Community Worldbuilding Project [Ishka: Urban and Urbane]

[50cr4t3s]

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of Sphen.
1. you describe it as being in an sea, while we've pretty much established that the largest body of water connected to the city is the Lake. Boats from the Port District and the Lake District only reach seas and oceans through Gates.
2. the basic idea isn't bad, but it's simply not unique enough. As it is, it may as well be an expanded are of another district linked via Gate.
3. The way it's described in your last posts, makes it sound like the island competes with Ishka:

"Also, it's rumored that deep in the islands bay, there's something, and it stops all the tension in Ishka from becoming a full-fledged war."

This isn't practical with a city the size of Ishka.

[waterpenguin43]

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of Sphen.
1. you describe it as being in an sea, while we've pretty much established that the largest body of water connected to the city is the Lake. Boats from the Port District and the Lake District only reach seas and oceans through Gates.
2. the basic idea isn't bad, but it's simply not unique enough. As it is, it may as well be an expanded are of another district linked via Gate.
3. The way it's described in your last posts, makes it sound like the island competes with Ishka:

"Also, it's rumored that deep in the islands bay, there's something, and it stops all the tension in Ishka from becoming a full-fledged war."

This isn't practical with a city the size of Ishka.

Oh, ok..............
As for #1: Oops.. I didn't realize that, I thought that it was just like a normal ocean.
#2: Ok, maybe it could be that, if you feel like addig it, but that would bring up another question, what district?
#3: I think you misunderstood, what I meant was: The tension from the multiple cities and different species etc. was being CALMED by something in the bays of Sphen, I think you though I meant that Sphen was using some sort of weapon to prevent Ishka from trying to attack them.

[BRC]

I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of Sphen.
1. you describe it as being in an sea, while we've pretty much established that the largest body of water connected to the city is the Lake. Boats from the Port District and the Lake District only reach seas and oceans through Gates.
2. the basic idea isn't bad, but it's simply not unique enough. As it is, it may as well be an expanded are of another district linked via Gate.
3. The way it's described in your last posts, makes it sound like the island competes with Ishka:

"Also, it's rumored that deep in the islands bay, there's something, and it stops all the tension in Ishka from becoming a full-fledged war."

This isn't practical with a city the size of Ishka.

I thought Ishka was connected to the Sea, or to a lagoon or something, that's how I've imagined it anyway.

However, remembering that in fantasy "Rumored to be" means "It exists, count on it", and so I don't like the idea of Ishka only surviving as a city because of some giant magical hippy-thing that lives in the bay. Plus, if there were rumors, the University would have sent an expedition.

Also, I don't like how the general theme seems to be "ZOMG It's Amazing and all super magical and stuff!", if you notice, though some of the districts are gimmicky, they've all been fairly realistic as things go. Ishka is amazing, but it's not necessarily a nice place to live, and the idea of one of the districts being an island of enlightened magic users who get along with everybody and have amazing buildings and yay just dosn't fit with the tone of the rest of the setting.
Remember, these districts are supposed to be places where people live (or, in the case of the Necropolis, don't). It dosn't have to be grimdark, but it shouldn't be a magical happy land. This is for two reasons
1. It dosn't fit with the rest of the setting. We've got a district where, on a day of the month that is a prime number, you fail to wear at least one piece of red clothing all morning, and at least one piece of blue clothing all afternoon, some unseen force will whisk you off to places unknown for breaking the rules. We've got a city that requires a veritable army of workers just to stop itself from collapsing, we've got a district ruled by a lich so old he needs to be bribed with interesting things if you want him to do anything. We've got a massive, shadowy network of criminals opposed by an overworked and disorganized police force, some factions of which have actively fought each other in the past and wouldn't mind doing it again.

You're island of penguin watching druid wizards with amazing architecture and a giant hippy machine in the bay simply dosn't mesh.
2. It's BORING. Conflict leads to excitement, and if the only description you have is "Everybody uses magic to do amazing things" it's like the standard Magic district, only with everybody smiling and no random explosions. I don't see alot of room for excitement or conflict.

Also, it's a minor point, but the district's ropeball team, you describe the stadium as being "Amazing" with no other details, and you say the team is "Skilled at using it to their advantage", which applies to every team where their home field is concerned.

Basically, more details/flaws, less vague statements of "It's an awesome place!"
Edit: Also, Ideas and Feedback for On the Ropes?

[jagadaishio]

In the case of Gobin, I think that, while Gobin considers itself an independent state, the rest of the city would not. If forced to let MI conduct an investigation or levy a new tax, they would be resistant in that they would work as slowly and as listlessly as possible, doing only the very least necessary to accommodate the outsiders. This also means that the government of Ishka would probably want to interfere with the stubborn people of Gobin as little as possible, only sending in MI and government officials when absolutely necessary. I imagine that any Ishkan bureaucrat sent in to establish something in Gobin would be afforded the smallest office and least man-power possible by the shogunate.

As for On the Ropes, I'm liking the plot hooks, but it may be a good idea to throw in some more, just to really screw with investigator PCs. Maybe he had a big (some say violent) falling out with his wife a month or two ago. Maybe his best friend of years had been getting into some shady dealings with the Alliance and, if you look into it, he disappeared around the same time as his son. Maybe he owed a great deal of money to some less-than-legit drow loan-sharks.

Maybe he disappeared for a reason that nobody heard about. Maybe the pressure just got to him eventually. Maybe he's setting up a deal with the Shades to make sure the tour ends in a tie - helping to further diplomatic relations. Just bombard them with so much information that half the game is spent ruling out dead ends and filtering the muck from the gold. After that the exciting resolution, action, and hunting down of the culprits takes place, followed by a big plot twist at the climax.

I see Sphen as little more than a feature of the port district. It would be a nature reserve with druids and shugenja as rangers protecting the native fauna. Given that a large portion of its population is druid, and its culture seems built around druidic principles, to suggest that it would ever be any kind of economic power seems like folly. I imagine that the druids of Sphen would have a lot of support from the Wild; many may even be members. I expect that Sphen would be the Galapagos of Ishka. It needs some ecoterrorists bombing people trying to develop the island as condos to add enough spice for PCs to bother going.

As for an artifact in its bay being responsible for peace in Ishka, why, that's just silly. There isn't peace in Ishka. It has a long and bloody past of district-on-district conflict. It's only lately that politics has neutered their ability for any sort of large-scale internal strife. Many districts hate each other, and many citizens of Ishka can remember failed revolts and attacks.

The way I understand it, Ishka is built along one long river and the canyon it made, from the massive mountain lake (almost a freshwater sea) that is its source, to the great lake that lies at the end of the river. From there, the great lake at the end of the stream connects to the ocean by means of a few wide rivers, canals, and tributaries. It's something like how the American great lakes connect to the Atlantic. Aside from that, there are also gates to various ports and pieces of water around the world, as well as locales on the Elemental Plane of Water.

Also, for whom it may concern, since the generic undead templates are just templates and are all LA +0, they're all suited to both 3.5 and Pathfinder. When I make the generic elemental races later, I'll make 3.5, Pathfinder, and 4e versions of them.

[BRC]

As for On the Ropes, I'm liking the plot hooks, but it may be a good idea to throw in some more, just to really screw with investigator PCs. Maybe he had a big (some say violent) falling out with his wife a month or two ago. Maybe his best friend of years had been getting into some shady dealings with the Alliance and, if you look into it, he disappeared around the same time as his son. Maybe he owed a great deal of money to some less-than-legit drow loan-sharks.

Maybe he disappeared for a reason that nobody heard about. Maybe the pressure just got to him eventually. Maybe he's setting up a deal with the Shades to make sure the tour ends in a tie - helping to further diplomatic relations. Just bombard them with so much information that half the game is spent ruling out dead ends and filtering the muck from the gold. After that the exciting resolution, action, and hunting down of the culprits takes place, followed by a big plot twist at the climax.

Yeah, these are the types of ideas I need. Pretty much everybody in the city has their own theory on what happened, if the fact that the PC's are investigating the disappearance gets out, they'll be swamped with people trying to help. Mind you, every ameture sleuth, retired cop, and well meaning citizen in the city will be trying to figure out what happened to Martin. Well, everybody except the proper authorities.


You see, there is no body, so they can't investigate it as a Murder, and no signs of a struggle, ransom note, or anything, so they can't investigate it as a kidnapping. Martin is an adult, so legally they have to wait three days before they can start investigating anything (If the cops tried to find every person who got lost for a few days in Ishka, they'd never get anything done). And to muddy up matters even more, there is a jurisdictional issue.

The Holy Swords claim that, since Martin was a resident of the Temple district, and there is no evidence of alliance activity/cross-district crime, that the crime is under their jurisdiction. MI claims that, considering the nature of the crime, and since nobody has any idea WHERE it occurred, or even if a crime occurred at all, it's their jurisdiction.
Technically, the Swords are right, but MI is using all the pull it has to keep the case out of their hands. Everybody knows that if the Holy Swords get the case, they'll spend an hour "Investigating", after which they claim it was a massive conspiracy consisting of every undead the Swords can name. It dosn't matter if the undead had anything to do with it, the Swords, and most of the temple district, really really want them to be responsible. There is a good chance this may lead to another civil war, which is why MI is doing everything in it's power to get the case. However, because MI has a long tradition of declaring that things are not their jurisdiction (MI is constantly overworked, and most of the district police forces are primarily focused on preventing crime by having lots of burly officers walking around, rather than actually investigating things, they try to hand stuff off to MI whenever possible, so in order to avoid being totally swamped, MI has to throw the cases back to the locals as much as they can), this is tricky.
Of course, if a DM wants to streamline things, the PC's can be MIs rather than private investigators.

As for Sphen, it could be modified into a resort community. Wealthy Ishkans looking to unwind head through the portals to Sphen where they relax on the beaches and sip colorful drinks. It looks like paradise, and you'd never know that the Sun Guard, those smiling men in white uniforms with ceremonial swords who give you directions to the massage parlor are part of one of the most brutal police forces in the city. The Sun Guard is responsible for making sure the tourists are happy, if that means leading beggars and pickpockets to the cheerfully designed Sun Guard headquarters to be beaten, killed, brainwashed, or worse, so be it. MI has tried to step in several times, but the Sphen tourism board has powerful friends.

Of course, the Wild is still common in the district, and they don't like the last piece of, relatively unspoiled wilderness (even the Hunting Grounds are artificial) in Ishkan territory being turned into a place for fatcats from Mithril heights to get a tan. The Sun Guard manages to cover up evidence of most of their activities (The building was unstable, so we did a controlled emergency demolition, I'm terribly sorry, here have some coupons), but they have only been able to maintain order with increasing brutality and intimidation.

[Silverscale]

As for Sphen,

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it could be modified into a resort community. Wealthy Ishkans looking to unwind head through the portals to Sphen where they relax on the beaches and sip colorful drinks. It looks like paradise, and you'd never know that the Sun Guard, those smiling men in white uniforms with ceremonial swords who give you directions to the massage parlor are part of one of the most brutal police forces in the city. The Sun Guard is responsible for making sure the tourists are happy, if that means leading beggars and pickpockets to the cheerfully designed Sun Guard headquarters to be beaten, killed, brainwashed, or worse, so be it. MI has tried to step in several times, but the Sphen tourism board has powerful friends.

Of course, the Wild is still common in the district, and they don't like the last piece of, relatively unspoiled wilderness (even the Hunting Grounds are artificial) in Ishkan territory being turned into a place for fatcats from Mithril heights to get a tan. The Sun Guard manages to cover up evidence of most of their activities (The building was unstable, so we did a controlled emergency demolition, I'm terribly sorry, here have some coupons), but they have only been able to maintain order with increasing brutality and intimidation.

I'm not sure I like this idea....I was thinking of taking it more along the lines someone mentioned, of it being a large nature preserve with a great many different flora and fauna (not unlike the Galapagose Islands) watched over by the Druids and Water Shugenja. Connecting Sphen to the Port District is one narrow foot-bridge to the first of the islands which in turn is connected to the other islands by a network of foot-paths and more narrow bridges.

[Owrtho]

I'm not sure I like this idea....I was thinking of taking it more along the lines someone mentioned, of it being a large nature preserve with a great many different flora and fauna (not unlike the Galapagose Islands) watched over by the Druids and Water Shugenja. Connecting Sphen to the Port District is one narrow foot-bridge to the first of the islands which in turn is connected to the other islands by a network of foot-paths and more narrow bridges.

Well, it would almost have to be through a gate, given the rather notable lack of sunlight (at least natural sunlight) on all but the few highest levels (and certainly the lake being at the bottom like it is). Also the fact that buildings are made on the lake would cause trouble for them (even if most just start as having pylons that extend out of the water).

Owrtho

[waterpenguin43]

I see Sphen as little more than a feature of the port district. It would be a nature reserve with druids and shugenja as rangers protecting the native fauna. Given that a large portion of its population is druid, and its culture seems built around druidic principles, to suggest that it would ever be any kind of economic power seems like folly. I imagine that the druids of Sphen would have a lot of support from the Wild; many may even be members. I expect that Sphen would be the Galapagos of Ishka. It needs some ecoterrorists bombing people trying to develop the island as condos to add enough spice for PCs to bother going.

That sounds like a really good idea (I have a shocking lack of originality myself.), I think that would work really well for including Sphen in the campaign setting.

At BRC: That's interesting and deep too, but I like jagadaishio's idea more, I'm afraid.

And my preperation fluff for economancer:

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Ishka is essentially an enormous city-continent, with various parts of the "city" being divided into districts. Of course, to thrive, there is one main thing a city needs: A good economy. This means that supply and demand won't go too low or too high. So with a city with the size of a continent, it is inevitable that some will, metaphorically, "go out of buisness", and whole districts will wind up poor. With economic balance so vital, how can Ishka ensure it's economy remains healthy? The answer lies in the hands of a few specific mages, few and far between. These mages are known as economancers. Whenever they see the economy go out of balance, they leap into action, and work their incomprehensible magics to fix the economy. Normal wizards are in envy of the economancers, craving their secrets, but in keeping their own value high, as they would copper or oil or any other economic property, they won't let their own demand decrease, after all, if economancers themselves become low in demand, how can everything else stay balanced? The Order of the Golden Hand takes in only a few select wizards with a great understanding of Ishka's economy, training them in ways of helping the economy in time of need.
Economancers in the world
In all my time as a salesman, I have never seen any such hero to my proffesion. He works on the economy as a delecate art, and the results are beautiful. To have such a man in our district is a wonderful blessing from the saints.
-Marc Orgent, a merchant in need.
People tend to either love or hate economancers, with the vast majority on the love side of things. On one hand, whenever an economancer comes to their district, it is a time of great celebration and profit. Most people in a district an economancer is visiting are Helpful to economancers, desperate for them to help with their economy. Also, thieves and worshippers of Anksuno are fond of economancers, as it gives thieves more booty and Anksuno more power, also, Anksuno is the most common worshipped saint for economancers, making those of the Stone Raven distrust economancers very deeply.
Also, those in poverty because of the economy have a hatred for economancers, as they do nothing in their time of need. Those, and worshippers of the Stone Raven are just about the only people who dislike economancers.

[50cr4t3s]

I hate to keep trying to shoot down your ideas, but I really hate this intro to the Economancer. The only real rule we've been holding our selves to in the building of this city is "Does it make sense?" and quite frankly the Economancers as they're described don't make sense.

First, you say that they step in to keep districts from falling into bankruptcy, but part of the point of the districts we've proposed is that these are the entities that have withstood the test of time and survived to this day and age. Maybe it's just me but I've always imagined that many district that were once part of the city have disappeared, either due to violence or mismanagement.

Second, you say that they "work their incomprehensible magics to fix the economy", this also doesn't make sense because nobody would do business with them. This is a city were a bank is making deals with diabolic forces to turn a profit, unions openly fight corporations on occasion in the Steamworks, and the Twin Dragon saints are in an actual contest to see who can become the most economically powerful. NO ONE WILL DO BUSINESS WITH AN ECONOMY THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND. It is that simple. If the Economancers can simple wave their hands and make your business do better, the entire economy becomes how many Economancers you can recruit to your cause.

Lastly, you say that they strive to maintain balance in the Economy of Ishka, but in reality, economic balance is a bad thing. A perfect balanced economy becomes stagnant and quickly afterward will becomes inadequate. Economic upheaval is a painful and drawn out process, but it is necessary for economies to evolve and adapt to the changes of the society.

I just don't see Economancers fitting in to the setting as you've currently described them.

[Silverscale]

I hate to keep trying to shoot down your ideas,

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but I really hate this intro to the Economancer. The only real rule we've been holding our selves to in the building of this city is "Does it make sense?" and quite frankly the Economancers as they're described don't make sense.

First, you say that they step in to keep districts from falling into bankruptcy, but part of the point of the districts we've proposed is that these are the entities that have withstood the test of time and survived to this day and age. Maybe it's just me but I've always imagined that many district that were once part of the city have disappeared, either due to violence or mismanagement.

Second, you say that they "work their incomprehensible magics to fix the economy", this also doesn't make sense because nobody would do business with them. This is a city were a bank is making deals with diabolic forces to turn a profit, unions openly fight corporations on occasion in the Steamworks, and the Twin Dragon saints are in an actual contest to see who can become the most economically powerful. NO ONE WILL DO BUSINESS WITH AN ECONOMY THEY DON'T UNDERSTAND. It is that simple. If the Economancers can simple wave their hands and make your business do better, the entire economy becomes how many Economancers you can recruit to your cause.

Lastly, you say that they strive to maintain balance in the Economy of Ishka, but in reality, economic balance is a bad thing. A perfect balanced economy becomes stagnant and quickly afterward will becomes inadequate. Economic upheaval is a painful and drawn out process, but it is necessary for economies to evolve and adapt to the changes of the society.

I just don't see Economancers fitting in to the setting as you've currently described them.

I'm gonna have to second you one this....Economancers as currently described would not make sense in Ishka

Well, it would almost have to be through a gate, given the rather notable lack of sunlight (at least natural sunlight) on all but the few highest levels (and certainly the lake being at the bottom like it is). Also the fact that buildings are made on the lake would cause trouble for them (even if most just start as having pylons that extend out of the water).

Owrtho

Except for the fact that as written, The Port District is Not on the lake, it's at the other end of the river, which means there is plenty of sunlight and no massive buildings to disrupt the wildlife.

[waterpenguin43]

Okay. I'm not really good with futuristic campaigns anyway......

[BRC]

My idea for Sphen got shot down, but I think it could work on it's own as a totally separate district.
The Sunset Islands
Alternate Names: Seaside Resorts, Venugen Lishe Phapile
Government Type: The Sunset Corporation
Police Force: Sun Guard.

Sunset Islands was originally named Venugen Lishe Phapile, Islands of Perpetual Beauty in the dialect of hte local elves, for much of history it's only inhabitants were a small community of elves and merfolk. The Islands are surrounded by reefs, preventing regular ship traffic. For much of history, Venugen Lishe Phapile, was a blank spot on sailor's maps.

Of course, that was until an Ishkan vessel was driven to shore by a storm. They were rescued by Merfolk and cared for by the Elves, as luck would have it, one of them was a wizard. The next day he used his emergency Teleport scroll (it had been locked in his trunk at the time) and, took all the crewmembers back to Ishka. But while they were there, the crew was amazed by the island's natural beauty, by it's astounding sunsets and pristine beaches. Upon hearing about the island, somebody remarked that they would pay two hundred gold to see the island. This is Ishka, you can guess what happened next.

A group Teleported back to the island, it's not clear what happened next, but apparently the Merfolk decided to leave and the Elves agreed to let the Ishkans begin construction. A decade later, the Elves were almost all gone, those that were left seemed to work only as servants. The Merfolk had vanished very quickly. The big change was when the Islands were officially renamed the much more marketable Sunset Islands, from that point, the isolated paradise of Venugen Lishe Phapile was gone for good.
Today the Sunset Islands are a resort, a tourist destination where Ishkans can visit, get a tan, drink some colorful beverages with little umbrellas, go for a walk in the jungles, and go for a swim. While low class Ishkans will never see the Islands unless they are lucky enough to get a job working there. Those Ishkans capable of affording the portal fees, may be able to visit for a day, though most don't bother, a two way trip through the portal is more money than most Ishkans are willing to spend on a day trip. On the Islands accommodations range from the simple hostels, to the extravagant Hotels. Some incredibly wealthy residents even have personal houses on the Islands.
Everything is operated by the Sunset Corporation, founded by the wizard who first crashed on Venugen Lishe Phapile. There is actually a sizeable "Native" population, primarily consisting of the native elves and people hired from Ishka to work for the Sunset corporation. It's been several generations since the Sunset Corporation was founded, so there are actually many people who Don't work for the Sunset corporation, most of them stick to the "Servant's Town", but some cross to Tourist Town and work as pickpockets, or to sell goods without a license from the Sunset Corporation, or, the very worst crime, to serve the Tourists independent of the Corporation.
Order is kept by the Sun Guard, a group of cheerful, white uniformed guards who are visible on every corner to answer questions (Or, more accurately, to repeat the answers the Company made them memorize) and give directions. They are also one of the most brutal police forces in Ishka. Under those pristine white jackets are rather utalitarian shirts of a color designed not to show bloodstains, and those fancy swords they have aren't, as many people think, ceremonial. The Sun Guard make sure that life on the islands is perfect for the tourists and profitable for the company by intimidating or brutalizing anybody who might make it otherwise.
The Biggest problem on the island is the Wild, who, as much as they hate the idea of Ishka having destroyed nature, hate the idea of it actively destroying nature, especially a place as beautiful as Venugen Lishe Phapile. The Wild are said to have a community hidden somewhere in the jungle, the Sun Guard, as well as hired mercenaries and adventurers have looked for it many times, but either reported failure or didn't report back at all. The Wild used to attack tour groups, but Sunset simply started offering tourists armed guards (for a fee). The Wild is constantly trying to upset the Sunset corporation's operation, but their actions are hindered by the need to constantly stay hidden from Mercenaries combing the jungle, and the watchful vigilance of the Sun Guards. As it is, the Sunset Corporation manages to cover up most of the Wild's activities as "Animal Attacks" or "Emergency Demolitions" or "A wizard who had too much to drink and has been given to the proper authorities". Since most people can't afford to stay more than a week or so, they believe that any attacks that occur during their stays are isolated incidents, and since the Sunset Corporation carefully controls information about the Islands that gets back to the city, almost nobody knows that behind the massage parlors, restaurants, and hotels is a brutal police state fighting a constant war.

Edit: What IS it with my with police states ruled by brutal corporations, I keep creating them, for that one Steampunk RP, for Smog, and now here.

[jagadaishio]

My idea for Sphen got shot down, but I think it could work on it's own as a totally separate district.
The Sunset Islands
Alternate Names: Seaside Resorts, Venugen Lishe Phapile
Government Type: The Sunset Corporation
Police Force: Sun Guard.

Sunset Islands was originally named Venugen Lishe Phapile, Islands of Perpetual Beauty in the dialect of hte local elves, for much of history it's only inhabitants were a small community of elves and merfolk. The Islands are surrounded by reefs, preventing regular ship traffic. For much of history, Venugen Lishe Phapile, was a blank spot on sailor's maps.

Of course, that was until an Ishkan vessel was driven to shore by a storm. They were rescued by Merfolk and cared for by the Elves, as luck would have it, one of them was a wizard. The next day he used his emergency Teleport scroll (it had been locked in his trunk at the time) and, took all the crewmembers back to Ishka. But while they were there, the crew was amazed by the island's natural beauty, by it's astounding sunsets and pristine beaches. Upon hearing about the island, somebody remarked that they would pay two hundred gold to see the island. This is Ishka, you can guess what happened next.

A group Teleported back to the island, it's not clear what happened next, but apparently the Merfolk decided to leave and the Elves agreed to let the Ishkans begin construction. A decade later, the Elves were almost all gone, those that were left seemed to work only as servants. The Merfolk had vanished very quickly. The big change was when the Islands were officially renamed the much more marketable Sunset Islands, from that point, the isolated paradise of Venugen Lishe Phapile was gone for good.
Today the Sunset Islands are a resort, a tourist destination where Ishkans can visit, get a tan, drink some colorful beverages with little umbrellas, go for a walk in the jungles, and go for a swim. While low class Ishkans will never see the Islands unless they are lucky enough to get a job working there. Those Ishkans capable of affording the portal fees, may be able to visit for a day, though most don't bother, a two way trip through the portal is more money than most Ishkans are willing to spend on a day trip. On the Islands accommodations range from the simple hostels, to the extravagant Hotels. Some incredibly wealthy residents even have personal houses on the Islands.
Everything is operated by the Sunset Corporation, founded by the wizard who first crashed on Venugen Lishe Phapile. There is actually a sizeable "Native" population, primarily consisting of the native elves and people hired from Ishka to work for the Sunset corporation. It's been several generations since the Sunset Corporation was founded, so there are actually many people who Don't work for the Sunset corporation, most of them stick to the "Servant's Town", but some cross to Tourist Town and work as pickpockets, or to sell goods without a license from the Sunset Corporation, or, the very worst crime, to serve the Tourists independent of the Corporation.
Order is kept by the Sun Guard, a group of cheerful, white uniformed guards who are visible on every corner to answer questions (Or, more accurately, to repeat the answers the Company made them memorize) and give directions. They are also one of the most brutal police forces in Ishka. Under those pristine white jackets are rather utalitarian shirts of a color designed not to show bloodstains, and those fancy swords they have aren't, as many people think, ceremonial. The Sun Guard make sure that life on the islands is perfect for the tourists and profitable for the company by intimidating or brutalizing anybody who might make it otherwise.
The Biggest problem on the island is the Wild, who, as much as they hate the idea of Ishka having destroyed nature, hate the idea of it actively destroying nature, especially a place as beautiful as Venugen Lishe Phapile. The Wild are said to have a community hidden somewhere in the jungle, the Sun Guard, as well as hired mercenaries and adventurers have looked for it many times, but either reported failure or didn't report back at all. The Wild used to attack tour groups, but Sunset simply started offering tourists armed guards (for a fee). The Wild is constantly trying to upset the Sunset corporation's operation, but their actions are hindered by the need to constantly stay hidden from Mercenaries combing the jungle, and the watchful vigilance of the Sun Guards. As it is, the Sunset Corporation manages to cover up most of the Wild's activities as "Animal Attacks" or "Emergency Demolitions" or "A wizard who had too much to drink and has been given to the proper authorities". Since most people can't afford to stay more than a week or so, they believe that any attacks that occur during their stays are isolated incidents, and since the Sunset Corporation carefully controls information about the Islands that gets back to the city, almost nobody knows that behind the massage parlors, restaurants, and hotels is a brutal police state fighting a constant war.

Edit: What IS it with my with police states ruled by brutal corporations, I keep creating them, for that one Steampunk RP, for Smog, and now here.

I love it; marvelous work. It's like Okinawa or Hawaii if they were ruled by a murderous extranational corporation. Given that fact, I wonder if the 'natives' would also engage in activity expected of the region, like surfing and dancing while wearing colourful flowers. Since it has a cove protected by a reef, I expect hat it doesn't get waves sufficient for the surfing. Breathe Water-enabled scuba would probably be a big hit among the tourists, though. Does the Sun Guard ever take in tourists for interrogation/execution if they're suspected of being terrorists or having terrorist ties? If there are any that are only interrogated, what do they do with these terrorist tourists after they're done with them? Kill them if they're still suspected and give them a mandatory free room and board at a luxury hotel for life if they're not?

Is the island volcanic or stable? What kind of wildlife did it originally have, and what of that has been eradicated? How much do they pay the Sun Guard for their silence? Do prospective employees find out how Orwellian the island is before or after being hired? How strict are the contracts that employees have to sign? Are they so strict that employees would flee into the jungle and join the Wild just to be free of their oppressors? How close to open war is the island? How many tourists tend to get dragged into the shadow war as collateral damage? Is the first priority of the Sun Guard to protect tourists, or attack the Wild?

Is the Sun Guard the second mercenary police force that the city has, after the Falcons? Or do we have others?

[BRC]

Does the Sun Guard ever take in tourists for interrogation/execution if they're suspected of being terrorists or having terrorist ties? If there are any that are only interrogated, what do they do with these terrorist tourists after they're done with them? Kill them if they're still suspected and give them a mandatory free room and board at a luxury hotel for life if they're not?

Is the island volcanic or stable? What kind of wildlife did it originally have, and what of that has been eradicated? How much do they pay the Sun Guard for their silence? Do prospective employees find out how Orwellian the island is before or after being hired? How strict are the contracts that employees have to sign? Are they so strict that employees would flee into the jungle and join the Wild just to be free of their oppressors? How close to open war is the island? How many tourists tend to get dragged into the shadow war as collateral damage? Is the first priority of the Sun Guard to protect tourists, or attack the Wild?

Is the Sun Guard the second mercenary police force that the city has, after the Falcons? Or do we have others?

If a Tourist is expected of being a terrorist, the Sun Guard's response depends on how much money the tourist in question has. If they're somebody staying for a few days at a cheap hotel, they may get captured and peacefully interrogated, while a spell caster in the employ of the Sunset corporation uses Detect Thoughts in the next room (Because they're not in the city, there is less chance of Detect Thoughts getting swamped by the number of people nearbye). If they're wealthy, the Sun Guard will attempt to investigate with magic without the tourist noticing.
Any TerrorTourists they catch are "Dissapeared" in one way or another. The preferred method is to say they got Lost in the Woods, or that they went for a sail and got blown out to sea. If the Tourist isn't a terrorist, and gets interrogated/finds out about the investigation, they are bribed with coupons to shut up.

I like the idea of the island being Volcanic (Maybe a plot of the Wild's is to trigger the volcano). The Islands were tropical, and most of the wildlife is actually fairly in tact. A couple delicious local birds have been hunted to extinction and now only exist in farms. There are still a couple dangerous animals on the island, but most of them have been starved out as their hunting grounds were occupied or killed in one way or another.
Employees don't find out about the true nature of the Island until after they arrive, and the contracts they sign are incredibly strict. However, there is no shortage of employees, many Ishkans dream of being able to afford a trip to the Sunset Islands, so most don't bother to read the contracts when they are told that, if they sign them, they will be payed to live there. Of course, most employees that go can't come back because, if you're fired, you have to pay your own way through the portal, and the company primarily pays in a company script rather than actual money. Occasionally servants do run off to join the Wild, and people within the organization are divided over whether or not to accept these people, since, while they are willing to help, they don't actually believe the city is bad, they just hate the Sunset corporation.
The Sun Guards are paid very well for their loyalty, unlike most of the employees, they don't live in Servant's Town, but in a barracks complex much like a hotel, waited on by servants and with a great view of the sea.

As for the War, the Wild likes to talk about how they are, at any point, days from returning the Islands to their natural state. However, ironically enough, it's very difficult for the Wild to work in the islands. The Organization was founded in the city, and is used to functioning as an insurgency rather than a guerrilla force. As much as most Wild members say they hate city life, they count on having a steady job, being able to get food by walking to the nearest store, and being able to get any weapons or equipment they need from the steady supply of shady dealers. In the Jungle most of them are too busy simply trying to survive to really do much, and because they have to keep moving, they don't have much in the way of infrastructure to build the things they need. Really, a couple Wild Druids descended from the native Elves, and a solid core of skilled rangers, most of whom were born on the Island, are responsible for most of the trouble. Most of the Wild members from the city tend to die from eating the wrong fruit, or try to take on the Sun Guard with the weapons they can make in the woods, namely clubs and rocks. This buffer of incompetent terrorists is actually one of the things that makes the Wild so hard to eradicated, since the Sun Guard may wipe out a camp, only to learn that the ones who are actually a threat saw them coming and slipped away while they were slaughtering the city slickers.

Protecting the Tourists is always the Sun Guard's priority. The Death's of tourists need to be covered up, and that's expensive. Live tourists may need to be bribed into silence, but that's cheaper, you just give them coupons. Occasionally, Tourists are collateral damage in the Shadow War, but it's not a big enough number that the Sunset corporation can't cover it up. Mainly it's Tourists on Jungle tours who always sign extensive release waivers, and whose deaths are covered up easily as "Wild Animal Attacks" (Considering that the Wild's preferred method of attack is to summon or charm animals into attacking, this is very easy).

Really, the Sun Guard has three parts, the "Whitesuit" Guards who protect the tourists, the "Blacksuit" thugs who patrol Servant's town, and the "Greensuit" soldiers; rugged, dangerous mercenaries who go out into the Jungle to do battle with the Wild. Most tourists don't know the Blacksuits and the Greensuits even exist.

[jagadaishio]

Here is the first installment of my repeatedly-promised elemental races.

Fire Elementals

An ephemeral elemental child in its first suit.

First of all, I think the fact that denizens of the Elemental Plane of Fire would be constantly cold while on the Material Plane bears mentioning. Their native plane has an average temperature of "barbeque." As such, coming to the Material Plane would first require an adaptation period to the terribly cold temperatures, and even then they would be so cold that they would probably wear heavy, flame-retardant clothes (parkas, jackets, gloves, the whole deal) all year round. They would also almost exclusively make their homes in the hottest parts of the city, so places like the Steamworks and any tropical holdings of Ishka would have (comparatively) huge fire immigrant populations.

Second-generation immigrants, people who were born and raised in the freezing climate of the Material Plane, would have much less of a problem with the cold. Light jackets, maybe a single layer of canvas or leather, in the summer, only breaking out the parkas in the winter. They would probably find their family's native plane hot rather than comfortably temperate.

The way I see it, the typical immigrants from the Elemental Plane of Fire would come in two basic flavors. The first flavor is corporeal elementals. These are people with physical bodies that have been just stuffed full of elemental energy. Because of this, they would have a much better resistance to the cold of the Material Plane than would their ephemeral companions. Simply put, their solid matter would just retain their heat better. They could probably make do with only heavy jackets and pants. The second type of immigrants would be the ephemeral variety, beings made of actual living flame instead of flame-infused solid matter.

The ephemeral would need specially designed suits or host bodies in order to survive on the material plane. Otherwise their bodies, normally kept warm and active by the fires of the elemental plane itself, fizzle and die of hypothermia rapidly when exposed. Most will wear suits - affairs of metal and magic that keep their heat in. They tend to be mistaken for warforged and other constructs when infused in a material body like that - at least until they vent some excess heat in a small gout of flame. The ephemeral elementals may instead choose to inhabit a host body. In that case, they infuse themselves into a living or deceased material body, possessing it and controlling it. The clear down-side to this, however, is that these bodies, while they do shelter the elemental from the cold for some time, eventually burn out from the fire essence contained within them. Furthermore, while their suited-brethren tend to be mistaken for constructs, they tend to be considered undead at best, murderers who steal living bodies at worst.

The physical, suited, and possessive elementals will be shown in detail below.

Embodied Fire Elemental
Elementals, Fires

An elemental with skin like ash, eyes like fire, and breath like smoke.

Embodied fire elementals are a varied bunch. While all tend to be passionate, this manifests in different ways. Some are lovers; others fighters. Some make art; others just love to burn things. Aside from their varied passions, these elementals tend to be varied in appearance. Some have bodies and hair that shine like embers. Others have blackened skin, shock white, hot veins visible through the skin. Some look like normal humans, but with fire for hair and puffs of smoke constantly floating from their mouth and nose. These displays of fire tend to scald when touched for too long, but the heat from these elementals always proves too weak to ignite anything but the most unstable of compounds or cause serious burns.

Embodied Fire Elemental 3.5 Racial Statistics
Medium Humanoid [Fire]
+2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Fire elementals are passionate and driven, but these passions make them rash, lacking common sense and awareness.
Speed: 30ft
Fiery Display (ex): All embodied fire elementals have some kind of bright display. Whether this is faintly glowing skin, burning hair, shining eyes, white-bright veins, or any other manifestation of their natural fire, it is there. This display grants them a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks against creatures without fire resistance. It also causes a -4 racial penalty on Hide checks because of their glow.
Hot-Blooded (ex): Fire elementals have a fire burning within their bodies and souls. Their skin scalds slightly to the touch. Their unarmed strikes deal an extra 1 point of fire damage, and all creatures who make a successful unarmed strike, natural attack, or touch attack against an embodied fire elemental take 1 point of fire damage. All creatures take one point of fire damage per turn they grapple with an embodied fire elemental. Non-forceful actions like shaking a hand or a light pat on the back only cause the fire damage if contact is maintained for more than one round.
Heat Acclimation (ex): Fire elementals require no saves to function in hot environments, but all climates temperate and down are treated as one category colder (see Frostburn, Sandstorm). Embodied fire elementals often wear jackets even in the summer and seek out deserts, tropical jungles, and tropical beaches as a matter of comfort. Fire damage is simply less effective against embodied fire elementals, while cold damage is far more effective. All fire damage is first halved, then subject to the Embodied Fire Elemental's natural fire resistance. All cold damage is multiplied by 1.5 before being applied.
Fire Resistance 2
+2 Racial Bonus to all Perform checks and Diplomacy. Fire elementals have an easily-felt, enamoring passion to them.
Automatic Languages: Embodied fire elementals start speaking Common and Ingan. Embodied fire elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, aquan, terran, infernal, elven.
Favored Class: Sorcerer or Bard. A multiclass embodied fire elemental’s sorcerer or bard class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.


A typical embodied elemental, burning with an inner light.

Embodied Fire Elemental Pathfinder Racial Statistics
Medium Humanoid [Fire]
+2 Dexterity, +2 Charisma, -2 Wisdom. Fire elementals are passionate, quick, and driven, but these passions make them rash and impatient, lacking common sense and awareness.
Speed: 30ft
Fiery Display (ex): All embodied fire elementals have some kind of bright display. Whether this is faintly glowing skin, burning hair, shining eyes, white-bright veins, or any other manifestation of their natural fire, it is there. This display grants them a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks against creatures without fire resistance. It also causes a -4 racial penalty on Hide checks because of their glow.
Hot-Blooded (ex): Fire elementals have a fire burning within their bodies and souls. Their skin scalds slightly to the touch. Their unarmed strikes deal an extra 1 point of fire damage, and all creatures who make a successful unarmed strike, natural attack, or touch attack against an embodied fire elemental take 1 point of fire damage. All creatures take one point of fire damage per turn they grapple with an embodied fire elemental. Non-forceful actions like shaking a hand or a light pat on the back only cause the fire damage if contact is maintained for more than one round.
Heat Acclimation (ex): Fire elementals require no saves to function in hot environments, but all climates temperate and down are treated as one category colder. Embodied fire elementals often wear jackets even in the summer and seek out deserts, tropical jungles, and tropical beaches as a matter of comfort. Fire damage is simply less effective against embodied fire elementals, while cold damage is far more effective. All fire damage is first halved, then subject to the Embodied Fire Elemental's natural fire resistance. All cold damage is multiplied by 1.5 before being applied.
Fire Resistance 5
+3 Racial Bonus to all Perform checks and Diplomacy. Fire elementals have an easily-felt, enamoring passion to them.
Automatic Languages: Embodied fire elementals start speaking Common and Ingan. Embodied fire elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, aquan, terran, infernal, elven.

Suited Ephemeral Fire Elementals
Suits, Clanks

Two generic suited elementals, one whose flames are naturally red, and one whose flames are naturally blue.

Suits live their lives in a metal body. This tends to make them less open and charismatic than their embodied relatives. However, their life in their suits makes them both physically robust and more insightful, their metal forms making them almost voyeuristic observers of the social interactions with others, too awkward and detached to participate themselves. Suits rarely wear clothes over their metal bodies, but when they do, it's almost always bright colours in the same shades as their natural form's flames. Without special training, fire deals damage to suits normally, damaging their metal shells and letting the cold in.


A suit with rather intimidating armor modifications.

Suited Ephemeral Fire Elemental 3.5 Racial Traits
Medium Construct [Living] [Fire]
Living Construct Subtype (ex): Suits are constructs with the living construct subtype. A living construct is a created being given sentience and free will through powerful and complex enchantments or the binding of an elemental to the body. Suits are living constructs that combine aspects of constructs, elementals, and living creatures, as detailed below.

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A suit derives its Hit Dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.

Unlike other constructs, a suit has a Constitution score.

Unlike other constructs, a suit does not have low-light vision or darkvision.

Unlike other constructs, a suit is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.

Immunity to poison, sleep effects, paralysis disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.

A suit cannot heal damage naturally.

Unlike other constructs, suits are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, and death effects or necromancy effects.

As living constructs, suits can be affected by spells that target living creatures as well as by those that target constructs. Damage dealt to a suit can be healed by a Cure Light Wounds spell or a Repair Light Damage spell, for example, and a suit is vulnerable to Disable Construct and Harm. However, spells from the healing subschool and supernatural abilities that cure or cause hit point damage by means of positive or negative energy provide only half their normal effect to a suit.

The unusual physical constructions of suit makes them vulnerable to certain spells and effects that normally don't affect living creatures. A suit is affected by Repel Metal and Chill Metal as if he were wearing metal armor. The iron in the body of a suit makes him vulnerable to Rusting Grasp and other spells that damage metal.

A suit responds slightly differently from other living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. A suit with 0 hit points is disabled, just like a living creature. He can only take a single move action or standard action in each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and are greater than -10, a inert is inert. He is unconscious and helpless, and he cannot perform any actions.

However, an inert suit does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, as with a living creature that is stable. Even right before destruction, a suit can keep the elemental inside from being extinguished.

As a living construct, a suit can be raised and resurrected.
A suit does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but he can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells and magic items such as Heroes' Feast and potions.

Although living constructs do not need sleep, a suit wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.

+2 Constitution, -2 Charisma. Suits feel disconnected from and awkward around other people who are able to show their true selves. Their metal, construct bodies make them more resilient and hardy, though.
Speed: 30ft
Composite Plating (ex): The plating used to build a suit provides a +2 armor bonus. This plating is not natural armor and does not stack with other effects that give an armor bonus, such as Mage Armor. This composite plating occupies the same space on the body as suit of armor or a robe, and thus a suit character cannot wear armor or magic robes. Suits can be enchanted just as armor can be. The character must be present for the entire time it takes to enchant him. Composite plating provides a suit with a 5% arcane spell failure chance, similar to the penalty for wearing light armor. Any class ability that allows a suit to ignore the arcane spell failure chance for light armor lets him ignore this penalty as well.

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Note that in the description of the composite plating, as in the original warforged entry, they go to great lengths to avoid saying that the plating is light armor, rather than just being like it. This was to avoid a warforged lacking the armor proficiency for their own body. This has the added and unexpected benefit of not counting as armor for the purpose of Monk abilities and other abilities which require a creature to be unarmored.

Light Fortification (ex): When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on a suit, there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and the damage is instead rolled normally.
Bonus Feat: A suit gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, its metal limbs quite useful for fighting. If the suit ever gains Improved Unarmed Strike again as an automatic bonus feat from a class, they instead gain a +1 bonus to unarmed strike damage.
Repair Artist (ex): A suit gains a +2 racial bonus on all Crafts checks made to repair or modify their own suits.
Automatic Languages: Suits start speaking Common and Ingan. Suits with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, aquan, terran, infernal, elven.
Favored Class: Monk or Artificer. A multiclass suit’s monk or artificer class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.

Suited Ephemeral Fire Elemental Pathfinder Racial Traits
Medium Construct [Living] [Fire]
Living Construct Subtype (ex): Suits are constructs with the living construct subtype. A living construct is a created being given sentience and free will through powerful and complex enchantments or the binding of an elemental to the body. Suits are living constructs that combine aspects of constructs, elementals, and living creatures, as detailed below.

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A suit derives its Hit Dice, base attack bonus progression, saving throws, and skill points from the class it selects.

Unlike other constructs, a suit has a Constitution score.

Unlike other constructs, a suit does not have low-light vision or darkvision.

Unlike other constructs, a suit is not immune to mind-affecting spells and abilities.

Immunity to bleed effects, poison, sleep effects, paralysis disease, nausea, fatigue, exhaustion, effects that cause the sickened condition, and energy drain.

A suit cannot heal damage naturally.

Unlike other constructs, suits are subject to critical hits, nonlethal damage, stunning, ability damage, ability drain, and death effects or necromancy effects.

As living constructs, suits can be affected by spells that target living creatures as well as by those that target constructs. Damage dealt to a suit can be healed by a Cure Light Wounds spell or a Repair Light Damage spell, for example, and a suit is vulnerable to Disable Construct and Harm. However, spells from the healing subschool and supernatural abilities that cure or cause hit point damage by means of positive or negative energy provide only half their normal effect to a suit.

The unusual physical constructions of suit makes them vulnerable to certain spells and effects that normally don't affect living creatures. A suit is affected by Repel Metal and Chill Metal as if he were wearing metal armor. The iron in the body of a suit makes him vulnerable to Rusting Grasp and other spells that damage metal.

A suit responds slightly differently from other living creatures when reduced to 0 hit points. A suit with 0 hit points is disabled, just like a living creature. He can only take a single move action or standard action in each round, but strenuous activity does not risk further injury. When his hit points are less than 0 and are greater than -10, a inert is inert. He is unconscious and helpless, and he cannot perform any actions.

However, an inert suit does not lose additional hit points unless more damage is dealt to him, as with a living creature that is stable. Even right before destruction, a suit can keep the elemental inside from being extinguished.

As a living construct, a suit can be raised and resurrected.
A suit does not need to eat, sleep, or breathe, but he can still benefit from the effects of consumable spells and magic items such as Heroes' Feast and potions.

Although living constructs do not need sleep, a suit wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.

+2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom, -2 Charisma. Suits feel disconnected from and awkward around other people who are able to show their true selves. This disconnect makes them tend toward being thoughtful, deliberate, and observant. Their metal, construct bodies make them more resilient and hardy.
Speed: 30ft
Composite Plating (ex): The plating used to build a suit provides a +2 armor bonus. This plating is not natural armor and does not stack with other effects that give an armor bonus, such as Mage Armor. This composite plating occupies the same space on the body as suit of armor or a robe, and thus a suit character cannot wear armor or magic robes. Suits can be enchanted just as armor can be. The character must be present for the entire time it takes to enchant him. Composite plating provides a suit with a 5% arcane spell failure chance, similar to the penalty for wearing light armor. Any class ability that allows a suit to ignore the arcane spell failure chance for light armor lets him ignore this penalty as well.

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Note that in the description of the composite plating, as in the original warforged entry, they go to great lengths to avoid saying that the plating is light armor, rather than just being like it. This was to avoid a warforged lacking the armor proficiency for their own body. This has the added and unexpected benefit of not counting as armor for the purpose of Monk abilities and other abilities which require a creature to be unarmored.

Light Fortification (ex): When a critical hit or sneak attack is scored on a suit, there is a 25% chance that the critical hit or sneak attack is negated and the damage is instead rolled normally.
Bonus Feat: A suit gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, its metal limbs quite useful for fighting. If the suit ever gains Improved Unarmed Strike again as an automatic bonus feat from a class, they instead gain a +1 bonus to unarmed strike damage.
Repair Artist (ex): A suit gains a +4 racial bonus on all Crafts checks made to repair or modify their own suits.
Automatic Languages: Suits start speaking Common and Ingan. Suits with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, aquan, terran, infernal, dwarven.

Feats

A suit who took a feat for heavier plating.

Suits, as other living constructs, often have bodies heavily modified from the basic design. By default, a suit may take any [Warforged] feat. It is also strongly suggested that prospective suits consider the feats here.

Possessive Ephemeral Fire Elementals
Blazers, Pyreghosts

An elemental who needs to go shopping for a nice new body soon.

Possessive elementals tend to come in one of two flavors. There are the desperate ones who need a body, but don't want to have a metal one, and so instead hop into corpses until they burn out. Then there are the ones who hop into a living host, knowing that they'll be slowly killing them as they burn them from within. Possessives are almost universally mistrusted. The ones who live in dead bodies are seen as little better than undead and as only being one small step away from taking a living host. The ones who take living ones are considered to be sociopathic serial killers and will be hunted by MI for trial. All possessives are emotionally disturbed, either desperate and clingy or sociopaths who see others as toys at best and clothes at worst.

Possessive Ephemeral Fire Elemental 3.5 Racial Traits
Small Elemental [Fire]
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -6 Strength, -4 Constitution, -2 Charisma. Blazers are quick of both mind and body. Their ephemeral forms are frail and weaker than their size would imply, though. They have something ever so slightly off about them; whether they're weak of soul or spirit, people feel awkward around them.
Speed: 30ft fly, perfect maneuverability
Small: A Small character gets a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks. A Small character’s carrying capacity is three-quarters of that of a Medium character.
Telepathy (su): A blazer can communicate telepathically with any creature within physical contact that has an Intelligence score. The creature can respond to the blazer if it wishes—no common language is needed.
Fiery Form (ex): A blazer's body is made out of fire. It deals an extra 1d6 points fire damage on its unarmed strikes and every time they are struck by an unarmed strike, natural attack, or touch spell delivered physically, the attacker takes 1d6 points of fire damage. Any creature grappling, carrying, or touching a blazer takes 1d6 points of damage per round. Because of their fiery, ephemeral bodies, blazers taken one point of constitution damage per round that they are out of contact with fire and not inside of a host body as it quickly fizzles out of existence. A blazer takes double damage from cold and are immune to fire damage.
Wear Flesh (su): A blazer can bore its way into a helpless living creature’s body, or the body of a creature deceased for less than 10 minutes, infusing its fire into the spaces between organs and muscles and disappearing into the victim. The victim must be the same size as the blazer or larger, and the process requires 1 minute. The blazer can choose to replace or inhabit the victim (see below). Incorporeal creatures and constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead are immune to the Wear Flesh ability. If inhabiting a dead body, the creature is restored to -9 hit points and stable.

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A blazer can abandon a body it has inhabited or replaced as a full-round action that deals 3d6 points of damage to the host. A blazer can be forced to abandon the body by a remove disease or dispel evil spell (the caster must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check to expel the monster, which deals damage as described above) or a heal or limited wish spell (which automatically succeeds and causes no damage to the host).

Inhabit: The blazer leaves its victim alive and aware. Any time it cares to, it can inflict indescribable agony on its host as a standard action, dealing up to 1d6 points of fire damage per level and requiring the host to succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be nauseated by the pain for 2d4 rounds. The blazer chooses how much damage it deals with this attack.

The blazer can take no physical actions while inhabiting a host, but it can use purely mental actions (such as communicating with its host by means of its telepathy power and threatening to injure or kill the host unless the host does as the monster wishes).

When the host takes damage (other than damage the blazer inflicts on it), the inhabiting blazer takes half that damage. For example, if the host takes 10 points of force damage from a magic missile spell, the blazer takes 5 points of force damage.

A blazer inhabiting a living body burns it slowly from the core, dealing 1d3 points of Constitution damage per day. A successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces this damage by half. Creatures with Fire Resistance gain a bonus on this save equal to half their Fire Resistance score. Over the course of days, frail creatures carrying blazers sicken and die, although blazers are clever enough to direct their hosts to acquire curative magic to keep them alive indefinitely, if the situation calls for it.

Replace: The blazer burns out the victim’s nervous system, killing the victim if it is not already dead. It then animates the body, effectively acting as the nervous system of the dead host. The body remains alive, hosting the blazer.

This functions like a polymorph spell into the victim’s exact form, and it leaves the victim’s corpse behind when it chooses to end the effect. The blazer uses the victim’s physical ability scores in place of its own, as described by polymorph. The blazer can remain in this form indefinitely, but once it abandons the form, it cannot reanimate the body.

Blazers that have replaced a living creature slowly devour their new shell from the inside out. A replaced body takes 1d4 points of Constitution drain per month, which does not heal naturally and can be restored only by magical means. A successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces this damage by half, and bodies with Fire Resistance gain a bonus on the save equal to half their Fire Resistance score. Naturally, blazer imposters choose to abandon bodies they have replaced before they become too weak to be serviceable.

Blazers are consummate liars and gain a +2 bonus on Bluff checks.
Automatic Languages: Blazers start speaking Common and Ingan. Blazers with a high intelligence score may pick any language as a bonus language.
Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass blazer’s rogue class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment +1.

Possessive Ephemeral Fire Elemental Pathfinder Racial Traits
Small Elemental [Fire]
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -6 Strength, -4 Constitution, -2 Charisma. Blazers are quick of both mind and body. Their ephemeral forms are frail and weaker than their size would imply, though. They have something ever so slightly off about them; whether they're weak of soul or spirit, people feel awkward around them.
Speed: 30ft fly, perfect maneuverability
Small: A Small character gets a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks. A Small character’s carrying capacity is three-quarters of that of a Medium character.
Telepathy (su): A blazer can communicate telepathically with any creature within physical contact that has an Intelligence score. The creature can respond to the blazer if it wishes—no common language is needed.
Fiery Form (ex): A blazer's body is made out of fire. It deals an extra 1d6 points fire damage on its unarmed strikes and every time they are struck by an unarmed strike, natural attack, or touch spell delivered physically, the attacker takes 1d6 points of fire damage. Any creature grappling, carrying, or touching a blazer takes 1d6 points of damage per round. Because of their fiery, ephemeral bodies, blazers taken one point of constitution damage per round that they are out of contact with fire and not inside of a host body as it quickly fizzles out of existence. A blazer takes double damage from cold and are immune to fire damage. For every three points of damage that a blazer would have otherwise taken, they instead heal one point of damage.
Wear Flesh (su): A blazer can bore its way into a helpless living creature’s body, or the body of a creature deceased for less than 10 minutes, infusing its fire into the spaces between organs and muscles and disappearing into the victim. The victim must be the same size as the blazer or larger, and the process requires 1 minute. The blazer can choose to replace or inhabit the victim (see below). Incorporeal creatures and constructs, elementals, oozes, plants, and undead are immune to the Wear Flesh ability. If inhabiting a dead body, the creature is restored to -9 hit points and stable.

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A blazer can abandon a body it has inhabited or replaced as a full-round action that deals 3d6 points of damage to the host. A blazer can be forced to abandon the body by a remove disease or dispel evil spell (the caster must succeed on a DC 20 caster level check to expel the monster, which deals damage as described above) or a heal or limited wish spell (which automatically succeeds and causes no damage to the host).

Inhabit: The blazer leaves its victim alive and aware. Any time it cares to, it can inflict indescribable agony on its host as a standard action, dealing up to 1d6 points of fire damage per level and requiring the host to succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude save or be nauseated by the pain for 2d4 rounds. The blazer chooses how much damage it deals with this attack.

The blazer can take no physical actions while inhabiting a host, but it can use purely mental actions (such as communicating with its host by means of its telepathy power and threatening to injure or kill the host unless the host does as the monster wishes).

When the host takes damage (other than damage the blazer inflicts on it), the inhabiting blazer takes half that damage. For example, if the host takes 10 points of force damage from a magic missile spell, the blazer takes 5 points of force damage.

A blazer inhabiting a living body burns it slowly from the core, dealing 1d3 points of Constitution damage per day. A successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces this damage by half. Creatures with Fire Resistance gain a bonus on this save equal to half their Fire Resistance score. Over the course of days, frail creatures carrying blazers sicken and die, although blazers are clever enough to direct their hosts to acquire curative magic to keep them alive indefinitely, if the situation calls for it.

Replace: The blazer burns out the victim’s nervous system, killing the victim if it is not already dead. It then animates the body, effectively acting as the nervous system of the dead host. The body remains alive, hosting the blazer.

This functions like a polymorph spell into the victim’s exact form, and it leaves the victim’s corpse behind when it chooses to end the effect. The blazer uses the victim’s physical ability scores in place of its own, as described by polymorph. The blazer can remain in this form indefinitely, but once it abandons the form, it cannot reanimate the body.

Blazers that have replaced a living creature slowly devour their new shell from the inside out. A replaced body takes 1d4 points of Constitution drain per month, which does not heal naturally and can be restored only by magical means. A successful DC 15 Fortitude save reduces this damage by half, and bodies with Fire Resistance gain a bonus on the save equal to half their Fire Resistance score. Naturally, blazer imposters choose to abandon bodies they have replaced before they become too weak to be serviceable.

Blazers are consummate liars and gain a +4 bonus on Bluff checks.
Automatic Languages: Blazers start speaking Common and Ingan. Blazers with a high intelligence score may pick any language as a bonus language.

[jagadaishio]

Here is the second installment of my repeatedly-promised elemental races.

Water Elementals

A solid water elemental whose hair is always dripping wet.

Water elementals have a problem with the Material Plane that, while less severe than those of fire elementals, also needs to be mentioned. Compared to the Elemental Plane of Water, the Material Plane is dry. It's dry as a bone, dry like a desert - dry. Most water elementals can get by just drinking what would normally be a ridiculous amount to keep from dehydrating. Many also choose to make their homes somewhere under water - submarine apartments in the port and lake districts, in lagoons on the various island holdings, and so forth.

A secondary effect of their rapid dehydration on the material plane is that even solid water elemental are constantly wet, like a cold beverage sweating on a hot day. Their hair drips, their clothes stick to them, and they leave wet footprints behind. Some water elementals get refused entry to certain establishments because they don't feel like mopping after them. Some water elementals wear skimpy or swimming clothes because they don't feel like dealing with the constant cling. Rich elementals get waterproofed clothes so that, instead of sticking to their body, the clothes stay dry as the water rolls off them.

Water elementals comes in one of two distinct textures - solid and liquid. Solid water elementals are physical creatures who are infused with water essence, to the point that they're usually more comfortable swimming and breathing water than walking and breathing air. Their shapes are no more or less mutable than any other solid creature. The other texture of water elemental is the liquid elementals. Liquid elementals are shape shifting creatures made of some kind of fluid. Some are made of a shiny silver or black liquid, while others are transparent shades of primary colours, or just plain water. Their bodies are all the same liquid, throughout, so the only way to damage one is causing temporary trauma to their outer membrane, causing them to lose liquid before restabilizing.

Solid Water Elemental
Crunchies, Solids

A solid wearing a wet suit to keep her dress dry.

Water elementals tend to have personalities like water in one of two ways. The first is like a river, constantly moving, constantly pounding forward, moving around insurmountable obstacles and through others. They're chaotic and passionate and always moving and striving and doing. The other have the calm demeanor of a pond, always accommodating, moving with the flow, taking the past of least resistance, and generally being completely chill. Solids tend to have skin and hair tones ranging from white to blue to green, the tones often being radically different from each other. This can lead to some striking combinations, with elementals that have eyes the shining aqua-blue of a still lagoon and skin the blue-gray slate colour of the sea before a storm. All elementals are wet. Water absorbent clothes cling to their bodies, their hair is damp at its dryest, and their eyes shine with moisture, dropping tears at the slightest provocation. Most solids drink almost constantly to keep hydrated, and will often drink thick blended drinks instead of eating meals. A solid on vacation can either be found drinking at the bar or swimming at the beach or pool.

Solid Water Elemental 3.5 Racial Statistics
Medium Humanoid [Water]
+2 Dexterity. Flowing smoothly like water comes intuitively to solids.
Speed: 30ft, Swim 40ft
Aqualine Form (ex): A solid is constantly perspiring. This provides the solid a +2 racial bonus to Escape Artist, but requires them to consume four times as much water per day as a normal human. Solids take no penalties from being in water or having the target of any skills or abilities being in the water. Solids can breathe water just as easily as air. Solids receive a -2 racial penalty in to resist heat in dry environments, a +2 racial bonus to resist heat in humid or damp environments, and no bonus or penalty in climates with nominal humidity.
+8 racial bonus to Swim checks.
Automatic Languages: Solid water elementals start speaking Common and Aquan. Solid water elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, ingan, terran, undercommon, elven.
Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass solid water elemental takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count.

Solid Water Elemental Pathfinder Racial Statistics
Medium Humanoid [Water]
+2 Dexterity, +2 Wisdom. Flowing smoothly like water comes intuitively to solids, both in body and mind.
Speed: 30ft, Swim 40ft
Aqualine Form (ex): A solid is constantly perspiring. This provides the solid a +4 racial bonus to Escape Artist, but requires them to consume four times as much water per day as a normal human. Solids take no penalties from being in water or having the target of any skills or abilities being in the water. Solids can breathe water just as easily as air. Solids receive a -2 racial penalty in to resist heat in dry environments, a +2 racial bonus to resist heat in humid or damp environments, and no bonus or penalty in climates with nominal humidity.
+8 racial bonus to Swim checks.
+1 skill point per level. The fluid minds of solids can quickly grasp new concepts and information.
Automatic Languages: Solid water elementals start speaking Common and Aquan. Embodied fire elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, ingan, terran, undercommon, elven.


A solid monk.

Liquid Water Elementals
Smooths, Wets, Drippers, Liquids

A liquid sorcerer casting a spell.

Liquids are far less common on the material plane than their solid brethren, simply because it's less hospitable, less comfortable, and they fit in less. Most are happy to remain on the Elemental Plane of Water, trading with tourists and members of the Element Guard. Those who do leave are almost always one of three types. The first is an adventurer, someone who wants to see the bizarre and exotic wonders of the Material Plane. The second is the merchant, looking to find a way to get rich and then retire back to their native plane. Finally, there are people exile for one reason or another, be it running afoul of someone powerful or committing an egregious crime. All liquids are shapechangers, but their true composition is always obvious. A liquid always looks to be made of a fluid, be it quicksilver, oil, water, blood, kool-aid, or any other liquid.

Liquid Water Elemental 3.5 Racial Traits
Medium Elemental [Water] [Shapechanger]
+2 Constitution, -4 Strength, -2 Dexterity. Liquids are durable and move with the endurance of water itself, but their liquid forms are somewhat weak.
Speed: 5ft, Swim 60ft
River Flow (ex): +4 racial bonus to Bull Rush, Trip, and Overrun, including rolls made to resist that.
Liquid Body (ex): Liquids are treated as if under the effects of a permanent Freedom of Movement spell. Liquids gain two forms of their choice. Shifting between forms can be done at will and is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The effects of a form are applied to a liquid as if the form were a template. Liquids may flow through any sized opening as if under the effects of the Gaseous Form spell. Liquids need to consume eight times as much water per day as humans.
Automatic Languages: Liquid water elementals start speaking Common and Aquan. Liquid water elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, ingan, terran, undercommon, elven.
Favored Class: Druid or Fighter. A multiclass liquid water elemental’s druid or fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Level Adjustment: +2

Liquid Water Elemental Pathfinder Racial Traits
Medium Elemental [Water] [Shapechanger]
+2 Constitution, -4 Strength, -2 Dexterity. Liquids are durable and move with the endurance of water itself, but their liquid forms are somewhat weak.
Speed: 5ft, Swim 60ft
River Flow (ex): +4 racial bonus to Bull Rush, Trip, and Overrun, including rolls, AC, and CMD made to resist that.
Liquid Body (ex): Liquids are treated as if under the effects of a permanent Freedom of Movement spell. Liquids gain two forms of their choice. Shifting between forms can be done at will and is a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. The effects of a form are applied to a liquid as if the form were a template. Liquids may flow through any sized opening as if under the effects of the Gaseous Form spell. Liquids need to consume eight times as much water per day as humans.
Automatic Languages: Liquid water elementals start speaking Common and Aquan. Liquid water elementals with a high intelligence score may pick from the following bonus languages: draconic, auran, ingan, terran, undercommon, elven.

Liquid Water Elemental Forms

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Humanoid
+2 Dexterity, -2 Constitution. The humanoid form is dexterous, but somewhat frail.
Speed: Increase base land speed to 30 ft.
Two Arms: The humanoid form has two arms with hands. These arms can be used as normal and have no special bonuses or penalties.
Two Legs: The humanoid form has two legs with feet or hooves. The legs can be used as normal and have no special bonuses or penalties.

Quadruped
+2 Strength, -2 Dexterity. The quadruped form is clumsy, but somewhat strong.
Speed: Increase base land speed to 40 ft.
No Arms: The quadruped form has no arms or hands. It cannot perform any action that requires hands and takes a penalty to all other actions as if its hands were full.
Four Legs: The quadruped form has four legs with feet or hooves. The legs can be used as normal and grant an additional +4 racial bonus for the purpose of resisting Bull Rush, Overrun, and Trip attempts. Quadrupeds have a carrying capacity 1.5 times higher than normal.

Aerial
+4 Dexterity, -2 Strength, -2 Constitution. The aerial form is quick, but weak and frail.
Speed: Gain a fly speed of 50 ft with poor maneuverability.
No Arms: The aerial form has no arms or hands. It cannot perform any action that requires hands and takes a penalty to all other actions as if its hands were full.
Two Legs: The aerial form has two legs with feet or hooves. The legs can be used as normal and have no special bonuses or penalties.Two Wings: The aerial form has two wings. The wings confer no special bonuses or penalties beyond the flight speed as above.
Dextrous Feet: By forfeiting their base land speed and any other use of their legs, the aerial form may use its legs and feet as arms and hands.

Serpentine
+2 Dexterity, +4 Strength. The serpentine form is strong and bendy.
Speed: Increase base land speed to 20ft. Gain climb speed of 20ft and a +8 racial bonus on climb checks.
No Arms: The serpentine form has no arms or hands. It cannot perform any action that requires hands and takes a penalty to all other actions as if its hands were full.
No Legs: The serpentine form has no legs or feet. It cannot perform any action that requires legs.
Long Body: The serpentine form has a long body, granting it a +4 racial bonus on all Grapple checks.

Arthropod
+2 Dexterity, -2 Strength. The arthropod form is agile but weak.
Speed: Increase base land speed to 20ft. Gain climb speed of 20ft and a +8 racial bonus on climb checks.
No Arms: The arthropod form has no arms or hands. It cannot perform any action that requires hands and takes a penalty to all other actions as if its hands were full.
Many Legs: The arthropod form has six or more legs with feet or hooves. The legs can be used as normal and grant an additional +8 racial bonus for the purpose of resisting Bull Rush, Overrun, and Trip attempts. Arthropods have a carrying capacity 2 times higher than normal.

Blob
+2 Strength, +4 Constitution, -2 Dexterity. The blob is strong and durable but slow.
Speed: Increase base land speed to 15ft.
No Arms: The blob form has no arms or hands. It cannot perform any action that requires hands and takes a penalty to all other actions as if its hands were full.
No Legs: The blob form has no legs or feet. It cannot perform any action that requires legs.
Concentrated Mass: The blob has tight form, giving it an additional +4 racial bonus to Bull Rush, Trip, and Overrun. The blob gains a +4 racial bonus on checks made to break or burst objects.

Liquid Water Elemental Feats

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Shifted Bite Attack [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability.
Benefit: When changing forms, the liquid can choose to have the form possess a bite attack. The bite is a primary natural attack that deals 1d6 piercing and slashing damage plus 1.5 times the liquid's strength modifier. A liquid can add or remove any of their natural attacks from their current form as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A liquid has no natural attacks in any of their forms.

Shifted Claw Attack [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, a form with legs and/or arms.
Benefit: When changing forms, the liquid can choose to have the form possess two claw attacks positioned on either the hands or the feet. The claws are primary natural attacks if formed on hands or secondary natural attacks if formed on feet that deals 1d4 slashing damage plus the liquid's strength modifier. A liquid can add or remove any of their natural attacks from their current form as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A liquid has no natural attacks in any of their forms.
Special: A liquid may take this feat up to three times. Each time this feat is taken, it allows the liquid to form two additional claws. A liquid can have no more than one natural weapon on a limb at one time.

Shifted Blade Attack [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, a form with arms.
Benefit: Two of the liquid's claw attacks are replaced by blades that have a base damage of 1d6 and a critical hit range of 18-20 x2. The attacks are otherwise unmodified.
Normal: A liquid has no natural attacks in any of their forms.
Special: A liquid may take this feat a number of times equal to the number of times that they took the Shifted Claw Attack feat. Each time this feat is taken, it replaces two additional claws with blades. A liquid can have no more than one natural weapon on a limb at one time.

Shifted Tail Attack [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability.
Benefit: When changing forms, the liquid can choose to have the form possess a tail attack. The bite is a primary natural attack that deals 1d6 piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage plus 1.5 times the liquid's strength modifier. A liquid can add or remove any of their natural attacks from their current form as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A liquid has no natural attacks in any of their forms.

Shifted Blunt Attack [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, a form with legs and/or arms.
Benefit: When changing forms, the liquid can choose to have the form possess two slam attacks positioned on either the hands or the feet if the form has no hands. The slams are primary natural attacks that deal deal 1d6 slashing damage plus the liquid's strength modifier. A liquid can add or remove any of their natural attacks from their current form as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Normal: A liquid has no natural attacks in any of their forms.
Special: A liquid can have no more than one natural weapon on a limb at one time.

Shifted Reach Attacks [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, BAB 3+.
Benefit: A liquid may add its base reach to its current reach with any natural or manufactured weapon. So, a medium liquid could bite people ten feet away or hit someone with a spiked chain fifteen feet away.
Normal: A liquid has normal reach for a creature its size.

Shifted Potency [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Character Level 5+.
Benefit: At the time of taking this feat, the liquid chooses one of its forms to gain the benefit of this feat. From this point on, when taking this form, one of its physical ability scores gains a +2 liquid bonus. Which score gains the bonus may be changed each time the liquid changes form. The score which gains the bonus may be changed as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Improved Shifted Potency [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Shifted Potency feat, Character Level 10+.
Benefit: This feat applies only to the form which was selected with the Shifted Potency feat. From this point on, when taking this form, one of its physical ability scores gains a +4 liquid bonus and a different one gains a +2 liquid bonus. Which scores gain these bonuses may be changed each time the liquid changes form. The scores which gain the bonuses may be changed as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Greater Shifted Potency [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Improved Shifted Potency feat, Character Level 15+.
Benefit: This feat applies only to the form which was selected with the Improved Shifted Potency feat. From this point on, when taking this form, one of its physical ability scores gains a +6 liquid bonus, a second gains a +4 liquid bonus, and a third one gains a +2 liquid bonus. Which scores gain these bonuses may be changed each time the liquid changes form. The scores which gain the bonuses may be changed as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Grand Shifted Potency [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Greater Shifted Potency feat, Character Level 20+.
Benefit: This feat applies only to the form which was selected with the Greater Shifted Potency feat. From this point on, when taking this form, one of its physical ability scores gains a +8 liquid bonus, a second gains a +6 liquid bonus, and a third one gains a +4 liquid bonus. Which scores gain these bonuses may be changed each time the liquid changes form. The scores which gain the bonuses may be changed as a swift action that doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Shifted Size [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Shifted Potency feat, Character Level 8+.
Benefit: This feat applies only to the form which was selected with the Shifted Potency feat. From this point on, when taking this form, the form's body may be one size category larger or smaller than normal. The form's size may be changed as a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a -2 size penalty to Dexterity for each size category you grow and a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a -2 size penalty to Strength for each size category you shrink.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Improved Shifted Size [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Shifted Size feat, Character Level 16+.
Benefit: This feat applies only to the form which was selected with the Shifted Size feat. From this point on, when taking this form, the form's body may be one or two size categories larger or smaller than normal. The form's size may be changed as a swift action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. You gain a +2 size bonus to Strength and a -2 size penalty to Dexterity for each size category you grow and a +2 size bonus to Dexterity and a -2 size penalty to Strength for each size category you shrink.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Shifted Durability [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, BAB 1+.
Benefit: At the time of taking this feat, the liquid chooses one of its forms to gain the benefit of this feat. From this point on, when taking this form, the liquid gains a natural armor bonus of +1, plus an additional +1 for every level divisible by 5. So, +1 at first level, +2 at fifth, and +3 at tenth, for a maximum bonus of +5 at 20th level.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Shifted Legs [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, form with legs, Character Level 3+.
Benefit: At the time of taking this feat, the liquid chooses one of its forms with legs to gain the benefit of this feat. From this point on, when taking this form, the liquid's base land speed is doubled and it gains a +10 liquid bonuses on all jumps.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

Extra Shifted Forms [Liquid]
Prerequisites: Liquid Body racial ability, Character Level 5+.
Benefit: At the time of taking this feat, the liquid chooses one form that it cannot yet assume. From this point on, the liquid may assume that form with its Liquid Body Ability.
Normal: A liquid has two forms available for shifting.
Special: This feat may be taken more than once. Each time it applies to a different form.

[waterpenguin43]

I'm changing my outlook on Ishka, and I am bringing something else: How do the Ishkan's get power?
My idea was an equivelant to our nuclear reactors, except they use fire magic to burn a combination of radioactive and electrical(magical) elements, harvesting huge amounts of electricity. To prevent the reactor from overheating, an aura of cold magic infused fog surrounds it, getting colder with the amount of generated heat. To prevent the toxic waste from damaging the surroundings, there are protals to the Negative Energy Plane where the waste is dumped.

[BRC]

I'm changing my outlook on Ishka, and I am bringing something else: How do the Ishkan's get power?
My idea was an equivelant to our nuclear reactors, except they use fire magic to burn a combination of radioactive and electrical(magical) elements, harvesting huge amounts of electricity. To prevent the reactor from overheating, an aura of cold magic infused fog surrounds it, getting colder with the amount of generated heat. To prevent the toxic waste from damaging the surroundings, there are protals to the Negative Energy Plane where the waste is dumped.

Ishka has electricity? Since when? It's a fantasy setting.
The Steamworks have steam power, and the city is lit by a massive magical engine casting Dancing Lights all over the place (The Great Lantern), but I don't think it has electricity, much less nuclear power.

[Renrik]

Though some of the ideas presented could explain where some of the steam power for the works comes from. portals to fire plane and water plane.

[50cr4t3s]

We have already covered power.
A combination of the Steamworks and magic set in place ages ago by the Academy is what provides the city power. but it doesn't extend down to the lights in your house. If you want lights in your house, buy a item of light with a command word, or just light a candle.

[BRC]

We have already covered power.
A combination of the Steamworks and magic set in place ages ago by the Academy is what provides the city power. but it doesn't extend down to the lights in your house. If you want lights in your house, buy a item of light with a command word, or just light a candle.

Or just open a window onto the street.

Also, another magical engine build by a collaboration between the Academy and the Streetbuilders.
The Great Fountain

Another finished Streetbuilder project along the lines of the Great Lantern. The Great Fountain is a magical fire suppression system. Considering the nature of the city, Fires are a constant threat, a small blaze could soon spread to cover the entire district.
Every district organizes it's own firefighters, but they all rely on the magic of the Great Fountain to function..
The great Fountain has two functions, first of all, if a Fire is reported, it begins using it's magic to try to supress and contain it. The Fountain is a very powerful engine, but considering the size of the city that it must monitor, and the rate at which fires spread, it's rarely powerful enough to actually quench all but the smallest fires, however, it is able to slow the spread of flames enough for the Firefighter's to get on scene. If a Fire is especially large, the Engine may get kicked into Overdrive, and begin targeting the area with Quench spells, but this quickly drains it's power, and if it's used too much there is a risky period during which it does not function.

Secondly, it powers specially crafted Firefighter's Armor.

Firefighter's Armor
This bulky armor is designed to protect it's wearer both from flames and from falling debris. It looks and functions much like Full Plate, with the following additional features.
The wearer gains Fire Resistance 10.
The wearer is continuously effected by the spell Expeditious Retreat.
The Armor purifies smoke into breathable air, however it does not provide a bonus against any other type of inhaled toxin or suffocation.
The armor may cast Cure Light Wounds at CL 5 four times a day (Used to stabilize dying people trapped in the fire)
The gauntlets may cast Create Water at will (CL 10), each gauntlet casts the spell individually (but both gauntlets can be activated simultaneously).

If the armor is taken outside the City (or to it's extraplanar Districts or the Sunset Isles ) it ceases to function. It also ceases to function if the Great Fountain is rendered inoperable for some reason. For this reason, access to the Core of the Great Fountain is highly restricted, defend by a group of Eternal Guards. It takes the signatures of several city councilors to activate the Quench function (Which, as has been mentioned, can quickly drain the Fountain's power).

[Silverscale]

Something that has been rattling around in my head for some time but I can't remember if it's been covered, but Ishka is roughly the size of Maryland, each district is about the size of Manhattan. I know that there is a certain amount of transportation provided by Gate spells etc, but I was thinking that this would be supplimented by something similar to Eberron's "Lightning Rail" with one or two major stops in each district connected to a series of local stops......basically a big "train/subway" system.

[kopout]

You could use permanent teleportation circles. You could have a station where there are a bunch of rooms that have teleportation circles in them and a bunch of empty rooms the empty rooms are actually the "receiving pad" for other teleportation circles from other stations. This would all be clearly marked for example one room could have "Receiving Pad: Dryrot Station, Necropolis" over the door and and another would be "Sending Pad: Dryrot Station,Necropolis". This would all have to be rather orderly with a strict schedule to prevent horrific accidents but then so dose the subway really.

[Owrtho]

Every district organizes it's own firefighters, but they all rely on the magic of the Great Fountain to function..

Or you can move to Ravenshome, where there's never a threat of an out of control fire.
Just of vanishing due to forgetting some obscure rule that makes no sense.
Owrtho

[kopout]

Why? Do the ravens take the fire if it brakes the rules? Or do you mean there is no arson( at least not more than once)?

[BRC]

Why? Do the ravens tack the fire if it brakes the rules? Or do you mean there is no arson( at least not more than once)?

I imagine that Fire simply does not happen except outside of Stoves, Fireplaces, and Lanterns, and will never spread outside them. Nobody quite knows why, and nobody feels like testing it.

[Silverscale]

You could use permanent teleportation circles. You could have a station where there are a bunch of rooms that have teleportation circles in them and a bunch of empty rooms the empty rooms are actually the "receiving pad" for other teleportation circles from other stations. This would all be clearly marked for example one room could have "Receiving Pad: Dryrot Station, Necropolis" over the door and and another would be "Sending Pad: Dryrot Station,Necropolis". This would all have to be rather orderly with a strict schedule to prevent horrific accidents but then so dose the subway really.

That would work for the wealthier Ishkans but like you said it would have to be tightly regulated to avoid mishaps. The Lightning Rail would be a less expensive form of transportation without half the logistical problems of having 3.75 Billion teleporting around.

{EDIT}Not to mention that the island of Manhatten (Not including the rest of NYC) has over 50 different subway stations. If you had "a bunch of rooms" set aside for Sending Pads and just as many set aside for Receiving Pads, you would have well over 2000 rooms......in EVERY station.

[Owrtho]

I imagine that Fire simply does not happen except outside of Stoves, Fireplaces, and Lanterns, and will never spread outside them. Nobody quite knows why, and nobody feels like testing it.

That, and also the fact that unlike most of the city, all buildings and streets in Ravenshome are made out of stone anyways (so are unlikely to burn). Any possible out of control fires likely vanish similar to any trash or the like that gets left out, and the people who start them as well (thus leaving no sign of any accident as any damage to buildings and the like in Ravenshome seems to be repaired as soon as no one is watching it). It really is a disquieting place to live. Though safe if you stick to the rules (still, I wouldn't advise raising kids there. The constant feeling of being watched and knowing one wrong move could mean your end isn't conductive to healthy development).

Owrtho

[BRC]

Concerning Transportation in Ishka.
Most Citizens live in, or near, enough to their jobs that they don't need to leave their districts on a daily basis. In terms of the size of a district, they're much smaller than Manhattan in terms of the land they take up, but they have a considerable vertical component (Remember the nature of the city, everything jammed together in layers.
Beasts of Burden do exist in Ishka, and most of them are bred and grown there, so they have no trouble working in the narrow spaces and dim tunnels. In fact, many of these animals are agoraphobic, and will panic if they can see the sky.

There are a series of standing Portals that lead throughout the city, but there is no organized system to them. They are rarely intentionally created, instead groups of spell casters stabilize and link two naturally occurring portals in the city, so setting up a portal between, say, North Commons and the Market district is as simple as waiting for a portal to open in a suitable location in one of those districts, stabilizing it (Cutting it off from it's origional source in the process), waiting for a portal to open in the other district, and linking the two. Thus Portal Maps are a confusing web, sometimes the fastest way to get to a neighboring district involves portal jumping all around the city. Primordium possesses three Omniportals, each one capable of connecting to any registered portal in the city, but they are only used for official business like deploying Gatekeepers or MI storm teams.

These portals are all owned and operated by somebody who charges what they will. Most of the portal owners belong to the Portal Consortium, citizens can buy a pass from the Consortium and use it to get through any consortium owned portal. Observers stationed at each portal keep track of how many people use passes to get through. Every month, all the money gained from selling these Passes is added up, 10% is taken off to keep the consortium running, and the rest is distributed depending on the Observer's reports (If 2% of pass uses in a given month were used for a portal between, say, the Mages District and the Steamworks, the owner of that portal would get 2% of the profits from pass sales that month). The City has a standard contract with the Consortium letting people on official business use the portals for free (Well, the council pays the consortium a considerable monthly fee).

Now I'd figured the portal system was how everybody got around, but if you want another method, let's see what we can do.

The problem with a "Lightning Rail" type system is that it means we have abunch of tracks crisscrossing the inside if Ishka. I guess we could do that, but I have a better idea.

Place: The Station
There are actually several Stations throughout Ishka, usually one in every major district, withe multiple in the Commons. However, each Station is perfectly identical in design. A large Cube, with four entrances leading to a central room that looks more like a small mall than anything. Cafes and shops line the walls while people mill about waiting. A large pillar in the middle shows the name of various districts, with the district the Station is in marked. Every five minutes a bell will ring and the doors will be shut. The people inside the station will experience a brief moment of vertigo, somebody will move the marker down the pillar, and the doors will open.

This is because, every ten minutes, the Stations switch location with one another, progressing along a path. Where station 3 was, station 4 is. The Station's are fairly cheap to use, most of the money comes from merchants who pay to operate inside the Stations where they have a captive audience of people waiting for their stop. Inside the station there is no visible change, besides the switching of the marker on the pillar. From Outside the Station appears to glow for a fraction of a second before being normal, with the only change being the number above the entrance. From five in the morning to five at night, the stations work Shiftward, meaning their rotation is such that somebody getting on in the Commons will be at the nearest Steamworks within one or two stops, to accommodate the large number of industrial workers who live in the commons and go into the Steamworks for work. At five in the afternoon, the stations switch to the Homeward rotation, reversing the direction (Station 3 now follows station 4).

Because a Station cannot be said to be within any District, the Civil Servants and MI are tasked with their security (In fact, the stop in the Primordium is right in front of MI headquarters), making them generally a bad choice for criminals fleeing hot pursuit.

[jagadaishio]

I mostly agree with BRC's analysis of the public transport system, with a few added notes. Each station would probably make one jump every half hour or so, enough time to get everyone in that needs going in. This means that each station makes 48 jumps per day, 24 in a shiftward rotation and 24 in a homeward rotation. In order for a station to end up in the same place at the same time every day (if that is how it is arranged, and I imagine it is for the benefit of the business owners and their regulars) that means that there need to be 25, 13, 7, or 4 stops along a route (the +1 to the expected values are for "Stop 0"; in order to make 24 jumps, you need 25 stops, since there is one origin point and 24 destinations), as that is the only rotation that will keep it perfectly even. The marker showing where the station is would probably be automatic rather than controlled by hand, to avoid humanoid error.

Other public transport would probably also exist. Privately owned rickshaws and steamcarts hauling people to where they need to go. I imagine that some people would use these more mundane form of transports exclusively for the same reason that some people avoid plane travel. Stations almost never have accidents, but when they do once every few years, it's bad. Sometimes it will be as simple as the spells going wrong and dropping the station into a demiplane for a few hours before it can be rescued by a powerful enough mage. Sometimes a portal opens at the site of a station just as the teleportation happens, causing an effect experts call "trans-spatial rending." Once, the Wild sabotaged the mechanism of teleportation, causing the station to manifest inside of a massive Steamworks generator, killing everyone and causing the generator to explode, destroying an entire block of factories, warehouses, and workers. Like I said, it almost never happens. Once or twice in a decade at most. But when it does? The very thought just scares some people away from the whole thing.

Many commons areas have permanent portals that you can walk through like any other door going to other commons areas. A plaza in the Commons may connect to a plaza in Mithral Heights and a plaza in the Necropolis. The problem is getting an accurate map. With an accurate map and a seasonal pass, you can plaza-hop to your location faster than any other form of travel short of casting Teleport yourself. Some rich people also get teleportation circles installed in their own homes, keeping a small garage of rooms, keyed to certain key sites that they travel to often.

There simply isn't enough free space or vehicular road traffic to make a rail system worth the maintenance.

As for the fire fighters, I am liking it. They would be an interdistrict system like MI and the Streetbuilders, right? I imagine that they would have certain overlapping precincts under their jurisdiction at the center of which would be a station house. I also imagine that members of the Fire Elemental Guard would love to be fire fighters in between deployments. Since most of the guard have natural abilities or personally own items which make them immune to or healed by fire, this would be both a heroic and easy job.

And it's true, the Steamworks have steam power and export it to some other parts of the city. I imagine that they also have gas lines, providing light and heat for a fee. Aside from that, people would certainly buy magic items for a one time fee instead of commissioning a service from others.