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The Dead
Sea (by
Jon
Winter)
Character:
<Gasp>
Shed salty tears on the parched, cracked sand.
This place used to be teeming with dolphins, scattered
with lush islands and perfect coral reefs. It's sad when
something natural is destroyed, and sadder still when a
beautiful creature dies. Imagine the sorrow, then, the
Dead Sea has brought to the plane...
The
Chant:
Long ago, there was a prime world where all things
were worshipped; the mountains, the forests, the sea. All
of these things were sentient, and responded to their
worshippers by granting them mild seasons, calm water or
rich harvests. But in time the primitive people of this
prime world grew sophisticated and the culture matured.
Their religion turned to gods and idols, and they
neglected their ancient nature powers.
The nature powers
slipped into a deep slumber, pushed aside by their mortal
children. The same thing's probably happened on countless
worlds, but this one, chant goes, was different. A race
of salamanders emerged from below the ground, torching
and razing the cities of the humans. With no true powers
to aid them, the salamanders systematically rounded up
and killed the humans until they were all dead. Their
magical fires burned the land and seared the skies. The
prime world grew hotter and hotter, their air choked with
fumes and the seas began to boil. After many years of
flames, during which time the salamanders frolicked
gleefully in their new found home, the ocean had been
reduced to a wasteland of blowing salt dunes. The
scorching winds scoured the barren wastes, blowing the
last traces of the seas away. And that was the last the
salamanders ever thought of the nasty water that they
used to hate so much.
The
Dark: The
planar winds of change blow hard, and a long way. When
the salty remains of the dead sea power came to rest,
they found themselves in Consumption. Here they remain
deep in slumber, stirring only slightly when disturbed
when mortal life passes by, or so the legends go. See,
there's divine life in this here salt yet...ask any Athar
and she'll tell you that a dead power never really
dies. Bloods who should know better sometimes whisper
that if a planewalker found this place, and willingly
spills precious water into the salty ground, the weakened
ancient power will rise from its torpor and grant the
water-bringer wishes that would put a marid to
shame.
Sounds too good
to be true? Maybe it is. No planewalker really knows
where the Dead Sea is (all of Consumption looks rather
similar to most folks), if indeed it exists at all.
Natives of Salt are tight-lipped on the subject, neither
confirming nor denying anything. That hasn't stopped many
a traveller getting themselves lost, both literally and
figuratively, in the parched wastelands of the plane,
chasing a dead power's dream...
The Library of
Dust
(by Jens)
Deep within the waste
lands of Consumption is a strange place. It is the
remains of a building, dozens of storeys high, but the
walls have all turned to dust long ago. Shelves is all
that remained, large, endless shelves full of parchments,
books, and journals. This must have been a very famous
library, and it still contains the knowledge of an
ancient civilisation. However, the pages are brittle and
delicate, and any touch will destroy a whole book
instantly, turning it to a pile of fine, useless dust.
Other books are protected by magic, such as explosive
runes and glyphs, and the destruction of those books may
trigger the spells.
Worse, it is rumoured that
the library is still haunted by the barmy ghosts of the
deceased librarians, who are still dutifully protecting
their dear books against people who don't have proper
membership cards.
The Guvners are looking for
canny bloods who might be able to recover a few books
intact, perhaps through magical means. So far, none have
been successful.
Intafell's School
of Cooking
(by Bart
van Riet)
In the plane of Salt,
situated near the plane of Dust, lies Intafell's school
for cooking. This three-story building is a rather
strange site. Inside the building you are protected
against the dehydrating effect of the layer. Intafell, a
monadic deva, started this school 200 years ago. Since
the graduated cooks spread through the multiverse opening
restaurants, it's gaining fame.
At this time the school has
three (of course) teachers. Intafell (planar / male
monadic deva / 10HD / LG), famous for his salads, he
gives lectures about cooking itself. It is whispered that
he has a cookbook with over 50000 (fifty thousand)
recipes. Katoria cook extraordinary, inventor of salted
and pickled carrion crawler, personal cook of kings,
ÖÖ (planar / female salt mephit / 3HD / N),
gives lectures mainly about preserving food. Katoria is
the most feared among the students but her constructive
criticism is valued. And last but not least Nails (prime
/ male human / B4 / NG), a cook from Toril who has made
cooking a new for of art. He gives lectures about how to
serve the food, what sort of food does or don't mix and
of course what to drink with your meal.
Courses are given at three
levels, beginner, intermediate and expert. Each course
takes three years so a student following the full study
lives the next 9 years in the plane of Salt. It is
possible for experienced cooks to start at higher levels.
Students are housed in the school itself and, since it is
not that big, there is a maximum of 30 students. There is
also room for visiting relatives or adventurers but a
warning to everyone who visits: "You better be
hungry!"
Why this site was chosen to
build the school really is any basher's guess. The fact
that food and water is in plentiful supply strongly
suggests there's a convenient portal deep in the bowels
of the school, possibly leading to a plane like Arborea
where rich foods are readily found. A cutter may well
wonder why the school wasn't built on Arborea instead,
though. Likely Intafell has his reasons, though the one
he usually gives is to avoid distractions for the
students. If merely going outside would kill them in
moments, they're not so apt to skip lectures.
There have been many famous
graduates of this school, but few remain on Salt for
longer than it takes to find a portal. One who still
dwells on the plane, however, is a roguish mephit names
Barbary Floyd (see below)...
Barbary
Floyd (planar / male mephit /
4 HD / N) (by
Rip
Van Wormer)
Barbary Floyd is the
leader of a salt mephit tribe. He's young for a mephit,
created from elemental energies but three decades ago by
the tribe's previous leader, who gave him a rakish name
suitable for a member of a band of proud raiders.
Floyd had other ideas,
however. As soon as he had learned as much as he thought
he could, he slew his creator and declared for the tribe
a new direction. They would be civilized mephits,
loved by members of every saline race.
Floyd is sullen and
sarcastic and occasionally violent, but has a magnetism
about him that inspires loyalty. His people call him "The
Bloodless King;" an accurate enough description.
Presently, the tribe works as janitors-for-hire in a
minor quasielemental kingdom with little need for such
mundanities, but the King assures them this is only a
stepping stone to something much greater. They believe
him.
Barbary Floyd's dark is his
addiction to lye. He can't get enough of it, and it's
only available in urban centers. This is the only reason
why he lurks there. He has no greater plan, but will
eagerly do anything for anyone who can supply him with
his next hit: steal, lie, or even murder. As it happens,
his tribe is destined to become great, riding the
wave of a great fad for mephit tonechefs among salt
quasielementals. It seems that, for the next few cycles,
there will be a great demand for the peculiar aharmonic
method of food seasoning popularised by the mephits of
Floyd's region, and Barbary Floyd's tribe will lead the
way. The rare salts to be made will likely set most of
the tribe for life, although Floyd himself will likely
die of lye poisoning sometime before then, the build up
of ash in his body eventually becoming too great.
Salt in the
Wound
(by Rip
van Wormer)
Salt in the Wound is a
ruvoka community in a medium-sized saltcrack with a
natural channel like a dry riverbed, a "wadi," named
Tears of Salt. The ruvoka, or the Wakna as they call
their tribe, are of a little below average height, with
pale white-blue skin, long slender fingers, generous
body-fat, balding heads, major access to the druidic
sphere of Water and minor access to Earth. They wear what
hair they have in long braids; the females wrap them into
buns or around their heads, necks and ears. The Wakna are
strongly matriarchal, and worship the salt gods Dandreth,
Death of Seas and Adrammelech, the Infertility Goddess.
Wakna religious life is segregated by gender: the males
pray to Dandreth before travelling or hunting, while the
worship of Adrammelech takes place in spacious lodges,
where all the women explore the goddess'
mysteries.
The Wakna build igloos made
of salt bricks and hunt hlach, and salt penguins. They
use giant animental mantises as beasts of burden,
something that would be fatal to almost any less
nature-sensitive race.
The Wakna were driven from
the plane of Earth millenia ago by the Horde Creatures,
and lived for a time in Ash before finally settling
here.
Current
Chant: The Wakna
have discovered an artifact called the Blunder Cap which
allows for lightning-quick teleporting and planeshifting:
you can't predict where you'll go, but you can get back
quickly. They're considering using it against their old
enemies the Horde, but are afraid of what greedy powers
may align against them if their treasure is discovered.
Stillbirth
(by Rip
Van Wormer)
Adrammelech,
Infertility Goddess
Lesser Power,
AoC: Barren fields, dead plants, childless couplings,
births and pregnancies gone awry
Alignment: NE
WAL: Any
Symbol: Foetal skeleton
Home Plane/Realm: Plane of Salt/Stillbirth
Adrammelech was shunned by
her husband in the dawntime and in revenge has sworn to
devour the issue of his new wife and their descendents,
which could be any number of races.
She is worshipped by dying
races and peoples, and creatures of Salt. Her realm is a
barren desert sown with salt. It is thought she may have
a realm in the plane of Dust as well as Comsumption. Her
proxies look like small
children.
Copyright
2000, the Mimir Team,
Layout by Jon Winter and Jeremiah Golden
Consumption picture by Vicki Hood
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