The northern hemisphere is where scro, the Near, live. These were raised from barbarism by the peaceful southern elves, who they then claimed betrayed them. They fell into inter-tribe fighting for many years, in fact centuries, but have been organised by a sorcerer-warrior leader, Nemok, and have united over the last fifty years.
These scro do not worship gods, and in fact despise them, saying they let them down when they needed them the most. There are in fact some hidden priests, strangely enough of the elven gods (who the scro took up after they abandoned their tribal gods), and some secret worship goes on, on a small scale.
The Near have some use of items and writings which embody the magical arts of the southern elves, but very few of them had even the potential to acquire the right magical talents needed to work effectively with these. Over the last fifty years maybe half a percent of the scro born have the potential to become Sorcerers. This has greatly improved the scro ability with their few fragments of elven magical art, which the withdrawing elves left intact, which frustratingly enough seem mostly defensive. Research on more useful arts continues.
There are also blue-skinned human slaves of the scro, the Nalta, originally from Maj, who for some reason cannot interbreed with the scro (nor can any other race on Isis). Some of these exist in 'free' tribes, only nominally under scro control. They worship the ancient Greek gods, and have some (hidden) priests, but no other spellcasters. It seems possible that all humans on Isis are decendents of the Nalta.
Scro Factions
It is notable that the scro are not completely united, and that there is for example a faction, which seems strongest among the sorcerer-potential scro, who secretly call themselves the "Children of Elestree" (some elven god the scro know little of), called the "Treehuggers" by the scro in general. These are in favour of peace with the elves, after the elves pay suitable reparations (this clause is something that often keeps them from getting lynched). A few of these scro are Wizards, using knowledge pieced-together from ancient elven sources and some mysterious benefactor.
The scro military have little use for the Treehugger philosophy, though they will use their sorcerous abilities like any other weapon. Some are put to use as diplomats. It should be noted that just because they are in favour of peace with the elves that does not mean that they do not work just as hard as any other scro at being strong and effective in combat.
A significant and rising faction among the scro are the so-called "War Priests". While the scro race in general have turned against the gods, these call upon a Power rather than a god, that they refer to as the scro "racial destiny". Until about fifty years ago they were just a few philosophers and 'far-sighted visionaries', but with the rise in sorcerous talent among the scro they have become a real power.
War Priests take alternate levels in Cleric and Sorcerer, starting with Cleric, and typically above character level 6, almost always above character level 10, levels in the prestige class Mystic Theurge. There is some argument about the exact nature of the scro racial destiny, but the domains Law, Magic, Strength and War are mostly agreed on, and War Priests normally have Magic and War. They will almost all have a martial weapon proficiency gained from the War domain, and while there is disagreement about what weapon their Power favours, this will almost always be a slashing or hacking weapon.
Scro military commanders will typically use whatever forces are available to them in as efficient a way as possible, and regard War Priests as just such a resource. Some still regard them with suspicion, not trusting that their main motive is scro military success, and will use Sorcerers, or more commonly Fighter/Sorcerers, instead.
Yet another faction are the self-labelled "Deep Thinkers", who claim that thought and the knowledge and power gained through it are the important things, not physical strength. Though derided by the common scro as "Egg Heads" they gain some respect for their unemotional planning abilities, and the way they refuse to overlook inconvenient facts.
Deep Thinkers believe that logic rather than emotion should be the basis of all decisions, and are typically Sorcerers (possibly NPC Experts), often taking the prestige class Loremaster at higher levels. Some specialise in magical enchantment, and these are the ones probably closest (except for the Treehugger Wizards) to riddling the ancient elven secrets that the scro so much desire to possess. They are inclined to take feats like Iron Will, and some deliberately physically or magically mutilate themselves to prevent the desires of the body getting in the way of their need for a 'perfect mind'. More worrying is that some get some very strange ideas, like improving the scro race by eliminating emotion, breeding immense and terrible battle monsters, or creating scro-monster, or scro-construct, hybrids.
Military commanders tend to keep Deep Thinkers well away from any combat, as while their magic could be useful they are too fragile and too valuable to risk. Occasionally missions may require one, in which case they will have very good bodyguards, maybe body doubles, and at least one escape plan. Wise commanders have someone inconspicous, such as a Treehugger, keeping an eye on the Deep Thinker to make sure they do not do anything too insane.
Military Servants
These are not really faction, and are far more vital than most scro are willing to admit, to making their society work as smoothly as it does. Military Servants are scro sworn to fight for other scro, but who realise that someone has to ensure food is grown and distributed, there is safe drinking water, effective sewage disposal, non-military building and maintenance is done, and all the other necessities of life are organised. They also keep track of the (somewhat smaller number than might be expected of) human Nalta slaves that the scro hold in common, and make sure that these don't escape, do get fed, stay healthy, and do all the work the scro don't.
Military Servants have a quiet communication network, often in parallel with the military one. Sometimes they have to work hard to stay out of the way of the more unreasoning military commanders, who are only interested in what troops they can deploy, and not the irrelevant details of how they are fed. While most of them make sure their military skills are well-polished (they would not be proper scro otherwise), they also tend to have levels in Rogue (or NPC Expert) which are used for organisational skills. After the valient scro commander has defeated the enemy, and is displaying their captives, they are typically found in the enemy baggage train, making sure that no supplies are wasted.
Military Servants also tend to run the intelligence services, and make use of drugs from the jungles of Isis to question captives who might know something useful. In general they regard torture as wasteful and unreliable, not acceptable treatment for those who have fought valiently, and likely to reduce the value they can get for them through ransom.
Near Empire History
The scro of Isis were originally a large area of at best semi-civilized orc tribes; the only intelligent land-dwellers on Northern Isis. The elves appeared to these orcs, and after futile attempts to harm them the orcs decided that these were higher beings, closer to the powers of the gods. After careful study, and long talks with the wiser among the orcs, the elves constructed a great race-changing ritual, powered by the internal energies of Isis, illuminating their spiritual darkness, and altering all the orcs into scro.
With their new partners the elves felt confident to move out again into wildspace, something they had long abandoned. The scro abandoned their orcish tribal gods and took on those of the elves. As time went on the scro became impatient with the elvish caution and tendancy to take a long view of things, and their own racial ambition began to re-emerge.
Relations began to break down between elves and scro over how to handle the people of Maj, in the Nalta Basin. After things fell apart the elves ensured that all the scro were returned to Isis, using Wish magic where needed, and as much of the things potentially usable as weapons removed from them. The scro broke into factions, some supporting the elves, and horrified at the way that their benefactors were being dishonoured, some just wanting to hold on to the high civilization that the elves had shown them, and some wanting to become the dominant partner with the elves.
Factions broke down into more factions, as the elves relentlessly withdrew, and finally the scro were reduced to waring tribes, struggling to re-invent the military skills and culture of their orcish ancestors.
Near Empire Scro
The scro of the Near Empire are unlike the standard spelljamming scro in that they were not raised-up from orc-hood by the racial hero Dukagsh. They further did not have War-Priests, and until about fifty years ago had only the weakest of magical talents, except in their few hidden priests. Some might suspect that the ritual used by the elves to change their orc ancestors into scro drained the magical talents of the entire scro race, which first returned as priestly power, and most recently as sorcery and even some wizardly talent.
Near Empire scro are more uniform than standard ones, all with smooth symmetric features, olive-green skin, no head or body hair for the males, and only head hair (so dark green it is nearly black) for the females. Their tusks are smaller than those of even normal half-orcs, and often cannot be clearly seen unless they smile or grimace, but they are set in obviously powerful jaws.
For those without the spelljamming rules for scro, treat them as erect-walking, militaristic orcs, who are Lawful rather than Chaotic, and have a society dedicated to organised combat. Unlike orcs they have no Light Sensitivity, and even if unarmed they can bite quite effectively. They are prouder and stronger looking, and more intelligent, than orcs, and many of them speak Elven, the language of their greatest enemy. Note that female scro are just as combat-oriented as the males, unlike the role to which orc culture normally confines females. While skilled in strategy and tactics they enjoy close-in combat, and this can sometimes skew their battle plans. (3rdEd: as orcs but racial ability modifiers are +4 Str, -2 Cha, have no Light Sensitivity, have Orc Blood, have a 1d3 bite, use Str rather than Cha for their Intimidate skill, and have favoured class Fighter; are +0 LA. Half-scro: +2 Str, -2 Cha, Darkvision, Orc Blood, 1d2 bite and have favoured class Fighter; are +0 LA.) Note the initial lack of half-scro, certainly native to Isis.
Player-character scro will almost always be those who do not fit into their culture for some reason. This might be because they are less Lawful than usual, though a Chaotic scro is very unlikely, and would probably not live to grow up. They might believe that there is something to life beyond the military, though they will still likely have a strongly military outlook. Or they might have had some sort of major life-changing experience. Half-scro will have been born during the forty-plus years that spelljamming has re-emerged in Maj Space, of scro and most likely humans from Maj, and given the lack of fertility between scro and non-scro on Isis, likely off-world.
On the southern hemisphere of Isis live peace-loving elves, the Oreth, who are brown-skinned, with varied hair colours, and live in floating homes, fed by automated farms, based on their magical arts which tap the unique magneto-etheric fields of Isis.
The Oreth flew across the Flamebelt in magically cooled ships, exploring the North and teaching civilization to the savage tribes they found there. These co-operated, but then turned on them, even using their new wildspace arts to steal slaves from Maj. The elves, horrified in part by a magical catastrophe that they were partially responsible for on Maj (flooding the Nalta (Mediterranian) Basin), withdrew to the South, destroying as much as possible of the dangerous gifts they had given, as they left, and the tribes mostly collapsed back into barbarism. It seems possible that this catastrophe is also the reason that spelljamming access to Maj, and use of Helms in Maj's atmosphere, is so unusual.
Oreth are in many respects conventional, though peaceful, elves, and are most commonly Wizards, having many spells particular to Isis, as they make use of its unique magneto-etheric fields. Most of their advanced civilization runs on magic, their fields of crops being worked by magneto-etheric powered constructs, their air and water ships being powered similarly, and they live lives of as much leisure as they consider desirable.
The Oreth have spelljamming capability, and have had this for thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of years. They might even have been the earliest spelljammers in Maj Space. GM Note: If you do not wish the Oreth to be capable of making their own Helms, then they should have considerable stocks of these, including ancient varieties like Furnaces, possibly bought long ago from the Arcane/Mercane.
One notable characteristic of the Oreth is that they feel responsibilities that they have taken on very deeply, and pass these down through the generations. They greatly reget the failure of their attempts to civilize the scro of the North. They also greatly regret their damage to Maj. If they could somehow repay these... The Oreth greatly admire those who they see to have similar respect for their responsibilities, which can confuse others who think that they are admiring their bravery.
Criminality is almost unknown among the Oreth, and their attitude to suspected criminals is to put them into very securely guarded stasis while a board of at least five advocates and experts examines their cases, so that a clear determination is made of their actions and motivation. Only a unanimous decision by the board is accepted, and some boards have been in occasional session for hundreds of years, as new arguments are constructed, new evidence is uncovered (typically by more carefully applied magic), or there are new appeals by relatives. The more violent crimes tend to be deliberated longest.
Punishment ranges from geased community service, through reincarnation (for manslaughter), to total personality erasure and careful education from the resultant child-like state (for things like premeditated murder). Indefinite stasis is not one of their punishments.
The elves have a very advanced magical technology, which can do just about anything the GM wishes it to do, though they don't tend to use much in the way of instant transportation, mind magic except for that used for translation, or enchantment or charm magic. Magic which causes (potentially fatal) injury or is normally used for deadly violence against intelligent creatures is something that they use with great caution. Nearly all their powerful and immediately usable magic is tied to the magneto-etheric fields of Isis, though they have other more portable magic, or the instructions to build such, from the spelljamming that they did in ancient times. The elves are quite careful about the consequences of others using their magic.
Player-character Oreth elves are possible, but they are a highly civilized people, little inclined to the violence common in adventuring. If the adventure is on Isis they could be very useful contacts, providing access to means of transport, advanced healing magic, and magical communication, but these will in almost all cases not work off Isis, as they depend on the magneto-etheric fields of that world, which may limit how useful the character is. Half-elves will be quite uncommon, but some may have been born in the last forty-plus years of spelljamming contact. If brought-up on Isis they will also likely be highly civilized, though those raised off-Isis will probably still have family contacts there.
In fact the Oreth are willing to treat Oreth half-elves and any people born and raised in their republic equally well, in terms of giving them access to facilties and resources, and this is represented by the background feat Oreth Born. The only people who have better access are native elves, and this is represented by the background feat Oreth Elf. There is a third background feat, Oreth Noble, which represents someone who takes responsibility for making sure that the Oreth Republic is run properly, and is not strictly required to have noble blood, or in fact be an elf, but this is very rare in those less than 250 years-old, those less than 10th level characters, and those not Good; very rarely PCs.
Construct Servants
These are the means by which most of the work is done in the Oreth Republic, without risking the freedom of choice of the elves to be as leisurely as they like.
The Oreth are the closest thing in Maj Space to a society which is based on the Construct Option, but unlike in that option very little is seen of constructs in everyday life.
With the arrival of spelljammers from other worlds the scro and elves are starting to look to the skies again. The scro with an eye to attacking the elves who betrayed them, and the elves with an eye to defending themselves against the scro, and maybe finding (reliable) new allies. Both are attempting to revive the nearly lost arts of wildspace.
The best the scro have managed so far is a immense magneto-etheric barrier, powered by the energy fields and core heat of Isis, erected about a year ago, which makes use of spelljamming Helms very risky on entering the atmosphere of Isis. Crashed ships can then be looted of their Helms. The elves can freely open holes in the barrier, but wont do this without a good reason; it is very likely that they could erect such a barrier themselves, if they wished to.
Game Mechanics: On entering atmosphere Helms will automatically disconnect from their pilots, for at least one minute, unless the pilot makes a spelljamming pilot roll with a DC of 30, once per minute. The only way to re-activate the Helm is to wait one minute with no pilot at the Helm, in freefall, and then a fresh pilot must take the Helm and make a spelljamming pilot roll with a DC of 20, after which they can fly freely needing no further rolls; if they fail this roll they can re-try after another wait of a minute, etc. Assume that it takes a little more than eight minutes for a ship to freefall to sea level. A Helm on a ship which is taking off from Isis can be activated and used without any problem.
Some from Maj who know what little lore there is of this world are very suspicious that the scro started uniting about fifty years ago, when the Arcane first made contact with Maj. They also regard the rumour that the scro leader, Nemok, appeared about this time, as very interesting.
Food is short in a number of places in Maj Space, and it would be trivial for the Oreth to as much as quadruple the output of their farms, and even pack the food for safe transport. Before the magneto-etheric barrier was raised there were negotiations going on that might have led to this, in particular to some of the nations around the Nalta Basin, on Maj. The Oreth are waiting to see how the situation might be resolved.
This range of jungle-covered hills and mountains raises several thousand feet above the true Isisian jungle, on the northern hemisphere, and is home to a fierce race of green-skinned and haired humans. It is said that a true Argonian Highlander is only happy in battle, and melancholy otherwise -- certainly the tribes fight each other enough, and any outsiders foolish enough to enter their homeland. Just about every Argonian owns a weapon and knows how to use it. The only time it is safe to travel in the Argonian Highlands is during one of the quarterly trade truces. These truces last for two weeks, and are when the bulk of commerce with outsiders takes place.
While there are no true cities in the highlands, there are plenty of fortified towns and hill forts, as well as hidden villages and small holdings. The exact number of Aragonian Highlanders is unknown -- even by them, but they are known for breeding as enthusiastically as they fight.
The average Argonian Highlander is a Warrior, Barbarian or Fighter, but Sorcerers, Rogues, Scouts, Clerics, Spirit Shamen and Favored Souls are not unknown. Argonian youths wishing to make a name for themselves leave their village on a long hunt, not returning until they have an impressive trophy to return, such as the head of a tribal enemy or of a large raptor (or maybe a Scro).
In the middle of the Sea of Monsters is the jungle-covered island (or small continent) of Alph. Alph is approximately one-and-a-half million square miles in size, and roughly diamond-shaped. For details of this, and the Sea of Monsters, see Alph.
Some People of the Near
Nemok, Sorcerer General of the Near Empire
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Sorcerer 18/Warrior 2(/Fighter 10)
Race: Scro
Str 8(16(20)), Dex 4(15(19)), Con 7(16), Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 20
(...) ability while projected.
((...)) ability from magic item.
With an empire you would expect to have an emperor, but while he might be called 'Emperor' behind his back, Nemok insists on just the title 'Sorcerer General'. While he is indeed a mighty sorcerer, his fighting abilities are a bit more suspect, something which very few of his subjects know. They don't tend to think about the fact that as an adult scro fifty years ago he should be very old now, and his life-companion (wife), Ronas, looking to be a mature scro of about thirty years of age, helps this.
Nemok is in fact unaging, due to experiments with an ancient elven device, but he is a wizened remnant of a scro, and he was never a very skilled fighter. Fortunately while it just about destroyed his body the device strengthened his will, and he now has the ability to control and function through the body of a properly prepared (mindless) scro.
This control is such that a Project Image spell allows him to control this body as if it were his own, using the better of the two combat abilities, saving throws, etc., even out of line-of-sight, as long as within 280 ft. range, indefinitely. Unfortunately feedback means that he takes half the real damage done to the body, as subdual damage. He is currently on the third of these bodies, who he prefers to think of as scro who he enables to fight on, even though they were laid low by some head injury.
No more than five scro are supposed to know about Nemok's 'problem', and two senior scro have been previously executed for not being careful enough about what they say. The actual number is about a dozen, but they are all loyal and fear what would happen to the Near Empire if word got out. Note that the 'accident' happened when he was character level 10 (Warrior 2/Sorcerer 8).
As he is effective head of the Deep Thinkers faction, in his real as opposed to fake body, Nemok believes that logic, unfettered by emotion, is the answer to all the problems of the Near Empire. However, even though they have terrible arguments, he still listens to the views of his life-companion (wife), Ronas, and (correctly) believes that her balancing point of view is one of the things that keeps him sane. Of course, he couldn't still love her, could he?
As for what happened between the Arcane/Mercane and the scro, the only two people left alive among the scro who know about that are Nemok and Ronas.
Nemok normally appears as an incredibly charismatic large scro in a black mithral chainshirt with a large black mithral shield, the shirt giving him +9 AC, and the shield +7 AC, and having only a 5% arcane spell failure chance (this goes away if he slings the shield); given his Dex AC 30. He is normally armed with a +5 keen greataxe, and wears bracers that raise his Str by +4 to 20. He wears a talisman that raises his Dex by +4 to 19. If they are lost he can track these items anywhere, and use this for scrying. If he is forced into a position of having to fight then things have gone really badly wrong.
In his real body he flies around on a small flying carpet (2 ft. by 4 ft., 3 lbs., 150 lb. capacity, 240 ft. speed), which can generate an Invisibility Sphere at will; fighting via a fake body does not break this invisibility.
Nemok added at +1 to Cha at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th level. He has had the physical aging effects of being Venerable applied, and he gained +3 Wis; he also lost the scro -2 Cha.
Ronas, Sorcerer General of the Near Empire
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Sorcerer 20
Race: Scro
Str 15(19), Dex 13, Con 11, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 18
(...) ability from magic item.
As the life-companion (wife) of Nemok, who is effectively emperor of the Near Empire, you might think Ronas would be happy, and if not, comfortable. Though she believes that she can have no more children due to the (somewhat more successful) use of the ancient elven device that made her and Nemok unaging, she has power, wealth, and even a number of surviving children. However, she is not happy with how the Near Empire considers the Oreth Republic elves to be their greatest enemies, because she suspects (quite rightly) that if the elves were upset enough they could squash their scro ex-students like bugs.
Ronas is in fact the secret head of the Treehugger faction of the scro, something she and a number of other scro go to great lengths to keep secret, for fear of the damage to the Near Empire. She has a number of very loyal servants, including body doubles and those prepared to be 'revealed' as the head of the faction, if needed. Nemok of course knows about this, as do a number of very senior scro, and all agree it is to be kept secret - a few who didn't have been executed.
One of the reasons Ronas stays where she does is that she still loves her life-companion (husband), and even though they have terrible rows about the future of the scro, correctly believes her presence helps keep him sane. Between the two of them they have managed to maintain the difficult balancing act that is the Near Empire for over forty years now.
As for what happened between the Arcane/Mercane and the scro, the only two people left alive among the scro who know about that are Nemok and Ronas.
Ronas doesn't normally appear, and when she does she is cloaked in illusions, and generally displaced. Sometimes she uses body doubles and speaks through them magically. She has been known to use a body double and dress as one of her own body guards. Many scro will cheerfully die for 'their Empress'. If forced to fight she uses a +5 greataxe which is permanently invisible to all bar the one holding it, negates any Dex or dodge AC, and gives scro (or orcs) +4 Str granting her 19 strength. She wears bracers of armour +8, a broach of shielding, a displacer cloak, and has a ring containing a single Wish. Note that Ronas has insufficient Cha for 9th level spells.
As her martial weapon (which cost her a feat), Ronas has a greataxe.
Ronas added +1 to Cha at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th level. She is unaffected by aging, and has lost the scro -2 Cha.
Telat, Sorcerer General of the Near Empire
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Cleric (Racial Destiny) 3/Sorcerer 3/Mystic Theurge 9
Race: Scro
Str 13(17), Dex 12(20), Con 16, Int 12, Wis 18, Cha 16
Telat is the daughter of Nemok and Ronas, and while she holds the same title is supposed to be far less powerful. However, she is head of the War Priest faction, and that at least means that people listen to what she says. After some major 'discussions' with Nemok she is very, very, careful not to be preferential to War Priests in her military position as a general.
Some consider Telat to be the natural future leader of the scro, but she points out the continued good health of her parents, and explains, generally while inspecting her greataxe, how very, very, unhappy she would be if they had 'accidents'.
Telat dresses as what she is - a scro warrior. Her normal wear is a black mithral chainshirt, not dissimilar to her father's, which gives her +9 AC and no arcane spell failure chance. The armour also raises her dexterity by +8 to 20, so giving her AC 24. Her +5 greataxe also gives scro (or orcs) weilding it +4 strength, raising her strength to 17. If the general has to get into hand-to-hand things have gone really badly wrong.
Telat has the domains Magic and War, and her martial weapon is greataxe.
Telat added +1 to Cha at 4th, 8th, and 12th level.
Gelt
Alignment: Lawful/(Good)
Class: Wizard 15
Race: Scro
Str 17(20), Dex 14, Con 16, Int 17, Wis 9, Cha 14
As the (unacknowledged) bastard son of Nemok, Gelt is in a difficult position, but on top of that he is senior in the Treehugger faction! At one point the secret leader of the Treehuggers, Ronas, considered having him executed, but then she found out about his history, and relented.
Gelt was conceived, without the knowledge of a drugged Nemok, as a result of a plot among senior scro to ensure that he had a heir, as he seemed more interested in magic than women. The plotters kept his existence secret for quite a while, then they all found themselves in dangerous and ultimately fatal military postings. Some regard it strange that this happened so soon after Nemok and Ronas declared themselves life-partners. Less than half-a-dozen scro still live who know of Gelt's relation to Nemok.
Effectively orphened, Gelt was taken in, raised, and educated by the Treehuggers, and when they found he was a potential sorcerer, exposed to what fragments of elven lore they had. As he grew older a mysterious patron provided teaching texts for wizardry, both to him and others. Gelt has always laboured under the impression that he is not a good enough wizard, and he has doubts as to how good a scro he is, either. But, a core of determination has kept him going, even when he found out about the nasty politics surrounding his birth.
Gelt is now middle-aged, though the Longevity potion that the Treehuggers obtained for him has helped. Finally he feels as though he has some control over his life, and considers that he has become a halfways competent wizard, and even someone trying to do his best for the scro race. He is the senior enchanter on the magneto-etheric barrier project, and while it all seems to work so far, he has this nasty feeling that things are going to go really, really, wrong.
GM Note: Gelt is about as nice a scro as the PCs could reasonably meet, but he will still not even consider betraying his race for them. Another role for him might be involvement in the Treehuggers trying to contact the Oreth. It is quite likely that he would called in if there was some strange elven magical item unearthed, and he might even be sent off Isis for an interesting enough problem.
Gelt appears as a tall, well-built, but relatively harmless looking scro in white robes, covered by a light-absorbing cloak, and with a staff topped by a diamond. These are in fact a robe of the archmagi, an ethereal cloak, and a staff of power, all made by him. His +3 greataxe is in a special sling on his back, under his robes, ready for quick use; its magic is slightly flawed and only grants scro (or orcs) +3 strength, hence him 20 Str. In addition to his axe he has a +5 Lawful adamantite dagger, and a tattoo on his left hand which turns into a fully-loaded +3 repeating crossbow, on command. He also while travelling has a folding boat (slightly larger than standard so as to be the minimum size for spelljamming), at least one scroll of Create Minor Helm, and a figurine of wonderous power, ivory helmsman (which operates a helm as a 6th level spellcaster, and creates a continuous (Rary's) Telepathic Bond effect to allow its spellcasting summoner to hear warnings, direct it and see with its helmsman senses). If it looks to be useful, Gelt will explain that the Near Empire will pay a large ransom for his safe return. He is quite obviously interested in magic items new to him (this is true, but is partly his 'harmless scholar' persona).
As his martial weapon (which cost him a feat), Gelt has a greataxe.
Gelt added +1 to Int at 4th, 8th, and 12th level.
Tarsh, Sorcerer-Warrior
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Fighter 3/Sorcerer 3
Race: Scro
Str 18, Dex 18, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 13
Tarsh is a middle-ranking and middle-aged scro career warrior, who has the advantage of trained magical talent. He knows he is strong, fast and moderately tough, but is worried that he is not intelligent enough to make a good scro warrior.
Tarsh was a boyhood friend of Gelt, who he is pleased to see has done well for himself. Though raised in the Treehugger philosophy he claims to have thrown it off, and now be as dedicated to scro military supremacy, over the elves and anyone else, as any proper scro. Quite a lot of his time in the military has been spent on rather quiet border patrol work, but with the recent raising of the magneto-etheric barrier Tarsh has been assigned to the collecting of the remains of fallen spelljamming craft, in particular their Helms. He has received basic spelljamming pilot training.
His normal armour is a Masterwork black mithral chain shirt, which only gives him 10% arcane spell failure, and a large steel shield (slung by default), which with his Dex gives him AC 20. He is armed with a greataxe, a longsword, and a longbow. He has the feat Expertise and Dodge, as well as Improved Unarmed Strike.
Tarsh added +1 to his Int at 4th. (He plans to add +1 Wis at 8th.)
Gat, Warrior
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Warrior 3
Race: Scro
Str 18, Dex 8, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 14, Cha 11
Gat is a reasonably standard scro warrior, though more intelligent than most, and is eager to fight the enemy of the Near Empire. She knows that as she was trained in a border town she is not quite as well-drilled as some scro, but she intends to make up for that with courage and hard work. Maybe she can get some of this advanced training that she's heard about? Maybe even as a War-Priest?
She is in black-wash bandedmail and has a large steel shield, which with her Dex gives her AC 17, is armed with a greataxe and a set of three throwing axes, and carries a scimitar and a dagger. She has the feats Improved Unarmed Strike and Endurance.
Some People of the Oreth
Eron, Oreth Physician
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Wizard 10
Race: Elf
Str 12, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 12
Eron is considered a comparatively young Oreth elf, adult, at only about 300 years, but he has worked hard to overcome what he believes to be his poor perceptive and inter-personal abilities. He hopes one day to be considered one of the great physicians of his race. He hopes to take a life-partner (marry), for love, at some point (he is rather a romantic), and has had several relationships but no true affairs; he has no children.
Even though he is quite young Eron is qualified to work with the more powerful, and potentially dangerous, Oreth healing magics, in the Halls of Healing. These draw on the inner energies of Isis, and can trivially speed up normal healing ten times, and overcome most diseases and poisons, for many patients at a time. They can, over a period of months, cause lost limbs and organs to re-grow, and heal almost any kind of injury. Restoring the dead to life, with permission from their spirits, and normally with a priest in attendance (as Raise Dead), can be done. As can providing a new body for someone who has died (as Clone). If someone needs healing that is not immediately obvious then they can be placed in indefinite stasis until the details are worked out - almost all healing can be done within a few tens of years, or a few centuries at most. Oreth healing is capable of reversing or staving-off the effects of aging indefinitely, though few find the will or motivation to live more than three times their normal span (about a one-and-a-half thousand years in total for Oreth elves).
Eron has a number of non-standard spells which he uses to contact the Oreth magical communication net, as well as a *Sec (the monitoring variety of Com, as he is considered an important enough person). He wears a ring which causes him to regenerate at one hit point per minute from all bar fire and acid, as effectively as an ogre magi, a Physicians Ring, which causes him to take subdual damage equal to all lethal damage he does to others.
As his normal equipment Eron carries concentrated potions which will usually stop people from immediately dying, a lens that allows him to inspect their aura to help him see what is wrong with them, and for real emergencies a single-use stasis crystal, which will put someone into stasis for as much as a day, and send out an alarm signal that will reach anywhere in Maj Space. These plus his extensive medical knowledge allows him to deal with most emergencies.
Eron added +1 to his Wis at 4th, and +1 to his Cha at 8th.
(*) A Com is a talisman which permits you to communicate through it to individuals with a similar talisman, as if you had used Clairvoyance and Clairaudience, and others to contact you. Other varieties are Sec and Imp; all varieties look just the same.
(*) A Sec is a Com which also monitors you and your location, so that if you are within the Oreth Republic (or are up to a few hundred miles above it in wildspace) and are more than trivially injured, or violent magic is done on you, or your talisman stops working, an alarm goes off. They will know who you are, what is the problem, and where you are, or last were. A Sec is typically only carried by important Oreth, those who might be at risk from others due to their importance, and includes an average-quality encryption system, which prevents others understanding or tampering with messages.
This will typically mean that a physician team and/or peacekeeper team will move as rapidly as possible to assist you, at your last known location if contact has been lost. In cities this is usually within two minutes, away from the cities ten to twenty minutes. If it seems likely you are in immediate danger then attempts will be made to skry you, and maybe even use Teleport to get to you quickly.
Shereth, Oreth Peacekeeper
Alignment: Lawful
Class: Ranger 10
Race: Elf
Str 12, Dex 19(23), Con 13, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 9
Shereth is a reasonably typical Oreth peacekeeper, though she has fellow peacekeepers who are Fighters, Wizards, Druids, or Clerics of appropriate elven gods, and even some specialists who are Experts. Quite a lot of her work has been persuading potentially dangerous animals to leave the more populated areas, or rescuing strayed herd animals, but she is fully skilled at dealing with the rare intelligent trouble. She is adult, considered young though about two-hundred and fifty years old, and has no life-partner (is unmarried) with no current plans for such or children; she has had occasional affairs.
As the spelljamming has spread across Maj Space over the last forty-plus years, Shereth has found herself with more work. The diplomats and their 'guards' have sometimes caused a great deal of problems, and she has been forced to use violence on intelligent beings, something that though she is trained for she still finds quite distasteful. At least the magneto-etheric barrier raised by the scro has ment that things have been a lot quieter, though she suspects that it is the calm before the storm.
As for magic, Shareth has a Sec, like all peacekeepers. The alarm goes off at the nearest peacekeeper station, identifying her, and even if her talisman is broken or lost, her last known location. She has her peacekeeper-issue carpet of flying, woven in peacekeeper colours of blue and white (3 ft. by 5 ft., 210 ft. speed), and a ring of feather fall. She also has the standard Boots of Elvenkind and the Cloak of Elvenkind.
She is wearing a mithral chainshirt and has a large mithral shield (normally slung) which with her Dex gives her AC 22. She has a +3 mithral rapier, a standard peacekeeper *Shrod, a +1 mithral dagger, and a longbow, and half her arrows have heads which deliver subdual rather than lethal damage. Bracers give her +4 Dex hence 23. Shereth has feats Exotic Weapon (Shrod), Improved Initiative, Quick Draw, Weapon Finesse (rapier) and Improved Critical (Shrod).
Shareth added +1 to her Wis at 4th and 8th.
(*) Shrod is a shock-rod, magical exotic melee weapon, which can deliver up to 6d6 kinetic subdual damage with a ranged-touch attack, critical 19-20, Dex instead of Str improves accuracy, up to 60 ft. away, three times per day, and plus one for every 2nd level (arcane or divine; higher level spells can be used) spell you feed it. Less than 6d6 can be done, down to 2d6, which gives you more attacks, in which case the maximum per day is 18d6, plus 6d6 per extra spell fed in. A Shrod is only usable to those with Elf Blood.
Kesian, Oreth Noble
Alignment: Chaotic/Good
Class: Bard 10/Wizard 10
Race: Elf
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 12, Int 19, Wis 16, Cha 19
Kesian is a typical Oreth Noble, who believes in freedom and good-will to all, and that time will solve most problems. The only area he is strict on is the matter of responsibility, both those passed down in his family, and responsibilities of the Oreth Republic as a whole. Kesian is considered a mature adult, though he is about a thousand years old, is happy with a life-partner (wife) of similar age who is a dedicated botanist, and has children and numerous grandchildren.
As far as family responsibilities go, the only one that normally affects Kesian is the occasional visit from his supposed relative, Erin Half Elven, but seeing as many of the younger members of the family like him so much, Kesian tolerates him. The national responsibility is to assist in the justice system, as the agreed member of his family from his generation, and even though this bores him he works hard at it. The racial responsibility is the way that the sco of the Near Empire were failed, and connected with that the debt owed to the people of Maj, for the flooding of the Nalta Basin, both of which Kesian suspects will never be settled.
Kesian is really interested in the performance of music, and the myths and legends which go into chants and songs. He can perform a wide range of these himself, in many languages, which he regularly does at both family and larger gatherings. He is a master of skrying, and owns a crystal ball with clairaudience, which gives him +4 skrying skill. He also owns a large number of record spheres, each of which can be placed in the base of his crystal ball to record sight and sound of scenes, up to an hour per sphere, and can replay these an indefinite number of times, with excellent fidelity, later.
He only watches performances, not the private practice of musicians, or their teaching, as he considers that would be rude, and he has extensive knowledge of likely places and times of performances of those musicians he particularly likes. Sometimes he sends anonymous gifts, suitably 'skry washed' to prevent them being tracked back to him.
There tend to be at least a dozen criminal cases at a time for which Kesian is one of the advocates, which on average take up about ten hours of each of his weeks. Kesian has an extensive knowledge of legal matters, and a large family law library which gives him a +2 circumstance bonus. He is concerned about the rise in violent crime, and theft, which has occurred over the last forty-plus years as spelljamming has spread across Maj Space.
Kesian, as someone about as important as you can be in the Oreth Republic, has a Sec, and any number of inconspicuous ingenious defences that the GM may wish to give him. For example, there might be small but powerful construct bodyguards which follow him around, invisible between the physical and ethereal planes, automatically tracking him if he is teleported, and ready to materialise with all sorts of powerful magical defences. It is very likely that preparations have be made to Clone him if needed, likely in such a way that he will not loose a level, and necromantic skrying will be done if needed to keep track of his spirit. There is also a small peacekeeper team, which includes physician support, no more than a minute's travel away, ready to assist him at all times; at least one of these will be able to safely teleport to him at any time.
GM Note: Kesian might be one of the advocates that PCs could encouter if they get involved in the Oreth Republic's legal system. Alternatively, they might want to talk to him about his extensive knowledge of myths and legends. Finally, he might be able to give directions if they want to find, in particular, a bard that he happens to know of - they would have to be pretty convincing for him to use his skrying talents to help them in any other way.
Kesian added +1 to Str at 4th, to Int at 8th, to Con at 12th, to Cha at 16th and to Int at 20th level.
Barenas, Oreth Diplomat
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Wizard 20
Race: Elf
Str 8, Dex 6(10), Con 10, Int 19, Wis 11, Cha 18(20)
Barenas (pronounced Ba-re-nas) is a not very typical Oreth Noble, who is in particular concerned with matters outside the Oreth Republic, as well as the more normal relationship between the Oreth and 'outsiders'. She does not dismiss all non-elves as 'short-lived barbarians', though very few of the Oreth would dream of saying this to anyone's face, and privately finds their energy and impatience 'cute'.
Possibly one reason for her empathy is a 'birth curse' (while they could 'fix' things like this, the Oreth are very reluctant to meddle), which made her very clumsy and uncoordinated, and caused her childhood to be quite difficult. She turned to an intensive study of both magic and tales of other cultures and worlds, and only really developed her social skills fully later, and as a matter of conscious will. Finding a life-partner (getting married) is something she plans to consider in a few hundred years, as are children, and affairs are something she avoids due to the possible complications. She is considered adult, though actually about five-hundred years old, and has no life-partner and no children; she gets on well with her brother and sister's children, and expects to be a great-aunt, some day.
Barenas has an Imp, and in addition a very carefully concealed emergency talisman, normally inactive (only automatically activated by her death) under the skin on the back of her neck, even better hidden by her slightly magical hair. The emergency talisman is the size of a sunflower seed, and has a range of anywhere in Maj Space, and from anywhere in the Inner Planes.
Her permanently slightly magical hair slowly rearranges itself if disarrayed into the last way she had it arranged. She also normally wears subtle magical make-up which also repairs itself, unless vigorously scrubbed-off. The combination of these two give her an effective +2 Cha, though she plays a role of being concerned with her appearance. She wears a ring which causes her to regenerate at one hit point per minute from all bar fire and acid, as effectively as an ogre magi, which she calls a Diplomats Ring (it is the same as a Physicians Ring), and which causes her to take subdual damage equal to all lethal damage she does to others. She normally wears a ring of featherfall and a necklace of adaptation. Not normally worn is her white robe of the archmagi.
An upper-arm bracelet gives her +4 Dex, but this only works for elves, and the flawed enchantment on this (which she finds quite amusing) means that it cannot increase Dex above 12. Her other upper-arm bracelet is identical, but is in fact a tiny Construct snake, her familiar, with a 12d6 paralytic subdual damage venom (injected, DC 16, no secondary damage), and the ability to quite precisely control by touch the bodies of those it has paralysed. She reserves the use of this for real emergencies, but if taken from her it can infallibly find her again, if needed by an error-free Teleport, and it is capable of obeying pre-set orders (like: "if you are taken from me wait at least ten minutes, and then return as secretly as possible, fighting and controlling opponents if necessary").
Barenas has the feats Eschew Materials, Combat Casting, and Spell Mastery for her favourite spells; the GM should give her whatever Item Creation feats they think appropriate.
GM Note: Barenas is a very likely contact for PCs, as she gets on well with non-elves, and is often interested in what news they might give her. She might travel beyond the Oreth Republic on special missions. She might even be freed from her captors by the PCs, or maybe even free them.
Barenas added +1 to Int at 4th, 8th, 12th, and 16th, and +1 to Cha at 20th level.
(*) An Imp is a Sec (a variety of Com) with a range of 1AU. In addition it has a number of different means of encrypting the message, so that it cannot be understood or tampered with, and is very difficult to use to skry who is at either end. These vary from simple codes, through something which uses two identical texts, e.g. books, up to a system which uses a part of the personality of the sender and receiver as an encryption code (this means they must know who each other is). An Imp is also capable of inobviously detecting any skry points within 60 ft., and indicating where they are to its user, as well as disguising the movement of their lips to prevent lip-reading.
The Oreth Republic will normally make quite serious efforts to keep track of its Imps and their users, including deploying invisible spelljamming vessels, and may well have a 1AU range Teleport ready, to reach those who get in to trouble.
Tian, Oreth Diplomat (Special Circumstances)
Alignment: Neutral/(Good)
Class: Squerth 6/Expert (diplomacy) 14
Race: Squerth (Elf)
Str 11, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 19, Wis 20, Cha 14
Tian is an Oreth Noble, one of the few squerth who have become such, and is concerned with diplomacy, or to be precise, what happens when the normal Oreth Republic diplomacy breaks down. Tian is a member, and effective head, of a nearly completely secret part of the diplomatic service called "Special Circumstances".
He normally resembles a slightly-built, inoffensive-looking, elf, who dresses in conservative robes with little ornamentation. He is often carrying papers, of some sort; the usual indefinitely-long-life-span paper that the Oreth elves use for formal matters. The perceptive will spot that this is someone with a powerful trained intelligence. Tian is again someone about as important as you can be in the Oreth Republic, and has an Imp, and any number of inconspicuous ingenious defences that the GM may wish to give him (which should not depend on him being a spellcaster).
Tian has a aide, Niat, who is a sundered squerth based on his own (anciently abbreviated) experiences, who is normally in a join with four semi-intelligent squerth (effectively training them). He also has two other aides, Kenli (a flamboyant-looking male elf) and Las (a calmly intellectual female elf) who are also sundered squerth, based on two other intelligent squerth, in two similar joins. These semi-intelligent squerth are all equipped with a Poly, and all the squerth have Secs, and hence can in an emergency split into fifteen aides, who can all look the same, or different, as required, and remain in contact.
He is, among other activities, running the spying operations to keep track of what the empires on Maj, and their city states on Selene, are up to. This normally involves sophisticated 'stealth' scrying, usually done by unsleeping, incredibly patient, sundered squerth, and paid informers who think they are passing information to agents of another empire. He is also watching the Near Empire, in particular their Treehugger faction, so as to see what they do next. Tian is also directly or indirectly (by secret finance) supporting pirate hunting operations, in particular in the Belt. A critical part of his work is keeping as effective track as possible of all Arcane/Mercane activity in Maj Space.
Tian is many millenia old, and before he became truely intelligent worked for several millenia as a (not very strong or tough) gardening and maintenance squerth, for an Oreth elven family involved over several generations in diplomacy. He kept out of sight, in the background, as squerth are supposed to, but slowly became interested in what he overheard discussed. The emancipation of squerth had little immediate effect on him, though it did allow him to eventually become an Oreth Noble. He does like to keep up his gardening and handywork skills, as time permits, and anywhere he works for any period of time will have growing plants.
He counseled caution over the initial contact with the Orcs who became Scro, but he was over-ruled, as he was quite junior at the time. He watched the collaboration with increasing concern, and in fact persuaded some other members of the diplomatic service to make quiet plans for what might be done in the case of things going wrong. The disaster in the Nalta Basin (later quickly Sea) put these plans into action. Several centuries on, when things settled down again, he successfully lobbied for a part of diplomatic service to be assigned to watch for such future problems, which became Special Circumstances. Tian prides himself on a subtle approach to problems, and solving them as far as possible in line with Oreth ethical philosophy; many people refer to this as 'sneaky', and he is now Neutral with Good tendancies, rather than being out-right Neutral/Good.
GM Note: It is posible that PCs might meet Tian, but it is unlikely that they will realise how important he is, or that he is anything other than a minor Oreth bureaucrat. It is possible that he might wish to see them to make a personal assessment, maybe with as a pretext something to do with a visa, or some sort of permit. While it is just conceivable that something might cause him to need to leave Isis, it would need to be pretty major, and something he couldn't trust to his highly skilled aides.
Tian added +1 to Str at 4th, +1 to Dex at 8th, +1 to Int at 12th, 16th and 20th level.
Niat, Oreth Diplomat (Special Circumstances)
Alignment: Neutral/Good
Class: Expert (diplomacy) 5
Race: Sundered Squerth (Elf)
Str 15, Dex 15, Con 17(25), Int 17, Wis 19, Cha 16
(..) due to join.
Niat is a diplomatic aide to the Oreth Noble, Tian, on whoes experiences his own intelligence is based. He is a member of the Special Circumstances division, whoes concern is what happens when normal Oreth Republic diplomacy breaks down.
He is is normally in a join with four semi-intelligent squerth, as he is effectively training them, and they can act as a resource if more bodies are needed at short notice. He and all of them carry a Sec, and they carry a Poly, giving them if they need to split quite good elven form. Being in a join means that Niat has the full abilities of an intelligent squerth, not just a sundered squerth, and a great deal higher hit points and hit dice (~394 hit points and 24 Ooze HD plus 5 Expert class levels, instead of ~45 HP - don't forget the +10 HP at 1st).
Niat is both several millenium and about forty years old, as he was sundered from a squerth who was made later than the first batch. That squerth worked in forestry maintenance, and did detailed work on maintaining trails and rock formations, so the lack of intelligent supervision is likely one reason why it never developed beyond being a trained squerth.
There were, as is standard, four other sundered squerth made at the same time as Niat, about forty years ago, and two of them were Kenli and Las (see Tian); the other two were nt suitable to become diplomatic aides for Tian.
GM Note: Niat is a far more likely PC contact than Tian, and he might, for example, brief them on some diplomatically sensitive situation. Tian might wish to avoid Niat having to leave Isis, but if someone has to go Niat is a better prospect than himself - in this case he might be equipped with an Imp, and maybe some more magical protection.
Possibly Niat might even be provided with a Squerth Helm. Though, in this case, at least one of his four semi-intelligent squerth in his join would have to be swapped for an intelligent or sundered squerth who was a spellcaster and could hence spelljam, and maybe knew the shape of a ship. This squerth would have to keep its head down, under normal circumstances, to avoid control issues over the join.
Niat added +1 to Int at 4th.
Other People
Erin the Grey
aka "The Wanderer", "Erin Half Elven"
Alignment: Neutral/(Good)
Class: Wizard 20
Race: Half-elf
Str 12, Dex 10(14), Con 13, Int 20, Wis 10, Cha 14
Erin has been around a long time, far longer than most elven lifetimes, but still finds interesting things to do, which he claims helps keep him young at heart. While in general reluctant to talk about his origins, a few elven sages are pretty sure he was born on Maj, of Oreth elf and local human parents, in the Nalta Basin, before it was flooded.
Magical defences seem to be something that Eric is very good at. He typically has a set of protection magics running which seems to reduce most magical attacks, and even things like dragon breath, by 20 HP, and soak up 100 HP after that, before the defence goes down. His protection magic seems to give him at least AC 25.
Various people have believed they are on the point of killing him, a number of times in the past, and have found that they just have a puddle of water left (presumably some trick involving substituting a Simulacrum for himself), or that he has somehow used the force of their attack to propel himself on to the ethereal plane. Some claim that he is just ridiculously lucky, but he wont discuss this, and just smiles. You can be pretty sure that Erin has improved equivalents to Clone prepared, and is owed several divine favours. It seems remarkably difficult to use most detection or skrying, or even mind-reading, techniques on him, as well.
Erin is obviously well-travelled, and not just around Maj Space either. He has his own living spelljamming craft, the Star Shark, which seems to able to submerge into the ethereal plane, while moving at tactical speed, sometimes just leaving the back fin visible. From his comments he seems skilled in getting places via the Shadow Plane, and some suspect that he is a skilled Planewalker. He talks of far-off places, some in known to be distant crystal spheres, as if he knows them well, and for his strangest tales he speaks of the many different versions of a place he calls "Twentieth Century Earth". (GM Note: omit this last if you feel that it jars with the style of campaign that you run, is too 'post-modern', or might upset some of your players.)
Undue meddling is something that Erin tries to avoid, because he claims that it 'spoils the story'. He will however drop hints, and occasionally seems to take pity on those who he feels have just been really unlucky, as opposed to getting into trouble via their own stupidity. Comments like, "I might see you in your next incarnation", have made some people really, really, annoyed with him, and a few who survived spent the rest of their lives trying to hunt him down and kill him.
Erin is an excellent judge of character, and can usually figure out what to say to people so as to get them to accept his help. To the Lawful or Neutral he tends to say, "because it was the right thing to do", or "you now owe me a favour" (which he may or may not bother to collect), and to the Chaotic, "because I felt like it", or maybe he just grins, as if he knows something they don't.
The only place that Erin can be consistently found is among the elves of the Oreth Republic, where he has a number of elven families who more-or-less accept his visits on the basis that he is a relative. Otherwise you can encounter him in most places in Maj Space, and beyond.
GMs should give Erin whatever magic items they think are suitable; he has various hordes stored in different places, including some highly non-standard items.
Erin added +1 to Int at 4th, 8th, 12th, 16th and 20th level. He has had his Wis raised by +2 at some point, probably as a divine favour. He has a non-standard permanent spell on him which raises his Dex to 14, and gives him a further +4 Initiative.
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