[Volaire, Pathfinder E6] Ishtarian Serpents

In Volaire, fiends do exist, but they are considered rare threats. Cultists can pool their resources and ritually summon energies from dark dimensions, but imps are among the most powerful fiends they can pull wholly into our dimension. It's generally more efficacious to use said energies to corrupt an extant being, generally a beast, as sentient minds don't react well to such corruption. Operating in such a manner over the span of years can twist the environment, leaving traces in the land itself. Over the span of generations, the uninterrupted work of dark cultists on a large scale can pollute entire ecologic regions.

The planet Unas is a world where rampant, uncontrolled channeling of extraplanar energies had gone unchecked for a century by a corrupt government who ignored the existential threat. The Moon Gate of Quag Keep, once the gleaming jewel of the system, was disrupted by a rival faction in an attempt at sabotage; resulting in a domino effect in an already magically unstable region that opened what is known as a Hellmouth, a permanently torn rift in space. The larger a Hell Mouth, the more powerful the fiend that can fit through. The Hell Mouth of Ishtar is the largest known in the Tapestry, and one of several such entities that came through is what is colloquially known as the Ishtarian Serpent. Academics call it a Thethtu.

O flower heart hides within a serpent’s face!

The gate is barred! Smash the door, shatter the bolt.

Life becomes death. Death becomes life.

• Cataclysm of Quag Keep, Epistle of Milo

Thethtu are exceptionally dangerous fiendish serpents; between five & six feet wide and roughly a hundred feet long. Most dangerous is Thethtu venom, which will enslave escalating loyalty to the serpent, animating their corpse if they die while it courses through their veins. As zombies are accrued, they move about like ants in service to their queen; protecting the serpent and its territory, seeking living creatures to subdue and drag to the serpent for conversion, etc.

Thethtu, Ishtarian Serpent [CR 6]

Gargantuan outsider (evil)

Init +1; Senses DV 60’, Notice +6; Spd 40’, 40' climb (compression); Reach 20’ (30’ tail)

hp 68 (5d8+45); AC 19 (+12 nat, +1 Dex, -4 size); SV Fort +13, Ref +2, Will +3

Immune mind-affecting; Resist cold/fire 10; DR 5/good; SR 11

Melee bite +10 (2d8+11 plus poison), tail slap +5 (1d4 nonlethal plus trip)

Stats 33.13.29.-.14.6; BAB +3; CMB +18; CMD 28 (cannot be tripped)

Skills Climb +19, Notice +6, Stealth +0

Ishtarian Poison (Su) When exposed to the poison, the victim must make a DC 21 Fortitude save or be unable to attack the Ishtarian serpent, effectively charmed. Every round afterward for the next minute, another Fortitude save must be made or the condition will progress. Failing a second time results in the victim being fascinated by the sight of the Ishtarian Serpent. Failing a third time results in the victim being dominated to serve the serpent for 1d4 hours. If the creature dies while under the effects of this poison, then their body is immediately animated as a zombie with the instinct to serve the serpent.

[Volaire] Food of Volaire

A staple for the lower classes is bread, mushrooms, and a porridge made from beans. Herbs are widely available for adding flavour. Cheeses of both local production and colonial imports of a variety of types are available, as are eggs (from domestic chickens) and nuts. Fruit is common, and remarkably high quality. Pies are the most common treatment for the various foodstuffs consumed by the peasantry. Meat is uncommon fare among the lower classes; what is available is specifically given a tax if made available to them, forcing only meat deemed inedible due to spoilage to be affordable. Such meat is subject to purify food & drink to make safe to eat (its flavour leaves a lot to be desired).

The upper classes have access to more meat. Goat and giant spider are preferred, but chicken is more common due to relative ease of containment. Meat is frequently given multiple layers of preparation, first boiling and then frying or roasting. When holding feasts or eating ostentatiously, wizards are hired for more elaborate meals.

As a general rule, everyone eats only one full meal a day; though this isn't to say no food passes their lips outside of supper. Especially of the lower class, something small, quick, and portable is usually consumed earlier in the day; something like bread & cheese or a pie.

Volaire is situated in the middle of the ice rings of Mondria, and the ice shards cleared out around the asteroid city have been concentrated into a handful of spots to be melted and become floating lakes. These bubbles of water allow for easily maintained fish farms, subsequently leading to seafood being commonly available to all classes of Volaire.

As a trade port for numerous worlds, the culinarians of Volaire have exceptional access to spices. This leads to the residents frequently developing a very multicutural taste, and it is through Volaire that many cooking styles are then introduced to the greater Mondrian system.

Caterina the Muncheon Minotaur

Standing on a crate behind her stall (platform shoes are common with women, but typically not an option for the hooved races), with a two-layer gown to cover it, Caterina is a spotted brown & white minotaur who is difficult to miss at the docks. Her soft-spoken nature is no hindrance to sales, as her presence and local reputation is more than sufficient. She sells two types of pies; a basic one of cheese & honey, and a more expensive peppered meat pie, the meat being whatever's available earlier that day, purified tapestry whale being one of the more common options.

[Volaire] Government

Sgobbe Leon (♂ Kobold)
Current Rao of Volaire

Rao

Chief executive officer & ultimately the most important public figure of Volaire. The Rao presides over the most important committees, sets the agenda, & acts as the chairman of the city. Numerous restrictions are placed on the person assigned to the position - the Rao cannot discuss business or even read official correspondence except in the presence of the Advisory, a six-member team appointed by the Civil Council that represents each of the districts of Volaire. The Rao's entire family is barred from civil service, with limited exceptions after the Rao's death (life-time appointment). The Rao is not allowed to own foreign property, & their estate is in fact audited upon death.

Civil Council

The ultimate deliberative body & seat of legitimate power is the Civil Council. It is composed of approximately three thousand adult males from the aristocratic families of Volaire. This Council appoints & elects its population into other, smaller government bodies.

Senate

Its 60 members are a mix of appointments by the Civil Council & outgoing senators, & serves as the chief legislative body of Volaire.

Lower Senate

Comprised of council heads, appointments from outgoing senators, ambassadors, & military commanders that are 250 people strong. Day-to-day operations typically only see half of this number, and only 60 are necessary to make quorum. This group predominantly handles administration, committee appointments, & oversight.

Magistrate

Executive positions assigned by the Lower Senate, these people are charged with regulating industry, enforcing sumptuary laws, auditing other offices, & so on. A magistrate & its office is typically a short-lived affair; lasting anywhere from three months to three years. Once its term is over, a new one is formed by the Senate.

High Lords of Sciolo

A shadowy body, originally comprised of twelve members elected by the Senate for non-consecutive terms each lasting one year. It was officially disbanded over seventy years ago, but its authority remained, ultimately acting as the true power. Its members include the Rao, the Advisory Board, the Ashe, & heads of three of the most powerful merchant families in Volaire. The High Lords are responsible for important financial decisions for the city, form the leadership of the secret police (both foreign & domestic), & are able to override any other part of the government. This body does not & can not oversee or manage everything done by the Volarian government, but it is the final arbiter of its policies & are behind nearly all of the shadowy moves of the government.

[Volaire] Social Strata

There are three classes, rigidly stratified within the population of Volaire. The aristocracy, the citizens, & the peasantry. Overall, the aristocracy compose of 5% of Volaire's population, while the citizens comprise another 8%, & the peasant class make up more than 83% of the population. The remaining 4% consist of outsiders. This of course does not account for the transient population, which fluctuates the number of bodies in the asteroid cluster that is Volaire.

Aristocrat/Nobility
The aristocrats are the ruling class, whose strictly patrilineal membership is archived upon the pages of the Book of Names, guarded carefully in the Golden Temple of Waukeen. Exceptional circumstances exist for new admissions, usually when an entire family is wiped out. An additional exception exists among male papermakers of the Artoa district: those who marry an aristocratic woman ensure that their children enter the aristocracy.

As the men of the noble families can pass on their membership, their political value is tightly understood, which has led to an inflation in dowries such that a number of seemingly ideal marriages don't happen at all because neither family can afford each others' dowry (see below for the groom's dowry). Volaire has stepped in with a legal limit on dowries to not exceed in value 500 times the annual salary of a manual labourer, though it's clearly possible for this restriction to see some circumvention. Ultimately, there is a surplus of unattached bachelors & many an unwed noblewoman joins one of Volaire's convents.

Dowries & Magic Rings
While the marriage ceremony itself is certainly expensive in a noble family, the lion's share of a marriage's expense is the dowry. Volaire's own culture has a nuance that needs to be included. One, the bride retains/regains the dowry in the event of the husband's death, regardless of any additional endowments in said groom's will. Secondly, the groom's family is expected to provide the wife an enchanted item, typically in the form of a ring. Variations exist, typically as an amulet or tiara, but exceptions do exist. In one wedding, the patriarch of the Vincere family bequeathed the wife wedding gauntlets of ogre power.

Citizens/Middle Class
Citizens are barred from political office, but they do serve in bureaucratic positions. While this means none can wield executive power, that is not to say they're powerless. The appointment of a judge can be measured in months, yet their support staff will have been in the same positions for years, wielding considerable experience & institutional memory. Membership is matrilineal, with an additional exception: proving to the city that both your mother & grandmother have been residents of the city with none of them being manual labourers allows for one to gain citizenship. The traditions of marriage, while similar to that of the nobility, are not as socially enforced.

Peasants/Lower Class
Collectively, citizens & aristocrats make up less than 12% of the population of Volaire. The next social class down, & by far the largest, are the peasantry. Peasants are the people who live & trade in Volaire have no formal political rights to speak of. Certain subgroups have their own privileges. Workers for the Armament (where Volaire produces its star ships) provide a ceremonial guard to the Rao as well as a number of prominent members for various public events, & the Foreman of the Armament is achieved through merit rather than birthright or even appointment of the Senate.

Outsiders
Outsiders, those without real position in the social hierarchy, make up the remaining population as long-term residents of various demographics. These include (but not solely consist of) foreign merchants given leave to live in Volaire (usually as a quid pro quo with the merchant's homeworld to allow for Volarian merchants to live & operate abroad), Athasians, & slaves. Slavery was abolished approximately thirty years ago in Volaire, but some number of foreigners from worlds that retain the practice have been given a special dispensation (in the interests of diplomacy) to have their slaves accompany them in the city; but this permission is at a cost of greater supervision & must provide a minimum quality of life to said slaves.

Please note, these classes are one of political representation. While aristocrats are predominantly wealthy, there certainly exist poor ones. Most of the merchants are members of the peasantry, but wield economic power that puts some of them higher than many patriarchs. One's separation from each other is ultimately just a social one, rather than geographic, as space is at a premium among the multistory buildings packed on the asteroids of Volaire. Barring the ghettos of the Athasians, a single neighborhood can hold the full range of social strata, with nobles living adjacent to peasants.

Gender Roles
It is the view of the Sikato Church that women be concerned with matters of the material plane. This has led to skilled artisans, engineers, soldiers (except knights & similar positions of command), & doctors to be predominantly performed by women. Female convents, which are frequently 75% upper class, are some of the best known martial dojos in the Mondrian system. Women of the upper class generally retain influence over their dowries, leading to them frequently co-partners of the marriage & generally wielding considerable power. Additionally, women are expected to (at minimum, if not outright lead) participate in the political negotiations between families, generally acting as the ultimate deciders of who marries whom & how dowries are arranged (controlling the destiny of the family is a very material concern).

Men are viewed as masters of people & the mind, leading to them holding the role(s) of leadership & scholarly pursuits. Positions of authority are nigh-exclusively male, especially within the political positions (bureaucratic positions, held by the middle class, are more egalitarian, though still favoring men) of Volaire's government or the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Sikato Church. While martial prowess is not frowned upon among the menfolk, it is expected that they practice those of more meditative or performative nature, or in accompanying positions of leadership such as generals or knights.

Professions associated with the peasantry have no expectations of gender; be it labourer, infantry/militia, merchant, performer, servant, & even adventurer. In many ways, peasant is the person's gender, leading to such activities as to hold neither masculine nor feminine connotations.

[Volaire] Languages of the Tapestry

D&D assumes a default linguistic standard of racial tribalism. Walking into a village, you would expect it to be an "Elf village" or a "Goliath village," and this was how D&D presented the setting - in 1977. Since then, the presentation of randomly generated communities are no longer homogeneous tribes, but comparatively much more metropolitan. Your enemy warcamp will have orcs, hobgoblins, and kobolds.

While Volaire is exceptional in its racial demographics, the setting as a whole absolutely supports a diverse distribution of races. People are culturally raised in and subsequently identify with their community more than their species. An orc raised in Volaire finds more familiarity and understanding with a fellow Volarian elf than he does with an orc from one of the Soltsa worlds. Subsequently, languages are instead separated by cultural groups.

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Common/Mondrian: The lingua franca for travelers throughout the Mondrian system.

Athasian: A complex language, with heavy variation based on spatial context; there's a literal linguistic difference between their indoor and outdoor voices. This is known by the people of the planet Athas, and cannot be fully spoken by those without telepathy.

Laadan: Primary trade language of the Greater Fratol Co-Prosperity Sphere, an expansionist empire with a strong dueling culture. Not on friendly terms with the Mondrian system, except for Volaire, who are more concerned with profit.

Tir'Su: Language of nobility & scholars for the Grand Visory, who are economically entwined with the Fratolian Sphere.

Qualith: The braille-like written language of the now-shattered Illithid Empire.

Zakhod: Trade tongue of the Soltsa, a series of dark colony worlds who retained a fair bit of autonomy even when they were under the control of the Illithid Empire.

Utu: The language of academia with the Sikato Church and the Celm Faith, the two being different enough to notice, but not enough to meaningfully preclude understanding from the other side.

Ichtacan: Language of the scholarly moons of Ichataca, allies of the Grand Visory.

Vulgar Tongue: Not a single language, but a catch-all term for the local language of whatever community is encountered, including isolated races/tribes who have not developed the means to leave their world. Volarian is a vulgar tongue, but its relevance/prominent is obvious in a campaign set in Volaire.

• Volarian: Commoners of Volaire and its colonies.
• Speronese: Commoners of Speron, a Mondrian nation with a love for masks.
• Kanei: Indigenous tribes of Mondria's moon.

Vulgar tongues tend to use the same alphabet/script as their local trade tongue, other than Kanei, which uses its own unique script. Contrariwise, each of the major trade tongues listed above use their own alphabets other than Ichtacan, which uses the same as Utu.

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Secret Messages

The purpose of language is to ease the conveyance of information. For many situations, this is too easy, and thus hurdles have been instituted by various people to make certainly only people they want get the information. There are numerous ways for communication to be shrouded, and can easily be the subject of an entire sourcebook. Suffice it to say, a single blog post is not a sourcebook, and so I will only provide a few samples for surreptitious communication.

Obscure Script: A catch-all term for ciphers created for use between spies of Volaire, and in fact, there's a secondary meaning behind which cipher is used to encode a piece of text. In 5E, each cipher can be cracked with an Intelligence check, the DC listed with the cipher below. It is known among the spycraft community of Volaire that Comprehend Languages is an absolute key against obscure scripts, & therefore knowledge of this spell is closely guarded/monitored by multiple factions. It is not unheard of for courier to be assassinated simply for transporting a written copy of the spell, & wizards who are overly open with their use of the spell are a short-lived phenomenon.

• Sunlight (DC 7): A low-effort cipher more often than not used to keep messages from being read over your shoulder or to make a message look more important than it actually is.
• Semaphore (DC 14): Used for surreptitious communication within the Armament, Volaire's star ship construction district.
• Trick (DC 20): Popular among the arcane, this cipher uses sigils and scripts normally reserved for use in spellbooks, seeing use throughout the Mondrian system. What makes this cipher unique is that it can be read with read magic.
• Vinegar (DC 15): Used by those who feel their messages are getting intercepted.
• Lily (DC 12): Popular among lovers, it is exceptionally common to douse the message in a particular scent to serve as the key.
• Habit (DC 18): Predominantly used by members of the clergy, especially between the numerous monasteries of Volaire.
• Scicolo Major (DC 25): The personal cipher of the Rao, established for use in personal correspondence with foreign officials, and is reset to a new key with every new Rao. Named after a famed cryptographer, and is known for being nearly impossible to decipher. Even with the key, it's a DC 5 Intelligence test if you don't have a cipher disc (specialized cryptography tool).
• Scicolo Minor (DC 18): The cipher used by secretive agents of the Volarian government, a different key being used within each city district.

Learning an obscure script is a simple matter of picking it up from your background or making the associated check past the DC.

Code: Whether it's Thieves' Cant or a prearranged list of code phrases/words with specific meanings, this method is proof against comprehend languages. It does require either foreknowledge of the specific code, via memorization between the two parties or a written primer that can be referred to, depending on the code's complexity. Of course, an understanding that code is being used can be inferred through keen social awareness (5E's Insight or 3.X's Sense Motive, opposed by Deception & Bluff respectively).

Telepathy: This method of communication is remarkably effective, so long as your target is within range. The hindrance in its use is social, as people who are known telepaths (especially Athasians) are severely distrusted & frequently barred from even entering various establishments.

[Volaire] City of the Stars

Fueled and fed and fought over by a hundred worlds, dozens of species gather to live, work, compete, love, and finally die. The shining jewel of the Rings of Mondria, the asteroid cluster of Volaire sees countless ships sail in from other stars. A swirl of plots, factions, and sedition that leaves even the hidden cults’ heads spinning. Tattooed paladin wizards enforce the will of the Sikato Church, spies trade secrets between merchants and clergy and nobles alike, and orcs scrawl anti-telepath slurs on buildings. Adventurers come, drawn by Volaire’s wealth and the factions at play for power and influence. It is a place where there is much opportunity for a sharp blade, a quick mind, as well as constant danger.

What is Volaire? Volaire is the focal city for a custom fantasy setting where travel across the Tapestry is an integrated trait of society. Aboard flying ships, ala Spelljammer.

What is the Tapestry? It is the setting's colloquial term for outer space. I feel it's important that the in-universe natives don't use the term "space" because their space isn't our space.

How is space not space? Because it's not empty! This is a fantasy setting, with wizards and dragons, so physics is already on vacation. In Volaire, physics largely follows the same rules, except the phrase "nature abhors a vacuum" is taken to its logical extreme. The entire void between worlds is, generally, breathable atmosphere.

Can a bird fly to the moon? Depends. African or European? But more seriously, probably not. I'm not changing the distances between celestial bodies, so it's still literally hundreds of thousands of miles between a planet and its moon. Your typical bird is likely to die of starvation.

What about gravity? Ah, now there's a question with some weight to it. Gravity isn't changed in this setting, broadly speaking. Obviously it's adjusted a little to handle the atmosphere. You otherwise still experience microgravity in orbit, orbital mechanics of planets largely follow the same rules, people jump farther on smaller worlds, etc.

What rules/system does this setting use? Strictly speaking, the material I'm providing is system-agnostic, but it was originally designed for a the E6 variant of D&D 3.X. So while it can be used with essentially any fantasy system, it will experience some internal inconsistencies the farther you stray from the original. So, while it's absolutely compatible with 5E, adjustments need to made around the fact the setting (for PCs) does not allow for planar travel, interplanetary travel & interplanetary communication, and resurrection magic is unavailable.

Planar Travel is probably the most important restriction. The setting allows for summoners and warlocks to function, so calling upon the other planes for energy or even minions is permissible. But exploration should be about going to other planets, not other dimensions.

Related to the fact exploration in the setting should be about going to new worlds, interplanetary travel is equally verboten. Even spells such as teleportation circle should not allow for distances past a world. I would allow for major infrastructure projects to create something analogous to star gates, but those should be considered major architectural projects just to be able to reach that planet's moon, maybe another planet within the same solar system if you're wanting a particularly large work. At the minimum, neither Volaire nor its host planet Mondria have any such gates.

Interplanetary communication was presumed unavailable in its original design, barring physically going to said planet with the message in your hand. Now, it can certainly be introduced, as I've done in my own campaign as a major plot point, but it's presence would be considered disruptive to the status quo. It's not something that should be introduced casually.

Cheating death with resurrection magic is probably the most flexible restriction on this list. The core conceits of the setting do not hinge on its absence, so any restrictions would be to enforce the narrative weight of death. I would personally use something akin to what's been used in Critical Role.