level 2, climbing as level 3, lying and knowing local information as level 4 Tozz: level 3, climbing and tracking as level 4. Vonnt, page 130

FOONST THE GENEROUS A tavern near one of the city entrances is owned by Foonst, a female tikri who is always accompanied by her beetle-shaped tasm and her vonnt sibling Tozz. She has an excellent eye for people, and normally stands outside her tavern watching new arrivals and offering a free drink to those who have never been

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have come together in monthly swarms in the upper terraces, forming realistic faces of hrath and tikri that are several feet tall and sometimes augmented with bioluminescent displays. The swarm faces make different expressions and seem to mouth words, but they rarely persist long enough for onlookers to make out more than a piece of what they are saying. Shev Worms: Once or twice a year, the shev wall releases a dozen white worms that are up to 20 feet (6 m) long. Usually the worms seek out places in the city that are contaminated with poison, chew up and swallow the living structures, and return to the wall, but they have been known to attack people as well, mainly tikri. These victims are swallowed whole and pass through the worm, which is often fatal (leaving a withered corpse that quickly decays into powder), but sometimes the person survives this attack and is healthier and rejuvenated (+1 to Might Edge, Speed Edge, and Intellect Edge) for several weeks afterward. to the city before (somehow she can always tell). The first drink is watered down but definitely free, and Foonst knows the local gossip and the best places for deals on legal and illegal goods. STICKY GRUME A grume stream flowing from the eastern wall has gone stubborn and trapped several gorlu within it, including one that is incubating tikri grubs. The tikri herder doesn’t have any skill at taming and can’t convince the grume to free the gorlu. The beasts are becoming panicked, and the herder fears that if they can’t get free soon, they’ll die from stress, endangering or killing the grubs.

PINNACLE Pinnacle is the largest of all hrath communities. The entire city is within a cavern nearly 1 mile (1.5 km) high, shaped by a group of marl that forms the floor, extending upward to an arched ceiling

THE UNDERHUNGER THE DANGEROUS WILDS People of the Ninth World cluster together in villages for survival, rarely venturing into the lands between settlements because the bandits, weird creatures, and hazards make it too dangerous to travel. In the Underhunger, “the wilds” are any place outside of a village, town, or city, and overall they are more treacherous than the unsettled places in the Ninth World. The people of the Liminal Shore (including the Underhunger) have grown strong by centuries of conflict with each other and the miscellaneous dangers of their world, and even they recognize that the wilds of the Underhunger are too perilous for all but the bravest, strongest, or most foolhardy folk. Trade groups traveling between villages usually number at least called the Shield. The top portion of a keldar extends upward from the floor, resembling a conical volcano riddled with coral-like ridges. The marl and keldar are matted with branches, giving the local hrath plenty of resources to tame into food and structures. The Shield has been tamed to produce the yellow light that hrath need, so the entire cavern is bathed in a gentle twilight radiance (people within the city who need brighter light use small local living lamps for that purpose). Three large avenues enter the cavern near the floor level, guarded by fierce-looking hrath warriors eager to show their skill. A grume lake covers the southern third of the cavern floor. The city and the edges of the roads are dotted with thousands of statues grown from marl or branches, depicting hrath heroes, family ancestors, and religious or mythological events. Although the outer surface of the keldar mountain is too steep to build on, its many interior chambers provide plentiful living space, and new passages into deeper portions are still discovered every few months as the landform breathes and shifts. The mountain parallels the city’s social status, as the top portions are restricted to the wealthier and more influential hrath, with the poor living at the base and all others jockeying for position

ten people; the emphasis is on speed and mobility rather than the ability to withstand a direct attack because a threat in the wild is as likely to be an aggressive landform as a pack of blighted creatures. Some caravans even travel with a few animals (or expendable sapients, such as slaves or prisoners) that the group leader is willing to leave behind as bait if attacked, giving the others a better chance to escape. The GM should portray the Underhunger wilds as a dangerous place, like a post-apocalyptic environment where the land itself is deadly (in addition to the regular hazards of traveling outside a protective city wall). There are explorers willing to face these challenges, but only the toughest and luckiest of them can expect to survive or profit from it. in between. With the exception of visiting diplomats, non-hrath are not allowed to live or travel above the midline of the mountain unless escorted by a hrath person of sufficient status. The leaders of Pinnacle are the Three Crowns, three hrath who have demonstrated the necessary qualities for leadership. Each of them wears a living crown resembling a set of curving horns that gently glow with the essential hrath light; each of these crowns is also an artifact said to keep the wearer healthy. Nominally, the wearers of the crown share power equally, but in practice they acknowledge the seniority of those who have served longer. The Three Crowns are not sovereign over other hrath settlements, but other hrath leathers respect their influence and authority enough to not contradict them in public. The current Three Crowns are Dagrith En (a female chiurgeon with a star-shaped face tasm), Heldin Orm (a middle-aged male captain of the city defense whose tasm resembles silver neck gills), and Zoen Kro (an older female merchant and philanthropist whose tasm is a web on her left hand). Pinnacle is home to about 16,000 people, of which there are approximately 3,000 spirants, 1,000 tikri, and 1,000 miscellaneous other sapients. The one path

Pinnacle Crown (artifact): level 5; heals the wearer once per day and eases tasks against disease and poison by two steps

Dagrith En: level 4, healing and surgery as level 5 Heldin Orm: level 4, attacks and Speed defense as level 5 Zoen Kro: level 3, negotiation and perception as level 5

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to the Skin from here is a difficult journey, so most visitor traffic to the city is from other settlements in the Underhunger (of which a small portion is Skin travelers by way of Morav or other locales). The hrath locals tend to be more accepting of humans than they are of creel or wholkin, but aren’t particularly welcoming toward any “soft people of the surface.”

Keldar milk, page 25

Keldar Pools: There are five specific pools on the surface of the keldar mountain that produce keldar milk. These fill up once or twice per year at different times, producing about 5 gallons (19 liters) in each incident. The milk from the pools is supposed to go to the Three Crowns, but it is common for people to steal it before agents of the

THE DEEPEST DEEPS

The humans on the Liminal Shore emigrated from the Ninth World, so they think of the Ninth World as their ancestral home. Whether or not humans should consider the Ninth World their ancestral home at all is a matter for a different book to discuss.

Nobody really knows how deep the Underhunger goes. Some explorers have delved to about 3 miles (5 km) beneath the Skin, but the living landforms extend even deeper. Long-range sensory cyphers, artifacts, and special abilities give erratic and contradictory results when directed into the deeps, even by the same users at the same location. It seems that the deeper explorers go, the less frequent air spaces become, and the more dangerous the general environment becomes to surface-type life, with extremes of heat and cold, radiation, and pressure being the most common threats. The people of the Underhunger have three theories about the unexplored depths of their world. Earthen Core: The Skin and the Underhunger are just thin layers of life over a central core of stone. Whether those layers are a few miles thick or a hundred, underneath them is something solid and lifeless. Most of the people who believe this are humans, mainly new arrivals, with some Verse-born humans still clinging to a worldview that makes their ancestral home (the Ninth World) the default. Skeptics point out that nonliving materials brought to the Liminal Shore decay and crumble, which suggests that a nonliving core would do so as well, leaving an open space or one

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Crowns can seize it. Heldin Orm wants to place guards at each pool but has been outvoted by his peers. Wern Farms: Wern are tasty cricket-like bugs that are considered a staple food and (if prepared correctly) a delicacy in Pinnacle. Dozens of large lowland plots are bordered by thin walls of tamed flesh to hem in these fat, slow-moving creatures, and many families living on the keldar (especially in the poorer neighborhoods) have small garden areas or living tamed cages for raising wern. It is tradition to eat wern on certain holidays and to give several live wern as a wedding gift for luck (they might be eaten during the wedding or taken home to start a new garden). Visitors from the Ninth that is slowly being replaced with living landforms and smaller organisms. Living Heart: Everything native to this world is alive, so it stands to reason that the entire world is alive, all the way from the Skin to its center. What sort of living thing might be at the center—perhaps a brain, a seed, or the beating heart of the world that circulates kai—is unknown and a topic of much speculation. This belief is held by most native people of Verse (creel, spirants, wholkin, and so on, as well as many humans who were born here). Mysterious Womb: At the center of the world is an open space with conditions similar to those on the Skin—breathable air, life, settlements, kai, oceans, and so on. Some believe it is a paradise or a place of punishment for those who unbalance kai. Others say that this hollow world has luminiferous delions that reach upward toward the very center of the world, stabilizing and nurturing something wondrous, such as the brain of Verse, an oracle, or a slowly gestating world-fetus that will be born in a thousand years. These various fringe beliefs belong to a minority of the people of Verse (including natives and humans), especially among less advanced cultures, and are looked down upon by most adults as nothing but children’s stories.

THE UNDERHUNGER World describe the taste of wern as a mix of nuts and hot peppers.

ENCOUNTERS IN PINNACLE Pinnacle is the home of hrath culture, and the people here are proud of their city, their species, and their accomplishments. Visitors should take care to respect local customs and not offend anyone, as it could make their plans more difficult in the long run. BRAGGING SOLDIERS A group of city guards see that the PCs are new visitors to Pinnacle and begin goading their best warrior, Errok, to challenge the toughest-looking character to a solo fight, just for status. The guards will call out and

PINNACLE HEARSAY Mountain Rumbles: In recent weeks, small earthquakes have been shaking the keldar mountain. Rumors among the lower-altitude residents say that the hibernating keldar is going to spin or flip, burying and crushing the wealthy and powerful and leaving the city in the hands of the poor. The Three Crowns are trying to counter these baseless rumors with propaganda and an upcoming holiday while simultaneously trying to access an interior space within the keldar that will allow them to communicate with its limited intelligence and make it go quiet again—assuming that the quakes aren’t being caused by something else. Holes in the Shield: Two large dark spots have appeared in the arched ceiling of the cavern holding the city. A cursory look suggests that part of the ceiling is receding, withering away as if something is eroding it from underneath. Some people believe this is the sign of an upcoming attack from unknown creatures, or perhaps evidence that the marl forming the Shield is being corrupted from within by a blight.

THE WEIRD OF PINNACLE Scorpion Chairs: Wealthy people and officers of the city watch often ride a ferdamu, a scorpion-like animal that

ridicule the PCs if they cheat, use cyphers, assist what is supposed to be a one-on-one brawl, or engage in other unsportsmanlike behavior. Depending on how the fight goes (and the guards’ impression of the PC’s skill), the guards might become useful allies for the characters or thorns in their sides for the remainder of their stay here. CORPSE DUST Hrath children who consume a powdered extract made from spirant organs have a much higher chance of surviving their adolescent metamorphosis, and spirant towns regularly trade shipments of this powder for hrath goods. A representative from a wealthy Pinnacle family asks the PCs to travel to a remote spirant village to has been tamed into the shape of a chair. These flat-bodied creatures have a smooth, comfortable gait and can walk as fast as a human for hours. A few enterprising tamers rent these creatures for public events to give a bit of status to the rider. Oddly, because hrath like to play up their physical fitness, sometimes a person will draw attention to themselves by walking while being escorted by ferdamu riders—a show of wealth that they can afford to have their underlings ride, even as they are strong enough to walk or run. Wild ferdamu can be found outside of Pinnacle’s cavern, but unlike the tamed versions they are aggressive and have a poison sting. Drug Dens: Hrath enjoy experimenting with recreational drugs, particularly distilled ctav. They prefer ones with relaxing effects rather than those that enhance combat effectiveness. To a hrath, having to use a drug to do better in combat is a sign of weakness, but being able to sing and fight effectively while under the influence of an intoxicant shows skill and is a subtle rebuke to their opponent. In rowdy human settlements, one might make friends by buying drinks, but in Pinnacle it is easier to smooth over a tense encounter by suggesting a trip to the nearest drug den—and perhaps end the carousing with a friendly fistfight.

Errok: level 3, Speed-based attacks and defense as level 4; Armor 1

Wild ferdamu: level 3, sting as level 5; sting deals 3 points of damage and, on a failed Might defense roll, 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor)

Distilled ctav, page 88

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investigate news of a more potent form of this powder that would all but guarantee that their child survives metamorphosis— and the characters should also open an exclusive trade arrangement with the suppliers there. (Alternatively, a spirant merchant is looking for an escort through the wilds back to their home village and tries to hire the PCs as guards for that trip.)

ZGARRN

Giant spirant guards: level 5; Armor 1

The Hobv: level 5, Intellect defense and social interaction as level 6

Zgarrn is the largest spirant city, a low-ceilinged cavern full of small rolling hills of marl covered in luminous grasslike material, dotted with living arches of tamed flesh and various smaller landforms. The movement of (dark) creatures over the glowing natural carpet gives the city the look of waves in a pond illuminated by moonlight. Zgarrn is a hauntingly beautiful place, cold and strange, and although the spirants have made some concessions to make it more comfortable for visitors, those who come to the city still feel a vague unease and sense of intrusion. The five entrances to Zgarrn are small and easily collapsed (or, more accurately, tamed to close tightly) should the city ever be attacked. Each is protected by two exceptionally giant spirant guards (twice the size of a typical spirant) who answer questions with gestures instead of words. About half of the structures in the city are tamed marl, and the others are independent growths of giant fungi in many forms (with the exception of mushrooms, which seem to be very rare here). Few of these structures can be considered “buildings,” as most of them are boulder- or pillar-shaped, perhaps with a projection on the side that creates a sheltered overhang. Anything resembling human-familiar architecture is almost certainly something tamed for use by a non-spirant, such as an inn for visitors or the small jail used to confine troublemakers. The closest thing that spirants have to houses in Zgarrn are tamed pockets of marl that open when touched by their true owner and are used to store personal items or (in an emergency) serve as a hidden shelter. The leader of Zgarrn is a spirant called the Hobv, although it is unclear if that is its name or merely its title—or both, and the

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spirant chosen to be the next Hobv gives up its prior identity to lead the city. The Hobv has meetings with important people of the city—groups of merchants, visiting dignitaries, the commander of the guards, and so on—but otherwise spends much of its time quietly observing things. About 10,000 people live in Zgarrn. Most of these are spirants, but hrath and tikri make up about 2,000 of that number, with a few dozen representatives of other species from the Skin living here long term. Breadgrass: The grass-like material that covers most surfaces in Zgarrn is a type of fungus that grows wispy hairs. It is edible, safe to eat, and (to humans) tastes very much like bread when ground into a flour and baked. It is hardy, quickly springing back up if trampled and growing to cover a harvested patch in a matter of hours. It is bioluminescent (glowing faintly green), and it retains this quality for up to a day after it is harvested. Bread made from it still glows if baked at a low temperature, leading some crafty folk to create elaborate glowing loaves and pastries. It provides enough light that anyone walking around the city doesn’t need to carry a torch or lantern, and explorers looking to save a few mux have been known to collect it in a basket for use as a light source while traveling. The main drawback of Zgarrn breadgrass is that because it grows everywhere, there’s no way to know if what you’re eating comes from a private garden or was scooped off a nearby street where everyone is walking. The Watchers: In their own cities, spirants abandon the pretense of acting like other sapients do and revert to their normal behavior patterns. Whereas most creatures wanting to rest take a moment to seek shelter at their home, an inn, or an alcove if they’re poor and not too choosy, spirants just stop where they are, retract any extended organs, and sleep, knowing that they are safe in their own city. This means that anywhere a person goes in Zgarrn (and other spirant-owned settlements), they will find human-sized shaggy lumps in odd places—in the corner of a marketplace, near a large structure, or along the edge of a street or road.

THE UNDERHUNGER

Most people assume that the spirants are sleeping, but because a spirant can casually observe its surroundings without any of its red sensory organs visible, it is possible that they’re actually watching everything that is going on and perhaps relaying what they see to other spirants. If disturbed or asked to move, the spirants awaken, extend locomotive limbs, and relocate to a place nearby.

of these creatures, which sniff them, follow them, and examine or consume any items they leave behind. Usually a creature loses interest after about an hour, but some have been known to lurk nearby for days. This might be amusing or unnerving, depending on the PCs, the beasts involved, and how many creatures are caught up in this behavior—a solitary puffhound or blue gillwing is innocuous, but a dozen might seem threatening.

ENCOUNTERS IN ZGARRN Zgarrn is unlike any other city on Verse, and the PCs should find it interesting, strange, and somewhat threatening. UNEXPECTED PETS Most of the beasts in Zgarrn are fungoid rather than plant or animal, and their shapes vary from common fungi to odd morphs of more familiar creatures, such as a seskii-shaped thing with a spherical puffball where its head should be or a birdlike creature whose wings bear blue gills like the underside of a mushroom. Because visitors to the city often have unfamiliar scents, they catch the attention

OLD FEUD The PCs hear the sounds of an argument, which turns out to be a gang of hrath warriors exchanging tense words with a family of tikri merchants (two males, a female, and two vonnt). The groups met before in another city where a transaction went poorly, and they unexpectedly ran into each other here. If left to resolve this on their own, the two groups will probably end up fighting (but spirant guards will intervene before any killing happens). The PCs can use the feud as a distraction to cover their own activities, or they could intervene to smooth things over, and how

Because of the open layout of the city, it’s easy for the PCs to overhear or see any sort of argument that happens nearby. As spirants usually talk silently among their own kind, this means that verbal outbursts almost always involve other sapient species. “In Zgarrn, the word on the street might actually be the words of the street.” ~Orestri, varjellen explorer

Puff hound: level 2 Blue gillwing: level 1

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COMMON DRUGS OF THE UNDERHUNGER

Lasting damage, page 344

The people of the Underhunger know of certain landforms, creatures, and plants that contain or produce interesting mind- or body-influencing substances (or can be tamed to make such things). These drugs are bought, sold, and traded in Underhunger communities and by travelers to the Skin. The rarity of these exotic goods on the surface is one of the main motivations for people to venture into the Underhunger—one good haul might be profitable enough to allow the explorer to live well for several months to a year. If the creature taking the drug is willing, it automatically works on them; otherwise, they can make a defense roll against the drug’s level to resist it. Drugs are usually swallowed, inhaled, topical (applied externally), injected, or mucosic (dissolved in a mucous membrane such as in the nose or under the tongue). Some side effects may occur automatically, some as a GM intrusion, and some from taking too many doses in a short period of time; the side effects usually start around the time the drug’s primary effect wears off. The following are some of the most common Underhunger drugs traded on Verse (the name in parentheses is a slang name for the drug). Unless stated otherwise, drug effects and side effects are permanent. ALAZAD (“GHOST”) Level: 4 Form: Black gel (mucosic) Effect: Invisibility, increased Speed Edge; lasts for minutes. Side Effects: Slurred speech, eye twitches, aggression, addiction; lasts for hours. HERITH (“ANIMAL”) Level: 2 Form: Clear eyedrops (topical) Effect: Visual hallucinations (typically of jumping or flying animals), enhanced colors, increased empathy and libido; lasts for several hours. Side Effects: Flashbacks, dizziness, paranoia; lasts for hours or days.

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HOLOJ (“BERSERK”) Level: 3 Form: Orange berry (swallowed) Effect: Increased Might Edge, pain relief, intoxication; lasts for hours. Side Effects: Addiction, lasting damage (Speed or Intellect), limb autotomy. LIVLAN (“CALM”) Level: 3 Form: Blue gel (mucosic) Effect: Stupor, disconnection from emotions, visually perceiving kai; lasts for hours. Side Effects: Memory loss; moving one step down the damage track. MERKT (“VIGOR”) Level: 4 Form: Green crystal powder (injected) Effect: Pain relief, antidepressant, enhanced recovery rolls; lasts for a day. Side Effects: Disturbing hallucinations, rash, nausea, impaired vision; lasts for hours. SEGOHS (“MIRTH”) Level: 3 Form: Volatile yellow liquid (inhaled) Effect: Mild hallucinations, drowsiness, laughter, verbal tics; lasts for hours. Side Effects: Severe acne, skin bleeding, diffuse pain; lasts for days. URLAN (“SWIM”) Level: 3 Form: Light blue liquid (swallowed) Effect: Euphoria, feeling of floating outside the body; lasts for up to an hour. Side Effects: Addiction, nausea, and chills that hinder all physical actions; lasts for a day.

THE UNDERHUNGER ZGARRN HEARSAY Foot Talk: Most non-spirants here believe that spirants are able to transmit their words or thoughts through the breadgrass that coats much of the city. Certainly when a disturbance happens in one part of Zgarrn, guards somehow find out about it very quickly, even if nobody shouts for help. Some folks say that this requires a spirant on hand to send a message, but others think that the breadgrass itself has a limited ability to react to threats and sudden disruptions in kai (like a person being attacked), and instinctively informs nearby spirants about the problem. Inferior Product: Rumors say that a group of spirants is trying to find a way to tame branches to produce the organ that hrath use to increase their offspring’s chances of surviving metamorphosis. Some hrath praise this as a means of providing more of this limited resource, but others fear that it won’t be as effective as the stuff taken from actual spirants. The Hobv met with a hrath delegation and denied that this research is taking place, but it seemed that the city leader may not have revealed the whole truth.

THE WEIRD OF ZGARRN Jlool: This spirant merchant (recognizable by its tasm that looks like a patch of silver and pale violet hairs on its head) they handle that determines if they are respected by one or both parties. If the PCs participate in the fight, the spirant guards treat them like any other rabble-rousers, ignoring their explanations and taking everyone to the city jail until proper consequences are worked out.

BARDU Bardu is a village on the fringes of tikri territory in the Underhunger. Two extended families who settled this place vie for control here, and everyone (resident or visitor) eventually ends up having to choose a side—Alrys or Scadorn—and wear a color indicating their allegiance. The

is usually seen riding a hollow fungal beetle-like creature. It tours the five city entrances every day, making sure the guards see it and know to point visiting explorers its way. Jlool sells various pieces of living equipment and clothing useful for surviving the wilds around Zgarrn and other spirant towns, and sometimes has a few doses of merkt. (Items are stored within the body of the beetle until Jlool makes a sale.) The prices are slightly higher than at other places in the city, but Jlool is well informed about the best sites nearby and, if asked, it will (for free) sketch out a map on living cloth indicating a rough path to what the client is looking for. It doesn’t expect explorers to live long (it’s a risky profession), but it speaks comforting platitudes about their potential fate (such as “Should you die, I hope it is quick and painless”) and offers a discount for repeat customers. Sinking Sensation: Every few days for the past couple of months, there is a brief moment when the entire city feels like it drops a tiny amount, no more than the thickness of a finger. Nobody has been able to witness any physical symptoms of this as it happens (such as objects falling off tables in response to the sudden movement), but all sapients feel it, and even common beasts seem to jolt when it happens. pointless feud goes back more than twenty years, and although both sides agree that there will be no killing because of it, the dispute has caused much property damage and interferes with Bardu’s prosperity. Altogether, members of both families make up about a third of the village’s population. The main trade good here is a rodent-like creature called a duhar with incredibly downy fur, which can be tamed to produce living clothing that is as soft as the duhar itself. Both major families are very protective of their livestock and breeding archives, and their guards spend as much time on the lookout for poachers and thieves as they do for threats from outside the village.

Hollow beetle: level 3

Merkt, page 78

Jlool: level 3, bargaining and geographical knowledge as level 4

Duhar: level 1

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Daljon Alrys: level 4, Speed defense and intimidation as level 5

Ortosn Scadorn: level 2, Speed defense and persuasion as level 3

Alrys: The tikri of this family tend to be thick-bodied with short legs. The head of the family is Daljon, an aged female trying to determine which of her children are worthy to take over for her. Members of the family wear garments with a bright mustard-yellow color. The Alrys live on the north side of the village and say that the Scadorn are lazy, cheap, and promiscuous. Scadorn: These tikri are generally lean and long-legged. The head of the family is Ortosn, a younger male who supposedly had a lot of influence over the family’s now-dead patriarch. Members of the family wear bright red garments. The Scadorn live on the southwest side of the village and say that the Alrys are rude, selfish, and prudish.

ENCOUNTERS IN BARDU The feud in Bardu drives most interesting happenings in the village.

BARDU HEARSAY Drums of War: Ortosn might be getting ready to provoke an actual fight with some younger members of the Alrys family, a response to personal insults they made. The locals fear that an open conflict might hurt a lot of innocent people and endanger the village, but the family has too much clout for anyone to intervene. Beloved Companion: Daljon’s pet duhar is as old as she is, and in failing health. Many people think that when the beast dies, it’ll be too much for her old heart, and the family will struggle to choose a new leader if she hasn’t made her intentions clear.

THE WEIRD OF BARDU The Nightmare Lens: A dormant grume south of the village has a surface as smooth as glass. At certain times of the day, it reveals a strange landscape under a bright sun (brighter than the one above the Skin) with hideous buildings of dead materials and populated by three-legged creatures with round heads and multiple eyes. Faint moans and clicks can be heard

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BULLY A young Scadorn girl was out walking her pet duhar when it broke loose. An adolescent Alrys boy grabbed it and is now taunting the girl just for a laugh. The neighborhood is mostly Alrys, so the distraught girl doesn’t expect to get any help. The boy only plans on making the girl cry for a while, but he might throw the pet into a ditch or through an open window if he doesn’t get the reaction he wants. CRUEL HEART A male Scadorn had secretly been courting a female Alrys, promising to flee with her to Morav where they can leave their family squabbles behind them. She had agreed to leave with him, but it turns out it was just a ruse to embarrass her, as the entire village saw her waiting all morning for him to arrive. Neighbors of her house can hear her arguing with her brothers about how to get back at the cad.

when these creatures are visible. Local people avoid the area when the images appear in the grume’s surface. Some tamers have been able to get the grume to produce a spherical hard globule that sometimes shows these monsters. The Well: About a day’s travel outside the village is a near-circular hole in the floor marl that extends at least a mile deep (based on how long it takes objects or lights to fall into it). At the top it is more than 300 feet (100 m) across and gradually tapers inward. Anything that goes beyond a certain depth disappears and is never heard from again. Even explorers with flight or teleportation abilities have failed to return once crossing that threshold. The edges of the Well are overgrown with many branches that make it easy to climb down and back out again, as long as you don’t cross the barrier of no return. These branches also produce strange buds that can be tamed to release liquids with different properties—usually cyphers or drugs, but sometimes acidic blob creatures that attack the would-be tamer.

THE UNDERHUNGER

TALLSPEAR Tallspear is a hrath town known for producing sturdy living weapons, particularly a long-hafted kind of spear with a toothy blade. Unlike Pinnacle, where a web of tamed branches provides light for the entire city, the people of this town tame a finger-branch in the entryway of their homes, which makes a gentle welcoming light and supplies the luminous sustenance that all hrath require. As Tallspear is on the “frontier” of the Underhunger (there are no nearby settlements deeper within the wilds), its people get frequent practice fighting off strange creatures that wander into their town, and they have a reputation for being fierce warriors.

family is poor and the money for hosting the eggs would lift them out of poverty, and he has no resources to provide alternatives. The tikri doesn’t care who the host is as long as they’re healthy, but can’t wait more than a day or she’ll lose this batch of eggs.

ENCOUNTERS IN TALLSPEAR

TOXIC TREASURES A spirant explorer named Owahn has returned from the Inversion bearing several cyphers and tamed items that carry the strange luminous taint of that location. The presence of these things is upsetting the local hrath, who fear being poisoned or infected, and Owahn wants to get the items out of the village as soon as possible, such as by trading them to explorers who are leaving or finding a safe group to leave the village with.

Tallspears are brave, but even they have fears and superstitions that lead to poor choices.

UDRUN

RELUCTANT HOST The family of a hrath named Ochre Hand arranged for him to be implanted by a visiting tikri female, but he’s nervous and wants to back out of the arrangement. His

Udrun is a village on the northeastern frontier of the Underhunger, inhabited mostly by spirants but with a very small population of hrath. The entire place is wrapped in several layers of marl, with only two narrow paths leading between them,

TALLSPEAR HEARSAY

THE WEIRD OF TALLSPEAR

Adratu the Liar: A well-known tamer named Adratu is famous for his skill at creating weapons. One of his former apprentices is saying that Adratu has lost the ability to tame and has been relying on his apprentices to do all the work while he takes all the credit. If true, the value and prestige of owning a weapon crafted by him will greatly diminish.

Heartflower Bloom: A local plant creates root bulbs that (if placed against the skin above a creature’s failing or recently dead heart) will grow into the creature’s body, replacing the heart and keeping the creature alive if it died due to injury or sickness in that organ. The patient thereafter has a magenta flower growing out of their chest, but otherwise lives a normal life with a plant heart.

Ominous Birth: A prominent hrath family just experienced twin births, which is quite rare. One of the infants has chalk-white skin but otherwise appears normal. An old warrior claims that the birth of a white-skinned child is a bad omen, and it must be left in the wilds outside of town so that when it expires, its kai will not bring bad luck to the people.

The Inversion, page 83

Talking Tallspears: The spears created here look like a long slender bone that connects to a hairy wrist with beady black eyes and a toothy blade extending from the far end. These weapons tend to have a bit more personality than typical living objects. They’ve been known to coo and squeak in response to positive attention from their owners, and even growl menacingly when they taste blood. Many warriors with such a weapon tend to treat it like a beloved pet.

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RANDOM NEW DRUG EFFECTS Common Drugs of the Underhunger, page 78

If the PCs discover or tame a new drug and the GM needs to know its effects, start with one of the common drugs of the Underhunger, and replace one effect and one side effect with a result from the following tables. A new drug might have a level that is 1 higher or lower than the starting drug. If a drug has a dangerous side effect, a better taming roll or refining the drug using another skill (such as medicine or understanding numenera) can reduce the strength or duration of that side effect or make it less likely to occur. d100 01–07 08–10 11–14 15–16 17–18 19–25 26–30 31–33 34–36 37–44 45–47 48–49 50 51–54 55–58 59–61 62–65 66–68 69 70–72 73–74 75–80 81 82 83 84 85–86 87 88–90 91 92–98 99–00

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Random Effect Alertness Antidepressant Appearance changes Armor against cold Armor against heat Auditory hallucinations Enhanced dreams Enhanced recovery rolls Enhanced senses Euphoria Faster reactions Floating sensation Gravity negation Increased empathy Increased Intellect Edge Increased libido Increased Might Edge Increased Speed Edge Invisibility Laughter Light generation Pain relief Postcognition Precognition Religious experience Remote viewing Specific hallucination Telekinesis Telepathy Teleportation Visual hallucinations Voice mimicry

d100 01 02–06 07–08 09–10 11–13 14 15 16–17 18 19 20–22 23–24 25–26 27–28 29–30 31–33 34–36 37–38 39–40 41 42–43 44 45–46 47–48 49–50 51–52 53–55 56–57 58 59–60 61–63 64–65 66–67 68–69 70–71 72 73–74 75–76 77–78 79–80 81 82–83 84–86 87–89 90–92 93 94–95 96–98 99–00

Random Side Effect Acne Addiction Aggression Aphasia Auditory hallucinations Autotomy Catatonia Chills Color blindness Color change Compulsive or repetitive behavior Coughing Decreased libido Delayed reactions Depression Dizziness Drowsiness or sleep Emotionlessness Extreme hunger and thirst Face blindness Flashbacks Genetic damage Hangover Heart palpitations Impaired vision Impotence Irritability Lasting damage Loss of a sense Memory loss Move one step down the damage track Nausea Nightmares Numbness Pain Paralysis Paranoia Rash Restlessness Shortness of breath Skin bleeding Skin picking Slurred speech Sweating Tremors Tumors Verbal tics Visual hallucinations Weakened healing

THE UNDERHUNGER like the landforms are trying to encapsulate this place to isolate it from the rest of the wild. The marl walls around the village are pierced by hundreds of cone-shaped pits, each about 20 feet (6 m) deep and half that wide. In addition to the usual spirant exports of drugs, local tamers have found a way to make the marl and branches here produce needles of dull black living material that are as hard as steel.

ENCOUNTERS IN UDRUN The people of Udrun tend to be loners and don’t want their work disturbed. It is a place of solitude and secret agendas. INFECTED Two spirants are afflicted with a debilitating sickness that makes their organ apertures weep a sickly yellow fluid. If the infected spirants can’t be cured, the rest of the village will try to drive them out so they don’t get anyone else sick. Udrun leaders choose some humans (the PCs) to take care of the problem, as they’re not from Verse and therefore less likely to be affected by the sickness.

UDRUN HEARSAY Noz Rebellion: Udrun is becoming a place for disaffected and rebellious spirants and hrath to gather. A mysterious leader only known as Noz is said to be planning a coup against the Hobv (the spirant leader in Zgarrn) to push an agenda of deeper exploration to find the heart of Verse and the godlike power that awaits them there. The Dark Sea: A group of hrath and tikri explorers has returned from a northeastern expedition, claiming to have found a red grume sea that extends at least several miles. They’re looking for someone with skill at taming large objects to accompany them and craft a raft or small boat so they can explore this space and see what waits beyond it.

THE WEIRD OF UDRUN The Gasping Sleep: Every few weeks, the entire village and the space enclosed by the entwining marls experience a drop in air pressure, going from normal to

JARDU’S BAND A large group of hrath raiders led by a petty warlord named Jardu has entered Udrun after soldiers drove them out of the nearest hrath village. Jardu’s raiders are still recovering from their wounds and aren’t looking to start trouble, but the presence of the PCs is likely to inadvertently spark a conflict because the raiders want a victory to stoke their confidence.

Jardu: level 4, attacks and Speed defense as level 5; Armor 1 Jardu’s raiders: level 3

NOTABLE UNDERHUNGER SITES The following are a few famous (or infamous) locations within the Underhunger. None of them have been permanently settled by the “civilized” people of Verse; at most they might have one or two campsites used for a few days or weeks at a time and abandoned until the next group comes along.

THE INVERSION This large chamber is notable for three reasons. The first and most obvious is that it and everything within it is a negative about one-tenth that amount in the span of a few minutes. This normally causes everyone to fall unconscious (unless someone is carrying some sort of remedy against the lack of air) until the pressure returns a minute later. Most locals are used to it, and when they feel the drop start, they set aside their tasks and find a comfortable position to rest in until the returning air pressure awakens them. Singing Marl: The cone-shaped pits lining the walls of this village occasionally sing in strange voices that don’t sound like humans or any creatures of Verse. The songs begin more quietly than a whisper, slowly getting louder until they’re like a group of people shouting, then suddenly stop. The songs aren’t in any language known on Verse, but one human explorer says they sound vaguely like something he once heard in a remote village of the Beyond—but he admits they just as easily could be nonsense syllables.

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A convenient way to explain the look of the Inversion to players is that it looks like a photo negative.

The spirant explorer Owahn took some items from the Inversion that retained their odd visual properties; see Toxic Treasures, page 81.

image—dark appears light, light appears dark, red looks cyan, blue looks yellow, and so on. However, the eyes and minds of creatures in the Inversion interpret it all as if this is perfectly ordinary. A torch creates an area of blackness where characters can see (and moving farther from the torch swallows them in a blinding white), ink on a page is quite readable as bright lines on a dark background, and so on. Second, the gravity within the chamber decreases the farther down you go, eventually becoming zero gravity near the bottom. The bottom is also the source of a great darkness, which visitors perceive as light. Third, the marl that blankets most of the walls, floor, and ceiling is covered in unique crystalline projections not found elsewhere in the Underhunger. Each projection juts outward to several times a human’s height. Hrath, with their specific requirement for a kind of yellow light, feel nauseous in the Inversion (all tasks are hindered), and if they spend too much time here, they sicken and die with accelerated scurvy-like symptoms. Materials taken from this chamber generally assume their normal visual properties without any lasting unusual effects. The spirants claim the Inversion is one of many similar sites in the Underhunger—this just happens to be the one closest to the Skin.

MISTBREATH Mistbreath inflicts 1 point of ambient cold damage every ten minutes to characters not wearing cold-weather clothing.

Paper crawler: level 6; swallow a creature whole on a failed Might defense roll; automatically inflict ambient damage every round to a swallowed creature

The temperature of this mazelike series of caverns hovers at or below the freezing point of water. Most people of Verse have never experienced cold like this and don’t have suitable clothing and other gear to survive it. Despite the cold, the marl, branches, and other landforms in this place are quite healthy and can be tamed to make interesting materials—although those materials tend to be adapted to the cold and can sicken, die, or crumble away if they spend too much time in a warm environment. Lurking in Mistbreath are house-sized creatures (or perhaps small landforms) that resemble stacks of thin layers, like paper or large leaves. These crawlers are aggressive and move very quietly for their size. Although they usually attack and kill

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intruders in their territory, they have also been known to swallow a creature, alter it in various ways, then spit it out and wander away. Typical modifications are granting +1 Armor against cold damage, increasing Speed Edge by 1, duplicating a cypher, or increasing all cypher levels by 1. These modifications fade within a few days of leaving Mistbreath.

THE VAULTS Although the name sounds enticing, this place and others like it are a kind of tomb. Initially it appears to be a large, safe chamber suitable for camping or settling, with adequate access to useful landforms. However, at some point the walls emanate psychic sensations of peace and slumber while they start to close off all exits. Alert creatures with fast reactions might be able to escape before they are trapped, but everyone else remains sealed away within a hard shell. Those on the outside who use kai or other abilities to sense the area can discern that the creatures trapped within remain alive, but sleep in a state akin to hibernation. Some vaults are known to have closed up years ago, but the creatures inside are still alive and asleep. Explorers assume that whatever resources and wealth those people have are still in there with them, but so far all attempts to enter a sealed vault have failed. The reason for this entombing is unknown, but some people speculate that the Underhunger is trying to prevent too much colonization or preserving specimens for some distant event in the future.

PART 3:

THE NUMENERA

Chapter 8: Cyphers Chapter 9: Artifacts

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86 96

CHAPTER 8

CYPHERS Living Objects, page 32 Globe of forgetting, page 89 Lysis, page 92 Orb of pestilence, page 93

Cyphers that originate on the Liminal Shore are all alive, and are a special class of living object. Some might even be mobile, though most are found in a hibernating state, only to spark to awareness and life for a moment to produce their particular effect, then die, leaving behind a shape that quickly disintegrates into rich compost.

CYPHERS REQUIRING KAI

Finding and Identifying Cyphers, page 274

Generally, for many varieties of Ninth World cyphers, an equivalent cypher exists on the Liminal Shore that produces the same effect, but the cypher is a living creature.

As another living component of the Liminal Shore, cyphers usually have a connection to kai. If such a cypher is used on the Shore, the effect described is triggered without incident. However, if a cypher birthed on the Shore is brought someplace where there is no kai, the cypher may or may not work. Ultimately, that decision is up to the GM; many may still work, but cyphers whose effects lie chiefly in affecting landforms and other living objects likely have little impact in the Ninth World.

EXTREME CYPHERS Extreme cyphers are those that have much larger or more powerful effects than the average cypher. A GM might want to restrict extreme cyphers from being found randomly, since their use can have wider-ranging campaign ramifications than would normally be expected. Instead, extreme cyphers are probably best suited as campaign quest objects or rewards for completing the same. In fact, entire

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adventures could be based around obtaining an extreme cypher. The extreme cyphers presented in this chapter (globe of forgetting, lysis, and orb of pestilence) are not included on the random cypher table.

FINDING CYPHERS Cyphers on the Liminal Shore can be found in the possession of other creatures. Often, they can also be gleaned from the corpses of defeated creatures, picked like fruit from certain growths, or harvested from landforms. Mechanically speaking, finding and identifying cyphers in any given location works similarly to how it works in the Ninth World, with the understanding that the numenera in question is biological. Ultimately, it’s up to the GM whether a particular source can be salvaged for cyphers; sometimes a landform or defeated foe has nothing to offer.

A SELECTION OF LIMINAL SHORE CYPHERS BUBBLE FLYER Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Seed-like bulb Effect: Translucent membrane from nearest living landform extrudes to wrap user and all creatures within immediate range of the user in a winged bubble. The resulting “vehicle” can fly a long distance each round, for up to one hour per cypher level, before expiring. Cyphers of level 7 and higher can fly for up to 28 hours.

CYPHERS

CYPHER TABLE When giving cyphers to characters, choose from this table or roll d100 to select randomly. 01–02 Bubble flyer

46–47 Liminal intellect

03–04 Camouflage hive

48–49 Liminal might

05–06 Cleansing

50–51

Liminal speed

07–08 Courier

52–53

Liminal sword

09–10 Detonation (kai scrambling) 11–12

54

Marl form

Distilled ctav

55–56

Marl punch

Emergency plexus

57–59

Marl skin

14–15

Extra limb

60–62 Memory aid

16–17

Flowers of agreement

63–65 Noomh skin

18–19

Flowers of fury

66–68 Pestering eruption

13

20–21 Grabbing hand

69–71 Sap confinement

22–23

Immobilizing pod

72–74

Shape of peace

24–26 Immune inflamer

75–77

Sheltering pod

27–28 Instant action

78–80 Skelenim skin

29–30 Kai echo (healing)

81–82

Spined gloves

31–32

Kai echo (trauma)

83

Tamed fighter

33–34

Kai guardian

84

Tamed wall

35

Keldar inspiration

85–86 Taming aid

36

Keldar’s strength

87–89 Tasm decoy

37

Know all

90–92 Tasm replacement

38–39 Land slap

93–94 Transposing shell

40–41 Land swallow

95–96 Truth-telling tissue

42–43 Land throw

97–98 Verdant transformation

44–45 Lethal barb

99–00 Wings of the creel

CAMOUFLAGE HIVE

CLEANSING

Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Hive containing hundreds of tiny ant-like creatures Effect: When triggered, the creatures stream from the hive and teem across the user’s body. For up to one hour, and as long as the user doesn’t take damage or do anything else to shed the tiny crawlers, the creatures change their hue to match each other and their surroundings. This provides effective camouflage, easing the user’s stealth tasks by two steps, and allows them to attempt to hide even if being actively watched.

Level: 1d6 + 1 Consumable: Fishlike creature in a translucent, fluid-filled bulb Effect: All ongoing negative effects afflicting the target disappear within a minute after the cypher is consumed. Level 7 cleansing cyphers can cure blight in creatures or landforms whose level is equal to or less than the cypher’s level.

Blight, page 29

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The effects of distilled ctav are similar to heroin, but non-addictive. It is made by concentrating the stinger venom of female tikri (page 136).

If the user of an emergency plexus is technically dead when the duration expires, they actually die.

Tasm, page 10

COURIER

DISTILLED CTAV

Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Narrow sheath of folded membranes Effect: When the sheath is launched, multiple winglike membranes unfold, revealing a narrow head and body that shines with green bioluminescence. The creature waits until a message is provided, then takes flight and (if the user succeeds on an Intellect attack with a difficulty equal to the target’s level) unerringly seeks the target named or described by the user, flying up to a long distance each round as it searches. If it finds the target, it attempts to verbally deliver the message. If the cypher is level 7 or higher, the creature will take a return message back to the user.

Level: 1d6 Usable: Ingestible or injectable liquid Effect: Consuming this liquid puts a humanoid creature into a state of pleasant delirium for ten minutes per cypher level. The creature relaxes as if under the effects of a strong analgesic and mild sedative, but can be roused by loud noises or violent actions. While the cypher is in effect, all of the creature’s tasks are hindered, but resisting pain, disease, and other poisons is eased.

DETONATION (KAI SCRAMBLING) Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Tiny spiderlike beings trapped in an oily gob of gel (thrown, short range) Effect: Bursts in an immediate radius, cutting off all creatures in the area from kai for one minute. Affected creatures move one step down the damage track. Affected tasms go into a listless state of hibernation for the duration. Creatures with abilities dependent on kai cannot use them, though they can attempt to reconnect each round as an Intellect task.

EMERGENCY PLEXUS Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Blob of iridescent flesh attached at base of spine Effect: For the next ten minutes, the user ignores the impaired and debilitated conditions of the damage track, and treats the dead condition as impaired, thanks to a “secondary brain” override function of the emergency plexus. However, to take their turn normally each round, the user must succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect task. Otherwise, the emergency plexus acts in pure fight or flight reflex, causing the user either to move as fast as they can away from the situation, or to attack the closest creature, regardless of whether it is an enemy or ally.

EXTRA LIMB Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Sinewy roll of muscle with attachment point at one end and fingerlike projections at the other Effect: User gains full use of an extra armlike limb for a number of hours equal to the cypher’s level. The extra arm can hold a shield, make an extra physical attack the user is capable of making, or attempt a physical task different from the task (or attack) the user is making normally.

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CYPHERS FLOWERS OF AGREEMENT

IMMOBILIZING POD

Level: 1d6 Usable: Twining bundle of flowers with petals that create perfect circles, squares, and triangles Effect: All creatures in immediate range are covered in a puff of sparkling pollen, and must then agree to the user’s kai-enhanced suggestion. Until they do, they are unable to speak. If any creature the user attempts to affect is unaffected by the pollen, all other creatures are released from the effect.

Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Pulsing pod Effect: Responding to a kai trigger from the pod, tendrils extrude from the landform nearest to a target within long range and attempt to hold them in place for up to 28 hours. Trapped creatures can try to escape from the tendrils each round, but the attempts are hindered by two steps.

IMMUNE INFLAMER

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Twining bundle of flowers with petals that create irregular and disquieting shapes Effect: All creatures in immediate range are covered in a puff of sparkling pollen. Except for the user, they must resist or randomly attack other nearby creatures for three rounds, regardless of their previous alliance.

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Toad-like creature Effect: If this cypher is touched to a creature, object, or landform whose level is less than the cypher level, it fuses to the target. Thereafter, the Liminal Shore recognizes the target as a dangerous foreign body that must be immediately consumed, ejected, or otherwise destroyed. How the Shore destroys the target varies depending on circumstances, but dispatching eaters is possible.

GLOBE OF FORGETTING

INSTANT ACTION

Level: 10 (extreme) Usable: Head-sized globe of gel veined with silvery, pulsing vessels Effect: A pulse of kai propagates outward from the cypher and toward all other living components of the Liminal Shore. Everyone on the Liminal Shore who has seen the user (and up to five other individuals the user specifies) in the last 28 hours forgets their presence or anything the user did or said during that time.

Level: 1d6 + 3 Worn: Tiny snakelike creature curled around wrist Effect: As part of another action, the user triggers this cypher, which floods them with a surfeit of kai granting another instant action before any other creature can take a turn.

FLOWERS OF FURY

Allowed suggestions granted by flowers of agreement can’t be obviously harmful to an affected creature or their allies.

Eater, page 116

GRABBING HAND Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Seed entangled with tiny black tendrils Effect: If the seed is touched to the ground, a creature of the cypher level or lower within long range is held, unable to move (but able to take other actions), for one minute by an extrusion of flesh resembling the user’s own hand, but much larger. If the cypher is level 6 or higher, each round in which a target remains held and unable to break free, mounting pressure from the hand inflicts damage equal to the cypher level.

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Free level of Effort, page 103

KAI ECHO (HEALING)

KELDAR INSPIRATION

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Crab-like creature suffused with blue threads Effect: When triggered, the cypher extends its connection to kai to whoever the user heals (by whatever means, including a healing task) within the next minute. The same amount of healing is provided to all targets within immediate range (short range for cypher level 7 and higher) designated by the user.

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Abnormally large feather Effect: Kai burst causes the user to rapidly swell in size to a height of about 10 feet (3 m) for ten minutes. During that time, the user adds 4 points to their Might Pool, +1 to Armor, and +2 to their Might Edge. While they are larger than normal, their Speed defense rolls are hindered, but they have an asset for using their fists as heavy weapons.

KAI ECHO (TRAUMA)

KELDAR’S STRENGTH

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Crab-like creature suffused with silvery threads Effect: For one minute, the user’s attacks on a single foe propagate via kai to other enemies within immediate range (short range for cypher level 7 and higher) of the primary foe, inflicting the same amount of damage to them. The echoed attacks are reflected as trauma, not visible physical attacks (and thus ignore Armor).

Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Small creature with iridescent feathers Effect: When activated, this creature bites the user. For the next hour, the user gains a free level of Effort on all tasks involving strength, including jumping, Might-based attack rolls, damage dealt by Might-based attacks, and thrown weapon attacks.

KAI GUARDIAN Level: 1d6 + 3 Worn: Tiny snakelike creature curled around temple, forming a circlet Effect: When triggered, either consciously or as a result of the user being attacked in one of the ways the kai guardian protects against, the protective effect lasts for 28 hours. The kai guardian prevents effects that are specifically mediated by a connection to kai, including damaging effects, but also influence that would charm, delude, or otherwise affect the user’s mind or body in a way they wouldn’t choose. The protection eases the user’s defense rolls or tasks to escape an effect by two steps.

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KNOW ALL Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Creature that “inflates” a hooplike arch on its back when triggered Effect: A direct connection with the kai of a target creature, landform, or object within long range is made. User gains complete knowledge of the target, including its special qualities, special abilities, weaknesses (if any), level, and so on. Thereafter, the user gains an asset to any task relating to interacting with, using, attacking, or defending from the target.

LAND SLAP Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Mushroom-like growth Effect: When the cypher is plunged into a living landform, a portion of the landform within long range of the user reacts by immediately deforming to attack all creatures within immediate range, inflicting damage equal to the cypher level.

CYPHERS LAND SWALLOW

LIMINAL MIGHT

Level: 1d6 + 4 Usable: Mushroom-like growth Effect: When the cypher is plunged into a living landform, a portion of the landform within long range of the user reacts by immediately deforming in an attempt to swallow all creatures within immediate range. Targets that are unable to get clear are enveloped and take damage equal to the cypher level each round as the landform crushes them, until they can escape.

Level: 1d6 + 2 Wearable: Tick-like insect Effect: An additional number of points equal to the cypher level is added to the user’s Might Pool for one hour. This increases the user’s normal maximum for the duration. When the effect ends, any unused additional Might points go away.

LAND THROW Level: 1d6 + 4 Usable: Mushroom-like growth Effect: When the cypher is plunged into a living landform, the landform reacts by immediately deforming or unfolding to throw a creature within short range designated by the user up to a short distance. The creature lands prone and takes damage equal to the cypher level. (If thrown off a high place or into a dangerous area, it is subject to even more damage.)

LIMINAL SPEED Level: 1d6 + 2 Wearable: Tick-like insect Effect: User can make one additional attack as part of their normal action for ten minutes.

LETHAL BARB Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Curled transparent glass-like tube with a barbed head Effect: When activated, the tube unfolds to become an object that can be used like a simple weapon (such as a dagger or short blade). On a successful hit from the weapon, it does not inflict normal damage. Instead, the target loses one third of its full health from a substance that is both poisonous and acidic. So virulent is the substance that the lethal barb can maintain its form for only a few rounds; after each round of existence, roll for depletion (a result of 1 on 1d6 means the activated cypher consumes itself).

LIMINAL INTELLECT Level: 1d6 + 2 Wearable: Tick-like insect Effect: User eases all Intellect tasks and defense rolls by two steps for one hour.

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LIMINAL SWORD

LYSIS

Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Pulsing pod Effect: Responding to a kai trigger from the pod, tissue extrudes from the nearest landform and quickly shapes and hardens into a type of melee weapon of the user’s choice (light, medium, or heavy) that persists for up to 28 hours. The user can detach and wield it, or allow it to remain attached to the landform via a tendril, in which case it guards the user as long as they don’t move more than an immediate distance from it. In the latter case, the user’s hands remain free to take other actions while the weapon automatically attacks up to one designated enemy within immediate range each round. Liminal swords of level 7 and higher have one additional ability.

Level: 10 (extreme) Usable: Mushroom-like growth that glows red Effect: When the cypher is plunged into a living landform, no matter how large, the landform is poisoned. Over the next minute, it sickens and dies. During that minute, it takes whatever steps it can to remove the attached lysis cypher and/or destroy those who placed it. If the landform can remove the cypher before ten rounds elapse, there is a chance that it might survive.

d6

Additional Ability

1

Poison inflicts +1 point of Speed damage (ignores Armor)

2

Grants asset to attacks made when guarding user

3

Poison inflicts +2 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor)

4

Grants two assets to attacks

5

Grants two assets to attacks, and poison inflicts +2 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor)

6

As a single action, weapon can make two attacks, or wielder can make two attacks with weapon

MARL FORM Level: 1d6 + 1 Wearable: Marl layer that can be worn like a cloak until used Effect: The marl fuses to the user’s skin for ten minutes, during which time they become immobile as their feet fuse to the landform beneath them. The user isn’t recognizable, seeming like a random outcrop of marl. The user gains +10 to Armor and can’t see what’s happening around them, but can hear normally and use purely mental abilities. The user can end the effect early if they succeed on a difficulty 5 Intellect task (which they can attempt once per round as their action).

MARL PUNCH Level: 1d6 Wearable: Marl blob about twice the size of a human fist, worn like a glove Effect: The user’s unarmed attacks inflict extra damage equal to the cypher level for one minute. While the blob is worn, all tasks requiring fine manual dexterity are hindered by two steps.

MARL SKIN Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Roll of green-blue marl Effect: When unrolled and pressed to the user’s skin (requiring a few rounds), the marl spreads to cover the user. For the next ten hours, the user gains +1 to Armor. If the cypher is level 7 or higher, the user instead gains +2 to Armor.

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CYPHERS MEMORY AID

PESTERING ERUPTION

Level: 1d6 + 3 Consumable: Slug-like creature in a translucent, fluid-filled bulb Effect: A forgotten memory is restored. Cyphers of level 6 and higher can provide a memory that was not the user’s by connecting the user to another creature through kai. This requires that the user succeed on an Intellect task with a difficulty equal to the level of the creature whose memory is to be copied. A memory could be a single phrase, an image, or a sequence of events lasting up to a minute.

Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Pulsing pod Effect: Responding to a kai trigger from the pod, a swarm of insect-like creatures erupts from a location within long range. The swarm is an immediate distance in radius. The insects remain for one minute and follow the user’s desires, as communicated via kai. They can hinder the tasks of any or all creatures within the swarm area or attack all targets, inflicting 2 points of damage per round. They can also move heavy objects through collective effort, eat through barriers that are lower level than the swarm, and perform other actions as the GM determines.

NOOMH SKIN Level: 1d6 Wearable: Roll of lumpy red and blue flesh Effect: When unrolled and pressed to the user’s skin (requiring a few rounds), the noomh skin spreads to cover the user and their clothing and equipment entirely. For five hours per cypher level, the user does not have to breathe—the noomh skin precisely releases a certain amount of kai and reprocesses waste gases in the user’s blood and body tissue to provide sufficient healthy air. The user isn’t protected against vacuum or dangerous airborne chemicals, but if they take a moment to hold their breath, they gain an asset on defense rolls against attacks requiring them to breathe (such as pheromone attacks or smoke inhalation).

SAP CONFINEMENT Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Toad-like creature Effect: The cypher burps up a bolus of transparent, sticky material of exceptional strength (level equal to the cypher level), which envelops a creature or object no larger than 10 feet (3 m) on a side within immediate range. The bolus confines the creature, preventing it from moving or taking physical actions until it escapes or one hour elapses.

A noomh skin works on lattimors (who breathe nitrogen instead of oxygen), but not creatures that breathe trace elements not normally found in a typical Earth-like atmosphere.

Using an orb of pestilence almost guarantees that the surrounding living land will react, either sending defenders or convulsing in a catastrophic fashion.

ORB OF PESTILENCE Level: 9 (extreme) Usable: Head-sized orb of gel veined with green, pulsing vessels Effect: A pulse of kai propagates outward from the cypher toward all other living components of the Liminal Shore within very long range. Every living creature within the area with a connection to kai begins to sicken and die, taking 9 points of damage each round for ten rounds (though affected creatures are allowed a defense roll each round to avoid that round’s damage). In addition, all affected creatures who were within short range of the user are blinded for ten rounds.

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Hazards, page 29

SHAPE OF PEACE

SKELENIM SKIN

Level: 1d6 + 4 Usable: Spidery shape that absorbs all light that falls on it Effect: When triggered, the cypher unfolds, revealing beautiful hues. A hazard presented by one landform within short range is folded away or otherwise suppressed for one hour. Alternatively, if the cypher is used against a creature, the creature becomes passive and will not attack the user or the user’s allies unless they attack it first or do something that causes harm to befall it.

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Roll of oily black flesh Effect: When unrolled and pressed to the user’s skin (requiring a few rounds), the skelenim skin spreads to cover the user and their clothing and equipment entirely. For the next ten hours, the user becomes difficult to see or be recognized. The user gains two assets to stealth and disguise tasks. If the cypher is level 7 or higher, it also eases the user’s Speed defense rolls during this period.

SHELTERING POD

SPINED GLOVES

Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Translucent, fluid-filled bulb Effect: When placed on a living landform and activated, the bulb expands over the course of a minute, becoming a translucent dome 15 feet (5 m) in diameter. The user and whoever they designate when triggering the cypher can enter the dome by passing directly through the membrane. The shelter acts like a barrier to all other effects of the cypher level or lower. Inside, the shelter generates breathable air and pressure and maintains a constant comfortable temperature. The shelter persists for 28 hours.

Level: 1d6 + 2 Wearable: Living gauntlets studded with spines Effect: For the next hour, the user can make an attack up to long range with a burst of sharp spines that inflict damage equal to the cypher level.

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TAMED FIGHTER Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Seed entangled with tiny red tendrils Effect: If the cypher is touched to the ground, the user can instantly tame a section of that same tissue (whether marl or branch) to extrude a creature over the course of one round. This creature is capable of fighting on the user’s behalf for up to ten minutes using melee attacks. The fighter’s level is equal to the cypher level and it has 1 Armor. Tamed fighters of level 6 and higher can make two attacks as their action.

CYPHERS TAMED WALL

TRANSPOSING SHELL

Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Seed entangled with tiny white tendrils Effect: If the cypher is touched to the ground, the user can instantly tame a section of that same tissue (whether marl or branch) to form a wall within short range. The wall can be up to 30 feet wide, 30 feet tall, and 1 foot thick (9 m by 9 m by 30 cm). The wall’s level is equal to the level of the cypher or the underlying substrate, whichever is higher. The wall can emerge at any angle; it doesn’t have to be vertical. Tamed walls of level 6 and higher can have a venomous coating, which inflicts damage equal to the cypher level on any creature that touches, climbs, or attempts to pass through it.

Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Nut-like lump Effect: User can swap positions with a creature of roughly similar size within long range, as long as both are standing on or at least touching the same living landform.

TAMING AID Level: 1d6 + 3 Usable: Mushroom-like growth Effect: When the cypher is plunged into a living landform, the user’s taming tasks attempted for the landform are eased by two steps for up to 28 hours.

TASM DECOY Level: 1d6 Usable: Toad-like creature Effect: The cypher begins to mediate the user’s kai in place of the user’s tasm. This has no effect other than if any harm befalls the decoy, the actual tasm is not harmed and immediately returns to mediating the user’s kai connection to the Liminal Shore.

TASM REPLACEMENT Level: 1d6 Usable: Toad-like creature Effect: This cypher becomes the user’s tasm. If the user was suffering from the effects of losing a tasm, using this cypher immediately ends those effects.

TRUTH-TELLING TISSUE Level: 1d6 + 1 Usable: Diaphanous connective tissue Effect: For the next minute, any time creatures within immediate range of the user knowingly lie, their breath steams with green bioluminescence.

VERDANT TRANSFORMATION Level: 1d6 + 2 Usable: Bulblike creature with no eyes and a large mouth Effect: If this cypher is consumed, over the course of the following three rounds (during which time the user can take no actions) a dark “fur” of tiny mycelium sprouts across their skin as their underlying flesh swells. When the transformation is complete, they are incredibly aggressive for the next ten minutes per cypher level. While so changed, the user attacks any and every creature within short range, or if no creatures are present, they attack the nearest discrete landform. In addition, they add 8 points to their Might Pool, 1 to their Might Edge, 2 points to their Speed Pool, and 1 to their Speed Edge. While so changed, they can’t spend Intellect points for any reason other than to try to return to their normal form before the duration ends (a difficulty 2 task). Once the change reversal begins, the process takes three rounds, during which time the user can’t take actions.

Tasm, page 10

WINGS OF THE CREEL Level: 1d6 + 3 Wearable: Creel-like wings Effect: For the next hour per cypher level, the user can fly a short distance each round in combat, and on extended trips can move up to 40 miles (64 km) per hour.

Losing a tasm, page 12 Creel, page 133

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CHAPTER 9

ARTIFACTS

Finding, Identifying, and Using Artifacts, page 289

Artifacts are rare treasures of the Liminal Shore that grant multiple uses until depleted. As with cyphers and most objects, the artifacts described in this chapter are also living. Usually they are in a state similar to hibernation before being used. And when depleted, the living artifact dies, leaving behind a shape that quickly disintegrates into rich compost. Using an artifact on the Liminal Shore is the same as using it anywhere in the Ninth World.

ARTIFACTS REQUIRING KAI Generally, for many varieties of Ninth World artifacts, an equivalent artifact exists on the Liminal Shore that produces the same effect, but the artifact is a living creature.

As with some cyphers, a few artifacts require a connection to kai to operate, if so indicated. If such an artifact is used on the Liminal Shore, the effect described is triggered without incident. However, if an artifact birthed on the Liminal Shore is brought someplace where there is no kai, it may or may not work. Ultimately, that decision is up to the GM; many may still work, but artifacts whose effects lie chiefly in affecting landforms and other living objects likely have less impact in the Ninth World.

FINDING ARTIFACTS Finding artifacts on the Liminal Shore is essentially the same as finding cyphers. They can be found in the possession of other creatures, and often they can also be gleaned from the corpses of defeated creatures, picked like fruit from certain growths, or harvested from landforms. Mechanically speaking, finding, identifying, and using artifacts in any given location works similarly to how it works in the Ninth World, with the understanding that the numenera in question is biological. Ultimately, it’s up to the GM whether a particular source can be salvaged for artifacts; sometimes a landform or defeated foe has nothing to offer.

A SELECTION OF LIMINAL SHORE ARTIFACTS BINDING TISSUE Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Connective tissue Effect: The tissue can be used to bind a creature of the artifact level or lower on a successful attack action. Once bound, the creature cannot remove the tissue by any method. The bound creature goes into a state of extreme hibernation and doesn’t come out of it until the tissue is removed. Depletion: 1 in 1d6

“This thing is trying to eat me! Oh, wait. No. It’s trying to be worn. I hope.”

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ARTIFACTS

ARTIFACT TABLE When giving artifacts to characters, choose from this table or roll d100 to select randomly. 01–03 04–06 07–09 10–11 12–14 15–17 18–20 21–23 24–26 27–28 29–31 32–34 35–37 38–40 41–43 44–45 46–48 49–51

Binding tissue Brain preserver Conserver Cypher pocket graft Delion king wing Disposer Ensefer of immune response Ensefer of inquiry Ensefer of repose Epimysium Flesh swimmer Flesh swimmer of immortality Grub of life Heinous garment Kai battery Kai saber Kai visualizer Landtap

BRAIN PRESERVER Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Head-sized mass of flesh Effect: This living device must first be placed around the largely intact head (or similar brain case) of a dead creature. The artifact extracts the creature’s brain and seals it within a nutritive organ that preserves and protects it. Manipulating nerve clusters on the outside of the artifact allows the user to ask questions of the brain stored inside it, and a small voice box and color-changing patch of surface tissue present sounds and images of the brain’s responses. If the brain doesn’t know the answer to a question, it doesn’t respond. The brain is not aware of its own condition; it doesn’t know that it is stored in an artifact instead of its body, and it thinks it is being questioned in a dark room by someone with authority. Questions about its recent past or that force it to think about its last memories before dying cause emotional distress and perhaps even kill it. The user can eject the stored brain to extract and store a different one. The ejected

52–54 55–56 57–59 60–62 63–65 66–68 69–71 72–73 74–76 77–79 80–82 83–84 85–87 88–90 91–93 94–96 97–98 99–00

Liminal limb Liminal sail Marl cape Mind collector Mind sipper Operative garment Pallium of taming Parasite creche Poison bud Rogue wrap Router Shlem reverberator Squamtaur Synthesis graft Tasm bud Vexation thorn Windrider, living Wings of the Liminal Shore

brain dies unless heroic measures are used (such as surgically implanting it in another creature). Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each question)

CONSERVER Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Beetle-like creature Effect: A creature or object up to twice as large as the user is tagged with a kai marker recognizable to most living landforms as an instruction to store the target away for safekeeping. The target is pulled into a landform, and if they can’t escape within the first couple of rounds, they are put into a state of perfect hibernation for an indefinite period. A disruption in kai marks the location, though that’s visible only to those especially sensitive to kai, or to someone with this or a similar artifact. The artifact can also be used to return a conserved creature or object to the surface and wake them from hibernation. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

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CYPHER POCKET GRAFT Level: 1d6 Form: Organ, self-installing Effect: The user’s cypher limit increases by one. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each day; graft is rejected upon depletion)

DELION KING WING

Taming, page 14

Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Cloak-like membranous white wings that crackle with static charge Effect: Wearer can calm level 9 or lower winds in a 1-mile (1.5 km) radius or, once per day, create a thunderstorm lasting

Eater, page 116

one hour in the same radius. During the storm, the user can direct one lightning strike per minute (but no more than a total number of strikes equal to the artifact level) at any target that the user can see within the area, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level on the target and all creatures within immediate range of the target. Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (check per thunderstorm called)

DISPOSER Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Clam-like creature about 3 feet (1 m) in diameter Effect: Anything placed in the artifact whose level is less than or equal to the artifact level is consumed within one hour and rendered into rich compost. (Each time an object is consumed, an equal mass of compost can be removed from the artifact; this material can be used as an asset to a taming task attempted within the next minute.) Depletion: 1 in 1d10

ENSEFER OF IMMUNE RESPONSE Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Cricket-like creature with nine legs Effect: On triggering the trilling sound of the ensefer, it attracts the attention of the closest eater. The eater that responds acts according to its nature and is not bound to follow instructions of any kind, so using this artifact is considered as dangerous to the user as to anything near the user. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

ENSEFER OF INQUIRY Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Cricket-like creature with nine legs Effect: On triggering the trilling sound of the ensefer, a target within short range suffers 1 point of damage. If the target’s level is less than or equal to the artifact level, the target is also compelled to answer a question put to it on a failed Intellect defense roll. Depletion: 1 in 1d6

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ARTIFACTS ENSEFER OF REPOSE

FLESH SWIMMER

Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Cricket-like creature with nine legs Effect: On triggering the trilling sound of the ensefer, a target within short range moves one step down the damage track (or, if not a PC, loses a third of its health). If this would kill the target, it instead falls into a coma that lasts indefinitely, or until this or a similar artifact is used on the target again. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

Level: 1d6 Form: Small red fishlike creature that “swims” under a user’s skin Effect: Once applied, the flesh swimmer takes up residence in the user’s epidermis, often visible as a sliding bump as it moves about. The flesh swimmer reinforces the user’s physical metabolism and kai connection, adding 1 to all recovery rolls while it remains active. The user gains one additional benefit, determined by the kind of flesh swimmer used. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each 28 hours)

EPIMYSIUM Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Sheath of fibrous elastic tissue over the entirety of the wearer’s body Effect: The thin layer of tissue covers the wearer beneath regular clothing and other equipment and provides a skinless guise. It is light armor but grants an additional +2 Armor (+3 Armor if the artifact is level 9 or higher) in addition to the 1 Armor that light armor usually provides. Further, it is entirely sealed and has its own eternally renewed internal atmosphere, which completely protects against poison gases and allows the wearer to operate in an airless environment. The suit’s Armor also applies to damage that often isn’t reduced by typical armor, such as heat or cold damage (but not Intellect damage). Depletion: — (Automatic after a week away from the Liminal Shore. Or, at any time, the GM can rule that the suit has suffered too much damage and dies.)

d100

Additional Benefit

01–10

Immune to disease

11–15

Immune to poison

16–20 Immune to acid 21–25

+5 to Armor against electrical damage

26–30 +5 to Armor against fire damage 31–40

+5 to Armor against cold damage

41–50

+5 to Armor against psychic damage

51–60 +1 to Armor 61–65

Add 2 to recovery rolls

66–70 Add 1 to Might Edge 71–75

Add 1 to Speed Edge

76–80 Add 1 to Intellect Edge 81–85

User can see in the dark

86–90 User’s blood is acidic to other creatures; melee attackers who damage the user suffer 1 point of acid damage from blood splash 91–95

User gains one asset to taming tasks

96–00 User gains two assets to taming tasks

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FLESH SWIMMER OF IMMORTALITY

Mindful robes, page 32

Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Small black fishlike creature that “swims” under a user’s skin Effect: Once applied, the flesh swimmer takes up residence in the user’s epidermis, often visible as a sliding bump as it moves about. If the user would become debilitated or die, the flesh swimmer instantly draws on kai and restores enough health or Pool points to prevent it. The flesh swimmer can’t prevent death from extreme sources, such as if the user’s body is burned up or completely digested by a landform. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each 28 hours)

GRUB OF LIFE Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Amber-colored grub Effect: If placed on the body of a creature that was recently killed but hasn’t yet been degraded, the grub eats the body over the course of a few hours (becoming a mass of grubs equal in size to the corpse) and then spins a chrysalis. If left undisturbed, the chrysalis splits 28 hours later and the target emerges, returned to life and health. Depletion: Automatic

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HEINOUS GARMENT Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Living tissue tamed as clothing (design and fit variable) Effect: The living tissue functions as a set of mindful robes, often with a distinctive design, flair, cut, or color, depending on the quality of the garment. As with lesser living clothing, heinous garments can modify themselves in minor ways to form hoods, stockings, gloves, pockets, and similar things. In addition, every heinous garment has one additional benefit, depending on the garment. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check during any 28-hour period in which an additional benefit is used; upon depletion, garment remains usable as mindful robes) d6

Garment Benefit

1

Wearer can extend claws from clothes that can be used as a light weapon

2

Wearer can make a poison touch attack that puts victim into a deep sleep for one hour on a failed Might defense roll

3

Wearer can make a poison touch attack that inflicts Speed damage (ignores Armor) equal to artifact level

4

Upon command, garment releases a poison haze into the air; the wearer is immune but all creatures within immediate range take Speed damage (ignores Armor) equal to the artifact level

5

Wearer can make a poison touch attack that makes victim turn on their allies as if they were hated enemies for up to one minute on a failed Might defense roll

6

Wearer can make a poison touch attack that moves victim one step down the damage track on a failed Might defense roll

ARTIFACTS KAI BATTERY

KAI VISUALIZER

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Flexible organic tissue that fits on a limb like a sleeve Effect: This device passively absorbs kai from the user, nearby environment, and living cyphers and artifacts the user manipulates. The battery has a kai Pool with a maximum number of points equal to its level. As a minor effect when using a character ability, living cypher, or living artifact, the user can direct some of the device or ability’s energy into the battery, adding 1 point to its kai Pool; as a major effect, they can add 2 points to the kai Pool. When the kai Pool is full, the user can spend ten minutes resting to absorb the battery’s stored energy. The user may then recover that many points from the kai Pool, dividing the points among their Pools as they see fit. (This empties the kai Pool to 0 points.) Resting to absorb energy does not count as a recovery roll rest. The battery is unstable and tends to lose 1 point of stored energy each day. Depletion: 1 in 1d10 (check each time it is used to provide energy to the user)

Level: 1d6 Form: Translucent living film fitted over user’s eyes Effect: User can see normally. In addition, the flow of kai between all things on the Liminal Shore is highlighted, granting an asset to the user for all tasks (including attacks and defenses) related to using kai. Depletion: — (Automatic after a week away from the Liminal Shore. Or, at any time, the GM can rule that the artifact has suffered too much damage and dies.)

KAI SABER Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Medium sword-shaped creature with violet eyes Effect: This creature’s bone-hard length is further hardened with a flow of kai that constantly regenerates it and repairs any flaws or blunting so that it is sharper and longer lasting than most nonliving swords could ever hope to be. The blade inflicts 1 additional point of damage. If the blade is level 6 or higher, it may also be intelligent enough to speak with its user. If so, it is considered trained in one area of knowledge related to the Liminal Shore.

Even those who are not especially skilled, but who have a connection to kai, can visualize the flows by concentrating; normally, it’s a routine action.

LANDTAP Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Worn on user’s head, this creature’s limbs split into smaller and smaller branch-like arms Effect: The wearer of the landtap has an asset on all interaction tasks. In addition, they can ask one general question about anything directly related to the Liminal Shore each day and receive an answer from some deep underlying source of knowledge (perhaps an organ in the Underhunger). The answer comes via kai, so it is more likely to be interpreted by the user as pictures instead of words. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

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LIMINAL LIMB Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Living tissue vaguely shaped like a prosthetic hand, arm, foot, or leg Effect: Serves as a fully functional prosthetic mechanical hand or extra limb. In addition, the artifact provides its owner with one additional ability, determined by which kind of liminal limb the user permanently gains. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check during any 28-hour period in which an additional benefit is used; if depleted, the additional benefit is gone but the prosthetic remains) d10

Additional Benefit

1

+1 to Might Pool

2

+1 to Speed Pool

3

Add 1 to Might Edge

4

Add 1 to Speed Edge

5

User gains a melee entangling attack with tendrils that extend from the limb. This attack is treated as if using a light weapon that inflicts 2 points of damage and prevents the target from moving until they can escape. The target automatically takes damage each round it is entangled.

6

Limb extends tiny tendrils that allow the user to stick to any surface, granting a climbing speed equal to the user’s regular movement.

7

Turret-like growth that the user can activate as their action to make a long-range needle burst attack inflicting 6 points of poison damage.

Sea of Secrets, page 166 Wax Sea, page 51 Inorganic Degradation, page 10

8 Mindful robes, page 32

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Prosthetic can detach to accomplish tasks on the user’s behalf as a level 2 creature. Detached limb must return within 28 hours or wither.

9

A portion of the prosthetic can be detached and thrown as a detonation at a target or area within short range, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level in an area an immediate distance across. Limb stub regrows thrown portion within the hour.

10

Mole-like growth on limb detaches if the user is killed. If the growth falls on a suitable medium (marl, branch, or connective tissue will do), it roots and grows a new body for the user, including transfer of all memories up to death, within 28 hours if left undisturbed.

LIMINAL SAIL Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Iridescent layers of translucent film that has a bioluminescent glow Effect: When used as a sail to move a vehicle, the artifact transfers the vehicle—gradually, over the course of about three days—from a wide region in the Sea of Secrets in the Ninth World to a wide region in the Wax Sea on the Liminal Shore, or vice versa. A liminal sail also renders a vehicle immune to the inorganic degradation that afflicts nonliving things on the Liminal Shore. Riders and objects aboard the vehicle have the same immunity, but only while they are on board. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check per one-way passage made)

MARL CAPE Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Cape-like brown membrane Effect: The marl cape serves the user as a set of clothing that is just as responsive to specific fashion desires as a standard set of mindful robes. In addition, if the wearer is subjected to a physical attack, the garment immediately stiffens, redistributing the force of the attack and protecting the wearer as if they were wearing heavy armor in that instant. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

ARTIFACTS MIND COLLECTOR

OPERATIVE GARMENT

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Green-hued creature that wraps up like a turban on user’s head Effect: User can make an Intellect attack mediated by kai on a creature within immediate range. If successful, the target comes under the user’s sway for one minute and does as the user telepathically commands (unless those commands would lead to immediate harm to the target or a close ally of the target). The user can see from the target’s point of view, if desired, during this period. If the artifact is level 7 or higher, the user can attempt to reconnect with a previous victim at any later date, no matter how far removed they might be across the Liminal Shore. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

Level: 1d6 Form: Living tissue tamed as clothing (design and fit variable) Effect: The living tissue functions as a set of mindful robes, often with a distinctive design, flair, cut, or color, depending on the quality of the garment. As with lesser living clothing, operative garments can modify themselves in minor ways to form hoods, stockings, gloves, pockets, and similar things. In addition, every operative garment has one additional benefit, depending on the garment. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check during any 28-hour period in which an additional benefit is used; upon depletion, garment remains usable as mindful robes)

MIND SIPPER Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: White-hued creature that wraps up like a turban on user’s head Effect: User can make an Intellect attack mediated by kai on a creature within immediate range. If successful, life force—kai—is drained from the target, inflicting damage equal to the artifact level. The user adds the drained points to their Intellect Pool. Added points that exceed the user’s normal maximum are gone once used up. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

d6

Garment Benefit

1

Eases tasks related to falling asleep and staying asleep

2

Sings a calming tune on command

3

Plays a tune appropriate to the situation

4

Produces a pleasant aroma, variable upon command

5

When not worn, becomes a mobile creature that acts like a loyal and loving pet; upon depletion, remains as pet

6

Provides user with one additional one-action recovery roll per day

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PALLIUM OF TAMING

Lattimor and neem, page 396 Chemical factory, page 276 Free level of Effort, page 103

Tikri, page 136

Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Living tissue tamed as clothing, usually appearing as a mantle-like cloak Effect: User has an asset on taming in general, and another asset on one specific kind of taming task, such as taming a garment, taming a particular type of food, taming a wall, and so on (which means they gain two assets to that specific taming task). Artifacts of level 7 and higher also grant a free level of Effort to the specific taming task. Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each time the specific taming task is attempted) ´ PARASITE CRECHE

Level: 1d6 Form: Semi-organic organ resembling a stomach. After it embeds in a host’s body, it’s visible as a small, sealed aperture on the skin. Effect: The crèche grafts onto any living host near its digestive system, creating a new internal organ that nurtures immature implanted offspring, particularly parasitic or symbiotic ones like tikri eggs. Any parasitic or symbiotic growth in the host’s body relocates to the crèche over the next hours or days and continues its normal maturation cycle there. The crèche mitigates harmful effects of the offspring’s growth and emergence, easing by two steps all tasks related to the offspring (such as Might defense rolls to survive its expulsion). It also halves damage the offspring inflicts on the host. When the offspring is mature and ready to leave the host, it departs through the aperture in the host’s skin. The crèche also eases by two steps tasks against diseases and infections caused by outside organisms such as bacteria (but not genetic diseases, allergies, or cancers produced by the host’s own body). Parasite crèches are typically used to gestate creatures that are useful (such as a worm that can be milked for a healing chemical) but have life-threatening consequences for the host, allowing repeat infestations and harvestings without killing the host. They are

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sometimes called “artificial wombs” because they can incubate humanoid infants and even lattimor neems, regardless of the host’s gender (although this may require surgery to initiate). A side effect of having the crèche magnifies some kinds of numenera that alter the host’s bodily functions, increasing output by approximately 50 percent. For example, if the host uses a chemical factory cypher, it creates additional doses of the valuable liquid (collected from the crèche’s skin aperture rather than the user’s sweat). Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (check each use)

POISON BUD Level: 1d6 Form: Organic pod, almost like a small, hemispherical bit of fruit. Once grafted to a host, it takes on the appearance of the host’s flesh. Effect: The pod grafts onto any living host and injects complex chemicals that grant the user an asset against any kai draining, kai disruption, or other attack directly mediated by kai. In addition, if a creature bites the user, the user’s flesh is poison to them, and they take Speed damage each round (ignores Armor) equal to the artifact level until they can resist the effect on their turn with a Might defense task. Depletion: —

ROGUE WRAP Level: 1d6 + 2 Form: Dark-hued creature that wraps up like a turban on wearer’s head Effect: Wearer can loosen the wrap to cover their form, granting nearly perfect camouflage that lasts for one minute and eases stealth tasks by two steps. While the wearer is camouflaged, attacking another creature doesn’t disperse the effect, which means that a foe is effectively blind when attacking and defending against the wearer. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

ARTIFACTS

For those interested in traveling, a router can be efficient but is not particularly comfortable or, for that matter, dignified.

ROUTER

SQUAMTAUR

Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: Beetle-like creature Effect: Up to six creatures and/or objects up to twice human size are tagged with a kai marker recognizable to most living landforms as an instruction to pass the target from one to the next, in whatever way they can that won’t harm the target, to a destination chosen by the target anywhere on the Liminal Shore. Travel in this fashion is efficient, allowing movement across great distances, though it has its downsides. To the naïve, it may seem as if the nearest marl, branch, or keldar is trying to eat them. And being tossed, sucked, ferried, and otherwise transferred from one landform to another often induces nausea and leaves bruises in the best of cases. The rate of travel is variable, depending on how a particular landform transfers the target, but averages about 80 miles (130 km) per hour. Depletion: 1 in 1d6

Form: Snakelike piece of scaled tissue 20 feet (6 m) long Effect: If a user fits their legs into the hollow at one end of the squamtaur, the artifact grafts on permanently, giving the user the guise of a half-human (or whatever the user is), half-snake creature. The user loses the use of their legs but gains +1 Armor, a regular movement speed of long instead of short, a short climbing speed, and an asset for tasks to grapple and immobilize targets. However, the benefits come at a cost. Fibrous tendrils extend into the wearer’s flesh and eventually reach the spine and brain, reducing their Intellect Pool maximum by 2 points. This process takes one week. The lost points cannot be regained. Depletion: —

SHLEM REVERBERATOR Level: 1d6 + 3 Form: 3-foot (1 m) tall creature with spike-like feet and a mane of red, twining tendrils Effect: The artifact must be roused and induced to act, a process requiring about three rounds. Once activated, for the next five rounds it begins to disturb the patterns of kai in a sickening fashion that dazes all creatures within short range. After five rounds, this spontaneously generates a living pattern in the kai called a shlem. The shlem attacks any creature that comes within short range of the user for one hour or until it is destroyed, whichever comes first. Depletion: 1 in 1d6

SYNTHESIS GRAFT Level: 1d6 Form: Organ, self-installing Effect: Over the course of one minute, the graft recipient can synthesize biological substances to order that are automatically dispersed through their bloodstream. A substance can ease a particular task, counteract a poison or acid, or restore 2 points to a Pool. The GM may allow other effects from synthesized substances but may require a roll. Users who spectacularly fail in this synthesis (because of a GM intrusion) could accidentally arouse the living land to mount an immune defense against them. Depletion: 1 in 1d20

Shlem, page 126

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Windrider, page 303

TASM BUD

WINDRIDER, LIVING

Level: 1d6 Form: Organic pod, almost like a small, hemispherical bit of fruit. Once grafted to a host, it takes on the appearance of the host’s flesh. Effect: The pod grafts onto any living host, replacing the creature’s tasm if it was lost or killed. If the original tasm is still present, or if the host never had a tasm, the pod provides an additional one-action recovery roll each day. Depletion: Automatic

Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: 20-foot (6 m) long wing Effect: Like a mechanical windrider, the living windrider is a vehicle that can be ridden by someone who makes a difficulty 1 Speed roll each round. In combat, it moves a long distance each round, but on extended trips, it can move up to 80 miles (130 km) per hour, or 100 miles (160 km) per hour if the artifact is level 6 or higher. Depletion: — (Automatic after a week away from the Liminal Shore. Or, at any time, the GM can rule that the artifact has suffered too much damage and dies.)

VEXATION THORN

Eater pool, page 27

Level: 1d6 + 4 Form: Branch-like growth with one barbed end Effect: If punched into a living landform, the vexation thorn begins to disrupt the kai flow through an area an immediate distance across until removed or destroyed. All tasks attempted by creatures with a connection to kai in the area are hindered. If the artifact is level 8 or higher, using the vexation thorn causes an eater pool to emerge within a couple of hours. Depletion: 1 in 1d10

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WINGS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE Level: 1d6 + 1 Form: Filmy, diaphanous wings with a 20-foot (6 m) wingspan if unfurled. Once they are grafted to a host, the user learns to control them as a normal (and permanent) part of their body. Effect: User gains a short fly speed (or a long fly speed if the artifact is level 7). Depletion: — (Automatic after a week away from the Liminal Shore. Or, at any time, the GM can rule that the artifact has suffered too much damage and dies.)

PART 4:

CREATURES OF THE LIMINAL SHORE

Chapter 10: Creatures Chapter 11: Other Species

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108 133

CHAPTER 10

CREATURES

Understanding the Listings, page 222 Underhunger, page 65

Sometimes creatures from the Ninth World come to the Liminal Shore to harvest specialized tissues before returning home. They are usually more sophisticated than animals or beasts, and rely on unique methods of making the trip. Kai, page 10 Tasm, page 10

Parted egoist, page 22

The creatures in this chapter are either native to the Liminal Shore or have populations present there (even if not originally native). Any of these creatures could be encountered just about anywhere on the Shore, whether on the surface, in the Underhunger, or out at sea. The Liminal Shore also contains people and creatures from the Ninth World that made the journey to this hard-to-reach world and then either were unable to leave or chose to stay. (Humans are an example of both, depending on the human in question.) Thus, the GM is free to use any creature from the Ninth World on the Liminal Shore—and perhaps come up with an interesting story as to how it arrived. When bringing an intelligent creature to the Liminal Shore, the GM should decide if it gains a direct connection to kai, if it gains a tasm instead (common for self-aware creatures), or in rare circumstances, if the Shore rejects the newcomer, in which case it may be in some distress or have to figure out how to survive as a parted egoist.

UNDERSTANDING THE LISTINGS The most important element of each creature is its level. You use the level to determine the target number a PC must reach to attack or defend against the opponent. In each entry, the difficulty number for the creature is listed in parentheses after its level. The target number is three times the level. A creature’s target number is usually also its health, which is the amount of damage it can sustain before it is dead

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or incapacitated. For easy reference, the entries always list a creature’s health, even when it’s the normal amount for a creature of its level. For more detailed information on level, health, combat, and other elements, see the Understanding the Listings section in Numenera Discovery. CREATURES BY LEVEL Wither

2

Ingash

3

Pervasion

3

Shlem

3

Skelenim

3

Vonnt

3

Alloc worm

4

Cormorak

4

Facesaver

4

Kel

4

Muzuvan

4

Alethin gorlan

5

Bearded walker

5

Coalescent tower

5

Fusera

5

Hawlda

5

Marl crawler

5

Urribon

5

Yict

5

Crawling stomach

6

Eater

6

Trum

6

Keelranath

7

Dre-ikhol

9

CREATURES

ALETHIN GORLAN

5 (15)

Alethin is the name of a formless intelligence that persists as a self-propagating pattern in the kai, similar in some ways to shlem. However, Alethin is a single creature able to move about the Liminal Shore as a formless wraith, a shadow on the life force, until it decides to invest itself in a living creature or landform. When it does, the affected life form begins to grow a canker-like bulge that swells over the course of several days until a gorlan bursts out. Alethin gorlans are hideous monstrosities whose shapes are corrupted echoes of human form, perhaps purposefully so in order to terrify humans, given that the creatures seem interested only in eating humans and any other beings not originally native to the Liminal Shore. Motive: Inscrutable Environment: Almost anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 20 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 3 Movement: Short; short when swimming; immediate when burrowing Modifications: Stealth as level 7 Combat: An Alethin gorlan makes physical attacks with its clawed hands, and in a frenzy of movement can physically attack all targets within immediate range. However, a gorlan can also deploy a kai-disrupting attack on the life force of just one creature. A target within long range must succeed on an Intellect defense roll; on a failure it takes 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor), and all its tasks (including attacks and defenses) are hindered for one hour. Hindrance from multiple successful attacks stacks. A target that is defeated by an Alethin gorlan may be killed, though some survive. Those that do find a canker-like growth on some part of their body that begins to swell . . . Interaction: The intelligence of Alethin can speak from the mouth of any gorlan. It may choose to do so if it wants to communicate some need to natives, or if non-natives give it a good reason to negotiate rather than kill them. Use: Gorlans are a somewhat regular threat on the edges of Anepus and other human settlements on the Liminal Shore. Loot: A defeated Alethin gorlan can usually be harvested for a cypher or two.

Shlem, page 126 GM intrusion: The character must succeed on a Might defense roll or become infected with an Alethin gorlan embryo, initially appearing as a painful boil on their skin.

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ALLOC WORM Great Divide, page 61

GM intrusion: One of the victims on the alloc worm’s surface suddenly spasms, reaches out, and grabs the character, holding them in a desperate grip until the character can pull free. Held characters are hindered on all tasks.

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This leathery, leechlike worm can reach lengths of at least 15 feet (5 m), though larger specimens have been sighted in the Great Divide. Alloc worms can slip effortlessly into marl, keldar, and other living landforms without causing undue disruption, allowing them to burrow up from the Underhunger, where they may be more numerous. They leave behind labyrinthine tunnels in raw flesh that scab over but never quite heal. Alloc worms don’t attach to other creatures to feed; instead, they capture smaller creatures and adhere them to their own bodies with a sticky digestive enzyme, fusing them directly into their own flesh so the captured creature and the alloc worm share the same metabolism. That is, until the alloc worm begins to feed on the creature through the connection. A typical alloc worm is encountered with two or three smaller creatures fused to its side, sometimes still conscious, other times just fading husks. Motive: Hungers for prey Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, either alone or in groups of three or more Health: 24 Damage Inflicted: 4 Intellect points Movement: Short; immediate when burrowing Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: Alloc worms rely on kai-enhanced pheromone attacks that can target a creature within short range. On a failed Intellect defense roll, a victim suffers 4 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) and is physically paralyzed until they succeed on an Intellect task on their turn to shake off the effect. Instead of attacking, an alloc worm can adhere a helpless victim to its flesh as its turn. The victim (such as one paralyzed by the worm’s pheromone) is allowed a Might defense roll to resist the fusion process. If the victim fails, they are stuck to the side of the alloc worm, remaining physically paralyzed. However, now the task to escape is a difficulty 8 Might task, which means most creatures never get free. A victim may continue to live stuck to the worm’s side for many months. During this time, their health may be used as a reserve if the worm is ever injured. Health drained in this fashion is never regained while a victim remains adhered. Interaction: Alloc worms are predators. Though clever, they cannot be negotiated with. Use: PCs intent on tracking down an information source finally find their target, though they are stuck to an alloc worm’s side. Loot: An alloc worm’s body can be harvested for a cypher of the Liminal Shore.

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CREATURES

BEARDED WALKER

5 (15)

A bearded walker is a bulky, hunchbacked mass of fungal tissue 12 feet (4 m) in height composed of mushroom flesh covered in stringy, bone-white draperies. They are sometimes mistaken for spirants, though bearded walkers are thicker and not cognizant in the same way that spirants are. When quiescent, they resemble strange hanging growths, but when disturbed or when something new comes into the environment, a bearded walker stirs and attempts to sample the newcomer. Which is usually lethal. Motive: Curiosity Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 25 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size Combat: Bearded walkers batter foes with their bulky limbs, inflicting 6 points of damage. As part of the same action, they can stir the kai and accomplish one additional task. Acidic Spores: Living targets within immediate range must make a Might defense roll or suffer 6 points of damage (ignores Armor). Ally Life: A bearded walker can animate a landform—or a small section thereof—within short range as a level 3 creature under its command. Capture Sample: If a bearded walker makes two battering attacks as its action and both attacks hit the same target, the target takes damage and is pulled into a smothering hug. The captured creature can take no actions other than attempting to escape. Each round a target remains in the hug, it automatically takes 6 points of damage from the fungal beard strands that begin to feed on its flesh. Interaction: Sometimes a bearded walker communicates via kai, though when it does, a sensation very much like the Dream is conveyed, which usually makes little sense. Though most people don’t realize it, this is a connection to a mostly unknown living landform deep in the Underhunger. Use: Sometimes strange growths appear at the edges of camps made by explorers. If the growths look like a mass of white beard, it might be a bearded walker. Loot: The corpse of a bearded walker can be looted for one or two cyphers.

A bearded walker is a common predator in the Underhunger, but specimens can be found sprouting on the Skin, too. Each is a kai-linked extension of a mass of tissue miles wide that has as yet claimed no name; it may not even be intelligent. Yet. Spirant, page 135 The Dream, page 42 GM intrusion: The bearded walker disrupts kai around the character. The character must make an Intellect defense roll or attack their allies for up to one minute.

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COALESCENT TOWER

Coalescent tissue, page 28 Coalescent towers normally move along straight lines for months at a time before pausing, even if that means running down lesser creatures. Ingash, page 120 Someone who jumps off a moving coalescent tower without the ability to get clear risks becoming entangled in the thrashing rootlets, which is effectively an attack as described under Combat. GM intrusion: The character riding on or in a hollow of the tower is shaken loose and may fall into the path of the moving creature.

5 (15)

A coalescent tower is usually mistaken for just one more extrusion or strange growth, another living landform among endless others, at least until it moves. When it does, the filmy white layers making up the tower differentiate to form dozens of rootlike appendages that bear the 40-foot (12 m) tall tower up and away to some other location, usually for reasons that are not immediately apparent. Composed of specialized coalescent tissue, the tower is aptly named; however, some of the time it acts more like a creature than a landform. Hollows are visible within a tower, and sometimes smaller creatures take advantage of that space by setting up lairs. The tower allows it if the squatters do no harm to it. In turn, the squatters usually help to defend the tower should it come under danger of predation, or, as more often happens, if creatures attempt to defend themselves to prevent the coalescent tower from plowing them over when it decides to move. Motive: Unpredictable Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 22 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Movement: Short Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: A coalescent tower can attack all creatures within immediate range with dozens of thrashing rootlike arms, inflicting 6 points of damage, or 1 point of damage even to creatures who succeed on their Speed defense roll. The rootlets inject a venom that further requires a victim to succeed on a Might defense roll or descend one step on the damage track. Alternatively, a tower can make a trampling attack, charging up to a long distance as its action and attacking anything within immediate range as it passes (as otherwise described in the previous paragraph). It can make a trampling attack once every minute or so. In addition, most coalescent towers have been colonized by a small group of related creatures, such as ingash, that live in the upper hollows. The creatures attack anything that attacks the coalescent tower. Drawing upon kai, a tower regains 1 point of health each round. Interaction: A coalescent tower sometimes reacts to threats of violence, but usually continues to behave unpredictably, more like a single drone in an insect hive than a true individual animal. Use: A coalescent tower might seem like a stationary shelter offering respite from travel, but that illusion is destroyed when it begins to move in the night, bearing its occupants away.

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CREATURES

CORMORAK

4 (12)

Resembling flying snakes that can reach lengths of 60 feet (18 m), cormoraks have heads that are usually highly modified to serve as a comfortable cabin for at least a few passengers to ride in comfort. However, there is no place for a pilot, as each creature is its own master, deciding who it will take as a fare. Most cormoraks are stable, dependable, and trusted by those they agree to transport. All retain vestiges of the original wild strain from which they descended, including a tail tipped with a 6-foot (2 m) long stinger, which a cormorak can use to defend itself and its passengers at need. Cormoraks are most commonly seen in Nera, the Windborne City, where they primarily serve as air transport between discrete sections of the city, and between the ground and Nera itself. They typically charge passengers by “sipping kai” from them. This transaction effectively means that a rider agrees to allow the cormorak to take a couple of points of health (or Pool points) from them via mediated kai. Motive: Sipping kai Environment: Almost everywhere in Nera; sometimes found in other places where creatures are willing to pay for their services Health: 24 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 2 Movement: Long when flying Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: A cormorak attacks with its envenomed stinger; a target struck by the stinger takes 4 points of damage and must succeed on a Might defense roll or take an additional 4 points of damage each round until they resist the poison. A cormorak can also directly take up to 2 points of health (or Pool points) from a target within immediate range as its action, but the target must be willing and agree to the transaction beforehand. The cormorak’s health increases by the same amount for up to ten hours afterward. Interaction: As self-aware creatures nearly as smart as humans, cormoraks have settled on providing transport for the various beings of the Liminal Shore, but in reality, they are open to other sorts of jobs, as long as their client agrees to “pay” an agreed-upon amount. Use: To reach a particular location, the PCs may require the services of a cormorak.

Nera, the Windborne City, page 54 GM intrusion: The venom from the cormorak stinger affects the character especially strongly, causing them to be stunned and lose their next action in addition to the regular effect.

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CRAWLING STOMACH

6 (18)

The crawling stomach is a creature encountered in the Steadfast or the Beyond, not on the Liminal Shore. The crawling stomach that appears in the Ninth World is actually an extended portion of a much larger living landform (page 23) on the Liminal Shore.

Underhunger organ, page 29 GM intrusion: The PC struck by a cilia attack can choose to pull free but lose a large possession instead, such as armor, a weapon, a backpack, an artifact, and so on, which is swallowed and transferred to the Liminal Shore.

Relatively new to the Ninth World and rarely encountered—at least by anyone still around afterward to describe their experiences—is a strange creature resembling nothing so much as a disembodied stomach. A stomach almost 40 feet (12 m) in diameter that crawls by pulling itself along on dozens of cilia that emerge from what can only be described as a wide and slavering maw. The crawling stomach seems to prefer prey of any size, as long as it is alive. The cilia can stretch out and catch smaller prey, while larger prey can be swallowed whole by the mouth on its long, esophagus-like neck. A crawling stomach seems equally at home on dry land as pulsing through deep waters. Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Anywhere in the Ninth World, including large lakes and oceans Health: 55 Damage Inflicted: 10 points (see Combat) Armor: 2 Movement: Short; short when swimming Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size; resists deception and trickery as level 3 Combat: As a single action, a crawling stomach can attack all creatures within short range with its mouth cilia. If hit, targets take no damage initially but must succeed on a Might defense roll or be drawn toward the stomach so they end up next to it (and still caught). Creatures that end their turn next to the crawling stomach (which means they have their turn to attempt to escape from the cilia) are swallowed, which inflicts 10 points of damage. If a creature is killed by the initial damage from being swallowed, it is digested normally. However, creatures that survive that damage are transcribed into another reality. From the perspective of onlookers in the Ninth World, it may seem as if the target was digested. But from the perspective of those transferred, they appear in a much vaster Underhunger organ. Interaction: The crawling stomach is essentially a predator with little sense of preservation. Use: Depending on the nature of the Underhunger organ that a particular crawling stomach is attached to, a transferred target may be in for any number of experiences, though some organs simply prefer to gather prey from the Ninth World so they don’t risk unbalancing the life force on the Liminal Shore.

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CREATURES

DRE-IKHOL

9 (27) Who could forget their first time? The sky burned, clouds racing, dropping golden sunflowers of love.

These sticky, golden organisms, bedecked in flowerlike blooms, are coiled in hollows and interstitial spaces of the Underhunger, often sealed away like forgotten cysts except for a protruding, slowly masticating blind maw. Each is about 100 feet (30 m) long at minimum. The flowers, which they continually shed, are taken up by ant-like creatures called leptans and distributed widely across the Underhunger and the Skin as part of the dre-ikhol life cycle. Other creatures that consume these flowers gain a drug-like high from the pollen. However, repeated consumption links the eater’s kai with that of the dre-ikhol, no matter how far they are from each other. Once so linked, the dre-ikhol consumes the creature’s life force over the course of a few months. Motive: Hungers for kai Environment: Anywhere in the Underhunger away from other creatures Health: 66 Damage Inflicted: 12 points Armor: 3 Movement: Short Modifications: Speed defense as level 2 due to size; perception as level 4; resists trickery as level 3 Combat: Despite its size and power, a dre-ikhol prefers to sip kai from those linked to it; creatures that eat three or more pollen-dusted flowers from a dre-ikhol within a week must succeed on a Might defense roll or become linked. Over the following few months, the victim is treated as if they have a level 9 disease that gradually lowers their maximum health (or their Pool totals) by a point or two each day until they are dead. If directly confronted, a dre-ikhol defends itself with its great maw, biting intruders for 12 points of damage. Interaction: Dre-ikhols can rarely be reasoned with. They can be tricked or distracted, or sometimes, they relent if someone offers to spread their flowers to new victims. Use: Someone suffering from a terrible wasting disease asks for the PCs’ help. Loot: The corpse of a dreikhol can be harvested for 1d10 cyphers and a couple of artifacts of the Liminal Shore.

Leptan: level 1 Pollen, page 48

Disease, page 112

GM intrusion: The dre-ikhol uses its mouth to grab a character, who must make a Might defense roll to avoid being swallowed. A swallowed character can attack the beast from the inside where it is unarmored, but they suffer 9 points of damage each round they remain there.

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EATER Eater pool, page 27

GM intrusion: One of the eater’s pseudopods drops off and becomes a separate, much smaller level 3 eater that attacks the character.

6 (18)

Split from a parent living landform called an eater pool, an eater appears as a roiling hill-sized mass of yellowish gel with thrashing pseudopods suckered with various-sized toothed mouths. Eaters are aptly named because they usually form only when the living land is threatened with some kind of infection or other danger to its larger integrity that’s so severe that any and all collateral damage to healthy living landforms seems acceptable. An eater eats anything and everything. Once an eater is called into existence, it never stops eating. Either it is destroyed, or it grows larger and larger until it reaches a critical threshold and collapses into a new instance of an eater pool. Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 33 Damage Inflicted: 6 points Movement: Short; short when climbing; immediate when burrowing Modifications: Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: The eater can attack up to three targets (or one target up to three times) in short range with mouthed pseudopods, inflicting 6 points of damage with each successful blow. If a target is struck by two or more pseudopods during the same action, it must succeed on a Might defense roll or be caught and pulled toward the eater. A caught victim adheres to the eater’s surface and takes 6 points of damage from acid each round as the eater begins to digest its prey externally, until they escape. A victim that dies from this damage is consumed by the eater. An eater regains 3 points of health per round. Interaction: An eater can’t be interacted with, though one could be distracted if it senses a larger, easier-to-eat meal closer at hand than the PC. Use: Whenever a living landform is subject to a significant amount of damage for any reason, it’s possible an eater will arrive within ten minutes to eat everything in the area, just to be safe. Loot: An eater’s corpse could probably be harvested for a couple of cyphers and an artifact.

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CREATURES

FACESAVER

4 (12)

Though commonly described as humans suffering the effect of a horrific blight, facesavers are actually victims of a parted egoist called Turuel. Facesavers are a new threat on the Liminal Shore, especially in the Territories. Facesaver groups live in dying marl polyps (described as pustules). A facesaver is humanlike, with drooping skin plastered with the living faces of their past victims. When a facesaver consumes a person, the face is the only thing left behind, preserved with kai. They much prefer to eat humans, but these cannibals are not choosy. They’ll eat wholkin or creel, other scurrying creatures, or, if nothing is to be had, the living landform beneath and around them. Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Anywhere near human settlements on the Liminal Shore Health: 24 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Movement: Short Combat: When a facesaver bites a foe, it regains 1 point of health for every 2 points of damage it inflicts, and the victim must succeed on a Might defense roll or become paralyzed; they can attempt a new defense roll each round to end the effect. However, before biting, a facesaver may animate all the faces upon its skin, making them scream, cry for help, sing, or hum, creating a horrific cacophony. Those who first come across this macabre demonstration must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or be stunned and lose their next turn. Once a facesaver bites a victim at least once, its attacks against that target are thereafter eased. If a facesaver manages to kill a victim, it consumes the entire body except for the face, which it preserves with kai and fuses to its own flesh. Interaction: Facesavers retain their knowledge and intelligence. They’re simply dominated entirely by their hunger, so much so that all old loves, loyalties, and goals are no more. Use: A facesaver hiding its true nature may feign being a friendly and helpful fellow traveler in order to set up an ambush.

Facesavers were once humans.

Territories, page 50 Marl, page 24 Parted egoist, page 22 Turuel, page 152 Many facesavers that now run rampant escaped from Turuel’s control. He probably has the power to end them, if he bothered to care. GM intrusion: One of the secondary faces on the facesaver bites the character, inflicting 4 points of damage, and the victim must make another defense roll or become paralyzed.

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FUSERA

5 (15) Fuseras are Liminal Shore hoarders.

GM intrusion: A portion of the fusera’s flesh rolls back, revealing a mostly intact human in what could be construed as a digestive pod. The human seems to be in distress, but it’s a deception meant to confuse and distract prey.

Fuseras are mismatched accumulations of living tissue combining the attributes of living landforms and creatures alike. The amalgamation of form is the only thing that unifies these creatures—otherwise, different fuseras have different aspects, depending on the kind of tissue making each one up. In places other than the Liminal Shore, such a blend would quickly prove lethal to the creature, but kai cements them together well enough that even those that seem like they might fall apart at any moment are as robust as any other creature. Because fuseras are combinations of different creatures found on the Liminal Shore, sometimes human limbs find their way into the mix, and other times, wholkin, creel, or even spirants. Usually, that’s not enough to provide the creature with self-aware cognizance, but it’s also not out of the question. Fuseras are driven by the need to add to their forms, but they are strangely picky about what to add after they’ve “harvested” a creature or living landform from the surrounding area. Motive: Hungers for new components Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, usually alone Health: 42 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Movement: Short Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size Combat: No two fuseras have exactly the same abilities, but at minimum they have enough mouths and clawed extremities to attack all creatures within immediate range on their turn as their action, inflicting 5 points of damage. Most also have a signature attack ability that is unique to it or that only a few other fuseras share. The ability is often that of a creature added to its flesh. For instance, one fusera might be able to spit explosive acid a short distance, inflicting 5 points of damage on all creatures within immediate range of each other for two or three consecutive rounds. Another might breathe a torrent of flesh-eating insects that can cover an area a short distance across. If a fusera inflicts enough damage to kill a creature or living landform, it can take a portion of the victim and add it to its own form. This requires that it have at least an hour without outside interruptions to make the fusion. Interaction: Most fuseras are interested in only one thing: obtaining new pieces of flesh to weigh against their current inventory. If a fusera has self-aware cognizance, it may have other goals too, but its underlying hoarding motive is never far away. Use: PCs need to talk to a specific individual to find out important information. Unfortunately, they discover that the individual has been amalgamated into a fusera.

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CREATURES

HAWLDA

5 (15)

Hawldas resemble big, furry, seven-armed starfish, except each arm has two hyperextendable elbows and ends in a seven-fingered hand (with five long digits and a thumb on each side). Overall, they grow to be about 10 feet (3 m) across. They have multiple throat-like orifices on the upper and lower sides of their hub, which they use for breathing, eating, and simple vocalizations. Hawldas have beast-level intelligence, but they communicate with each other in a rudimentary fashion using gestures, posture, and tonal grunts. They can move in any direction by walking on their hands, and dig their elbows into the ground for extra stability. They do not truly have a top or bottom side and are not hampered if flipped over (for example, they can crawl along a ceiling and drop to the ground without turning in midair), although each seems to have a preferred orientation and will attempt to return to that position when it is convenient. Hawldas can be trained to recognize specific objects and creatures, and their handlers sometimes use them to steal items or kidnap individuals (if they go feral or their handlers are killed, the hawldas might continue this behavior). They are able to move at normal speed if they have at least four limbs available for locomotion, allowing them to carry things with up to three limbs. They slowly regrow lost limbs, and in desperate moments they have been known to tear off one arm to use as bait or a distraction to evade a more powerful predator. Motive: Greed or hungers for flesh or kai Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 15 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short Modifications: Climbing and running as level 6 Combat: Hawldas punch at two or three opponents as one action. They may attempt to grab a single foe and retreat; a creature caught by such an attack can’t take physical actions except to attempt to escape its grasp. The hawlda usually doesn’t attempt to harm what it is carrying, but if the carried creature somehow harms it (such as with a mental attack), the hawlda may retaliate with a squeeze that inflicts 5 points of damage. Interaction: Hawldas are beasts and attack if they are hungry or want something another creature has. They can be distracted for a round or two with salty foods, music that resembles their vocalizations, or an offering of kai. Use: A restful night in the wilderness is interrupted by a giant grabby creature that tries to escape with a piece of equipment or a PC. Food, music, or a strong flow of kai attracts the attention of a curious and hungry hawlda. Loot: Hawlda flesh can be fixed into durable leather suitable for hide armor. Their fur is warm and reacts well to common dyes and taming for a few hours after they are killed. A hawlda’s lair may have a useful cypher or a few muxen.

Hide armor, page 95

Muxen, page 41 GM intrusion: The hawlda grabs at a weapon or other obvious piece of equipment held by the character, stealing it if the character fails a Speed defense roll.

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INGASH Branch, page 24

GM intrusion: A sticky strand of living web wraps the character up until they can escape as their action.

3 (9)

Often found in wild growth of untamed branches, ingashes are spiderlike creatures in the sense that they have many legs and create webbing. However, their legs are more numerous and differentiated, and their body arrangement is atypical. An adult is almost as large as a human. Ingashes create web mazes of narrow tunnels that hang across and between landforms. Creatures that enter them—or that are lured or brought in—risk becoming lost, because the mazes, built of partly living material, constantly shift in reaction to those seeking to escape, using a creature’s kai to comprehend and predict its next move. Motive: Defense Environment: Almost anywhere (but preferring branches), in groups of five to twelve Health: 18 Damage Inflicted: 4 points (see Combat) Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: Perception as level 6 due to kai Combat: An ingash’s bladed legs serve as its first line of offense, inflicting 4 points of damage and, on a failed Might defense roll, another 2 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) from poison. When three or more ingashes are together, as their action they can produce a level 5 short-range net attack that can target all creatures within an immediate radius of where the net lands. Creatures that fail a Speed defense roll against the attack are stuck until they escape (escape attempts are hindered). If a creature enters an ingash web maze, navigation tasks to find a way out are hindered by two steps because of the constantly shifting paths. Interaction: Ingashes communicate via fluctuations in kai, which aren’t normally detectable by humans. However, if communication can be opened, ingashes have a basic intelligence (they are about as smart as very clever dogs) and may negotiate. Use: The PCs notice the strange tunnels of webbing hanging in the air high overhead, bypassing a large area of hazardous growth that they need to get past. Loot: Ingash lairs, found at the center of their web mazes, contain valuables of all sorts, including a couple of cyphers.

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CREATURES

KEELRANATH



7 (21) Always looking, never finding. ~Keelranath saying

Halfway between branch and marl, keelranaths are easily 15 feet (5 m) tall, even without measuring their stiff woody crowns. Though eyeless, keelranaths easily sense the world around them, even as they cloak their presence through both physical camouflage and smoothing the kai so other creatures that have a similar sense for life force have a hard time detecting them. Keelranaths are driven to find something they call the “Solar Control,” which sends them all across the Skin and into the Underhunger. Masters of controlling kai, these creatures are constantly stymied. No matter what ancient organs or strange new species they uncover, the area or object they wish to find seems forever out of reach. Perhaps this species-wide lack of success is what makes them so murderous. Other creatures give them a wide berth if they can help it. Masters of kai and life, keelranaths can essentially tame useful cyphers from their own flesh at need. Motive: Locate the Solar Control Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, usually alone Health: 44 Damage Inflicted: 7 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short; short when burrowing or climbing Modifications: Control kai as level 8 Combat: Keelranaths don’t look for a fight, but they are easily angered and turn to violence quickly. If engaged, they produce a cypher of the Liminal Shore and use it offensively; they have an ability to pick cyphers that are most useful in any given situation. They usually have a few at the ready for just such a need. One of their favored cyphers is one that can affect a target’s perception of time’s passage. On a failed Intellect defense roll, a target within immediate range senses everything rushing by all around them; from everyone else’s point of view, the target is stunned for about a minute and takes no turns. During this period, the affected target is essentially helpless. Interaction: Surly and uncommunicative, a keelranath negotiates only if it believes a creature has new information about an area of the Liminal Shore (or one beyond the Shore) that it doesn’t already know about. In this case, it creates a cypher or uses kai to communicate. Use: The PCs are being tracked by a keelranath because it believes—rightly or wrongly—that they know something useful to it. Loot: A keelranath’s body can be harvested for about six cyphers of the Liminal Shore.

GM intrusion: One of the character’s cyphers of the Liminal Shore is activated under the control of the keelranath.

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KEL

4 (12)

“Kel are immature living landforms. Based on their feathers alone, anyone can tell they’re young keldar. One day they will settle like mountains.” Kels are born from eggs brooded by keldar. They are akin to the larval form of keldar. After spending several years in kel form, followed by another few years growing in a chrysalis, a small keldar emerges.

Keldar, page 25 GM intrusion (group): The kel screams and a keldar responds, targeting the character(s) with a single attack.

Kels vary in size from 10 to 20 feet (3 to 6 m) in height. They almost look like birds, but instead of beaks, they have long muzzles filled with several rows of sharp teeth. They have no eyes, but that doesn’t keep them from being able to sense their surroundings at least as well as (if not better than) sighted creatures. In fact, those sensitive to kai can detect that kels are constantly emitting pulses of life force, which some guess is used as a sort of location sense. That same ability can be used more vigorously to call others of their kind to their aid, or even to stun prey. Motive: Hungers for flesh Environment: Anywhere Health: 24 Damage Inflicted: 4 points (see Combat) Armor: 1 Movement: Long Modifications: Perception as level 5; Speed defense as level 3 due to size; stealth as level 2 Combat: A kel bites a foe for 4 points of damage as its action. However, kels prefer to attack in groups of three. If three kels are within short range of each other, they can coordinate their actions to generate a kai pulse of extraordinary strength that can affect a target within very long range, inflicting 8 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). If within short range of a keldar, a kel regains 1 point of health each round. Interaction: Kels are essentially predatory animals. Use: If characters are heading anywhere that mountainous living landforms known as keldar are located, they’ll likely run into a small clutch of kels.

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CREATURES

MARL CRAWLER

5 (15) “Is that hill moving?”

A marl crawler is a portion of a living landform that has undergone fission to become a free-roaming creature. The crawler—roughly 40 feet (12 m) in diameter—may still contain bits of strange growth or branches of wild growth or tamed structures. However, unlike regular marl, this green-blue mound-shaped thing can move like an amoeba, stretching and pulling itself like clay as necessary. A marl crawler defends itself if attacked (or if the marl from which it split is attacked). Otherwise, crawlers usually seek new areas of the Liminal Shore or, in some cases, other marl crawlers from distant locations with which they can exchange kai. Motive: Defense Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, alone or in a pair Health: 35 Damage Inflicted: 8 points Armor: 3 Movement: Short; short when climbing; immediate when burrowing Modifications: Speed defense as level 2 due to size Combat: A marl crawler’s primary method of attack is to merely crush whatever gets in its way when it moves. All targets within immediate range of the crawler must succeed on a Speed defense roll or take 8 points of damage. Those who take damage must succeed on a second Speed defense roll or be trapped under the crawler until they escape or it moves off them. Creatures trapped beneath a crawler automatically take 8 points of damage each round from the crushing weight. Canny creatures that manage to get on top of a marl crawler without slipping and falling beneath it (a hindered Speed task) are safe from the crushing attack. However, if creatures riding on a crawler harm it, it uses an action to shake itself like a wet animal and throw them off. Despite its immense size, a marl crawler can deform its body to reach into spaces (or move through narrow apertures) that usually only tiny creatures can manage. Interaction: A marl crawler is not capable of complex reasoning, but it is as smart as an animal. Use: A group of humans has made its home on a marl crawler and, having achieved some manner of control, is using it as a mobile raiding base. Loot: If a marl crawler is destroyed, its remains can be harvested for 1d6 cyphers of the Liminal Shore.

GM intrusion: The marl crawler creates a claylike pseudopod and attacks a character on its back or within short range as part of another action.

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MUZUVAN

Nera, the Windborne City, page 54 Token, page 40

GM intrusion: Hours after the characters have dealt with a muzuvan, one character notices that they are growing weird, bioluminescent boils under one arm.

4 (12)

Floating through the air on bags of bioluminescent gas, muzuvans are a people from across the Wax Sea that sometimes visit the Head for trade, exploration, and sharing of information. Occasional static charges snap between them and the marl or the nearest creature, usually not strong enough to cause harm, but it can be startling. Muzuvans see themselves as lords of the air on the Liminal Shore, and claim to have a floating dirigible-like city on their home continent that puts Nera to shame. Whether that’s true or not is hard to say, because few from the Head have ever ventured there and returned, and Nera’s flight path doesn’t cross the muzuvans’ home. Whatever the truth, muzuvans have become especially interested in the non-degraded cyphers, oddities, and artifacts stabilized by tokens that some humans have. The creatures will do much to obtain these items, though why the objects excite them so much, they refuse to say. Motive: Accumulating cyphers and artifacts of the Ninth World Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 20 Damage Inflicted: 4+ points Movement: Long when flying Modifications: Understanding numenera as level 5 Combat: Muzuvans attack either with an electrically charged burst that inflicts 4 points of damage to every creature within immediate range, or with a short-range electric bolt attack that inflicts 4 points of damage. Muzuvans can amp up their attacks if they wish; for each point of their health they spend to amplify the attack, they inflict 1 additional point of damage with their burst attack or 2 additional points of damage with their bolt attack. If a muzuvan sacrifices its last point of health to amp an attack, its gas bag detonates, creating a secondary detonation that inflicts 12 points of damage on all creatures within immediate range. Even with a successful Speed defense roll to avoid the detonation, creatures in range still take 2 points of damage. Interaction: Muzuvans encountered on the Head can speak the languages of the main people that live there, including humans, wholkin, and creel. They always seem diplomatic and begin any negotiation with courtesy. That changes if they realize they’ve been taken advantage of, or if they are attacked. Use: An encounter with several muzuvans in Anepus, where even wholkin and creel (which are probably already strange to the PCs) seem startled by their appearance, could add interesting flavor. If the PCs are newly arrived from the Ninth World, they might still have working cyphers with them. Loot: If a muzuvan is destroyed, its remains can be harvested for 1d6 cyphers of the Liminal Shore.

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CREATURES

PERVASION

3 (9)

Pervasions are manifestations of mysterious landforms down in the deep core of the Underhunger, able to create “echoes” of themselves in other living creatures, echoes that initially begin as a feeling of discomfort, and then, over the course of a week, reveal themselves as bubo-like swellings that rapidly increase in size until they finally burst like overripe fruit. That which shambles forth—a tiny writhing mass of whipping tendrils and living mucus—quickly scurries for cover or, if cornered, rabidly attacks whatever threatens it. The mere appearance of a pervasion is enough to cause a panic, because it means that more than likely it has already instigated an echo of itself in a nearby unsuspecting creature. If not caught and eliminated, the tiny pervasion continues to feed and grow in the darkness, until it reaches its adult size of more than 15 feet (5 m) in diameter. Motive: Reproduce echoes (create more versions of itself) Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, usually alone Health: 18 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Movement: Short; short when climbing Modifications: Speed defense as level 4 due to size Combat: A pervasion lashes its foe with a cluster of whipping venomous tendrils that inflicts 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) on a successful attack. Alternatively, a pervasion can attempt to trigger an echo in a living creature or landform within short range as its action; for those visualizing kai, this appears as a densely coded, enfolded packet of kai emerging from the pervasion and sinking into the target. The target must succeed on an Intellect defense roll or lose access to all kai-mediated abilities for one minute. On a failed Might defense roll, they may also become the host of a new echo. Pervasions selectively target wholkin, if possible. They never target spirants unless first attacked by one. If destroyed, a pervasion quickly jellifies into a liquid that is absorbed into the marl. Interaction: Pervasions act like clever animals, but they don’t seem to have a language or purpose other than their own self-propagation. Use: A strange plague has struck several people, manifesting as buboes that continue to grow. Healers or others specialized in taming are sought to cure the illness.

Adult pervasion: level 6 GM intrusion: The pervasion’s tendrils are longer than they appear and wrap around the character, holding them fast and inflicting 3 points of Speed damage each round (ignores Armor) until the character can escape. The character’s actions are hindered until the pervasion is detached.

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SHLEM Shlem are essentially undetectable when still because their “waveform” is collapsed.

If a human unwittingly hosts a shlem, they may believe they are haunted.

GM intrusion: When the character is attacked by the shlem, instead of taking damage they lose a recovery roll.

3 (9)

Self-propagating patterns in the kai sometimes arise, and given the life-rich nature of the Liminal Shore, they can take on characteristics that normally only physical living creatures enjoy. Shlem are one example of the phenomenon. Shlem initially appear as complex, glowing patterns in the air that rapidly evolve, but they sometimes attempt to mirror physical creatures. When they do, those creatures should beware, because shlem only do so when they are feeding. When not active, they are essentially undetectable. Shlem are hosted by a specific landform, object, or creature, usually through no fault of the host, but instead because of some oddity of their physical makeup. This oddity can trigger new instances of shlem at irregular and unexpected intervals. Though shlem are predatory when it comes to other life, they are cognizant enough not to attack their host. Motive: Hungers for kai Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, usually alone Health: 15 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Movement: Short when flying Modifications: All tasks related to stealth as level 7 Combat: Given their insubstantial nature, shlem are not harmed by direct physical attacks. However, attacks that disrupt kai can hurt them, as can energy or transdimensional attacks. For their part, shlem can attack any living thing with a kai-draining touch, inflicting 3 points of damage (ignores Armor). The touched target must then succeed on an Intellect defense roll or lose their connection to kai (and any abilities dependent on that) until they mentally reconnect as an action. Shlem naturally regain 2 points of health each round from the kai around them. This automatic regeneration ends for one minute if they are subjected to a kai-disrupting attack. If a shlem is destroyed, the pattern of light of its form collapses, and it’s apparently gone. However, as long as the host landform, object, or creature remains, the shlem is bound to be regenerated at some random future time. Interaction: Shlem seem to have the cunning of predatory animals, but sometimes individual shlem develop higher faculties until they collapse. Use: Every so often, the PCs are attacked by a shlem. It may eventually become clear that something the PCs carry with them—or one of the characters themselves—is the root cause.

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CREATURES

SKELENIM

3 (9)

Skelenim are corruptions of living tissue that extrude from larger landforms and take on a life of their own. They are more common in the Underhunger, given their reluctance to endure bright light, but these mindless infestations of matter can appear anywhere it’s dark. They seem to take form based on the anxieties and bad dreams of the nearest cognizant creatures, which is why when humans encounter them, skelenim are human-sized creatures of hair, oily black flesh, horn, and bone. At least, that’s the case when they are visible. Skelenim retain some of the abilities they possessed while pure kai, including the ability to render other creatures unable to see them for brief moments. This can give an advancing skelenim a malefic presence as it stutters in and out of sight as it closes on a victim, even if not seen to be physically advancing. Motive: Hungers for kai Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, alone or in groups of four or more Health: 12 Damage Inflicted: 3 Intellect points Armor: 1 Movement: Short Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to random invisibility Combat: Skelenim bites inflict 3 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). Four skelenim attacking together can make a single attack against one character as a level 5 creature, inflicting 5 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor). If a skelenim is killed, it disperses into a packet of corrupt kai that attempts to take root in the nearest cognizant creature. Avoiding becoming a carrier of a future infestation requires a successful Intellect defense roll. Interaction: Skelenim are akin to nightmares, or perhaps starving predators. Use: The PCs might encounter skelenim when first exploring someplace that’s been sealed off or when entering the Underhunger. Loot: Some skelenim corpses can be harvested for cyphers.

A type of cypher known as skelenim skin (page 94) can render its user difficult to see. Most people assume the name conveys only similarity of effect, rather than provenance.

GM intrusion: The skelenim clamps down and holds on, automatically inflicting 3 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) each round until the character can break the grip.

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TRUM

Tasm, page 10

Losing a Tasm, page 12 GM intrusion: The trum’s attack dislodges the PC’s tasm. On the next round, the trum will be able to attack the tasm without the character’s direct protection.

6 (18)

A trum is a hideous creature standing over 12 feet (4 m) tall that has a slight resemblance to a human in that it moves about on two limbs and has two other limbs that hang down at its sides with long, tentacle-like fingers. However, most wholkin claim, trums were around long before humans appeared on the Liminal Shore. They hunt by tasting kai, but instead of absorbing life force directly, they consume the symbiote that many creatures require to maintain their own connections to kai: tasms. As such, trums—called “tasm eaters” by the wholkin—are one of the most feared predators of the Liminal Shore. Always eager for their next meal, they rarely rest, always sniffing out the trail of their next intended victim. Trums are also incredibly adept at taming and other effects requiring exquisite control of kai. This is the reason that they haven’t all been tagged as blights by the Liminal Shore and eradicated already. Motive: Hungers for tasms Environment: Alone, wherever tasms are found Health: 33 Damage Inflicted: 7 points Armor: 1 Movement: Long Modifications: Speed defense as level 5 due to size; Might defense as level 7; deception tasks as level 7; control kai tasks as level 8 Combat: A trum preferentially attacks a victim’s tasm. However, if the foe has their tasm on their person (thus offering direct protection), the trum attacks the victim instead in hopes of knocking the tasm loose, or killing the victim and then consuming the tasm at its leisure. The trum attacks with its tentacle-like hands. If it hits, it grabs a foe tightly, then squeezes until the victim is dead or until its tasm becomes a viable target. The victim automatically takes 7 points of damage each round until it escapes. If a trum eats a tasm, the tasm’s owner suffers the consequences for losing a tasm. Meanwhile, the trum regains health at a rate of 3 points per round for the next ten minutes. Interaction: Trums are masters of deception and may sometimes lure naïve victims away from help to attack them in secret. Use: Trums are usually chance encounters outside of communities for unlucky travelers, but sometimes indentured trums work in conjunction with those who have few moral qualms. Loot: The body of a defeated trum can be harvested for a couple of cyphers and sometimes an artifact of the Liminal Shore.

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CREATURES

URRIBON

5 (15)

Urribon might be creatures; then again, they might be small living landforms about 20 feet (6 m) in diameter. Sometimes that’s a difference without a distinction on the Liminal Shore. These spongy “clouds” scud across the sky and in vast interstitial spaces in the Underhunger, alone or in scurries of several dozen. Normally, they’re ignored—unless they dip low, which they do from time to time, to feed on flesh instead of kai. According to wholkin mystics, urribon preferentially attack those who’ve gone back on their word, and especially those who have somehow wronged the Empress of Everything. Others consider that last bit merely propaganda spread by the Empress and her adherents. Motive: Hungers for flesh of oathbreakers Environment: Almost anywhere on the Liminal Shore Health: 26 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short; very long when flying Combat: When an urribon restricts itself to moving an immediate distance or not attacking in a round, it becomes translucent, which eases its stealth tasks by two steps. When it does attack (which could be with surprise), the creature extrudes a spray of fluid up to short range at one or two targets within immediate range of each other, inflicting 5 points of poison damage. Foes struck take damage and must succeed on a Might defense roll or be stunned for one round, losing their next turn. If an attack would reduce an urribon’s health to 0, it does so only if the number rolled in the attack was an even number; otherwise, the urribon splits into two creatures (each half the size of the one they formed from), each with 1 point of health. These two split creatures retain this same ability. Interaction: Urribon resemble landforms in that they hardly seem intelligent. But their attention can be gained for brief periods if the Empress of Everything’s name is spoken, during which time they are receptive to listening to those who can communicate through kai. However, the window quickly closes, and then the urribon targets whoever spoke. Use: Clouds, which are usually composed of water vapor and tiny living organisms, are sometimes actually living landforms such as urribon. When it grows cloudy and a storm is on the horizon, it could be a swarm of urribon massing. Loot: Every urribon can be harvested for at least one cypher of the Liminal Shore.

Empress of Everything, page 57

GM intrusion: When the urribon splits into two, both creatures gain an immediate attack on the character that split it, which doesn’t count against their regular attacks.

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VONNT

Tikri, page 136

Seskii, page 252 Thuman, page 256

GM intrusion: The vonnt spits at a dangerous foe, and for the rest of the combat, all vonnts prefer that foe as a target and attack it as if they were one level higher.

3 (9)

Vonnts look like low-slung lizards with six or eight legs ending in multiple chitinous toe-spikes. A vonnt’s fanged head has several lolling tongues used for scent and taste, and its five eyes can sense in the visible spectrum as well as the near-infrared and ultraviolet. A full-grown vonnt weighs about 100 pounds (45 kg). Vonnts are sterile drones that hatch from unfertilized eggs of an intelligent species called tikri (intelligent insect-like reptiles that implant their eggs in other creatures). A typical egg clutch consists of three or four fertile grubs and six to ten vonnt grubs, all of which usually try to consume their now-dead host. The vonnts mature more quickly than the male and female tikri, and instinctively protect their smaller, weaker brothers and sisters. Vonnts have the intellect of beasts and cannot speak, but they react to verbal commands and stress chemicals from their kin (and, to a lesser extent, others of their species). They usually accompany their family members as loyal pets and guardians, much like seskii or thumans do for humans. Motive: Defense, loyalty, or hungers for flesh or kai Environment: Wetlands-like areas on the Liminal Shore, tikri settlements Health: 10 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short Modifications: Climbing and tracking as level 4 Combat: Vonnts attack with their bite and stab with their leg spikes, attacking up to two creatures as one action. In the presence of wounded tikri females or males, they attack as level 4 creatures and inflict 4 points of damage. Interaction: Vonnts are beasts, but they are treated lovingly by their tikri families. They are aloof and guarded around other species. Adult tikri can inject other creatures with bonding scent-chemicals that make vonnts recognize them as kin, and sometimes they do this as a sign of friendship or to repay a life-debt. Use: A small family of tikri is watched over by a pack of aggressive vonnts. A lone vonnt tries to lead a PC (of a familiar species or a scent-bonded individual) to the hiding place of its wounded sibling.

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CREATURES

WITHER

2 (6)

“Wither” may not seem like the proper appellation for something so beautiful, but a wither’s voracious appetite for kai is what it’s named after. These pure white, winged creatures with a wingspan of about 9 feet (3 m) glide across the sky in elegant flocks. But where they alight, the living land and anything else nearby soon wilts and decays. Withers work together to sap kai from their prey, whether landform or creature. For some reason, the Liminal Shore disregards wither flock activity and rarely mounts an immune defense. Perhaps that’s down to the unique way withers are able to disrupt kai, stunning creatures and landforms alike in a confusing blast of turbulence. Motive: Hungers for kai Environment: Almost anywhere above ground on the Liminal Shore in flocks of six or more Health: 9 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short; long when flying Combat: A single wither can use its claws to attack a foe. However, four of them can concentrate on one foe and make one attack as if they were a level 4 creature, inflicting 8 points of damage. Each wither must still be attacked individually, as normal. In addition, once every six rounds, a group of six withers working together can produce a kai “implosion” that creates a shockwave capable of affecting every creature within short range that fails a Might defense task. Affected creatures are stunned, lose their next turn, and suffer 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). Interaction: Withers don’t seem intelligent, but people have captured and trained them to act like pets or, in a few unusual cases given a wither’s size compared to most symbiotes, temperamental tasms. Use: Withers make great threats that can find characters, whether the PCs are on the move or staying in one place. For instance, a traveling PC could find that a wither flock has appeared during the night and now bars their path forward. Loot: A flock of defeated withers can usually be harvested for a cypher or two.

Tasm, page 10 GM intrusion: The character affected by the kai implosion is also deafened for one minute.

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YICT

5 (15)

“It may be nothing, or it may be the yict that ate your grandmother.” ~ wholkin idiom, when something that seems ordinary may actually be dangerous Nera, the Windborne City, page 54 GM intrusion: The stuck character falls awkwardly so that instead of just their feet being stuck, one whole side of their body is adhered to the yict, which hinders escape attempts by two steps.

A yict infects larger portions of marl, initially appearing as a discolored section about 9 feet (3 m) in rough diameter that doesn’t seem immediately remarkable or dangerous. Which is exactly the point, as most of the yict’s body lies embedded and hidden in the marl’s flesh, waiting for a hapless creature to tread upon its back. When an unlucky traveler does so, they may adhere to the yict, at which point it begins to draw life force from them directly. When exposed, yict are bowed, many-legged creatures with broad, flat backs set with marl-like scales. Motive: Hungers for kai Environment: Usually embedded in marl, alone or in pairs Health: 25 Damage Inflicted: 5 points Movement: Immediate; immediate when burrowing; jumps a long distance Modifications: Stealth and disguise as level 6; perception as level 3; Speed defense as level 3 due to size Combat: The marl-like scales on a yict’s back are glutinous, adhering to any living thing that touches them (including melee weapons). Creatures that step on a yict must succeed on a Might defense roll or become stuck until they can escape. A yict’s back is large enough for two or even three human-sized characters to become stuck before they realize what’s happened. Each round a character remains stuck on a yict’s back, they take 5 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) sucked directly through their connection to kai. If a yict is physically attacked by ranged weapons, it fully emerges and attacks its foes directly. The yict makes up to two attacks as a single action with its claws, each of which inflict 5 points of damage and, on a failed Might defense roll, 5 additional points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) from their kai-sucking touch. Interaction: Normally, no meaningful interaction is possible with a yict, but see Use. Use: Some wholkin harvest yict eggs, raise the hatchlings as pets, then rely on the yict to guard important areas. This is why yict are sometimes encountered on Nera. Loot: A yict body can be harvested for a cypher of the Liminal Shore.

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KARNA’S ETERNAL OTHER RETURN SPECIES CHAPTER 11

OTHER SPECIES In addition to humans, at least half a dozen self-aware species inhabit the Liminal Shore. The most prominent—at least as far as humans are concerned—are the creel, spirants, and wholkin. And though humans may not be aware of them, many other species are also widely known on Verse (as the natives call it), including the hrath and tikri. The creel and wholkin are available as PC-playable species.

CREEL

PC-Playable Species, page 138

4 (12)

These furry, winged caterpillar-like people are explorers, traders, and seekers. They tame the Liminal Shore to their own needs, but sometimes rivalries among other species, and even among their own kind, erupt into conflict that can send an entire domain into a flash war with a neighbor. Thankfully most such conflicts end within a few days, so the Liminal Shore does not react by dispatching an immune response. Unlike wholkin and humans, creel have no gender. They reproduce asexually. Though they lay eggs, interaction with the kai itself is what causes variation in their bloodlines, so that creel vary from generation to generation. Individually, creel are as varied in attitude and motivation as individual humans are. Motive: Defense Environment: Almost anywhere on the Liminal Shore, alone or in groups of three or more Health: 20 Damage Inflicted: 4 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short; short when flying Combat: The spikes of fur covering a creel can be dangerous if brushed against or touched; the fur contains the same venom they eject from facial spinnerets in silky lines able to target a creature within short range. A targeted creature must succeed on a Might defense roll or suffer 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). The victim is also caught in the silky lines, and continues to take 4 points of damage each round until they use their action to escape. Creel may also use other weapons, including cyphers and artifacts if available. Interaction: In their own language, “creel” is a sound produced when they rub their wings together in a manner meant to indicate their own kind. But creel have a facility for learning other languages, and the human tongue of the Truth was one they easily picked up. Most of the time, creel are happy to negotiate, unless they are flying to a flash war on the borders of one of their domains. Use: Creel can fill roles that humans might otherwise fill, be that ally, random encounter, or villain. Loot: Creel might carry a cypher of the Liminal Shore, and each also usually carries 2d6 muxen.

The creel are distributed across the Liminal Shore in various domains, including the Lattice Forest (page 59) and Thersezon (page 62).

GM intrusion: The creel vigorously shakes its fur, affecting all creatures within short range as if targeted by a facial spinneret attack.

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Some patches of marl in the Underhunger produce the light that hrath need, but hrath also use taming to make other objects in their homes and settlements supply them with this energy. Some people of the Skin believe that hrath sicken and die if they spend too much time exposed to the light of the sun. Most hrath think this is a funny joke. Hrath are similar enough to humans that some Ninth World explorers wonder if they are an offshoot of humanity or were created to superficially resemble humans. Spirant, page 135 GM intrusion: The hrath bends its body in an unexpected way that is impossible for humans, easing its attack or defense by two steps.

HRATH

2 (6)

Hrath are lanky humanoids with shiny, bright green skin. They mainly live in the Underhunger. As with all living things of Verse, they subsist on kai, but they also eat human-palatable food and require a kind of yellow light to remain healthy. Hrath have long bones, flexible joints, pointed teeth, and fingers that are all nearly the same length. They are not sexually or reproductively compatible with humans. Hrath are very egalitarian, and a leader of a hunting party, business, or community is just as likely to be a young adult man as an older woman, assuming they have the proper skill, maturity, and knowledge for that role. Hrath children undergo an accelerated growth stage at around age ten, equivalent to human puberty but taking place over a few days, during which time the young hrath is unconscious and can’t be roused. During this metamorphosis, the hrath grows up to a foot in height and gains its full intellectual capacity. The stress and energy demands of the transformation kill nearly a third of all young hrath. About a century ago, the hrath discovered that eating a specific internal organ from a dead spirant would double their chance of survival, and most communities keep this substance on hand, having traded for it with spirant merchants or settlements. Hrath can live up to sixty years. Motive: Defense, territory, pride, honor Environment: The Underhunger Health: 6 Damage Inflicted: 2 points Movement: Short Modifications: Speed-based tasks (including attacks and defense) as level 3 Combat: Hrath use weapons such as spears and bows, and often use cyphers. Interaction: Hrath are territorial and easily offended, especially by humans who treat them like primitives or project their cultural biases onto them. Flattery of a hrath’s appearance and physical prowess is often effective at winning them over, as is complimenting the health of their family members. Use: A group of hrath requires the PCs to compete in a physical contest before the characters can enter or pass through the area. Hrath have been poaching livestock or other animals from a nearby settlement as a show of strength or as a claim on the territory. Loot: Hrath prefer to travel light, but (in addition to their equipment) they usually carry a few muxen so they can trade with sapients who prove worthy. They often have, use, and share recreational drugs made by taming.

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KARNA’S ETERNAL OTHER RETURN SPECIES

SPIRANT

3 (9)

Spirants are semi-fungoid sapients that live predominantly in the Underhunger. They are quiet, mysterious, and aloof, and their apparent lack of emotion makes them seem secretive and untrustworthy. Many people believe that spirants subtly undermine safety and tranquility in non-spirant settlements, are responsible for many unsolved murders, and have a long-term agenda to control or eradicate other sapient life. If it weren’t for their skill at taming to create incredibly useful materials, they would have been driven out of settlements in the Skin long ago. A resting spirant looks like a pale brown shaggy lump about 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 m) tall. The thick hairlike growths are multifunctional minor sensory organs similar to the eyestalk-tentacles of snails, able to sense light, sounds, and smells in a limited fashion, which gives them approximately the same senses as a human. Hidden under these hairs is the spirant’s skin, which is covered in a dozen or so mouthlike apertures through which it can ingest materials or extend specialized internal organs outward from its body. These organs include thin but strong tentacles for locomotion and grasping objects, stubby blobs that are specialized sensory organs (equivalent to eyes, ears, noses, and tongues), feathery wisps for taming, and variously shaped things for breathing, eating, and excreting. Regardless of their shape and function, all of a spirant’s extendable organs are a bright red color with a slimy texture. Spirants can use their kai and subtle scents to silently convey simple information to other spirants within short range. It is common for a group of spirants to confer with each other this way even as they have a verbal conversation with other creatures. Two or more spirants can communicate telepathically by touching their sensory stubs together (directly transmitting words and images to each other’s nerves). Motive: Defense, conquest, or hungers for flesh or kai Environment: Anywhere on the Liminal Shore, especially the Underhunger Health: 9 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Movement: Short Modifications: Might defense and concealing their emotions and thoughts as level 4; taming as level 5 Combat: Spirants wield weapons with their tentacles or make gentle touches with their taming organs to blister and dissolve living flesh. Interaction: Spirants don’t think like other sapient species of Verse. Even when they speak plainly, their phrasing is awkward and strange, as if they are hiding something. Many of them would rather leave silently and peacefully than try to talk with non-spirants. Use: A traveling spirant tries to talk to the PCs but has trouble explaining what it wants. A group of spirants stands outside of a settlement, silently watching and waiting for something or someone. Loot: A spirant often has at least one cypher and one or more samples of a drug or tamed material it wants to sell or trade, plus a handful of muxen crawling among its shaggy hairs.

“I find it quite disturbing to see a spirant extrude and retract its internal organs.” ~ Orestri, a varjellen explorer with no sense of irony A spirant might extrude its organs to create a face-like shape (or at least two “eyes” and a “mouth”) when having a conversation with humanoids, just to give them a point on its body to focus their attention on. GM intrusion: The spirant produces a substance that bypasses a character’s defense (such as Armor), heals the spirant for 6 points of health, or has an extra adverse effect on the character (such as blindness, numbness, or an additional 3 points of Speed damage).

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TIKRI Some tikri clans have made arrangements with nearby hrath villages, exchanging oddities and cyphers for the right to implant their eggs in willing hosts, with the understanding that the grubs will be surgically removed (a level 4 task) at the proper time to ensure the survival of the host. Hrath, page 134 Vonnt, page 130

Spirant, page 135 Humans from the Ninth World are also very suitable hosts for tikri eggs. GM intrusion: The tikri’s bite attack also injects a milder form of its stinger venom, hindering the character’s actions for one minute if they fail a Might defense roll.

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Tikri are an intelligent species of aggressive reptilian insectoids living primarily in the Underhunger. They resemble centipedes with fine scales and lizard-like heads, with an overall length of 7 to 9 feet (2.1 to 2.7 m). A tikri’s first several pairs of legs have delicate grasping fingers, which when used together have approximately the same agility and strength as human arms and hands. Although they prefer to move and rest while fully horizontal, they can hold up their front end to nearly half their length (similar to a rearing cobra), allowing them to manipulate objects and communicate face to face with bipedal creatures. Tikri reproduce by implanting eggs in warm-blooded creatures, which hatch into grubs that feed on their host’s blood for a few weeks until they’re ready to chew their way out (which is usually fatal for the host) and emerge as miniature adults. For as long as they can remember, the tikri used livestock animals as brood hosts, but about a century ago they discovered that intelligent humanoids such as hrath are much better hosts for their eggs, with more grubs surviving to emergence. Tikri have three genders; a clutch of grubs always has a mix of males, females, and sterile drones called vonnts. Female and male tikri are fully mature at three years of age. Females live only five to ten years and have a natural inclination to explore their environment and attack threats. Males live up to fifteen years and tend to be more protective and nurturing. Vonnts live almost as long as males, but have only beast-level intelligence. Motive: Defense, loyalty, or hungers for flesh or kai Environment: Wetlands-like areas on the Liminal Shore Health: 6 Damage Inflicted: 2 points Armor: 1 Movement: Short Modifications: Climbing, Speed defense, and taming as level 3 Combat: Tikri can use weapons such as knives and bows, but in melee they usually rely on their teeth. Outside of combat, a female tikri can use her tail stinger to inject eggs and a venom (called ctav) that puts a character into an intoxicated stupor for up to an hour if they fail a Might defense roll. Interaction: Tikri are wary of other intelligent species except for allied hrath and spirants, but they can be befriended if approached with confidence and courtesy. Females tend to be aggressive, and males tend to be sociable if they or their children aren’t being threatened. The young are usually accompanied and guarded by their vonnt siblings. Use: A female must find a suitable host for her eggs within a few hours or days or her body will reabsorb them. A male needs someone to take a message or one of his offspring to another settlement. A traveling family is looking for allies in a dangerous area. Loot: A tikri may have a cypher and a few muxen. A family group tends to also have a stash of useful supplies and wealth.

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KARNA’S ETERNAL OTHER RETURN SPECIES

WHOLKIN

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Success is equal parts hard work and inspiration. But it doesn’t hurt to be a wholkin. ~saying on the Liminal Shore The whorled vertical shell of an adult wholkin stands at least 9 feet (3 m) high, though especially hearty individuals can grow even taller over their long lives. Wholkin can extend a variety of pseudopods from the base of their shell, including sticky feet, a mouth capable of swallowing a meal as large as they are, and a harpoon-tipped proboscis. As a people, they are priests, warriors, and enthusiastic workers, coming the closest to developing true industry on the Liminal Shore, though one of course sustained by highly modified living landforms. Nera the Windborne, the City That Flies, has one of the largest wholkin concentrations of any domain. Wholkin get caught up in the same rivalries as other species, especially when it comes to facing off against creel domains. However, individually wholkin are as varied in attitude and motivation as individual humans, though a higher preponderance of wholkin are interested in spiritual matters than the average human or creel. Motive: Defense Environment: Almost anywhere on the Liminal Shore, alone or in groups of five or more Health: 9 Damage Inflicted: 3 points Armor: 2 Movement: Short; short when climbing (can adhere to most any surface) Modifications: Resists mental influence as level 6 Combat: A wholkin can extrude a harpoon-tipped poisoned proboscis to attack a creature within immediate range, inflicting 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and, on a failed Might defense roll, paralyzing the victim so they can take no physical actions for one minute. The average wholkin can use this attack every other round. Wholkin also use other weapons, including cyphers and artifacts if available. Some further armor themselves and train to improve their abilities, such as the Grimshells in Anepus and similarly trained warriors in Nera. Interaction: How easy or difficult it is to negotiate with a wholkin depends on the individual. Those that have made the effort to learn a human language are usually happy to negotiate. Those that serve some higher purpose—such as the dictates of the Empress of Everything—will never be swayed. Use: A delegation of wholkin priests has gone missing, and a representative from Nera will pay in muxen or living cyphers for news of their whereabouts or, better yet, their return or rescue. Loot: Wholkin almost always carry at least one cypher of the Liminal Shore, and each also usually carries 5d6 muxen.

Nera, the Windborne City, page 54 Creel, page 133

Grimshells, page 45 Anepus, page 44 Empress of Everything, page 57 GM intrusion: The wholkin’s proboscis trips the character, who falls prone and loses a turn.

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PC-PLAYABLE SPECIES

Spirant, page 135

For PCs to play as a Liminal Shore species, most of the changes are a matter of flavor rather than mechanics. You can handwave these for a player interested in playing one of the creatures described in this chapter, and let them choose a standard descriptor. Alternatively, you could use the following species descriptors. Initial Link to the Starting Adventure: Regardless of the Liminal Shore species the PC selects, they can choose from the following list of options for how they became involved in their first adventure. 1. You were raised in the Ninth World with no knowledge of the Liminal Shore. 2. You were the other PCs’ guide on the Liminal Shore and stayed with them afterward. 3. The PCs helped you escape a bad situation. 4. You fished the PCs out of an enveloping living landform that caught them while they were exploring.

CREEL Creel, page 133

Common Drugs of the Underhunger, page 78

You are a creel. You gain the following characteristics. Wings: You can fly a short distance each round. Poison Spinnerets (2 Speed points): You gain this ability instead of a tier 1 type ability. You emit a silky cord at a target within short range. The targeted creature

must succeed on a Might defense roll or suffer 4 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor). The victim is also caught in the silky lines, continuing to take 4 points of damage each round until they use their action to escape. Inability: You’re more delicate than other species. Tasks related to brute strength, extended physical exertion, and making attacks with medium or heavy weapons are hindered. Additional Equipment: You have a light weapon of your choice.

SPIRANT You are a spirant. You gain the following characteristics. Durable: +2 to your Might Pool. Subtle Talk: You can silently communicate simple concepts to other spirants within short range using scent and kai. By touching another spirant, you can communicate with them telepathically. Fungoid: You are trained in Might defense and in concealing your emotions and thoughts. Tamer: You are trained in taming. Inability: Your strange manner of thinking and speaking makes non-spirant sapients think you’re hiding something. You have an inability in all persuasion tasks and tasks that require you to communicate. Additional Equipment: You have one dose of an Underhunger drug of your choice.

WHOLKIN Wholkin, page 137

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You are a wholkin. You gain the following characteristics. Big: +2 to your Might Pool. Shell: You gain +1 to Armor. Poison Proboscis (2 Speed points): You gain this ability instead of a tier 1 type ability. You extrude a harpoon-tipped poisoned proboscis to attack a creature within immediate range, inflicting 3 points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) and, on a failed Might defense roll, paralyzing the victim so they can take no physical actions for one minute. Inability: You’re too large to accomplish things a normal human could. Tasks related to initiative, stealth, disguise, and similar pursuits where your large size would stick out are hindered.

PART 5:

ADVENTURES

Chapter 12: Unusual Vitality Chapter 13: Pieces of My Heart

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CHAPTER 12

UNUSUAL VITALITY “Unusual Vitality” is an adventure suitable for a group of tier 3 PCs. The GM should adjust the average level of threats and tasks by one or two steps lower to accommodate tier 1 or 2 PCs, and by one or two steps higher to accommodate higher-tier PCs. Turuel, page 152 “Reports of unusual vitality in plants and animals in the region are on the rise.” ~excerpt from an Amber Gleaner’s journal

BRIEF SUMMARY An unknown effect is causing the devices a Ninth World village depends on for water, sanitation, and defense to malfunction, break, and eventually “rot” away. The influence grows wider with each passing day, and is also associated with the appearance of robust and dangerous new creatures. Concerned PCs must travel to the heart of the phenomenon, which turns out to be an influence transmitted from another land by someone called Turuel, who wants to extend his power into the Ninth World.

BACKGROUND There’s trouble in the village of Speeland. For decades, those skilled with the numenera kept four installations functional around town that 1) siphoned water from the air, 2) used a fleet of tiny flying automatons to keep the vermin infesting the nearby ruin everyone calls the White Wall from invading town, 3) extruded enough nutritious food bricks to feed all the people in the village at need, and 4) provided a variety of medicines that saw the people of Speeland in better health than those in most other Ninth World settlements. About two months ago, the machines began breaking. At first, those skilled with the numenera were able to fix them without much trouble. But the dysfunctions worsened as the weeks passed. In addition, small cyphers and artifacts, as well as other devices, began producing lessened effects, depleting after only a single use, or, worst of all, crumbling into dust before producing any effect whatsoever.

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Since then, the effect has blossomed out of control. Over the last couple of weeks, mundane materials began to crumble too. Buildings, simple equipment, and even clothing have undergone rapid degradation thanks to unrestrained mold, fungus, vines, and colonies of tiny insects that seem to appear overnight. As troubling as all this is, the appearance of never-before-seen “monsters” has drawn the most attention. Some of these creatures look like vast blobs of flesh that range out from the White Wall, eating everything. Others are like regular creatures, but larger, more robust, and mad for food. The very worst are those that seem more like people, at least in rough shape. But their skin is covered with what appear to be faces in an overlapping, horrifying collage. Speelander villagers have become refugees. Many have fled. Those who stayed behind to deal with the problems have gone missing. Whatever is happening, it’s not just a problem for Speeland; the influence has been spreading farther each day. Now, Arank—the nearest village to Speeland, 50 miles (80 km) away—has noticed strange new growths around town, as the few devices and installations they depend on begin to act up.

SYNOPSIS As the PCs become involved in the adventure, events may unfold as follows, though of course the characters might make different choices. Device Malfunction: The PCs experience the mechanical troubles of Speeland firsthand.

UNUSUAL VITALITY

Refugees: As the PCs near Speeland, they are met along the single road connecting it to the rest of the Steadfast by several groups of refugees, who can share stories of woe. Exploring Speeland: By the time the PCs reach Speeland, it has become a mostly abandoned shell, fast disappearing under weird new growths. Strange and dangerous creatures have taken over, but it’s obvious merely by looking that the source of the weird infection isn’t Speeland, but the nearby ruin known as the White Wall. The PCs may also discover the name of the person who is behind the problem: Turuel, a “parted egoist.” Exploring the Wall: The PCs may assume that an ancient machine has woken up inside the Wall and is causing the weird growth and instability of all other machines. However, once they reach what they think is the locus, they discover that’s not true. Instead, the locus leads into another location entirely through some kind of rift in space. Entering the Liminal Shore: The PCs must deal with the new rules of reality that affect them as they pass through, though they

have some leeway. Luckily, Turuel doesn’t immediately notice their arrival. Instead, they can gain their bearings in the satellite community of Brath, until such time as they decide what to do. Confronting Turuel: Turuel has force-grown an Underhunger organ that has opened the rift between the Liminal Shore and the Ninth World, one that is prone to dimensional leakage. He calls it the Bridge Between. To end the threat, the PCs will have to kill Turuel or the Bridge Between, or disrupt the safeguards he uses to keep himself safe from reprisal from the Liminal Shore itself.

Brath, page 147

Underhunger organ, page 29

GETTING THE PCs INVOLVED If you’re looking for inspiration to get the PCs involved in the story, consider using one or more of the following hooks. Sent: The barest tugs of the influence centered around Speeland have been felt more than 50 miles (80 km) away in Arank by a noble named Sheristusa, a woman who dresses in planes of solid scarlet light whose small castle is supported by

Sheristusa: level 3; persuasion, history, and local knowledge tasks as level 6

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levitating machines. According to her research, the effect is somehow interfering with the underlying rules of existence. (Perhaps Sheristusa is a patron of the PCs, or they owe her something, or she offers them a great treasure if they succeed.) She asks them to investigate and, if possible, end the effect. She assumes that some machine of the ancients got switched on and simply needs switching off again. Exploring: On their way to the White Wall in hopes of finding valuable salvage, the PCs discover the situation as described, possibly not realizing that the increasing unreliability of their own equipment is related to the unfolding situation affecting Speeland. Door to Another Land: In another adventure, the PCs learned that a portal to a distant location on the Ninth World can be found in the White Wall. Other than the name “Liminal Shore,” they know little about it. Looking for a Missing Father: One of the PCs was raised as an orphan when their father disappeared years ago. The character has only the vaguest memories of their missing parent, but they know their father was embroiled in some kind of fight with the Order of Truth. The story is that he did something unspeakable, but exactly what was never disclosed. After mostly not thinking about it for more than a decade, the PC received a glimmer from the datasphere that instilled the knowledge that their father “was coming to Speeland.” Other than a fuzzy sense of what their father looked like, the PC knows only that their mother’s nickname for him was “Tru.”

Continuing Malfunction: While the PCs remain in close proximity to Speeland and in the city, increase the GM intrusion range to 1–2 on a d20. Anytime a GM intrusion range is triggered, one of their non-biological Ninth World devices malfunctions as just described. Inside the White Wall, the intrusion range for this malfunction result is 1–4 on a d20.

REFUGEES

DEVICE MALFUNCTION

At some point before reaching Speeland, the PCs encounter refugees from the village along the road, either in small groups or as one big mass of desperate people. If the characters have questions for them, the following NPCs have answers or at least stand out. Generally speaking, the refugees are exhausted and filthy, with equipment and clothing that is strangely decayed and ragged. Among them are children, looking forlorn and frightened.

This encounter might happen before the PCs know anything about Speeland’s troubles and serve as a bit of foreshadowing for this adventure, if desired. Alternatively (or in addition to the foreshadowing), this

Dealonar: A woman named Dealonar with a missing arm leads one group of refugees. She explains to the PCs that she had a metallic prosthetic, but a few days ago, she

ADVENTURE ENCOUNTERS AND LOCATIONS The four primary locations of the adventure include the village of Speeland, inside the White Wall, the Liminal Shore village of Brath, and the living Bridge Between.

Dealonar: level 2, interaction tasks as level 4

encounter happens while PCs are closing on Speeland. One of the PCs attempts to use a cypher, artifact, or some other device and it malfunctions; present this as a GM intrusion. (A device could malfunction even if no PC is using it.) The device malfunctions in a way that threatens the PC, perhaps by detonating. Afterward, an investigation into what caused the problem reveals green fungus-like threads growing across the affected device. The threads seem to have been etched into the material, decomposing it. If the PCs check other equipment they carry, they may notice that one or two other items have a similar growth. At this point, it’s unlikely that the characters have enough knowledge to figure out what’s happening, but if they bring some ability or analysis method to bear, they discover that the effect is transdimensional. Somewhere relatively nearby is a locus from which the effect is being generated, or perhaps leaking. If they have the means to monitor it over time, the effect seems to be spreading.

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UNUSUAL VITALITY woke up to find that it had simply turned to dust, as had several pieces of clothing, simple cookware, and a few other precious devices. She and her family decided it was time to get out of Speeland, which was becoming increasingly overgrown with unusual plants, even as walls and homes began to almost visibly erode. Dealonar has no idea what could be causing the problem. Creth the Reckling: A small man named Creth the Reckling rides an aneen. He says that he is an Aeon Priest, but many of his abilities and equipment have failed him. Only a single biological artifact—a tendril graft—continues to function normally. He believes that whatever influence has overtaken Speeland, it is one that enhances biological functions, while actively seeking out and degrading objects that are inert and dead, breaking them down to serve as so much fertilizer or substrate for strange new growth. (He explains that the process is not immediate; equipment new to the influence apparently takes several days before it becomes susceptible.) Creth worries that something in his workshop in Speeland caused the outbreak. He was investigating an “extreme cypher” when he first noticed the uptick in strange growth and the breakdown of regular equipment. Though guilt wracks him, he is too afraid to go back and deal with the situation. He begs the PCs to find his workshop and end the threat. (Creth is wrong; his broken numenera device is just another symptom of a larger problem.) Wounded Man: A wounded man with rolling eyes staggers down the path from Speeland, alone. Deranged and out of it, he says only that strange creatures have started to roam Speeland. Creatures that steal faces! Faces that whisper a message, over and over: “Turuel is coming.”

EXPLORING SPEELAND The path to Speeland becomes a narrow track winding up the side of a moderately sized mountain. Once through the pass, Speeland is revealed.

READ ALOUD In the high valley visible past the mountain pass is a massive white wall, miles long and tremendously tall. The barest remains of a moderately sized village lie in the valley, built in the lee of the towering wall, which is obviously a construct of the prior worlds. The village is overrun with all manner of strange new growths, many brilliantly fungal in nature. The growth has apparently spread up—or perhaps seeped down from—the great wall, along a rough vertical track of exuberant flora connecting to a plant-haloed cavity high on the wall’s face, overlooking the village like a rotting, empty eye. At first glance, Speeland seems more a ruin than a village that until recently was filled with hundreds of people. The design of structures and roads remains visible, but softened and partly blotted out by exuberant flora. (There is also fauna, but most of that is not visible from a distant view.) As the PCs explore Speeland—possibly to look for Creth the Reckling’s workshop, or to get to the White Wall on the other side— they notice the following features, as well as trigger the following encounters. Uncontrollable Life: Weeds of every sort, lichen and moss, and miniature forests of fungal growth have invaded Speeland and overtaken it. Along with the plant growth is a new population of weird insects that buzz, rattle, scream, and otherwise create a constant cacophony in the background every bit as loud as a tropical forest. PCs attempting to identify the growth must succeed on a difficulty 2 Intellect task to recognize that some of the plant and insect life is native to the area, but in nearly every case, it is almost twice as large and robust as normal. There are also several varieties of both that seem completely new.

Creth the Reckling: level 5; all numenera tasks hindered by three steps; has an additional tendril-like limb that can be used as a weapon

Aneen, page 225 Tendril graft, page 302

Wounded man: level 1

Remaining Structures: Most of the structures are gone, or just shells of weird growth where there were once walls and ceilings. Though the PCs encountered several refugees on the way to Speeland, it may occur to them to wonder why there were so few given how large Speeland was. Where did everyone else go?

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degradation of nonliving objects they touch. Facesavers: Emerging from undergrowth or the shell of a dissolved home, a group of seven creatures appears, though PCs may initially mistake them for human survivors. A closer look reveals that their drooping skin is plastered with the living faces of people that silently mouth unending screams of horror. The facesavers may draw the PCs into an ambush, making this a potentially deadly encounter.

EXPLORING THE WALL Facesaver, page 117 Furious aneen: level 6; health 22; charge attack inflicts 8 points of damage to all creatures in a line a short distance long and an immediate distance across Bio-laminate: level 5; composed of partially living scale-like components that resist the inorganic degradation that has destroyed Speeland

Oversized Aneen: A furious aneen streaked with bioluminescent growth that is twice as tall as a regular version bursts from a stand of fungus. Its eyes are rolling, and when it senses the PCs, it roars and attacks. Sleep-Inducing Fungi: An area filled with bright red mushrooms with bulbous caps lies along the PCs’ route. Nothing initially distinguishes the growth from other oddities. However, the fungi release soporific spores that induce sleep and enhance the

Red mushroom grove: level 4; health 33; creatures within short range must succeed on a Might defense roll or fall into a deep sleep, and one nonliving object or piece of equipment carried by the sleeping target dissolves

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The White Wall is dozens of miles wide and about a mile (1.5 km) tall, composed of plates of a white bio-laminate. Previously, the wall was too steep to easily climb. However, the ropy strands of rampant growth that have erupted from the newly formed cavity in its face changes that. Characters who climb the wall to the cavity can explore the interior and look for the cause of the “greening” influence, which is located in the Conflux. In addition to the strange growth, swarms of white winged creatures swirl and convulse like great clouds near the cavity, visible for miles. 1A. ASCENDING THE WHITE WALL The cavity in the wall overlooking Speeland is about half a mile (800 m) up the sheer wall. The ropy growth extending down from the cavity (and growing into the outer wall itself) transforms a fiendishly difficult task of scaling the smooth wall from four difficulty 7 Might tasks to just two difficulty 4 Might tasks for climbing. This entry represents the first of those tasks. A failure is probably lethal from the resultant fall unless a PC can arrest their plunge in some fashion. Explorers may have alternative methods for reaching the cavity, such as levitation or flight. However, if such transport relies on a standard

UNUSUAL VITALITY cypher or artifact, there’s a risk that it will malfunction; treat as a GM intrusion. 1B. WHETHER TO CONTINUE This entry represents the second leg of the climb (the second difficulty 4 Might task). The white winged creatures visible from the base swarm in the air at this altitude. They are withers, transcribed from the Liminal Shore from the Conflux in area 5. If PCs don’t fly up the wall and can manage to stealthily climb the final leg, the withers ignore them. However, climbing stealthily hinders both Might tasks. 2. CAVITY MOUTH If the PCs ascend successfully, they reach the cavity mouth, which exudes a rich, loamy aroma. READ ALOUD The bio-laminate plating is blown out, as if the cavity in the face of the White Wall was created by a massive detonation. The cavity’s interior is a jagged irregular expanse, like the surface of a field of broken teeth, covered in strangling layers of living slime, tangled vines, and scurrying and crawling things of every sort. A passage leading farther into the wall is visible at the back of the cavity. In fact, the “detonation” was the bursting of a living pustule that had grown in the space behind the wall until it finally erupted. The living matter in the cavity mostly ignores the characters, though polyps with flowerlike leaves slowly rotate to regard them, and slime edges away from being stepped on. This close to the Conflux, where the influence of the Liminal Shore breaches the Ninth World, the PCs come under the influence described under inorganic degradation. But it’s not like their stuff instantly crumbles to dust. They have at least three days before they need to really worry. However, the GM should foreshadow this development. Perhaps as a GM intrusion, allow one of the PCs to notice that green streaks on their favorite shirt, cloak, or pair of gloves have eaten through the material to form tiny holes. Nothing to worry about, though. Not yet.

WHITE WALL INTERIOR CORRIDORS Only a few relevant corridors are shown on the White Wall map, which are the only ones the PCs can reach from the cavity mouth. Many other areas exist within the wall, but they are not easily reachable from the mouth, nor relevant to the adventure. The reachable interior corridors measure about 20 feet (6 m) across and tall, coated by the same scaled bio-laminate as the exterior. Normally, they’d be perfectly smooth and dark, but they’re covered in ropy growth like that on the exterior of the White Wall, with a bioluminescent glow that provides dim light everywhere. Given that the corridors are often precariously sloped (they zig and zag in perfectly straight lines), the ropy covering is the only thing making them navigable. The PCs must succeed on a difficulty 2 Might task to clamber up or down the corridors shown on the map. On a failure, they slide into one of the two lower areas shown (area 3 or 4), depending on which corridor they slipped from.

GM intrusion: A mundane item, cypher, or artifact the PCs are relying on to ascend the wall malfunctions.

Wither, page 131

A Call for Aid: As explorers move between corridors, PCs who are perceptive hear a distant cry for help from a human voice, muffled and hoarse. Those who track it down discover that it seems to be coming from the corridor leading to area 4.

3. EATER AND THE ANNULUS A creature lies in this cavity, though it’s initially quiescent. READ ALOUD This steep corridor drops into a larger cavity that is half drowned in a pool of yellowish gel. The pool half covers the top of a slender hoop made of bio-laminate that pokes out of the liquid. The portion of the hoop’s interior that’s visible is hazed with a bizarre visual distortion.

Inorganic Degradation, page 10

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Eater, page 116

The ring is free-floating, in that it would otherwise hang unmoving (without obvious attachment) at the chamber’s center, but for the pool of gel. If disturbed, the pool disgorges thrashing pseudopods suckered with various-sized toothed mouths; it’s actually an eater. The eater interferes with any attempts to investigate the hoop. If the PCs deal with it or distract it, a successful difficulty 5 understanding numenera task causes the hoop to hum and vibrate, and the center fills with glyphs rich with coded information. The character using the hoop (with another successful difficulty 5 Intellect task) can try to move themselves up to a day back in time in a very real sense, gaining a “redo” of the last day, possibly in an attempt to bring about a different outcome to a bad situation. The temporal annulus is good for only a few uses before it falls to the inorganic degradation influence flooding the White Wall and the surrounding region. 4. CHOKED-OFF CORRIDOR The “greening” influence has taken more of a hold at the end of this corridor. READ ALOUD The invasive flora is thicker in this corridor, growing even more so near the bottom, where the steep passage looks to be completely choked off in a snarl of solid plant growth. The sound of a human voice occasionally drifts up from down there— perhaps a woman speaking the Truth, calling out for aid.

Snarl of living tissue: level 4; health 33; tendrils attack all creatures in short range for 4 points of damage; struck targets are entangled until they can escape; the snarl regains 5 points of health each round

The snarl of living tissue completely fills the lower portion of the passage, effectively blocking it. The upper face of the tissue reacts to threats by using entwining tendrils to attack everything within short range that inflicts damage on it (or falls on it from farther above).

Aeon Priest (Mareta), page 264

Entangled Mareta: Three earlier explorers found their way to the end of the choked-off corridor. Two of them have since perished, but a woman named Mareta remains, entangled and unable to get free. She is desperate to escape but very weak from lack of food or water, essentially debilitated. If the PCs cut her loose and revive her, Mareta

Hosted by the Datasphere, page 9

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claims to be an Aeon Priest and offers to help them accomplish their task of ending the influence. If the PCs still believe they are looking for a machine that they can switch off, she has bad news for them, and explains that she thinks the influence lies across some kind of strange spatial fold with distinctly unusual transdimensional signatures. 5. CONFLUX The portal connecting the Liminal Shore and the Ninth World is here. READ ALOUD At the center of this massive chamber is a wavering hole in space about 20 feet (6 m) across and 50 feet (15 m) above the floor. Through the rift constantly twine fast-growing fungal stalks and tendrils, along with tiny insects and, occasionally, a larger creature dropping through. Upon arrival, ninety percent of the entrants suddenly stiffen, dry up, and blow away as so much dust. However, a small percentage don’t dry up after the initial shock of their entry. The plants continue to twine down the exiting corridor, extending rootlike growths into one of the many other small cavities pocking the walls and ceiling of this chamber, and the tiny insects and other creatures scuttle off. Being suddenly cut off from more than half the kai they’re used to has a catastrophic effect on the invasive growth, which is why most of it fails to make it across. However, a small subset survives the shock, adapts, and begins to thrive. Given the constant flow, the few successes are more than enough to create the greening influence that is spreading outward in all directions. As the successes accumulate, more and more kai flow becomes available in the Ninth World, making it a positive feedback loop. The portal is controlled from the opposite side; this may be somewhat obvious, but PCs who succeed on a difficulty 5 understanding numenera task can confirm it. (An even more rarified understanding of what’s going on is possible, as described under Hosted by the Datasphere; however, that knowledge makes no effective difference in how PCs might deal with its threat.)

UNUSUAL VITALITY

Attempts to pass through the portal simply require that the PCs find a way to lift themselves up into the spatial fold. One way they could accomplish this is by climbing the twining strands that have survived the transition (a difficulty 2 Might task). Another way is to climb along the walls of the chamber, then drop themselves through the opening (a difficulty 2 Speed task to aim). Those who succeed pass into the Liminal Shore, to a community called Brath that’s located just beneath the upper marl of the Skin.

tissue. High overhead is a ceiling of similar tissue, ribbed and folded like the inside of a titan’s stomach. A tremendous growth descends from that ceiling, each of its fingerlike stalks reaching hundreds of feet. In its gruesome fingertips, it “holds” a gap in reality. Trickling down each “finger” is a highway of spreading vines, tubers, and creatures that constantly feed into the hole. Beneath the fold in space is a tumbled plain of slowly rippling hills, trees that shine like lamps, and a collection of crude huts seemingly made of living skin.

BRATH, BENEATH THE BRIDGE

Falling Into Brath: PCs who emerge through the portal fall about 50 feet (15 m), but the collection of huts beneath the spatial rift— tamed from the marl floor to create skin-like tents—breaks their fall enough so it inflicts only a few points of ambient damage and doesn’t cause them to move down the damage track. (PCs who have some means of flight can land safely or fly off to some other portion of the great space, but yells, screams, growls, and other sounds of conflict may draw them down to see what’s happening around the tents.)

The PCs presumably use the Conflux found in the White Wall to reach the Liminal Shore, which transcribes them to Brath. However, unless they have some method to defy gravity, they immediately fall. Luckily, it’s onto a soft surface. Unluckily, their arrival doesn’t go unnoticed. READ ALOUD A mammoth hollow stretches away in all directions, but it’s not limitless; its edges are confined by slowly folding, undulating

The Skin, page 43

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Currin: level 3, controls kai as level 4

Obtaining a Tasm, page 10

Inorganic Degradation, page 10

Wholkin, page 137 Facesaver, page 117

Tasm, page 10

Parted egoist, page 22

EFFECTS OF THE LIMINAL SHORE After the PCs have spent a few hours on the Liminal Shore, they begin to feel physically strange as the place tries to forge a kai connection with them. That’s because newcomers come to the attention of the land itself, which offers a link to its life force, as described under Obtaining a Tasm. For PCs without any sense of what’s happening, this is probably disorienting and possibly a bit scary. If the PCs remain long enough, their possessions may also become subject to inorganic degradation, though the characters may be long gone and back to the Ninth World before that becomes a real issue.

CONFLICT IN BRATH When the PCs first arrive, and about once per day in general, conflict erupts in Brath. Swirling around the tents is a struggle involving a dozen people (mostly human, but also a couple of wholkin) fighting off a wave of more than a dozen facesavers streaming in from one side (having descended Turuel’s Stair). If the conflict is left to conclude on its own, the facesavers eventually break through the slipshod defenses, grab a few human noncombatants, and run off as their fellow creatures defend their escape. The PCs’ intervention could prevent this outcome. To put an end to the current conflict, the PCs must defeat at least six facesavers, which routs the rest. TALKING TO THE LOCALS If the PCs help the people of Brath (of which only about twenty remain), the Brathians are grateful. Once the excitement of the fight is over, the PCs see that every single human (as well as the nearest shell-covered wholkin) is accompanied by a small creature, plant, or disquietingly active birthmark; these are their tasms. Despite the characters’ lack of tasms, the natives don’t immediately assume the PCs are parted egoists and agents of Turuel, who is a parted egoist.

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A man named Currin presents himself. He is bald, wears a living furred cape, and has a tasm shaped like a stick insect that glows bright orange. Currin can provide the PCs with the information below, which he either volunteers or gives in response to their questions, assuming they get on his good side with a couple of positive interaction tasks. “I’m Currin from the city of Anepus. Originally, I’m from the Steadfast. A city named Qi. Heard of it? Looks like you just came from the same place. Get ready for a change; the Liminal Shore wants to make a connection with you. If you accept, you’ll be able to interact with kai like the rest of us. It starts with your symbiote.” Currin helps the PCs understand that the land is alive and explains the nature of kai, at least from a surface perspective. (Should the topic come up, Currin thinks the Liminal Shore is a distant land in relation to the Steadfast, not a completely different world.) He also offers the PCs clothing, noting that theirs will soon degrade to nothing, by taming some from the marl; he enlists a few other Brathians to help. He says he went through the same thing when he came to the Liminal Shore as a trader crossing the Sea of Secrets twenty or so years ago. “Anepus was a ragtag human colony a hundred years ago. Since then it’s become a city. I’m with a group working with the wholkin of Nera to track down an enemy of kai—a parted egoist named Turuel. I think he’s also originally from the Steadfast. He saw all the wonder and potential of the Liminal Shore and decided to leash it to his own ambitions. He wants to pervert the Shore and use it to take power in the Steadfast and beyond.” Currin explains that he and several others, all of whom are dead now but him, traced Turuel to the small human village of Brath. When they got there, Brath was gone from the surface. They followed scars down through the marl into this very cavern; the village had been sucked down. Apparently, Turuel wanted to use the populace for his experiments. Every so often, his horrible facesavers flood down one wall (Turuel’s Stair), grab a poor victim or two,

UNUSUAL VITALITY and retreat back up to the Bridge Between (the massive handlike living landform hanging from the ceiling). Currin admits that his plan to find and stop Turuel was misguided and that he should have come with a force ten times what he brought. However, he does have one trick up his sleeve, if he—or someone—can just get close enough. “Turuel is a parted egoist. People like him curdle the Liminal Shore, disrupt the kai so that anyone nearby sickens and feels pain, and this causes unnecessary death; the land itself hates them. Egoists have to tread lightly to avoid coming to the land’s full attention. If that happens, no matter their power, they are absorbed, gone for good. Turuel, despite the extreme way he twists life so it’s completely out of balance, has managed to hide himself from the Liminal Shore’s defenses. He’s like a cancer that the body can’t recognize and expunge. But I have something that can help.” Currin has a cypher of the Liminal Shore—an immune inflamer—that he claims will strip Turuel of his protection from notice, and in fact tag him for

immediate removal by the land’s robust immune system. With the egoist gone, the portal between locations should quickly heal shut, which will protect both the Liminal Shore and the Steadfast. “The Brathians are without hope. They live in a perpetual nightmare. We can’t escape this cavern without being chased down by a horde of facesavers and other servitors of Turuel. Defeating the parted egoist is the only way to save the villagers who remain alive.” PCs curious about the village and its survivors can learn that only about twenty humans and two wholkin remain alive. Among them are five human children, who huddle in the tents. Some of them suffer nightmares from seeing the faces of people, including loved ones, newly stitched into the skin of the facesavers. BRINGING THE FIGHT TO TURUEL PCs who simply want to escape the situation could try to fly up back through the portal and get away. But those who want to solve the issue of the “greening” influence in the Steadfast are offered a way forward

Immune inflamer, page 89

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Cyphers, page 86

thanks to Currin’s guidance. The man offers the PCs additional cyphers of the Liminal Shore. (Choose some or roll randomly.) Finally, Currin asks the characters the following.

This area is usually empty, but every few hours, facesavers from area 3 or the trum from area 4 move through this intersection to attend to something in another chamber of the Bridge.

“I’ve been mentally preparing myself, gathering courage. My plan was to race up Turuel’s Stair and enter the Bridge Between. Alone. I had no other options. But you have literally fallen to Brath’s aid, like a gift from the Liminal Shore itself. . . . Will you help me?”

2. WATCHFUL BLOBS

Currin hoped to time his ascent of the “stair” between the regular facesaver attacks. He’s happy to lead or accompany PCs who want to do the same.

BRIDGE BETWEEN Bridge Between: level 5, tasks to control kai or tame the living landform as a substrate as level 9

Turuel’s Stair: level 2

Facesaver, page 117

The colossal handlike living landform on the ceiling is the Bridge Between. Every twenty hours or so, a group of about fifteen facesavers climbs down from it on a mission to extract another human from Brath. If successful, they bring their latest victim to room 4 for experiments. 0. TURUEL’S STAIR Actually more of a ladder than a stair, the rungs of Turuel’s Stair are warm flesh, like human skin over bone, but irregularly spaced, making the long distance climb a difficulty 2 Might task. Someone who succeeds on a difficulty 4 controlling kai task can bring the rungs closer together, or even cause the rungs to quickly deposit climbers at the stair’s top, the entrance to the Bridge in area 1. GM Intrusion: The rungs began to move erratically, trying to dislodge climbers and make them fall.

READ ALOUD The inner flesh of the walls in this chamber is transparent, revealing the glowing veins. Swimming among them in a clear fluid contained within the wall are globs of flesh that move like fish, some darting randomly, others chasing each other about. Anytime a creature touches a transparent wall, several of the globs are attracted and move to study them, each with a single humanlike eye. PCs without a tasm don’t notice that the texture of kai changes radically around the globs. Those with a connection to kai can attempt to use the globs (which are in turn connected to the room, and the room to the Bridge Between) to see distant places, including into Brath, to other parts of the Liminal Shore, and even into the Ninth World near Speeland (a difficulty 4 controlling kai task). Someone who thinks to try and who succeeds on a difficulty 5 controlling kai task can see into another chamber of the Bridge Between. GM Intrusion: The character attempting to see Turuel succeeds (he’s in area 6), but Turuel sees the character in turn and is forewarned. 3. SONG ROOM

1. BRIDGE BETWEEN ENTRANCE

READ ALOUD From the entrance you can hear a constant susurrus, including human voices screaming, crying for help, singing, or simply humming.

READ ALOUD The flesh of the living landform dimples inward at the top of Turuel’s Stair, creating a comfortable entrance lit by glowing veins running just under the floor, walls, and ceiling, shading everything with a reddish light. The passages are irregular and mottled, after the manner of a growing thing, but the floor is level and smooth.

Turuel calls this chamber the “Song Room.” It’s where his active facesavers sleep when he isn’t engaging them for some purpose (such as acquiring more subjects for the laboratory in area 4). PCs who steal a glance inside see several heaps of facesavers scattered about the room, with the extra faces stitched to their flesh responsible for all the noise.

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UNUSUAL VITALITY If the PCs aren’t careful, they could wake all thirty creatures in the Song Room. If that happens, the characters are in for a potentially difficult fight. They might have to flee the Bridge for a bit, unless they quickly use an ability or cypher to seal up area 3 before the bulk of the facesavers inside can boil out the narrow entrance aperture to engage them. GM Intrusion: Not every facesaver is asleep. 4. LIFE LAB READ ALOUD This chamber is filled with treelike boles thick with secondary vines—or maybe external veins—of many colors. Affixed to three of these are people in what appear to be various states of decomposition, or at least massive mutation. It doesn’t seem possible that they could be alive. Yet they move feebly, straining to get free. Turuel couldn’t have accomplished everything he has all alone. No, his rise to power, including the taming of the Bridge Between itself, is due in large part to his partnership with a creature many natives consider to be a myth: a trum. The trum normally works near the rear of the chamber, but sometimes leaves to check on other areas of the Bridge. The trum may be surprised to see the PCs, but initially tries to deceive them in some fashion, possibly even pretending to be secretly on their side. Of course, it just wants to learn everything it can before maneuvering them into a trap. The people caught on the treelike columns are about halfway along a transformation to becoming facesavers or (as happens half the time) being killed and absorbed into the tissue of the living landform. If Currin is with the PCs, he recognizes the victims as former residents of Brath and risks much to save them, staying behind if the PCs want to press on. GM Intrusion: The trum snatches up a character’s tasm and tries to eat it in a single gulp.

5. BIOPOWER READ ALOUD Uncountable numbers of twining green and red tendrils fill this chamber, forming a heaving central mass. Tiny sparks and larger discharges constantly jump between the tendrils and a central mast of hairlike growths that connects the floor to the ceiling. PCs who stand at the edge of this chamber may notice that their hair begins to stand on end. The processes here generate the extraordinary additional power required for the Bridge Between to hold open the portal and continually accelerate the natural growth of the Liminal Shore through the opening, forcing a change in the laws of physics on the other end. Completely disrupting this power source would close the rift that hangs over Brath and opens into the White Wall near Speeland. However, that would require the PCs to kill thousands of individual twining eel-like tendrils making up the central mass. They may have some limited success at first, but the tendrils defend themselves after a couple of rounds, attacking any intruders in the chamber until they leave. If the PCs do manage a strategy that works for more than a few rounds, they draw attention from the trum in area 4 and Turuel himself in area 6.

The portal of the Bridge Between acts like a vertice. For more on vertices, see page 9.

Tendrils: level 3; electrified touch inflicts 3 points of damage; swarm of four tendrils attacks as a level 5 creature, inflicting 5 points of damage Trum, page 128

6. GRIPPING CHAMBER READ ALOUD The chamber is empty save for a sac of dark gel at the center, in which something large occasionally shifts or thrashes. The floor of the chamber is transparent, allowing an unimpeded view to what lies below. At least fifty feet beneath, a gap in reality is visible, held in place by the fingerlike stalks of the colossal living thing you’re currently inside. The gel sac is a living control surface for the Bridge Between. To use it, a character must have a connection to kai (by having a tasm or, as in the case of a parted egoist, by forging a connection directly). In addition, a character must allow the gel sac to swallow them. Currently, the sac contains Turuel

Gel sac control: level 5

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Immune inflamer, page 89

Fusera (Turuel), page 118 Anepus, page 44

(which means the PCs can’t immediately use the immune inflamer on him, if that was their plan). Talking to Turuel: The parted egoist is surprised by the appearance of PCs fresh from the Steadfast. He can speak from within the gel sac control unit, his words picked up and transmitted across the entire living landform. He is curious why they came. Using this opening, the PCs might try to coax him out of the gel sac, or possibly try to appeal to whatever humanity the man has left. Which isn’t much. Turuel doesn’t look like a human any longer. Instead, he looks like and has the abilities of a creature called a fusera. He also mentally controls the Bridge Between, as well as all the facesavers and the trum inside it, through a connection to kai. If attacked, he will call upon those resources (assuming the PCs haven’t already dealt with them in some fashion). Turuel is motivated by a desire for power, though if the PCs get him talking with a few successful interaction tasks, they learn there is a deeper motivation: revenge. He says that he was scorned and kicked out of the Order of Truth for trying to mount an expedition into the datasphere. He lost his research, his friends, and even a child in the conflict. Thus, his true desire for power is so that he can show up those who wronged him, especially for the loss of his child, which he blames on Aeon Priests. Because he’s spent so much time brooding, it’s unlikely that the PCs can talk him down, but knowing his motivation may suggest a route forward that doesn’t involve a big fight. If one of the PCs came to Speeland looking for their father “Tru,” Turuel might very well be who they’ve long sought. A PC who uses that connection in an attempt to distract or convince Turuel eases the task by two steps. But if it’s to be a fight after all, Turuel eventually emerges from the gel sac. He recognizes the immune inflamer as the biggest initial threat and attempts to keep his servitors between it and him. GM Intrusion: Turuel uses part of an action to open the floor beneath a PC, attempting to drop the character through.

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WRAP-UP The best-case scenario is that the PCs confront Turuel and persuade him (perhaps via some kind of external effect) to give up his quest to continue exerting the “greening influence” of the Liminal Shore on the Ninth World. In the more likely scenario, the PCs will be forced into conflict with him. If the PCs succeed: If Turuel is defeated or convinced to end his attempted conquest, the rift generated by the Bridge Between is easily eliminated by use of the controlling gel sac in area 6. If this is a one-off game, allow the PCs to escape back through the rift before it closes. If this is part of an ongoing campaign, the rift might close immediately, in which case the PCs must find another way home, such as by paying a ship out of Anepus to take them. If the PCs fail: If the PCs retreat or face some other defeat, the greening influence continues to reach outward from Speeland. Either the characters will have to try again after arranging for additional resources, or some other group will have to intervene. Perhaps it is up to the PCs to bring a warning back to the Ninth World so that others can lead a new attack on Turuel.

XP AWARDS Each PC earns 1 experience point (XP) for aiding the people of Brath, 1 XP if they try to convince Turuel to give up his goal of conquest/revenge, and 2 XP if they succeed in stopping him one way or another.

PIECES OF MY HEART CHAPTER 13

PIECES OF MY HEART BRIEF SUMMARY An elderly clothing artist named Jovelle knows that she is nearing the end of her life. Reflecting on her past, she remembers Harluu, someone she loved in her youth, and wishes to feel their presence once more before she dies. Jovelle and her creel friend Ardex (who understands the flow of kai) have tamed a living object that will find the creatures alive today who carry the strongest pieces of Harluu’s kai, which are scattered over several locations. By using this living object, the PCs can create a facsimile of Harluu’s presence so Jovelle can reminisce and be at peace with her final weeks of life.

BACKGROUND Jovelle is a well-known artist of Anepus who creates living clothing, including fashionable pieces to display and sell, custom commissions for wealthy clients, and costume elements for plays and parties funded and attended by her influential friends. She has reached her eightieth year and her body has become infirm, but her wits are still sharp. She tries to attend one social event each month, where she is charming and attentive to her friends, colleagues, and old clients, but she lacks the strength to do the work of taming, and she feels that her body is failing and her time in the world is drawing to a close. Her friend and caretaker is a creel named Ardex, an associate from her costume-crafting days. In her long life, Jovelle has had many romantic interests and lovers, but has been in love only twice: once with someone named Harluu when she was in her twenties, and again with her spouse Malm,

who died about a year ago. Her grief for Malm has contributed to her failing health and made her nostalgic for her youthful romance with Harluu. Ardex’s attempts to track down Jovelle’s old flame revealed that Harluu died a decade ago, so he has used his skill at taming to create a living object he calls the Harluu-egg, which can track down strong concentrations of a specific dead person’s kai.

SYNOPSIS “Pieces of My Heart” is a nonlinear adventure. Once the PCs are briefed about their tasks, they can travel to the specific locations (Lanamber, the Monastery of the Word, and Morav) in any order they want and then return to Anepus for the conclusion. Of the three travel locations, Lanamber will involve combat, the Monastery will require performing other side tasks, and Morav will require bartering and negotiation.

GETTING THE PCs INVOLVED If you’re looking for inspiration to get the PCs involved in the story, consider using one or more of the following hooks. Friend: A friend (or other personal contact) of the PCs who is part of high society tells them that a famous tamer of living clothing is looking for assistance in finding something outside of Anepus. Influential Favor: An up-and-coming person of influence in Anepus asks the PCs to help Jovelle in return for a favor to be determined later.

“Pieces of My Heart” is an adventure suitable for a group of tier 1 or 2 PCs who are already on the Liminal Shore. The GM should increase the average level of threats and tasks by one or two steps to accommodate higher-tier PCs. Adventures that have the PCs travel to multiple locations are a good way to give the players a look at various places in the world and opportunities to explore regions they might not otherwise choose to visit. Jovelle: level 2, taming clothing as level 3 This adventure assumes that Jovelle lives in Anepus, but she just as easily could live in any Skin community that is peaceful and has a culture that appreciates artistic taming.

Creel, page 133 Ardex: level 4; health 20; Armor 1; creel abilities (see page 133)

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Traveler: Ardex or another friend of Jovelle’s overhears that the PCs are going to Lanamber, the Monastery of the Word, or Morav, and asks them to talk to Jovelle first, since she has personal business there. When the PCs speak to Jovelle, read or summarize the following information for the players.

GM intrusion: Instead of the healing kai coming from all creatures in the area, it comes from the PC using the egg, inflicting 4 points of damage (ignores Armor) on that character, repeating each round for the rest of the attunement.

READ ALOUD “We are all connected through kai. When a creature on Verse dies, its kai disperses into the environment and is picked up by other creatures. Over time, the person’s kai gets passed on to others. Ardex spoke to masters of kai here in Anepus, and they were able to find places where the remnants of Harluu’s kai are strong. Ardex made this object, the Harluu-egg, to sense kai that used to be Harluu’s, and it can encourage that kai to join with it. I ask that you take the egg to these places and use it to draw in Harluu’s kai, then return to me. I would very much like to feel Harluu’s presence again. And as my days in this world draw to a close, I will die knowing that the feelings in my heart are strong and clear for my two greatest loves.”

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THE HARLUU-EGG The egg is pale green, about the size and shape of a grapefruit, with a herringbone texture and three faint sets of indistinct marks on the sides. When within about an immediate distance of the Harluu kai, a PC must use an action to activate the egg, which will gently draw the kai into it, similar to taking a long inhalation. This takes about a minute, during which time the PC with the egg must use their action to concentrate on it. When the attunement is complete, the egg will end the connection. Attuning the kai in this manner doesn’t harm the creature who has the fragment of Harluu’s kai (although it can feel that something is happening); any imbalance in its kai is replenished nearly instantly from the life around it. Each attunement causes one set of side markings to intensify and turn a golden yellow color, but the significance of the marks isn’t obvious (and may not have a meaning at all). If the PCs are in a hurry to draw kai from the targets, they can speed up this process by attempting a level 4 controlling kai task each round. Each success reduces the attunement time by two rounds (to a minimum of two rounds of attunement overall). This is a more traumatic experience for the creature bearing Harluu’s kai, and it takes 4 points of damage (ignores Armor) on the round of the accelerated attunement; however, because kai still flows to the creature from the living environment, the injured creature heals 4 points of damage on the next round. If the faster attunement happens over several rounds in a row, the creature will heal and take damage on each of those rounds, then finally heal up to full again on the round after the attunement. In any case, the creature probably tries to leave the area, and (if it is weak) might die from the attunement process. (The attunement still works on a dead creature if it happens within a few minutes of its death.)

PIECES OF MY HEART Jovelle offers the PCs 25 muxen each for bringing the fully attuned Harluu-egg to her, or 10 each if they’re only partially successful (with one or two of the locations visited). Ardex describes the creatures and places with Harluu’s kai as follows: • A male human named Ovis the Untouchable in the city of Lanamber. • A small creature known as Yishish that lives near the Monastery of the Word. • A female tikri named Chradis living in the Underhunger city of Morav. (He used a cypher to transmit a message to her, but she has not responded.) The PCs can choose the order in which to perform these attunements. The only limit is Jovelle’s failing health. She thinks she can hang on for a few more months, especially if she knows the PCs will be bringing back Harluu’s kai.

ADVENTURE ENCOUNTERS AND LOCATIONS The three primary locations of the adventure are Lanamber, the Monastery of the Word, and Morav. The GM should read up on these locations elsewhere in this book to become familiar with them. If the GM wants to require more than three attunements, interesting suggestions are someone in the flying city of Nera, one of the emberlings of the Watcher, or a specific landform in just about any part of the world (perhaps one that has a name and reputation among the locals).

LANAMBER This city of creel and humans is a thriving place for trade, but it is best known for its amphitheater where its weekly games and competitions take place. The person the PCs are looking for is Ovis the Untouchable, a popular sportsman and gladiator, and also an effective heel (someone who plays the role of a villain in order to make their opponents look more heroic). He drinks a lot, smokes smelly cigars, is loud, has a foul mouth, and generally goes out of his way to be unlikeable—if the crowd boos him, he’s doing it right. He’s actually a semi-decent fellow who plays up his bad habits to create

a public persona, which of course means he can’t just agree to help out the PCs. He needs to make it difficult for them. Most people in the city can direct the PCs to the general neighborhood where he lives. When they find his home, they see that it has high walls, a gate, and two large thugs in leather armor carrying clubs who don’t let anyone get too close (the guards are mainly there to deter vandals and harassment). If the PCs can convince the thugs they have legitimate business with Ovis, one of them goes to the house to ask him to come out, then returns to his post. Ovis makes them wait nearly half an hour, then walks out with a large flagon in one hand and one of his famous smelly cigars in the other. He’s suspicious of newcomers with strange talk of dead people’s kai and doesn’t let them in, but he’s willing to hear them out. He absolutely won’t agree to just let them attune their egg to his kai (even if they threaten or bribe him). What he really wants is a spectacle—he wants the PCs to face off against him and his team in the amphitheater, he wants it to be a good show, and he wants an opportunity to be “redeemed” and either stop being a heel (eventually taking on a heroic role) or retire at the top of his career. He assures the PCs that these fights are never to the death; people will take hits, and it’ll hurt, but there is no killing, and there are no ranged weapons allowed. Convincing Ovis to let the PCs attune the egg is a hindered task, but he’ll eventually agree to it if they in turn agree to his terms. He’s even willing to incorporate the egg into the show, as if using it on him will purge his “dishonorable kai” and allow him to start a redemption arc. If the PCs make a deal with him, he’ll arrange for the match to be part of the games a few days hence. THE BATTLE On the day of the match, the PCs are escorted through the competitor’s hall and to the arena’s door. They make their entrance first, introduced by the master of ceremonies by name and described as brave visitors from whatever city the PCs claim to be from, which earns a few half-hearted cheers from the audience.

Harluu-egg: level 4

Thug: level 4; Armor 1; club inflicts 5 points of damage

Lanamber, page 52 Monastery of the Word, page 50 Morav, page 70

Nera, page 54 The Watcher, page 60

Ovis the Untouchable: level 5, Speed defense as level 6; Armor 1; damage inflicted 6 points

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Match rules, as explained to the PCs: no killing, no ranged attacks, no cyphers, no dirty fighting, no choking, no eye gouging.

Then the announcer calls for “the rulebreaker . . . the worst of the worst . . . leader of the Sons of Poisoned Smoke . . . the man you love to hate . . . OVIS THE UNTOUCHABLE!” At this point the crowd goes wild in a mix of cheers, boos, hisses, and creel noises. Ovis is accompanied by a number of thugs (like the ones who guard his house) so that his team has the same number of people as the PCs’ team. Each thug is dressed similar to him, and all of them (including Ovis) smoke smelly cigars. Ovis spends about a minute strutting, flexing, pointing at people in the crowd, and making rude gestures at the PCs, before finally directing his thugs to form a line and stand ready to fight, each clenching their cigars in their teeth. Ovis points to the announcer without looking, and when the lead PC does the same, the fight begins.

Ovis and his thugs fight dirty. They’re out to make themselves look like villains, and will have a little sport with the PCs while they’re at it. Use the following as GM intrusions against the PCs during the fight (all of these make the crowd roar with a mix of approval and disgust). The PCs are expected to fight fairly, and if they use any of these dirty tricks, the crowd universally boos them so strongly that the acting PC is demoralized, hindering all their tasks for the rest of the fight. • Hit the character in a sensitive spot, hindering them for the rest of the fight unless they make a Speed defense roll. • Blow cigar smoke in the character’s face, blinding them for one round and hindering them for the next round unless they make a Might defense roll. • Jab at the character’s eyes, with the same effect as cigar smoke. • Throw their weapon and draw a backup, or use a hidden ranged weapon against a character. • Get a hold on the character and start choking them so they can’t do anything except try to break free. A Might- or Speed-based attack roll by the choked character or an ally frees them. • Use a living cypher to attack, confuse, distract, or move the character for one round. • Attack a prone or held opponent (the attack is eased). Of course, Ovis wants to lose, but only if it doesn’t look like he’s throwing the match. If the PCs are doing really poorly, he’ll just have his team finish them off (nonlethally), and the crowd reacts with the same mix of cheers and jeers. But if it seems like the PCs could beat them, his team will play to lose while keeping up the appearance of putting up a good fight. Ovis’s thugs will make sure he is the last man standing (taking the fall for an attack that would hit him, if necessary), and the combined force of the PCs’ attacks will drive him to his knees, at which point he loudly calls out for mercy.

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PIECES OF MY HEART

“And their opponent . . . the rulebreaker . . . the worst of the worst . . . leader of the Sons of Poisoned Smoke . . . the man you love to hate . . . OVIS THE UNTOUCHABLE!” This is the opportunity for the PCs to “finish him” if they think he’s not worth it (he’ll pretend to be knocked out) or to do some theatrics using the Harluu-egg, after which he’ll shake his head as if clearing out bad thoughts, slowly stand up, cast off his costume elements (including spitting out his cigar), then kneel to the PCs for fighting an honorable match. He and his men will limp off the field with their heads high and allow the PCs to bask in the surprised cheers of the crowd. If the PCs win but don’t use the egg as part of the match, Ovis waits for them in a private room in the contender’s hall, thanks them for a good show, and tells them to use their egg. He explains that he can’t be seen with them again, as that might throw some doubt on the legitimacy of the match. If the PCs lose, Ovis refuses to meet or speak with them. One of his thugs tells them that Ovis is disappointed they couldn’t hold up their side of the bargain, and they should stay away from him if they know what’s good for them. Unless the PCs try to sneakily use the egg on him, they’ve failed this task.

MONASTERY OF THE WORD Some of Harluu’s kai is in a creature kept as a pet by one of the religious devotees living at the Monastery of the Word. Whether the PCs travel here overland or by ship, reaching the monastery is relatively simple from a port city like Anepus. Fortunately for the characters, the Followers of the Word allow visitors, especially if said visitors express interest in joining their order or providing goods or services that help the monastery. The number of people living at the monastery is relatively small, so asking if anyone knows of a creature named Yishish gets them sent to a human named Zulig. Zulig is tall and a bit stooped, and most people would consider him ugly, but he

is friendly, has kind eyes, and has a tasm around his wrist that looks like a tattoo of a complicated knot. He is happy to talk to visitors about the purpose of the monastery, but easily changes topics when the PCs explain why they are here. He enjoys the presence of animals and has made friends with many of the local creatures, including one he calls Yishish. Yishish is an orange-furred catlike creature with two broad wings growing out of its back—instead of feathers, these wings are made of overlapping orange and green leaves. (There are a couple of creatures like this in view, resting on high places in the monastery.) Zulig is an agreeable person and says that if the PCs perform a small service for the monastery, and if they promise that attuning to Yishish’s kai won’t hurt, he’ll let them use the Harluu-egg on his pet. Typical services for the monastery are clearing out pests (depending on the skill of the PCs, these may be noxious vermin with a smelly attack or dealing with larger predators, on land or sea, that are making life difficult for the monks) or dealing with the occasional pirate raid. If the PCs happen to arrive when the abbess is organizing one of the yearly pilgrimages to the order’s sacred Word of God site, their service might be to guard the pilgrims and ships on that journey. Once the service is performed, Zulig whistles to call Yishish to him. The creature makes strange noises and playfully bites at him until the man gives it a treat, at which time it calms down and allows him to cradle it like a child. Assuming the PCs use the harmless (slow) attunement process, it goes according to plan. They can remain at the monastery for a while if they wish to study the order’s philosophy; otherwise, Zulig bids them farewell as they head to their next location.

Yishish: level 1; flies a long distance each round

GM intrusion: Yishish is wary of or dislikes something about one of the PCs, and won’t settle down until that character is out of sight or at least a long distance away.

Noxious vermin: level 1; claws or bite inflict 1 point of damage and the target’s actions are hindered for a day due to the chemical stench

Monastery of the Word, page 50

Zulig: level 2, Speed defense as level 3, tasks relating to the liturgy of the Word as level 4

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MORAV Tikri, page 136 Morav, page 70

The GM might want to add one or two encounters during the tunnel trip down to Morav, but one should be non-hostile, such as explorers or a caravan with goods.

The PCs could also offer to pay the family the cost of whatever option they want to provide, but that probably offends the tikri a bit.

Datasphere siphon, page 277

Hrath, page 134 Gorlu, page 72 Chradis, Basaj, and Fint (tikri): level 2; climbing, Speed defense, and taming as level 3; Armor 1 Adolescent tikri boys and girls: level 1 Vonnt, page 130

One remnant of Harluu’s kai lives in a female tikri named Chradis in the Underhunger city of Morav. The most common route to Morav is a long, mostly safe tunnel from a region on the Skin leading downward through Underhunger landforms, ending at the lowest level of the city, which is built into the sides of a subterranean valley. The arriving PCs get some strange looks from the locals (or at least that’s what the inhuman anatomy of the locals seems to express) but no outward hostility. Unfortunately, Morav is a large city, and asking around for Chradis doesn’t reveal any immediate leads. She doesn’t seem to be famous or significant, and nobody the characters speak to even recognize the name. The PCs will have to spend time investigating this lead if they hope to find her, using interaction skills to talk to people on the street who may know where to find her, research to check city records for births or property ownership, and so on, or they can use abilities or items (such as a datasphere siphon) to directly query the environment. Finding Chradis in Morav is a level 6 task, mainly because she isn’t particularly noteworthy, just a common citizen with no special talents (it’s akin to trying to find one specific unremarkable laborer working in a large Steadfast city). Chradis lives in a lower-middle-tier home on the western marl wall with her brothers Basaj and Fint, her adolescent nieces and nephews, and several vonnts related to the entire family at different generations. Although life on Verse is easy (even in the Underhunger), Chradis and her family are on the verge of being poor (for this city and world, at least) due to some illnesses and other misfortunes in the past few years. They are surly, short-tempered, and unaccustomed to dealing with humans or people from the Skin (they use derogatory and borderline-offensive terms for both). Chradis received Ardex’s kai-transmitted message and told her brothers about it, but she doesn’t have the resources to send a response, nor does she have the motivation to answer a creel’s message on behalf of an old human in search of her dead mate. The arrival of the PCs is an anticipated annoyance, especially as she has ripe eggs

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and the family can’t afford to rent an animal for her to implant them in. Because Chradis is uncomfortably full of eggs right now, she spends most of her time reclining on an oddly shaped couch, so one of her brothers (probably Basaj) answers the door. The PCs first need to make a hindered persuasion roll to convince him to let them meet with Chradis, and another hindered persuasion roll to make her willing to talk to them at all. Once the characters have said their piece, Chradis states her price, aiming very high: she wants one of the PCs—preferably the biggest, strongest-looking one—to let her implant her eggs in them (a human host means more grubs survive to emerge). The eggs will soon hatch into grubs, which will eat their way out in a few weeks unless surgically removed, so that PC will need to remain in Morav for a while, agree to return before hatching so she can claim her offspring, or make arrangements for Chradis and an escort to come to where the PC is and claim her grubs there. If the PCs agree to this price, Chradis allows them to attune to her kai with the Harluu-egg. However, it’s likely that the characters refuse her terms. Other options for the PCs include hiring a hrath or human already in Morav to be the grub-host (costing about 20 muxen), buying a local animal called a gorlu for the family to keep (about 12 muxen), or renting a gorlu to gestate her grubs (about 5 muxen). Any of these options will satisfy Chradis, but giving the family a gorlu or arranging a hrath or human host impresses the adult tikri so much that they’re momentarily speechless. Chradis agrees to these terms and says she’ll let them study her kai (as she calls it) once the PCs bring the host to her home. Once they do so, the kai-attunement happens without incident, and Chradis says she would like privacy to implant her eggs. If the PCs use the Harluu-egg on her without her permission, she screams in alarm, and all of the adult tikri in the house attack the characters while the adolescents run outside and call for help, which draws the ire of many other families in the neighborhood. Unless the PCs can bring calm to this situation, they’re likely to be imprisoned or killed.

PIECES OF MY HEART

WRAP-UP Regardless of how successful they are, when the PCs return to Anepus they can report to Jovelle about their progress. If the PCs fail: If the PCs return to Jovelle having failed to attune any of the three kai sites, she looks emotionally crushed with disappointment. If they were gone less than a week, she says she still has time to find someone else to do it; otherwise she resigns herself to not experiencing her love for Harluu at full strength ever again. (Jovelle dies in her sleep about a week later.) If the PCs partially succeed: If the PCs return after attuning only one or two of the three kai remnants that Jovelle wants, she looks sad and disappointed, but says that she knows what she was asking was a difficult challenge. When they offer her the incomplete Harluu-egg, she first insists on paying each of them the 10 muxen she promised. When she takes the egg, she closes her eyes and concentrates on it; the PCs can sense a weak flow of kai from it, but don’t perceive any other manifestation

of its power. Jovelle tells them she can sense Harluu’s kai within it, enough that it reminds her of when they were together, and although it wasn’t what she was hoping for, she accepts it as it is. (Jovelle dies a few weeks later in her sleep.) If the PCs fully succeed: If the PCs return to Jovelle with the fully attuned Harluu-egg, she is appreciative, thankful, and overcome by emotion. Before anything else, she counts out the agreed-upon payment (25 muxen per PC) and pays them. She is hesitant to focus her will on the egg while the characters are present, and unless they say something, her friend Ardex suggests they give her some privacy and starts to steer them toward the front door. The PCs need to make a persuasion roll in order to stay; otherwise Ardex accompanies them outside, closes the door, and thanks them before going off on his own errands. If Jovelle activates the egg in front of the PCs, everyone in the room can feel the flow of kai coming from it, which gradually intensifies over the next few seconds. Then a hazy image of a dark-haired human

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appears above the egg, facing Jovelle. It is impossible for the PCs to make out any other details of this kai-image, but Jovelle acts as if she recognizes the person. The image makes friendly gestures and speaks, and it seems that Jovelle can understand them, but what the PCs hear is muffled and indecipherable. After a minute, Jovelle stops concentrating on the egg, and the image and sounds fade. With tears in her eyes, she speaks to the PCs again.

Marl skin, page 92 Transposing shell, page 95

Jovelle’s tamed clothing: level 2 Mindful robes, page 32

READ ALOUD “My time with Harluu was long ago, and what I could remember of my feelings were like an echo of the truth. But this,” she gestures with the egg, “is like a recording of the love I felt in my youth, vibrant and certain. You have brought happiness and peace to an old woman. As I told you, I will not live much longer. When my time comes to release my kai into the world, I will be ready. Thank you, my friends, for this beautiful gift.” After taking a moment to compose herself, she continues. “I have been giving away many of my possessions to my friends and colleagues, and much of what is left I have promised to others, but I have a few things that you might be interested in.” She gestures at her large closet. “Tamed clothing I made for parties or plays. Please, look at what is there, and each of you take one item that appeals to you.” The closet is as large as a bedroom, and although it holds far less than its capacity, there are still many interesting pieces. Many of these items react to the wearer’s posture, voice, movements, and kai, enhancing one kind of task (listed after the description of the item). The tamed clothing items available are: • Mindful robes (five total, in various colors and living fabrics) • Flamboyant and ridiculous hat with long, brightly colored feathers (entertainment asset) • Long cloak and cowl with a striking pattern of red and black shapes (intimidation asset) • High-collared fancy shirt with gemlike adornments (persuasion asset)

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• Form-fitting one-piece garment with alluring colors and long fringe on the arms and legs (dance asset) • Full-body loose garment with a mottled pattern of grey and brown fine scales (sneaking asset) While the PCs look through her closet, Jovelle leaves for another room and returns with two other items. She says they aren’t clothing, but things that came into her possession for various reasons, and if a PC would rather choose one instead of her tamed clothing, she is happy to oblige them. The items are a marl skin cypher and a transposing shell cypher. In addition to these rewards, the PCs gain a positive reputation in Anepus with the art/fashion community, theatergoers familiar with Jovelle’s work, and her influential friends who have appreciated her creations at their parties and plays. This counts as an asset on any interactions the PCs have with these people, and may lead to other adventures when these wealthy individuals are on the lookout for talented protégés, want an interesting entourage for a public event, or have problems they need solved with skill and violence. Jovelle dies in her sleep about two weeks later. Ardex tells the PCs (either in person if they are still in Anepus, or by kai-transmitted message if they are elsewhere) that when he found her the next morning, she had a smile on her face and was holding the Harluu-egg, and that he is very appreciative of their help.

XP AWARDS Each PC earns 1 experience point (XP) for each source they attune the Harluu-egg to, 1 XP for not harming or killing anything using the egg, and 1 XP for presenting the egg (whether completely attuned or not) to Jovelle so she can bask in the memories of her old love.