"I am a petty god at the moment."

"You will find me more lordly and benign when I achieve the position of a greater god."

Those are the words of the immortal sorcerer, Prince Shool. Today I noticed that the phrase "petty god" was used in Michael Moorcock's first Corum novel, The Knight of the Swords. The term is deployed in both senses of the term, designating both a lesser god and a god with a propensity for pettiness. The novel is filled with petty gods in fact: Pilproth, the Gorged God; inadvertent organ donor deities, Kwll and Rhynn; and the sad deity who accompanies Serwde, the Brown Man of Laahr; perhaps the Dog and the Bear as well.

There's also just a suggestion of an association between giants and gods, which reminds me of another blogger's recent question of why there wasn't more interest in giants as a monster type...

Over the last week, petty gods have come up in a couple of other ways too. At last weekend's Fate of Tekumel game at Con of the North, I had a chance to use the Tzitzimine Star Demons minions and the non-canonical Eyes that I wrote for Petty Gods.

In fact, the Eye a player selected for her character was none other than the Eye of Petty Theogony! An ordinary sellsword was elevated for a good chunk of the session into a petty god in his own right, taking on the mien of a minor god of war. When I wrote up that Eye, I never dreamed that anyone would use it on anyone other than their own character! Players do find ways to do things with our creations that surprise us.

Co-creation makes us all petty gods.

Dollar Store Dungeons: Serpent-Tapirs

The enormous Serpent-Tapirs aren't native to the Sixth World; they are survivors of the worlds destroyed in past ages. Because their stride is like thunder, they are favored by gods associated with fire, thunder, and lightning, including the fearsome Django-Tlaloc of the Olmeca.

In ancient times, the lords of the Forest of Kings made war on each other's city-states astride these great beasts. Today, only a few of the Mayan city-states still have a Serpent-Tapir. Those who do no longer use their beast for warfare but instead to clear jungle and forest areas and ready them for agriculture. After all, the creatures' enormous bodies give them enormous appetites. And the Serpent-Tapirs not only clear land; they fertilize it as well with their prodigious amounts of excreta. 

The Olmeca have four of the beasts which they use for warfare. From enormous war-howdahs astride these beasts, the Olmeca archers and spearmen can rain down iron-tipped death on their enemies, or use great grapple hooks to tear down the steep stone walls of a fortress or city. The mere threat of these creatures is sufficient to keep the tribute flowing from Xochiquetzatlan and the city-states of the Maya folk into the coffers of the Olmeca king.

Unfortunately, the Olmeca are dependent on others to heal these great beasts when they fall ill; the Olmeca retain healer priests from the Forest of Kings for just this purpose, as they have a great deal of ancient lore on care of the Serpent-Tapirs. Another problem the Olmeca have is that the beasts do not breed well in captivity. The Olmeca have sought the help of the sorcerer-priests of the ever-fecund city of Xochiquetzatlan to devise a magical remedy for this problem. 

The Olmeca are pursuing other alternatives as well. One is to summon Serpent-Tapirs from the stone-bones of their kind who perished long ago. Discovering these often requires lengthy and expensive rock hunting expeditions to the deserts, hills, and badlands of the great continent to the north, as well as the cooperation of the few sorcerers among the Xochiquetzatlani and Maya who know the ancient summoning spells. 

Finally, the Olmeca are also commissioning Serpent-Tapir egg hunts in the jungles in the deep south of the isthmus, and to the great southern continent beyond there. Their shamans have had visions of large herds of the beasts still alive in the wilds of these far lands... 

This post is part of the cross-blog community project Dollar Store Dungeons. It is but one example of how a $1 plastic dinosaur - and a plant eater at that - can be put to good use as a gaming prop and inspiration for world-building. Other uses for this beastie might be in games of Hollow Earth Expedition, Rocket Age, or the forthcoming Ubiquity game system implementation of Space: 1889. We know that both the Hollow Earth and Venus have creatures like these. Hopefully humans do not hunt them to extinction.

Aquatic And Marine Hazards In Xeno-Meso

Marines stand ready for a boarding action!*

Yet another picture from the "Saving Serqu's Sisters" Braunstein naval miniatures event last Saturday at Fantasy Flight Games Event Center!  All of that naval action and the various (carnivorous) flora and fauna have gotten me thinking about wildlife in the Xeno-Meso setting, and what aquatic and marine horrors may exist in that world.

In the lake surrounding Xochiquetzatlan, there are a number of giant turtles that look like this:

Black Hills Institute

For the most part the turtles busy themselves feeding on fish. Large fish. In fact, many of the fish in the lake are armored. But wise persons swim with care, and watch their children in the lake.

Any fisherman worth his salt knows the proper baits to attract a number of these large creatures. A few brave (or foolhardy) youth have become popular because they have taken up the sport of shell-hopping. Once baited, the turtles congregate, and youth compete to see who can go the farthest leaping from shell-to-shell.  An accidental slip and fall can easily lead to losing a limb or worse to a hungry turtle.

Many hazards to marine navigation exist in the form of sea creatures that look like this:

Plesiosaur, Museum of Geology,
University of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

As well as this:

Mosasaur, Museum of Geology, USD-SMT

But things get really bad in the lake surrounding Xochiquetzatlan when you see something like this:

Prehistoric Crocodile, Black Hills Institute

Thanks to Carlos the human and to the Anubian Ambassador who posed to give us a proper size contrast. 

Fortunately, these large crocodillians are quite rare, although the smaller varieties are quite abundant. The presence of large crocodillians is usually the result of sorcerous activity, including improperly dispelled gate castings. Priests and priestesses of Lord Tlaloc and Lady Chalchiuhtlicue have the power to summon these beasts from the watery otherworld of Tlalocan.

Pity the peasant who has the misfortune to have one of these monsters escape their masters and clamber up onto their chinampa.

*All photos copyright 2013 by John Everett Till

Non-Stock

Yochlol by Tony DiTerlizzi

I was admiring Tony DiTerlizzi's beautiful illustrations in the Planescape monster books the other day and had the realization that Planescape is a setting where you don't need elves, dwarves, and orcs. There are numerous other races that are weirder and more interesting. And for that matter, the humans in this setting are pretty interesting, too. I don't see how you could live in and/or visit Sigil and be anything but interesting.

As I was reading the books, I came across a number of things that could be readily ported over to Everway and Otherway - particularly the latter, as there is more room for monstrous races the further you get from the human-centric realms close to Everway. But still, no need for elves, dwarves, and orcs among the non-humans.

Which got me thinking about the numerous monsters showcased over at Hereticwerks. Not an elf or a dwarf in sight, which is not surprising, since Hereticwerks takes far more inspiration from the 19th Century fantastic and horrific than from Tolkien.

While searching for images of the Hlyss, I came upon this post over at Old School Heretic (another blog by the creator of Hereticwerks). It's an essay written over three years ago that has some interesting things to say about the originality, or rather the lack thereof, in the fantasy mainstream in gaming. The phrase "fantasy mainstream in gaming" is not a term used in the original post. I am using it here because my feeling is that a lack of originality in fantasy creation is not exclusively a problem for the OSR. It is really a problem for the entire field of fantasy gaming, with a few exceptions, which are noted in the essay.

And check out the illustration that accompanies the Old School Heretic post. It's a creature I want to know more about. We need more of creatures like it.

Today, I Unlocked A Weretiger!

Hot Lao God-Hero Art by Vongduane Manivong

You may not have heard of the Demonstra Kickstarter, but I would encourage you to take a look!  It has eight days left and it is an important project. 

In SF&F, we hear a lot about Western gods and monsters. 

And not so much about everyone else's.

This Kickstarter features speculative poetry and art by the award winning Lao-American poet Bryan Thao Worra and artist Vongduane Manivong. 

Here's a few words about the project from Bryan:

In 2013, my new book DEMONSTRA will be published by Innsmouth Free Press, with over 100 pages of Lao American speculative poetry. This collection includes poems of ancient Lao ghosts, secret wars, and creatures of mystery. There will also be glimpses at the distant future, from what the Lao space program might look like to where Lao might be in the year 40,000.  

2013 will be a particular milestone year in Lao history. I'd really like to release an edition that raises the bar for what we expect from books of Lao American poetry. This is also my first book I've released since representing Laos during the London Summer Games as a cultural olympian.

If the Kickstarter went a few days more (not sure if this is possible, but hint-hint), I would up my donation to $50 for the cover art poster and the special, frameable poem written for you on the theme of your choice. 

For the record, my request would be for a poem incorporating these two themes:

• Mao's saying that "When an idea is seized by the masses, it becomes a material force."
• A supernatural being from the Lao gay male imaginary

You can still do this Bryan! I challenge you!

A Small Booklet...Stitched Together With Red Thread

Orlando's Blood by Jacqueline Nichollshttp://www.jacquelinenicholls.com/
red-thread-drawings.html

A small booklet with dozens of square pages that have been stitched together with red thread, and then bound with resin. Each page is written in red ink, and describes a favor given to someone, or a favor owed to someone. 

The booklet is used to enforce reciprocity. 

The Bloodweaver Wizards who contended for dominance in the realm of Woven Strife created these books when they tired of constant broken promises and betrayals among their peers. These booklets brought a quick end to shifting alliances, and great predictability to the fulfillment of arrangements made between peers.

When you do someone a favor, you record the deed in the booklet. At the time, the beneficiary agrees to return you an equal favor in the future. It is understood a favor which will need to be reciprocated as soon as the original benefactor of the original favor calls in its return.

If someone reneges on a promise to reciprocate, then the book itself takes revenge. The ink and threads of the book swirl and form a shape. A tiny hand-high Red Swordsman comes forth from the book. It sets immediately to take a revenge of its own devising on the person who reneged on the favor. 

The Red Swordsmen are clever, tireless, and creative. They will observe and even secretly cohabit in the home of their target until they find and execute a fitting revenge. Their revenge is not always lethal. But when the deed is done, everyone will know that the target is someone who can't keep their end of a deal. 

Thysanurians find these favor-books particularly appetizing. 

The Night Samurai

"Samurai" by ~janjinator

The nine great clans of War Fan will not go gently into the night. Sorcerers among the great clans have summoned Night Samurai to hunt down the Spherewalker who is bringing nine fine sword guards to the champion's of War Fan's Empress.

Night Samurai are nature spirits summoned on moonless nights, and shaped into man-forms built from the elements of Earth and Air (in its guise of Night). A pile of twigs, some obsidian glass, and a slight breeze are the only things required to call these creatures up and charge them with completing an assassination. Theiir obsidian blades are sharper than surgical scalpels and will make short work of leather, cloth, or wooden armor.

The summoner of a Night Samurai must always stay near it, remaining no farther away than 300 paces; otherwise the spirit is freed and the creature falls to pieces. But as long as the summoner stays near, and the Night Samurai retains its heartglass (a piece of obsidian stone with rust red streaks that serves as its heart) the creature will have a sufficient degree of cohesion to hunt its prey.

Night Samurai are not active or visible during the day. At dusk, a Night Samurai takes on its man-form and resumes the hunt for its assigned prey. Their preferred methods rely on stealth and surprise. They are the perfect assassin for someone travelling on a path or trail. Night Samurai will wait standing perfectly still in utter darkness, until their prey comes within striking distance. Then they strike as swiftly as the wind.

Each dawn the Night Samurai falls apart, tumbling into a harmless pile of wood, leaves, and glass stone. At sunset, the Night Samurai re-form, and seek out their prey. When they accomplish their mission, their energy dissipates and they tumble down again, never to re-form.

Night Samurai are very vulnerable to fire and somewhat vulnerable to particularly strong winds. The former will destroy their body; the latter will scatter its form, rendering it unable to perform a strike.

Everway Mechanics

• ELEMENTS:
• Fire 5
• Earth  7
• Air 3
• Water 2
• POWERS:
• Heartstone - As long as their Heartstone is present, Night Samurai can reform their bodies. This is true as long as their wood and leafy components have not been scattered or burned away (2 point power, frequent and major)
• Natural Disguise - A Night Samurai may disguise itself by becoming perfectly still and blending with shadows, OR by tumbling for a time into a pile of wood, leaves, and glass stone (2 point power, frequent and major)

A Small Clutch Of Soft Insect Eggs...

http://science.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/
under-microscope-alien-life-form-insect-eggs-0119463 

Wrapped carefully in a leaf, and bundled within a charm-sealed pouch, this small clutch of insect eggs has carried from one world to another. A pinch here, a pinch there, the traveler leaves a few the eggs behind in just the right place on each sphere she visits. 

The eggs come in many different shapes and colors. If a Keeper were to discover this egg bundle on a traveler, it would likely spell sudden death. Horrible pests and monsters have been carried from world-to-world in this way.

There are countless kinds of pests like these in ovo. The curious and vigilant may consult the Library of All Worlds for examples. Ask Librarian Moldy Scratch to find you a copy of The Egg Scrolls within the Forbidden Manifest; it is a comprehensive list of egg-types which are prohibited in Everway (or consult Hereticwerks' Strange Ovum table). 

The Librarians are all-too-familiar with The Scroll Gourmands, also known as Thysanurians. They are one such intelligent pest species that have been spread this way. When in the Library of All Worlds, it is also worth your time to look-up the Stained Library of Feasting Horde; this is a cautionary tale of what destruction can be wrought from a few insect eggs.

The Bestiary: The Ba-Birds

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Post/1202942

The Ba-Birds are the spirit forms of the perfected dead who have returned to reside among us. It is said that after their deaths they flew to the very boundary of the Deep Horizon and gazed into the shining void beyond it. Rather that wing their way through into chaos and oblivion, their reflection in the void stopped them and spoke to them, commanding them to return to the land of the living.

A few of these embodied spirits return to the Multitude of Worlds to take-up a home in the City of Otherway. Not a single Ba-Bird was born in this realm, but somehow they make their way to reside in Otherway's avian city-within-a-city, the The Towers of the Wise. There they keep company with other winged creatures such as Jaculus, or javelin serpent which lurks in trees awaiting passers-by, and the Syrens, white winged snakes "whose venom is so fierce that you will die before you feel the pain of their bite."*

Only the bravest of wisdom-seekers and those who crave to learn the mysteries of the Deep Horizon dare to seek an interview with the Ba-Birds. Those few who are fortunate or skilled enough to evade the Towers' winged serpentine guardians will be granted an audience with one of the Ba-Birds.

*T.H. White's The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts, pp.180-181

The Bestiary: The Unicorn-Elephant War

These posts are inspired by bestiaries and creature books. This one was inspired by two facts presented in T.H. White's "The Bestiary."

Art by xPureLayouts
http://s225.photobucket.com/albums/dd75/xPureLayouts/
?action=view&current=blood_uni.png&sort=ascending

Unicorns are well known as bloodthirsty creatures, but their hatred of Elephants is legendary. This is something of a paradox, since the Elephant is a creature entirely without lust. Nevertheless, when the Purple Traders secretly brought War Elephants over the Ice Mountains against the Republic of the Red Cloaks, the Red Cloaks Virgin Seers detected this ploy and summoned the Unicorn King to array his forces in a great battle against the invaders.

The result was that hundreds of Unicorns were trampled under the Elephants' great feet, while dozens of War Elephants were gored and slain by the Unicorn King's armies. The lowland plains where this battle was fought are known today as the Red Mud Flats.

The Purple Traders' ploy was nevertheless successful. Dozens more War Elephants survived the battle and descended on the Republic of the Red Cloaks. The Elephants tore down the Republic's City Where All Roads Lead, and that state was destroyed in its entirety.

The Purple Traders' sea empire thrives to this day. Because of the Unicorn-Elephant War, the empire's two symbols remain the Red Elephant's Heel and the Broken Unicorn Horn.

Monstrous Mondays: The Eurypterid Kings

http://zoltantakacs.com/zt/pw/in/album.php?idx=2

The Eurypterid Kings are close cousins of the giant sea scorpions of the realm of The Shallow Seas. They ride on the backs of their giant cousins, looking for ships, barge-temples, or dry land upon which to crawl and find their true prey.

When they find someone of great discipline and skill - a patient fisherman, a martial nuns, or a deft swimmer - the Eurypterid King will mount that person and sting them. Their venom causes the victim great agony, but only the first time. With the second sting, the victim begins to hear the thoughts of the Eurypterid King. S/he will then be able to reinterpret the pain as great pleasure, as the ecstasy of the focused mind.

Concealment is the key. On an arm, a back, a torso, a thigh. Both the Eurypterid King and the person it rides will stay together and stay hidden, sting after sting. Together, the victim and his/her passenger will do great things - become a Fisherman-King, a Poison Abbot, or a Legendary Dragon-Road Swimmer.

Eventually, though, the poison becomes too much. After a few years, the victim must go into hiding. It's the smell... they retain their discipline, skill, and focus but their body is rotting, covered in suppurating necrotic flesh wounds. Skin finally sloughs off limbs, and the victim collapses into a final fever. The Eurypterid King dies with its victim. But just before their mutual deaths, a thousand small eggs burst open on the victim's body - one from inside each boil made by a scorpion sting.

Dozens of these will escape detection and slip into the sea, so that the Eurpterid King's life cycle can begin again.

Everway Mechanics:

Eurypterid King (Creature)

The Elements:

• Fire 2 - Skitter to Safety (3)
• Earth 2 - Exoskeleton (3)
• Air 6 - Coach for Greatness (7)
• Water 6 - Sense Greatness (7)

Powers:

• Ecstasy of Focus (2 point power) - The scorpion's sting brings its victim intense focus, excellence, and joy in creation
• Concealed Ride (1 point power) - Scorpion is gifted at concealing its presence on the human person

Monstrous Mondays: The Demon Sultan

Virginia Frances Sterrett
http://cizgilimasallar.blogspot.com/2011/09/
virginia-frances-sterrett-arabian.html

An exiled potentate from Beyond, The Demon Sultan was the first ambassador to take up residence in the city of Otherway. The Demon Sultan dwells deep in the caverns below the city's Embassy Tower, which rose from the ground in a single day and night after his arrival. Within his caverns, The Demon Sultan engages in fine dining with the occasional visitor and sharpens his nails on the roots of Gate Trees.

His name is a nonsense word from one of the multitude of languages in the Beyond. Quite unpronounceable by mortals, The Demon Sultan's name has been said to sounds like a fever blister or the din of a thousand love-smitten wasps spurned by a Ruk. You won't hear these sounds when you approach his caverns though. Your feet will be making too much noise of their own. Crunch, crunch, crunch your feet will go when you approach his caverns: a carpet of insect exoskeletons crushes under your as you approach His Excellency Below.

A few visitors to his caverns have struck strong bargains with The Demon Sultan. Among the great families of Otherway, you can tell these people from the bluish cast of their skin. It is said that the demon's blood runs in these families' veins, and that as a result of this, their diets and appetites have become rather eccentric. During his annual month of fasting, The Demon Sultan will take up residence in one or more of their homes.

Visitors to Otherway are cautioned to buy one of the simple protective amulets sold in Otherway's Gate Market. Without some form of protection, The Demon Sultan can spell you into his caverns and then proceed to feast on your flesh. Many travelers dismissive of the local customs have found themselves lost forever in precisely this way. Most Otherwayans take no chances; they have a midwife tattoo protective charms on their children as soon as they are born.

Monstrous Mondays: The Tikbalang

Art by Kajo Baldismo
"Trese" komiks serieshttp://www.comicscube.com/2010/09/
fresh-off-read-pile-trese-1-3.html

The Tikbalang are tall, long-armed, red-eyed, cigar smoking creatures with the heads of horses. They are notorious for sneaking up on people in jungle forests. They live on islands throughout the Sitting Dog Archipelago on the sphere of Wingspan.

Their favorite sport is waylaying lonely nighttime travelers as they make their way though the forest from one village to another. The Tikbalang hide in the trees until they spot someone passing by their perch. When they hear a victim approaching, the Tikbalang will quietly light a cigar, and begin puffing out a thick miasma of smoke. Soon, the traveler will no longer be able to see moon and stars through the trees. They will become lost and confused. And dizzy.

At that moment, the Tikbalang will use his very long arms to swing down from the trees and quietly drop just behind the unsuspecting traveler. Using their powers of illusion to confuse and bewilder their prey, they will impersonate a long-lost relative of the now-confused traveler. They will offer to help guide the traveler to their destination. After a short while, the Tikbalan will turn and reveal its true appearance, and the family member's face will dissolve into a leering horse's head. The last thing the victim will see is the Tikbalang's long fingers closing around his or her neck.

In the days to come, a relative of the victim may come across their loved one during a nighttime walk between two villages...

The Tikbalang are increasingly found on many other spheres. This has led some scholars to speculate that the Tikbalang can Spherewalk. Look carefully the next time you enter the smoke-filled back room of a merchant house. Today the Tikbalang frequently use their gifts of illusion, impersonation, and deception for financial gain.

EVERWAY MECHANICS

Elements:

• Fire 5 
• Earth 5  
• Air 4 
• Water 3 

Powers:

• Image of Kin (3 point power): The Tikbalang may impersonate one of a person's kinfolk until making an attack.
• Blow Smoke (2 point power): The Tikbalang may confuse, bewilder, and dizzy someone by blowing  a nauseating miasma of cigar smoke into their vicinity.

The Realm of Ovo

Haeckel's Embryos
http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16745-visible-embryos/7

The Realm of Ovo:

• Virtue: Fertility - Growth
• Fault: The Creator, Reversed - Abandonment
• Fate: Nature - Life Energy vs. Energy Sapped

http://www.daviddarling.info/
encyclopedia/D/dinosaurintell.html

In Ovo, ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. But unlike most realms and spheres, in the realm of Ovo, every being born into the world can in fact step off the evolutionary ladder at an earlier stage and be born as an earlier - or even divergent - life form. So a bird can lay a dinosaur egg. Or lay the egg of a dinosaur-man. And a human mother can do the same. This is a natural propensity of all organisms.

Ovo is therefore incredibly diverse. There are innumerable species of every kind.  In every generation, there are new clades of intelligent creatures, and numerous variations on all types of animal and plant species. For this reason, many singleton creatures - intelligent or otherwise - will never find a mate that looks exactly (or sometimes even closely) like them. Pairings and matings across species are the norm, blurring the lines between natural and unnatural, one species and another, animals and plants.

Because of the nature of birth and transspeciation in this world, mothers are often unable to nurture their children, and children and parents are often separated early. This separation produces a profound sense of abandonment that breeds monsters. It also leaves progeny vulnerable to capture by unscrupulous Spherewalkers hunting for curiosities to populate menageries on other spheres.

The intelligent creatures of Ovo - particularly the small bands of humans in this realm - hide themselves from Outsiders. No one wants to be captured and used in a breeding program.

Strangerside Scholar: Creation And The Spheres

Gustav Klimt's Tree of Life (1909)
http://thebeautifulbrain.com/2010/01/the-neuroscience-of-avatar/

Life arises and develops in numerous ways among the million spheres. In some realms, the gods do everything by Committee. First they develop a Process, and then they split into different Sub-Committees to flesh out a comprehensive Work Plan with all the individual Details on different species.

Once everyone is in agreement, and no one stands in the way of the Project or opposes specific Details, then the gods then issue Contracts with individual gods and godlings, farming out creation at the local level. This approach can take years - even centuries - but of course, the gods are immortal. They have all the time in the world.

There are also the Spheres where creation happens when one pantheon of gods overthrows and slays another. These realms often resemble one or more divine corpses on a certain level of scale.

In other spheres, one god does all the work. Often such creations are the work of one blind, idiot god (creation-as-piecework can be boring to the point of inducing madness) or the work of a single obsessive divine being. Who else would create thousands of different species of beetles? Only a Watchmaker.

Still other spheres have always been and always will be. Worlds without beginning or end. These are often called Fortune's Spheres because they are the most stable, fecund, and abundant of all the known worlds. They are the purest expression of the eternal Fortune Deck. If you look carefully, you will see all of Fortune's trumps hiding in plain sight in the land and living things. Often there is also a Tree of Life at the center of such worlds. Its leaves are the glistening trumps of the Fortune Deck itself.

Pluck these leaves at your own risk. But find one pressed between the pages of a book, and you could use it to change an entire world.

Monstrous Monday: Shadow People

"Shadow People" image by Robert & Mihaela Vicolhttp://publicphoto.org/people/shadow-people/
attachment/shadow-people_ghost_71583/

Sometimes you can feel them behind you. Just don't look. If you look, they may grab hold of you and eat your shadow. The Shadow People congregate near Gates. When you pass through a Gate, close your eyes. Just before crossing the threshold, ignore anything you might see in your peripheral vision. And whatever you do, don't look back! If you see one of the Shadow People, they will be able to touch and hitch a ride on you.

No one is entirely sure where the Shadow People come from or what they are. The Keeper family, as Gate guardians see them the most, and believe they are the ghosts of Spherewalkers who have died far from their homes - or worse yet, have died while walking between the worlds.

Shadow People release their victims once they have passed through into another Realm. But the Spherewalkers they ride are forever changed by the experience: they no longer cast a shadow. Sometimes they also have new memories... of terrible past deeds.

Everway Mechanics:

Shadow People (Creature)

The Elements:

• Fire 1 
• Earth 1  
• Air 3 
• Water 6  

Powers:

• Consume Spherewalker's Shadow - 2 point power.  This power can only be used if the Shadow Person a touches a Spherewalker; effect is permanent, and reduces Spherewalker's Water Score by 3 to a minimum of 1.
• Ride Spherewalker - 2 point power. If a Spherewalker directly looks at a Shadow Person, the Shadow Person will be able to touch and thereby ride the Spherewalker through one Gate and out another Gate into a different Realm.
• Gatestalk - 2 point power. A Shadow Person can move silently and invisibly beside or behind a Spherewalker, but may never cross directly in front of one. Once approached, the Spherewalker is likely to feel the Shadow Person's presence and begin looking for a nearby spirit. If the Spherewalker's Water score is higher than the Shadow Person's Water score, the Spherewalker may close or avert their eyes to avoid seeing the Shadow Person.

Wet Planks' Usurper

The biggest long-term challenge that Wet Planks faces is that the foundations of the world are thinning. While planks always spontaneously generate on the inside surface of the Wooden Rim around the world, and flake off into the World Sea, this doesn't in itself erode the World Rim or the Bowl. The World Rim and Bowl had the capacity to regenerate itself. This is how the World Bowl maintains its integrity over time! (Of course, all the sawing and chipping that is going on at various points on the Wood Rim of course does not help!)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/danleitch/
3542809903/sizes/l/in/photostream/

The Wood Rot is a different process. It is weakening the world's bowl-shaped container that is due to the natural Tidal Pools that form between wood, earth, and water on the surfaces and even spontaneously inside the grain of the world's Wooden Rim and Bowl. Most of the damage is below water, and deep inside the living, regenerating wooden flesh of the Bowl. You can see its traces in some wood planks on the World Rim, but more often on waterlogged planks that pop up from deep below the World Sea.

The Worms are not indigenous to Wet Planks. They migrated along the Tidal Pools from world-to-world. Normally these are not dangerous - in most places these worms simply manifest as earthworms. However, the isolating nature of Wet Planks has mutated these creatures over times. They've become aggressive, fractalized, forking creatures with multiple mouths - a hyper-aggressive ivy spreading across and eating their way into the foundations of the world.

The Tidal Pools that invite these creatures into Wet Planks form deep below the 30 Water gates that connect  Wet Planks to other realms. They seem to feed and grow on gate radiance. One solution might be to close all the world's gates. But that would provoke other challenges for the people of Wet Planks.

Three groups are starting to see clues about the presence of a Usurper force:

• The Lumber Ships and Chipping Ships that visit the World Rim have noticed that the world's water level is decreasing
• Certain cultists  in the Parliament of Hulks and the School of Ruddermen have heard of rumors from the Gill Men that the world is leaking away.
• Fishing boats are seeing evidence of large scale spontaneous fish kills in the areas near Water gates. That phenomenon is quite new; usually the areas around Water gates are teeming with marine life of all sorts.

The Wolves Of Shimmermoon Bay

http://www.anivide.com/user/chromedokuro

The Wolves of Shimmermoon Bay are an aphorism, a legend, and a warning to the King of Everway. For people in the city, the aphorism "When you see Wolves in Shimmermoon Bay" means "Be careful what you wish for." 

The aphorism refers to the legend that in ancient times, there was a wicked Emerald King, who while hunting in the Forest became smitten by the beautiful Rabbit Queen. The King demanded her favors. She agreed, on the condition that the King would rid the Forest of her children's greatest fear: the Wolves of the Forest.

The King agreed. He asked the Council for solutions. A number were proposed, from a great hunt, to poison traps, to bringing in an apex predator from another sphere. The King was satisfied with none of these ideas. Finally, the Crookstaff and Snakering Counselors put their heads together and came up with a trick: use magic to bury the moon deep within Shimmermoon Bay. When the wolves come to worship it as they do every night - just drown them.

This plan worked all to well. In fact, when the Rabbit Queen learned of their plans, she whispered them to the Shark King. He and his children were only too happy to gobble up the confused wolves as they struggled to swim away from the moon and fill their lungs with fresh air.

The King had his one night of bliss with the Rabbit Queen. Rabbits are fickle. A day later, the King was found dead in his royal chambers - his throat torn open. His bed linens were covered in muddy paw tracks

The wolves were never again seen in the Forest. Instead, coyotes and hyaenas took their place. No one was happy: not the rabbits and not the hunters seeking out game in the Forest.

Ever since that time, sailors have reported tales of Ghost Wolves walking on the waters of the nighttime Bay. These sightings are almost always an ill omen. They usually foretell misfortune for the current Emerald King.

The Whiteoar family's exploited this legend during their Civil War with the Council. The Whiteoars' pirate allies in the lands surrounding Roundwander were called the Wolves of Shimmermoon Bay.

The Bull King

Just as the Sea King is bound to his Royal Palace and cannot escape it, so too the Bull King is bound to his Labyrinth. Sea Kings come and go, but the Bull King has never died. He was born from the magical workings, pain, and rage of the last Sorcerer-Priest, who was hurled into the Labyrinth by the Sea King. From the Sorcerer-King's rage was born an avatar of the God of Might and Storms: the Bull King.

The King who rules below lives within the Labyrinth-gate. He can feel it growing in extent and power. The Bull King feels the Labyrinth-gate's connections to other realities. But for all his rage and cunning he cannot truly see or use the Labyrinth as a gate. Instead, he endlessly wanders the Labyrinth looking for a way out. He looks up from the pit and bellows to the Sea King and his court, demanding sacrifices. Indeed, it is said that his bellows drive the Sea King and his courtiers half-mad.

This avatar of the God of Might and Storms embodies male psychic and physical aggression against other males. He sows confusion, fear, and domination. First one is lowered into the Labyrinth. Then one wanders in fear. Then one becomes lost. Fear mounts further. Then comes the confrontation between the hapless sacrifices and the god. The Bull King shows no mercy toward those who are lowered into the pit as sacrifices.

It is said that only a Spherewalker can set him free.

Antoine-Louis Barye
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:
Theseus_Slaying_Minotaur_by_Barye.jpg 

The Bull King

• Fire: 8
• Earth: 9
• Air: 3
• Water 1: 

Power:

• Terrifying Bellow: The Bull King can strike fear in any hero depriving them of one action as a conflict begins. Prolonged exposure to this power over weeks or months invariably leads to madness.  (3 point Earth power - frequent, very powerful, but not versatile).
• Make the Walls Move: The Bull King confuses and frightens his victims by stalking them for hours or days before beginning the final confrontation. He can make walls move and branch, or a corridor suddenly end in a wall (2 point Earth power: frequent, powerful).
• See in Absolute Darkness: The Bull King sees perfectly in total darkness (1 point power: frequent).

Boons:

• The Bull King knows many secrets of the court. 
• He retains the memories of the male flesh he devours. 
• Feed him male flesh and he may be disposed to share his secrets. 
• Feed him female flesh and he will tell you lies. 
• Consume his brains and you will learn his secrets directly. You will also be unable to find your way out of the Labyrinth.Your Water Score will also drop permanently to 1, and you will no longer be able to Spherewalk.
• If the Bull King is slain:
• His right horn can be fashioned into a musical instrument capable of playing his Terrifying Bellow once per day.
• His left horn can be worn as a fetish which will provide a +2 Element Score for any attempt at seduction.
• His heart, if devoured, will grant an increase in one's Fire and Earth Score of +2.
• If the Bull King is slain, numerous personal articles will suddenly become visible throughout the Labyrinth. These include: 
• Perfectly preserved costumes and jewelry of the Bull Dancers; 
• Swords, knives, and shields of sacrifices who were afforded the dignity of being able to die with a weapon in their hands.
• Personal mementos and talismans of protection worn by sacrificial victims.

Strangerside Scholar: The Strangers We Don't Welcome

Big. Green. Stupid. They smash stuff. They kill stuff. They take stuff. This is the average Everwayan's view of the Ogres, and who can blame them? We all remember the havoc that broke loose when the the Ogre "diplomats" arrived in Everway. The Host family has barely recovered from their "visit".

The Ogres came out of nowhere. Eight feet tall. Massive. Lustful. Demanding.They arrived from  beyond the farthest realms that the Chamber Platinum has mapped. They have trouble speaking the Tongue, and they have their own gobbling nonsense language. Some say they are massively mutated humans, warped by the energies of the planes beyond. Others say they are the offspring of giants who coupled with demons. And it IS strange that so many of them are apparently Spherewalkers.

http://that-figures.blogspot.com/2011/09/news-sideshows-skaar-son-of-hulk.html

Ogres leave a path of destruction behind them. They have no skill for governance. Bullying is their only recourse other than violence. The Ogres' so-called Simple Empire is nothing more than a spherepath - one littered with at every step with burned farms, forests, and cities. They turned realms upside down and shook them until their pockets were empty.

Will these barbarians arrive in force in Everway? Rumors of their approach abound. Their free range is further evidence of the weakness and corruption of the Emeralds. And what if the barbarians never come in force? Who will save us from the Emeralds then?

Ogres

• Fire 7
• Earth 7
• Air 2
• Water 2

Ogres prefer brute force weapons such as giant axes and great swords. They are very resistant to magic and poison, but surprisingly, they can be readily subdued by the sound of harps and by broken jars releasing sweet-smelling perfumes. 

Most individual Ogres cannot spherewalk, and will require non-Ogric guides to walk between spheres. However, Ogre Hordes have a collective power, Gatecrashing, which enables a Horde to use a gate to spherewalk en masse to another realm. This often damages the gates on one or both sides of the path. 

Boris Stremlin invented these creatures a decade or more ago. The visual reference for them in his Everway campaign was Shrek. We've chosen a more dignified visual reference, but feel free to take these creatures in either direction in your campaign.