Let's build another setting! (Toxic Seas)

[Cluedrew]

Got it. In my experience "charismatic" usually means the friendly type of high charisma so I got confused.

To Armored Walrus: No, I have yet to see any monster stats, and because of the projects nature (system agnostic) I doubt there will ever be any official stats. However unofficial stat blocks could be added by anyone. Have a system in mind?

[Armored Walrus]

Got it. In my experience "charismatic" usually means the friendly type of high charisma so I got confused.

To Armored Walrus: No, I have yet to see any monster stats, and because of the projects nature (system agnostic) I doubt there will ever be any official stats. However unofficial stat blocks could be added by anyone. Have a system in mind?

Hmm, maybe time to start a companion thread in the homebrew forum for that. I'm using this for 5e. Just had my session 0 tonight. We've got some pretty good characters lined up and a decent concept for the initial adventure, but they are going to be going directly into the high fog areas from session 1, so I'm going to need to come up with some creepy-crawlies pretty quickly.

Edit: Done, here it is.

[Lleban]

134: The Weathermen- What happens when an elite group of retired captains, wind mages and engineers band together on balloon corp sanctioned outposts? They predict the weather of course, but in Caligoven a large part of predicting the weather involves measuring the variations in the level and gradient of the fog line. Weathermen are usually contracted out by balloon corp dock masters and local administration officials to predict he path of fog storms and rouge waves.

[Cluedrew]

Well, I decided to go through and try to collect all the references to the lethality of the fog. Why? Because of this:

Back when I added to that thread (I was the first or second reply), the poison was basically a no-go situation. Don't go there: you will die. [...] Well THESE people live here because they've acclimated to the thin stuff on top. Well THESE people have acclimated EVEN BETTER!!

That is... I don't think that it has really been treated consistently. So I decided to go through and collect all the references and then create a summery of how lethal the fog actually is. Unfortunately... I am having some problems doing it all at once so I'm going to put together the references together first (but even that might take 2+ posts) and then do the summery. If I have missed any items that you think are relevant please point them out to me. And I'm going fast, so missing even an entire item dedicated to the fog is not out of the question. In fact I can remember items I just flat out don't have...

I do however request that no one add anything about this particular part of the setting of a little bit... please?

Items collected so far:

Spoiler: 1) Setting up the fog

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1: The world is covered with a thick layer of heavy toxic gas. Islands of civilization exist on mountaintops that protrude above the toxic vapor that pools in the valleys and lowlands like a sea of thick, lime green fog. Mountain ranges are archipelagos. There is no flight magic or flying creatures larger than an albatross above the toxic vapor, due to the thinness of the air. Below the vapor, it's a different story.

Spoiler: 10 & 11) Descenders and their success.

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10:Those who are tasked to venture into the miasma are known as Descenders, and are often consulted by both scholars and townsfolk about anything they have seen. They often do not comment to anyone but those who usually employ them, as a caveat for being able to use the armour.

11: Every other generation, an expedition into the miasma is organised by a particularly wealthy or foolish settlement to chart lands far under the fog. In all of recorded history, only three expeditions have returned, and only one has succeeded in creating a map, though its credibility is debatable.

Spoiler: 19) General survivability of the fog.

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19. Although the miasma means death to anyone who is in it for long, short exposure (seconds to minutes) is not fatal. In some lands, fog-tainted water is a popular drug. Although taboo in many areas, some employ glass bottles filled with the fog as weapons (think a bottle of acid, but not acid).

Spoiler: 27) Adds holding your breath.

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27. The Wandering Stars Monastery in Cerrydwyn, like most fortress-temples of the Order of Panth, is built just off shore. It was raised brick by brick and stone by stone by Panthan brothers and sisters who trained to hold their breath long enough to carry a few blocks, a trowel, and mortarboard through the miasma to add to the foundation.[...]

Spoiler: 35) Shriekers and fog.

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35. Shriekers cannot touch the toxic fog- even though most of their food tends to float on it. The moment a shrieker even brushes a wing against it, the shrieker has minutes left before it dies. The creature breathes like an insect- taking in oxygen from its skin, so when it inhales the fog, its internal organs dissolve when the poison reaches them. Despite this, shreikers have foolishly dove toward the ships down below- and succeeded in killing thousands in spite of their weakness.

Spoiler: 43) The Silent Walkers & possible fog poisoning effects.

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42: The Silent Walkers are said to be people immune to the fog. They are tales of people walking out and back into the fog without any protection. The common feature is that they either do not speak or speak only a little with a completely calm voice. Official explanations are that this is a particular set of symptoms caused by the late stages of fog poisoning.

Spoiler: 58) Layers of fog.

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58) Deep in the fog, below the first transition to deep fog are several more distinct strata, separated by pressure, density, and temperature. The three layers known to people are the above fog zone, the thickening fog (the last mile or so where the fog is marginally less poisonous, murkers abound in their peaceful state, and for at least the last mile there are some people capable of living in the fog, albeit very, very few beyond the first few hundred feet), and the true fog. There is a fourth in the form of the first fog sea, much denser than the third, and a fifth in the form of the second fog sea, much denser than the fourth. Both of these have predators that emerge from the depths to prey on lower density floaters above them, and it is the movement of these predators that often drives murkers to the surface).

Spoiler: 59) Rising Rain and fog waves.

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59) There is a phenomenon known as the rising rains. Deep strata fog sometimes coalesces into pockets of higher temperature and lower density gas, and eventually these gases start rapidly rising upwards, eventually dissipating higher in the fog. On the surface looking down they look like rising rain. It is not uncommon for this dissipation to be close enough to the surface to cause a high wave of fog that decimates low lying villages; the effect on the hidden fog cities is even worse. Cycles like this happen between multiple strata, but it is only the first fog sea to thickening fog rainrise that gets noticed, and even then only where it rises out of the true fog.

Spoiler: 76) Finding food below the fog line.

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76. Food shortages can lead to desperation, and the seas are full of edible organisms. Fog divers go into the fog for minutes at a time, holding their breath while either gathering or hunting with harpoons before leaving the fog to pull their prey up. It's a more dangerous line of work than raiding, and tends to only crop up in isolated areas. It's also often only a stop gap technique, buying time for population to grow until even this isn't enough.

Spoiler: 77 & 78) Building on islands "below" the fog line.

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77. There are a few islands which rise out of the fog extremely shallowly. These are usually rocky mesas largely unsuitable for habitation, but a few islands have colonized them with forts that are basically living quarters plus a ring of nasty fortifications. These are known as Harvest Forts, and they are occupied by military forces that deliberately provoke murker attacks by having their wind mages blow the fog away. Then the murkers are killed en mass, preserved, and traded with the islands. Some of the older islands are entirely dependent on the murkharvest, and even a small disruption to the supply chain can be catastrophic.

78. Other islands are at exactly the elevation needed to be under the high fogline and above the low fogline. Several of these have been turned into stilt cities, with fog resistant farms that are tended at low fog and houses on stilts above them. These tend to be younger islands, settled only when better land was depleted.

Spoiler: 97 & 98) The King under the fog.

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97. There exists, deep below the fog line, a king. An ancient being, only alive through powerful magic. Some say he is the leader of the Breathless, some say the Breathless were an attempt to copy him, and still others say they don't even know of each others existence.

98. Whatever the case, they are different. The Breathless all came, at one point, from the islands above the fog line. They are still tied to that world, their magic still changed by the fog. But this king was a king since before the fog. He knows of a time where magic still reigned free. And his power is tied to that world, his magic comes from the primeval earth itself and he is capable of weilding magic the likes of which were only known in ancient times. This comes from his rather, unique, means of attaining immortality.

[Zorku]

I think their issue was with the Al-jho(49). Their lifestyle seems heavily dependent on the balloons, and the text indicates that most of them are independent of Balloon Corp.

Ah crud, I had forgotten about those.

I can almost justify it by saying that the rafts aren't really sea worth trade vessels, but I think this probably deserves some other entry that better integrates the nomads into balloon corp.

Well, I decided to go through and try to collect all the references to the lethality of the fog.

This set doesn't seem to have anything to do with fog lethality. I guess you might picture people running out in the wind currents, but since the murkers turn aggro when they're out of the fog you'd expect them to scuttle right up to the fortifications. I guess with 78 it's saying that the potatoes or w/e aren't killed by the fog...

[Knaight]

77 and 78 both describe cases where people stay completely out of the fog. What is fog relevant and isn't on there is the Strongbreath Monks, who explicitly breath in air in the thinnest parts of the thickening fog, and who can only reach as deep as they do through what is basically multigenerational breathing.

[Cluedrew]

I remembered the Strongbreath monks, actually the fact I realized that I didn't have anything about them is the reason I asked for references. (It took me about four scans to find that... mostly because they are #31 and I already quoted that post for #30.) Over all I am erring on the side of inclusion. If it could be relevant I try to collect it, then I will sort through it for details later.

That being said thank you for the clarification on #77. That one had me a bit confused. It sounded like they were camping below the fog line.

Spoiler: 9) Descender Suits

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9. The greatest priests and scholars of the Grayhair Peaks have devised a suit of magical armor that allows its wearer to see and breath in the miasma. Such suits are rare and highly expensive, and most often used to recover trade goods after a balloon goes down within sight of a mountaintop settlement. If there really are ancient secrets hidden in the miasma, an adventurer would need such a suit to find them.

Spoiler: 30) Communities Below the Fog Line

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30) While the fog gets extremely thick well below the fog line, the line is a gradual transition for about a mile. There are a few small and hidden communities just below the fog line, and the people in them have adapted to low concentrations of the fog. There are even fewer and rarer communities down just a bit further, and only natives of the hidden communities who grew up in the fog even have a chance of adapatation - and even then, it's slim.

Spoiler: 31) Strongbreath Monks

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31) These communities take a few different forms, but most are either criminal organizations or ethnic enclaves avoiding cities where their best option would be ghettos. A noticeable exception is the Strongbreath Monks, who operate a monastery and view resistance to the fog as evidence of favor of the gods. Their monastery has three tiers, each lower into the fog than the last, and in the third tier only the most holy monks who have been part of the monastery for generations live. These monks are not celibate, representing a schism from their wider church.

Spoiler: 32) Science of the Fog

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32)the clouds are a mix of phosgene, nitrogen dioxide and chlorine dioxide. phosgene was one of the gases used in the first world war. it's transparent and smells of freshly cut grass. nitrogen dioxide is a reddish brown gas with an acrid smell. it is a liquid below 70F. chlorine dioxide is a yellow-green gas that is mildly corrosive.

all of these gases are heavier than air. the mix is very uneven. during winter, most of the nitrogen dioxide pools out, so the clouds change color to cyan. phosgene - the really toxic one, is heaviest and lowest down. chlorine dioxide is highly reactive (its used for bleaching paper) in an oxygen rich environment and tends to spend itself, thus during summer, the upper layers are survivable

Spoiler: 91) Silver Ghouls and their Failure

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91. Before the Great crisis Paragus Carber, disgraced alchemist of the Carber clan researched a method to render humanoids immune to the effects of fog. Unfortunately there were side effects, the prisoners, homeless,and other undesirables developed a condition where their skin began to take on the properties quick silver. Capable of following orders, generally docile the project was seen as a success. However, while they were able to survive in the fog almost indefinitely, each subsequent exposure to the mist made subject more blood thirsty and more mindless. After 1000 "silver ghouls" destroyed a large town Paragus was captured, and summarily executed by way of angry caprea.

Spoiler: 111) Fog Decay

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111). Fog Decay- Among the descender's there are few things that can prematurely an otherwise promising career. Fog Decay is a disease that slowly eats the victims respiratory and circulatory systems causing death from massive organ failure in between 3-8 days. Fog decay is occurs most often in descender who investigate extremely dusty/sandy areas beneath the fog allowing flesh eating bacteria to climb through the filters of the standard diving suit. Fortunately even in the most hostile areas fog decay is a relatively rare, if not infamous occurrence.

Spoiler: 118) Emergency Fog-Masks

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118.) Emergency Fog-Masks
A standard item on the wealthiest of Balloon Corp vessels and a luxury practically everywhere else, these masks are expensive pieces of enchanted cloth that can last from a day to an hour depending on the thickness of the fog. The fog will still irritate the skin a little, but at the very least it gives the crews a chance to repair tears in the bag, fix a broken Carber engine, or evacuate for higher ground.

Spoiler: 119) Fogborn

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119.) Fogborn
Often looked down upon as bastards and abominations, fogborn arise in the communities that spend a significant portion of their lives beneath the fog. Despite being sickly and feeble, they possess a heightened tolerance to the dangerous environment below. Fogborn are easily identified by their shortness of breath and strangely colored skin markings.

Spoiler: 120) Luxury Fog-Masks

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120) Particularly wealth passengers of the Balloon Corp. will use light fog-masks. Although these will not ward off thicker fog it thins out the wisps of fog that rise above the main fog-line. These wisps are not dangerous but they can cause nausea and dizziness. Most sailors and others who live near the fog line have acclimatized to it, the less wealthy just put up with it. It's not actually that bad.

These next two (well four) are probably relevant but sort of confusing. Mainly because they seem to imply a lot about activities under the fog but don't directly talk about it. Any thoughts on what if any should be taken from them?

Spoiler: 56b & 56c) The axtarış

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The axtarış

The axtarış (Searchers in Azerbaijani, thanks google translate for helping with names!) are a loosely organized at the top, but extremely structured at the bottom order of mostly monks, but also some more devoted spellcasters, who use venturing down into the fog and staying for as long as possible, completely unprotected (Yes, naked. In some orders. Ok, most. Don't try to follow them though, you'll probably die.). It is not entirely known what they are looking for in the fog, because most of the groups have their own slightly different ideas. Some of them believe that entering the fog is a test of willpower and inner strength, whereas other groups, whose membership often overlaps with the unmakers, are actually searching for a way to remove the fog. The deeper into the fog that the monks can go, and the longer they can stay, the higher rank they are. Some high-rank axtarış will occasionally decide to become 'Free", and will detach themselves from their monastery and travel the world. The axtarış are not entirely pacifistic, but instead teach to restrain yourself, until you need to whup some ass. None of the training is actually said to be combat training, but it sure as hell is applicable. The axtarış have many links to the strongbreath monks, but the more fanatical members of the axtarış think that the strongbreaths are cowards for not going lower, and the more fanatical strongbreaths think that the axtarış have brain damage from the fog. The strongbreaths and the axtarış were once a single organization, but a divisive schism over philosophy spilt the groups in two. (Compare relations to medieval catholic and Orthodox, but with dudes trying to hike down mountians in poison air.)

The Chronicle of the axtarış
This is a literary epic describing the feats and adventures of axtarış. The characters of the epics are semi-mythical, because the epic is mostly passed down via song. It is a rare bard that can recite the entire epic, and a terribly boring one at that. The epic was written by a bard from a town around a axtarış temple, so he decided to write down the stories that he heard. The bard eventually decided to try and write down the stories from all of the axtarış settlements, and did a impressive job. It is rumored that he has gained rear-immortality and travels to continue to chronicle the stories by hiding in towns around temples. The vast majority of the stories in the epic that people actually like to listen too while drunk are about free axtarış, really there are only two that the average peasant finds interesting is. One about a axtarış walking under the fog to snown while wearing nothing but a smock. Unsuprisingly the story is greatly exaggerated, and the second describes 400 axtarış marching to that aid of a nearby temple village that would soon be under attack beneath the fog. Both stories are exaggerated but do have their origins in reality

Spoiler: 62 & 63) I'm not sure what this is but it seems relvant.

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62.) Although marshes would have normally been rather rare in the middle strata of fog, the climate in any given strata shifts more dramatically and suddenly than in the strata above it. In the third strata temperature shifts are abrupt enough to create an inversion effect (real life example: the Salt Lake valley in Utah during the Winter,) that keeps relatively warm air trapped below a specific elevation.

63.) Nobody really knows how the smoggler worms find these areas, but their activity, or perhaps that of some even more elusive creature, gradually expands the warm pits into much deeper and more far reaching depressions in the terrain. Considering the chaotic shifts in climate, these suffer from the same weakness as the growing caverns beneath most cities, but a single open pocket doesn't so easily doom the entire biome. The swamps are cloistered by sheer cliffs that extend back up to the point of inversion. The few scholars that even suspect the artificial nature of these swamps think that they are simply excavated this way as a safety mechanism, but as demand for smoggler based products has increased tales have started to circulate that walls sabotaged by poachers, somehow manage to repair themselves.

Also, it looks like we might have to do something similar about city structure. Or maybe not. I have them quote for some reason anyways.

Spoiler: 13) City Structure

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13. Since all cities sit upon mountain tops, the bulk of the cities are actually carved into airtight shafts running down from the mountain top. The dwarves hold special privileges in most cities due to the fact that they are the only ones who can expand the city and do any of the most basic repairs upon the buildings. Cities are arranged in layers with the poorest living at the top and bottom of the shaft either having the thinnest air or the least amount of natural light, while the wealthy live in the layers that have the best of both worlds, and the middle class somewhere in between the two.

Spoiler: 14) Limit of City Expantion

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14. Below some of these cities are vast caverns that lie below the Fog Line, and are used to cultivate edible subterranean plants. However, this is a risky pursuit, as an untimely rockfall miles away can open up a shaft below the Fog Line, through which the deadly miasma will flood the cave complex. This risk is one factor in why no cities extend below the Fog Line even underground.

On a different note: Have we given up on the wiki?

[Knaight]

On a different note: Have we given up on the wiki?

It's moving slowly, but I wouldn't write it off just yet.

[Sybracus]

Expanded the Balloon Corp page, Started the Shadow Moth page, and sprinkled around a few things into the lists that were missed or had been added since.

[Cluedrew]

OK, I don't even think I have to add anything new to make this work, so lets get this summery going:

So the most important feature we have to discuss is the fog line. (30) It is the divide between the clean air and the toxic fog. The fog line is actually a region that can vary in width, up to a mile in some regions. However both the top and bottom can vary between areas and with wind currents. (~some early items about trade) Balloon Corp. vessels move along the top of the fog line and almost all civilization exists above it. (14)

A normal person can survive for a while in this region. (19) We are probably looking close to an hour near the very top and no more than a few breaths near the very bottom. Fog above the line is usually too thin and short lasting to be a threat. (120) A notable exception are fog waves. (~60) Below the fog line is getting into "instantly lethal", or close enough it doesn't matter, territory. Despite that some people have adapted to live below the fog line, although this (I think) has some long term health problems. (30) The deepest people have acclimatised is probably less than 1.5 fog lines (here measuring fog density which probably approximates depth).

Besides adaptation there are a few main ways to survive in and below the fog line. The descenders' suits allow for the furtherest reach of any of these but have to be specially made. (9) Fog-masks also work, but are expensive and last for a day at most, possibly not including the night. (118) Some very unusual people can survive below the fog. Fogborn don't seem to feel the full effects and mark the most "acclimatised" group of people. (119) Silver-ghouls, while not immune to the fog experience different effects which can make them seem immune for a time. (91)

And that's what I got. It was actually a bit more than I thought (because I forgot that the fog line was the first fog region) but still, we are looking at ~1.5 miles or ~2 kilometers into fog in the best cases.

[Knaight]

The fog line is the barrier between the uppermost region of the fog and clean air, the region itself is called the Thickening Fog. That terminology has been used consistently, which prevents things from working. Once out of the thickening fog things are much, much less defined - nobody has been defined as being in there, the thickening fog has been defined as about a mile deep, and only the top tens of feet have people in them with the exception of some real edge cases.

[Cluedrew]

That is exactly how I thought it worked, until I read your item 30. Now I may be misreading that and either way its your item so you have more power to change it then I do. Actually you seem to have posted about half the stuff that is directly about the fog.

Anyways if we do change it I think a bunch of things will move up significantly, with the limit of adaptation being at or above the end of the thickening fog.

Also I think there is some stuff about layers of fog below the thickening fog. I think it only effected the amount of visibility descenders had (you are dead outside the suit either way). I'll have to look again some time.

[Lleban]

135: Balloon corp does not treat competition lightly, be it blockading the Imtarayan capital for three weeks to stamp out a rival, hiring mercenaries and privateers to harass trade routes,or eliminating an entire culture, any action to preserve their hard earned hegemony will be considered. Naturally this has placed them in conflict with the Al-jho. Over the years the balloon corp policy in dealing with the AL-jho often varried from director to director and varies between assimilation and extermination. Assimilation policies involve "hiring" on Al-jho as body gaurds,navigators and wind mages in return for the right to use balloon corp ships. However, this usually at the cost of being forbidden from using the Al-jho language, wearing the traditional robes, and passing down the knowledge of Al- jho rafts. Many assimilated Al-jho identify as Solistae and speak a hybridized pidgin tongue of lower Imtarayan.

Some in Balloon corp prefer a less begin approach to dealing with the Al-jho. As many of Balloon corps older rivals have designs based the Al-jho raft, the people who use them are seen as a threat dissolve rather than savages to educate. This includes polices of shooting un registered Al-jho ships on, pressuring city states to outlaw the use of the Al-jho tounge, and limiting the mobility of these nomads by limiting which cities they can safely dock at. As the Al-jho are nomads, few are willing to protest balloon corp practices, with the exception of Neo Oroseros and Cnaedhdonwai.

So how well does this solve the issue feedback would be nice ?

Also what tech level do you guys see this world as...I always thought around 1600's.

[Knaight]

That is exactly how I thought it worked, until I read your item 30. Now I may be misreading that and either way its your item so you have more power to change it then I do. Actually you seem to have posted about half the stuff that is directly about the fog.

Anyways if we do change it I think a bunch of things will move up significantly, with the limit of adaptation being at or above the end of the thickening fog.

Also I think there is some stuff about layers of fog below the thickening fog. I think it only effected the amount of visibility descenders had (you are dead outside the suit either way). I'll have to look again some time.

About half sounds about right - the lack of detail was getting to me, so I threw in a few pieces. There are also absolutely layers - and once through the thickening fog it turns into a series of progressively denser seas, and density is very much not a good thing here. How those affect descender suits was never established, but I don't think descender suits work for miles down anyways.

[Cluedrew]

So how well does this solve the issue feedback would be nice ?

Well I'm not entirely sure what the issue is... so it could either help or make it worse depending. Feedback: "blockade?" There are no ship to ship weapons, the balloon corp. is the only organization that can move via ship, no one else can it was declared in item.. 2 & 3? (I my opinion the Al-jho are non-cannon because they flat out contradict that.) The only rivals of the Balloon Corp. has are the Agrarians and local traders, both of whom would be unhindered by the blockade and would be strengthened by the Balloon Corp. stopping trade.

Of course I'm biased... I feel the Balloon Corp. has been turned from a powerful group of traders to the evil empire and I don't like that.

Also what tech level do you guys see this world as...I always thought around 1600's.

I hadn't really thought about that. Personally I think they would probably appear to be more primitive than they actually are because of the lack of opportunity to use it. For instance no mills because you have no rivers, not a lot of metal working because all the ore has already be made into something and so on.

To Knaight: I think the range on descender suits where supposed to be extensive, but I don't think anything has been said exactly.

[DuctTapeKatar]

136) The Carbers didn't know how to keep it in their pants

The Carber family wasn't that large of one- although they did have branches into other important regal families across the Toxic Seas, the main family (the one which inherited the Balloon Corp. legacy) wasn't that large, officially. However, once put into account that the Tradgedy of the Carbers included every bastard child, distant cousin and practically anyone who could claim stake at the inheritance, the butchering of the Carbers was a complete massacre.

The fact is, the Carber family wasn't that good at keeping their bloodline to themselves- every Carber has at least once found their way into a brothel, and there were those who brought their affairs into several other noble houses. Several times the Carbers even made their perverted way into the elvish nation of Cinaedhdonwei (not that they complained afterward). Add this to the times which they have seduced just about every single sentient race imaginable, and it becomes amazing that they weren't wiped off the face of the earth several times before their fall. This, however, along with the fact that almost anyone who could stake any claim, no matter how flimsy the argument, was killed off along with the main and branching families, only adds to how widespread their deaths were.

137)Balloon Corp. Law- 78535, Inheritance

To ensure that a tragedy akin to the Carbers couldn't ever occur, Law- 78535 states that "the titles, permissions allowed by titles, and property and licences given by the Balloon Corp. are not to be passed down by familial lines." thus making it so that once family is unable to take control over the entire corporation and sustain their sovereignty. Before this law was established, it has been common for captains to pass down their ships and crew to their next of kin, and lords were able to use the same trade agreements for generations before they had to be renewed. Nowadays, the families apply multiple members to heighten the chance of one of their kin gaining power within the Balloon Corp.

This law was made on the pretense that the Carber line was slain to remove them from power. However, many other theories claim other reasons for their deaths. A couple cities once governed by Carber lords have restricted the use of magic, believing that the Carbers were involved with arcane rituals that led to their demise.

[JoshuaZ]

138) The Phantom Tower.

Legends about the Phantom Tower or variants thereof show up in apparently almost every culture with regular Balloon travel. The exact details vary, but the basic story is always the same: A lost Balloon finds an unknown settlement on a mountain peak just barely above the Fog. The settlement has a strange tower at the center, towering above the rest of the settlement, making one wonder how they did not see the tower itself from farther off. The grateful crew docks and resupplies. What happens next depends on the story. In most stories the the crew rests the night there, to wake up to find the settlement an abandoned ruin. In others, they wake up to find it completely empty but with everything intact. In other stories, the settlement remains normal until the ship leaves where the settlement then swiftly fades out of a view. In all the stories, once one has left the settlement, attempts to find it again are unsuccessful. Whether the stories are true are not is not certain, and what if anything is in the mysterious tower is a subject of speculation.

[Zorku]

About half sounds about right - the lack of detail was getting to me, so I threw in a few pieces. There are also absolutely layers - and once through the thickening fog it turns into a series of progressively denser seas, and density is very much not a good thing here. How those affect descender suits was never established, but I don't think descender suits work for miles down anyways.

I think the suits were meant to work all the way down, since some trips made it to the coastline.

The trouble would be more that you have to deal with devastating forces when you merely take relatively shallow trips from one island to another (since only three expeditions have ever returned, I presume that they set more modest goals right down to the literal least you could do. A day or two of travel doesn't so much count as an expedition, so any city state that can afford these suits probably has an alright lay of the land for the particular mountains they are on, but they can't make it all the way along medium-large ranges, much less from one to another.


I picked up the impression that the fog strata were roughly equal slices of the total elevation we're working with, but I'm a bit concerned because with Earth measurements, five miles means you're only working with the peak of Everest. This makes the thickening fog into a really big portion of that whole mountainous area, and the strata below it just about makes the place contiguous until you hit plains. Looking at the Rocky Mountains it's a similar story with the thickening fog composing almost half of each state that the range cuts through. The Appalachian mountains are basically all thickening fog, and the Andes closely resemble the Himalayas (in terms of area, rather than overall shape.) A peek at the Mediterranean Sea doesn't really show anything more than 2 miles above sea level, though I presume that's the best model for how far apart we expect things to be.

I do not think that the various authors intended to open up this much land, even if only to a bunch of people of poor health.

Btw, I'm eyeballing this with http://en-us.topographic-map.com/

This setting isn't Earth, but at least a few people seemed to want the mountains to have normal-geology shapes to them, so we can stretch the limits some, but there's never really a nice string of mountains with similar enough peaks that drop even half a mile before you're climbing up the next slope.


If we're ok with saying that this was more like 1 mostly-horizontal mile, measured on foot, where the slope of the mountain is tame enough to actually walk in such a manner, then you get the kind of "it's down the slope a bit from real society, but still clearly on the same mountain peak" concept I think most people were going for. With that interpretation this issue evaporates, and the true fog strata are on the order of half a mile thick.

e: Notably this interpretation would mean between ten minutes to half an hour of fog exposure (based on whatever pace you thought was safest in the thickening fog,) to reach these settlements. With the decent availability of emergency fog masks, any outcast settlement with enemies in high places (or simply, the broader enemy governments that drove them out,) would need to locate themselves away from the common paths of approaching ships and probably around some difficult terrain, lest the local guard send a few recruits to do some low risk sweeps, then pay the balloon corp to drop anchor right in the middle of the shantytown and start pouring explosives over the deck. More likely the outcasts would have found caves, and almost devote more effort to not attracting attention than to more standard survival concerns.

[Sybracus]

139.) Ankyrite.

Found along the caustic pools deep below the fog, Ankyrite is a rare mineral sought after by descenders. Even a few pebbles of the stuff can allow one to safely retire. It is a remarkably tough material when refined and has many bizarre properties, absorbing fog when chilled, releasing it when heated, repelling it when vibrated, and floating in it when electrified. Only a few kilograms of the stuff has been recovered, and most of it is in the possesion of Mosanimt the XVII.

140.) Al-jho Stereotypes

Many Al-jho willingly abandoned their heritage, and there are many that covertly maintain their culture and religion within the Balloon Corp. They are afraid of being associated with the highly criminal aspects of their society. Many Al-jho outside of the Balloon Corp are ruthless criminals, smuggling fog-water for Baron Noveliss, raiding settlements and attacking Balloon Corp vessels, even killing other Al-jho. To an outsider unfamiliar with them, traditional Al-jho values practically encourage and condone these actions, and in some less extreme cases, they do. Many of them find it easier to hide the truth than to explain how their values makes sense, and how criminal Al-jho aren't actually following their values.

[Sybracus]

I think the suits were meant to work all the way down, since some trips made it to the coastline.

The trouble would be more that you have to deal with devastating forces when you merely take relatively shallow trips from one island to another (since only three expeditions have ever returned, I presume that they set more modest goals right down to the literal least you could do. A day or two of travel doesn't so much count as an expedition, so any city state that can afford these suits probably has an alright lay of the land for the particular mountains they are on, but they can't make it all the way along medium-large ranges, much less from one to another.

*snip*

I believe the expeditions you're referring to were to chart the world deep below the fog, not just their own mountains. Descenders are probably more numerous and go around their own mountains more often, because a.) there were probably more than three balloon crashes in the last 2000+ years, b.) their primary job seems to be recovering cargo, and c.) they may even have a guild (I'll add the reference number if I find it)

Edit:Apologies, I think I misread your post.

[Armored Walrus]

A day or two of travel doesn't so much count as an expedition,

Except that descenders are performing the equivalent of deep-sea diving combined with mountain climbing in order to retrieve cargo/investigate. I don't think any expeditions actually got very far, nor do I think they would have had to get very far in order to be considered an "expedition."

[DuctTapeKatar]

Except that descenders are performing the equivalent of deep-sea diving combined with mountain climbing in order to retrieve cargo/investigate. I don't think any expeditions actually got very far, nor do I think they would have had to get very far in order to be considered an "expedition."

What's kinda terrifying is the idea of sinking on one of the Balloon ships. It's bad enough if you crash at the bottom of the mist- at some points, like rifts and valleys, it could be so deep, that you die from poison before you hit the ground.

Real quick question: If the descenders travel for days on end in their special suits, how do they eat without getting our of their suits?

[Sybracus]

What's kinda terrifying is the idea of sinking on one of the Balloon ships. It's bad enough if you crash at the bottom of the mist- at some points, like rifts and valleys, it could be so deep, that you die from poison before you hit the ground.

Real quick question: If the descenders travel for days on end in their special suits, how do they eat without getting our of their suits?

The first part is sort of covered with 118.

As for the second part, maybe they eat as much as they can beforehand, and just go without for several days. Or they could endure the pain of the fog burning their skin, while they hold their breath to eat and drink. Or the suits could have tubes full of food paste and water. I'm partial to the first, but it would be impractical for extensive journeys and the others have more interesting implications.

[Lleban]

Well I'm not entirely sure what the issue is... so it could either help or make it worse depending. Feedback: "blockade?" There are no ship to ship weapons, the balloon corp. is the only organization that can move via ship, no one else can it was declared in item.. 2 & 3? (I my opinion the Al-jho are non-cannon because they flat out contradict that.) The only rivals of the Balloon Corp. has are the Agrarians and local traders, both of whom would be unhindered by the blockade and would be strengthened by the Balloon Corp. stopping trade.

Of course I'm biased... I feel the Balloon Corp. has been turned from a powerful group of traders to the evil empire and I don't like that.

My bad the issue i was referring to was reconciling them with rule 3. When I wrote that, the assumption I had in mind was that most of the Al-jho had either joined balloon corps ranks (becoming Solistae) or ended their ways leaving a couple thousand stalwarts roaming about. Most of the events I mentioned took place pre Balloon corp's monopoly on flight.

Also I see your point on blockading but at the same time having a monopoly on the fastest/ safest means of transporting bulk goods means they'd have a lot of commercial leverage, so unless most cities are self sufficient a blockade will probably have an affect on larger cities as they'd have a greater dependence on trade.

....hmm I Kinda like the food paste idea

[Zorku]

I believe the expeditions you're referring to were to chart the world deep below the fog, not just their own mountains. Descenders are probably more numerous and go around their own mountains more often, because a.) there were probably more than three balloon crashes in the last 2000+ years, b.) their primary job seems to be recovering cargo, and c.) they may even have a guild (I'll add the reference number if I find it)

It sounds like you're offering a correction, but I don't see how this conflicts with what I described.

Except that descenders are performing the equivalent of deep-sea diving combined with mountain climbing in order to retrieve cargo/investigate. I don't think any expeditions actually got very far, nor do I think they would have had to get very far in order to be considered an "expedition."

From 56: "Galmna set off with a hundred men and supplies to last a hundred days."
A day or two down the mountainside is probably still not an expedition, and by my very rough estimate, you'd be looking at around a 100 mile trip to get from one mountain range to the next.

Anyway, I've got sort of the preliminary version of my world map sketched out. Now I just need to work on making it presentable, useful, and eventually a parchment & cartoonish landmarks sort of map for showing to players. A pretty big portion of the islands are part of the same mountain body, but I've abused the shape of it just a bit to be more visually interesting.

[pupaeted]

141. The Kingdom of Imtaraya once possessed a close neighbour - a single peak only a few miles off the Imtarayan coast, into which was built the city of Sanaraya, known colloquially as Sana. Sana was a semi-independant client state of Imtaraya, rich in trade and something of a cultural hub.

Eighty years ago the seemingly random shifting topology of the fog began to encroach on Sana; a sea-swell that began to engulf the city, while sparing the nearby Imtarayan lands. Sana was home to many dwarven and gnomish artisans at the time, and with nowhere to evacuate to, and with only months before the rising fog began spilling into the vertical shaft of the city, the Sanarayan engineers erected a stone plug at the surface of their colony. It was an air-tight barrier sufficient to keep the fog out, but only by entombing the city, cutting it off from light, rain, and the world.

A small delegation of descenders still arrive in Imtaraya from the drowned city of Sana every four years or so, to exchange news and renew political ties, but the fog swell shows no sign of sinking back down, and every Sanarayan delegation seems stranger than the last. More sickly in appearance, and more paranoid. More deviant and disturbed. They speak little of the situation inside their entombed city, only smiling fiercely and assuring that all is well.

Spoiler

Show

All is not well.

142. On their last visit, the Sanarayan delegation mentioned the discovery of an expansive new chamber beneath their mountain, the exploitation of which would dramatically improve living conditions for the city. They desperately need the additional space, but after a long decline, they lack the skills and equipment to properly explore it. The delegation humbly (and reluctantly) requested a well-equipped survey team be sent back with them, using descent suits which they will provide.

[DuctTapeKatar]

143) Sharkeshia, the Woven Isle (Think Pandora from Avatar, just stretchier and twistier, and much, much taller)

Due southeast of Imtaraya is Sharkeshia- a collection of large interwoven pillars of marble-white stone stretching into the air seemingly defiant of gravity. These seastacks are covered with thick jungle, hosting a collection of plants and animals seen only on the Sharkeshian knots. Gigantic birds and vicious reptiles stalk through the forest while large carnivorus herbs and plants wait for them to walk into their traps.

Access is difficult- one has to enter into the spaces between the castle-thick columns in order to find proper mooring on the Balloon Corp's colony of Maefalla, located in the center of Sharkeshia's twisted core. Maefalla isn't well maintained- any hope of the Balloon Ship of ever being set out has been snuffed out as the Balloon Corp's interest began to sway elsewhere. Maefalla was scrapped, being torn down and incorporated into the small village which was built into the stone, leaving only the Carber Engine on display as in memorial to its days in the open. Trade has been slow, but the Maefallan colony has survived, and the monthly supply ship has ensured that they were not forgotten, if not completely abandoned. Maefalls's population is small, but has held out for quite a while, with several families budding into life.

Small expeditions spread outward from the tiny sanctuary, finding the jungle inhabiting places where the sun gleams through the knotted domain as well as the outside of the spire. The soils on the island is rich, filled with minerals that are yearned for by the outside, but the jungle impedes farming and collection of samples. The stone is easy to mine, large pockets of clean air are dotted throughout the surface, even when they are below the fog line. The jungles also seem to be able to survive the toxic gases, as misted treetops poke out of the fog in some areas, though Descenders have been reluctant to delve too far into the jungle's surface.

The colonists have also discovered Sharkeshian Harpy tribes, able to fly through the empty space between the twisting stone and jungle. Maefalla has attempted to create ties to the harpies, but the tribes seem to have mixed feelings about the "handy-ones." They seem more comfortable to harvest the fruits than exploring outside of their domain (many of the tribes fear the open air- yearly shrieker swarms pass by Sharkesia, forcing them into the knotted innards of their territories for months on end in fear of being torn apart mid-air).

[JoshuaZ]

144) The Soul Seekers

The Soul Seekers are a religious group (some would say cult) who believe that with proper meditation, rituals and consumption of fog-water, they can talk to departed loved ones. Due to their use of fog-water, they are a persecuted group and banned in many areas. Whether they actually are in contact with the souls of the dead is uncertain. While most people think that the Soul Seekers are simply deluded, some people allege that they use the fog-water to brainwash people into following the cult. A small number of mages have quietly become concerned that the Seekers may in fact have inadvertently come into contact with something, a something that is malevolent and ancient beyond reckoning. Rumors that the cult has become popular within the Imtaraya nobility are probably just propaganda by anti-Imperial forces.

[Sybracus]

145.) Cloud Mantas, and Fog Skates
Strange ray-like creatures glide on fleshy wings through the dense air below the fog line. Despite resembling rays, they are probably more closely related to frogs and salamanders. Some skim along the bottom, vacuuming up scum and detritus, while others soar and feed upon airborne plankton. The mechanism by which they stay afloat remains a mystery, and they can reach sizes that can challenge the physical limits of flight. Some of the manta varieties are prone to breaching above the fog line and swirling around balloon vessels for unknown reasons. It is theorized that they are fleeing from some larger, unseen predator and using the ship as a form of shelter. Their flesh is light and tender, with very weak concentrations of accumulated toxins, so they can make for decent eating, provided one can catch one first.

46.) Emberwood Mangroves
In the tropics, there are forests of trees seemingly stripped of leaves below the fog. The bark has a charred color and texture, and to any casual observer, the trees appear dead. However, the forests continue to grow into the sky on stilted roots. Many balloon craft have been snared by the upper branches, puncturing or entangling the balloon. In places where the tropical miasma storms are infrequent or severely weakened, the trunks and branches reach above the fog, growing flamboyant red foliage, flowers, and fruit that glow in the night. An elvish people has settled in the upper branches of these forests, subsisting primarily on the migrating cloud manta shoals and the exotic fruit.

[Catullus]

146)

Rumor has it that there is a place in which the fog is thick enough to support a city on its own, without any mountains beneath it.