[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.

[Petals & Thrones] Session 3: Wetwork

Session III

Our intrepid adventurers recover from the brutal fight that was the attack on the Order of the Bear, especially Roland and his punctured stomach. During this time of recuperation, they are approached by members of the Order of the Third Eye and Vlatla Clan, the latter getting a bit of flak from the local Knight of the Order of the Lion. Their eyes bulge when I show them what lighting bolt does, in relation to the Third Eye's offer for the tentacles. Victor uses a bit of Deception to double-speak to make the Lion Knight think they're turning down the Vlatla's offer, and actually take this as their priority mission once they are ready to leave the safety of Ramshorn.

Roland is given the plate armor from the fallen Bear Knight, Victor purchases two ritual spells from the town wizards, Brigitte procures a Pearl of Power, and they collectively also buy a Bag of Holding.

At the start of the week, a number of Goldblum's mercenaries arrive, and they manage to eke out one to be available for them to hire; Diesa Balderk, the Life Cleric. Tossing her the 15gp, they suit up, prep their pack animals, and head out into the forest again. They are near immediately ambushed by jumping spiders, but much to their surprise, they swiftly slay these spiders. Downright giddy with their good fortune, they almost don't mind being ambushed by a pack of wolves; sending most of them running after two were killed.

Things take a turn for the ominous when they come upon the sahuagin guarding the sunken temple. Their original goal was the catacombs, but they legitimately think this detour for shoggoth tentacles will be a minor detour. Not even fully halfway into the dungeon, and they've taken three or four short rests and have been walking around the place with a light spell running; pretty solidly warning the place of their presence. This makes the final fight one against a merrow, four sahuagin, the shoggoth, and the priestess. It was a brutal fight, and Roland hits zero HP at least three times before they just barely take out this group.

Aftermath

Their stumbling return to Ramshorn, with a minor detour to walk away from the werewolf pack's threats, is tinged with frustration at how tough that fight was. A silver lining helps, as they are looking forward to the wands and to the fact by the end of this long rest, they will be level 4 (insert Final Fantasy victory music).

[Petals & Thrones] Session 2: Bear Naked Tower

Session II

Our players come upon the perimeter guard of the goblin caves, and fairly readily take them out, ultimately deciding not to chase down the lone goblin escapee. In fact, they pointedly avoid the direction said goblin fled to, figuring that whatever location the goblin felt safe would not be the direction of the Order of the Bear's base of operations. The next perimeter guard they fight, that of the hilltop with Bear archers and infantry, is definitely not as easy. It's a prolonged fight, and because the warlock strives to be as far out of LoS of any possible enemy, nearly all attacks go toward the cleric and fighter, and Roland's 16 AC quickly forces him to hide in the bushes on a smidgen of HP to jack-in-the-box those who come close. The cleric, forced to be the tank, goes full defense and slowly moves toward the archers in the back nearly completely unscratched.

Once that squad is defeated, the players follow long enough to confirm that the small army of Bear Warriors is indeed right over the hill, and then high tail it back to Ramshorn. They deal with some local fauna, warily greet a vampire they pass by, and return. After some deliberation, they decide to enlist the aid of the Order of the Lion with taking out the Bear clan. They are thanked by the Bastard Prince, and ride out the next day for the Watchtower.

This is where things get very dicey. The single wave takes out half of the squad given to the players as backup, and the personal guard of Sir Brander fully takes out everyone but the warlock (again, stays as far back to avoid being an option for targeting) is K.O.'d. We check as to whether they stablize, and they do, and I rule that since the overall fight was fairly good - Prince Darius and the rest of the surrounding military takes out the Brander's Bears, so the party ultimately wakes up as one of the wounded and are thanked for their service.

Taking their pay, they return to Ramshorn a bit worse for wear and slightly more scarred, but ultimately still heroes.

Aftermath
There is going to be deliberations on what kind of goodies are available for sale, which will be discussed over between-session chats. Unfortunately, there will be no Lunatic Fete because of their decision to side with the Order of the Lion - though they still have a chance down the line.

Space Madness: A Bent Man

Recently, I have finished production of a new TTRPG called Space Madness! and put it up for sale on DriveThruRPG's website. It's written by Bobby Derie, and much of what I can say about it was already stated by Chamomile on his blog.

Now - go forth into the stars and check out the first adventure written for it - A Bent Man

[Petals & Thrones] Session 1: A Story of Ice and Bears

I have a group of friends I see on the regular, and we realized we hadn't gamed much in the last while. As I'm running a decent number of other games, I decided to try something a bit easier on the mind and break my unwritten rule and run a prewritten module. Specifically, I will be running the 5E version of Chamomile's Strangers in Ramshorn.

Cast

Roland

• Race: Variant Human (Polearm Master)
• Class & Background: Battlemaster Fighter & Soldier
• Boons: Beak’s Defense, Got Gud

Victor

• Race: Variant Human (Warcaster)
• Class & Background: Hexblade Warlock & Criminal (Spy)
• Boons: Beak’s Defense, Got Gud

Bridgitte

• Race: Hill Dwarf
• Class & Background: Forge Cleric & Guild Artisan
• Boons: Spiderproof, Martial Advantage Advantage

Session I

I read highlights from a separate piece of material, called the Primer to Vintaria, to the party; the Warlock got a natural 20 on History and chose to be a politically-minded criminal. We describe that as the three of them conversing with each other over what they know about Ramshorn and the Help Wanted ad that Goldblum had left hanging around.

After getting an idea that maybe 5sp/head is overly high for a toll from the Order of the Bear, Victor throws some Persuasion around to lower the price and gets a receipt along with it. Approaching the city of Ramshorn, they see a small trail of smoke, hear some distant sounds of combat. They don’t take kindly to the gruff Bear soldiers, and take out all but the archer, who flees while Bridgitte takes a couple rounds to stabilize the “survivors”.

The rest of the raid on Ramshorn is dealt with with surprising ease. Andie dies due to a natural one on the death save on the first round, but otherwise, every possible villager who’s interested in joining attaches to the party; the player for Rolan being the only one willing to run their stats, and feels like a warlord of tiny men. He's particularly proud of Ront's performance. They put in the effort to stabilize two of Harlequin’s people while otherwise assisting with taking on the Order of the Bear, and were certainly wide-eyed at her own martial prowess.

Once the raid is taken care of, they have some pleasant conversation with Harlequin (surprised to learn the Lunatic Queen herself was there) before she leaves. Upon realizing how expensive it will be to stay in Ramshorn, they go back to loot every single fallen member of the Order of the Bear. They’re mildly frustrated at how little they can sell the armor and swords, but very high Persuasion gets them able to sell their bolts and arrows for some proper fraction of their worth (the module cites that the NPC mentions making arrowheads from the scrap metal, so those are obviously a desired piece). They ultimately stay at the Accidental Gryphon for the discount offered.

The next day, after chatting with Goldblum about the need to find the Bears’ hideout, they head out in search. They continue to debate which faction they should curry favour with with this valuable information once found. They run into three encounters before I have to end the session. One of them, the three giant spiders they run into successfully flee once reaching their end condition and Victor throws down a 24 Persuasion at the sahuagin patrol to gesture a lack of hostility as they back away from the river. Next session, they will be ambushed by hobgoblins.

Takeaway

The warlock loves his Armor of Agathys, though he also gave a couple petty remarks about how I “nerf-hammered” the Celestial Warlock by revoking its access to Cure Wounds (in light of separate material written for Cham's variant rest mechanic); but that’s par for the course for him. The remarkably few times the cleric did get in range to contribute before the others killed the enemy, poor rolls stood in the way. The fighter looks forward to next level when he can stop enemies from using the disengage action, which has instigated at least a couple shaken fists of impotent rage.

Melinya Culture Focus: Western Alahbmah

Lay of the Land
A massive series of salt pans and shallow lakes rarely deeper than two feet. The ridges between the features and some pans are covered in thick and vibrant red moss and lichen. Other colours exist, and are visually striking when mixed. The mineral deposits in the frequently dry pans can conceal dangerous, acidic mud pockets, which the natives are familiar with enough to avoid. The eastern border consists of an abrupt and massive mountain ridge that cuts off access to the rest of Alahbmah, of which none live because of the cataclysmic conditions that continue unabated. The mouth of the one river that breaks through the ridge is struck nearly continuously by lightning.

Major Cities
At 300,000 sq km in size and a population of barely a quarter million, it can be literal days before one sees a settlement. Buildings are constructed of mud and mineral sheets, visible for miles because of the flat terrain, built to only accommodate an extended family. Most settlements are extended families herding several iccu and harvesting edible moss, and can go months between contact with others.

Alignah is the most urban settlement, where eight of its ten thousand residents live in the Palace of Alignah, a literal labyrinth. Formerly the home of the Mad King Nedoh, it was donated as a monastery after his conversion to Celmsim, serving as the home for the August Guru and center for the entire Celm faith.

Economics
Subsistence moss-farming and iccu herding are the dominant activities, resulting in a largely self-sustaining population with little need for trade or money. Greater than normal harvests can lead to excess iccu, traded with pilgrims and iccu traders.

Law & Order
As the dominant religion throughout the known world is Celmism, Western Alahbmah’s chief export is religion. Donations and converts divesting themselves of their material fetters from across the nations serve as the primary source of economic activity, including the construction of monasteries for a guru.

In families, the family member with the most monastic experience is generally the final arbiter for disputes except for situations of punishment, which require travel to the nearest to confer with a monk. As Celmism forbids killing, hindering or depriving a sense is the most common form of punishment, other punishments including a period of sensory deprivation for bogies to punish them.

Government
A full Cemlite theocracy, the August Guru nominally holds influence well beyond the borders of Alahbmah. Amongst the lay folk, temporary devotion to monastic study is performed in response to most significant life events; naming, childbirth, engagements, momentous financial events, etc.