Show notes
The Titans
As they drift their way through the icy waters, ships travelling back to the Black Rock Coast from the northern seas will be received, one by one, by a series of enormous black obelisks, lined up in a row on the shore. These great, sombre, standing stones are known to the people of Firstshore as the Titans. The seven monoliths are spaced out over a half mile following the water, and each stands tall enough to tower over the masts of the ships, casting shadows which pass slowly over the deck.
The obsidian which makes them up forms a rough quartz-like structure mostly covered with salt and sand, but on the ocean side, the surfaces have been polished by the ocean spray to a glistening, black shine. None know the origin of the Titans, or their original purpose, if they were even carved at all, yet sailors returning from the great hunt revere them nonetheless. Quiet prayers of thanks are often offered in response to the silent welcome of the ancient guardians.
---------------------------------------------------
The Singing Shrine
When the tides are low and the winds are high, in the moments before a storm, singing comes from the cave nestled into the base of the cliffs along the coast, south of Firstshore.
There are stories of it calling to people. It’s said it starts as a whistle on the breeze. A tune that gets stuck in your head. A compulsion like an itch in the folds of your brain. Something that draws, something that drives.
A favourite Firstshore ghost story, tales of the Singing Shrine are told and retold during the long night. No-one is quite sure where the stories started, or which parts are true and which are embellishments.
One common thread holds true in all the stories - at the very back of the cave, at the end of a narrow tunnel, there is a shrine. No-one knows the name of the god it was built for, or how long it's been there.
Some say the altar overflows with jewels, and gold, and objects of great power. Others say the shrine is ringed by the kneeling bodies of those drawn in by the song, their empty eye-sockets turned up in exaltation. Sailors claim to have seen a spectral figure standing at the entrance. However, no story can be confirmed true, and none dare the journey to find out once and for all.
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Hunter's Roost
The Tabaxi of Sablereach are capable craftsmen with the natural resources available to them; ropes of incredible strength can be woven from long strips of bark collected from the grand firs, and then further hardened with with sap from the maples. These techniques have been applied on a grand scale to suspend the structure known as Hunter's Roost.
Roughly the size of a small inn, the Roost is suspended high up in the canopy by a vast web of large, taught ropes, some more than a foot thick and hardened by many coatings of lacquer.
The Roost serves as a lodge for the Tabaxi hunters, giving them a comfortable vantage point to watch the major game trails surrounding the nearby lake. A half day's travel led by a seasoned guide from Sablereach proper, the Roost is practically self-sufficient; enough hammocks to sleep two dozen hunters, benches for butchering, racks for drying meat, and even a few large pots for fermenting mashed berries and honey into mead.
Although silence reigns during the day, at night the roost is a place of joy and merriment where tales of the hunt are swapped around the carefully tended fire.
---------------------------------------------------
The Seelie Tree
A small grove of cleared land, with meadowed grass and the occasional wildflower, sits in stark contrast to the giant trees surrounding it this deep in the forest. In the centre of the grove, a single seemingly dead tree with jet black bark and no leaves to speak of, stands ominously alone. Twice a year, on each solstice, it bears a single fruit; ripening at dawn, and falling to be reclaimed by the forest at dusk.
The rumours of the properties of the fruit are wild and varied, but they all have one thing in common: you would have to be very silly to eat the fruit. It’s always “silly”, never “brave” or “stupid”. Indeed, according to the older residents of Sablereach it is all together a very Seelie Tree…
---------------------------------------------------
Emerald Hot-SpringsSituated in a clearing deep within the forest a series of hot springs can be found. With their heat sourced from the molten rock that flows near the surface of the earth courtesy of the nearby volcano these pools are tinted a rich green.
This is partly due to the verdant greenery they reflect from their surroundings but also from the algae that line them. The algae is a resilient strain somehow able to survive and thrive within the steaming water.
However, the appeal of these springs lies not only in their beauty - but in their ability to cure magical afflictions. Tales flow through the taverns of the Black Rock Coast from travellers who claim to have soaked in the emerald ponds and awoken to find their cursed maladies banished by the pool’s healing properties. However, those who seek the hot springs with the intent of bottling the water for their own gain somehow never seem to reach the clearing regardless of how ardently they search.
---------------------------------------------------The Hissing Fissure A new scar upon the landscape this fissure was born of a recent tremor from the volcano, appearing worryingly far from the peak itself some way into the forest’s the South East.
The fissure's violent birth uprooted several of the great trees and released a foul cloud of poisonous gas that killed or sickened much of the animal life in the vicinity, thankfully the gas has dispersed now leaving behind naught but the smell of rancid eggs and the corpses of its victims.
The rent earth bubbles and hisses occasionally releasing small clouds of sulphurous steam, but otherwise seems stable, Folk are worried however and wonder if this is an isolated event or a sign of something far worse to come?
---------------------------------------------------
This weeks episode was forged in collaboration with Belinda Boardman, Skate Murray, Cameron Doyle, Scott Ryan and Leah Otäck. We loved having new contributors as well as returning ones. If you've been thinking about throwing your hat into the ring with a response, this is as good a week as any!
Guilds, Factions and OrganisationsIn any civilisation, there are always going to be groups defined by their differing beliefs. Whether it's how to live, who to follow, or some other form of moral code, as people, we're often compelled to sort ourselves into groups as a means of finding a place we belong. They could be political, economic, spiritual, community driven, or industrial. They could also be traditional or progressive, public or secret, inclusive or exclusive, formal or informal etc.
Membership within these groups tend form a part of our identity within society and dictate by association that "people like us do things like this".
This week's prompt is all about guilds, factions, and organisations within Sablereach and Firstshore. These will form the backbone of character backgrounds and political manoeuvrings actively going on in our setting during games. So tell us: What divides and unites our characters? How do they organise and identify themselves in groups? What do those groups stand for? What do they stand against? What are their goals? Who do they work with and where is there conflict? As always have fun, be creative and keep forging the world.
As they drift their way through the icy waters, ships travelling back to the Black Rock Coast from the northern seas will be received, one by one, by a series of enormous black obelisks, lined up in a row on the shore. These great, sombre, standing stones are known to the people of Firstshore as the Titans. The seven monoliths are spaced out over a half mile following the water, and each stands tall enough to tower over the masts of the ships, casting shadows which pass slowly over the deck.
The obsidian which makes them up forms a rough quartz-like structure mostly covered with salt and sand, but on the ocean side, the surfaces have been polished by the ocean spray to a glistening, black shine. None know the origin of the Titans, or their original purpose, if they were even carved at all, yet sailors returning from the great hunt revere them nonetheless. Quiet prayers of thanks are often offered in response to the silent welcome of the ancient guardians.
---------------------------------------------------
The Singing Shrine
When the tides are low and the winds are high, in the moments before a storm, singing comes from the cave nestled into the base of the cliffs along the coast, south of Firstshore.
There are stories of it calling to people. It’s said it starts as a whistle on the breeze. A tune that gets stuck in your head. A compulsion like an itch in the folds of your brain. Something that draws, something that drives.
A favourite Firstshore ghost story, tales of the Singing Shrine are told and retold during the long night. No-one is quite sure where the stories started, or which parts are true and which are embellishments.
One common thread holds true in all the stories - at the very back of the cave, at the end of a narrow tunnel, there is a shrine. No-one knows the name of the god it was built for, or how long it's been there.
Some say the altar overflows with jewels, and gold, and objects of great power. Others say the shrine is ringed by the kneeling bodies of those drawn in by the song, their empty eye-sockets turned up in exaltation. Sailors claim to have seen a spectral figure standing at the entrance. However, no story can be confirmed true, and none dare the journey to find out once and for all.
---------------------------------------------------
Hunter's Roost
The Tabaxi of Sablereach are capable craftsmen with the natural resources available to them; ropes of incredible strength can be woven from long strips of bark collected from the grand firs, and then further hardened with with sap from the maples. These techniques have been applied on a grand scale to suspend the structure known as Hunter's Roost.
Roughly the size of a small inn, the Roost is suspended high up in the canopy by a vast web of large, taught ropes, some more than a foot thick and hardened by many coatings of lacquer.
The Roost serves as a lodge for the Tabaxi hunters, giving them a comfortable vantage point to watch the major game trails surrounding the nearby lake. A half day's travel led by a seasoned guide from Sablereach proper, the Roost is practically self-sufficient; enough hammocks to sleep two dozen hunters, benches for butchering, racks for drying meat, and even a few large pots for fermenting mashed berries and honey into mead.
Although silence reigns during the day, at night the roost is a place of joy and merriment where tales of the hunt are swapped around the carefully tended fire.
---------------------------------------------------
The Seelie Tree
A small grove of cleared land, with meadowed grass and the occasional wildflower, sits in stark contrast to the giant trees surrounding it this deep in the forest. In the centre of the grove, a single seemingly dead tree with jet black bark and no leaves to speak of, stands ominously alone. Twice a year, on each solstice, it bears a single fruit; ripening at dawn, and falling to be reclaimed by the forest at dusk.
The rumours of the properties of the fruit are wild and varied, but they all have one thing in common: you would have to be very silly to eat the fruit. It’s always “silly”, never “brave” or “stupid”. Indeed, according to the older residents of Sablereach it is all together a very Seelie Tree…
---------------------------------------------------
Emerald Hot-SpringsSituated in a clearing deep within the forest a series of hot springs can be found. With their heat sourced from the molten rock that flows near the surface of the earth courtesy of the nearby volcano these pools are tinted a rich green.
This is partly due to the verdant greenery they reflect from their surroundings but also from the algae that line them. The algae is a resilient strain somehow able to survive and thrive within the steaming water.
However, the appeal of these springs lies not only in their beauty - but in their ability to cure magical afflictions. Tales flow through the taverns of the Black Rock Coast from travellers who claim to have soaked in the emerald ponds and awoken to find their cursed maladies banished by the pool’s healing properties. However, those who seek the hot springs with the intent of bottling the water for their own gain somehow never seem to reach the clearing regardless of how ardently they search.
---------------------------------------------------The Hissing Fissure A new scar upon the landscape this fissure was born of a recent tremor from the volcano, appearing worryingly far from the peak itself some way into the forest’s the South East.
The fissure's violent birth uprooted several of the great trees and released a foul cloud of poisonous gas that killed or sickened much of the animal life in the vicinity, thankfully the gas has dispersed now leaving behind naught but the smell of rancid eggs and the corpses of its victims.
The rent earth bubbles and hisses occasionally releasing small clouds of sulphurous steam, but otherwise seems stable, Folk are worried however and wonder if this is an isolated event or a sign of something far worse to come?
---------------------------------------------------
This weeks episode was forged in collaboration with Belinda Boardman, Skate Murray, Cameron Doyle, Scott Ryan and Leah Otäck. We loved having new contributors as well as returning ones. If you've been thinking about throwing your hat into the ring with a response, this is as good a week as any!
Guilds, Factions and OrganisationsIn any civilisation, there are always going to be groups defined by their differing beliefs. Whether it's how to live, who to follow, or some other form of moral code, as people, we're often compelled to sort ourselves into groups as a means of finding a place we belong. They could be political, economic, spiritual, community driven, or industrial. They could also be traditional or progressive, public or secret, inclusive or exclusive, formal or informal etc.
Membership within these groups tend form a part of our identity within society and dictate by association that "people like us do things like this".
This week's prompt is all about guilds, factions, and organisations within Sablereach and Firstshore. These will form the backbone of character backgrounds and political manoeuvrings actively going on in our setting during games. So tell us: What divides and unites our characters? How do they organise and identify themselves in groups? What do those groups stand for? What do they stand against? What are their goals? Who do they work with and where is there conflict? As always have fun, be creative and keep forging the world.