The Advisorium/The Pickled Brains
The Department of Arcane Mathematics
While the Great Lunar University is an independent political entity not subject to any lunar or terrestrial government, it has long-standing links to many Universities on Maj, particularly Rhodes.
Counted as a city-state, the University has the largest territory, the most effective military, and the by far the greatest wealth of any on Selene. One source of that wealth is the tithe paid by adventurers sent out by the Institute for Universal Cartography, Ethnology and the Natural Sciences, otherwise known as the Great Survey.
The Great Survey provides adventurers with space-going ships and crew and various forms of support (such as resurrections) in return for information and a 10% cut of the treasure. There are two types of voyages that may be taken on behalf of the Survey: voyages of exploration from the list, and self-assigned voyages.
Self-assigned voyages consist of a band of adventurers roaming where they will, taking notes, samples, etc., and gathering treasure. This can cover most activities, although out-and-out piracy is frowned upon (maybe if you offered the survey 20%?).
Voyages of exploration from the list means that the Great Survey assigns you one of the exploration requests a scholar of the University (or of an associated University) has asked for. These are classified by survivability index, from highest to lowest:
Those who don't return get a nice payout for their next of kin, and a dandy cenotaph.
The Advisorium/The Pickled Brains - (NPC(s) & Minor Deity)
When a senior professor or administrator of the Great Lunar University nears death, they may elect to become a part of the University's Advisorium. They are then placed in a preserving tube (either just their brain or all of their body) and hooked into the Advisorium's groupmind. Members of the Advisorium are virtually immortal, at least as long as the University keeps up the maintenance on the installation.
The Advisorium, as could be guessed from the name, acts as an advisory body for the University's administration. In addition, they act somewhat like a modern university's computer network: tabulating laboratory results, handling class assignment, and choosing survey crews. The Advisorium has a reputation for giving students the classes they "need" as opposed to those that they requested. Its judgment tends to be good.
The Advisorium can be contacted in person by entering their heavily defended underground installation (although few other than senior University administrators allowed this privilege), by use of a special 0th level spell, or via special amulets. Additionally, it is an object of worship.
Worship of the Advisorium started as a joke, but then it started answering prayers (usually for help with homework). Now, it even has a few clerics venerating it (these also started as a joke, but when divine powers started manifesting, some of the jokers stuck with the job). As a god, the Advisorium is true Neutral, with the domains of Knowledge, Mind, Magic and Wildspace.
If it becomes relevant then the more mundane help that the Advisorium could provide would be worth a +2 circumstance bonus to a skill roll.
For reference, the total cost is probably 10,000 gp to build an additional "tube", if one isn't currently available, plus 1000 gp to prepare the body, and an additional 200 gp/month for maintenance. The University is rich, and thus can afford a lot of these, and probably isn't paying in cash exactly anyway, but in "opportunity costs" due to using their materials and staff for this purpose instead of elsewhere. They might charge outsiders more. These costs might be relevant if, say, an external body was sponsoring someone to join the Advisorium.
The Advisorium also maintains the University's spellpool (see the Complete Arcane for all the mechanics associated with this). This is likely only revelevant if using the 'Mage of an Arcane Order' PrC, from the Complete Arcane.
Note that all the characters below should have appropriate magical items generated for them if they are going to interact with PCs in an adventure setting.
Captain Winston Tarot, of the Great Luna University Navy
Alignment: Neutral
Class: Aristocrat 1/Fighter 6/Wizard 3
(Class: Aristocrat 1/Swashbuckler 6/University Arcanamach* 3)
Race: Human
Str 12, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 16, Wis 9, Cha 16
Sometimes the second son does not go into the church. In Winston Tarot's case, he ran away to space, leading his rather staid family (related to major Albion nobility) to disown him. He then quickly built himself a reputation as a fearless and lucky adventurer; often disreputable, but never quite on the wrong side of the law. Discovering in himself a hunger for new sights, he moved from privateering to exploration, working for the Great Lunar University's Grand Survey program. Showing himself to be unusually capable, he soon began to be assigned diplomatic and security assignments in addition to exploration. He underwent training in the University's Arcanamach program primarily so he could operate the helm of a 1-man spelljammer, but he has found the study of magic interesting in its own right and has kept it up.
Tarot thinks of himself as go-along, get-along sort of a guy, and that is roughly true except for two things: (1) He's never entirely learned to curb his tongue, and (2) he really prefers to see things done correctly. Currently he is working for the Grand Survey's "Special Projects" office, and would be running it if only he would demonstrate more common sense.
He typically dresses in black silk shot with gold (and mithral shirt underneath) and fights with Elven Thinblade and dagger.
(*) A University Arcanamach is the GLU version of the Suel Arcanamach PrC from the Complete Arcane. The requirements are the same, except there is no need to know the ancient Suel language.
(Old) Kip McGyven, Manager of the University Space Yards
Alignment: Neutral
Class: Expert 8
Race: Human
Str 13, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 8
Old Kip one of the senior shipyard managers for the Great Lunar University, and in particular, the one in charge of assigning ships and crews to survey parties working for the Great Survey. Old Kip is fairly honest, not to say that he won't keep a tip in mind when showing you around the shipyard.
Old Kip owns a suit of armor to wear to the back yards (which can be dangerous) that is a sight to see: pieced together from parts of over a dozen suits, and all of the parts rusty or dented or both. He also owns an enchanted spear named "Ratsticker" which doubles as his walking stick.
Old Kip has been with the University as long as anyone can remember, maybe since the founding, and is considered as much a part of the University's shipyard as the cradles and the sawmill.
Sharrin Underhill, Head Grounds Keeper
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Rogue 2/Utilergist 13
Race: Halfling (Tallfellow, Albion)
Str 10, Dex 16, Con 11, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 14
Sharrin has an apparent age of 35, and an actual age of 50. She has pale golden-blonde hair, ice-blue eyes, fair-coloured skin, is 4' 1" in height and has a weight of 32 lbs.
Sharrin left Aberdeenshire of Albion in a bit of a hurry after a badly botched robbery. Leaving on the first ship she could find, she ended up on an Frankish merchantman. Sailing the seas was not 'her cup of tea', she was constantly sea-sick. She planned to jump-ship as soon as she could.
She eventually ended up in Tarraco, the capital of the Iberian Empire; there she learned about spelljammers, and ships that 'sailed the stars'. She signed up for working passage to Selene, hearing about Piedra de la Luna Municipalidad, or Moonstone City. When she arrived in Moonstone, 1590 CE, she heard that Lord Lancelo was looking for apprentices, and having really nothing to loose, she went to him; as they say 'the rest is history'.
For twenty years she was one of his apprentices and helped to build Moonstone City. What she liked the most was working on landscaping. The parks and terraced gardens of Moonstone City are her creation and pride.
On one of her jobs she was hired to help design a park for the Great Lunar University. Afterwards she was offered the position of Head Grounds Keeper, with the proviso that she would also help out with the "Department of Useful Magic", which is where the GLU teaches Utilergy. Sharrin accepted the position, 1610 CE. What she did not realise was that 'help' meant set-up and run - Sharrin still twitches when addressed as 'Professor' (she now counts as a 'Full Professor of Useful Magic').
Sharrin and Lady Genevieve Sephora del la Maderia, daughter of Lord Lancelo of Moonstone City, remain great friends and stay in touch and visit with each other on a regular basis. Sharrin considers Genevieve to be a 'daughter', and can be very protective of her at times.
Sharrin has a long-running feud with Nicholas Taskman, the monstrous Full Professor of Arcane Mathematics. She was assigned some students from the Arcane Mathematics department as summer workers. In the years immediately before she took the job as Head Grounds Keeper, the grounds department was treated as source of free funds by the more influential professors. But the first summer Sharrin was running it, instead of paying the summer workers (including several from the Arcane Mathematics Department) for doing nothing (really, for doing work for their departments), she actually made them do grounds keeping, and taught them a few lessons in self-reliance in the bargain. Taskman hated it.
Quite a few staff can't understand why Taskman hasn't just squashed her, in one way or other, but it seems that one of the reasons she is still alive is because the Advisorium runs interference for her. This is because they like her, and don't much like Taskman, probably since they feel that, by becoming a construct, he unfairly cheated his destiny to become part of the Advisorium, someday. Her chief administrative assistant in the Grounds Keeping Department is a Cleric of the Advisorium, and his prayers might help as well!
Another issue is that the GLU is a little unsure about what Lord Lancelo of Moonstone City would do if one of his former apprentices and a woman who was like a mother to his daughter, died under mysterious circumstances, and while the faculty senate might not care about this, the chancellery would certainly be concerned. (And rightly; at the very least Ryshen and Genevieve would arrive, probably with at least two bodyguards, and the best magical investigation equipment Lancelo had previously built or money can buy; definitely not in very diplomatic moods.)
Sharrin has the dead remains of one of Taskman's clockwork spider familiars, mounted on a stand on her desk, when you can see it under the piled papers, maps and blueprints. If anyone asks she says that it is just 'something she picked up', and that she has got several more, tucked away somewhere!
The Department of Arcane Mathematics
Nicholas Taskman, Full Professor of Arcane Mathematics
Alignment: Neutral/Evil
Class: Wizard (Enchanter) 21
(Class: Enchanter 6/Geometer 5/Green Star Adept 10 (PrCs from Complete Arcane))
Race: Construct (Ex-Human)
Str 9, Dex 12, Con -, Int 22, Wis 10, Cha 9
The absolutely only thing that matters to Nicholas Pythagius Taskman is mathematics. That, and nothing else. He became a 10th level Green Star Adept, leaving his humanity behind, so he could work on mathematics without interruption or end, without ever aging or having to pause to eat or sleep. Additionally, he has shamelessly manipulated his students and his colleges to his advantage, breaking up relationships, keeping them from getting jobs, and using magic to artificially induce useful (to Taskman) obsessions. He has also arranged fatal "accidents" for more than one rival over the years.
The Department of Arcane Mathematics is Taskman's personal empire, and challenges to his authority are not tolerated. Most of the other department heads are at least wary of Taskman, and some of them hate him (he's survived at least two assassination attempts since taking the chair). Only the Advisorium is capable of making Taskman nervous, so he is searching for a way of controlling or destroying it, just in case.
Taskman spends almost all of his time in his rooms at the department, working. Even his seminars are taught there, among his priceless collection of books on mathematics and magic, and an ever growing collection of mechanical calculators. He has been working for years to perfect a device that would "calculate" new spells. In service to this project, he has sent his students on quests all over the known universe (and beyond) for components and information. Not a few of those students have perished in these quests, but Taskman does not care.
Taskman also corresponds heavily with mages and scholars all over the known Flow. As a result, he has useful connections in quite a few spheres.
For GMs without the Complete Arcane, treat Taskman as if he were an intelligent Medium-sized Construct; see Animated Object in MM, but being intelligent he is not immune to mind-affecting effects. The only thing likely to inconvenience him would be a Sargasso (not just an anti-magic field), where he probably would become temporarily inactive.
Taskman has a familiar in the form of some sort of clockwork horror. (For simplicity GMs can treat this as a familiar which is a Small Construct in the shape of a spider, maybe armed with a hidden Wand of Shocking Grasp, 20th level effect; see Animated Object in MM.)
Leonidas McGraff, Junior Professor of Arcane Mathematics
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Expert 1 (Math)/Wizard (Diviner) 6
(Class: Diviner 5/Expert 1 (Math)/Geometer 1 (PrC from Complete Arcane))
Race: Human
Str 10, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 13, Cha 10
Junior Professor Leonidas ("Leon") McGraff, Honored Scholar of Arcane Mathematics, is the ominous Nicholas Taskman's prize student. A thin, bespectacled man of medium height with blue eyes and sandy hair, he has a proper Albionian accent, but actually grew up on the Vinland frontier. He came to the Great Luna University to study with Taskman, and simply never left. He is now 28.
McGraff is unmarried and has no immediate prospects of getting married -- a state subtly encouraged by Taskman who doesn't want McGraff distracted. McGraff, who is better with numbers and spells than he is with people, has never noticed this nor all the other ways that Taskman manipulates him. As a result, Taskman has taken shameless advantage of McGraff, dumping his uninteresting classes on him, having him spend days checking his calculations, and having him do Taskman's legwork.
McGraff, while idealistic and bookish, is not really foolish and will not panic in a tough spot. This is a legacy of his upbringing on the frontier.
McGraff dislikes illusions and illusionists, and in particular, one illusionist: Countess Olga Romanova, a fellow arcane mathematician who keeps trying to steal the items and knowledge he collects for Taskman, for some reason.
Python Rod
Double-Barreled Spelllock Pistol*
Bracers of Armor +3
Ring of Protection +2
Boots of Traveling and Leaping
4 Potions of Cure Light Wounds
(*) Spelllock Pistol is a magic pistol that uses force charges instead of smokepowder. Does 1d10 19-20/x2, range increment 50', both barrels can be fired at once, but both then are -2 to hit. A full move action to load both barrels. +1 to hit for being Masterwork. 40 charges. The pistol has a market price of about 16,000 gp. Replacement force charges are going to cost someone 200 gp and 16 xp each; market price 400 gp each.
Standard Spells Prepared (favored school Divination, forbidden school Illusion):
0th: Detect Magic x2, Detect Poison, Light, Mage Hand
1st: Shield, Comprehend Languages, Detect Secret Door, Sleep, Magic Missile
2nd: See Invisible x2, Scorching Ray, Knock
3rd: Arcane Sight, Dispell Magic, Lightning Bolt
Feats: Arcane Defense (Illusion; gives +3 saves), Diligent, Combat Casting, Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Pistol
Skills: Appraise +6, Balance +2, Bluff +0, Climb +0, Concentration +11, Decipher Script +16, Diplomancy + 0, Disable Device +8, Disguise +0, Escape Artist +2, Forgery +4, Gather Information +0, Handle Animal +0, Heal +1, Hide +2, Intimidate +0, Jump +5, Knowledge Arcana +14, Knowledge Architecture +14, Knowledge the Planes +8, Listen +1, Move Silently +2, Open Lock +4, Perform (Flute) +2, Ride +2, Search +8, Sense Motive +1, Sleight of Hand +3, Spellcraft +16, Spot +2, Survival +1, Swim +0, Use Rope +2
Countess Olga Natala Ekaterina Romanova
Alignment: Neutral
Class: Wizard (Illusionist) 9
Race: Human
Str 9, Dex 15, Con 14, Int 19, Wis 12, Cha 15
The Countess is an illegitimate member of the Muscovite Imperial family and an infamous adventuress. In between adventures and outrageous behavior, she is actually a quite a competent mathematician and arcanist.
The Countess was once a student of Taskman's, but Taskman has little use for women, even when they are mathematicians. Now, she spends much of her free time attempting to frustrate Taskman's designs and projects. In particular, she spends a lot of time trying to frustrate Leon McGraff's missions. Oddly enough, she was rather fond of him when they were students together, and remains fond of him now. Perhaps she hopes to turn him against Taskman someday.
The Countess has bonded with a smalljammer, which she named Alexi when she snatched it out from under Taskman's nose with the help of a team of 'Cossack Nightwarriors'. She often flies alone in Alexi on her self-assigned missions, taking along a lot of cash to hire local muscle, and only bringing along the Nightwarriors for the most desperate missions (since if she loses them, she has to explain it to Uncle Sergi).
Between adventures and occasional forays into society, the countess lives in a small asteroid, attended by a few servants and a handful of Nightwarriors.
The Honored Professora Maria Elaina del la Cruz y Mendoza, of the Bardic College
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Bard 20
Race: Human
Str 9, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 17, Wis 17, Cha 22
This tiny, dark-haired woman has taught whole generations of bards at the university. The daughter of an Iberian Nobleman, she would seem to be an unlikely choice for a wandering career, but indeed, in her youth she wandered all over the Maj system and beyond, writing songs, breaking hearts and getting in and out of trouble (and leaving behind a small legion of ex-lovers).
These days she is respected for her students, her encyclopedic knowledge of ballads and her ferocious classical guitar playing (it is popularly said that her fingers on the strings move faster than the speed of sound). She is also feared for her quick temper and her hulking "nephews" who tend to visit those who annoy or distress her (rumor has it that the nephews are not any relations of hers, but rather members of an Iberian crime syndicate whose chief is one of her ex-lovers).
The Proffessora's exact age is unknown (and enquiries are not recommended!), but she must be over 60. However, she is very well preserved and has shown no further signs of aging for decades. Some say that time itself doesn't dare lay a finger on her!
Jane la Fashionne, Bard
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Bard 9
Race: Human
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 18
Jane la Fashionne is an University educated bard who has fallen in love with life on Selene, and stayed to help protect it from the menace of the farside monsters, such as the Hoblocks. Jane was a student of the Proffessora (see above), and has kept in touch with her and her extended circle of friends, students and former students.
While Jane has been on several expeditions against the Hoblocks, her role as a Keeper of the Great Hobgoblin* is primarily to guard against Hoblock infiltration at the GLU, intelligence gathering and recruitment. She has good relations with the University military and secret police, who don't particularly approve of Hoblock agents (unless they're tenured faculty).
Jane is a student of anything involving the Hoblocks, their servants and allies, and by extension anything to do with the farside of Selene. The Hoblocks know of her, and are not happy about her researches. Her current theory is that the creators of the Hoblocks and their enemies lived in the the Natla Basin, on Maj, in the legendary time before it was flooded, and she is both trying to encourage diving expeditions to recover more artifacts, and persuade the University to sponsor an expedition to Isis, to investigate the rumours that the Nalta slaves of the scro are in some way connected with the Nalta Sea.
Of medium height and built, attractive and neat in her personal habits, Jane came from an Albionian naval (space and sea) family. She has tons of siblings, cousins, in-laws, nieces and nephews and random relations by marriage, mostly in various branches of the Albion's military. Her family finds her life choice odd, but supports her anyway.
(*) The Great Hobgoblin would appear to be an ancient artifact, though it is not clear if it is unique. It is an apparently innocuous statue of a passive-looking goblin carved from soapstone about four inches high, and does not detect as magical - as many artifacts it is near indestructable. Hoblocks confronted with this recoil in fear and cannot approach or attack the one vigorously presenting it, and all goblinoids who see it are immediately freed from any Hoblock influence, whether charismatic or magical, though the Hoblocks can re-establish control of them later. All Hoblock magics on anyone touched by the statue are immediately broken, and the person carrying it is immune to Hoblock magic. The disadvantage of carrying the statue is that you tend to become convinced that Hoblocks are a great evil that needs to be erradicated, though how you go about doing this is up to you. The Great Hobgoblin is believed to be the creation of the enemies of the ancient wizards who created the Hoblocks.
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