Last Haven: A setting formed on a titan's corpse

[Sam113097]

There are two ways to deal with this.

The "civilized" races have developed the magic of the threshold and hearth. They ring their settlements with magic that keeps the night out. And, they use fertility magic to make their crops and food animals grow fast, using less land. This requires tapping into ley lines, especially at junctions, so carpeting the world with such settlements doesn't work well.

That's exactly what I am plaaning on, thanks for mentioning it! I'm sort of leaning towards using magic to maintain a somewhat-higher tech level; prior to the Downfall, this world had a high level of magical technology, probably more advanced than real-life present-day tech. Now, they’ve lost quite a bit, but the magical glyphs that weren’t lost make some facets of everyday life easier (like refrigeration, hygiene, and construction), so it’s not a full-blown Dark Age. I think that magic being so prevalent in this world has made surviving in small compact areas more feasible.

The "wild" races have worked out pacts with the "monsters" of the night and wild. They live under the protection of some allied primal, fey, or shadow spirit, whose wandering they follow, and whose territory they can inhabit.

I like that! I think that the only "wild" race that I have right now is the Forest Orcs, which could definitely be allied with some primal spirits or Light Fey! Other monster races, like gnolls and grungs, will be former animals mutated by the Dark Fey

[Yakk]

The path of "town" and "wild" races can get you to avoid the "good cities/evil barbarians" tired old trope without falling into the "proud native".

The world is full of magic, which makes it very dangerous.

The town people have found one solution -- the magic of Hearth and Fertility. The wild people have found another.

[Sam113097]

The path of "town" and "wild" races can get you to avoid the "good cities/evil barbarians" tired old trope without falling into the "proud native".

The world is full of magic, which makes it very dangerous.

The town people have found one solution -- the magic of Hearth and Fertility. The wild people have found another.

I really like that! You need some sort of help to survive in this world, no matter what- the townsfolk use glyphs and arcane magic, while the wild folks use more druid/nature magic.

I've also finished my write up for another town! I tried to make some interesting quest hooks and relationships to throw in:


Grayarbor Town
Grayarbor is one of the largest settlements in Last Haven, though that isn’t saying much; the town of about one thousand inhabitants sits on the southwest edge of Central Island. Grayarbor is situated by the seaside in the foothills of the Six Pinnacles, nestled among the pines of Southridge Woods. It is home to a number of Rock Dwarves that work terrace farms built into the hills around town, and produces a large quantity of lumber from Southridge Woods. Grayarbor is widely known for two things: the Lawkeeper Academy, where Last Haven’s Lawkeepers are trained by a resident Iron Marshal, and the Agate Library, a shrine to the Earth Keeper that houses a great deal of knowledge about magic and glyph-carving. The town is considered Last Haven’s center of learning.

Map

Spoiler: Town Layout

Show

Places

Spoiler: Map Locations

Show

1. Pestle and Mortar: On the west side of Grayarbor, near the Agate Library, Maliel Springbow runs a small apothecary called Pestle and Mortar. The shop is a cluttered two-story stone building sandwiched between houses, with an intricately carved wooden door showing a pestle and mortar with a number of alchemical ingredients. The air is filled with strange scents, and the entire shop is a mess of hanging herbs and jars full of monster parts. Maliel’s connection with the hag Bruha makes her a particularly capable potionmaker.
2. The Agate Library: This sizable edifice of rough gray stone began as a simple shrine to the Earth Keeper built at Grayarbor’s foundation. In the centuries since then, Disciples of the Ancient God of secrets have stockpiled a significant collection of glyphs and magical knowledge, and the shrine has become the center of a large, red-stone-roofed library. Disciple Amethar Highwall administers the Agate Library and its scholars, often requiring non-Disciples to complete tasks in exchange for access to the knowledge within. A large statue of Bahr the Blind sits in the square in front of the Library.
3. Storm’s Rest Inn: A fine new inn constructed of fieldstone and strong timber, the Storm’s Rest stands just by the quays on the southern side of Grayarbor. Merchants from Abeza or Ombro Village make up the clientele, along with travelers who happen to be passing through. The Storm’s Rest boasts a lively bar stocked with fine Beach Dwarf Rum and its specialty, Marcrest Ale, which is popular with the folks that live in the terrace farms on the outskirts of town. The proprietor is a charming Sea Elf named Erandil Marcrest, who showed up in Grayarbor about two years ago and paid to have the Storm’s Rest built.
4. The Market Green: This cluster of shops and market stalls centers around a grassy meadow in front of the Lawkeeper Academy, where Grayarbor’s merchants and visiting traders do business in good weather. Among the most prominent vendors in the Market Green are Willet Highpass, a Rock Dwarf with a relentlessly positive attitude that sells textiles made from the wool of the llamas that he keeps in the hills above Grayarbor, and Lissa Hasnean, a Fire Genasi that sells treats like candied chestnuts and chokecherry tarts. It is also the site of a small court used for training fights by the Lawkeepers.
5. Lawkeeper Academy: Lawkeepers are trained in this stout keep before being dispatched throughout Last Haven under the direction of the Iron Marshals. The Academy houses only a dozen or so students at a time, selected by Last Haven’s existing Lawkeepers to protect the archipelago’s towns. The Academy is run by an experienced Storm Elf Lawkeeper named Savion Fleetrain, a wily veteran who goes on and on about “constant vigilance.” The resident Iron Marshal, an old Rock Dwarf named Rolan the Stout, is currently missing. The Academy’s hold also houses Grayarbor’s local Lawkeepers, led by Alistair Barrow, who also governs the town.
6. The Tombwood: A large thicket of the Southridge Woods has been left standing since Grayarbor’s founding as a hallowed place to bury their dead. It is watched over by a crotchety old Forest Orc groundskeeper named Karth. The Tombwood is a lichen-covered maze of tombstones, old pines, and the occasional well-kept stone crypt, and often serves as a secluded meeting place. Karth is highly superstitious, and has set up talismans to keep Fey away from the Tombwood.
7. Valeria’s Forge: This open workshop houses a number of furnaces and workbenches that belong to Valeria Dunn. The skilled smith supplies the Lawkeeper Academy and the rest of Grayarbor with arms and other metal instruments. She is a garrulous old Rock Dwarf who spends her time trading stories with her customers while her several apprentices (two of whom are her sons, Valen and Rigg) do the work. This gives some the impression that Valeria does little, but she is, in fact, a master armorer, and her apprentices turn out work of exceptional quality under her tutelage. Valeria’s Forge has in stock (or can soon manufacture) just about any weapon or armor, although he advises beginners to try a hammer: “If you can drive a nail, you can kill a gnoll! You can drive a nail, can’t you?”
8. Halfmoon Trading Co.: The Halfmoon family is a large, far-flung clan of Wind Elves who keep small trading posts in several settlements throughout the islands. This is the largest and most important of those establishments. It’s under the care of Selah Halfmoon, a friendly blue-skinned elf who dispenses a never-ending stream of advice to her customers. No one knows what she’s talking about most of the time, but Selah is cleverer than he lets on and keeps a close eye on events all around the town. The Halfmoon Trading House is an excellent place to buy mundane tools, gear, supplies, or clothing.
9. Azaer Artifacts: This well-maintained glyphcarver’s shop, a fine stone building on the raised stone square near the southeast edge of Grayarbor, is owned by the tiefling Amara Azaer. She makes glyphs and also sells some minor pre-Downfall artifacts, sent to her by her brother Aldo, who sends unneeded items from the Relic Institute on occasion. Amara Azaer is at odds with the leadership of the Agate Library, where she was once a Disciple. Though fairly young, the tiefling is quite sharp and doesn’t miss an opportunity for profit in running the Azaer business.
10. The Quays This jumble of docks, warehouses, and wooden houses, full of fishermen and merchant’s homes, is often bustling with activity with ships headed to Sandside Village and the Island of Abeza. However, the Quays of Grayarbor also contain the entrance to a secret Jack hideout run by a sleazy human fence named Arias Vincent. It also frequently serves as the base of operations for a vicious smuggler known as the Jack of Blades.

People:

Spoiler: Grayarbor Townsfolk

Show

Lawkeeper: Alistair Barrow
Appearance: Short, broad-shouldered human man with brown skin, a curly close-cropped black beard, and a well-kept blue Lawkeeper’s coat
Abilities: Warrior- Attacker
Personality: Alistair tends to be fairly laid-back, perhaps because he knows that he always has backup from the Lawkeeper Academy; some folks think that he jokes a bit too much
Goal: Keep the peace and make sure that the Iron Marshals do not discover his connection the the Jacks
Bond: He was trained by Savion Fleetrain, and he has great respect for the old Elf; he also has a wife named Sarrae that works at the Academy
Flaw: Alistair Barrow is fully aware of the Jack hideout in the Quays; he has been bought off by the Jack of Blades and allows the smuggling to continue

Disciple: Amethar Highwall
Appearance: An auburn-haired rock dwarf with pale, marble-like skin and a beard braided with red stone beads; he wears a fine maroon coat with the emblem of the Earth Keeper
Abilities: 2nd Level Arcana Cleric
Personality: Amethar is as stubborn as they come; he is slow to trust, but his love of knowledge occasionally shines through when he is speaking of his scholarly interests
Goal: He wants to add more Pre-Downfall technology to the library, with the hopes of learning to replicate it
Bond: Amethar is highly protective of the Disciples at the Library; though she does not know it, he still watches out for Amara Azaer after she abandoned Discipleship.
Flaw: He is set in his ways; the Agate Library only allows Disciples to study there, and Amethar stubbornly continues the tradition

Glyphcarver: Amara Azaer
Appearance: Thin tiefling woman with lavender skin, black hair, and dark purple horn; she wears a practical sage green tunic with many pouches holding components, glyphstones, and tools
Abilities: 2nd Level Artificer
Personality: Amara is feisty, quick to hold a grudge, and often sharp with people, but she genuinely enjoys helping others.
Goal: Amara wants to prove the Agate Library wrong and make glyphstone magic and technology more accessible to the people of Grayarbor
Bond: Her brother Aldo is the head of the Relic Institute; Amara works closely with him, often selling artifacts recovered by him or finding potential Institute members.
Flaw: She was once an apprentice Disciple at the Agate Library; her frustration at their unwillingness to share information caused her to leave, and she now holds a grudge against all Disciples

Shopkeeper: Selah Halfmoon
Appearance: Wispy blue-skinned Storm Elf with dark green hair and pointed features; her clothing is well-made and appears expensive
Abilities: Commoner
Personality: Selah is, on the surface, outgoing and friendly; however, she uses the information she gathers shrewdly to benefit her merchant company.
Goal: Selah wants the Halfmoon Trading Co. to prosper, and is in favor of any measure that makes Last Haven safer for merchants
Bond: Selah is the matriarch of the large Halfmoon family. She cares deeply for her daughters, Dathi and Orenni
Flaw: Selah wants stability so much that she is leaning towards using her resources to support the Firebrands

Apothecary: Maliel Springbow
Appearance: A youthful-looking Forest Orc with intricately-braided hair, a grubby gray coat with many pouches and satchels for ingredients, and an iron ring given to her by Bruha
Abilities: 3rd Level Pact of the Tome Fey Warlock
Personality: Maliel is outgoing, friendly, and quick to help, but if you cross her, she will find a way to put you in Bruha’s grasp
Goal: Earn her freedom from Bruha by providing her with more victims
Bond: Maliel stumbled upon the hag Bruha in Southridge Woods and was tricked into a Pact; she now acts as the hag’s servant; despite this, she is friendly with the unsupsecting Disciples of Grayarbor, who often work with her
Flaw: She tries to rationalize her actions by telling herself that those she leads to Bruha are deserving of their fate

Blacksmith: Valeria Dunn
Valeria is a Rock Dwarf with skin like black onyx and gray hair pulled into a practical bun, and usually wears a heavy leather apron and smith’s tunic. She has run a forge in the center of Grayarbor for decades, and though her sons Valen and Rigg now run the day-to-day operations, she is still a master smith whose craftsmanship is well-known in Last Haven.

Instructor: Savion Fleetrain
A Storm Elf with dark blue skin and long gray-blue hair, easily distinguishable by his Lawkeeper’s jacket and the vicious scar that runs through the left side of his face; Savion walks with a limp from one of his old wounds as he instructs his apprentices at the Lawkeeper Academy.

Innkeeper: Erandil Marcrest
Erandil is a youthful Sea Elf with a turquoise complexion and dark green hair that owns the Storm’s Rest. He is quick to joke and generally well-liked by his patrons; he is a former leader of the Jacks, once called the “Jack of Storms,” that is trying to leave piracy behind.

Groundskeeper: Karth
Karth is an old, irritable Forest Orc whose shaggy hair is intertwined with still-leafy branches that wears a number of wooden talismans and symbols to ward off the Fey. He knows a great deal about the Feywild, and claims to have visited it years ago.

Smuggler: Arias Vincent
A bronze-skinned, bald young man with a flashy smile that started out as a street urchin in Grayarbor before working his way up as a fence for Jack smugglers in the Quays; Arias dresses in fine clothes to look respectable and has contacts with the Levant, Halfmoon, and Bravestone trading companies.

[Yakk]

Ah, with 3 kinds of magic -- Primal, Arcane and Divine -- we can divide it up.

Primal is the magic the "wild" people use to survive/be safe from the hazards of the world.

Arcane is the magic the "town" people use to survive/be safe from the hazards of the world. The biggest part is the magic of the Hearth -- which requires that you live there -- and the magic of the Wall (which requires guards) and Road (which only works while travelling).

Divine magic, on the other hand, it mostly constrained to churches and shrines. Shrines along roads are "safe" from the dangers of the world because of the (possibly small) god who protects it.

So shrines act as points of safety in the wilderness or when traveling. Properly sacrificing to the shrine is important if you want it to keep you safe.

[micahaphone]

I like this concept! I've seen a somewhat similar thing, of "The Mind Mine", where miners are extracting thoughts and emotions from an long buried creature

https://markerslinger.tumblr.com/pos...is-up-you-guys

Spoiler: first page preview

Show

full document pwyw
https://gumroad.com/markerslinger#umQq






edit:
one minor spelling suggestion, for Tieflings in the races section, you wrote "The Dark Fey may try to influence its host, causing many of Last Haven’s inhabitants to be weary of them." and I believe you meant "wary of them"

[Sam113097]

Shrines along roads are "safe" from the dangers of the world because of the (possibly small) god who protects it.

So shrines act as points of safety in the wilderness or when traveling. Properly sacrificing to the shrine is important if you want it to keep you safe.

I like that idea! Thanks so much for your comment! I think that little shrines/cairns with associated Light Fey could be the safest places to rest in travel between villages, but you would need to make sure to make some Religion checks to ensure that you bring the right items to offer.

I like this concept! I've seen a somewhat similar thing, of "The Mind Mine", where miners are extracting thoughts and emotions from an long buried creature

https://markerslinger.tumblr.com/pos...is-up-you-guys

Spoiler: first page preview

Show

edit:
one minor spelling suggestion, for Tieflings in the races section, you wrote "The Dark Fey may try to influence its host, causing many of Last Haven’s inhabitants to be weary of them." and I believe you meant "wary of them"

That looks amazing! I had seen that before but hadn't been able to find it again, so I really appreciate the link! I think that I will implement something like that under Abeza Town, which I am writing up now- perhaps the thoughts/nightmares of those that delve too closely to the Judge's "brain" might start to manifest in reality due to the leaking magic? Also, thanks for the correction!

[Cluedrew]

This setting makes me wonder what I have missed since the "Let's build a setting" days.

Anyways I think one of the biggest issues with this setting is that you are trying to cram a lot into a very small space. And a lot of variety into very few people. Like the entire population of this setting is small enough that "generic drift" might become an issue and that is before you factor in that it grew from 10th of the current population and has... a lot of races in it (I haven't kept up so I don't know exactly).

My suggestion to fix that that if the parents are of different races than the child is (mostly) of one of the races. So there might not be a pure-blooded orc left in the setting but there are still people with mostly orcish traits.

Also if you expand the setting I think the other broken robots of other (non-humanoid) designs would be cool. To the north-west is a giant island formed from the wings of a bird. To the east is a scorpion whos broken tail forms a great mountain. But that is for another day.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Anyways I think one of the biggest issues with this setting is that you are trying to cram a lot into a very small space.

It might be worthwhile to make it so rather than crashing in open ocean, the Titan landed on another large island. This of course smashed the part beneath it, and water flowed in to surround the gigantic corpse, but around it there are still decent sized chunks of land.

Kind of like Krakatoa, only with an island/colossus in the center instead of a young mountain.

Spoiler: Krakatoa

Show

Alternatively, you could get much the same effect by saying the Titan landing literally cracked the tectonic plate, causing several volcanoes to form on the seabed around its impact point - which over the next thousand years have grown into child islands around the corpse. Disclaimer: I have no idea how geologically feasible that is.

[titlebreaker]

What I find most evocative in this setting is your description of the possible dungeons within the Titan's corpse. With the spear having turned some things to nature, lava getting in, water getting in, etc. you're giving DMs a ton of creative space to work with! In my mind I keep thinking back to Hyper Light Drifter, a lot of visuals from that game affect how I visualize these dungeons.

You mentioned that adventurers might find magic items here. And now it's looking like they'll encounter fiends in various stages of imprisonment, I love it. My question is, why would there be usable magic items inside the Titan? Of course there would be magical mechanisms and power sources, but what makes them usable by PCs?

I suggest that people would have been stationed inside the Titan as "crew," and were part of its operation. Now if they directly controlled the Titan that'd just be cheesy, like Power Rangers, so I wouldn't go that far. Perhaps their tasks would be maintenance related. Maybe if you left it open just what kinds of tasks the "crew" took on, you could give DMs creative space to have "Mind Mines," prisons (I'm thinking of the Death Star,) research complexes, etc. And naturally you'd have a plausible explanation for usable magic items lying around.

[Sam113097]

This setting makes me wonder what I have missed since the "Let's build a setting" days.

Anyways I think one of the biggest issues with this setting is that you are trying to cram a lot into a very small space. And a lot of variety into very few people. Like the entire population of this setting is small enough that "generic drift" might become an issue and that is before you factor in that it grew from 10th of the current population and has... a lot of races in it (I haven't kept up so I don't know exactly).

My suggestion to fix that that if the parents are of different races than the child is (mostly) of one of the races. So there might not be a pure-blooded orc left in the setting but there are still people with mostly orcish traits.

Thank you for the comment, I really appreciate comments that help me approach the world from different angles! As of now, I have 4 core races (humans, elves, dwarves, and elves) broken down into 8 total subraces. Other "unique" races, like genasi, tieflings, and aasimar, are not their own unique populations and are magically-altered members of the core races. I think that 10,000+ plus inhabitants should be enough to have a stable population of the four races, as I think that different subraces of dwarves, orcs, etc. can definitely intermarry.

It might be worthwhile to make it so rather than crashing in open ocean, the Titan landed on another large island. This of course smashed the part beneath it, and water flowed in to surround the gigantic corpse, but around it there are still decent sized chunks of land...
Alternatively, you could get much the same effect by saying the Titan landing literally cracked the tectonic plate, causing several volcanoes to form on the seabed around its impact point - which over the next thousand years have grown into child islands around the corpse. Disclaimer: I have no idea how geologically feasible that is.

Oooh, interesting! I think that the survivors of the Downfall found Last Haven pretty soon after the Judge was destroyed; I am just chalking the rapid formation of a natural environment that obscures the Judge's true nature to the magic of the Living Wild- it's not geologically realistic at all but this is a very magical world. I do really like the idea of cracked tectonic plates though and emergent volcanoes! I think that Mano Rock and perhaps the destroyed town of Fore have volcanic activity in them!

What I find most evocative in this setting is your description of the possible dungeons within the Titan's corpse. With the spear having turned some things to nature, lava getting in, water getting in, etc. you're giving DMs a ton of creative space to work with! In my mind I keep thinking back to Hyper Light Drifter, a lot of visuals from that game affect how I visualize these dungeons.

You mentioned that adventurers might find magic items here. And now it's looking like they'll encounter fiends in various stages of imprisonment, I love it. My question is, why would there be usable magic items inside the Titan? Of course there would be magical mechanisms and power sources, but what makes them usable by PCs?

I suggest that people would have been stationed inside the Titan as "crew," and were part of its operation. Now if they directly controlled the Titan that'd just be cheesy, like Power Rangers, so I wouldn't go that far. Perhaps their tasks would be maintenance related. Maybe if you left it open just what kinds of tasks the "crew" took on, you could give DMs creative space to have "Mind Mines," prisons (I'm thinking of the Death Star,) research complexes, etc. And naturally you'd have a plausible explanation for usable magic items lying around.

I love Hyper Light Drifter! I'm glad my descriptions have evoked that feel, that's sort of what I'm going for. I definitely think that there was some sort of crew within the Judge; I'm currently running a D&D 5e game in Last Haven, and the players (who recently figured out that the islands are on top of a Judge, which was awesome for me as a DM having hinted at it for months) have been in a pair of dungeons within it; one was more well-preserved and had a powerful trapped Dark Fey within it, while another was overgrown and wrecked by roots, vines, and an unnaturally quick-eroding river. They found the dead corpses of engineers with items like a set of "hard light" armor (used for dealing with dangerous maintenance), an energy knife (used to quickly carve and repair glyphs), and a number of glyph schematics (spell scrolls). I fully agree that there was a crew; now is need to decide... who built/piloted this thing?

[titlebreaker]

I really enjoyed that game! Super bleak, though. I like your emphasis on healing and rebuilding.

Oooh, interesting! I think that the survivors of the Downfall found Last Haven pretty soon after the Judge was destroyed; I am just chalking the rapid formation of a natural environment that obscures the Judge's true nature to the magic of the Living Wild- it's not geologically realistic at all but this is a very magical world. I do really like the idea of cracked tectonic plates though and emergent volcanoes! I think that Mano Rock and perhaps the destroyed town of Fore have volcanic activity in them!

In your first post you mentioned: "In desperation, the Living Wild created a weapon, an enormous spear made of the god’s own essence that crackled with primordial magic." That piqued my attention. So for the Living Wild to break off a chunk of its own essence was an act of desperation, the makes sense. And this essence was so potent that it enacted a kind of rapid transmutation of a geographical level. I feel like there's potential when defining how this kind of "essence" works, and how it can be used by gods... and perhaps people?

I love Hyper Light Drifter! I'm glad my descriptions have evoked that feel, that's sort of what I'm going for. I definitely think that there was some sort of crew within the Judge; I'm currently running a D&D 5e game in Last Haven, and the players (who recently figured out that the islands are on top of a Judge, which was awesome for me as a DM having hinted at it for months) have been in a pair of dungeons within it; one was more well-preserved and had a powerful trapped Dark Fey within it, while another was overgrown and wrecked by roots, vines, and an unnaturally quick-eroding river. They found the dead corpses of engineers with items like a set of "hard light" armor (used for dealing with dangerous maintenance), an energy knife (used to quickly carve and repair glyphs), and a number of glyph schematics (spell scrolls). I fully agree that there was a crew; now is need to decide... who built/piloted this thing?

I'm curious, what are some distinctions between how you represented Last Haven to your players vs the factual approach in this thread? I imagine that if I joined a campaign and saw a world map that looked like a dude, then my character encountered a farmer who speculated that we were on the corpse of a Titan, I wouldn't be surprised when it was confirmed. I'm sure your players are savvy people, though, so that's why I'm curious.

What makes the distinction between whether one part of the Titan is overgrown, and what part is preserved? Is it just based on environmental factors, like which parts of a mountain have trees and which parts don't? Personally, I tend to be maybe 25% technical and 75% "A wizard did it," but of course everyone's at a different point on that scale. Perhaps there could be "veins" of naturalization, with the edges being more mixed, but even the preserved areas have at least some overgrowth.

I like how you encode sci-fi elements as fantasy elements. In a way, maybe the "naturalizing" magic of the Living Wild's essence can push things in the opposite direction? So a suit of hard light armor might be naturalized into a literal medieval +1 mail armor. But when the PCs get into more well-preserved areas, the magic items they find are more likely to be hard light armor that is what it is. But then we might be drawing too much attention to the meta... Still, I like the idea that a hologram room with a replicator could be naturalized into a cottage with a bunch of blank canvases, and next to one of them are Marvolo's Marvelous Pigments

I'm kinda taking your reference to "essence" and running with it, so take this with a grain of salt. What if the Titans were built using essence? Where it came from and how people managed to harness would be its own story. But it helps smooth over the sheer magnitude of the construction project, of building an automaton with a head that reaches into the stratosphere. Perhaps something between "100% essence" and "100% construction?"

What if essence that was used to build the Titans came from a source outside of the Ancient Gods? Or what if said essence was just less ancient, and posed a threat to the most ancient? I'd imagine they'd want to put a stop to that. But what if they couldn't do it themselves? What if even trying to do so would cause said essence to threaten them? "Perhaps it's time to involve those mortals, they've been doing some interesting things. But how to get them to stop the invasive essences? Say, Earth Keeper, ya think they might be able to handle Glyphs at this point? You might want to reach out."

One last minor idea: what if all of the researchers died and any new development was done by Underdark people who found the wreckage? I know you don't want to go full kitchen sink. Maybe some researchers survived, but also there were invaders? Just an idea.

[Sam113097]

In your first post you mentioned: "In desperation, the Living Wild created a weapon, an enormous spear made of the god’s own essence that crackled with primordial magic." That piqued my attention. So for the Living Wild to break off a chunk of its own essence was an act of desperation, the makes sense. And this essence was so potent that it enacted a kind of rapid transmutation of a geographical level. I feel like there's potential when defining how this kind of "essence" works, and how it can be used by gods... and perhaps people?

Yes! the Spear of the Living Wild is still embedded deep within the Judge's chest. One of the things I have been working with as part of the campaign I run in Last Haven is the Spearbound Foe, an extremely powerful Dark Fey that was the primary power source of the Judge, has been pinned by the essence spearhead deep beneath Pinnacle Lake. Servants of the Spearbound Foe have managed to take tiny slivers of the spearhead (at great cost- I think coming into contact with the spear, even via a tool, causes mortals to rapidly be overcome by plants or other nature magic and die) and create a few dangerous weapons out of the shards. I am open to ideas for more applications for the essence as well!

I'm curious, what are some distinctions between how you represented Last Haven to your players vs the factual approach in this thread? I imagine that if I joined a campaign and saw a world map that looked like a dude, then my character encountered a farmer who speculated that we were on the corpse of a Titan, I wouldn't be surprised when it was confirmed. I'm sure your players are savvy people, though, so that's why I'm curious.

I did edit out a lot of the factual information presented here in the world intro I gave them, but I was honestly surprised that no one connected the shape of the map to the Judge; they've pursued a more political/social story line and hadn't interacted with a ton of the NPCs that would hint toward the nature of Last Haven until they entered their second dungeon, which is when they figured things out. I do know that one player figured it out prior to the reveal and messaged me about his theories about it. I had hinted that the root systems/erosion overtaking the first dungeon they explored were unnatural, and the second one was centered around capturing small Dark Fey that had gotten loose in the tunnels and using them to activate giant gears to open up new sections; they found dead engineers and functioning glyphbot sentries in the second dungeon, (within one of the Pinnacle mountains, part of the Judge's chest) and that's where the Artificer put it all together.

I'm kinda taking your reference to "essence" and running with it, so take this with a grain of salt. What if the Titans were built using essence? Where it came from and how people managed to harness would be its own story. But it helps smooth over the sheer magnitude of the construction project, of building an automaton with a head that reaches into the stratosphere. Perhaps something between "100% essence" and "100% construction?"

What if essence that was used to build the Titans came from a source outside of the Ancient Gods? Or what if said essence was just less ancient, and posed a threat to the most ancient? I'd imagine they'd want to put a stop to that. But what if they couldn't do it themselves? What if even trying to do so would cause said essence to threaten them? "Perhaps it's time to involve those mortals, they've been doing some interesting things. But how to get them to stop the invasive essences? Say, Earth Keeper, ya think they might be able to handle Glyphs at this point? You might want to reach out."

One last minor idea: what if all of the researchers died and any new development was done by Underdark people who found the wreckage? I know you don't want to go full kitchen sink. Maybe some researchers survived, but also there were invaders? Just an idea.

That's an interesting idea- I like the thought of glyphs being given to mortals as a stopgap as the Ancient Gods saw mortals advancing in technology and self sufficienct! That's one question I still need to fully answer: who built the Judge and how- so far, I know the why (prevent Judgement Day/wrath of the Ancient Gods) and the power source (trapped Fey spirits) but I still need to come up with the identity of the person or group that put these titans together. I am open to suggestions!

As far as the Underdark goes, I had figured that the interior of the Judge, with volcanic, flooded, overgrown, and magically-irradiated sections, could function as the Underdark does in normal D&D settings, but I think that having some sort of intelligent life still hanging on deep within it could be super interesting.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

That's one question I still need to fully answer: who built the Judge and how- so far, I know the why (prevent Judgement Day/wrath of the Ancient Gods) and the power source (trapped Fey spirits) but I still need to come up with the identity of the person or group that put these titans together. I am open to suggestions!

Hmm, one storyline I'm partial to is there being one good god (or at least pro-mortal god) that turned against its fellows, aiding the mortals come Judgment Day. Perhaps a god of Technology or Machines, or something simpler like Innovation, or Spirit. One god couldn't stand against five on its own, so instead it armed the mortals, giving them the secrets of crafting the Titans and binding the Dark Fey to power them. Perhaps this god was lost, destroyed on Judgment Day in the war against its kin or beforehand when they discovered its treachery. Perhaps it slumbers like the others. Perhaps it creating the Titans out of its own essence, splitting itself into pieces, sacrificing its existence as a singular, thinking entity in order to give the mortals a fighting chance at survival.

Mostly just spit-balling here, honestly.

[Sam113097]

Hmm, one storyline I'm partial to is there being one good god (or at least pro-mortal god) that turned against its fellows, aiding the mortals come Judgment Day. Perhaps a god of Technology or Machines, or something simpler like Innovation, or Spirit. One god couldn't stand against five on its own, so instead it armed the mortals, giving them the secrets of crafting the Titans and binding the Dark Fey to power them. Perhaps this god was lost, destroyed on Judgment Day in the war against its kin or beforehand when they discovered its treachery. Perhaps it slumbers like the others. Perhaps it creating the Titans out of its own essence, splitting itself into pieces, sacrificing its existence as a singular, thinking entity in order to give the mortals a fighting chance at survival.

Mostly just spit-balling here, honestly.

I am on board - one of the ideas for Warlock Patrons that I think I mentioned previously was the Sixth Spirit, the oldest of the Fey and the first spirit to form after the Ancient Gods began to create the planet. I have previously established that the Judges were powered by trapped Fey, with a particularly-powerful Dark one held in the center of Last Haven's Judge.

I think that the Sixth Spirit may have helped the mortals get ready for Judgement Day, warning them that the Ancient Gods planned to wipe mortals out, and provided a divine "spark" that allowed the Judges to go toe-to-toe with gods. The Sixth Spirit still exists, I think, but severely drained/de-powered. I still think that a mortal element is something I want to include - I know that the Judges had a crew of humanoid engineers, and I am thinking that ultra-powerful mages piloted each one. Perhaps the "Engineers" were some kind of combinations of glyphbots and liches, keeping themselves alive for centuries in order to build the Judges.