Kingdom Under the Sun (Setting Brainstorm)

[Catullus64]

I'm cooking up a new setting, meant to be broadly compatible with D&D 5e, in the Planetary Romance genre. for the curious, this term refers to worlds involving travel to distant planets, often in the future, but with the scientific elements downplayed in favor of soft-science or outright mysticism. Stuff like Flash Gordon, John Carter, Adam Strange, etc. Enjoy reading my current brainstorming notes, and let me know if you have suggestions, comments, or questions!

Spoiler: The Cosmos

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The known universe is a great sphere of aether floating in the vast waters of the firmament. These waters flow in rivers through the space between the planets, and provide highways for interplanetary travel.

At the center of the universe is Earth, home of mankind, the only celestial body that is fixed and unmoving. Orbiting earth in concentric rings are the Ten Planets: Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.

Each planet is named for its god, or perhaps the god is named for the planet. These gods are alien beings of immense power and great antiquity, who are believed to have come from beyond the very stars to settle here. Not all of the gods are still alive, or present on their homeworld, however. Only Earth neither has a god, nor shows evidence of ever having had one.

Beyond the boundary of the celestial sphere, in the swirling firmament through which the light of the stars dimly shines, formless things swim along the edges of reality, prowling, awaiting their chance to challenge the weakening gods of the planets, and devour their pitiful followers...

Spoiler: Earth and the Kingdom Under the Sun

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The humans, originating from Earth, rule the mightiest kingdom among the stars. Humanity underwent societal and technological collapse over millennia since the real-world present day. A new boom of civilization and progress emerged when travelers from Mercury came to earth. From these travelers, the humans learned much new science and lore of the universe, most important of which was the making of spacefaring ships. Over the course of two centuries, the humans then proceeded to colonize and conquer (as is their wont) all the planets inside the orbit of the sun (the titular Kingdom Under the Sun), halting their conquest only when challenged by the equally-bellicose Martians.

Earth itself is a loose confederacy of 30 various republics, kingdoms, and principalities. (Other nations outside these powers exist, but lack a say in interplanetary politics.) These thirty powers, as well as the Dukes of Moon, Mercury, and Venus, elect from amongst their rulers the King of All the Earth, who nominally rules the whole Kingdom Under the Sun from the capital metropolis of Meksiko. However, the Dukes who rule the planetary provinces, descendants of the military commanders who originally conquered them, are essentially independent rulers whose power and influence surpass the king's, and they exert an outsized influence on the elections. While the nations of earth have varied forms of government, the planets have systems of vassalage and manorialism radiating downwards from the Dukes.

Worship of Sol, the god who dwells in the sun, is the dominant religious tradition of earth; it syncretizes many key elements of the old religions of Earth. The King of All the Earth is the head of this religion.

Moon is an icy and inhospitable planet, but is very rich in mineral resources. It is home to no native civilizations, but many savage creatures such as the moon-wolves and the arachnid-men. It was the first planet conquered by humans. In a display of rampant aggression, the humans killed the goddess Moon during their conquest, though it is whispered that she may have left a clutch of eggs buried somewhere beneath the planet surface. The Dukes of Moon are proud, honorable, and hawkish, ever agitating for greater unity and central power in the kingdom (under their leadership, of course) for the sake of military expansion.

Mercury is of similar climate to earth, though hotter and drier on the whole. Mercurians stand about one meter in height, with thick fur along their backs and arms, and opposable toes as well as hands. They are nimble, cunning, and have a notoriously fierce immune system. Hermione, an ancient Mercurian city, is the largest spaceport and trade hub Under the Sun. The Dukes of Mercury, who have made the conquered port their home, have grown exceedingly rich through trade, especially since peace with Mars has opened up more opportunities for long-distance space trade. The planet also possesses the element Mercury, which is used for powering spaceships as well as fueling other mystic sciences. The substance must be processed on the planet to be useful, however. If it leaves the planet without special processing, it degrades and becomes just like real-life Mercury. The god Mercury vanished well before human contact, though some Mercurians still worship his memory in secret.

Venus is warm, humid, and abundant with vegetation. Venusians are much like humans in many respects of appearance, but they have pointed ears, birdlike hips, double-jointed knees, and solid black eyes. Venus, being a fickle goddess, betrayed her people to the human invaders, who adopted the worship of her in turn. As the only living & active god Under the Sun, she has made the planet of Venus an agricultural paradise, a garden of mortal delights. Venusian and human culture are in many ways blended here, although the ruling class is still mostly human. The worship of Venus, particularly by the Dukes of Venus, eclipses the cult of Sun on this planet, a frequent source of controversy with the powers of Earth.

The Sun is, like in real life, a burning sphere of gas. Sol, the great and mysterious god, is the only living creature to dwell therein.

Spoiler: The Realm of Mars

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The Martians, under the protection of their mighty namesake god, once ruled all planets of the system save Earth, Mercury, and Moon. In fact, Venusians and Martians are variants of the same species. Martians appear like Venusians, but are taller, leaner, and overall less robust, yet they are long-lived by comparison. Their civilization was once unparalleled in sorcery and warfare, and even in their diminished state they are formidable. They tend to be melancholic of disposition, with a tragic outlook on life. They eschew spaceships for interplanetary travel, and were instead sophisticated builders of teleportation devices. The teleportation sorceries, when overused in the maintenance of empire, wrecked Mars' own ecosystem, leaving it a barren red waste. The Martian civilization has been in decline ever since. The meteoric rise of humanity in the system, however, has given them new purpose as the only real rival power to the Kingdom Under the Sun.

The only planet, besides their homeworld, which the Martians still control, is the temperate planet of Saturn. In its conquest, Martian sorcerers bound the god Saturn by creating a mighty magic circle around the entire planet, enslaving the god and thus his people. (Residual circles of failed attempts to do the same to Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune can still be seen from space.) Saturnians are large grey-skinned creatures with heavy six-legged lower bodies, as well as powerful anthropoid torsos. The Martians value them greatly as manual labor and shock troops.

Mars also claims to rule over Neptune, but this is largely a hollow claim. A few Martian-made islands still hold isolated and backwards colonies, but virtually all of the planet is tempestuous ocean, ruled by the leviathan-god and his followers in their underwater cities. Neptunians are anthropoid, with fanged maws and venemous spines; they are very dependent on technology to exist out of water, and have no spacefaring technology of their own.

Spoiler: The Free Planets

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Jupiter has known the yoke of Martian rule in the past, but threw if off with the covert aid of humans. As such the Jovians have a strong history of friendship with the Kingdom Under the Sun. They are short bipedal creatures, very stocky and dense to endure the immense gravity and violent storms of their homeworld. They have carapace skin that ranges from black to deep green, and insectoid mandibles resembling beards. They are adept engineers and technicians, makers of particularly potent weapons technology, and are notably resistant to electricity. The great mountain where their god dwells is ever sheathed in storms of swirling crimson.

Uranus was only partially subjugated by Mars in the past. Its various tribes never submitted to Martian rule, but retreated into the harshest, most mountainous parts of their world, until the time came for them to retake the rest. They are considered barbarians by most, and indeed they tend to be rough-and-ready in disposition. They are neanderthal-like humanoids, whose gait alternates between the two-legged and four-legged, with short, curling horns upon their brows. They also possess a unique method of space travel, having domesticated the giant space-flying birds of their planet, to whom they hitch their spaceships like carts to horses.

Pluto's freedom is that of the grave. When the Martians conquered it, they slew the god Pluto. The Plutonians, hoping to drive off the Martians, employed profane rituals from beyond the stars to resurrect Pluto. It worked, but at terrible price. Every living thing on the planet, Plutonian, Martian, or otherwise, was brought under the sway of the reborn god, who turned them into unliving puppets of his will. Now Pluto is a place of cold and dark ruins, teeming with the undead under the command of the cold god. Only the foolhardy venture there in hopes of retrieving the ancient treasures hidden in those dead cities.

Spoiler: Player Species

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The following species are available to be player characters. I haven't nailed down their features, so each one is listed with many possible ideas for their features.

Human: Bonus feat, bonus skill, bonus language, special feature based on planetary home (Earth, Moon, Mercury, Venus)

Mercurian: Small size, climb speed, initiative bonus, move through Medium or larger creatures, adaptive camouflage, disease resistance, extra speed when running on all fours.

Martian/Venusian: Short-range teleport ability, Cleric cantrip, weapon attack-boosting feature, psychic damage resistance, charm resistance, minor telepathy, +5 ft speed

Saturnian: Large size, blanket increase to melee damage dice, trampling charge, relentless endurance, resistant to exhaustion.

Jovian: Artisan's tools, small but can use Heavy weapons as if medium, +1 HP per level, lightning resistance, ability to boost ranged weapon power, fear resistance.

Uranian: Savage criticals, survival-related skills, climb speed, standing high/long jump, natural weapons, extra grappling functionality, cold resistance

Neptunian: Water breathing, darkvision, swim speed, limited amphibiousness, poison spines, natural armor.

Spoiler: Player Classes

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Fighter, Rogue, Monk, Barbarian

Cleric - The class of this name has features structured mostly like the same D&D class, in terms of spell levels, levels where domain features come online, and overall chassis. The base spell list will differ from the standard Cleric spell list in many respects. Uses Wisdom for its casting stat. Will have seven domains for the seven still-active deities: Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. These will probably mix-and-match features from published Cleric domains. This is the full caster class of this game.

Philosopher - Masters of the sciences. This class is structured like the Warlock: short-rest recharging spells, with special powers a la Invocations. Intelligence is its spellcasting ability. The line between magic and science is blurry here. The subclasses will be: Astrologer, Alchemist, Hypnotist, Physician

Paladins - Work pretty similarly to the base game version, except in addition to a Sacred Oath, each Paladin must owe allegiance to a god. Unlike Clerics, Paladins can owe their allegiance to dead or inactive gods. Appropriate Oaths for each god will be listed.

Ranger - Imagined as martial explorers with a certain grounding in science, and thus their spell list will reflect the Philosopher spell list, and Intelligence rather than Wisdom will be their spellcasting ability.

Spoiler: Technology

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The technology level of this setting is inconsistent if you examine too closely, but it's a pulp-sci-fi vibe, so who cares. Imagine that most people, especially in the Kingdom Under the Sun, live pre-industrial lives extracting natural resources from their planet. Communication generally has to happen in person or by letter. Muscle-powered weapons are the default for warfare. Black powder and highly-unstable ray-guns are elite weapons, and poorly understood. 'Science' is heavily laden with superstition, as you can probably tell from the names of the Philosopher subclasses, though it still considers itself more enlightened than the magic of Clerics which draws upon the psychic powers of the gods. Space travel is difficult and expensive, involving either the complex portal-rituals known to the Martians, rudimentary and much slower space-ships like the Mercurians, Humans, and Jovians, or the space-bird-drawn chariots of the Uranians. Rivers of cosmic waters, which flow through space, are necessary for all of these methods. Computer technology is non-existent.

Spoiler: Things To Work On

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I need to figure out the nature of the gods, both living and dead; what they look like, where they dwell. They are very much physical beings, though possessed of planet-shaking psychic power.

More details of armor, weapons, and shields, and how that interfaces with technology levels.

More details about at least one or two of the independent powers of Earth, as well as the particular character & politics of the current King and Dukes.

More about Martian politics and culture.

Languages, both those of other planetary species and those still spoken on Earth.

Spell lists for the four spellcasting classes.

And probably many more things I haven't thought of!

Thank you for reading!

[brian 333]

Can humans interbreed with other races? (Because they will try.)

I assume Venusians and Martians can interbreed, even if magitechnical assistance is required.

The presence of spacefaring animals implies the possibility of intelligent spacefaring beings.
Proposal: the Asteroids and Dwarf Planets are home to migratory/nomadic intelligent species who follow the "bloom" of plant life caused when Sol makes its year-and-a-half orbit around Earth. They are capable of magical flight in microgravity, but cannot fly under gravity as little as that which is present on Luna.
These beings pursue biology as technology and are adept in alchemy and magic use. Relatively new Jovian colonies, primarily centered on the Jovian Trojans, and ring colonies on Uranus and Neptune, are still experimental. Few Asteroidans choose to live where they cannot perform the Migration, and it is uncertain if a subculture that chooses a more sedentary lifestyle will develop and propagate.
Martians treat these beings as vermin.

[Catullus64]

Can humans interbreed with other races? (Because they will try.)

I assume Venusians and Martians can interbreed, even if magitechnical assistance is required.

The presence of spacefaring animals implies the possibility of intelligent spacefaring beings.
Proposal: the Asteroids and Dwarf Planets are home to migratory/nomadic intelligent species who follow the "bloom" of plant life caused when Sol makes its year-and-a-half orbit around Earth. They are capable of magical flight in microgravity, but cannot fly under gravity as little as that which is present on Luna.
These beings pursue biology as technology and are adept in alchemy and magic use. Relatively new Jovian colonies, primarily centered on the Jovian Trojans, and ring colonies on Uranus and Neptune, are still experimental. Few Asteroidans choose to live where they cannot perform the Migration, and it is uncertain if a subculture that chooses a more sedentary lifestyle will develop and propagate.
Martians treat these beings as vermin.

I'm going to say no on humans and other species interbreeding. Doesn't mean some won't try, and I suspect that Venus-bred humans have a reputation for it. Venusians and Martians can interbreed, though I suspect they're not wild about the idea, as Venusians were originally defectors from the Martian Empire.

Here's my take on your proposal:

Spoiler: Solars

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The Solars are the only sentient space-dwelling species in the cosmos. Due to their avian physiology, they can glide on the solar winds between worlds, allowing them to range far from the celestial rivers that other species depend upon for interplanetary travel. They live a nomadic lifestyle in the asteroid belt near the sun, having been pushed out of more interior places by humans. They have domesticated a handful of other species with similar abilities of solar flight as livestock. They worship Sol, though they consider the Earth-based tradition of
Sol worship to be at best a quaint imitation, and at worst a blasphemy.

Though they do have some civil trade relations with settled planets, they also raid vessels upon the celestial rivers with abandon. Attempts to root them out have proved futile. Suspicions abound, not entirely without foundation, that the Princes of Mars have been supplying and arming them to prey upon human vessels and settlements. Some fringe sects of Sol worshippers believe them to be sacred creatures, and propitiate them with offerings, but most regard them as common pirates, best warded off with sword and raygun.

[Metastachydium]

[SPOILER=Solars]
The Solars are the only sentient space-dwelling species in the cosmos. Due to their avian physiology, they can glide on the solar winds between worlds, allowing them to range far from the celestial rivers that other species depend upon for interplanetary travel. They live a nomadic lifestyle in the asteroid belt near the sun, having been pushed out of more interior places by humans. They have domesticated a handful of other species with similar abilities of solar flight as livestock. They worship Sol, though they consider the Earth-based tradition of Sol worship to be at best a quaint imitation, and at worst a blasphemy.

On a scale of 0 to 64, how avian are we talking here? Are they birdies? Are the birdies playable?

[Catullus64]

On a scale of 0 to 64, how avian are we talking here? Are they birdies? Are the birdies playable?

I'm imagining leathery creatures with winged forelimbs, whose similarity to birds is mainly in skeletal structure. I was kind of imagining those weird bird people from the 1983 film Beastmaster. I do think they'll be playable, though I think they'll be incapable of flight outside of the solar winds.

[Metastachydium]

I'm imagining leathery creatures with winged forelimbs, whose similarity to birds is mainly in skeletal structure.

Alas! The saying proves true again: there is no birdy person species in this world – not unless I make it!

I was kind of imagining those weird bird people from the 1983 film Beastmaster.

(Aside: I don't have the vaguest idea why people keep saying those things are birdlike; they have pretty much literally nothing in common with birdies.)

I do think they'll be playable, though I think they'll be incapable of flight outside of the solar winds.

That's a fair call. It's still quite the boon.

[Catullus64]

In the main Homebrew forum, I've posted a possible design for the features of these player species:

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...1#post25651711

[Metastachydium]

A few quick remarks:
1. I'd recommend using Venerean instead of the awkward Venusian; given that both Martian and Jovian use the correct roots, it would only seem appropriate.

2. Languages.
2.a. I'm a sworn enemy of racial languages, but I think it would fit the Martians to have an imperial language of sorts that, while influenced by the various old tongues of Mars and its colonies, largely superseded these on Mars and Saturn (I could see the latter having lost all traces of their own tongue through a process of poignant acculturation).
2.b. The same wouldn't make a lick of sense for the KUtS, but given its size, it needs some manner of lingua franca spoken and understood throughout the realm.
2.c. Venus would need a purely lithurgical language of sorts, that is rarely, if ever, used outside certain ritualized contexts. How many other languages are spoken on the planet beside this and the KUtS lingua franca would depend on its internal politics.
2.d. Jovian languages should all bear a clear mark of a Martian attempt to linguistically assimilate them. I could see them having an "old" planetwide lingua franca that is all but mutually understandable with the Martial imperial standard and an ascendant "new" one, an almost artificial and slightly archaic tongue that is violently stripped of all Martian linguistic influence.
2.e. Uranus would likely have more languages than any other planet. Its societies fractured into isolated groups of varying size, all waging their own little asymmetrical war against Martian invaders. That even previously closely related languages would diverge significantly seems par for course. This would probably mean no lingua franca or only a nascent one, with interpreters commanding many tongues held in unusually high esteem.

[brian 333]

The Comets and the Forgotten Worlds

Out in the vast reaches beyond the planetary spheres there are bits blasted off of the worlds in the time of creation and bits left over after the primordial chaos became ordered: ice and rock flows in rivers unseen by dwellers of the inner system. Some of these left-over fragments are chunks of ice or stone small enough to be held in a human hand, while some very few are small worlds unto themselves, rivalling even The Moon in size. On occasion some deity in need of an omen may grasp one of these bits and hurl it toward the sun. Most of the time these rejected bits of creation simply drift unseen in their eternal rivers around the Kingdom Under The Sun.

Whether by accident or by the design of some long forgotten god, life has taken root here. Not all, or even most, of the available materials host life. But scattered around and through the Forgotten Worlds strange things thrive.

Most common is the Umbrella Tree. It can only grow where stone, water ice, and dry ice are found together. Its seed, upon finding such conditions, sprouts and drills, sometimes many hundreds of feet, to find the nutrients it needs. Then it sprouts, opening a canopy of fleshy round leaves, glossy black on the outside and velvety silver on the inside. The leaves hang down like an umbrella enclosing the base of the seedling and their edges seal by overlapping and growing together. This traps air which can begin to warm the stalk. A second and third umbrella grow out as the central trunk grows larger, until by the time the trunk is as tall as a human, at least five concentric umbrellas branch out and cover a circle about 12 ft diameter. At this point seeds about the size of peanuts begin to grow, and as they mature they begin to slowly pulse with a greenish light. Although warmth is relative among the Forgotten Worlds, just the few degrees of warmth trapped beneath the Umbrella Tree is enough to free the Dry Ice from its solid form. Liquid Air is uncommon, but can exist for a time beneath the trees. Far too cold for living things from Under The Sun to touch, liquid air is far easier for the Umbrella Tree to absorb and use, and at this point two things begin to happen. The tree undergoes a growth spurt, doubling in size in less time than it took to grow to the height of a man, allowing it to enclose yet more area, freeing more liquid air from the dry ice, and allowing it to double again and again.

The next thing to occur is that beneath each successive layer of leaves more of the tiny glowing seeds begin to grow. The most mature, at the bottom of the successive layers of leaves, are retracted up through the canopy by their stalks until they are above the highest complete umbrella layer. The stalks become pneumatic guns which, with a burst of air, fire the seed like a pellet into the sky. Sometimes they impact the leaves of the upper canopy and fall to the ground where they begin their life cycle, eventually merging the young tree's umbrella with its parent's. Other times gravity will bring the seed to land on the same body the parent stands on, but at a distance. (They are not fired hard enough to hurt anything; the puff of air is less powerful than can be generated by a child's pea shooter. However, low gravity allows such a projectile to fly great distances.) Sometimes the tiny seed is launched on a path that takes it out on the endless river, drifting for many years before impacting something. On rare occasions that something is suitable for its growth.

As each layer of seed is dispersed, the canopy that protected it dies, falls, and becomes mulch. Over time the tree grows so rapidly that it consumes all of the dry ice beneath its canopy. This causes the growth of the tree to slow, even as its daughters around it begin their own growth spurts. Air trapped beneath the canopy, formerly toxic to creatures from under The Sun, nows begins to change from deadly, to stifling, to bearable, until it is eventually safe to breathe.

The tree now begins to use water-ice and its trunk begins to radiate warmth. The seeds also begin to grow larger, shedding a more intense yellow-green light, until they become too heavy for their stalks to raise them above their canopy. Instead, these large, water-filled gourds fall beneath the umbrella to splatter on the ground, each gourd releasing thousands of tiny seeds.

At first grass-like plants grow out, then shrubbery, each in an amazing variety of shapes but all leaved in green. Their roots burrow into the fallen fleshy leaves of the parent tree, and their own dried husks add to the carpet as more, and seemingly more complex, plants grow. The apex of this is plants which, as part of their life cycle, become motile.

The lesser plants do not seed, but do clone from root and stem division. Only the Umbrella Tree creates seeds that form the many different varieties of plants, and these only grow out of the gourd-stage seed pods.

Over time, generation after generation of Umbrella Trees colonize the entire surface of their home, forming cathedral-like chambers of immense size. As old trees die young ones quickly fill the gaps, forming a habitat safe for the plants that grow beneath the canopy and the motile plants which groom them.


Ice

Its hate is eternal.

Cast out by the gods of the inner system, it sits in the dark, alone, thinking its glacial thoughts, pondering its fate, plotting its eventual revenge against those who wronged it.

Ice is a world; The Sun's twin. In the primordial times it fought many battles against The Sun and its allies. It left its scars on Earth and Mars, early allies of The Sun which have since gone their own ways. The cold of its touch still burns those worlds all these eons later.

But in the end, Ice was cast out.

Long has it pondered, and many immitations of the life forms found in the inner system have been created. Ice giants and ice men, ice dogs and ice cattle, and ever stranger beings, bizzare, horrible, composed of living ice, roam its frozen hellscape. Like their creator they are filled with hate for those who dwell on the warm worlds.

Some myths describe such creatures as elemental or para-elemental in nature. Others assert that they are demonic. From time to time a magic-user from the warm worlds will summon or open a doorway for such creatures, thinking to bind them in servitude. This practice is dangerous due to the unquenchable hate their creator imbued in them.

They seek always to quench heat; fire enrages them to insanity. Even the cold blood of the Martians is, to them, an inferno. They can never adapt or overcome their antipathy to warm things.

Though some have seen it from afar, none from the inner worlds who have trod upon the world of Ice have returned. From afar, with the best viewing magic or devices, all that can be seen is the cold, bleak plains of Ice.

[Metastachydium]

Most common is the Umbrella Tree. It can only grow where stone, water ice, and dry ice are found together. Its seed, upon finding such conditions, sprouts and drills, sometimes many hundreds of feet, to find the nutrients it needs. Then it sprouts, opening a canopy of fleshy round leaves, glossy black on the outside and velvety silver on the inside. The leaves hang down like an umbrella enclosing the base of the seedling and their edges seal by overlapping and growing together. This traps air which can begin to warm the stalk. A second and third umbrella grow out as the central trunk grows larger, until by the time the trunk is as tall as a human, at least five concentric umbrellas branch out and cover a circle about 12 ft diameter. At this point seeds about the size of peanuts begin to grow, and as they mature they begin to slowly pulse with a greenish light. Although warmth is relative among the Forgotten Worlds, just the few degrees of warmth trapped beneath the Umbrella Tree is enough to free the Dry Ice from its solid form. Liquid Air is uncommon, but can exist for a time beneath the trees. Far too cold for living things from Under The Sun to touch, liquid air is far easier for the Umbrella Tree to absorb and use, and at this point two things begin to happen. The tree undergoes a growth spurt, doubling in size in less time than it took to grow to the height of a man, allowing it to enclose yet more area, freeing more liquid air from the dry ice, and allowing it to double again and again.

The next thing to occur is that beneath each successive layer of leaves more of the tiny glowing seeds begin to grow. The most mature, at the bottom of the successive layers of leaves, are retracted up through the canopy by their stalks until they are above the highest complete umbrella layer. The stalks become pneumatic guns which, with a burst of air, fire the seed like a pellet into the sky. Sometimes they impact the leaves of the upper canopy and fall to the ground where they begin their life cycle, eventually merging the young tree's umbrella with its parent's. Other times gravity will bring the seed to land on the same body the parent stands on, but at a distance. (They are not fired hard enough to hurt anything; the puff of air is less powerful than can be generated by a child's pea shooter. However, low gravity allows such a projectile to fly great distances.) Sometimes the tiny seed is launched on a path that takes it out on the endless river, drifting for many years before impacting something. On rare occasions that something is suitable for its growth.

As each layer of seed is dispersed, the canopy that protected it dies, falls, and becomes mulch. Over time the tree grows so rapidly that it consumes all of the dry ice beneath its canopy. This causes the growth of the tree to slow, even as its daughters around it begin their own growth spurts. Air trapped beneath the canopy, formerly toxic to creatures from under The Sun, nows begins to change from deadly, to stifling, to bearable, until it is eventually safe to breathe.

The tree now begins to use water-ice and its trunk begins to radiate warmth. The seeds also begin to grow larger, shedding a more intense yellow-green light, until they become too heavy for their stalks to raise them above their canopy. Instead, these large, water-filled gourds fall beneath the umbrella to splatter on the ground, each gourd releasing thousands of tiny seeds.

At first grass-like plants grow out, then shrubbery, each in an amazing variety of shapes but all leaved in green. Their roots burrow into the fallen fleshy leaves of the parent tree, and their own dried husks add to the carpet as more, and seemingly more complex, plants grow. The apex of this is plants which, as part of their life cycle, become motile.

The lesser plants do not seed, but do clone from root and stem division. Only the Umbrella Tree creates seeds that form the many different varieties of plants, and these only grow out of the gourd-stage seed pods.

Over time, generation after generation of Umbrella Trees colonize the entire surface of their home, forming cathedral-like chambers of immense size. As old trees die young ones quickly fill the gaps, forming a habitat safe for the plants that grow beneath the canopy and the motile plants which groom them.

I somehow missed this the first time around, but it's a thing of beauty and I need details on the walking gardener planties. (Fair warning, though, if you meant to make them mindless, Evil, vampiric or any combination of those, please do make sure not to spoil my joy and leave things vague. OR ELSE!)

[brian 333]

I somehow missed this the first time around, but it's a thing of beauty and I need details on the walking gardener planties. (Fair warning, though, if you meant to make them mindless, Evil, vampiric or any combination of those, please do make sure not to spoil my joy and leave things vague. OR ELSE!)

I intentionally left them vague for a few reasons:
They come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and those best suited to tiny ice-teroids may be too small and delicate for life upon a dwarf planet. The gourds disperse a variety of seed types, and the most suitable for a habitat thrive. This may mean that only tiny grass-guys live on a .0001g comet, while twenty or more larger varieties from rabbit-size to giraffe-size coexist on an Eris-sized world.

Sapience is relative, so issues like heredity vs. environment and instinct vs. culture would have to be answered on a case-by-case basis. Some will be intelligent enough to communicate with humans despite humanity's virtually useless chemoreceptors and reliance upon sight and sound for communication, while others will simply emit sweet or nauseating aromas and hope those idiot animals get the message.

Competition among plants is a thing, and is conducted in a variety of ways in our world. How much more so in a world of motile plants? Do they conduct chemical raids, bombing their neighbors out of existence? Do they steal water and block light? Do they ignore each other and simply reproduce to fill up space? Do they horde the seed gourds and only plant the seeds which germinate into their kind? Or do they do something humans would not recognize as competition at all, like algae flooding the atmosphere with toxic oxygen or corals and clams sequestering whole mountain ranges of CO2, thus starving off those which depend upon it without ever realizing that, in making the world better for themselves, they made it unlivable for their neighbors?

I'm thinking that each world goes its own way, and planties evolve a variety of cooperative competition strategies which tend to serve the needs of the umbrella trees and their micro-ecologies.

[Metastachydium]

I intentionally left them vague for a few reasons:
They come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and those best suited to tiny ice-teroids may be too small and delicate for life upon a dwarf planet. The gourds disperse a variety of seed types, and the most suitable for a habitat thrive. This may mean that only tiny grass-guys live on a .0001g comet, while twenty or more larger varieties from rabbit-size to giraffe-size coexist on an Eris-sized world.

Sapience is relative, so issues like heredity vs. environment and instinct vs. culture would have to be answered on a case-by-case basis. Some will be intelligent enough to communicate with humans despite humanity's virtually useless chemoreceptors and reliance upon sight and sound for communication, while others will simply emit sweet or nauseating aromas and hope those idiot animals get the message.

Competition among plants is a thing, and is conducted in a variety of ways in our world. How much more so in a world of motile plants? Do they conduct chemical raids, bombing their neighbors out of existence? Do they steal water and block light? Do they ignore each other and simply reproduce to fill up space? Do they horde the seed gourds and only plant the seeds which germinate into their kind? Or do they do something humans would not recognize as competition at all, like algae flooding the atmosphere with toxic oxygen or corals and clams sequestering whole mountain ranges of CO2, thus starving off those which depend upon it without ever realizing that, in making the world better for themselves, they made it unlivable for their neighbors?

I'm thinking that each world goes its own way, and planties evolve a variety of cooperative competition strategies which tend to serve the needs of the umbrella trees and their micro-ecologies.

Fair enough and I can appreciate the no-monoculture approach (not to mention the jab at stupid humans with their stupidly underdeveloped senses). There's good thought put into it. Have a hearty thumbs leafstalks up!

[brian 333]

I hope it becomes useful to some game master out there who wants to surprise his players with something unexpected.

DM: "Your ship passes an object that cannot be seen; it appears to absorb light from any source. Its occlusion of the stars behind it and its mass are the only indications that it exists."

Player: "A black hole!"

DM: "If so it is microscopic in size. Its mass is about that of a large comet."

Player: Let's see if we can get closer without getting caught in its gravity; I want to see what it is."

DM: "As your ship gets closer, the surface takes on some granulation, and it begins to look like the surface is covered in bumps and hills covered in overlapping black shields, each about ten feet round.'

Player: "Scales? Like a pangolin rolled in a ball?"

DM: "Perhaps. There is no detectable movement. Do you wish to get closer?"

[Metastachydium]

I hope it becomes useful to some game master out there who wants to surprise his players with something unexpected.

DM: "Your ship passes an object that cannot be seen; it appears to absorb light from any source. Its occlusion of the stars behind it and its mass are the only indications that it exists."

Player: "A black hole!"

DM: "If so it is microscopic in size. Its mass is about that of a large comet."

Player: Let's see if we can get closer without getting caught in its gravity; I want to see what it is."

DM: "As your ship gets closer, the surface takes on some granulation, and it begins to look like the surface is covered in bumps and hills covered in overlapping black shields, each about ten feet round.'

Player: "Scales? Like a pangolin rolled in a ball?"

DM: "Perhaps. There is no detectable movement. Do you wish to get closer?"

Heh.

DM: The surface is lush with vegetation, but it's all eerily silent.
Player: Old horror cliches, eh? Whatever. I stay alert and ready my weapon.
DM: Alright. As you proceed, suddenly, you catch a glimpse of movement from the corner of your eye.
Player: I spin around and roll Perception.
DM: All you see is grass.
Player: Damn. I approach the exact spot and take a closer look. Do I need a roll?
DM: Nah. Also, all you see is still grass, but now there's a strong, acrid smell in the air…

[brian 333]

If this doesn't end with the player character tied to the ground like Gulliver I will be upset.

If any of the motile grassies say, "I am Groot', I will be sued!

[Metastachydium]

If this doesn't end with the player character tied to the ground like Gulliver I will be upset.

Player: Where did the grass get all that rope??!!
DM: That's their roots, actually. I suppose, you could say that they [clears throat] take a grassroots approach to developing their penitentiary system.
Player: [Throws tantrum. Throws dice.]

[brian 333]

Wraiths of the Void

There are those who are cursed, by the very cosmos, some say, to travel the dark paths between worlds with hunger as their constant companion.

This is not a hunger of the flesh, though they will gorge on living flesh when they can get it. These beings have a spiritual, psychic hunger that drives them mad. They feed this hunger with their icy touch, which inflicts 1d6 cold damage per touch attack, and each hit forces the victim to make a Will save to avoid temporary level loss. (A second save in 6 hours determines if the level loss is permanent or temporary.) A character brought to level 0 this way must save again or wake as a wraith of the void, with an irresistible urge to venture out into the Night's Sea to starve and hunt warm prey.
Wraiths can travel without aid, but prefer to form crews and sail ghost ships.

Some wraiths possess character or NPC classes which augment their wraith template.

Two Mars

Mars travels very near The Sun and very distant from it. Assuming all the worlds orbit Earth in the same direction, Sun will be on the opposite side of Earth from Mars every second solar year, and on the same side, (closer than any world save Mercury ever gets,) in the alternate years.
Assuming The Sun is the primary heat source for Mars, this results in massive temperature swings. In Sun Year Mars will be sweltering hot, and glaciated in Anti-Sun years.

This may have resulted in a biome which has adapted to very cold and very hot, but more likely there are a few such plants and animals which thrive at both ends of the temperature scale while the rest optimize for some gradient between the extremes and find a way to be dormant during hostile climates.
Thus, a hot Mars biome and a cold Mars biome coexist, with a temperate Mars biome flourishing between the two.

Two Mars, hot and cold, chase each other from pole to equator and back year after year.

Selenites
Pearl eyes and marble complexion ensure any of these otherwise elfin beings stand out on Earth. Caught in the conflict between Mars and Earth, these natives of The Moon have had a hard time even maintaining their population. Their light gravity world has not challenged them to become strong, and their proximity to the great powers of Earth has over the centuries, devastated their cultural development.
What they do well is magic. Whether wizardry, sorcery, or priestly invocations, the Selenites have an instinctive understanding of magic. (+2 Spell craft.)
While they have a -2 Str and Con penalty compared to humans, they gain +1 on two of the three mental stats, (Int, Wis, Cha,) selected during character creation. (This may, at DM's discretion, allow both +1s to be applied to the same stat.)
More than any other culture, Selenites are extremely untrusting of technology. Their great mages of the past created with magic what other races built or fabricated. Some of those wonders still function, even after the first interplanetary wars turned much of the surface of that world into a bombarded wreck.
One such wonder is the Great Highway, which once encircled the Moon. Now a being that stands on the road begins to move. The passenger can easily control his speed by stepping toward the right side of the road to go faster, or toward the left to go slower, or even get off. Passengers feel no movement. A pile of songbird eggs would rest comfortably while traveling at suborbital speeds. Unfortunately, the road is broken in so many places that such speeds are rarely attainable. However, at hundreds of points around the bomb-cratered world segments of the Great Highway still function.
Selenites have always been subterranean dwellers. They farmed and traveled during their two-week nights, and constructed family dwellings of two or more levels deep. In areas where several dwellings are near enough, tunnels were excavated to connect them. Great underground cities, (all eventually destroyed,) grew from such hubs. Only small settlements and backwater farmsteads remain intact.