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Scavenger created by:

Alexandru Negoita & Marquis Hartis

Worldbuilding, Art & Layout by:

Alexandru Negoita

Worldbuilding, Writing & Game Mechanics by:

Marquis Hartis
Additional Help:
Robert Adducci (design and worldbuilding)
Tim & James of Tabbletop Terrors

Teo Mechea (layout and art feedback)

1062 Kickstarter backers

Copyright© 2020 Shardstone, Alexandru Negoita, Marquis Hartis

Version 1.0

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Table of Contents
Foreword - 5
Introduction - 6
World of Akara - 9
◇ Tarnak - 14
◇ Bataar - 46
◇ Kanuma - 54
◇ Mur - 64
◇ Akaran Mysticism - 73
◇ The Cataclysm or The Great Dying - 85
◇ Of Places Dead - 88
A World Torn Apart - 92
◇ On Entering Torn - 95
◇ Dal Ashta Outpost - 97
◇ Zenith People - 98
◇ Core City Ruin - 101
◇ Pannor Plains - 104
◇ Blightwoods - 112
◇ Samua Marshes - 120
◇ Tainted Valley & Places Untouched - 128
Scavenger Suite - 132
◇ Core Changes & Shardstones - 133
◇ Shard Listings - 138
◇ The Scavenging Peoples - 140
◇ Scavenger Paradigms - 153
◇ Paradigm Subclasses - 160
◇ Akaran Backgrounds - 165
◇ A Scavenger’s Lifepath - 178
◇ Scavenger Feats - 182
◇ Patrons & Expedition Experience - 186
◇ Scavenger Expedition Generator - 190
◇ Tools of the Trade - 194
◇ Bestiary - 198
Scavenger Index - 232
The First Scavengers - 234

3
 I met a traveller from an antique land,
Who said—“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)

4
 Foreword

A fter working for 15 years in the corporate

gaming industry, I inevitably got the urge
to give myself the chance to create and
explore a world of my own - something I’ve
been considering for quite some time before
B ack in late 2017, Wizards of the Coast
announced a new setting. This setting,
produced by a 3rd party, was mystifying to
me; it was an alien-warped world that attracted
marauding explorers to its unknown depths.
but didn’t know how to even start. The idea hooked me, and Andi’s art—though at
the time I only knew him as “Pandemonium
Back in 2016 when I first decided to embark on Art”—had me sitting in my chair impatient for
this personal project I had no idea what this new product release. And, still impatiently,
I waited for months and months, checking for
amount of work and dedication it will entail. Of updates on Scavenger on their website until,
course I wanted to create something original eventually, I got so fed up with waiting that I slid
and outstanding, but conveying ideas into vis‐ into Andi’s DMs to see how I could help.
ual language is a difficult and often frustrating
process and the level of material required for a To be honest, I can’t believe it worked, but Andi
project of this size was something that was be‐ was excited to have some help with the project.
yond my capabilities alone. Together, we embarked on the long, hard road
of trying to publish our shared dreams.
The moment of meeting Marquis was the cata‐
lyst the project needed in order to take real Scavenger has evolved a lot in the two years I’ve
shape, and since we first discussed and got ex‐ been working on it. It's been written and rewrit‐
cited over the new world that was forming in‐ ten time and time again; the rules have been
side our heads, we invested every minute of our playtested, thrown out, remade, and playtested
spare time into making this book happen, and again too. Hard as all this was, I can happily say
four years later it finally did. I enjoyed every moment of it. For me, there is
nothing quite as freeing as writing, or as stimu‐
The world was built organically around our lating and sacred as creating my own worlds. To
ideas and magic started to happen when we see that over a thousand people think that this
put his words and my images together. I drew world is worth enjoying, let alone worth playing
inspiration from legends such as Brom, Moe‐ in is for me to be living a dream that I never
bius and others and together we tried to put want to wake up from.
our own little pebble at the foot of the moun‐ In the pages beyond, I have done my best to
tain of these titan’s body of work. Successfully honor Andi’s amazing art. Each of his paintings
or not, you are left to judge. is an inspiration that compels me to discover
My only hope is that Akara will inspire you to why these peoples are the way they are, or why
discover its mysteries, both wonderful and terri‐ these buildings are shaped like this, or what se‐
fying, and its inhabitants, and that she might crets some magic might lead to. My hope is
make you leave your reality at the door before that, as you read through Scavenger, you will
you enter. see his art, the possibilities I have pulled from it,
and dream as we did of jeweled scavengers
Needless to say that without you and all of our traveling across alien savannas looking for
Kickstarter backers we could not have made it, weird and wondrous things.
so thank you all for the tremendous support
and patience! We have many other stories to ~ Andrew Marquis Hartis, 2020
tell in the future, and as Conan says in the 1982
cult classic:
“No one, not even you, will remember if we were
good men or bad. Why we fought, or why we
died. All that matters is that two stood against
many. That's what's important!”
With that I leave you to explore and (hopefully)
enjoy the world of Scavenger!

~ Alexandru Negoita, 2020

5
 Introduction
This is a dying world. City-states are swallowed by
earthquake-torn ravines and mountain-drowning
waves. Beasts of the land once hunted lie dead in
their own extinction. Droughts years-long prelude
monsoons whose rages paint new coastlines
through their stormborn carnage. Yes. See it. Feel it.
Understand truly that this world, this Akara, is dying.
There is hope. Find it in Akara’s own Jade Jewel - that
great city-state called Tarnak, the Dark Spire. Under‐
neath that city’s rich aurora is a treasure of sanguine
shardstones whose lights warp reality at the whims
of the dangerous visionaries working them. Mined,
these shardstones, from an ancient Monolith at Tar‐
nak’s center - or rather, the impossible world it hides
within.
This is the World Torn Apart. Or Torn, as the Tarnaki
name it.
Near half a century ago the Monolith opened.
Through it went the first scavengers; daredevil expe‐
ditioners who in the early days had no such name.
Inside, they found a world alien in every way. There
and beyond stretched skies a hundred different col‐
ors, plains and forests warped and weird, ancient
cities, ancient cities far beyond anything any Akaran
had ever seen before, ancient cities emptied of their
ancient peoples, ancient cities powered by sanguine
shardstones.
This is the world in which you adventure. Cast from
your home or desperate to survive the growing Cat‐
aclysm, you take on the mantle of scavenger, find
your patron, and venture into the scarred Akara or
the bizarre Torn so that you can save your loved ones,
your people, your very world from the inevitability of
this Great Dying.

WHAT IS SCAVENGER
SCAVENGER is an artbook, a new cosmos to explore,
and a rules supplement for the 5th Edition of the
world’s most popular roleplaying game. In the pages
beyond, you will explore the dying Bronze Age world
of Akara and the utterly incomprehensible realm of
Torn as scavengers. Scavengers are desperates hired
for their invaluable skills sets to find anything they
can that will solve the riddle known as both the Cat‐
aclysm and the Great Dying.
Not all scavengers are good, and not all are so
selfless. Just as many are seeking treasure for them‐
selves, or secrets with which to gain influence, or
even just a way to peacefully escape what they be‐
lieve to be their coming doom. The scavenger
you play will need to decide for them‐
selves during their many expeditions
what it is they are truly looking for.
WHAT IS IN THIS BOOK

After this introduction section orients you in the countless occult secrets. Much has changed for
fiction, the following chapters, or tablets, are Tarnak as a result, but the science is still young,
presented in order. and no true scientific method has been devel‐
The World of Akara. The planet called Akara is a oped.
dying world where life clings to any hope it can The Great Dying Looms Over All. Something
find. Four great city-states are discussed, as well unknown changed within the last Akaran
as the mysticisms that guide Akarans, strange decade. Massive extinctions have drained the
places found across the world, and the many planet of its life. Massive extinctions of a
number of beasts have swept across Akara.
dangers spawned by the horrific Great Dying. Earthquakes, tsunamis, sandstorms, droughts,
The World Torn Apart. Three unique adventure and hypercanes threaten the people. With so
sites in Torn are given for the scavengers to ex‐ many homelands lost, refugees flood the
plore, including the scavengers' likely home‐ remaining city-states in search of haven or
base: the Dal Ashta outpost. Torn is a place large home.
beyond compare and only a sliver of what it has Torn Was Once Inhabited. Torn is not entirely
to offer has been discovered. As the scavengers devoid of life, and there is evidence that once
unearth esoteric secrets, their gamemaster will great civilizations ruled it. No one knows the
have the opportunity to create new regions in origin of these megalithic ruins, shard-powered
Torn in which to explore. and construct-haunted as they are, nestled
between red hills underneath sunless skies. The
The Scavenger Suite. Lastly, the Scavenger artefacts of these so-called Zenith People are all
Suite is presented for players and gamemasters that speaks to this lost culture. Know that
alike. Here you will find the mechanics behind abandoned artifacts are far beyond what
the Delphic shardstones, a small set of elegant Akaran shardscience has produced.
and streamlined rule changes for 5th Edition, Only the Monolith Leads to Torn. Every city-
character creation guidelines, new back‐ state wishes access to the Monolith, only to be
grounds, and a bestiary containing many of denied by Tarnak’s ruling council. As these
Akara and Torn’s most defining creatures. other city-states become more aggressive in
their demands, and as people flee their
homelands to join the relatively safer Tarnak,
relations worsen, and intrigues bloom like
SEVEN TRUTHS A SCAVENGER LIVES BY desert-lonely flowers.
The seven truths below guide all fledgling scav‐
engers as they embark on their first expedition. Few Peoples are Left to Fight. Once, a dozen
Keep these in mind when exploring the rest of different peoples walked Akara. The modern
this book. day Akaran and the Great Dying has killed most
of these people off. Only these same Akarans,
Akara is a Bronze Age World. There is not the secretive kith, and the four-armed morg
enough iron in Akara’s soil to allow for complex remain in force. These three estranged species,
metallurgy. Thus, bronze is the most advanced once kept separate by their differences, must
metal that Akaran smiths can work. But bronze come together as scavengers if they wish to
is expensive. Most weapons, armor, and shields live.
are made from stone, bone, or the chitinous Scavengers are Unlikely Heroes and
hide of Akara’s many great insects. To have a Traumatized Villains. Scavengers are the
bronze tool is to have some prestige or backing. desperate, the foolhardy, the brave, and the
dangerous souls willing to explore the dying
Shardscience is Young & Powerful. Magic never Akara and the alien Torn. They themselves
existed in Akara. Shardstones have changed become strange over time, are left disturbed by
that. They were brought back by the first scav‐ the things they see. Those that stay hopeful
engers as supposed gemstones of unrecog‐ scavenge until they die. Those that do not will
nized worth. Since then have Tarnaki bloodcut‐ eventually retire, broken as the world from
ters worked to puzzle out the shardstone’s which they hail.

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8
World of Akara
The land is old, though none can put an age to it.
It stretches north until it hits the coast, east until stopped by a gate
of mountains. To the south, across a pair of seas, there is another
continent, green and rich in years past but now naught but ulti‐
mate desert. To the west begins the ocean and across that none
have been. Beyond those mountains where the wastes unfurl for a
thousand leagues and then a thousand more has no Akaran ever
been nor has any Akaran ever hailed.
Akara is the world and the continent both; the last place where life
may yet be. It is the cradle of civilization where the oldest cities now
lie in ruins; all save four whose future is measurable in uncertain
days. Tribal mobs, older than city and city-culture, still do travel,
though nature in its death throes is cruel and cold.
A thousand generations - that is how old the Akaran way of life is
said to be. There is no certainty on this matter for writing is only re‐
cent and the mystics of tribal mobs continue their oral histories no
further than this. What may have come before is lost to the past,
and for the modern day Akaran, who has killed most other ho‐
minids, who has crested the world and now is on their downfall,
only tomorrow is thought to matter.
Recorded upon this tablet of Muraneese stone is what is left of
Akara. If there is more, it lies in secret, awaiting the day it is scav‐
enged from the buried bones of a forgotten world.

9
THINGS KNOWN BY ALL AKARANS
What is listed below are those things known by all Akarans.

MEASURING DISTANCE
In Akara, there are three units of measurement. The hand, whose length is what it describes; the
blade, four hands long; and the dalham, or dal, which is a length of two-thousand blades.

SIGILS AS CURRENCY
Sigils are the universal currency of Akara. A sigil is worth one gold piece, should a scavenger be rich
enough so as to have true gold. The Jade is Tarnak’s sigil, carved from its namesake into a triangle.
Its face is the Monolith, the back the profile of the mythic Princess Ida. The Kanuman Sigil is a golden
coin with a square cut into the center and the Muraneese Majestic is a cut opal. The Bataash Shell is
an amber shell that belongs to a common sea snail. Tribal mobs trade exclusively in pieces of amber
hoarded from forest territories. Large amounts of currency are traded through papyrus records.

THE MANY LANGUAGES

Across the undaunted and primordial years, Akarans have constructed a complex web of languages
to fulfill ever-demanding duties.

LANGUAGES IN SCAVENGER
Language
Name Short Description

A code language developed by the baels of Kanuma, later modified by the Stygian
Ambara Serpents. A language with no written form. Words are often short, and how they are
said carries more meaning than the word itself.
There are no known speakers of the Ancient Tongue, the aptly named language of
Ancient the now extinct Zenith People. Its script is composed of highly sophisticated sym‐
Tongue bols. While some have managed to decipher bits of it, the language has yet to be
properly broken.
The various tribal mobs in central and coastal Akara have a startlingly similar lan‐
B!ayeh guage between them. Though dialects introduce a myriad of differences, all use
clicks and the same core sentence structure of subjects before verbs.

The secret language of Mur’s Dinashii seemingly has no connection with any outside
Dinadan language. Its unique sound involves expressive movements with both hands and
mouth, and it has no written script.

“E” Lan‐ This language has been discovered in the Sea of Myst, Ringmaze Isles, and other ran‐
dom places throughout Torn. Its name derives from the “E” symbol being used re‐
guage peatedly at the start and end of every communication. It has yet to be broken.

Here be the Kanuman’s mother tongue. It is a lyrical, poetic language, filled with
Kanuani metaphors and symbolism. Its script involves word placement so that a constellation
of words is made.

A morg’s language is limited by the shape of their jaw, thus becoming a variety of
Morgani grunts and huffs. Its script is limited; every symbol is another hand sign, each with
four different meanings.

The traditional language of Muraneese slaves and freefolk is, like Dinadan, a com‐
Murd pletely isolated and unique language. Its script is complicated, with thousands of
symbols used to communicate ever more specific ideas.
Kith speak a tongue that involves body language and honest emotional reactions
detectable only by their hyper-empathetic brains. It has no written form, and is com‐
Quo’woah posed almost entirely of compound words. Non-kith speakers have difficulty com‐
municating with kith due to the emotion-reading elements involved.

10
KANUMA’S CALENDAR
The Kanuman Calendar is how Akarans keep track of their passing days. Near four hundred years
have been marked. These years are referenced to as After Starfall (A.S) - the illustrious date where
Kanuma was founded. The current year is 393 A.S.
In a Kanuman year, there are three hundred days split into two seasons. The dry season lasts nearly
two hundred days while the monsoon season lasts the remainder. In the far north, things grow cold,
and the monsoon season lasts longer; south across the Bloodsands there are no monsoons at all.
Six months split the year. Their names are recorded as the stars brightest during those months. Each
month begins with a holiday celebrated for the first ten days. Below are those months, each with
fifty days, inscribed:
◇ Starbirth, when the new year is ushered.
◇ Serpent’s Coil, when athletic competitions are held.
◇ First Akarok, when many hunting seasons begin.
◇ Old Sun, when festivals for planting are held.
◇ Old Moon Sayun, when festivals of vice are held.
◇ Desert Flower, where festivals for harvest are held.
A date is recorded as <Day Number> of <Month Name> in the <Year Number> Year. For example, the
Sixteenth Day of Serpent’s Coil in the Two Hundredth Year A.S.

Language
Name Short Description
Bataar’s throat-singing language, in common speech, is quick, flowing, and filled
with witty turns of phrase. It lends itself well to song. The script is written in paint and
Ribbish with images. This paint-writing means that the colors used, down to the shade, trans‐
mits much information.
When Samua discovered the Samua Marshes, she also happened upon the now-
dead rulers of that place and their strange language. It was written in a script of dif‐
Samuan ferently sized vortices and circles intertwined with one another. The key to decipher‐
ing Samuan has yet to be developed.
This is a series of code-phrases used by the Scavenger Rings for secret communica‐
Scavenger tion, including leaving messages in Torn for directions or warnings. Scavenger Codes
Codes recontextualize words and ideas from other languages for their use, and also use styl‐
ized symbols to communicate their needs.
This is a language used by poor Tarnaki. It is a creole of Kanuani, Ribbish, and a smat‐
Tarnaki, tering of B!ayeh. Sentences are often short and to the point, and sometimes an entire
Dust sentence is simply a quick metaphor or image. Its script uses hieroglyphics and some
phonetic letters. It serves primarily as Akara’s trade tongue.

Tarnaki, A more sophisticated form of Dust Tarnaki used by the educated and well-to-do Tar‐
naki civilians. It has a unique sound originating in the back of the throat. Deep Tarnaki
Deep is used in courts, by Ivory Guards, and by officials. Its script is entirely phonetic.

A southern language from the Bloodsands region. With the disappearance of the
Green Empires, this language is thought to be almost entirely lost. It was a lilting
Usuo tongue filled with verse and brutal, mystical imagery. Its script was entirely written in
a textile writing system.
Womord was a language spoken in northern Akara, though most of its speakers have
disappeared with the Great Dying. Womord sentences worked by attaching an ever-
Womord growing library of prefixes and suffixes to words in order to construct a sentence. Its
script was composed of long, slashing lines.
Zazan was constructed by the Tongue and Hand to serve as a thieves cant universal
in Akara. To speak Zazan is to acknowledge one’s service to the black market. It is a
Zazan heavily encoded language that uses seemingly random sentences from other lan‐
guages to transmit its ideas. Its script, likewise, uses small pieces from every tongue.

11
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13
CROWNED BY THE AURORA
Heard in tribal song-stories and dancing on
the lips of journeyers is an idea: Tarnak is
crowned by an aurora. As fanciful as this may
sound, it is true. On certain nights a tapestry of
lights erupts in the heavens. They dance, twirl,
grind across the wine-dark sky, moon-bright,
bright enough to serve as a makeshift light‐
house for ships lost at sea.
Crowned by an aurora as it is, Tarnak was quick
to become Akara’s wealthiest trade-hub after
its establishment near 300 years ago. Its bor‐
dering of a channel connecting two seas - the
Songs and Stargazer’s Bay - ensured overflow‐
ing trade. Fields olive-ripe and oxen-tended,
natural quarries of limestone and laterite, de‐
posits rich in jade - these have all blessed Tar‐
nak with wealth hard to imagine.
Such wealth does not make Tarnak the par‐
adise many hope it to be. Bribes in jade and fa‐
vor turn officials into criminals. Merchants are
either victims or kingpins of vicious rackets
that plague the commons. Bronze daggers
gleam sea-green in orphan-orchestrated am‐
bushes. A Tarnaki proverb holds that your am‐
bition and cruelty are more valuable than
what's in your purse. Scavengers would do well
to listen to such wisdom.

BUILT UPON A SHARDSTONE

FOUNDATION
In a world about to end does the trade of gold
and gems disappear. Were it not for Tarnaki
shardstones - those sanguine, Torn-mined crys‐
tals that warp reality - even Akara’s Jade Jewel
would have crumbled. Almost five decades ago
the Monolith opened and the first shardstone
was scavenged. In those early days, the power
of that shardstone opened a door that could
not be shut for with this gem was magic cre‐
ated.
Only the uneducated call it magic. To the elite,
shardstones are a science, a mysticism, nobler
than alchemy or mathematics. The riddles they
have solved are the same that keep the Cata‐
clysm at bay. The waters filling Tarnak’s harbor
are kept calm (through shardstones cut and
implanted into the seabed), the food kept
growing (through shard dust mixed with soil),
the earth stabilized so that it seizes no more
(through shardworked devices implanted geo‐
metrically into the ground). Some of these feats
are not the workings of artificers. It is clear that
shardlight makes manifest the desires of those
that work it. A question is then asked: is it luck
that keeps Tarnak safe, or instead the luminous
desires of those that live there?

14
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

The account of Ma’She,

who sings of tragedy
The song of Tarnak different for me, different for
“
you. You Akaran hum a hymn clever, like moth color of
bark. But we kith know true. Both, I tell, so you know
true from lie.
Akaran say a ruler, Ida, come from land where star fall
to grave. Place who name Akaran call Kanuma. Ida had
root-bond with another who Akaran name Meldar. To-
gether they were spire, tall spire, and around them
grew forest great and pond deep, and monsoon were
gentle and kind to them, dry time short, gentle too. But
Meldar brother jealous of sunlight that Meldar had.
Brother no bond to brother, no bond to people. Name,
Ackn. Ackn the Bondless, dead leaf on wind, cold as sky
who know not sun.
In coldness, Ackn kill Meldar. Now bondless herself, Ida
ran from Kanuma and cross the Night Black - that wa-
ter Akaran call the Sea of Song - and to kith she arrive.
This is where story different, true but lie.
Ida came to us kith and found us worshiping Tul’Khu-
rak, as it older than all kith, and around it bloom life.
This is which Akaran call Monolith. Akaran tell it that
Ida come, seeing how green kith grass, how pure kith
stream, and she trade us star for Tul’Khurak. Ida say,
these silver ball pluck from sky, and each one will bring
fortune to kith for many wood generation. And that if
kith take star and go north, they find more fortune. So
kith give her land to live on. North, kith go. North where
there is nothing. When kith come back, Tul’Khurak now
Tarnak. In story, kith stupid, easy fool.
Kith tell it different. Kith tell lie no. And kith say Ida
come to us bloody as rock howler after hunt. Desper-
ate, she. Kith give Ida water. Food. Let her stay in home,
play with kith children. Ida disappear. She disappear af-
ter monsoon come and go. When she appear again, she
appear with lightning-loud Akaran who alight with vio-
lence. They beat us kith. They know us, how to hurt us,
because Ida tell them. Battle short. Kith clutch too pre-
cious to risk. Too much pain. So we give Tul’Khurak. We
leave.
That is how kith tell it. We share and save Akaran, and
Akaran kill and steal from us. For age of tree come and
go where we kith hidden in our wood. Now our wood
dying. We have nowhere else to go but here, home,
Tul’Khurak. Though Akaran betray, now no choice but
to hope Akaran now true.
”
15
16
17
THE MONOLITH
No building built by an Akaran’s hands has ever have been brought creatures, artifacts, and re‐
been as the Monolith is. It predates Tarnak and sources who share no common ancestry with
it predates the kith that once worshipped it and anything Akaran. Most alien of all are the shard‐
for the many years it has stood it has stood stones who, through careful manipulation can
silent - until it was silent no more. seemingly make the impossible possible.
The day the Monolith opened near half a cen‐ In these times only scavengers can enter the
tury ago was a day that the auroras blazed to Monolith. They must be funded by a patron,
life during sunlit hours. A great shaking went who has bought from the Council of Jade &
throughout the land. A storm had been blow‐ Progress after presenting their case a sigil
ing in and then it was gone, somehow carved out of jade and bronze. This sigil must be
scrubbed out of the very sky it nearly filled. A shown to the Ivory Guards in front of the Mono‐
sound that was not music but instead a clank‐ lith. Attempting to enter without those sigils is
ing, a pulsating, some even say a heartbeat - a violation of law so great that it only merits the
that was the sound the Monolith made as its most severe punishments.
base flared into a single entrance facing south‐
wards. For scavengers, entering the Monolith is their
dream for the Monolith is the gateway to any
Those who first entered found themselves in a dream ever dreamt. Be granted entrance and
dark hall. At the end of that hall there was light. on the otherside find a world where your im‐
Beyond that light there was another world: a possible possibility awaits alongside the abnor‐
World Torn Apart. Now the Monolith is guarded, mal and the indescribable.
for it has become the source of Tarnak’s great‐
est wealth. From that strange universe there
THE SEVEN JADES Gate of the Caught Sun
Tarnak is split into seven districts. Together, This gate, named for its importance in protect‐
they are colloquially referred to as the Seven ing Tarnak from Kanuma and for the rising sun,
Jades. Each district has its own name and pur‐ lies to the southeast. The gate is painted black
pose, and all seven are encapsulated by Tar‐ with golden suns fixed into its front. Many of
nak’s Grand Katar Wall. these suns have, in recent years, been stolen by
The Seven Jades began originally as what is the thieves of the Serpent’s Slum, earning the
now called the Old District, wherein dwells the gate a new name: the Gate of the Sun-Eater.
Council of Jade and Progress as well as a smat‐
tering of rich merchants and retired scav‐ Gate of the Skarag
engers. As the Old District expanded, it became This gate, named for skarag-riding merchants
the current city of Tarnak. Now, with the Cata‐ that both leave and come through it, is painted
clysm forcing more expansion, two slums have jade with shard-red skarag images decorating
appeared to its east and west: the Charred and its face. This gate lies to the north, connected to
the Serpent’s. the Bronze District.

Gate of the Seven Lights

THE GRAND KATAR WALL This gate, named for the aurora above Tarnak,
The Grand Katar, named for the same weapon was once painted with seven different dyes.
to invoke honor, fear, and awe, stands forty feet When the Charred Slums experienced their
high and is made of sun dried brick. Each sec‐ horrific fire a year ago, the paint was burned
tion of the Grand Katar is a circular tower con‐ from the gates, where it now sits peeling and
nected by ramparts. To the northwest, north, soot-covered. This gate lies to the northwest,
and southeast, the walls have three access connected to the Dust District.
gates.
24
OLD DISTRICT SONG DISTRICT
Underneath the Monolith’s shadow is where Nestled on the confluence of the Sea of Songs
Tarnak was first built. There, surrounded by the and Stargazer’s Bay is Tarnak’s port. From now
Inner Katar Wall, lies the Old District - the seat silent nations in the south there flowed teas
of Tarnaki power. It is an expansive neighbor‐ and foods unheard of; from the east, the west,
hood of old-style buildings, tall and thin just as there the gold, the poisons, the colors, the
the Monolith is. Courtyarded in limestone, these weapons of Akara’s city-states. Those days are
yards. Old District streets bordered by poles fit‐ no more. On kuphars made from muddy weeds
ted with shardstones shed at night a crimson do whole families spill out, adding to Tarnaki
light that illuminates the patrols of the Ivory overpopulation. They set sail again that same
Guard and the predacious, nocturnal activities day to fish the confluence that has been over‐
of those who live here. fished year after year. Waves remembered to be
blue as sapphire or green as jade now wash
The atypical residents of the Old District are against cliffs black with humanity’s detritus.
what gives this place its flavor. The Council of
Jade & Progress, the most influential Scav‐ In honor of the district’s name, people sing
enger Rings, the Stygian Serpents, the base of from the towers. Their voices resonate to‐
the Ivory Guard - these factions too rich to con‐ gether, confluence of sound to match the con‐
sort with the lesser Tarnaki have their own fluence of seas; even when the fights in the
world within the Inner Katar. All of them want congested streets turn into riots. Frequent
the same thing: unbridled access to Torn and those riots where fish markets are looted, stalls
its alien riches. burned, brutal Ivory Guards beating the Song
District into order. Protestor screams marry the
To this end, the organizations of the Old Dis‐ melodies of silver pipes and lyres, go un‐
trict are locked into a neverending information soothed, grow rancorous day after day.
war. They buy out scavenger rings and hold
hostage secrets vital for their rival’s success. Just off the shore, there is an isle. The Tarnaki
Common, this sabotage; a loss of status can be call it the Deadman’s Island. There, mystics
the result of an expedition into Torn gone robed in green-slashed-yellow tend to the
wrong or a simple blackmail using one’s own dead sent by boat. The poor are cremated,
sloppiness against them. Though direct con‐ placed into clay urns, and buried in the shore.
flict is banned inside the Old District, exile is to The wealthy are interred in the halls of the
these aristocratic souls a form of execution and dead - sculpted statues that fill the island’s un‐
none wish to be pushed far from the Mono‐ derground. Scribed into tablets over their
lith’s bountiful promises. tombs are tales, stories, sent over with their
corpse muses. Rumor tells that these legends
Peel back the beclouding skin to see that the spawn strange happenings at Deadman’s Is‐
Old District is festering with corruption. The land; that if one sleeps there, they can enter
forces here have the means to save countless the memories of the departed and learn what
lives across Akara with their amassed re‐ they knew.
sources, but their eyes are set only on selfish
tomorrows.

Four Reasons to Visit the Old District Four Reasons to Visit the Song District

1. The scavengers need to find a patron and the 1. Rumor has it a bael has touched down in the
best resources belong to those native to the Song District and is offering to buy out any
Old District. scavenger rings with their weight in goods.
2. Word spreads of a horrible riot. The scav‐
2. A rival scavenger ring has stolen information engers learn that someone they care about is
from the scavengers and is looking for a bidder in danger of being assassinated or kidnapped
in the Old District. They must find a way to out‐ amidst the chaos.
bid them. 3. A famous singer in the Song District has
made it known that anyone that can bring
3. When a Tarnaki merchant is exiled from the them a song never before heard will earn from
Old District, they hire the scavengers to steal them a shardstone artifact they themselves
back their now-lost wealth. made.
4. In order to find a hidden cache of treasure in
4. Alongside their patron, the scavengers must Torn, the scavengers must visit Deadman’s Is‐
present their collected findings before the land and sleep there in hopes of the interred
Council of Jade & Progress to earn permission scavengers revealing to them in their dreams
for entering the Monolith. the treasure’s location.

25
WINDPORT DISTRICT
The Eastern Constellation Wind blows hard sive square that borders the gate to the Old Dis‐
against Tarnak. This district, then, was named trict does there gather every merchant inside.
for that very same wind as it makes the hot days In the New Market, anything can be found.
cool for the residents who live here. Here, Tar‐ Weapons never before seen or thought of,
naki call thin, multi-story towers their home. foods and drinks that have disappeared else‐
Each floor belongs to another family, and each where in the world, even Torn Drugs, servile
tower is considered to be its own unique neigh‐
borhood. Though there are Tarnaki homes in flesh, and other, ever more illegal things too.
other districts, propaganda and fear have kept Matching the Sea of Songs in size is a vast gush
them rooted largely in Windport; and even of tents of every color and stalls made from ev‐
here, safe in their towers, there is fear of the ery wood and Ivory Guards pushing their way
sacai admitted daily from the bordering Ser‐ through these Akaran swarms and now morg
pent’s Slum. and kith swarms too, all hoping to find some‐
This fear is put aside every ninth day of the thing to ease their doomsday anxieties.
month when the New Market opens. In a mas‐
 Four Reasons to Visit the Windport District
There is another market square; one whose rep‐
utation calls to Tarnaki bloodlust. The Crimson 1. In need of resources, the scavengers visit the
New Market on one of the days it is open.
Square is dyed its namesake; the stones, crim‐
son, the walls, even the buildings. The market 2. A special vendor only sells their valuable po‐
days here are rare - only when an execution is to tions in the Crimson Square during Honey Trap
happen. Many ways there are to die in Tarnak. executions. The scavengers need these potions
The Bronze Bull, where criminals are roasted for their next expedition.
alive; the Honey Trap, where they are hung
from poles, slathered in honey, and left for in‐ 3. A native Tarnaki family has hired the scav‐
sects to eat; and Sun-Slaying, where they are engers to protect them at night from what
strapped to a pole just outside of shade and left they believe to be murderous slum-dwellers.
there to wither under the sun. Sages have said
that to keep Akarans happy, they must be given 4. The scavengers need a patron. Someone
sacrifice. Here then is Tarnak’s ode to such a from the Windport District has told them that
in exchange for goods to sell at the New Mar‐
brutal belief. ket, they will fund the scavengers.
THE TARNAKI SLUMS
Like herded skarag do sacai gather on the skirts The Serpent’s Slum was given its name from
of Tarnak. They build slums from reeds, mud, its unregulated wet markets. Tribal mobs have
and animal skins; they know no rule of law save always lived off the land. To this end, they have
their own so thus they live in a state of fearful brought with them great herds of animals
anarchy. Of these slums, there are two so large likely extinct anywhere else. These same ani‐
the Tarnaki refer to them with their own names, mals are unfit for their cages; they escape of‐
as if ironically they were districts themselves: ten, and predators stalk the Serpent’s Slum
the Charred and the Serpent’s. much to the joy of the mobs living here. Ask
any tribesmen and they’ll tell you that this
place reminds them of their home, that they
have no desire to enter Tarnak. For the most
THE CHARRED SLUMS part, this has remained true.
Along the Great Katar Wall’s southwestern Ruling the Serpent’s Slum is a council of vari‐
length stretches the Charred Slums. Once they ous speakers from the individual tribal mobs.
covered the entirety of western Tarnak from In mockery of Tarnak, they call themselves the
the Gate of the Caught Sun down to the trash- Council of Dirt & Bone. Unknown to them, their
blanketed seashore. Then came the fires. How relations with one another are much the same
they started is a mystery still unsolved. Rumor as those who they mock; the Council of Dirt &
tells that the Council of Jade & Progress com‐ Bone rarely comes to a decision and ends each
missioned the fire to remove the refugees. meeting with everyone dissatisfied. This, too,
Some say it was a freak accident caused by the people of the Serpent’s Slum enjoy, for this
shardstones. Regardless of the truth, the too reminds them of home.
flames decimated the Charred Slums whose
hope-filled people became little more than
kindling for disaster.
Large swathes of the slums are covered in ash.
Corpses, too. They lie half-buried and burned Four Reasons to Visit the Tarnaki Slums
into obliteration so that neither sex nor any
other inference can be made as to their iden‐
tity. Still, knowing nothing else, people live 1. The scavengers have found an urn from the
here, amongst the pyre-ruin, the scorched so‐ Charred Slums. Now they must find the person
journers. Pestilence rides through the slums. who sent it, as their skills would aid them
Leprosy is common. It is a wasteland that Tar‐ greatly on their next expedition.
nak tries to ignore for it cannot bring itself to
reckon what this may reveal about the city’s 2. A refugee in the Dust District pays the scav‐
own future. engers to go find their loved ones inside the
Charred Slums, even if all they can find is a
Daredevils and desperates in the Charred corpse.
Slums put urns into the sea that wash into the
Song District. These urns are taken to scav‐ 3. In the Serpent’s Slum, the scavengers seek
enger rings. The idea is simple: the urn’s con‐ out a tribe whose abilities at tracking can help
tents is meant to be bait and proof - a job ap‐ them find a rare creature that they’ve been
plication of sorts. Included tools show exam‐ hired to find.
ples of a sacai’s skills or writings in now-hard‐ 4. In the Serpent’s Slum, an animal now extinct
ened mud or paint on the urns images of what has been requested to be added to their pa‐
they can do. To be lifted from the Charred tron’s menagerie.
Slums into a scavenger ring is a dream, for it
means a chance at not only escaping but
fighting the Great Dying that led them here.

THE SERPENT’S SLUM

“I’m envious, you know. They have these
On the other side of the Gate of Seven Lights lights over there. In the Old District. Can
stews the Serpent’s Slum. Tents and buildings
never before seen by the Tarnaki stretch and just walk around at night, no fear of what’s
coil for dals along the seashore. To enter this hiding in the dark. Different world, them
place is to enter a new world where cultures people. A whole different Akara there.”
that may have never in their history seen an‐
other Akaran are here stitched together. Their ~ Kidu, of the Serpent’s Slum, on the Old
rustic ways, their rural beliefs, their tribalism District’s night lights.
that pits them against one another: all of this
has made a city where blood feuds between
once warring nations now must be settled in
the face of greater disaster.

28
29
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

The account of Togorn,

Who Walked the Path of Silence
and Gazed Upon the Void

“ The morning I entered by the Gate of the Caught

Sun, surrounded by many intimate side streets that
flow into an immense open market, one of the finest I
have seen in my travels. Passed through the jewel mer-
chants and my eyes were dazzled by the varieties of
precious stones that I saw; they were displayed in the
hands of young sacai who stood in front of the mer-
chants, wearing rich robes and their waists wrapped
with sashes of silk, exhibiting the jewels. There, the
myriad of colorful shops and tents chaotically placed
around the vast square, contained by the old, crimson,
inner city walls. The smells coming from the spice ven-
dors, of flower leaves and scented woods, all competing
for the traveler’s noses and their pouches of jade.
I remember making my way through the crowds, the
many merchants of Akara gathered in this last place of
hope and desperation, Muraneese stone craftsmen,
Bataash poison makers, Kanuman stargazers, Tarnaki
spice dealers, all caught up in a frantic display of wares,
shouting, inviting, exchanging sigils, weighting them,
biting them, their skin darkened, burning and sweating
under the scorching sun. Smoke from the copper-
smiths. Dust from the stone workers. Smell of the green
leaf smokers. Gamblers, thieves, belly dancers, all of
them harassing the passerbyers with their goods and
skills, making it almost impossible not to leave a few
jades behind.
People in strange costumes were playing musical in-
struments I’ve never seen before, accompanied by all
this buzzing noise until late at night. The market never
fully closes. There's always shops open and merchants
willing to sell you their wares. Numerous clans control
different zones of the market, sharp eyes and sharper
blades always overlooking the many faces that ex-
change goods. Oh, I’ll remember the splendor of the city
of Tarnak, the majestic Crimson Square with all its in-
sane beauties and horrors.
In the afternoon the kettle-drums were beaten, loads of
firewood were kindled in the flames, and the poor
brethren began their ritualic dance around a big open
fire. A friendly battle of music, poems, and dancing,
some of them rolled in the fire, others ate it in their
mouths until finally, they extinguished it entirely.
The life of someone like me is most of the time a solitary
one, having spent most of my youth wandering the
Akaran planes, from the dried wastes of the Bloodsands
in the South to the desolate peaks of the White Bones
in the far North. The sky was my guide and the earth
was my keeper. Never wandered into the scattered set-
tlements that can be found out there, so I was not pre-
pared when my steps took me for the first time in the
vast city-state of Tarnak. So many souls in one place,
trying to make a living for themselves, like a swarm of
ants to their nest, all wrapped in an abundance of
scents, spices, leather, perfume, and skarag dung.
Walking down the busy streets drowned in the hazy
light I closed my eyes for a moment and a thousand
sensations assaulted me from every direction. Bronze.
Sweat. Ashes. Feathers. Jade. Blood. The streets are all-
knowing, they speak of lost children, of secret places of
worship, of words sharper than Kanuman spears, of
pomegranates and honey… There are shape-shifting
streets, echoing streets, barren streets, streets that are
dreaming of what lies beyond, and silent streets too,
where no soul will take notice of treacherous daggers.
Penetrating all, hanging right above the skin is a violent
scent of incense, strange overheated air that flows like
a river of homeless souvenirs gathered from the wreck-
age of the world.
Amidst all this beauty and chaos, it is somewhat easy to
forget the impending doom that befalls all the dwellers
of this ruined world. How our time has changed. Days
and life used to be slower. Now it is a race for survival,
for preserving, for discovering what else is out there.
This Cataclysm divided us but also brought many of us
together in wondrous places like this.
Tomorrow, the great Monolith will open and invite me
to a new, even stranger place. My will is strong and I
shall brave the dangers that lay ahead. Many have ven-
tured in but few have returned whole. I must be strong
and capable, for I desire to experience this wonderful
city once more before it all ends.
”
COUNCIL OF JADE & PROGRESS
Princess Ida despised sovereigns of any kind members campaign during the dry season
and so Tarnak has been ruled since its earliest against a currently serving councilor for their
days by a council of wealthy, affluent, and spe‐ seat. At season’s end, the council decides
cialized individuals who together decide the whether or not the replacement is allowed. This
city’s future. Once, this was a council of chief‐ is not a fair system. Bribes to the council, black‐
tains and warlords. With time, their roles have mail and deceit, schemes without end - these
changed to fit a different kind of civilization. have turned the council into a deathtrap for the
unprepared and an ill-opportunity for those
There are nine seats on the Council of Jade and who truly want to do what is right.
Progress. Two seats govern Tarnak’s trade. An‐
other two, Tarnak’s militia. Then two more for Season’s end does not make ruling any safer.
the city’s laws, and another two any and all Just as these so-called statesmen masquerade
taxes. The last seat is a special position: the tie- as comrades, so too do they plot to steal influ‐
breaker. ence from one another. Coyly this is referred to
Council seats are elected. Prospective council by those who play as the Jade Game.

THE CURRENT COUNCIL:

MILITIA MILITIA TIE-BREAKER

Warlord Kamuano is a scav‐ Mairo of the Ivory Guard is Sarok is an artificer whose
enger who bought his posi‐ the current elected leader of famedreputationislargerthan
tion through a series of ever Tarnak’s guardsmen and or‐ life. It was he who puzzled out
more difficult, ever more ab‐ der-keepers. As a leader, Mairo the secrets of shards to create
surd requests by his patron - is down to earth, calm, and Tarnak’s streetlights, and it is
the previous councilmen who consistent in his attitudes. he who handles the most se‐
held this position. He sees to However, this manifested cretive, the most ambitious,
the training of Tarnak’s militia, honor doubles as weakness. and the most expansive of
making sure that every Tar‐ Mairo’s family is constantly projects. Years of artifice have
naki citizen is ready to be under threat by those against left him warp-scarred, which
called to arms should the city him and this has led a man he hides underneath a crown
be invaded. However, his who cannot abide crime to of black horns fashioned from
mind is Torn-addled, and his close his eyes to some of Tar‐ borun. As a man he is calculat‐
grasp on reality slowly slip‐ nak’s worst offenses. ing, seemingly kind. The other
ping. councilors vie for his friendship
out of hope that he will share
with them the treasures en‐
sconced within his shard‐
vaults.

32
LAW TRADE TAXES
Lawmaker Shaitum is Tar‐ Babiri, Ranee of Ores Masgel is the guild
nak’s principal legislator, and Stargazer’s Bay is a former leader of the Circle of Stone
a woman who has transi‐ pirate queen-turned-council‐ and Fire. The sheer strength of
tioned from her previous gen‐ woman by her immense his campaign - backed by the
der. She holds court with wealth and the force of arms entirety of the Bronze and
guilds and cults to hear their shecommands.Shesoughtre‐ Dagger districts - forced the
lobbying, drafts up amend‐ tirement as opposed to death council to elect him. Ores is
ments to laws, and presents when faced with the Cata‐ fair where his fellows are not,
them to the Council to be clysm’s demented seas. and is careful to keep Tarnak’s
recorded in stone. She is a Though she is missing her left taxes low. Someone straight‐
good woman at heart but val‐ arm, Babiri is no less fierce a laced as Ores is a thorn for the
ues her wealth more than her warrior than she was in her corrupt, but few can deny the
ethics. As of late, she has be‐ prime. As councilwoman, she influence that he wields.
gun the creation of a new fac‐ oversees naval trade. Babiri is
tion of scavengers dedicated known to use bribes and
to solving crimes the Ivory threats of force to get her way.
Guard cannot.

LAW TRADE TAXES

Councilor Oraeba is a mute Councilmen Enlil has had Samua of the Stygian Ser‐
judge, jury, and executioner. his thumb on the shifting pents is an alchemist who is
They are cruel to those who landscape of overland trade in well-practiced in taboo, occult
break the slightest of crimes Tarnak for half a century. He shardscraft. So too is he the
and only half of one’s weight has a mind for cartography only child of the famous scav‐
in jade sigils will see them giv‐ and knows well what Tarnak’s enger who shares his name.
ing any form of mercy. They trade partners want and what This secret operation has
elect judges for each trial to they will give in return. Enlil, earned the Stygian Serpents
aid them in their decision, hunched though he is, is un‐ incredible money - money
which is always delivered usually spry, sharp with his that bought Samua his posi‐
through scribe-read tablets. tongue, and has openly an‐ tion. He is unusually close
Ruthlessness has cemented nounced that if he is killed, all friends with Councilor Sarok,
their position - that, and the other councilors will know a and is known for his shard‐
blackmail they have on other similar fate. He is believed. stained eyes.
councillors.

33
 d6 Using the Council of Jade and Progress
Babiri has lost a ship along the Gulf of the
1 Stalker. She seeks scavengers to go there and
find the lost cargo: food and herbs sent from
Bataar.
Councilor Oraeba is overseeing a brutal whip‐
ping of one of the scavengers’ allies. Their
2 crime was theft of something most precious:
shardstones from a recently dead invoker’s
wears.
Warlord Kamuano is convinced that Kanu‐
3 man spies have infiltrated the council. He
hunts the scavengers down and interrogates
them to slate his paranoia.
Election season has begun and a woman by
the name of Zyrah Binat is campaigning
4 against Samua of the Stygian Serpents. The
scavengers are approached by both to find
blackmail on their rival.
In broad daylight does a Bataash assassin try
5 to desperately kill Councilmen Enlil in front of
the scavengers.
Sarok has need of scavengers willing to brave
Torn to bring him back a fortune of shard‐
6 stone nodes. He knows their location, though
it is perilous indeed: the depths of the Tainted
Valley.

d6 Using the Circle of Stone & Fire

A bloodcutter has gone missing, his work‐
shop destroyed. Ores Masgel wants justice
1 for this crime. He believes the criminal to
be a rival bloodcutter apprenticing under
Sarok.
The music of hammer on bronze nearly
drowns out the sounds of combat. Inside
2 one of the Copper Bellows a Kanuman as‐
sassin struggles to kill a borunsmith for
their prized weapons.
A Master of Fire seeks scavengers for the
purpose of trade. For a few pounds of
3 borun, the Master will give them an armory
of 100 bronze blades.
The Masters of Stone are protesting the Cir‐
cle. The Great Dying has stolen the public’s
4 love of their work, and they feel their dues
are outrageous. The protest marches from
district to district, derailing whatever it is
the scavengers are doing.
A young sculptor asks the scavengers to
bring him the corpse of something alien
5 from Torn. They believe that in sculpting it,
they will earn fame comparable to Blood‐
blade Ores.
The quarries are running low, and getting
the materials for bronze smelting has be‐
6 come difficult. Scavengers willing to brave
Akara and bring back what the Circle
needs will be rewarded handsomely.

34
THE CIRCLE OF STONE & FIRE
Ruling the Bronze District is the Circle of Stone every smith produces work appropriate to their
& Fire; a structured guild of masons, bronze‐ rank and gets paid their fair share in jade. The
smiths, armorers, and other craftsmen. The cir‐ Copper Bellows themselves are a sprawling se‐
cle is older than Tarnak. When the city-state ries of forges and quarries interconnected in
formed, two tribes - one who proclaimed to be the Bronze District where apprentices are
masters of stone and the other masters of fire - trained and meetings are held. A bronze tablet
came together to see who could build the engraved with a circle of mountains and
most beautiful city. Their rivalry soon became flames names Ores’s headquarters.
unity and the Circle was forged from jade and Scavengers and the Circle of Stone & Fire work
cast bronze. Now, all craftsmen in Tarnak must
pledge allegiance to the Circle if they want closely together. Bloodcutters and borun‐
work. While this has done wonders for crafts‐ smiths trade precious weapons and armor in
exchange for the raw materials needed. Arti‐
manship as a whole, artistic freedom has suf‐ facts, too, find their home in the Circle. Most
fered just as prices have risen - the damnation precious of all is the Mask of the Ancient - a
of monopoly.
golden thing, too large for any Akara or morg
Ores Masgel, a councilman himself, is the cur‐ or kith head, horned and taken from the
rent Circlebearer. His claims to fame are the desert surrounding the fabled Core City Ruins.
bloodcut shardstone weapons he’s made over
his lifetime. From the Copper Bellows does he
manage the guild’s standards; he ensures that

THE TOWER OF THOUGHTS

Unmissable, the Tower of Thoughts, found Each of the tower’s seven levels is unique unto
brooding in Monolith-shadow. It is a tall thing itself. They are:
of clay and stone, painted black by Bataash
powders, faded in the light of the sun and thus
now a strange grey, a sable spire. It has no win‐ THE LAYERS OF THE TOWER OF THOUGHTS
dows and but a single entrance at its base. Ignorance’s Shade, the name of the first floor
Seven stories tall it is, and inside are walls ob‐ where students are given sleeping lodges, food
sidian lined, jet lined, walls illuminated not by is prepared, money trades hands, and Serpents
sunlight, walls where only the candles offered hold ceremony-lessons.
may be used to light the way forward. When a The Midnight Cradle, the second level, where
student’s candle dies they must purchase an‐ Midnight Child sleep, are fed, and lie in their
other. The Stygian Serpents themselves use drug-stupors when not needed by a Serpent.
them not, save for ceremony; part of their The Nest is the third level where the Stygian
training is learning to navigate the Tower of Serpents themselves have small lodges, no
Thoughts through memory, sound, touch, and more than alcoves with padding and blankets.
most importantly of all, through serpent. It is also where they eat.
Trained these things are to hiss and slither be‐ The Void is where the Serpents perform many
fore their masters, guiding them all the while. of their ceremonies and rituals with one an‐
No more than seven times seven Stygian Ser‐ other, on the fourth floor, indulging in strange
pents are allowed into the order. Their slight drugs, odd chants, all in an attempt to become
numbers are owed partially to the small spaces something more than Akaran.
in which they have to live. Should a Serpent Meditation Chambers are small, walled off al‐
leave the Tower of Thoughts, they must wear coves on the fifth floor. Here, Serpents work
black robes to denote their separation from shardstones in experiments unfit for the eyes of
the world, and artifacts of shed snake skin that others.
allude to their eventual enlightenment. They Where Secrets are Sung is the sixth level,
are guarded when outside the tower by drug- where only Serpents given permission from the
broken warriors they refer to as Midnight current Doyen of Thoughts may ascend. It is
Childs. To attempt to invade the Tower is to there that artifacts gathered from across Akara
face these things, whose berserk strength and and Torn are safely stored.
poisoned weapons have stolen the lives of
many a thief. Know a Midnight Child by their The Zenith is the uppermost level, where the
indigo painted skin, the blindfolds they wear, Doyen of Thoughts has his own quarters and
and the many small scars across their arms, all private workshop. It is here that Samua first
of which is owed to the drug cocktails the Ser‐ fashioned Torn Drugs, and where many that
pents force upon them. disappear are found transformed and ulti‐
mately discarded.

35
STYGIAN SERPENTS
There broods a secret society of sages who those hopelessly addicted pay in jade or with
came to Tarnak believing it to be a place where experimental favor. It is their Doyen of
their experiments and rituals would finally bear Thoughts, their leader, the illustrious Samua,
fruit. In truth they were Kanuman exiles - child of the famed scavenger who found Torn’s
heretics who said their foresight superseded Samua Marshes, that has brought the Stygian
the stars’ own. With their supposed foresight, Serpents wealth to new heights. Samua has -
the Stygian Serpents have bloomed old here‐ unknown to the Council of Jade & Progress -
sies into an infamous group of lore hunters. developed the now affluent Torn Drugs viru‐
These sages take great pride in their knowl‐ lently spreading throughout Tarnak. These ex‐
edge. Thus, each Serpent introduces them‐ periments are cruel. His empathy is absent.
selves with a title denoting their study. One But by combining the millenia old rituals of
may be Amrash Who Meditates on Cataclysms the Stygian Serpents with fledgling shard‐
or Zarar, Knower of Migrations. science, he has created new ways to expand
Secretive though they are, the Stygian Ser‐ the mind. Understand that Samua dreams of
pents have always offered to share their wis‐ enlightenment.
doms with the uninitiated. In the Tower of Samua’s drugs are tested not on himself or
Thoughts - dark, foreboding, unwelcoming - other Serpents, but on refugees seeking succor
are kept bone-etched histories, medicines that in Tarnak. He hires headhunters to bring him
are said to grant eternal youth, even the se‐ living Akarans so that he may properly test his
crets of what happens to the mind after death. research. The things he has done should not
Much of this information is kept in encoded rit‐ be repeated. Their results not only increase the
ual. Sacraments fueled by strange drugs, cere‐ already powerful influence of the Stygian Ser‐
monies performed on days of power - this is pents, but also dump more drugs into Tarnak -
how a Stygian Serpent spends their time a slowly spreading cancer on the city’s streets.
within their dark tower. But not all Stygian Serpents indulge in here‐
When the Monolith opened, the Stygian Ser‐ sies so dark. No, many instead choose to use
pents claimed responsibility. Few took stock in the research garnered by Samua to help the
their lies. Shardstones and their faith-based refugees flooding Tarnak. As Torn Drugs
warping changed this. Hungry, now, the Sty‐ spread, so too do Torn Medicines. Many Ser‐
gian Serpents for more shards, more artifacts, pents secretly are behind projects that are
more information. They fund expedition after even now saving the lives of the diseased, cre‐
expedition and hoard whatever is brought ating food for the starving, making water poi‐
back. Isolated, they have become. No longer soned by refuse drinkable. They say, if the stars
are uninitiated students allowed to study in themselves will not save the world, then it is
the Tower of Thoughts. Only those willing to the minds of Akara that must brew the am‐
barter Torn treasures are allowed to sup at the brosia. And though Samua’s actions are
table of wisdom. heinous it is also a common parable that
bloody hands are needed to save lives.
Know that drugs are the serpent’s trade. On
the black market do they go, and in return

d6 Using the Stygian Serpents

The scavengers, unable to find a patron willing to risk on them their resources, are sought out
1 by the Stygian Serpents. They are told that if they can bring back news of the Behemoth in
the Samua Marshes, they will be paid handsomely in jade sigils and given future work.

A black robed man wearing a necklace of shed snake skins offers the scavengers their weight
2 in jade sigils if they promise to test an experimental shardpotion.
For three days has a woman of sixty years tried to get into the Tower of Thoughts. Time and
3 time again she is thrown down. If she sees the scavengers as capable, she tells them that her
wife came here for medicine a week prior, never to return.
When the scavengers return to Dal Ashta from an expedition, they are approached by a
4 woman robed in black, bald, wearing a turban of shed snake skins. She says she will double
the price of their patron in exchange for any artifacts or news that they have brought back.
A man whose footsteps produce thunderclaps is screaming, laughing, crying, and stumbling,
5 and no Ivory Guard has been able to restrain him. When approached, he mutters that the ser‐
pents bit him and that he must bite back.
The Doyen of Thoughts, Samua, has need of the grass found in the Pannor Plains for a ritual
6 he is to perform. He himself will seek out scavengers to do it, though why he picks them he
says not. In exchange for their service, Samua promises food, material goods, and a chance to
try a drug that he recently developed.

36
THE SCAVENGER RINGS
No people in Akara have half the influence that making, rumor gathering, and even additional
the Scavenger Rings claim. Esoteric and un‐ bodies for future expeditions, are vital for a
precedented, their story begins near half a cen‐ scavenger ring to succeed.
tury ago with the opening of the Monolith and Infrequently, scavenger rings with influence
the hiring of the first scavengers to investigate can call for the Fete. These meetings ceremo‐
it. With every year comes more who seek these nially take place in the square around the
hidden secrets. Without an organization to con‐ Monolith. For many reasons can the Fate be
trol the flow of shardstones and artifacts, there called: sudden changes in Torn, news of cata‐
would be chaos. With this realization, both the clysmic events across Akara, or to confront
Council of then and the first scavengers estab‐ problems that scavengers face as a whole.
lished what is now known as the Scavenger Though attending the Fete is not required,
Rings. scavengers who do not appear find them‐
The Scavenger Rings are not a single organiza‐ selves quickly punished by others for the insult.
tion. Instead, this is the name given to each in‐ Attendance does not preclude violence. Rival‐
dividual ring of scavengers - that is, each spe‐ ries between rings have a way of exploding,
cific group, some of which have an exclusive leading to brawls and, at their worst, murders
patron and others who have many. These rings too. Tarnaki watch from the sidelines. Ivory
jostle with one another for influence and Guards patrol to ensure scavenger strangeness
power, comparing what they’ve looted across doesn’t harm the surrounding city. When the
Akara and Torn, measuring their legends Fete begins, always with little ceremony, no ex‐
against each other in verse duels and plain pense is spared by the Fete-Caller either. Food
fact. is prepared, tents erected, and the meeting is
treated as half-show, half-serious. In recent
It is the recording of these so-called legends years, this has led to ever greater disruptions,
that the scavenger rings are most preoccupied with sacai and refugees forcing their way into
by. All artifacts, knowledge, and resources scav‐ the city for a glimpse at these legend’d dare‐
enged must be recorded with the rings devils.
through the Ruin Assembly, who informs the
Council of newfound wealth and informs the Many, these daredevils. With the monsoon sea‐
scavenger rings of new Council edicts. The son new rings are initiated, some coming with
Ruin Assembly approves the Council of Jade & that loud buzz only the reckless or rich can
Progress’s distribution of Torn Sigils too. Those drum up; and the year after, too, do scavenger
that are unapproved but still venture into Torn rings disappear, destroyed on their expeditions
are expelled. or else failing to return. The map of influence
between the rings is thus ever changing. Only
Expulsion is not handled lightly. With expulsion a handful have survived to retirement or old
comes an explicit ban: no ring can provide any‐ age with their humanity intact; know these as
thing to blacklisted scavengers. Doing so is the World-Treaders. These scavengers, some of
grounds for the aid-givers themselves to be ex‐ whom have no ring themselves, are famous for
pelled. Diligent, the Ruin Assembly, in their up‐ their own wonderful, horrible tales.
keep of rule-breakers.Certain scavenger rings
have essentially retired, opting now to provide As of now, there have been four who have
resources and aid to new generations. These come to hold this title.
resources, ranging from providing gear, map-

THE WORLD-TREADERS
Ishanya the World-Treader. Arrogant Ishanya is The Obsidian Yog. Yog is the last survivor of a
a young woman who claims no ring as her own. scavenger ring destroyed after an expedition
It is Ishanya who has seen all of Torn’s known deep into Torn’s Sea of Myst. She is a morg
sites, and it is her, alien-minded as she is, who known for her warp-scar: glassy, black skin that
will likely see them all. Ishanya is difficult to reflects light as an oil spill would. Yog is seen as
find. Rarely does she appear at the Fete, and the premier expert on Torn’s many dangers.
most often she is deep in Torn on some high-
paying, highly secretive expedition. Samua & the Rudthar. Samua famously
mapped many areas of Torn with her compan‐
The Jade Ring. The first scavengers to enter ions, the tribal Rudthar. Samua disappeared
Torn were later known as the Jade Ring for the nearly two years ago, taken by a creature known
wealth they brought to Tarnak. All members as Samua’s Bane.
died within ten years of first entering Torn.

37
THE TONGUE & HAND
Thieves young and thieves old all pay their dues seemingly, they are outside of law, outside of
to the Tongue and Hand. In the Dagger District punishment, led by phantoms, the shadows of
do they lay in wait; watching, planning, observ‐ mist.
ing. In more ways than one are they the mod‐ But there is a direction to this chaos. On nights
ern predators of a civilized world. Paying fealty when the aurora is dim and the moon black
to them - them being the older members who does the Tongue and Hand meet in undercity
take in the younger - is to be initiated into their catacombs. There, fealty is paid, members initi‐
secrets. These secrets are the hidden pathways
of Tarnak; memorized maps of the catacombs ated. Rumor tells true - children lead the pro‐
under the city, knowledge of which Ivory ceedings, adults serving them, in a tradition
Guards are corrupt and what merchants will established when Tarnak was young and the
grease palms, the wisdom needed to see what Monolith closed. Rituals are invoked. The
prey looks like, to know its vulnerability. So too tongue is pierced with a jade rod - a sign that
members use to identify themselves - and a
must the initiated understand their position in casting of their hand is made in clay and
the Tongue and Hand. forged into bronze. These hands decorate this
The Tongue are those that are fed. All thieves inner sanctum, and when a member breaks
are the tongue, for all thieves must feed them‐ the Tongue and Hand’s code, dies, or is caught
selves. The Hand is the tool used to feed. All by the Ivory Guard and punished, it is buried
thieves are the tool, for all thieves in Tarnak pay and the thief disavowed, their jade piercing
a fraction to their betters. All who are in power collected and likewise disposed of.
are the Tongue - the councilors, the Ivory The Tongue and Hand’s current leader is a ca‐
Guards, and so on. Tarnak’s civilians are consid‐
ered the Hand; they are like oxen or skarags, bal of seven children who call themselves the
Generation Torn Apart. They, as all cabals in the
cattle to be taken care of, not abused, and to past have been, are masked, of varying ages,
be harvested when food is needed. Thus, and only they and the veterans who serve
members are taught not to kill and rarely re‐
sort to violence. If they must, a favor is to be them know their true identities. Past cabals
that have aged out and named them as the
paid by the killer to both those who loved the new leaders serve as their viziers, perpetuating
unfortunate victim most and to those who
raised the thief. a system of ever smarter aids ever more skilled.
Unlike past cabals, the Generation Torn Apart
Know that new members are often children - has taken an interest in shardstones. It is clear
refugees from other lands, parentless, wander‐ that they are collecting them, and the possibil‐
ing Tarnak with protection absent. These or‐ ities for why are many: they are seeking en‐
phans are the only thieves who face no ills trance to Torn perhaps, or maybe they wish for
when taking lives, for abuse is common great amounts of wealth in the coming New
among Tarnak’s young urchins. A stone knife World Order. Conspiracists have spread the
slid underneath an abuser’s leg is a price that idea of them believing that shards can be used
the Tongue and Hand deems fair. This is a sta‐ to keep themselves forever young and forever
tus quo as old as Tarnak. Songs are sung on in power.
the street by playing children on the dangers Whatever the true reason is, the Tongue and
of trying to take advantage of them. This has Hand continues to operate, day in and day out,
led some to believing that it is children run‐
ning the Tongue and Hand. Investigations by preying on Tarnak, skulking into a future un‐
the Council have turned up nothing over time; known.

d6 Using the Tongue & Hand

1 A weapons merchant has had bronze daggers meant for the Ivory Guards disappear half a dozen
times over. The scavengers are hired by the Tongue and Hand to steal the next batch.
In the dead of night, when the aurora is dim, children wake the scavengers up - seven of them.
2 They make an offer: one favor granted by them, in exchange for the scavengers securing the
service of a skilled artificer for a year and a day.
A young girl calls out to the scavengers in the Dust District. As they approach, the scavengers fall
3 into a hidden pit trap. The girl and an older boy peek over, saying they’ll throw down a rope if
they’re left 50 jade sigils in the pit.
The scavengers catch a young boy stealing food from a market stall. When stopped, a tall, slen‐
4 der kith steps out of the darkness. They say that if the scavengers let the child go, they will owe
a debt of thievery, payable within the month.
News has it that children have been disappearing lately. That same day, the scavengers find a
5 bronze dagger with Zazan etched upon it in their belongings. Reading it, they learn that the
Tongue and Hand requests aid in finding these missing children.
A child puts a papyrus scroll into the scavengers’ hands. Written upon it in Zazan are instruc‐
6 tions: rescue a member of the Generation Torn Apart who was kidnapped by the Stygian Ser‐
pents in exchange for 2,000 jade sigils.

38
39
THE IVORY GUARD
As the histories are written, when Princess Ida yielding thing. Uneasy, the peace created by
took the land surrounding the Monolith for her‐ the Ivory Guard. With every year it seems they
self, she had with her a crew of trusted warriors grow more violent, more extreme, and the
whose ivory spears they swore to always defend Dust District, the sacai, the Tongue and Hand
her and her own. These old heroes were named all are forced to grow every bit as desperate
the Ivory Guard and their legends have survived under their oppression.
them. Established from those early days is what
is now Tarnak’s principal guardian force. Know Councilmen Mairo bears the title of White Arm
them for their garb - bronze plates, skarag given to the Ivory Guard’s commander-leader.
scaled, encrusted with chitinous shells. The He was chosen by his predecessor for the
pieces that are not bronze are jade-painted. evenness he displays in situations heinous and
Their spears are their pride. Each is made from deadly. That evenness is what lets him operate
blackmailed as he is now. Councillor Oraeba
ivory whittled from the bones of skarags bred and Councilmen Enlil both hold the lives of
just for this cause. Many of these spears are Mairo’s wife and children over his head. With
passed from generation to generation. To re‐ them in ever present danger, and unable to
ceive one is said to be given Tarnak’s highest move against two members of the Council,
honor; in recent years has this propaganda Mairo is forced to dispense justice as they see
been ever strengthened.
fit. Know this as the half-origin of the Ivory
On their hips sit bronze katars. This tool is used Guards new extremism. Though Mairo would
by the guard in their darkest of duties: the rather see the sacai and other refugees inte‐
summary execution of law-breaking sacai. It is grated properly into Tarnak, his rivals, both
a practice born from the nationalistic surge in sure in their brutal order, allow him no free‐
response to the city’s refugee flood. Ivory dom. Believing himself alone and without al‐
Guards, protected by their own out of a sense lies, Mairo has found himself caught in a
of fraternity, pressured by the brewing end of deadly trap that he sees no way out of.
the world, have turned justice into a harsh, un‐

d6 Using the Ivory Guard

In the Dust Districts, a sacai caught stealing food is chased by the Ivory Guard. The young sacai
1 screams that they will kill him if he is caught and begs for the scavengers to help.
Having heard of their skill, a young child approaches the scavengers. Their request is simple:
2 find the stolen spear of their Ivory Guard father, who was murdered in the Charred Slums out‐
side of Tarnak.
The Ivory Guard has publically been homing in on the Tongue and Hand’s headquarters. They
3 scout the scavengers, offering them partial patronship in exchange for heading into the cata‐
combs to investigate rumors of the thief guild’s secret hideout.

4 The scavengers are accused of a violent crime: shardtheft. The Ivory Guards are actively hunting
them for brutal interrogation and worse fates should they resist.

With the disappearance of the scavengers’ patron, they must turn to the Ivory Guard for help in
5 finding them. Mairo himself intervenes, however, suspiciously telling the scavengers that there
is nothing to investigate.

A former Ivory Guard approaches the scavengers after a public execution is held in the Wind‐
6 port District. They ask for the scavengers to find evidence of the executioner’s illegal dealings,
so that they can bring the Ivory Guard to justice.

“Yeah, I saw the Scavenger Rings at their Gathering yesterday. One of

them looked my ways. His eyes...the whites looked like a night sky, and
the rest was...red.”

~ An account describing the strange members of the Scavenger Rings

40
41
42
BRONZE-CAST CHARACTERS: SAROK
In Tarnak, there is a man whose intellect is this. And if Sarok knows something, he can use
matched only by his reputation. Every city-state it to his advantage.
knows of him; every city-state wishes they had Among Sarok’s achievements there are the
his genius. Tarnak alone does he grace, this
Sarok who has personally used shardstones to shardstone streelights in the Old District, the
begin a quietly warped revolution. bloodcut configurations that keep the sur‐
rounding soil healthy for crops, and the sub‐
Sarok’s mind is utterly unlike any of his contem‐ merged apparatuses he’s made that stabilize
poraries. He is a Ruminator of the Chain, a the surrounding sea. Now, he is funding scav‐
borunsmith and bronzesmith both, a bloodcut‐ enger rings en masse to go into Torn and to
ter too, and above all else, an amoral and ambi‐ bring him back sentinels. His reasons for this
tious man filled with purpose. Sarok is master‐ are unknown, but it is obvious to many that
ful in his areas of study, and he is masterful at Sarok has some sort of plan for the future, and
becoming so in others too. This has been the even if that plan could damn thousands, those
fuel that has spread the wildfire that is his repu‐ who are aware of it trust that it can save mil‐
tation. Sarok knows the most famous dagger‐ lions instead.
masters, the most legend’d bloodcutters, is an Know this, scavengers. Sarok is a selfish man.
honorary master of the Circle of Stone & Fire, Do what he says and put yourselves in the
and so on. palm of his hand. There, you may find wealth
Established, the elite air about Sarok. Though, and power, or you may find yourself treated as
rich and powerful he may be, few call Sarok another sacrificial pawn in a game only he
friend and those that do only do so for access knows the rules too.
to the things he has gathered. Sarok knows

The account of Sarok, who shapes the future

“ You’ve come to me asking if the Cataclysm is real

like a child who knows not how to see.
Tell me, has this thought ever crossed your mind: “Will
you must watch and see how some survive and some do
not. These observations are to be recorded. Scrutinized.
And then more observations must be made.
tomorrow come?” It is a childish question but I would Because of my inquiries, because I so closely examine
not judge you for asking it. I myself have. In answer, de- the world around me, I know that tomorrow will come. It
spite the difficulties you have thinking, you have arrived is as I predicted. It always has been. I also came to the
at an understanding that tomorrow will come so long as conclusion that today someone would come ask me
the moon sets and the sun rises. Ask then what that about the Cataclysm because the circumstances of my
means. The simple will accept this fact and move on. life and the life in Tarnak and the life in Akara dictated
Those like me will interrogate this detail. Why must the that this event must pass. I need not read any stars or
moon set? Why must the sun rise? These two factors look at entrails like some tribal screamer who has never
that are so common to our lives hold secrets the simple before seen the ocean. I must merely look at my sched-
Akaran will never be able to divine. ule, at the going-ons of the people around me, at how my
There can be no doubt that there is a Great Dying. I have reputation has spread and how my works are respected
heard my peers say that this is just another piece of and how you and thirty others since the new moon have
Akara’s cruelty to be weathered but to these peers I can come to ask me what I think on the Cataclysm.
only sneer. There is no weathering death. Living as you For your original inquiry, I will tell you the same as I’ve
should does not mean that you are guaranteed life. In or- told all those that have come before you and that will
der to know if tomorrow will come, you must know more come after. The Cataclysm, the Great Dying, no matter
than the moon sets and the sun rises, you must know what you call it, it is real. Why it is happening, I do not
why, and you must ask yourself what tomorrow is, and know. I will not postulate until I have more information.
”

43
44
45
THE PAINTED CITY
Nowhere else is there a city like the swamp-rul‐ though to do it in seriousness is a crime just as
ing Bataar. It is a swirl of color, an explosion of it is anywhere else.
life - a capital where the culture dictates that all
deadly things are what makes the world worth‐ For these many reasons, Bataar has survived
while. the Cataclysm in a way only Tarnak has been
able to. The swamp and wood they call home
Enter through canoe or boat and no other has been spared the many disasters throttling
means. Algae-choked canals thread the city, Akara. Others, though, have noticed this. Tribes
upon which the Bataash push gondolas preg‐ and refugees flood the wetlands in search of
nant with dye, fish, and poison flasks. Every Bataar. Many die to the giant insects that
morning and every evening, throat-singers and shadow the marshes or are poisoned by flow‐
snail-shell musicians signal the beginning and ers they should have never eaten. Still, the des‐
end of the working day. Dark-skinned Bataash perates search for the Painted City, knowing
play games of daggers lazily on the porch- that death is just as likely to find them as hope
ports. is.
Legends call Bataar the Painted City or the As‐
sassin’s House. Most famously, Akaran’s call it
the Frog’s Nest. Within a hundred dals of
Bataar’s Hundred-Colored Pond no frog can be
harmed or killed. This law, and all others, is en‐ LEGEND’D LOCALES
forced by the Toadmen - the slang name for
the Bataash Guard on whose vests is embla‐ Below are a few places of interest in Bataar.
zoned their slur. The reason for all this finds it‐
self in Bataar’s oldest legends, sung daily as
they are at the Hundred-Colored Pond. THE HUNDRED-COLORED POND
At Bataar’s center is a large pond framed with
The Painted City is no misnomer; Bataar is the city’s always-available market. In that pond
Akara’s largest dye manufacturer. Vast sums of there sits a statue carved in the likeness of a
wealth are traded for a selection of vibrant col‐ toad. This toad is sacred to the Bataash; old leg‐
ors unreplicable anywhere else. Those colors ends tell of how toads and frogs taught early
the Bataash paint their faces with on holy days tribes the secrets of their colors and thus the se‐
or for festivals and reserve their best for court‐ crets of their poisons. In veneration to this ideal,
ing and war. These celebrations transform the colored powders are thrown daily onto the
city into a rainbow-splattered onslaught as the statue and into the pond. It is similar to throw‐
Bataash throw sacks of powder at each other ing a coin into a well; throw color into the pond
and hold contests to see who becomes the and danger will meet you for you to overcome.
most extravagantly stained. Throw color onto the statue and the danger will
Hidden purpose lies within these holidays. be great but the rewards ever greater.
Understand that poison is Bataar’s true busi‐ TIALI’S JAIL
ness. Bataash Milkers have created half a thou‐ Once, there was an Overseer cruel and tyranni‐
sand different poisons that each produces its cal. With terror as his impetus he, Tiali, created
own unique agony. They are expensive - a fatal a jail north of Bataar where swamp becomes
dose costs tenfold a man’s weight in amber. wood. It is dug into the mud and the roots,
On a Bataash holiday, the poisons find political stone used to keep it from flooding, extended
use. Rivals are killed in creative ways during outwards like a maze deep into countless
wild dancing, subliminal song, drowned by the Akaran fathoms. This jail survived Tiali’s reign
undulating, kaleidoscopic crowds. Those (who, ironically, was thrown into it) and has
whose poisons are untraced for a month and a been used by Bataar ever since for their worst
day are pardoned by the Overseer and the po‐ criminals.
litical framework of Bataar moves ever on.
Prisoners are blindfolded, their arms wrapped
Common belief holds that Bataash culture val‐ in chords, and lowered down, led into a random
ues danger and cunning above all. Famous branch, and left there for dead. Here, they must
thieves claim Bataar as their home. In truth, contend with creatures who lair in the dank
this stereotype is born from a cultural love of and the dark, the natural diseases, poisons, and
trickery and subtly. Bataash merchants are trials, other prisoners who have survived, and, if
hagglers known for penning confusing deals. the rumors are true, horrid things, scren or
Bataash fishermen are known to playfully steal worse, who are emerging out into it.
from one another at day’s end. Thievery is as
much a game in Bataar as ball is in Tarnak,

46
47
48
BRONZE-CAST CHARACTERS: THE POWERS THAT BE
OVERSEER ALRAK
Ruling Bataar is the Overseer, though to say Below are some of the influencing forces in
they rule is to speak in err. The Overseer repre‐ Bataar.
sents the city, moderates the Powder Houses,
signs laws into existence and vetoes them too. THE POWDER HOUSES
However, those who claim this title are elected Bataar is a capitalistic city-state ruled by those
only by the Powder Houses themselves and, with the greatest wealth. These affluents enter
many times in Bataar’s history, have been little into bonds with one another and, in everything
more than figureheads assassinated when but blood, become family. These are the Pow‐
their usefulness became uselessness. Alrak, the der Houses, the ruling elites of Bataar named
107th Overseer, is no such person. originally for their mastery over color and poi‐
They were named to their position for a unique son. There is no peace between them. They as‐
trait of theirs: an overwhelming resistance to sassinate one another ruthlessly in holiday-ritu‐
poison. Alrak climbed the social ladder through als and answer only to the Overseer, a singular
clever assassinations where they pretended to figure appointed to keep Bataar from tearing
be dead themselves for the month and the day itself apart. Of the Powder Houses, know that
three stand as giants above the rest.
required. Afterwards they would announce
their survival, accept their pardon, and live the THE HOUSE OF FIVE DEADLY VENOMS
celebrity’s life. For this reason, the Powder Famously, this Powder House has managed to
Houses decided that Alrak was valuable to breed five creatures - three serpents, a spider,
Bataar; the Cataclysm rocking the world called and a toad - whose unique venoms can be
for a bless’d leader and perhaps Alrak was that
person. Universally, the Powder Houses have re‐ found nowhere else. Each sui generis venom
gretted their decision. can kill a fat skarag in under a minute and for
these the House of Five Deadly Venoms is
Alrak has seen the writing on the wall. They named. In relation to the other Powder Houses,
know that the Great Dying will rock Bataar they are heavy-handed in their quickness to de‐
sooner rather than later and that the city must stroy up and coming rival colorbinders. Their
be kept from tearing itself apart. To this end, immense wealth makes it so any assassins
they have forbade assassination and put a stop levied against them are always caught.
to all holidays. No one, neither poor nor elite,
has accepted this decision easily. Alrak is per‐ THE MINISTER’S HOUSE
suasive, though; their seemingly weekly The Toadmen themselves are a Powder House.
speeches on the state of Bataar never fails to Together they are the Minister’s House and
convince the masses that a new way must be cruel they are. Their sole trade is in bribery; they
found in order to survive the uncertain future. look the other way and help assassins get away
Still, were it not for their own history, never with their lives so long as money comes into
would they have survived to be Overseer - a fact their hand. Though this has made them power‐
that many are quick to point out. Alrak ignores ful, corruption has made them indolent, and in‐
these comments, believing that their past must dolence has made them fearful. Rumor has it
be left behind with the rest of Bataar if their that soon they will attempt a coup of the Over‐
people are to live another year. seer to ensure their survival.
THE HOUSE UNPAINTED
In Bataar, shardstones are still rare, and the
House Unpainted keeps it that way. They antic‐
ipate, raid, and steal every shardstone that
comes towards Bataar. They then break their
treasures down into powders or mix them with
body paints and distribute these as tattoos and
scarifications to those who can pay for them.
These body modifications have become popu‐
lar; people report being imbued with power
and imbued they are. This has drawn the ire of
every competitor for none can predict the dan‐
gers of so wantonly releasing shardscience into
the city.

49
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

An acccount by Devigia
Ooniyalanos, the Colorbinder

“ Monsoons have come nineteen times since I’ve been

born. My mother saw just as many the year she had me.
Six monsoons have visited since I’ve started dyeing my
hands when the Paint-Singers ribbit. As I’ve been told,
we’re the only people in Akara who make these colors.
Merchants from Tarnak and Mur buy our moonless
blues, our viper fuschias, our barrow blacks. I’m also
told each is worth a man’s life. Cheap, all things consid-
ered.
But I am Bataash and I live in Bataar and a man’s life has
always been cheap, Cataclysm or not. Myself, I’ve been
paid three men’s lives. The first was one of the canal
fishers, whose paddle I covered in nagash seed oil. The
second was another colorbinder. The third I got paid
the best for. The Ooniyalano Powder House adopted me
in exchange for making sure their inheritance came
sooner rather than later.
You look at me like I’m a toadstomper. I wasn’t caught
any of those times, so what I did is perfectly legal. Well,
was legal. Overseer Alrak has made the Powder Houses’
festival-wars a crime on account of all the people filling
our Root Forest. If I was the type to throw a shell away
like I’d only seen thirteen monsoons I would bet that
these refugees flood us for the same reason half our
fish is gone too. Everything’s dying. And if everything’s
dying, then there’s no point in using all these poisons
when we could sell them colors instead. Colors and poi-
sons...you know if not for those two things, we’d just be
fishermen and alchemists playing in the mud. I’ve been
told that, too.
Such talk makes it easy to haggle for our future. You
foreigners see us rowing our boats through the canals
and throwing sacks of colored powder at each during
other festivals and think that our reverence of frogs is
stupid fear. But we Bataash are covered in a lot of col-
ors, you know. Sometimes our shades are quaint as
fishing nets or scary-bright as marsh silver. But there’s
so much of it that you can’t see who we are. You tell me,
if you saw me here, feet dangling in the canal, pouring
water through this bucket to strain what you think is
color from seed, would you name me assassin?
”

50
STORIES OF THE EXTINCT
Below three story hooks for stories involving
Bataar.

THE COLORBOUND CONSPIRACY

Upon entering Bataar, the scavengers are ar‐
rested and brought before Overseer Alrak. Af‐
ter a lengthy interrogation establishing the
scavengers as innocents, Alrak makes them an
offer: any wish of theirs that Bataar can grant
will be granted so long as the scavengers help
them uncover a conspiracy against Alrak’s life.
The House of Five Venoms and the Minister’s
House are the two biggest suspects, but what
the scavengers find out is that something even
closer to home is trying to see the Overseer re‐
moved.

SWAMPRAT PRISON BREAK

Whilst traveling to Bataar, the scavengers hap‐
pen upon Tiali’s Jail. There, they see someone
begging for aid. In reality, the scavengers are
being baited inside of the jail by the prisoners
who plan on stealing their valuables and can‐
nibalizing them. In order to escape, the scav‐
engers will need to prove their innocence to
the Toadmen or discover a secret way out of
the jail.

VERMILLION HANDS
A thief whose face is covered in a red lac‐
quered mask has been stealing poisons, colors,
and other treasures from the Powder Houses.
No one can track this thief and the only thing
left behind are vermillion handprints that shed
a bright, same-colored light. The scavengers
are hired to find this thief, after which a clue
points them towards the House Unpainted. In
exchange for their work, the scavengers will
each be rewarded their weight in amber and
poison.

“A man kisses his partner, whose face is

painted black. A man kisses his paramore,
whose face is painted white. They remove
the paints and are the other, and the man
falls dead.”

~A Bataash parable

51
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53
WHERE SUNK THE SUN
Where civilization first began; where Akara Were it not for Bael Khorax, already would this
crawled from bloody mud into a bronze future place have been destroyed. They came across
- that place of story and legend is Kanuma. the Hunting Plains burned and starved. First
Rose, this city, in the Valley of Blades, where an‐ the ruling Baels took them as a strange slave.
cient peoples fought with sharpened bones, When Khorax spoke their own words to them
bladed stones. Bloodshed kept these tribes di‐ before they were said, laid bare their deepest
vided. Then fell the second sun. It was a star so secrets, helped them decipher riddles of state
bright it could be seen over the mountains, and food, Khorax was gifted power. That power
across the seas. Where it landed was it found by led to rulership. That rulership lifted this grave-
a blind seer, Dumuzeel, the First to Gaze the destined people and set them on a new,
Sky, and behind that seer gathered star-awed bloodier course.
tribes. Kanuma will not be forgotten, for Kanuma un‐
The history of Kanuma beyond this point is the der Khorax is a state forever at war. Star-raiders
history of Akara itself. Their wealth was fueled go boiling across the land with their star-
by their plundering armies; their armies were headed spears. Where once Kanuma sowed
armed with the first bronze spears. Where they civilization it now pillages what it needs for
visited, the Kanumans sowed into the land their needs are great and they can be met in
their culture, their language. Tribal mobs no other way. Were not extinction the other
learned from them how to track the days, how option, Kanuma wouldn’t have become this
to smith metal, how to build cities, how to new-aged terror. Parents, though, will not let
bleed enemies. Where the Kanumans them‐ their children starve. The future must be
selves learned these secrets is recorded in no fought for. No atrocity exists that will not be
scroll nor written on any tablet. They sing not committed so long as it ensures the coming
of Dal Raka, the city that came before. To the morrow.
Kanumans, they are where Akara began, and
how it vexes them that they are not where Walk their streets and see the apprehension of
Akara will end. these people. Kanumans acknowledge not
what their state is doing. They turn to mysti‐
Know the deforestation of the once lush Valley cism, culture, their stories, and to these they
of Blades as the omen for Kanuma’s fall. Now cling, all while slaves toil in their towers, die
dead, that land, the grass-drowned Hunting barbarously in the red-stained fighting pits.
Plains. The trees went into building Kanuma’s
Blade Gift, this great, spiked, wooden wall that
stands as a monument to the city’s fading
glory. Dry too the gold-mines; gone the beasts
Kanumans need. So turbulent the southern
Sea of Songs that no ships dare brave the jour‐
LEGEND’D LOCALES
ney. With shardstones demanding Akaran at‐ THE PIT OF THE SUNKEN SUN
tention, Kanuma lies in the ever-forgotten past,
buried with its uncared for legacy. Where the second sun fell is where blood is
shed for gold and jade. The Pit of the Sunken
Sun is a massive crater near Kanuma’s center.
Jade walls have been built up around it, stands
too. Here, Starfallers - that is, those captured
slaves who fight for the crowd’s enjoyment -
“Only kill those who fight back and cannot use ever stranger, ever more violent weapons
be disarmed. Maim as few as you can. You on one another, on captured beasts, on tortur‐
may eat some of their food, drink some of ous obstacles. The games are more frequent in
their water, but leave enough for us all. these troubled times, lasting from dawn to
Make sure there are no witnesses left deep dusk. Street food and little statuettes
behind.” modeled after Starfallers and branded mer‐
chandise are sold to help Kanumans forget
~ Spoken guidelines for modern ills. Starfallers who earn a grand repu‐
Kanuman raiders to follow. tation earn too their freedom as citizens in true.

54
55
56
LEGEND’D LOCALES THE POWERS THAT BE
THE PENTAD Below are some of the influencing forces in
Five sacred towers have been built. Each tower Kanuma.
is a cultural hub for Kanuma, a place for mysti‐
cism and knowledge, where gathers the Baels THE BAELS
and the greats. Know them together as the The Kanuani word Bael means “lord” or “mas‐
ter.” It is a term that has spread across the con‐
Pentad. They are: tinent but only in Kanuma is it still used in its
traditional context - that is, those who rule, who
The Tower of Night, largest of them all, rises change, who guide Kanuma to ever greater
dark from the city’s center. It is where Bael Kho‐ heights. It is the baels that serve as the powers
rax dwells and from where the state is gov‐ that be. Below, three are discussed who must
erned. It is painted black, the walls silver-stud‐ be known.
ded. To be called here is to be executed or to be
rewarded. BAEL MADEEL, WHO SEES BEYOND
is famed for his wisdom and the accuracy of his
The Tower of Horns, adorned as it is in the divinations. Before the Cataclysm reached its
many trophies of Akara’s now-extinct beasts. peak, petitioners from across the world sought
From here the raiders and military are trained him out to know what the stars did foretell. Now
and organized. Stolen shardstones have been he is spiteful at his lost influence. The vexed
carved into spearheads and hang from the Madeel has built a secret shardstone hoard
tower’s rafters, vermillion and bright. with which he hopes to overthrow Khorax with,
so that he may lead Kanuma into the star-
The Tower of Songs where artists gather, plays promised tomorrow.
are performed, and education is disseminated
amongst the citizenry. The songs grow sadder WAR-TYRANT BAEL URBARRIAR
every year, the art stranger and more abstract. is a once quiet merchant turned bloodthirsty
Deep in the tower, Khorax has those they trust raider. With every horrible year that has passed
the most producing the propaganda needed to since the Great Dying began, Urbarriar has con‐
vinced more Kanumans to take up the star-
keep control over the aging city. spear to kill, loot, and pillage for their homeland.
The Tower of Many Eyes, half-destroyed by So successful are these raids that Khorax has
earthquakes, was where stargazers gathered named Urbarriar the general of their reformed
every night for their rituals, their divinations. military. Merchants across Akara now watch
Still they gather but half of it has fallen and the closely for star-spears on the horizon knowing
that a lapse in caution will lead to slavery, death,
observatories with their telescopes broken and or some worser fate still.
bent litter the ground like tombstones and fu‐
neral urns. BAEL ZIADI, THE BESIGER
The Tower of Pasts, newest and strangest, con‐ was once a famed Starfaller who earned her
structed out of bronze entirely - a water tower freedom through a thousand clean murders.
She is a clever woman who knows better than
and a clock tower both, a monument to anyone else what it takes to survive when your
Kanuma’s majesty. It is a loud thing of churning back is against the wall. With the gold and jade
water and grinding gears built with Khorax’s she earned alongside her freedom, Ziadi
engineering acumen. Inside are maps and bought the title of Bael and then, in a feat of
recordings of all Kanuman things, even those surprising business acumen, bought owner‐
best left forgotten. ship of the Pit of the Sunken Sun too. With Kho‐
rax’s aid, she has sussed out dissidents and dan‐
gerous rebels throughout the city-state, all of
which are thrown into the pit to fight things
that are cruel as the sun and rabid as a howler.

“Witnessed I did the Bronze Beetle and the Ivory Knife. We may survive
this Cataclysm yet with these omens, but these days will be bloody.”
~ Fragment of a divination by Madeel, Who Sees Beyond.

57
STORIES OF THE EXTINCT BRONZE-CAST CHARACTERS:
BAEL KHORAX
Below are three story hooks for stories involv‐ They are not Akaran nor kith nor morg. From
ing Kanuma. the mountains Khorax stumbled, scored and
wounded, mysterious, of no sex or gender.
They stand four bladelengths tall, this Khorax,
CRIMSON CONSTELLATIONS too white to be called albino, eyes too black
Bael Madeel, Who Sees Beyond, has begun the even when compared to a kith. They spoke not
engine that will lead to Khorax’s demise. He anything. That changed when, half-sold into
chooses the most reputable Starfallers and slavery, Khorax said their first words - and what
arms them with shardstones so that they may words they were. They told Vaels the secrets of
sabotage the city and assassinate Kanuma’s other Baels. They revealed the plans of sabo‐
leader. The scavengers are hired by Madeel to teurs and liars. Khorax, with a power hitherto
aid him to these ends. Unfortunately for unknown, without needing shardstones or
Madeel, Khorax has glimpsed the truth within Torn impossibilities, read the minds of those
the scavengers’ minds. Now the scavengers around them and with this ability ascended to
must survive a shadow war between these two the top of the Kanuman food chain. Then they
mighty figures. set to work on saving the city.
Questioned not, Bael Khorax, for what they do
STARS TORN APART is for the good of the whole. The stargazers
Having heard of the scavengers’ skills, Bael turn to this thing’s wisdom before consulting
Khorax himself invites them to the Tower of the night sky. Generals listen to Khorax’s strate‐
Night. There, he tells the scavengers that he gies for these tactics alone bring victory de‐
will grant them any wish, pay any amount, and spite Cataclysm. When Bael Khorax speaks,
gift any tool that they need, so long as they go their voice devoid of emotion, raspy in the way
into the Monolith as his agents. Should the of smokers or throat-torn Starfallers, there is
scavengers accept, Khorax orders them to heard no love. But there is guidance, and some
study the night sky of Torn, and to find any evi‐ heresy that Khorax is a necessary evil sent
dence of alien vehicles or life. If discovered, from the stars themselves as a guide to salva‐
Khorax will reward them greatly for what has tion. They are not entirely wrong.
been returned. Khorax is searching for something lost in the
night sky. They, with astrological knowledge
never before glimpsed, have sharpened the
THE RAID REDEMPTION stargazers’ prophetic sight. With the moon’s
Kanuman raiders have grown bold in recent sibylline rise do dozens of mystics look at Kho‐
months. They go as far as the Gulf of the rax’s behest for constellations never before wit‐
Stalker to find new flesh for their fighting pits nessed. They map their astral journeys and, in
and new food for their families. When the scav‐ the morning, Khorax pours over them with an
engers are targeted for such a raid, they meet uncharacteristic fervor. No answers are there
Badasaaree, a mother and warlord who is des‐ for what they seek. Not even Khorax’s closest
perate to save her Kanuman son. Seeing their confidants, picked specifically as they are by
potential, Badasaaree makes a deal with them: Khorax’s own hand, dare ask. So long as
help her son disappear and she will free those Kanuma remains alive, though, will they lead it
enslaved during this raid. When Bael Urbarriar to ever greater successes for without these
catches wind of this, he himself rides out to primitive Akarans never will Khorax know the
punish her. love of home or of kin again.

“Tomorrow, Bael Hendalar plans to kill you. He has six accomplices. I will
tell you who they are and what else they are planning when you free
me from this cage.”
~ Bael Khorax’s first words..

58
59
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

An account by Yaeh, She That

Caught the Comet’s Tail

“ I write these words so that those who see Khorax

may know the creature as we do. The Kanumans are
terrified and awe-struck by the creature. Premature be-
liefs are spoken among them in rumors and whisper-
ings. We morg who guard it know better.
On the fortieth day of Old Moon, I watched over Khorax
as they viewed a bloodfight in the Pit of the Sunken Sun.
Always is the creature sun-shaded. On this day, Khorax
was quiet as they always are. You must understand that
the creature is morgish with speech. That was why
when they did issue command, the six of us guards re-
ceived what was said with the same importance as that
given by our morg-mothers soon after birth.
Khorax looked to one of the baels sitting in the same
box. Those eyes are kith-black. They never blink. When
the bael realized they were being watched, a young
Akaran whose hair was shaved and whose beard was
dyed Bataash blue, he froze and began to sweat.
Akaran’s always sweat when they are nervous. The
creature sweat not. Khorax was without disturbance as
he commanded us, with that bleeding voice, to kill the
bael.
The creature differs from Akarans. I have seen war-
lords sentence warlords to death and always there is
something that makes their eyes deep set in response.
Khorax suffered no such issues of conscience. I strode
forth as was my job and the bael screamed and pro-
duced a hidden dagger flush with a red poison that too
was bought from Bataar. The bael died decapitated by
me and back to Khorax I turned. Already was the crea-
ture viewing the games. There was no sign of fear nor
hesitation nor surprise, and if any such mannerisms
could be read it was the pragmatic knowledge of a
hunter whose trap had been sprung.
Later that month, Khorax continued to hunt every as-
sociate that bael had. There were men and women from
all stations of life. All were guilty. Pruned like how ticks
are pruned by rock howlers. No care was given by the
creature to their reasons or their begging. No lies were
tolerated.
That is what I tell you of Khorax. Effective. Pragmatic.
Morgish. That makes them feared, and that fear has be-
come respect amongst the Kanumans. If there are more
of these creatures somewhere I know for certain that
this world could not withstand them. For that fearful
reason, we give our talents and our knowledge to Kho-
rax. You should too if you have life yet to live.
”

60
GUARDING KHORAX
These dangers must be conquered if Khorax’s
life is the scavengers’ aim.

The Thoublae, or the Eyeblacks, is a contingent

of twenty veterans trained by Khorax in the art
of reading the actions of others. Each Thoublae
has a mind that operates with frightening
speed, able to perform high level computa‐
tions and produce solutions to problems pre‐
sented. The Thoublae are named for the fluid
they’ve injected into their eyes, making the
whites appear obsidian black.
The Moonthing, an albino skarag whose
venom is acid that can melt through bronze.
The Moonthing is deathly loyal to Khorax and
will sacrifice itself if needed to kill their ene‐
mies. The Moonthing is named for its scales,
and for the night which it was found.
The Constellations, the name given to the six
morg guards that Khorax has personally ap‐
pointed. Each is loyal to the extreme, though
for their own reasons, and each has enough
skill to kill twenty men by themselves. Each
constellation has their chests and biceps
marked with silver studs to outline constella‐
tions.

“Stars, how the earth shook! That day the

sun was especially cruel too for how hot it
was. And the screams. They were louder
than the Tower’s falling. I hear them still.”
~ An account of the fall of the
Tower of Many Eyes.

61
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THE CRADLE OF RICHES
This is a city of oppression and lies. Peaking a No Dinashii would dare live in such a way. Their
forest-bathed mountain are great blocks of homes crown Mur’s walls. Aqueducts pull wa‐
stone carved from Akara’s risen bones. Long ter from the Cradle and feed their personal
stairways spiral the slopes, and deep ravines, fountain-gardens. Lavishly dressed, enjoying
jutting cliffs, broken crags serve as Mur’s inde‐ the culture of Akara in full, the Dinashii are
fensible moat. Should one travel ‘round this content aristocrats and also the deepest be‐
bowl north, so is revealed a terrible wound. The lievers in their indoctrination. They look be‐
northern wall is rent. Gilded boulders expose yond their walls and see danger endless:
the mountain’s innards: endless catacomb tun‐ Bataash assassins, Kanuman star-raiders, Garhi
nels, the dead’s own beehive. cannibals, morg warlords. And with the Cata‐
clysm, never have they so firmly believed their
To the outside world, Mur is the City of Secrets, lies.
or Where Gold is Made, or Akara’s Gem-Carved
Palace. Their exports are stonework perfectly
cut, gems vaunted to the extreme, immaculate
golden accessories, opal trinkets of a thousand
crafts. Muraneese emissaries speak not of the
city’s culture. No immigration is permitted. The BRONZE-CAST CHARACTERS:
population is kept low as there is only so much
available space atop the mountain. Slaves are
ORACLE ABIODUN
used for both breeding and lesser work. From Every 240 moons, a Dinashii family offers their
Mur’s moat-ridges, see their ramshackle youngest daughter to be the next Oracle of
homes: caves dug into the mountain's slopes. Mur. For a year she is trained by her predecessor
Mur trades wealth for flesh, and for food too, through drug-induced rituals to give premoni‐
and drink and textiles and weapons to arm tions to guide the Dinashii forward. Once her
their mekards, their slave warriors. training is complete, the oracle is sent into the
If by circumstance one was curs’d enough to catacombs with an honor guard of four
be born within Mur’s walls, they’d know that mekard. There does the oracle wander, her bra‐
the rumors of the city’s great wealth were lies. zier filling the tunnels with mind-altering
Every free Muraneese beyond the ruling Di‐ smokes, waiting to be found by the Dinashii, fed
nashii caste is brainwashed by the Mantra of by her leal servants until the time she must
Work and Sanctity of Isolation. From birth, train another.
these families, who live in small cuts in the Oracle Abiodun, a girl of 216 moons and born to
stone within Mur’s walls, are told that the wider the Dinashii of Gold Work, has served as an ora‐
Akara is a savage, brutal place. The Dinashii say cle for 108. The smokes forced onto her during
this: that the food these freemen are given is training have made it difficult for her to speak
the best Akara has to offer, that the water from in anything but cryptic, broken sentences. For
the Cradle is the purest there is, that their cave the longest, she served faithfully, but all the
homes are mansions, their outfits regal, their while something was different. Nightly does
privileges unmatched. To question this is to Abiodun’s shardstone-necklace glow. It inspires
disappear. Heretics are offered to the cata‐ in her visions and dreams - dreams of the sun
combs or turned into mekards, or otherwise she once used to see, of the taste of falling rain
publicly punished. on her lips and monsoons whipping through
Life for the Muraneese is not horrid, though her hair, of Mur falling to a tide of abominations
they have little. When the sky is blue they leave all crawling out of shard-studded tunnels that
their stone rooms, send their children to re‐ dig deep, deep, deep into Akara. After so many
ceive their teachings and training from the Di‐ moons of divination, and with shardstones
nashii of Stoneworking, and venture into the making her predictions more accurate with ev‐
various workshops carved into the mountain or ery ritual, Abiodun is beginning to believe that,
into Mur’s own walls. Once the sky dims to the maybe, her destiny is not to wander these tun‐
color of bruised flesh, Muraneese gather nels forever but to instead escape into the
‘round the Cradle, or spend time in each greater world of Akara. Honor guard captain
other’s homes. Then they sleep to toil the very Agaahd has a fondness for the girl, mercy in her
next day. It is a life that revolves around work, heart, and herself believes it wrong for Abiodun
and in payment they receive rations of food to remain in Mur’s tunnels ‘till death gifts free‐
and water and the barest of luxuries. Usually, dom.
these are no more than, sometimes, dyed
clothing, a toy, rarely sweets from places un‐
known.

64
65
66
THE POWERS THAT BE STORIES OF THE EXTINCT

Below are two influencing forces that can be Below are three plot hooks involving cam‐
found in Mur. paigns involving Mur.

DINASHII BROKEN WALLS & BROKEN TRUTHS

Dinadan for “the First Crafted,” the Dinashii are A month ago, an earthquake of impossible
Mur’s ruling elite. They are organized into four strength rocked Akara. Mur’s northern wall ut‐
families of roughly 30 members each. The Di‐ terly collapsed, as did large sections of the
nashii have a craft that they administrate. mountain proper. The death toll was tremen‐
dous; but, in exchange, many Muraneese saw
These crafts (gold working, jewelry, stonework‐ the outside world for the first time. Though
ing, and slavery) are taught to the freemen, fearful of another disaster, many now desire es‐
thus making each Dinashii something akin to cape; but the Dinashii desire the opposite, and
a merchant lord. Every year, one of the four is the mekards are openly putting down any Mu‐
made the Family of the Cradle. This family can
break ties when the Dinashii vote on city-re‐ raneese who entertain this. One escaped
lated matters and can instigate the ritual woman finds the scavengers and tells them
thus: save her family from Mur, and she will gift
needed to search for and consult the oracle. them a special ring she crafted - one that has a
As of now, the Dinashii are obsessed with gath‐ shardstone rooted in its core.
ering shardstones to maintain their isolated
kingdom, preventing the freemen from escap‐
ing, and are desperately searching for ways to EXTINCTION FORETOLD
gain unlimited access to Torn. The Dinashii of After consulting Oracle Abiodun, the Dinashii
firmly believe that unless they gather shard‐
Slavery are close to going rogue; few are selling stones and gain access to Torn within the im‐
flesh to Mur in this time of crisis, and their mediate future, their way of life will be forever
power has grown weak amongst their peers. destroyed. The scavengers are personally in‐
They also serve as the current Family of the
Cradle. vited into Mur - the first foreigners to be in‐
vited for centuries now - where they will see
firsthand the Dinashii’s attempts at oppressing
their purpose. At night, Oracle Abiodun, ac‐
SHAMASH companied by rebellious members of her
For moons uncounted has Shamash operated. honor guard, appears in the scavengers’ cham‐
These freemen have seen the outside world bers and begs them to take her into Torn. She
and know that the Dinashii only lie. With secret
codes communicated through special knocks has seen the scavengers in her dreams and be‐
or facets hidden in stone and gem, they work lieves them to be the key to something she
doesn’t quite understand yet - and maybe a
to free slaves and expose other freemen to the path to freedom, too.
outside world. Their name, Murd for “Seeks
Sun,” is known to the Dinashii. Yearly do
mekards find new Shamash operatives and DESPERATION’S FINAL GAMBIT
dispose of them. Yearly do the Shamash repop‐
ulate and orchestrate further emancipations. The Dinashii of Slavery have lost too many of
With the northern wall falling, all of Shamash their slaves to the Cataclysm. Suspecting their
knows that soon they must engineer and exe‐ immediate exile or, worse, execution at the
cute a grand revolution, or their oppressors will hands of their Dinashii kin, they send mekards
finally put into action a plan that will very well off to strengthen their forces. The scavengers
hear rumors of mekards befalling refugees on
destroy them. Whoever leads Shamash is un‐ the road, preluding an attack against them
known. This figure, known as the Shamand, proper. As they track the source of this vio‐
the Sun Teller, is rumored to be a cabal of
slaves, a member of the Dinashii, and some‐ lence, they are led to Mur. There, the Dinashii
times even the oracle herself. of Slavery will seek to make use of the scav‐
engers’ power in a violent plan to save their
family from both the depths of paranoia and
the hidden daggers of their peers.

67
LEGEND’D LOCALES
Below are three places of interest within Mur’s
walls.

THE CRADLE
A well-lake near a hundred foot across and a
thousand deep sits at Mur’s center. Regular
rainfall sees the Cradle always kept half full. It
is named for the Muraneese teaching that it is
from here the Muraneese were crafted. Every
week, the freemen are allowed to gather five
buckets of water from the well. The rest is for
the Dinashii. During this day, the freemen are
allowed to take a long break from their work to
socialize and interact.

YEBALLA
Slaves, freemen, and Dinashii all are buried in
Yeballa. A Dinadan word meaning Last Pas‐
sage, Yeballa consists of the catacombs and
necropolis filling the inner mountain itself.
These catacombs are dug deep into Akara and
make use of an already abundant system of
natural caves. Their depths are unknown. Here,
bodies wrapped in heavy linen laced with gold
are stacked up in walls, ceilings, lining paths
hand-carved. Yearly, slaves are sent to dig
these tunnels deeper. It is here too that the Or‐
acle of Mur and her mekards wander under
the influence of divine drugs while waiting for
the Dinashii’s summons for guidance in the
upper tunnels where none may enter. A large
chunk of these tunnels are now exposed to the
outside world due to the recent earthquake.
Other than this gaping wound, another en‐
trance lies at the mountain’s feet, guarded by
mekards of the highest order.

SHIFTING FOREST
Surrounding Mur is the Shifting Forest. This
name was born for the curious way in which
the ground itself breathes. The trees, whose
branches are close to the canopy, are bloomed
by gusts and lifted. As a result, their roots pull
up on soil loose over rock, causing the ground
itself to heave as if a sea storm-riddled. As the
Great Dying grows worse, the Garhi tribal mob
has turned to cannibalism, as all manners of
beast have fled before catastrophic earth‐
quakes. These same quakes have ruined most
roads and render landmarks unstable. Thus,
those traveling to Mur now find themselves
lost to the mercy of both element and flesh-
eater.

68
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

An account by Invoker Agul,

the Opal Cutter.
We’ve always seen the sky, but not as you have.
“
Inside of Mur’s walls we see the sun only at noon, and
shallow blue or black the other hours. Rare is it that we
are allowed to walk the Dinashii’s corridors, to feel the
open wind through our hair, but on occasion they offer
such blessings, at least to those of us that are leal and
skilled beyond our peers. I cannot blame them. This
world is so beautiful. Drunk would any Muraneese
brother or sister be if they could see this soil, these col-
ors, and never in any of my dreams, never have I been
bold enough to imagine the sky as something so big.
For 360 moons I have served as an opal cutter. I was
quite skilled at it. For instance, this piece here, on my
left index, I spent 12 moons crafting. It was a gift I
worked on in secret, by the light of akarok-fat candles.
A gift for my sister. Never was she able to wear it. The
Dinashii took her for the crime of sloth a moon before I
finished and never again have I seen her. Agalia, my sis-
ter’s name. It is for her that I stand here now, seeing the
world. Her death was what made that earthquake. She
shook down the walls and opened a path for me to see,
for the first time, the oracle herself.
How young she was, yet how lost her eyes. Death danc-
ing amongst the rubble during a rainstorm...yes, that is
what I saw her as. Abiodun, she is named. The day she
was clothed I remember well, as we were given another
hour of respite by the Cradle and wine from the Di-
nashii’s own coffers. When I saw her then, she was so
young, not a woman by any means. But something told
me she was special. So when I saw her then, after the
collapse, I called to her, and she looked at me and in a
voice that sounded as if opal were wind and not stone
she told me it was my time to go.
So, I went. I left my husband. I think of him often, and
of sharing what I experience now with him.
Scary, this world of Akara. Scarier still that alien Torn.
But for the first time in my life, I feel alive. What the Di-
nashii taught me is not true and now I know that in full.
The opals on my fingers burn with promise. The shard-
stones in my turban ring with strength. If you’d like, I
will cut your shards for you too. I have learned how to
do so in such a way that their secrets can be refined.
But you must do me a favor. Should you ever venture to
Mur, find my love, my Bast-Al. Give him this ring. Tell
him what the oracle told me. Tell him that it is finally his
time to go.
”

69
70
71
72
Akaran
Mysticism
Religion is a word foreign to Akarans. In no form are
gods found in their beliefs; divinity is absent in their
cultures. Faith, though, still remains in the form of
cabalistic, well-practiced mysticism across the
world.
Three forms of Akaran mysticism dominate Akaran
thought. Though there are others, it is these three
that all Akarans know - all save the isolated Mura‐
neese that is - and it is these beliefs that have
shaped the ways of Akaran life in the city-states. Only
a few claim to be mystics - those that are devoted to
a single belief. Common practice is for an Akaran to
take pieces of each philosophy to craft their own
gestalt guidance.
At the core of these three forms of mysticism, as well
as all the other small branches of thought scattered
throughout Akara, is a single question: how do we
survive to see tomorrow? Unconcerned with what
happens after death, Akarans instead struggle in
their war against the planet, in their struggles to see
their children into adulthood, in how to avoid that
same fate which all do meet at the end of their lives.
To this end, know that faith in Akara is not faith that
one’s life will be taken care of after death or that
there is some greater power that must be obeyed.
Instead, it is faith in the very act of living itself, and of
ensuring that tomorrow will be experienced by you
and those that you love.

SINS & VIRTUES

Unlike in a normal religion, sin and virtue have differ‐
ent connotations in Akara. A sin is usually a violation
of a mysticism that directly endangers either your
life or someone else’s. A virtue is the opposite: some‐
thing that either increases you or someone else’s
chances at survival. Keep this in mind during the ex‐
planations of the mysticisms below.

73
OUR CRUEL ROAD
Almost wholesale adopted by most Akarans is having once been a slave. There are many tat‐
the mysticism known as Our Cruel Road. It is toos whose meanings are known only by those
not a form of belief native to Akarans but in‐ who wear them.
stead was taught to tribal mobs in their infancy
by the world-wise morg. Its base idea is simple: At night, before they sleep, Walkers will tell
life must be cruel in order to survive or else it those they love that they promise to see them
will be predated on by that which is crueler still. again tomorrow. This is a sign of deep trust; hav‐
Thus, all living things must walk the same cruel ing done so means that the Walker considers
road across Akara, lest they themselves never the other a friend who would never be cruel to
walk it at all. them, and that the Walker themselves would
do anything to ensure the life of the other. Note
TENETS OF OUR CRUEL ROAD that Walkers still always sleep with some kind of
Practitioners of this belief, called Walkers, up‐ weapon close by. Akara is just as cruel at night
hold the following tenets. as it is during the day.

The world is full of trials. The archetypical Walker mindset is that of a

None will show mercy. You should expect to survivor. Never are they surprised when some‐
meet constant obstacles in your life that are un‐ thing goes wrong. In fact, it is expected. Be‐
caring of you and your station. Do not hate cause of this, Walkers are not quick to complain
these trials and do not waste time wishing you and are fast accepting of changing situations. It
had never undertaken them. is then virtuous for a Walker to rise to meet ev‐
ery challenge. Even if exhausted or pushed to
Failure is not sinful. Sabotage is not evil. the brink of death, fighting back against the
The world is cruel because it will take all that cruel Akara is the only way to ensure a long life.
you have. If you fail your trials, you are not sinful, To refuse to confront a coming challenge is to
for this is what is expected by the world. Like‐ sin, for it means that you have chosen death
wise, if you sabotage others into failing, it is not over walking Our Cruel Road.
sinful either, so long as you or others survive for
it.
RITUALS OF OUR CRUEL ROAD
Equip those Walkers you find with what you Though Walkers most often teach their chil‐
have seen. dren their beliefs, mystics called hanyi, or
You walk not the cruel road alone. If those who waystations, both teach communities and per‐
walk with you do not seek sabotage then it is form rituals for other Walkers. It is believed that
virtuous to tell them what you have seen. By do‐ these rituals educate Walkers on how to survive
ing so, you ensure that others of your ilk will sur‐ the trials waiting them down the road.
vive longer on the cruel road.
The Way of Shared Teeth
Be as Akara only when your journey’s end is It is a ritual involving at least two Walkers. Both
promised. of them, having kept a molar from childhood,
Though the world is cruel, you need not be. ties the tooth around the ankle of the other
Only become as callous and cold as our world with a piece of twine. If more Walkers are
when near-certain death blocks your path. present, more of these teeth are tied to the an‐
kle. These anklets represent bonds between
WALKERS OF OUR CRUEL ROAD Walkers; so long as they are worn, whenever
Walkers of Our Cruel Road have a number of you find each other again in the future, you will
practices that are universally shared across be bound to aid the other if requested. If that
Akara. aid is given, the anklet is removed afterwards. If
that aid is denied, the anklet is too removed,
First and foremost, the limbs and eyes are con‐ and among the tribal mobs, a blood feud be‐
sidered sacred. To this end, the hands, the tops gins.
of the feet, and the areas around the eyes are
often tattooed with symbolic images that are Moonless Exile
representative of what the Walker has survived. It is a ritual performed by hanyi on those who
Suns, for example, represent braving savannas have endangered their communities to the ex‐
with little resource, being imprisoned, or being treme. These individuals have their eye pits,
deserted by your comrades. Likewise, a katar palms, and the soles of their feet tattooed black.
could mean surviving a great battle, having They are then sent out into the world with none
killed someone who threatened to kill you, or of their possessions nor any equipment. Any

74
Walker who meets these exiles will know by OUR CRUEL ROAD AND OTHER MYSTICISMS
their tattoos that the things they have sur‐ The other two widely practiced mysticisms, Ru‐
vived could never amount to the danger they minations on the Chain and the Starfall Mys‐
have put others in. Meeting such an exile in teries, are seen by Walkers as doubtful at best
the wild usually calls for that exile’s execu‐ and dangerous at worst. Practitioners of the for‐
tion, as they are a danger to any Walker they mer are often accused of putting Walkers in
meet. danger with their observations - a cardinal sin
that cannot be ignored. Likewise, those who
Looking Down the Road practice the Starfall Mysteries are seen as too
It is the most esoteric of rituals that a hanyi passive and their observations impossible to ex‐
may perform. After a day of fasting, a group perience. Thus, it is hard to rely on these peo‐
of Walkers go to a cave or underground ples’ word.
abode created by the hanyi. There, they drink In Bataar, Our Cruel Road is widely practiced,
a potion crafted by the hanyi that slips them but instead of seeing Akara as an obstacle, it is
into a state of trance. While in this trance, the seen as a chance to get lost in what is called
hanyi recounts many of the things they have Akara’s Thousand Colored Song. In Mur, Our
heard in the world - of cruelties, deaths, chal‐ Cruel Road has been warped and is used as a
lenges, and so on. As this sermon is per‐
fearful mutant of a belief to keep the people
formed, the Walkers experience the events
controlled. In Kanuma, it has been combined
they hear as vivid hallucinations. It is believed with the Starfall Mysteries, and in fact the mys‐
by Walkers that upon finishing this ritual, teries are a child of Our Cruel Road.
they have learned new skills and are better
equipped for what is to come. Walkers are
expected to engage in this ritual yearly.

USING OUR CRUEL WORLD IN STORIES

Use these story hooks to create adventures using this akaran mysticism.

d8 Story Hook
An ally of one of the scavengers has invoked the Way of Shared Teeth; however, what they
1 require aid in is the assassination of a member of Tarnak’s Council of Jade & Progress.

At night, a Walker approaches the scavengers. They wish to exchange stories of challenges
2 overcome around a shared meal.

In the distance, someone can be seen calling for help as they are being chased down by a
3 band of tribal screamers. When they reach the party, they recognize his black tattoos as
being those of a moonless exile.
The scavengers are invited to participate in the Looking Down the Road ritual. During the
4 experience, the hanyi describes alien things from Torn that the scavengers will without a
doubt experience.
A hanyi wishes to impart their knowledge to one of the scavengers before they die. In ex‐
5 change for proof that the scavengers have overcome a great trial, they will trade all that
they know of the world and name the scavenger a hanyi.

After putting the lives of a tribal mob in danger, they wish to perform the ritual of Moonless
6 Exile on one or all of the scavengers.

There is said to be a morg hanyi who lives only in Torn. The scavengers are hired by a group
7 of Walkers who wish to be escorted to this hanyi to learn their alien secrets.

One of the scavengers is confronted by someone who once performed the Way of Shared
8 Teeth with them. This scavenger failed to pay back their debt and now they are in a blood
feud with this person.

75
RUMINATIONS ON THE CHAIN
As city life evolved across Akara so too did mys‐ with each focused on figuring out some mun‐
ticism. Behind clay walls and in adobe buildings dane principle of cause and effect or verifying
was found the time needed to ruminate on the another Ruminator’s work. These people have
cruelty of the world. Philosophy became a calm small workshops set up in their homes or cities
observation of cause and effect, push and pull, that, to them, are sacred spaces where others
how everything has an action that spawned it
and in turn spawns its own action. This form of are not allowed. To violate this privacy without
thought became known as the Ruminations on invitation is grounds for blood feud.
the Chain - a branch of Akaran mysticism that Drug use is incredibly common amongst these
seeks to determine not only the origin of all mystics. Over years of study, potions made from
things, but also how to manipulate any situa‐ flesh flower or the milk of the jade poppy have
tion for a single desired cause.
been discovered to have a curious effect on
one’s mind. With proper intake, Ruminators en‐
TENETS OF RUMINATIONS ON THE CHAIN ter into a trance where they believe they have
Practitioners of this belief, called Ruminators, access not only to their thoughts, but the
uphold the following tenets. thoughts of countless other creatures as well.
When afield and away from their workshops,
All creation is a self-forged chain of events. these drugs are used to enter into this height‐
The entirety of the world is akin to a forged ened consciousness. In this state, Ruminators
chain. Every link is another action forged by the decipher problems they come across and arrive
actions of the previous. Everything you have at quick solutions that are right more often
ever done is then predicted by what you have than they are wrong. Know a Ruminator in
done and predicts what you will do. trance by their jade-hued lips, large pupils, and
strange manner of referring to themselves in
There is an infinity of chains and all knot to‐ the third person.
gether.
One action is not predicted solely by the action Ruminators have certain mindsets that are at
before it, but by an infinite number of actions best tolerated by Akarans. A Ruminator is quick
that happen at the same time. Thus, you are not to explain things that do not need explaining. A
just your past, but the past of the world itself, Ruminator always believes they are just mo‐
which in turn is the past of worlds beyond. ments away from some greater enlightenment.
A Ruminator then easily becomes arrogant or
They who learn the art of chain-smithing con‐ deluded, and it takes significant travel outside
trol the world. their own mystic circles to avoid such foolish
You do not need to ruminate on every chain in mindsets.
order to predict what will come next. By discov‐
ering the most important factors of situational RITUALS OF THE RUMINATIONS
creation, you can create situations as you desire. ON THE CHAIN
This is the basis for ruling, surviving, and the Ruminators form congregations called the
very act of life itself. Chain’d Schools. The Chain’d Schools are places
where philosophical debates are held, results
The chain has a beginning. from experiments are shared, and gathered
Something does not come from nothing. There knowledge is taught. Running these schools
is knowledge hidden for us inside of the chain’s are philosophers of great renown who lead less
origins, wherever that may be. Go further back learn’d Ruminators through rituals wherein
and you will see that all of life comes from a sin‐ their awareness of the chain itself is expanded.
gle moment, all of the world, and all of the
many things in it that we do and do not know. Causality Meditation is a ritual performed ei‐
ther by one’s self and a guide or by a group of
RUMINATORS OF THE CHAIN Ruminators. Those participating sit with
Ruminators of the Chain have a number of crossed legs in meditation as a bronze chain is
practices that are universally shared across constantly shaken by the meditation guide.
Akara. During this process, the guide talks the Rumi‐
First and foremost, Ruminators are experi‐ nators through a mental exercise where their
menters. Only through observation can they attention is brought to what they feel, hear, and
confirm something, and even then that obser‐ smell during meditation. The goal is for this to
vation must be made again and again to be lead to a series of new thoughts for the medita‐
considered reliable. It is common for a Rumina‐ tors. Associations are made that otherwise
tor to have multiple ongoing projects at a time would not be, and the trance-like meditations

76
allows for access to a deeper level of conscious‐ eration in such a way that the dead are honored
ness. Ruminators oft turn to this ritual when and the chain is further understood. At the end
stumped by problems not easily conquered. of this process, the body is thrown onto a pyre,
the chains melted around the corpse, and the
Linking the Chain is an esoteric evolution of body buried.
causality meditation that involves a Ruminator
taking a low dose of mind-opening herbs for RUMINATIONS ON THE CHAIN
seven days. At the end of this ordeal and at the AND OTHER MYSTICISMS
height of their high, the Ruminator enters into Ruminators see themselves as the cutting edge
a meditative state in which petitioners may of mystical thought. Because of this, they have
feed them questions. Each question must a condescending view of other beliefs. Our
come with a large amount of data for the Rumi‐ Cruel Road is the metaphysical parent that is
nator to process. Once completed, the Rumina‐ thought of as being unrefined and too simple
tor will make a prediction or produce a number for the modern philosopher. Likewise, the Star‐
of statements that stem from the data pro‐ fall Mysteries rely too much on forces outside of
vided. The Ruminator never remembers much an Akaran’s control and cannot, to a Ruminator,
of this experience, nor their answers; however, be verified. Thus they are quick to reason that
always is there a report of an intense awareness the only belief advanced enough that deserves
and deepness of trance. The accuracy of the to make it into whatever new age is approach‐
predictions or statements made is a large rea‐ ing is the Ruminations on the Chain. Rumina‐
son for why the Ruminations on the Chain has tors are then zealous at converting others.
become such a popular mysticism in main‐ To the rest of the world, the average Ruminator
stream thought. is at best an arrogant scholar and at worst an
insufferable hierophant. Of the three mysti‐
Ruminating on the Ruminator is a funerary
cisms, they claim the smallest number of prac‐
practice wherein a deceased Ruminator is
titioners due to their hostility against other
wrapped in coils of bronze-forged chains. Each modes of thought. While wars have never
chain is wrapped around the dead by another stemmed from this hostility, brawls, skirmishes,
person in their life whom they’ve known or had and even murders have. Akaran wisdom is
an impact on. These mourners recant what the quick to say that a Walker and a Ruminator in
Ruminator taught them. One in particular lis‐
the same room leads to bloodshed sooner
tens to these things, processes them, and then
rather than later.
uses the learned information to continue on the
works of those now deceased. In this way
knowledge is never lost by these mystics. In‐
stead it is carried down from generation to gen‐

USING RUMINATIONS ON THE CHAIN IN STORIES

d8 Story Hook
In order to figure out what their patron secretly wants, the scavengers must find a Ruminator to per‐
1 form the Linking the Chain ritual for them.
A Ruminator wishes to hire the scavengers to find an old fossil in Akara that could provide strong
2 evidence on the origin of the scren.
The scavengers must learn the ritual practice of Causality Meditation in order to solve a riddle pre‐
3 sented to them by their patron. If they fail, they won’t earn their patron’s wealthy backing.
After paying a Ruminator to perform the Linking the Chain for them, the scavengers learn that soon
4 they will die. They now must find another Ruminator who will tell them how to avoid their coming
demise.
A Chain’d School has been having very public disputes with a local hanyi. The Ruminators of the
5 school hire the scavengers to teach their rivals a violent lesson.
Approaching the scavengers is an old Ruminator. He tells them that his life is in danger; that powerful
6 people will kill him for what he’s learned. The scavengers are then hired to protect him and investi‐
gate this case.
The scavengers watch as the Rumination On the Ruminator is performed. During the burial, they
7 hear multiple things this Ruminator learned that were predictions of things the scavengers have al‐
ready experienced.
The scavengers are approached by neophyte members of a Chain’d School. They ask the scavengers
8 to share with the school things they’ve seen so that the school can make deductions on their lives
and gain legitimacy.

77
THE STARFALL MYSTERIES
Just as the Kanuman language is shared by all Stargazer calls their liquid starlight. This potion,
Akarans, so too is their mysticism practiced. The whose ingredients are closely guarded secrets,
Starfall Mysteries is a set of ever-developing be‐ when consumed leads to altered consciousness
liefs based around the idea that the stars them‐ and perception. The pupils grow larger so that
selves contain the secrets of the world in their lights are brighter and colors deeper. When one
diversiform arrangements. These Starfall Mys‐ looks heavenwards at night, it is said that a
teries are so prevalent that the calendar used to
divine them has become global in its adoption, Stargazer can see more stars than ever once
its holidays widespread, and its legends house‐ thought, some of which are different colors -
hold tales. reds, greens, yellows, and so on. Liquid starlight
is then to a Stargazer what must be used to ac‐
TENETS OF THE STARFALL MYSTERIES curately see the maps of constellations
Practitioners of this belief, called Stargazers, up‐ recorded on their Chart of Astral Towers. Their
hold the following tenets. minds change too in this state. A mania over‐
The stars have seen all, thus they know all. takes them, manifesting as a spillage of divina‐
Look to the sky and what you see, every night, is tions based on what they see.
a sky filled with silver, radiant eyes. All things Unlike their mystic peers, Stargazers are skilled
have been witnessed by the stars. Thus, it poets. Verse is the language all mysteries are
stands to reason that any secret can be learned recorded in, as are divinations. A Stargazer is ex‐
from them. pected to learn many different forms through‐
Constellations are tablets to be read. The natu‐ out their training. Eavyan is for detailing what
ral formations of the stars in their constellations someone’s love life, relations, and happiness
are no different than words on a tablet or scroll. will be, with the first two words of a line being
By learning to read this heavenly language, one the same throughout the poem. Mystonios are
can then read what no other Akaran does know. long-winded poems that tell of wars, deaths,
and disasters. Stargazers become masters of
If Akara is cruel, the stars are compassionate. these arts over many years, and their stereotype
The world you live in is harsh. The stars illumi‐ is that of an obtuse, annoying riddle-speaker.
nate for you a compassionate path to travel. By
falling as the stars do, you can live a life full of
love and prosperity. THE STARFALL MYSTERIES AND OTHER MYS‐
TICISMS
Stand only in starlight or know only darkness. As all things Kanuman, the Starfall Mysteries
You who stargaze are blessed with knowledge. have been wholly adopted by the rest of Akara.
It is your duty to show this knowledge to others, Every city has its Stargazers (with the exception
lest they be lost in the darkness for all their lives. of Mur), and every tribe knows well the powers
of reading the night sky. Despite this, Walkers of
THE STARGAZERS Our Cruel Road hold disdain for Stargazers, be‐
Stargazers have a number of practices that are lieving them to be naive at best or charlatans at
universally shared across Akara. worst. Ruminators are quick to point out that
Stargazers rely on supernatural and therefore
On every Stargazer is a Chart of Astral Towers - unreal forces to make their vague predictions.
that is, either a painted stone tablet, papyrus
map, or set of scrimshawed bones. This object is Still, the typical Akaran will turn to a Stargazer
sacred to the Stargazers; to lose it is to lose their in times of need, be they educated or other‐
connection to the wisdoms above. Constella‐ wise. In Bataar, they have joined with col‐
tions, falling stars, and other celestial phenom‐ orbinders to form new schools of thought
ena are recorded on the Chart of Astral Towers where colors reveal just as much as constella‐
and referenced whenever the Stargazer at‐ tions. In Tarnak, Stargazers are very common
tempts to divine the mysteries hidden above. and are consulted before expeditions to Torn or
The more seasoned a Stargazer, the more de‐ throughout Akara. Astrals, or scavengers who
tailed their Chart of Astral Towers, filled as it is rely wholly on stargazing, have brought wider
with the reticent foresight gleaned from the appeal to the mysticism in their use of shard‐
night sky. stones which manifest their prophecies unto
the real world.
Alongside the Chart of Astral Towers is what a

78
RITUALS OF THE STARFALL MYSTERIES The Bataash Frog is a connection of stars that
Stargazers build temples, or towers as they are heralds the spiritual totem of Bataar. As Bataar
usually called, in which veteran mystics called is famed for its poisons and colors, this constel‐
baels teach neophytes the ways of the Starfall lation tells the Stargazer that soon whoever
Mysteries. Akarans come to these towers for their petitioner is will betray or sabotage some‐
many different reasons, the most common of one or soon will be betrayed or sabotaged
which is to have a Stargazer perform for them themselves. It also heralds a daredevil’s life, one
an oracular ritual. These rituals always have one fraught with danger twined with promises of
thing in common: they involve studying the great reward.
stars and connecting them to a calendar day. Wildfire is the name given to a unique body in
Enlil’s Katar is a constellation of the famed Akara’s sky - a seemingly endless explosion of
tyrant with his bloodied weapon. As the legend red and black viewable only after drinking liq‐
goes, whoever Enlil laid his eyes on was des‐ uid starlight. If seen first, it is an omen of the
tined to one day be executed by his very hand. otherworldly, the emergence of strange forces,
When a Stargazer sees this constellation first, it the happenings of phenomena unexplainable.
means that death is soon coming for them. If Many a Stargazer in the modern day struggles
seen any other time, it means that the peti‐ to make sense of seeing the Wildfire. It mani‐
tioner is soon to execute someone who has fested when Kanuma’s current leader, Khorax,
wronged them. appeared, and again too before the Monolith
opened. No predictions accurately can be
made through it, only hints given of impossible
things to come.

USING THE STARFALL MYSTERIES IN STORIES

Use these story hooks to create adventures with this Akaran mysticism.

d8 Story Hook

The scavengers’ patron has given them a difficult job: learn the secrets of the liquid
1 starlight potion, which only the Stargazers know.

A falling star lands close to Tarnak. The scavengers are hired by a stargazing tower to bring
2 it back to them. Little do they know, the meteorite has opened a gash in the earth through
which scren crawl out of.

A Stargazer approaches the scavengers. They have recently divined Enlil’s Katar and want
3 the scavengers to protect them from their soon-to-be execution.

After learning that soon they will be sabotaged by a close ally from a Stargazer, a wealthy
4 Tarnaki merchant hires the scavengers to investigate the betrayer.

Every night, the scavengers dream of a crimson explosion filling the sky. They must seek
5 out a Stargazer to divine for them what this means.

After their Chart of Astral Towers is stolen, a famed Stargazer hires the scavengers to return
6 it and to execute whoever has stolen it.

A group of Stargazers wishes to be taken into Torn, where they plan on mapping that alien
7 world’s night sky.

After hearing of the scavengers’ prowess in verse-duels, a Stargazer seeks them out for a
8 battle out of hopes of wooing their love interest.

79
SHARDSTONE CULTS
When shardstones began to flow freely from supplies with. Scavengers are often hired by
the Monolith and into wider Tarnak there grew this cult to find new areas in Torn for them to
around them strange cults with orphic prac‐ potentially live in.
tices and hermetic rituals. These Shardstone
Cults have gained popularity in Tarnak for THE RED FANG
through shardstones they are able to make real The Red Fang is a group of anti-shard fanatics
the things they have faith in. Cults appear and
disappear every day. The four listed below are who strongly believe that shardstones are the
those who have lasted the longest and com‐ sole cause of the Cataclysm. To this end, they
mand the most members. have blackmailed merchants and scavenger
rings who deal in shards. The Red Fang then
ENTOMISM hoards them in underground bunkers hidden
Derived from the Ribbish word entomin, or in‐ throughout Tarnak. These cultists color their
sect, this cult worships idols of various bugs teeth and ears red to show to their brothers and
found across Akara. It is their belief that by sisters that shardlust is no different than blood‐
learning to commune with these creatures, a lust. Rumor has it that the Red Fang even am‐
way to survive the Great Dying can be discov‐ bushes shardstone traders, killing them so as to
ered. To this end, entomists create caverns un‐ spread fear throughout Tarnak which in turn
derground to live in and collect insects whom will bring an end to the “apocalyptic wishes”
they present to their shardstone collections. En‐ that have “spread like a virus” throughout
tomists can be noticed for the strange jewelry Akara.
they wear - chitinous exoskeletons that hang
from their ears, wrists, and lips. SONG OF THE NEW AKARA
This cult has one central belief: that the Cata‐
OUR COMING EXODUS clysm is the rebirth of Akara. Through the de‐
With Akara dying, it should come as no surprise struction of sinful cities and the extinction of
that many turn to Torn as a new world to live in. evil creatures, a New World Order shall rise in
Our Coming Exodus is then the largest cult, which all life will become as prosperous as the
filled with refugees and Tarnaki, all of whom are now disappeared Zenith People. Idols fash‐
preparing for a mass migration into Torn. These ioned from cut shardstone are prayed to. Father
cultists are constantly spreading their persua‐ Rupture creates minor earthquakes while Sister
sive beliefs in public forums and lobbying them Typhoon brings storms to the coast. Though
to merchants and councilors. Our Coming Exo‐ these cataclysms never strike Tarnak, growing
dus has created many idols in the shapes of fear is spreading that these cultists are making
known Torn regions. By praying to these idols, the world worse. The cultists have much money
they hope to make those regions habitable for that they use to squash rumors and punish
Akarans. Our Coming Exodus has a seemingly those that speak ill of them.
endless supply of jade with which they hoard

USING SHARDSTONE CULTS IN STORIES

d8 Story Hook
A fanatic set of Entomists have begun taking over Tarnak’s catacombs. The scavengers are hired to
1 forcibly evict these cultists, as they’ve begun removing the interred corpses and leaving them to rot
on the streets.
An Entomist equipped with shardstones has been summoning swarms of insects during their daily
2 sermons in the Dust District. The Entomist loses control of the swarm, which begins to terrorize the
gathered audience.
A collection of cultists from Our Coming Exodus approaches the scavengers. They want to buy out
3 their contract and send them into Torn in search of arable land.
While in Torn, a rival ring funded by Our Coming Exodus ambushes the scavengers. The cult wants
4 what the scavengers have found and will take it from them through any means necessary.
As the scavengers are preparing for their next expedition, cultists from the Song of New Akara sabo‐
5 tage them, destroying the scavengers’ most important supplies.
Cultists from the Song of New Akara approach the scavengers to persuade them to give up their jobs
6 so that the New World Order can come without impediment.
After the scavengers return from Torn with a lode of shardstones, cultists of the Red Fang attempt to
7 buy the shardstones from their patron. After being denied, they resort to trying to steal the shards
instead.
A cultist of the Red Fang has been killing scavengers in Tarnak. Now they’ve set their sights on the
8 party.

80
81
 AN AKARAN’S TALE

The account of Amuhyti

the Stargazer

“ At night, when the aurora is quiet, I read the stars

for those who wish them read. I have a place just out-
side the city, on the sea. I row out there on a boat with
only my brother Arah as my protection and my client as
my ward. The seas lately have been angry. Akara has
always been cruel, but now they are crueler, and the
nights I can stargaze fewer. Still, I do as I should be-
cause we live in times where few of us do.
Once, stargazing let me give the people both weal and
woe. For a bit of blood from their hands put delicately
around my eyes I could see what sun-cruel moments
awaited my ward and what moon-kissed paths they
must walk to avoid them. Ever since the fire outside the
city, the latter I see so much less of.
A kith approached me at new moon. We talked for a
while and then they asked me to read the stars for them.
We rowed out. That night the sea was calm. The aurora
did not burn the sky. It had been a long while since I’d
been given a chance to stargaze in such ideal condi-
tions.
The kith asked me what would come of the people
they’d led to Tarnak as of late. I looked at the tapestry
of zodiacs above me. Sixty times sixty stars again and
again shined so brightly in their long river. The first
constellation I found was the Rock Howler. It was an
ominous zodiac who spoke of immediate threat, of
predacious intentions, of warning. Then I found the
Mekard, the slave-warrior of Mur, whose secondary
appearance foretells fighting hard until death, a future
where everything must be risked and where little will be
gained. Lastly, I discovered a new constellation, one
only recently spread amongst we Stargazers: the Scren
- the Cataclysm, the Great Dying, Torn itself.
All this I told the kith. They only nodded. It is said kith
can read minds and I hope this one did not this to me. I
did not tell them that these three zodiacs were all I ever
saw now. I did not tell them that the stars themselves
had dictated that the world soon would end.
”

82
ON CLERICS AND MYSTICISM
In Fifth Edition, a Cleric has a sacred do‐
main that defines their powers. In most
other fantasy settings, these sacred do‐
mains are a part of a Gods portfolio. As
there are no gods, and thus no portfo‐
lios, inside of Scavenger, it may seem
difficult to create a cleric. However, the
mysticisms do map to the different do‐
mains.

OUR CRUEL ROAD invokes natural ele‐

ments, destruction, and primal ener‐
gies. For this mysticism, use the Death,
Grave, Life, Nature, Tempest, and War
domains.

RUMINATIONS ON THE CHAIN invokes

artificial or scientific ideas, or ideas of
higher learning. For this mysticism, use
the Forge, Knowledge, and Order do‐
mains.

THE STARFALL MYSTERIES invokes

light, prescience, and fortune. For this
mysticism, use the Death, Knowledge,
Life, and Trickery domains.
SHARDSTONE CULTS can invoke any
idea, and be conceptually built around
anything. When making a shardstone
cultist, you can be a cleric who makes
use of any domain.

83
84
THE CATACLYSM or THE GREAT DYING
Through the Monolith came not just wealth but ◇ Anything struck by the death tide suffers 28
also the end of days. Those of the city-states call (5d10) points of bludgeoning damage.
it the Cataclysm; those of the tribal mobs call it
the Great Dying. Both names are apt in their ◇ Scavengers must succeed on a Strength
description of the doom that has been visited check to be able to swim in any direction.
upon Akara. ◇ Structures suffer double the damage when
Ten years ago, the small, isolated events some‐ struck by the death tide.
times noted by bonekeepers merged into this ◇ For every round that a scavenger spends
one apocalypse. Akara’s last decade has been submerged in the death tide, they suffer an‐
rife with the many disasters detailed below. No other 11 (2d10) slashing damage from debris
Akaran story can be told without one of these swirling about in the death tide.
many tragedies somehow influencing the tale.
What causes these events is a mystery un‐
solved. Some posit that the opening of the A death tide ends after 1d6 hours, after which
Monolith unleashed a Torn-born calamity. Oth‐ anything still caught in the water is pulled back
ers say it is merely the will of the world, and that into the ocean or, if the death tide originated as
this is all just another cruel road to be walked. a flash flood, is left prone in a location 1d10 miles
If one of the events below requires an ability away from where they originally were struck.
check, passive score, or saving throw, the DC for
all of these things is the same: 15. HEAT RAIDS
For frequency, a disaster below has a 1-in-6 Birds and beasts traveling the savanna fall dead
chance of striking for every 1d20 days of in-uni‐ to the tinder-dry soil. Tribal mobs say there is no
verse play. Make this roll whenever scavengers reason for this, but too they say there is a sud‐
set out on an expedition, and again every 1d20 den great heat that washes over them, as if the
days. Likewise, scavengers should only be mak‐ sun itself has decided to rain bladed darts upon
ing one Wisdom check a day to detect any dis‐ them, and their animals die, and their elderly
aster. die, and only the strong eek out survival after‐
wards. These events are called heat raids.
DEATH TIDES When you want to introduce a heat raid to your
Seas and lakes rise without pause; the coasts story, it should strike whilst the scavengers are
are washed away. Tribal mobs call these dooms traveling outside of a city-state. They happen
the death tides, for when the waves come most frequently over the Wandering Plains, the
crashing in they flood deep the mainland, Bloodsands, and the Shifting Forest.
sweep away villages and towns, pound against A scavenger can detect that a heat raid will
the weakening walls of city-states, pull it all come with only a Wisdom check, and one
back into the ocean’s cruel fathoms. Know that made at disadvantage, imposed upon the scav‐
when a death tide comes, all fish, all sea-life enger by the suddenness and the strange na‐
flowing through those corpse-choked waves is ture of the blast. The heat raid will strike within
dead. It is something Akarans do not under‐ 6d10 minutes. When it does so the following
stand. happens:
When you want to introduce a death tide into ◇ The temperatures within a half mile radius of
your game, the scavengers must be near a the scavengers will increase to nearly nearly
body of water with access to the ocean. Alterna‐ 130°F, or 54°C.
tively, the scavengers must be in a place, such
as a valley or dry plain, where flash floods could ◇ Scavengers must make a Constitution saving
realistically happen. throw or else suffer 22 (4d10) fire damage as
well as 1 level of exhaustion.
A death tide strikes suddenly. A sufficient pas‐
sive Wisdom score or a successful Wisdom ◇ Every minute that the scavengers spend
check lets the scavengers know that a death without a means to cool themselves down,
tide is coming within 1d6 hours. When the such as by burrowing underground or some
death tide comes, it dominates the entire re‐ shardcraft, will force them to make this sav‐
gion, expanding from the original body of water ing throw again.
at a speed of 60 feet per round on initiative
counts 20 and 10. The death tide has a height of
1d10 + 5 feet. The following occurs to those
caught by the death tide:

85
A heat raid lasts for 1d10 minutes. After it passes, KHAVSARSAN ZUD
nearly all living creatures will be left dead in its Khavsarsan zud is the name tribal mobs give to
wake - dried to near mummification. Addition‐ one of the most unusual weather patterns ever
ally, a wildfire will likely start in the area, lasting before witnessed. Unlike the heat raid, this zud
for 1d4 days before dying out. is characterized by a sudden drop in tempera‐
tures to an extreme amount. The result is most
EARTHQUAKES often the starvation of animals in the area, as
Earthquakes have always been a facet of unlike a heat raid, the khavsarsan zud lasts for
Akaran life, but usually north near the White many days instead of a few short minutes.
Bones, or far to the east. The earthquakes of When you want to introduce this disaster into
modern Akara, though, are creatures far worse your story, the scavengers are likely inland, such
in their designs. So sudden and terrible they are as at Kanuma or Mur, or otherwise somewhere
that the ground itself is torn asunder from the away from the coast. They are most common in
rumbling wrath. Towns collapse into pit holes the Barrows Marsh or Grayfall Valley.
that disappear into light-snaring voids. City- A scavenger can detect an incoming
states are broken in half, pieces of them rising khavsarsan zud with a sufficient passive Wis‐
dozens of hands above the other as the face of dom or a Wisdom check. The disaster will strike
the planet itself is changed. within 1d4 days. When it strikes, the following
When you want to introduce an earthquake effect will happen, followed by the effect under
into your story, see first if the scavengers are in it after 5 days. The following effect under that
a city-state or out in the wilderness. A city-state one will happen 5 days later, and so on, until the
struck by an earthquake may drastically zud ends:
change, or it may just suffer internal damage to ◇ First, the temperature will be cloven in half
different districts. Out in the savanna, the earth‐ for each subsequent day that passes.
quakes are worse, possibly altering the land‐
scape the scavengers are in and making it diffi‐ ◇ Next, snow will fall, creating a thick layer
cult to navigate forward. over the ground that will prevent livestock
from grazing.
Earthquakes have faint rumbling that occurs
before they strike. A sufficient passive Wisdom ◇ Then, the temperature will be cloven in half
or successful Wisdom check tells the scav‐ again, and the snow will freeze, forming a
engers that an earthquake will strike within 1d4 thick barrier that kills the soil underneath it.
hours. The following effects occur when an A scavenger traveling about during these
earth strikes. events must succeed on a Constitution saving
◇ All scavengers must succeed on a Dexterity throw if they are not adequately kept warm. On
saving throw or else fall prone. a failure, the scavenger will experience one level
of exhaustion and suffer 4 (1d6) cold damage.
◇ 1d20 + 5 fissures, each 10d10 + 50 feet long,
This saving throw is made for every hour of ex‐
will open up within 1d6 miles of the earth‐
posure to the extreme cold.
quake’s center.
A khavsarsan zud ends after 2d10 + 3 days. After
◇ Structures within this radius will suffer 50 it ends, temperatures return to normal over a
damage, collapsing if they are reduced to 0 period of 1d4 days.
hit points.
◇ There is a 1-in-6 chance that a fissure opens
up directly underneath the scavengers after
1 minute, noticeable by a sufficient passive
Wisdom. If this happens, the scavengers
must succeed on an additional Dexterity
saving throw or else fall 100 feet into the
opening void.

An earthquake lasts for 1d10 minutes.

86
THE SAMUM MONSOON RAID
The samum is a terrible storm of howling winds A monsoon raid is the name given to the im‐
and dust so high that it blocks out the sun. This possibly powerful monsoons that have rocked
is the rarest of the many disasters currently Akaran coasts the last ten years. More devastat‐
rocking Akara; however, it is the reason for the ing than their strength is their sudden appear‐
creation of the Bloodsands, as a strong samum ance. A monsoon raid, unlike a normal mon‐
swirled for an entire year across that continent, soon, can happen quite literally out of the blue,
forever burying it in a tomb of dust and sand. manifesting a line of thunderstorms that pul‐
When you want to use the samum in a story, verizes the land underneath it.
know that it travels south, crossing the Blood‐ When using a monsoon raid in your story, know
sands, or from the north, raging down from the that they can strike anywhere in Akara. With
Barrens. However, the samum has sometimes the exception of Tarnak, whose shardscience
swept eastwards across the Wandering Plains. protects them from these disasters, a monsoon
A scavenger can detect the samum with a pas‐ raid can sweep over a city-state just as easily as
sive Wisdom of 12 or a Wisdom check made it can a scavenger ring out in the savanna.
with advantage. This advantage is granted due A scavenger can detect a monsoon raid only
to the samum’s grand size. It strikes 1d8 hours with a Wisdom check made at disadvantage.
after being detected. The samum moves in a This is because of the sudden nature of the raid,
single direction at a speed of 90 feet per as well as how new they are to Akara. They strike
minute. Truly massive, the samum; it is 1d10 within 1d10 minutes. A monsoon raid begins
miles in height and 6d10 miles in width. Being with a sudden darkened sky, covering a half-
caught by the samum incurs the following ef‐ mile radius, preluding the following effects:
fects: ◇ A scavenger has a 1-in-6 chance every
◇ Anything caught inside of the samum is con‐ minute they spend exposed to the mon‐
sidered to be blinded, and must succeed on soon raid of being struck by lightning. If this
a Constitution saving throw or else suffer 4 occurs, they must succeed on a Dexterity
(1d6) slashing damage at the start of every saving throw or else suffer 28 (8d6) light‐
round. ning damage. This probability increases by
+1 for every minute that a scavenger is ex‐
◇ The samum counts as difficult terrain.
posed to the monsoon raid, and resets to
◇ Ranged weapon attacks travel only half their the original rate if the scavenger spends at
normal distance. least one minute in some sort of shelter.
◇ A scavenger exposed to the samum for 1 ◇ Every minute that a scavenger is exposed to
minute must succeed on a Strength saving this disaster forces them to make a
throw or else be buried under 1d10 feet of Strength saving throw against high velocity
dust and sand, rendering them restrained winds. On a failure, the scavenger is
and suffocating them. A scavenger can knocked prone.
make this saving throw again at the end of
◇ Ranged weapon attacks are made with dis‐
each of its rounds.
advantage during the monsoon raid.
◇ If a scavenger is exposed to the samum for
10 minutes, they must succeed on a Consti‐ ◇ Hail whips around during the monsoon raid.
tution saving throw or else be permanently Every minute that a scavenger is exposed to
blinded. the monsoon forces them to succeed on a
Dexterity saving throw or else suffer 5 (1d8)
The samum lasts for 1d4 hours. After it has bludgeoning damage.
ended, everything within its radius is buried or
covered in sand and dust that is 1d10 feet thick. ◇ High rain soaks everything underneath the
monsoon raid.

A monsoon raid lasts only for 1d10 minutes.

87
OF PLACES DEAD trological secrets left with mummies in their
coffins.
Of the places below, little remains untouched
by the Cataclysm. Scavenger rings are wont to ◇ EREDAAN (Air-reh-dawn)
be sent to these locales on expeditions by pa‐ There was a city-state hidden amongst man‐
trons looking for lives to save, treasure to plun‐
der, or culture to record. groves and seaside glades. The water went bad,
the soil too, and now it is no more. Left behind
are amber statues, the ghosts of past baels.
◇ AES (Ayy-ss)
A town where the sacrifice of warriors is prac‐
◇ ERZA (Err-za)
ticed to keep back the Great Dying.
This town was founded by a woman who
claimed to see all the wonders of the world.
◇ ANFE (Ahn-ff)
Here live people now too afraid to follow in her
A village that hosts a wide assortment of sea‐
footsteps.
sonal hunting lodges for various Akaran crea‐
tures.
◇ GRAYFALL VALLEY
Mt. Grayfall once spewed fire and dust over this
◇ ANQUION (An-kwon)
valley but every hundred years. Now it erupts
Here are skarag broken and tamed and sold to
without end. Soot falls like snow upon the
other parts of the world. The Cataclysm ensures
death-dyed land.
that they are rarely visited.
◇ GULF OF THE STALKER
◇ AREK (Ah-rek)
The gubajah, or rock howler, is native to these
A port town once made rich from trade be‐
lands. Hunting lodges made much sport here
tween Tarnak and Kanuma. Now, it has fallen
in years now passed.
into disrepair.
◇ HATUR (Hah-ter)
◇ ARYM (Are-yeem)
Here there was a great library in which all
Once, this city-state was known for its seashell
Akaran knowledge was gathered. That library is
palaces and sculptures. The Cataclysm left it a
no more, and its ink stains black the river that is
flooded ruin.
its namesake.
◇ BAKAT (Bah-kaht)
◇ IGNA (Eeg-nuh)
This village was a vassal to Kanuma, providing
The people of this village loved the kith, but
them with sla ves for the blood pits, weapons
over the hills came the Kanumans and now the
too. The Great Dying leaves behind only the ar‐
Igneese are no more.
maments of would-be starfallers.
◇ KONYA (Kohn-yah)
◇ THE BARRENS
Songs still sing of great Konya, a city-state near
From the White Bones till the end of the world
as rich as Tarnak. There came the monsoon and
here stretches plains of salt and ash.
the flood and its coral palaces were all but
swept away.
◇ BARROWS MARSH
From these marshes emerged the early Kanu‐
◇ MEDID (Meh-deed)
mans. Buried here are old chieftains with their
Drained by the Kanumans, the town of Medid,
many treasures.
of their livestock, their crops. Rebellious whis‐
pers dance here on the lips of dancing warriors.
◇ BERTU (Bur-to)
Here once lived the ivory men, from who the art
◇ MISTWALK SEA
of scrimshawing bone was born. Now, there are
The fog is deep here, treacherous even in the
but hovels and lost art.
tricks that it plays. Worse it has gotten in recent
years so that few sailors dare brave it.
◇ THE BLOODSANDS
Once, the southern continent was a fertile place
◇ MYRA’S PASS
where wealth and spice overflowed. The sa‐
Screamer Myra and her tribal mob, the Silfrin,
mum swallowed all those treasures, sunk them
held this pass hostage against the Kanumans
to the bottom of a dune-crested sea.
for three hundred years. When the heat raids
came, and the zud too, the people were weak‐
◇ DAL RAKA (Dal-rah-kah)
ened, and the Kanumans had their fill.
Old Dal Raka, where the first city was raised,
now a memory to no one, its treasures and as‐

88
◇ NEZAAR (Neh-zar) ◇ SHISRA (Shee-shrah)
The gatetown of Nezaar watched the moun‐ Here be the last forests of the far south. Their
tain’s pass from east to west. An avalanche car‐ hanging gardens are a treasure soon to be
ried their golden spears and their golden gate sand-swallowed.
to a golden grave.
◇ STARGAZER BAY
◇ NUMRAK (Noom-rahk) Upon these waters is the Akaran sky at its rich‐
Where once stood an empire of turbaned est. See the constellations, the galaxies, the
skarag riders now rises an alabaster head the planets and all else, clear and shining and un‐
size of a castle, wind-scarred, wind-slain. touched by any other light.

◇ OLD SEA ◇ STIG (Steeg)

If the myths are told true, the old sea is where Here come the merchants from north and
Akarans first came upon the world, having set south to rest their heads in pillow houses
sail from where the Barrens end. amongst jasmine incense.

◇ ONRUK (On-rook) ◇ TELL (Tehl)

Protected, the Onruki, inside their labyrinth Here was a city-state where mystics convened
ravines. There they jealously guard a menagerie to debate their philosophies, to evolve their tra‐
of now extinct beasts. ditions. Then came the floods and all that holy
knowledge was dragged into the sea.
◇ ROOT FOREST
A forest, a swamp, a set of marshes all, where ◇ THORN’S BAY
centipedes the size of skarag hunt refugees Named this bay for the three civilizations here
and sojourners all. A wall of nature against who waged war on each other until two were
those seeking to invade Bataar. taken by the Cataclysm.

◇ SAGAD (Sah-gahd) ◇ UMBAR (Oom-bar)

This glade-village gathered much of the amber A town once used by merchants to lay down
that made Bataar rich. The Kanumans visited their heads, to get a sip of civilization. No word
them too, and now Sagad is no more. has been heard from it for months.

◇ SARKAD (Sar-kahd) ◇ URKAD (Er-kad)

The Kanumans used the Sarkahdi mines for The painted powders of Bataar flowed into
gold and silver. Those are no more, and so now Urkad and then south towards Tarnak in
the Sarkadhi are used for slavery and blood in‐ yesteryears. The scren loved the colors too, and
stead. feasted greedily on the Urkadi.

◇ SEA OF SONGS ◇ WANDERING PLAINS

Storied, this inland sea. Wars fought on these Here is the heart of Akara, savannas flowing into
waters have made heroes, legends, myths, one another, once rich with tribal mobs and
tales, fables, and all other manner of sea-sung beasts and now the ghost of a land. Find many
tales. tribal artifacts scattered throughout here, left
by exodus.
◇ THE SERPENT PILLARS
These mysterious bones rise terrible from cliffs ◇ WHITE BONES
of limestone. A massive skull sits at their head, Tall, these mountains of white stone, of near-
belonging to a beast long since dead. There lie solid marble. Insurmountable the White Bones
ancient rites scrimshawed into those bones. to those not ready to face death on the other
side.
◇ SERPENT WOODS
Here live the kith, isolated and alone. Here are ◇ WIND’S EDGE COAST
bones of impossible size, much like the Serpent The wind blows mighty down this coastline, so
Pillars in the far south. that the ships that sail it move fast indeed.

◇ SHATTERED ISLES ◇ ZAFAR (Za-far)

Once these isles were a majestic stretch of land Woe be to the Zafari, who were masters of the
covered in vineyards and high art. The earth‐ savanna and its many tricks. They went to war
quakes of the Cataclysm sundered them with Tarnak over the dying creatures and re‐
rightly. turned defeated to a home scren-torn.

89
90
91
 A World
Torn Apart
This is a land that knows not of rhyme, cares not for rea‐
son; this is a land where impossibilities are common in
their shardcanny mystery.
Call it the World Torn Apart or simply call it Torn and you
will not be wrong. Its name is derived from the strange
way in which this tapestry of alien land was sewn to‐
gether. Northwards lies regions unimaginable; petrified
forests and shardstone valleys; seas of mist and seas of
fire; mountains that spiral like coiled serpents; cities
once-thriving now empty. South, east, west, lie more and
more, domains of warped space and warbling time that
defy explanation.
No sun shines in the star-empty sky. It brightens blue (or
sometimes vermillion or vermeil) and darkens into
bruises of green and black and purple. Across the crim‐
son earth sprouts grasses the color of wildfire and flora
whose fruits are miracles. Rivers of white and silver flow
unabated, filled not with fish nor anything resembling
any Akaran creature at all.
Torn-found secrets are promises of salvation to the scav‐
engers who find them. Weird treasures lie patient in their
sphinixish hiding. A wilderness uncultivated by any living
thing anticipates those who dare its abnormal and aber‐
rant challenges, who dare attempt the conquering of
outlandish lands.
In this collection of lapis lazuli tablets are told the stories
of scavengers and the things they’ve seen. Some tales are
complete. Some are not. Use them all with wisdom, for
what is here will lead you to what else may be, a dead
world but a promising one indeed.

92
93
96
THE DAL ASHTA OUTPOST their Tarnak-destined transportation. Artificers
and bloodcutters richly paid and of storied
The outpost is sparse; too little is known of Torn backgrounds examine everything brought
to commit many lives here. Thus only the back to Dal Ashta. Under the command of
proven, the capable, and the truly strange live in
Dal Ashta. As of now these elites number Councillor Sarrok, all findings are kept in Torn
roughly 75 souls. until obvious dangers can be parsed. Only then
are they allowed back into Akara proper.
Dal Ashta’s name portrays its hope. The name is
Deep Tarnaki for New Home. This is what many This second tower is guarded at all times by a
hope it will one day be. contingent of morg howlers led by the mute
Theen, Who Killed the Sanguine Rage. Theen
The Dal Ashta outpost sits on a hill of orange communicates in sign language, but only to
grass spotted with flowers violet, red, and those he recognizes as members of Dal Ashta’s
green, each with a shape uncanny, almost geo‐ “government.” All others he denies, and Theen
metrical. In the distance, strange trees, some is quick to violence should anyone try forcing
with multiple trunks, mushroom-blossom from their way into this tower.
crimson soil. They bear no fruit, and their leaves
crumble to dust and then to nothing when The upper echelons are enterable, for these are
plucked from their spongey branches. the officers of the stewards, guardsmen, and
prefects running Dal Ashta. Here, Dal Ashta’s
Here, as in Tarnak, there is a crowning aurora. It Steward-General, Kwadwo, holds office. They
is as bright as its Tarnaki sister though the col‐ are a measured individual who is wont to speak
ors are wrong. Bands of orange, fire-red, and directly in a voice monotone and even. They
black shimmer in the heavens only to fade as themselves were once an invoker of some
suddenly as they came. renown, now retired to ensure Dal Ashta’s con‐
Three buildings stand tall in the outpost’s heart. tinued order. If somehow gotten drunk, they
Two are straight towers spike-guarded and de‐ will admit that they never wish to return to
fended by wooden walls, built layered in the Akara; it is a world dying, they say, but here is a
Pua’s tribal style, connected by bridges for world forever blooming.
quick speeding between floors. Crowning them
are banners, gold-woven so as to catch the sun‐ VENTUREHALL
less light. Scavengers hailing from distant expe‐ Venturehall is the aptly named third building,
ditions have come to call these the Torn Sun for some short distance away from the Twin Tow‐
their color, and for how glad they are to see ers of the Torn Sun. It is here that maps of Torn
them. are kept, as well as tablets inscribed with the
basic details of various discoveries, charcoal
THE TWIN TOWERS OF THE TORN SUN paintings of strange things encountered, and
Valuable beyond measure, the Twin Towers of an armory containing supplies for traveling and
the Torn Sun. One is the barracks where cots, war-making.
rooms, and hammocks, along with a commu‐ Always there are scavengers here, recording or
nal kitchen on the bottom level make some‐ learning what they can. Most are too busy to
thing resembling a home. It is here that one of talk, but some are willing to trade rumor for
the Dal Ashta stewards will meet you. They will tale, or tale for secret, or secret for blood-
ask your name, the name of your patron too, to bought information.
see your Torn Sigil. They will ask you what you
are looking for, why you are here, and what you Yao Bandi, the Expedition Director, spends the
really hope to find. They will ask you your age, majority of her time here. She is warp-scarred.
where you were born, what skills you have. The Her skin is jade-scaled across her back, the
stewards ask these thorough questions relent‐ nape of her neck, the backs of her hands. Her
lessly, pressing hard, looking for hidden riddles, irises are sharp as a rock howler’s own. Yao is a
secrets, anything that could put their fragile woman who will test newly arrived scavengers.
home in danger. Knowing that they are likely being paid by
some patron, she will add to their journey some
Should a scavenger pass this interrogation, they other small request. Fulfill it and earn a favor
are given living quarters and a schedule. Time is from her - and a favor from her can go far in‐
kept through hourglasses, found everywhere deed.
inside the buildings proper. Every four turns is
another meal. Yao Bandi is secretly in the employ of Bael Kho‐
rax, and is thus a Kanuman spy. She is setting
The second building is denied access to new‐ up the seeds for her patron’s eventual takeover
comers. It is here that the scavenger rings store of Dal Ashta.
smoked Akaran meat, freshwater too, linens,
Muraneese-cut stone, all in abundance. It is also
where shardstones and artifacts are held before

97
THREATS & DANGERS TORN APART
Expect these dangers to strike while in Dal
THE ZENITH PEOPLE
Ashta: Those past sovereigns of Torn are remembered
as the Zenith People. It is their extinction that
scavengers scavenge throughout scattered,
◇ When the sky wanes from blue to green to megalithic ruins. Of their culture little is known.
black there comes through the amber hills Evidence of what they were has been left be‐
terrible things. Carrion they are called and hind to fuel the speculative minds of those that
look upon them with great horror. In droves happen upon their crumbling memories.
of six or eight they attack. Read more on The Zenith People were tall. For this they earn
these abominations in the Scavenger’s Bes‐ their name. They stood between eight to ten
tiary (page 198). This encounter has a 3-in-6 blades high explaining why the stairs, doors,
chance of happening when night falls. and buildings they made were massive beyond
◇ Stare too long at the sky and know unease. reason. Too were the Zenith People masters of
It possesses the mind. Scavengers who look shardscience. Throughout their desolated cities
for seven days time at the empty vault are found feats of shardcraft that boggles the
above must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving imagination. Seemingly all artifacts were made
throw. Unless they succeed on this saving by these people, and many of Torn’s other artifi‐
throw, the scavenger will develop a flaw: de‐ cial wonders besides.
tachment for all Akaran things, less care for
their brothers, their sisters, and the missions Borun was the Zenith People’s choice building
they are on. Once succeeded, make it not material - that metallic stone black and near-
again for a year and a day’s time. unbreakable. All megalithic ruins are con‐
structed from it as were many of the wonders
found therein. Without high heat and shard‐
OTHER OUTPOSTS science, Akarans would not be able to recast
Three other outposts have been built, a fourth is borun. How architecture made by this material
being constructed. They are: was brought to ruin - seen by the shattered
buildings, the slashed walls - is a puzzle yet to
Kumashek, found one week to the northwest. be solved.
Kumashek is Dust Tarnaki for Fire Nest as this On occasion, a peculiar discovery will be made:
outpost borders the Tainted Valley and a lava- a Zenith mask and dress. They stand like the
drowned river. This place is a waystation for ghosts of some gateguarding legend in dark
those going north or west. rooms where no tornlight does reach. Touch
Idahkan, built another week northwest of Ku‐ these lifeless haunts and dust spills out from
mashek.Idahkan is Dust Tarnaki for Strange Val‐ beneath the robes, from out the mask, and
ley for here both the Tainted and Merqual Thar those miraculously intact materials clatter to
Valleys can be reached. the ground whole. These Zenith relics are
prized above any non-mystical Torn-treasure.
Sun Uruk, two weeks northeast from Dal Ashta,
is Deep Tarnaki for Ancient Citadel. Two days One thing is left almost entirely intact: the An‐
southeast is a megalithic ruin bordering the cient Tongue of the Zenith People. This written
Blightwood; four days northwest are the Core language is a cipher as difficult to break as
City Ruins. borun. Find it throughout the ruins; find it out‐
side of them in places unexpected. Sometimes
Ka’Rum, two and a half weeks straight north a scavenger particularly skilled in languages
from Idahkan, has yet to be finished. Slowly is will be able to translate a portion here or a por‐
this outpost, whose Ribbish name means Black tion there. With Akara speeding towards its
Pond, being completed. From here will launch end, linguists have grown desperate in their ef‐
expeditions into the Samua Marshes and the forts.
Sea of Myst.

“The outposts aren't like the city's they shadow. One day, they might be
just as grand, but before then they'll have to weather the storm that
even those ruins could not.
~ Aib, the Prophet, on the outposts' future

98
99
100
THE CORE CITY RUIN
North of Dal Ashta there girdles that distant MEGALITHIC RUINS BEYOND THE CORE
horizon a sky wound-dyed under which sits the Beyond the Core City Ruin, which stands as the
finest monument to Torn’s previous rulers. It is largest and most intact ruin, the Zenith People
a month's travel, slow, taking the scavengers left behind five derelict cities. They are:
past Sun Uruk outpost, just south of the Spiral
Mountains. A haze of hate-red smoke curtains
this zone, fireless, a twisting carmine, bleeding Blightwood City is placed two days southeast
over far-fractured mountains. Enter. The feet of
such daring scavengers will sink slightly into from the Sun Uruk outpost and borders Blight‐
sand made of both borun and obliterated wood Forest. Much of that petrified forest
shardstone. So finely have these shards been grows through this ruin, and here the danger‐
destroyed that they are all but useless; they run ous innasht congregate in high numbers.
through the fingers hot with false life, inter‐
mixed with obsidian dust - a coarse and price‐ The Shardpeak Towers have only been
less sand. glimpsed by scavengers with telescopes from
Another day’s walk and there looms the Core. It the Tainted Valley. Due to the dangers of the
sits upon a peak of stairs mighty and long and valley, the towers have never been reached.
buried by boulders of origin unknown and From a distance, the borun that makes them is
shape unnatural. Where the mountain ends studded with shardstones, hence the ruin’s
and the Core begins is uncertain. Lining these name.
broken steps are disfigured statues, statues un‐
like any ever seen in Akara, of a make utterly Merqual’s Tomb is reachable only through a
harrowing, icons and obelisks, their faces difficult path taken south through the Merqual
melted as if blasted by absolute heat. En‐ Thar Valley. Scavengers returning from here
throned above them is the Core. have brought with them more Zenith relics
than from any other ruin.
The Core City Ruin is the pulsing, dead heart of
the Zenith civilization that spanned this blis‐ Samua’s City, named for the famed scavenger
tered world in epochs forgotten. It is shaped as who discovered the Samua Marshes, is en‐
a massive dome obscured by sanguine smoke‐ shrouded in colorful fog and mist. The strange
stacks and sable storm clouds. No lightning ekolo from the Samua Marshes are here in high
dares flash but the smell of ozone is thick as numbers, falling from the sky like fire-lit snow.
blood on the field. A wall skirts the dome, and
where stair meets wall there looms a gate for‐ Mute City is found at the very start of the Silent
ever closed. Understand this thing’s immensity; Valley and where the Windlands end. Unlike
how it towers into the burning clouds above, other ruins, Mute City is built upside down and
how its sides disappear into great rising col‐ into a gargantuan, three dalham-long cliffside.
umns of fulminating desert. It is known to be dangerous; scren are here, and
Whatever adorns this gate has long since been as the Mute City has no sounds inside of it, scav‐
scrubbed clean by the unnamed disaster that engers are always under threat.
befell the Zenith People. A single crack, seven
hands wide, stretching from the wall’s tip to the
ground below, serves as entrance. There is no
other. From within this singular gash no sound
escapes nor light nor heat. It is cold, tomb-dark;
as scavengers approach this yawning void does
invite them in deeper. There, just inside this in‐
terior court, are four walls, gateless, through
which passage has yet to be found.
Take heed: no scavengers who enter the Core
return the same. They are always changed, and
almost always for the worse. Few are warp-
scarred while others are left with broken minds,
minds unfit for discovery, minds unfit for the
hope the Core ought to give.

101
102
103
PANNOR PLAINS EXPEDITIONS TO THE PANNOR PLAINS
There have been countless expeditions into the
Where Sovereigns Lay Buried forever unfolding reaches of the Pannor Plains.
Intended for 5th-7th levels The first, led by the Jade Ring, discovered the
Sloping northwards away from Dal Ashta’s or‐ many unexpected dangers awaiting those who
ange hills are plains of shardred grasses vast in ignorantly brave this place. Pannor himself
their magnificence. They stretch outwards left claimed that this was a boobytrapped savanna,
and right near two hundred dalhams and for‐ and that the traps themselves were placed to
ward do they unfold across Torn until the protect whatever ancient peoples buried their
foothills of the Core City Ruin are found. Here dead here. In the expeditions that have fol‐
the sky keeps its sapphire color; at night there lowed have these traps been named and
comes the pine green, the deep black, and then marked and ways to avoid them painstakingly
an elegant fuschia to lighten the land. Found, developed.
these plains, by one of the first scavengers, that
Oathspear Pannor who swore that one day It was another scavenger ring, the Buried
these sanguine fields would be where Akarans Hands, who first emptied a sovereign-burrow.
settled this strange world. Pannor may yet be Inside, they fought back sentinels guarding
right. treasure halls, scren-infested tombs empty save
The plains, though, are no kin to any of Akara’s for dust, found caches of shardstones hidden
sun-slain savannas. Though the ground is fer‐ deep below. The Buried Hands also discovered
tile beyond belief, it reeks of skarag spirits - the scripts of the Ancient Tongue, thus tying these
ammonia derived from skarag feet and drop‐ sovereign-burrows back to the Zenith People.
pings. It rises in colorless, sightless waves at Later on, the Buried Hands died when a burrow
night, crystallized like dew on the grass to collapsed - something many believe to be the
make smelling salts that fade by morning. For result of another trap laid for graverobbers.
this reason, life is inverted on the Pannor Scavenger Codes - red-flags, etched symbols on
Plains; day is when a scavenger ring should stone, and so on - have been left marking where
rest and night is when they should travel. space distorts across the plains. A red-flag indi‐
Though this inverse circadian rhythm domi‐ cates that no scavenger has ever been found af‐
nates life here, it is believed to be a small price ter crossing this point. A skarag symbol indi‐
to pay for the agricultural potential these cates a safe pathway to a set of unminded bur‐
plains hold. rows. Other codes show the traps, mined bur‐
It is said that ten thousand sovereigns lay rows, or connect two utterly unrelated points of
buried out here. This is known because their space. Whatever sadistic shardscience these
mounds rise mighty from the crimson earth. traps are fashioned from has yet to be under‐
Dome’d, these burrows, each the size of a small stood.
Akaran town. Fashioned from the nitrate earth It is suggested that scavenger rings going on
itself too, thus fragile, invadable. Scavenger an expedition into the Pannor Plains make the
rings find frequent work in this arcane graver‐ following preparations:
obbing. Within the hollowed shells of yon’ bur‐
rows there stretches deep tunnels of borun ◇ Ensure that they need fire for no reason, as
leading to inner sanctums lightless and undis‐ fire can ignite the soil and the gasses re‐
turbed. Never are bones found here. Zenith leased, causing a large, prominent, lethal
relics substitute corpses, and strange artifacts explosion.
buried with those relics, and shardstones, and ◇ Various materials for making Scavenger
other such wonders. Codes, and some large amount of tossable
Know that there is a curious bewitchment projectiles, like stones or bone, to test areas
placed upon the Pannor Plains. A scavenger for traps.
can walk a hundred blades out and disappear ◇ Telescopes for spotting distant Scavenger
in thin air never to be seen again; or they can Codes and other threats that may otherwise
walk that distance and reappear in some dis‐ attack unawares.
tant part of the plains never before explored.
The weirdness of this space makes traveling Patrons are eager to send scavengers who
the plains a trial no different than that of a prove themselves to the Pannor Plains. Sover‐
maze, only one whose walls are unseen and eign-burrows, when fully mined, are equal to
who's dead ends lead to vistas defined by their the treasuries of city-states. However, rival scav‐
perilous mysteries. enger rings are quick to trail and attack their
would-be peers too, and patrons encourage
this violence as here is where fortunes are
made or lost.

104
BIZARRE RUMORS & STRANGE TALES Common reports state that storm clouds ap‐
The Radiant Nacnach offers in exchange for a pear high above the Pannor Plains who obey no
bag of jade his tales of a particular sovereign- pattern in their appearances. These clouds swirl
burrow. This burrow, he says, is filled with shard‐ around a mountain-sized borun sphere that
light but no shardstones, and the deeper a only those in its penumbra can see. From the
scavenger delves the more intense this source‐ clouds there rains a strange, colorless, odorless
less luminosity. At the bottom was a great liquid that evaporates the moment it contacts
shardstone gate that Nacnach said led to a city anything. What these spheres could be and
that sprawls underneath the Pannor Plains. what rains from these clouds is as of now still a
Nacnach will lead the scavengers to this burrow mystery.
for another bag of jade.
Warlord Ma’zala, a dangerous and sun-cruel
There is a song that travels over the Pannor kith, believes that there are vast aquifers under‐
Plains. It sounds not like any instrument, but in‐ neath the Pannor Plains. This belief stems from
stead like a sudden drop in pitch, as if some‐ the fact that never has true rain been reported
thing was suddenly falling. Then it rises back and yet still the blood red grass grows. Ma’zala,
up, drops down again, always in different wave‐ eager to prove their theory, has started assem‐
lengths and patterns, a strange, almost artificial bling other kith, as well as those trained in find‐
song yet to be replicated by any Akaran. Drifter ing water where there is little, to lead an expedi‐
Aasii believes that he is close to discovering the tion into the plainsheart. As the theory goes,
source, which he says could be the very space there should be sovereign-burrows somewhere
around the plains themselves. that can access this water.

Of the traps is a theory put forth: that they are Wuqueria is a Howler who says that she has
powered by the red grass of the plains them‐ ventured into those places from where no scav‐
selves. Invoker Gomwon, a Bataash colorbinder, enger has returned. There are no records of Wu‐
has studied the crimson blades and come to queria, however, or of her scavenger ring. As she
the conclusion that some measure of shard‐ tells it, there were great waterfalls of green wa‐
stone has coated them. Gomwon now seeks in‐ ter tumbling over red-grassed cliffsides, and
vokers of talent to bring him back samples of many of the burrows now explored had been
the grass for experimentation. Gomwon is also opened. What this riddle means no one can say.
backed by one of Bataar’s Powder Houses,
specifically the House Unpainted. It is the Zenith People who most bonekeepers
and world speakers say created the sovereign-
An old tale tells of Pannor’s Sovereign Treasure. burrows. The morg Yub, He Who Split the
As the story goes, in his last days of life, Pannor Avalanche, believes otherwise. Though Zenith
found a burrow untouched and there buried relics can be found throughout the burrows,
himself with all of his greatest findings. Scav‐ the “E” language is just as common as are
enger rings are often hired to find this burrow, other scripts similar to that of Dust and Deep
though only one woman can claim that she Tarnaki. Yub will tell those who seem open-
has: the Mystic Vasani Veselli. minded about his theory on how those scav‐
enger rings that disappear are either displaced
in time or sent to an alternate Pannor Plains,
and that they have left messages for scav‐
engers to decipher.

“It wasn’t a storm, that I can tell you. It was a sphere as big as Tarnak
floating up there. Rain came down and went away like that and
everyone started talking funny in a high-pitch voice. Then the sphere
was gone, and the storm gone with it..”
~ From Far Sayer Yahdib’s account

105
THREATS & DANGERS TORN APART that shardlight will momentarily flash from the
The dangers below are the scavenger-stories lock. Any scavenger within 10 feet of the door
who have returned from countless expeditions must make a Constitution saving throw. Unless
across the years. the scavengers succeed on the saving throw,
The DC for all saving throws in the Pannor they must roll for a warp-scar (page 137) and be
Plains is 15. blinded for 1 hour. When blinded in this way, the
scavengers suffer visions of themselves rotting
Pannor’s Sunspears were the first of Pannor’s in a borun tomb, and thus suffer 11 (2d10) psy‐
traps to be named. They are often marked by a chic damage every 10 minutes or until the con‐
spear embedded blade-up into the ground. dition is somehow removed, such as through
Should the space around the spear be entered lesser restoration or comparable magic.
- a set of four connected 5x5 cubes - the scav‐ Ammonia fills the sovereign-burrows and also
enger(s) inside must make a Strength saving rises up from the ground at night. Any open
throw or be picked off their feet and restrained. flame exposed to these conditions creates a
Over the next minute will they be lifted one- monstrous fireball with a 120 foot radius. Scav‐
hundred feet per round above the ground. At engers caught inside of this fireball must suc‐
the height of this ascent, they will burst into ceed on a Dexterity saving throw or else suffer
flames, suffering 22 (4d10) fire damage at the 28 (8d6) fire damage and be knocked prone by
end of every round until death. Disabling the it. Any flammable equipment worn by some‐
trap requires destroying the ground under‐ one caught within the radius of the fireball
neath the victim before they combust.
catches fire.
The Pannor Crush is another trap frequently Carrion, scren, and sentinels all haunt the Pan‐
found on the plains. It is marked with bronze nor Plains. They can be found wandering the
rods. When the space around the rod is entered hills themselves or inside the sovereign-bur‐
- a single 5x5 square - the scavenger must suc‐ rows, put there by their creators or having
ceed on a Strength saving throw or be forcibly somehow stumbled in through the undertorn.
smashed into the ground, suffering the re‐ For every day spent traveling the Pannor Plains,
strained condition as well as 55 (10d10) force there is a 3-in-6 chance of one of these mon‐
damage every round for 1 minute. The scav‐ sters encountering the party, with 1 being car‐
enger can make this saving throw again at the rion, 2 being scren, and 3 being sentinels.
end of every turn to end the restrained condi‐
tion and to take only half the listed damage. A Rival scavenger rings hunt down their rivals.
scavenger who dies inside of the Pannor Crush Any enemy scavenger rings the scavengers
is smashed perfectly flat and all of their non- have will surely be found on the Pannor Plains.
magical equipment is destroyed. Disabling the For every day spent traveling, there is a 1-in-6
trap requires destroying the ground under‐ chance of encountering a hostile scavenger
neath the victim before they flatten. ring. On the tenth day of travel, the chance in‐
creases to a probability of 5-in-6. A scavenger
Pannor’s Gallows are fearsome traps found ring will often not fight to the death, and will
both across the plains and in the burrows flee if defeated in the field. When they attack, it
themselves. Pannor’s Gallows are always is usually through ambush, and there is a 4-in-6
marked with a skull-etched stone. The 30 feet chance for either Sunspears or the Pannor’s
surrounding the zone, once entered, consti‐ Crush to be nearby. Once a rival scavenger ring
tutes the trap. Upon entering it, a scavenger
is encountered, the chance of encountering
must make a Constitution saving throw. Unless them again resets to 1-in-6.
they succeed on this saving throw, the scav‐
enger will begin to immediately suffocate while Nowheres - that is the term given to those red-
also suffering 55 (10d10) force damage as they flagged places where scavengers enter and
are picked up off their feet and hung by their never return. When a Nowhere is entered, there
neck. A scavenger is restrained when they fail is a 3-in-6 chance that the scavenger will be
this saving throw, and if forcibly brought down transported to an alternate version of the Pan‐
to their feet while within the trap’s range, the nor Plains never before explored. If a 4-6 is
scavenger’s hit points will instantly drop to 0 as rolled, the scavenger disappears for good, never
their neck breaks. Disabling the trap requires to return, and is thus considered dead. If an en‐
destroying the ground underneath the victim tire scavenger ring enters a Nowhere, then all
before they are hung. scavengers are instead transported to the alter‐
nate version of the plains, and must find a dif‐
Buried Radiance is found inside of the sover‐ ferent Nowhere to return to their version of
eign-burrows themselves. Whenever a locked Torn.
door is broken open, there is a 2-in-6 chance

106
TREASURES & SECRETS LONG LOST alien creatures, or non-euclidean geometries.
The Pannor Plains may seem well explored but These treasure caches are 2d20 times within
less than an eighth of it has been properly scav‐ each sovereign-burrow, though are often
enged. There is much waiting to be found in the guarded by sentinels or infested with bone‐
sovereign-burrows, and other secrets can exist spikes or scren.
on the plains that otherwise have never been
imagined. Thus the below information does not SHARDCRAFTS
cover all that the Pannor Plains have to be Torn Disks (uncommon, wondrous item) are
found. flat, disk-shaped bowls one blade in diameter.
At the center of each torn disk is a small shard
NATURAL RESOURCES cut into a shape unique to the disk. The disks
Pannor’s Grass (gives XP as a rare resource float one inch above anything put beneath
from Torn) is often gathered by the kilo. For ev‐ them. When an object is put into a disk, the
ery ten kilos gathered and brought back, it is shardstone glimmers, irradiating the object put
treated as receiving this treasure once. Pannor’s onto it. The function of this disk is virtually un‐
Grass is in high demand by Bataash who use it known, though whatever is irradiated now
to create potions and poisons that deal with in‐ sheds bright shardlight up to 15 feet and is con‐
visibility, gravity, and fertility. The grass itself can sidered magical if it was not before. Scavengers
also be consumed, with a pound of it providing keep Torn Disks on their persons for when they
enough nutrition for a scavenger to be full for confront creatures whom normal Akaran
the rest of the day. After eating Pannor’s Grass weapons cannot easily kill.
for 10 days, a scavenger must make a Constitu‐ Crown Shards (very rare, shard [bloodcut], re‐
tion saving throw or gain two levels of exhaus‐
quires attunement) are specially cut shard‐
tion. They must make this saving throw again
stones found inside of borun crowns too big for
every time they eat Pannor’s Grass. If the scav‐
any Akaran head. These crown shards, giving
enger goes 10 days without eating the grass, the burrows their names as sovereign-burrows,
this effect ends until they spend another 10 can be removed and, upon attunement, magi‐
days eating it. cally adhere themselves to the scavenger’s
Sovereign-Burrow Maps (gives XP as an undis‐ brow. Crown shards have 4 charges. A charge
covered location in Torn) are what most pa‐ can be spent to cast the command (at 5th-
trons seek to have made by scavengers. Expedi‐ level), dominate person, or wall of force spells.
tions can easily be lost, though, and their maps When the last charge is used, the crown shard
are all that is left behind. Valuable as shard‐ goes inert and falls to the ground, becoming a
stone caches, these maps, for they lead to un‐ raw shardstone.
mined burrows and mark the plain’s safe paths.
Pannor’s Jade Katar (legendary, weapon
[katar], shard [artifice], requires attunement) is
HEADS what many tales say is a piece of Pannor’s sov‐
Scavenger Headhunts (gives XP as an assassi‐ ereign treasure. The jade katar offers a +3
nation for your patron) are common on Pannor bonus to attack and damage rolls. It was said
Plains. The petty feuds of Akaran patrons must that Pannor mastered the traps of the plains
be paid in blood, and in blood shall it be. It is before his death, and in his burial learned their
common for a scavenger ring to be told of a few secrets. This manifests through the jade katar.
others that the patron wants eliminated for one The katar has 3 charges. A charge may be used
reason or another. to replicate the effects of either Pannor’s Sun‐
spears or the Pannor Crush on a creature that
PRECIOUS TREASURES takes a critical hit from the jade katar. Three
Zenith Relics (gives XP as a cache of treasure charges may instead be used to replicate the
worth 10,000gp or less) are the masks and effects of Pannor’s gallows. Expended charges
robes of the Zenith People found in borun are regained at the dawn of the next day.
rooms sequestered throughout the sovereign-
burrows. In addition to these relics, found too
are golden sceptres, braille-made murals de‐
picting bewildering landscapes, curved archi‐
tecture too big to be of any use, and statuettes,
icons, and idols sculpted from borun too. What
holds these treasures are peculiar burial urns
used by the Zenith People. These urns have
weird shapes, sometimes mirroring Zeniths,

107
 A TORN TALE

An account by Far Sayer Ishanya,

Who Walks All Worlds

“ Never told this story before. Thought that I never

would, so long as the moon was Akara-side. It's true as
Torn, though; that I’ve been into a Nowhere and made it
back.
At the time I was with a ring called the Desert Flower.
They were a bunch of drifters who cataloged plants by
drawing with coal in papyrus books. Whole thing was
silly. Paper under an Akaran sun only lasts a few life-
times and there won’t be an Akara for much longer any-
way. But, sun or no sun, it was an excuse to come back
to the plains. See what my old sovereign friends were
up to.
Going Nowhere wasn’t a choice. Like a moon-blind
stargazer, I walked right past one of the red flags with-
out noticing. A Flower yelled at me to turn around but
by time I did he was gone. I was too.
When I think back on it, there wasn’t much of a differ-
ence between going into the Nowhere and walking
through the Monolith. There was a split second of deja
vu. I felt something shift, but didn’t see what it was or
what it could’ve been. The Desert Flowers were gone,
though, as were the markers we’d used. In fact, far as
the eye could see, it looked like all of Torn had been
scavenger free.
Ever think about what it’s like to be nowhere at all?
Freeing. Felt like all the eight winds pent up inside me
were let go easy. Didn’t know which way was south so
I went the way I thought it might be. Felt like a woman
reborn, with all the nothing to stop me from treading
the world I wanted to tread. Pannor probably felt the
same way too when he first walked this road.
In Nowhere, its plains and plains and plains for star-
known dal. There’s no rings out to muck anything. No
‘codes to tell you grave from haven. Almost lost my leg
to one of Pannor’s blood-greedy sunspears because of
it. Started using my granum’s finger bones as a trigger
to see where the traps were. Lived that way for ten
days before my water got too low. Cracked open a bur-
row and invited myself in. Better chances underground
than above.
Slid in and didn’t disturb a thing. Without those shard-
stone goggles used these days I had to make my road
blind. Still didn’t see a sentinel or scren, no evidence of
any bonespikes. Got me thinking. Maybe Nowhere
doesn’t have the same problems we got over here.
Didn’t look much for treasure. Didn’t find any water ei-
ther. What I did find was a door cut out of shardstone

108
at the tomb-bottom and I went knock knock knock.
Voices answered from the other side. Tarnaki voices.
My mind went into a fever dream and I about killed the
Flowers when they finally came through. Yup, Flowers.
Waiting for me like they always knew I’d be there. Said
that they found my granum’s finger bones in a bag by a
burrow and came looking to see if I’d been shunted
here.

I was still wearing those finger bones when they told

me that.

Sometimes I get to thinking again. Were these my Flow-

ers? Was this the same set of plans I’d walked for years?
Which set of finger bones were real? But questions are
for mystics and morgs to answer. I’d be a World-Treader
in my Torn or yours, and there’s not a thing about any
of this worth losing sleep over.
”

“Pannor came and Pannor walked.

Pannor dug and Pannor crawled. Pannor
threw his mother’s heirlooms right into
the crush. Pannor threw his daddy’s heart
right up on a spear. Pannor put his neck
right in the gallows. Pannor buried
himself right under here.”
~ Fragment of a verse shared on
the story’s of Pannor and the Jade Ring

109
110
111
THE BLIGHTWOODS Akaran can understand. The innasht takes on
vague human forms and flows underneath
Where Blooms Treasure roots or up in the canopy like wood-carven ser‐
Intended for 7th-9th levels pents. A scavenger ring that enters the Blight‐
woods will be stalked by these strange ele‐
Travel first to Sun Uruk, the outpost of ancient
citadels. From there head south and east into a mentals and woe be to they who take from
forest of blighted stone. Petrified, this wood, so them their fossilized treasures.
that no bark goes unhardened, no tree unfos‐
silized. The Blightwoods blanket rolling hills
and fissure-wounds with the fossils of trees pet‐ EXPEDITIONS TO THE BLIGHTWOODS
rified into a kaleidoscope of gemstones. When the Jade Ring first discovered the Blight‐
woods, they proclaimed this place as the finest
These ancient watchers whose hands reach to‐
treasure hoard ever discovered. Soon after did
wards the grey sky like the bejeweled fingers
those first scavengers learn of their mistake. As
of royal skeletons are obsidian-black and man‐
they were cutting apart the petrified trees,
ganese-pink and cobalt and copper-green.
making discoveries such as how the tree rings
Strange metals have oxidized swathes of
were still intact, they were beset upon by the in‐
thicket, leaving them orange and red and
nasht. Every expedition since has faced this
brown and yellow. Ash has made branches and
same peril.
miasma-soaked mangroves the still grey of the
grave, a pyre’s corpse-white. Covered, these Hunting the innasht fell to a successor ring: the
trees, in cancerous lichenshard. Old Carvers. Though skilled as they were, the
Old Carvers were bested by the innasht over
Whatever pyroclasm entombed the Blight‐
time, bested too by the turbulent flow of disas‐
woods haunts them still. Erupting from the
ter that seethes just beneath the Blightwood’s
soot-fouled soil are geysers of hyperhot ash.
soil. Their sacrifices are what led future scav‐
Thunderous, those trumpets that tell the tale
enger rings to develop a method to scavenge
of this forest’s old song. Inconsistent too. At
the Blightwoods without fear of innasht or sud‐
times the pyroclastic flows make entire Blight‐
den eruption.
wood regions into merciless deathtraps. As
weeks drag by those flows move like rivers un‐ In the half-hundred years since the Jade Ring
derground somewhere else, earthquakes trav‐ first set foot in Torn, those that have followed
eling with them, earthquakes making a rum‐ them have outlined the Blightwoods into six
bling bass underscoring the trumpet-flows. different regions. The pyroclastic flows that ap‐
pear in those regions, sometimes making them
Sometimes in the swirling ash there are envi‐
untraversable, are tracked by the earthquakes
sioned animals that haunt the woods. They are
they spawn. The regions, named for how the
the silhouettes of silhouettes; beasts of un‐
trees there look, are listed below in order of how
known make who disappear when stared at for
the pyroclasm migrates. When it leaves one, it
too long. Hunt them and find there where
goes to the next below it on the list, sometimes
once they grazed naught of tracks or drop‐
within a few days' time but sometimes taking
pings or anything at all. Phantasms they are,
near half a decade to move.
maybe fossils different in make.
Underneath ruby and sapphire boughs are the
gem-filled dens of those same creatures. In
Blightwood Regions
that precious amber there sleeps frozen
corpses. Furred things and feathered things
and horn’d things that are painstakingly exca‐ ◇ The Region of Pink & Orange Fire.
vated are brought back in their crystal burials
to Akara. Most of these Torn animals are small. ◇ The Region of Grey & White Quartz.
Discover insects of violent make. Famed are
those large, wild beasts, unearthed usually in ◇ The Region of Bronze Towers.
broken pieces of opalesque amber whose
fanged smiles are reminiscent of the behe‐ ◇ The Region of Cobalt & Copper.
moth in the Samua Marshes.
To trespass the Blightwoods is to make a pow‐ ◇ The Coal Region.
erful enemy. Flowing from the lichen and the
petrified wood is a species of creature no ◇ Blightwood City.

112
As a default, Blightwood City is usually com‐ All reports indicate that never have any two
pletely submerged by pyroclastic flow. similar creatures been found in the preserved
Scavengers are advised to take the following gem-amber scattered throughout the Blight‐
precautions when preparing for an expedition woods. The fact that every creature is distinct
into the Blightwoods: has created rumors of this place once being
some kind of zoo for the Zenith People. Others
◇ A 1 dalham area must be found clear of in‐ believe that mayhaps Torn was the home to a
nasht before any mining or harvesting can rich ecosystem of wondrous beasts. Both ideas
be done. have believers, all of whom interpret the high
◇ Care must be given to the constant rum‐ amount of bonespike glades here as being evi‐
bling of Torn. If the rumbling is louder than dence to their claims.
speech, the scavengers will have between 1- Many a scavenger in Sun Uruk will speak of the
6 hours to evacuate the region. Blightwood Phantasms composed of swirling
◇ When making camp, ensure that the camp dust who manifest above their own fossilized
is somewhat underground, away from remains. Once, a kith called Vi’vili said that such
where innasht can discover it. a beast appeared before their very eyes. The
beast, as the story goes, turned to them and
Patrons are wont to send scavenger rings to the said words in a tongue the kith did not under‐
Blightwoods after they’ve proven themselves stand. Then it was gone, a tiny shardstone left in
on the Pannor Plains. Having shown them‐ the dust of its wake.
selves capable of surviving those arcane traps
and finding great treasures, they will be sent to Bloodcutter Elaheyeh believes that the lichen‐
bring back fossils, petrified woods, or into shard growing on the petrified trees is the rea‐
Blightwood City itself. son for these phantoms. She will share her hy‐
pothesis with scavengers who promise to help
her find evidence to prove her claims. As her hy‐
BIZARRE RUMORS & STRANGE TALES pothesis goes, the lichenshard makes “real” the
Invoker Agul, the Opal Cutter, has made his ca‐ ideas held by scavengers that a forest should be
reer inside the Blightwoods. When visited in full of beasts. They then use the fossilized beasts
Sun Uruk, he will tell any scavengers who prom‐ nearby to create the phantasms. Rival blood‐
ise to bring him back a piece of wood opal his cutter, Shahnahzah, believes this to be non‐
story. It is a short tale, but one that speaks of the sense, and that the dust is a creature of its own.
roots of the petrified trees, and how those roots,
if you dig deep enough, are still alive. It is from Emissary Evrio Ezrio has attempted to com‐
here, Agul posits, that the innasht live when not municate with the innasht through every possi‐
stalking scavenger rings. ble method. Each attempt has failed. Rumors
now abound that soon Evrio Ezrio will search
Bloodsinger Mazveldalvi disagrees with his out accomplished invokers to perform a special
partner, Agul. Mazveldalvi will speak of Blight‐ science with him: the science of being ab‐
wood City. He says that the impossible amount sorbed by an innasht whilst retaining his iden‐
of innasht there - which he estimates to be in tity.
the tens of thousands - means that somewhere
among the roots root of the city is a bulb from Warlord Yotowab, it is said, has designs for the
which they spawn. Mazveldalvi is currently Blightwood to be a home for his tribal mob, the
gathering evidence of this, and will use it to lead Pua. To do so he must cleanse the land of both
an expedition into the ruin’s depths. the innasht and the bonespike glades that fill it.
While no one has stopped him from doing the
Those who have visited Blightwood City al‐ latter, Yotowab, it is rumored, has said that any
ways mention the same detail. The bowels of scavenger ring that gets in the way of his com‐
those innasht-haunted ruins are filled with py‐ ing innasht genocide will join them in death.
roclastic flow, even when the region is not in
danger. They also mention that shardlight radi‐
ates from deep within the many fissures that
crack the city. A theory has arisen from this:
somewhere below the ruins there lies a node of
shardstones the size of a city-state. Many scav‐
enger rings have met ill fates searching for such
impossible treasure.

113
THREATS & DANGERS TORN APART Regional Eruptions are rare in the Blightwoods
The dangers below are the scavenger-stories but stand as the greatest threat a scavenger
who have returned from countless expeditions faces. For every day spent in a region below the
across the years. one that is currently inhospitable, there is a 1-in-
6 chance that the land erupts in a pyroclastic
The DC for all saving throws in the Blightwoods flow. For every 10 days spent in said region, the
is 16. chance increases by +1. When a regional erup‐
tion occurs, all scavengers in the region have
Asphalt Lakes are large bodies of tar hidden 1d6 hours to escape it before they are caught in‐
underneath the ash-soil throughout the Blight‐ side of a massive pyroclastic flow, which mirrors
woods. A scavenger can make a Wisdom check the effects of a pyroclastic geyser. If scavengers
to see if there is any evidence of an asphalt lake cannot escape in time, they can instead dig
within a mile of their current location. If this down, entering into an undertorn network that
check fails, there is a 2-in-6 chance that day that connects their region to the one below it, which
the scavengers may stumble into an asphalt takes 1d4 hours to reach. While traveling inside
lake. Upon doing so, the scavengers are re‐ of this network, there is a 1-in-6 chance each
strained by the tar and begin to sink one foot hour of a pyroclastic flow roiling through, which
per round. As the scavengers sink, they suffer 11 lasts for 1 minute if it does.
(2d10) fire damage from the hot tar every round
at the end of their turn. A scavenger must suc‐ Cancerous Lichenshard is as much a precious
ceed on two Strength saving throws in order to resource as it is a horribly dangerous threat.
escape the asphalt lake. When stumbled into, Lichenshard is the name given to the crimson
the asphalt lake has a 1-in-6 chance of being a and violet lichens that grow over the fossilized
secret Bonespike Glade. trees throughout the Blightwoods. Lichen‐
shards spread over any flesh or stone that they
Carrion Glade pocket the Blightwoods more touch at a rate of one inch per week. When
than any other region in Torn. These glades are lichenshard touches a scavenger, they must
not home to active carrion. Instead, they are succeed on a Constitution saving throw, which
large ponds of oil-slick fluid surrounded by ivory is made at disadvantage if they are attuned to
trees made from the bones of dead drones. any magical items or can cast spells. A scav‐
What makes these glades so dangerous is how enger who fails this saving throw develops tu‐
the fluid can seep into nearby fossilized crea‐ mors that grow underneath the lichen. These
tures, animating them and setting loose on the tumors prevent the scavenger from regaining
Blightwoods a hyper-infectious predator. hit points, force disadvantage onto the scav‐
enger’s death saving throws, and after two
Pyroclastic Geysers erupt from regions close to weeks of going untreated, will kill the scav‐
the one that is currently inhospitable. When enger. Cancerous lichenshard can be removed
scavengers are traveling through a region either through shardcraft, amputating the
above or below one that is currently covered in limb, or a potion made from the sunshade mud
pyroclastic flow, there is a 2-in-6 chance every of the Samua Marshes.
day that a geyser will erupt nearby. A scavenger
who succeeds on a Wisdom check will be able Lichen Armored Sentinels stalk Blightwood
to tell if one will erupt 1d4 hours before it does City. These sentinels are the same as their con‐
so. A geyser erupts 30 feet away from the scav‐ temporaries, only they are covered from head
engers and quickly spreads outwards in 60 feet to toe in cancerous lichenshards. When a sen‐
every turn for 1 minute on initiative count 10. tinel damages a scavenger, they must succeed
Scavengers who do not take shelter, magical or on a Constitution saving throw to avoid being
otherwise, are exposed to the pyroclastic flow, infected by the lichen itself. While in Blight‐
suffering 22 (4d10) fire damage at the start of wood City, there is a 1-in-6 chance every day of
every turn they begin inside of the flow. The in‐ encountering one of these sentinels.
side of the flow is also treated as being inside
total darkness. A scavenger who dies inside of Resting at night is dangerous Scavengers who
the pyroclastic flow is fossilized. do not spend at least one hour creating an un‐
derground shelter where no innasht can see
them will be beset upon by the innasht as they
rest. Innasht themselves have a 2-in-6 chance of
stalking the scavengers each day they explore

114
the Blightwoods. If the scavengers have a piece Fossilized Icons (gives XP as a trophy from a
of petrified wood on them, this chance in‐ CR 11+ creature) are those rare jeweled fossils
creases to a 5-in-6. Roll this chance again every containing massive creatures inside of them.
time a scavenger breaks off a piece of petrified Scavengers have a 1-in-6 chance for each week
wood. spent exploring to discover a fossilized icon.
Moving it is difficult, as each icon weighs be‐
Earthquakes are a constant threat throughout tween 70 to 100 stones each.
the Blightwoods. When they begin, there is a 1-
in-6 chance of them being severe, increased to Innasht (gives fivefold the XP as a trophy from
a 3-in-6 chance if the region the scavengers is in a CR 6-10 creature) are in high demandby
is above or below one that is inhospitable. The Akaran menagerie builders. Only twice has a
earthquake uses the same rules as its entry on scavenger ring succeeded in bringing back a
page 86. However, if a fissure opens up under‐ living innasht. If killed, innasht appear to be no
neath the scavengers, they fall instead into a different than wood when dissected. Because
cavern filled with buried petrified wood and of this, a living innasht must be delivered in or‐
gemstone roots that has a 3-in-6 chance of con‐ der for the patron to grant their reward. Innasht
taining 1.) 1d4 innasht, 2.) a sentinel, or 3.) 1d6 must have eyes on them at all times when be‐
bonespikes. ing transported. If at any moment someone or
something is not staring at the innasht, it will
TREASURES & SECRETS LONG LOST make an untraceable escape.
With extreme disaster striking the Blightwoods
monthly, and sometimes daily, the things that Jeweled Fossils (gives XP as a trophy from a
can be found here are seemingly always chang‐ CR 6-10 creature) have a 2-in-6 chance of being
ing. When an entire region is submerged, an‐ discovered for each day spent exploring to dis‐
other is opened. Thus, the below information cover a strange creature inside one of the color‐
does not cover all that may be scavenged inside ful amber deposits scattered throughout the
the Blightwoods. Blightwoods. These fossils contain small and
tiny creatures never before seen, which many a
NATURAL RESOURCES collector will pay for.
Cobalt Fruit (gives fivefold the XP of a rare
Torn resource) is a legend amongst scavengers. PRECIOUS TREASURE
This fruit, blue and crystalline as its name im‐ Petrified Gemgroves (gives XP as caches of
plies, sometimes mysteriously flowers from a gems worth 10,000gp or more) have a 1-in-6
petrified tree deep in the Blightwoods. Scav‐ chance of being discovered each day that the
engers have a 1-in-6 chance for every month scavengers travel through the Blightwoods.
they spend exploring a specific region in the These groves are astoundingly beautiful, and
Blightwoods to find cobalt fruit, resetting when contain a higher than average amount of color
they leave that region. The fruit is a rare compo‐ petrified wood. Transferring a petrified gem‐
nent in Bataash color powder, but more impor‐ grove back to the scavengers’ patron takes 1d4
tantly, when eaten - staining the scavenger’s + 1 trips due to the amount of material being
lips and teeth blue for 1d10 weeks in the process transported.
- the fruit blesses the scavenger with a lifespan
three times longer than what is natural. Only Petrified Gemwood (gives XP as masterwork
three scavengers have ever eaten this fruit, but gemcraft) has a 3-in-6 chance of being found
not a one of them has aged a single day since. every day that the scavengers travel through
Many believe that the cobalt fruit, however, is a the Blightwoods. This wood is particularly beau‐
myth, and that those scavengers have ex‐ tiful, more so than the trees around it, though
tended their lives through some other means. harvesting it brings upon the scavenger the
stalking doom of the innasht.

“I’m telling you, it's there. A single tree on an island in the middle of the
biggest Bonespike Glade I’ve ever done seen. A cobalt fruit, hanging
ripe for the plucking..”
~ Orphan Xazi after returning from a failed expedition

115
SHARDCRAFT
Cancerous Lichenshards (uncommon,
shard [bloodcut]) have a 3-in-6 chance
each day of being found. In order to har‐
vest them, they must be put into wooden
containers and scraped free from petrified
trees using wooden tools. When a creature
is exposed to cancerous lichenshards, they
suffer the effects mentioned under
THREATS & DANGERS TORN APART.

Shardwood (legendary, shard[bloodcut])

is the name given to the near mythical
trees that have been petrified by shard‐
stone. These trees grow as deep as they
are tall and from them flower 1d10 raw
shardstones every year. When a piece of
shardwood is removed, the tree it was re‐
moved from crumbles into dust and dis‐
appears within 1 minute, leaving only the
fragment behind. This piece of shardwood
can be planted inside of Torn, after which
a new tree will grow after 1d4 weeks. As
this tree grows, the following effects hap‐
pen around it:

◇ The temperature of everything around

the tree for 4 dalham is increased by 3°
celsius.
◇ Every hour that a magical item with
charges expended is within 1 dalham
of the shardwood tree regains one
charge.
◇ Every hour that a spellcaster spends
within 1 dalham of the shardwood tree
regains their lowest level expended
spell slot.

Mysteriously, a shardwood tree turns into

dust 1 day after it flowers raw shardstones.
Scavengers have a 1-in-6 chance for every
month they spend exploring a specific re‐
gion in the Blightwoods to find shard‐
wood, resetting when they leave that re‐
gion.

“Listen. Listen. There’s a hole. It's right

outside the city. It leads to the root.
That’s where they come from.”
~ Translated last words of Yo,
Who-Cut-Down-The-Blightwoods.

116
 A TORN TALE

An account by Far Sayer Ishanya,

Who Walks All Worlds
Getting into Blightwood City was like walking into Sun Uruk: easy. I went with
“
a ring who called themselves the Wild 77s. Don’t know where down the cruel road
they picked up that name since there were only six of them, but I’ll take me being
the other 71 as a compliment.

Our patron was a Tarnaki art collector who wanted something special for his latest
collection. It wasn’t the moon-kissed job I usually look for, but I’d never been to the
city so I figured throwing my jade into the pyre was the smart decision here. For
me, that proved to be true. For the Wild 77s, well…

We got there a few days after the flow had passed. The sky was orange from all the
smoke in the air, so the whole ruin was looking pretty sun-slain. More petrified
trees around than there were buildings. Felt like I was going into some northern
crag past Akara’s White Bones. Not much of any plant, really, beyond the lichen.
One of the invokers that made up the ring touched it and later that day he was dead.
I’d tell you his name if I remembered it. All of us knew not to touch any of the pet-
rified wood. Innasht, they said, made a nest of the ruin, but it wasn’t expected we’d
see any given the flow’d just left.

Soot and ash buried most everything. Felt like I was back at the Core. Spent an
hourglass turn digging over a spot that’d previously been scouted through tele-
scopes. Here, apparently, was a closed gate of borun that could get us somewhere
into the city’s guts. The drifter who decided that was wrong. I remember this one’s
name, alright: Torhib. May Torhib be boiled under the sun for forty years. He didn’t
know the difference between borun and a knotted door of petrified wood, so when
we finally got down there and broke into something, that was a wrap for the expe-
dition.

That’s not me being dramatic. I turned around the moment Torhib broke through
clumsy as a one-handed morg and there behind me was half a hundred death-still
innasht. Try picturing that. One minute you’re in a dead ruin where there’s no
sound other than the rumbling Torn. You turn around and now there’s fifty wooden
statues posed like scren on a corpse looking down at you. Torhib didn’t say any-
thing. Men who make mistakes like that never do. I kept looking because I knew the
moment I looked away we’d be taken out quick as an akarok swallowing a lone child
out on the savanna. Some of the others in the ring thought going inside the building
was a smart idea. I didn’t stop them. Call me all the names you want, but the only
person that was getting out of Blightwood City at that point was me because the
rest hadn’t a clue on how to survive this kind of mob.

Here’s how I did it. Slow. Real slow. With a mirror in both my hands to catch the light
so I’d see as many of these things around me as I could. Didn’t think it was true, but
that works just as good as your eyes do for keeping them still. I backed away from
the rest, though the kith that was guiding us followed me, and the other Wild 77s
slipped on into the undertorn.

That kith didn’t make it out of the city. Don’t remember their name either. They took
a good dive for me, said they saw this in their stars, and I wasn’t bronze-brained
enough to argue back. Got home with a pretty piece of wood opal though, the same
piece Torhib broke off. Patron said that counted as fulfilling the mission, given the
story behind getting it.

So, that’s Blightwood City. Closest thing to a deathtrap I’ve found outside the
Tainted Valley. I plan on going back soon though. My instincts are telling me there’s
something worth seeing underneath all those innasht and I’ll be caught in a Kanu-
man blood pit before I die not finding it.
”
117
118
119
SAMUA MARSHES EXPEDITIONS TO THE SAMUA MARSHES
Samua was a bloodsinger who ventured further
Where Behemoths Do Sleep than any of her contemporaries in the
Intended for 8th-11th level Founders’ Era forty-five years ago. She believed
that somewhere in Torn there must exist a
To the north and the west of Dal Ashta there place like Bataar’s mother swamp, and there in‐
stretches a vast tract of unearthly swampland. deed must be colors never before seen and poi‐
Boiling sunshade mud roils under skies perpet‐ sons never before used. Her expedition was a
ually twilit. A smell not unlike guano and apple ring twenty strong. Most returned, and they
orchards and rotting fruit fills the air. Fireless carried with them tales of sleeping behemoth
embers gambol. Where they settle they wink statues, whispered of firelight-spawned illu‐
out as if never there only to appear again in sions, sketched out the floorplans of forts
some stranger marshfield. empty yet filled with shard-studded altars.
The first behemoth looms high as the sparse, Three times over fifteen years did Samua lead
bent weeping willows, their leaves oil-slick another expedition to the marshes. On the third
black. It is a thing ornate, so much so that it ap‐ they returned without her. There had been an
pears as if it should be alive and guarding some ambush. Something alive and predatory, with
royal treasure, but there is little here to guard. It heat and scales and fangs snatched Samua and
and all its kin, each unique, each undamaged disappeared in the same breath. This monster
by time and caked in dust so thick it makes has come to be known as Samua's Bane, and no
stone, stands half-submerged in jaffa. It is as if expedition since has managed to kill it.
Torn itself was not brazen enough to mask such
grandeur. Weapons do not break them, nor Since Samua’s era, many scavenger rings have
does shardscience. If there are openings to tried half a dozen times to penetrate deeper
their innads they are yet unfound. into the Samua Marshes. Samua's Bane and the
fireless embers together have made for them a
Each behemoth sleeps by mystery-sundered maze hard to penetrate. Howler Ajash’s expedi‐
ruins. Taller than tree and behemoth, the ruin- tion five years ago went further than any before
gates. Pillars decorated by borun barbs and it. It is this adventure and Samua’s own that has
curving statues whose likenesses have been informed other rings of the preparations
scrubbed off by time or a more powerful force needed to best survive this place.
still are towering landmarks unmissable. Hori‐
zontally spreading cities, wings of architecture Scavenger rings who’ve ventured this far will
going in opposite directions, sit behind these suggest the following preparations be made for
thorn’d fences. They descend deep into the any expedition to the Samua Marshes:
mud. Inside, their architecture is senseless.
Ramps and curves in the walls seem more fit
for serpents rather than creatures with two ◇ Tourniquets in case of contact with some‐
legs. Round openings barricaded with thorns thing poisonous, and bone saws to poten‐
separate rooms instead of doorways, and the tially remove necrotic limbs.
ruins are as vertical as they are horizontal. ◇ Whistles or instruments for communication
In Akara, every swamp is known for its sounds. when sight is unreliable.
Frogs ribbiting, fish splashing, insects chirping ◇ Colored markers to serve as landmarks when
- but the Samua Marshes are best known for direction becomes confused.
their lack of sound. There is no song here. No
creature looking for another. Neither does a
voice carry far. It is as if silence rises from these Patrons have been hesitant to fund expeditions
bogs like breath, like stormcloud, darkening all to the Samua Marshes since Samua’s death.
that explore with mute animosity. The fireless Ajash’s expedition renewed interest for a time,
embers and their coldly alien illusions birthed but the discovery of the Core City Ruins took
in the corner of a scavenger’s eye are made all away much of its attention. Scavengers who
the more eerie by this beginningless swamp’s have proven themselves against hostile beasts
saturninity. and who are skilled in unusual navigation are
the perfect candidates for such a trial.

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BIZARRE RUMORS & STRANGE TALES Another hypothesis ventured by rival Ular is
Evimanj the Bonescribe will tell any who seek that the embers come from a great, broken
the Samua Marshes that in a city whose gates shard. This shard, they say, was some great de‐
were thorn-bare there were great borun tablets fense of the people who once lived there, and
written upon in Samuan. By this point in the has been broken and scattered across the
story, Evimanj will begin repeating what he Samua Marshes. Ular further believes that if all
read - gibberish, surely - but all who talk to him these embers were somehow gathered to‐
swear that they hear their names in his ram‐ gether, that great tool could be made whole
blings. Evimanj recalls none of this, but does again.
know the name of any scavenger that goes to Omerigo, an invoker and aid to Councilor Sarok,
the Samua Marshes, and he knows not why, nor believes that the behemoths are in fact con‐
how he could read what he has.
structs whose shardstone hearts have been re‐
A rumor without origin has spread amongst moved. If they could be pried open, perhaps
those who have joined Tarnak’s shardstone they could be reanimated again. Though given
cults. The fireless embers and their heatless illu‐ their vicious shape and their terrible size, she
sions are said to be the manifest wills of has yet to put her thesis to the test.
Akarans claimed by the scren or who have Inanan is a mystic who is forming a cult around
drowned in floods. They say that to see these il‐ the behemoths as idols of extinction. She
lusions is to see the final desires of those speaks to her followers that these behemoths
Akarans, and that by making sense of them,
are the victims of a Great Dying much like the
one can learn some great Torn-truth.
Akarans, and that their cities must be plun‐
Howler Ajash cannot be found since his last ex‐ dered and the behemoths excavated to learn
pedition to the Samua Marshes five years ago. the secrets of surviving the coming end of days.
Those closest to him know not his fate. But it is Inanan has gained many followers in recent
thought that these scavengers know some se‐ moons, and soon plans to seek patronage for a
cret yet unshared, and that Ajash has returned mass pilgrimage to the Samua Marshes.
to the Samua Marshes with knowledge of how
to wake the sleeping behemoths. How he plans
to do this is a mystery in and of itself.
A story is told of a party of two scavengers who
ventured deep into the Samua Marshes. As they
slept, embers landed on them, and when they
woke their equipment was dust, their hair long,
and their bodies covered in tattoos of shapes
never before seen. As the story goes, when
these two scavengers returned to Dal Ashta, it
had grown greatly, and they went unrecog‐
nized. Confused, they stepped back through
the Monolith, where they exploded in a flash of
firelight, fading then gone.
There is a hypothesis ventured by Kenlish, a
bloodcutter of great renown, that every ember
is a shardstone so light that it floats on air and
so finely cut that no normal eye could perceive
its core. It is a scavenger’s wants and desires, he
posits, that create the illusions, much like in the
Tainted Valley, and not the embers on their
own.

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THREAT & DANGERS TORN APART tranquilizing ponds, likely drowning them. A
The dangers below are the scavenger-stories Wisdom check made before each rest to track
who have returned from countless expeditions the movements of the mud reduces this to a 0-
across the years. in-6 chance.
The DC for all saving throws in the Samua The horizontal cities are filled with a strange
Marsh is 17. bog gas in those buildings submerged by mud.
Without proper protection, this haze forces a
Constitution saving throw once every minute,
Some unknown poison has infected Samua inflicting unconsciousness and 1 level of ex‐
Marsh’s soil and water. The ponds are black, haustion on a failure. A simple face mask keeps
and when a scavenger drinks from them, they out the worst of the fumes but does nothing for
are overcome with a deep sense of lethargy. the haze’s other properties. Sounds do not carry
Sleep follows immediately, with no means to re‐ more than 10 feet in these buildings, and no
sist it. However, upon waking, scavengers have light can be brighter than dim light here.
reported feeling well-rested and strong. Drink‐
Every building has a 1-in-6 chance of contain‐
ing water in the Samua Marshes inflicts the un‐
ing a horrific trap. This trap comes in the form
conscious condition for 1 hour, but removes all
of air vibrating loud and fast for scavengers in‐
levels of exhaustion as well. Drinking it more
side it, which in turn destroys their lungs. There
than once per ten days results in violent shakes
will be 30 5x5 squares randomly spread out in
and delusions of being burned alive for 24
hours. Thrice boiled water loses all poisonous boobytrapped buildings. Entering a square re‐
properties but tastes of rotten fruit. quires a Constitution saving throw. A scavenger
who fails takes 42 (4d10) damage on a failure, or
Spider’s Harp is a strange plant adapted to the half as much on a success. Objects left in a trap
weird sunshade soil. There is a 3-in-6 chance for more than a minute are torn to pieces, no
checked for daily of discovering Spider’s Harp. It matter what they are made of..
is a tiny succulent whose flowers are thin as spi‐
Inexplicable shadows move across the
der silk and every bit as strong. Spider’s Harp
Samua Marshes. There is a 2-in-6 chance of
detaches easily in the wind. As they float, a trill
these shadows appearing, and within 10 min‐
song is sung. If touched, the song grows
utes, everything within 600 feet is darkened by
stronger and the scavenger must succeed on a
their touch. While here, no sounds can be ut‐
Constitution saving throw or fall unconscious
tered, nor can shardcasting be performed if it
for 1 hour. Strangely enough, Spider’s Harp only
relies on verbal components. This strange
releases these threads when living creatures
penumbra does not move, and fades away after
are downwind from it.
an hour's time. When it appears, Samua's Bane
The fireless embers, called ekolo or dream is never far behind.
whispers, wander freely throughout the Samua
Marshes, disappearing when touched by any Samua's Bane is an aberration unlike any
material. At times the ekolo become abnor‐ ever seen on Akara. Its body is that of a thick
mally thick in an area. There is a 1-in-6 chance wyrm, a hide hard enough to deflect bronze
checked for every day of this happening. When blades. At one end is a mouth with teeth sixty-
rowed, and its tongue is a long, thin tendril, pre‐
this happens, weird illusions appear, soundless
and heatless, in a scavenger’s peripheral vision. hensile and moving with enough force to split
A scavenger must succeed on an Intelligence even stone in twain. Samua's Bane is old, and it
saving throw when this happens or else be con‐ is long, and it digs through the sunshade mud
sistently distracted by the illusions for 24 hours. and borun ruin walls. Its targets are always the
During this time, they cannot receive advan‐ same: any scavenger daring to hold a shard‐
tage from any source. stone in its presence. If Samua's Bane suffers 40
points or more of damage, it will attempt to
Roiling mud shifts constantly across the flee, striking again 24 hours later. If it can claim
marshes. This causes bogs to move, as well as a single target, it will disappear for 1d20 days
other landmarks. As a result, scavengers must time. There is a 1-in-12 chance of Samua's Bane
succeed on a Wisdom saving throw every hour appearing if it has not already, increasing by 1
or else become lost. While resting for more every day it does not appear.
than 1 hour, there is a 1-in-6 chance that the
mud suddenly changes, dropping any players
within 30 feet of one another into one of the

122
TREASURES & SECRETS LONG LOST weapon must make a DC 17 Constitution saving
Samua’s half-drowned cities are one of Torn’s throw as the mud invades their bodies, dealing
least-explored sites. There is much hope to be 11 (2d10) necrotic damage at the end of the
found by scavengers here should they survive creature's turn for 1 minute. The creature can
their expedition. The below information does make this saving throw again at the start of
not represent all that the Samua Marshes have each of its turns, ending this effect immediately
to scavenge. upon a success.
Spider’s Harp (gives XP as a rare Torn re‐
source) holds great potential to be harvested
ARMAMENTS
for its flowers, which are as durable as a spider’s
Blades of Curved Bronze (2d6 slashing dam‐ silk. These plants must be held in a container
age, heavy, martial, gives XP as masterclass that has no access to open air, lest their flowers
item), four-pronged, and with horizontal hilts detach and bring doom to the scavengers.
built into the blade can be found hanging from
walls and impaled into ruin floors. These Tranquilizing Ponds (gives XP as a rare Torn
weapons are unwieldy and oddly balanced, as if resource) can be harvested for their water. Vials
meant for some inhuman hand. Attacks with of this rare water have been used as weapons
these blades are made at disadvantage until by scavengers, and colorbinders in Bataash pay
the scavenger, who should have martial a premium for it. To them, this water, which
weapon proficiency, finishes 1 combat where it they call zahaq or thoughtless, has the poten‐
is the only weapon they’ve used during said tial to be an invaluable poison and drug compo‐
combat. nent.

Thorned Wargarb (treat as normal bronze

wargarb, gives XP as masterclass item) can be PRECIOUS TREASURES
found dust-filled and deserted throughout the Quartz tablets (gives XP as fivefold a master‐
ruins. This wargarb is made from a twilight-or‐
piece artwork) etched in Samuan have a 1-in-6
ange chitin, and while ill-fitting for Akarans and
chance of being found on the walls, floors, and
kith, is large enough for morg to wear without
ceilings throughout the marsh ruins. Some pa‐
problem. A DC 15 Intelligence check with trons have begun the process of codebreaking
smith’s tools can resize the armor to fit Akarans whatever mysterious language this may be,
and kith after 8 hours of work. This armor, when though none have found success so far. These
worn, has a nasty ability. With a mental tablets are fastened to walls by thorns, though
thought, spikes dangerously stab out from the
some instead gently float in place.
armor. Creatures within 5 feet of the wearer
must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or Diamonds line the serpentine trails (gives XP
take 16 (4d8) piercing damage on a failure. as a gem cache worth 100gp or less) within
and around the ruins. While many have been
harvested, there are more sequestered away
NATURAL RESOURCES within the ruins. These diamonds have clearly
Samua’s Incense (gives XP as a rare Torn re‐ been cut by some tool, but it is a tool with a pre‐
source) is the term given to the deadly haze fill‐ cision greater than any Akaran device.
ing the marshes many half-submerged ruins. If Featureless statues (gives XP as fivefold a
this lethal haze can be somehow understood, it masterpiece artwork) of figures tall, long, and
is hoped that some sort of antidote can be cre‐ twisted, coming in sizes small and huge, are
ated for it. Likewise, the prospects of using the scattered throughout the ruins. There is a 1-in-6
haze as a weapon are not uncanny amongst chance of finding these statues inside of a par‐
potential patrons. ticular ruin. Patrons seeking to collect Torn’s
Samua’s Sunshade Mud (gives XP as a rare otherworldly art have a strong appetite for such
Torn resource) is a semi-living thing. When strange pieces. Each is carved of borun, and it is
rumored that sleeping with one by an owner’s
jarred, it moves like ooze, and when set free, it
slowly slithers back towards the marsh. If ap‐ bedside will grant them strange visions into the
future.
plied to a weapon, a creature damaged by that

123
SHARDCRAFT
Ekolo (rare, shard [type unknown unknown])
can be gathered specifically inside of hollow
containers made of cut shardstone. Within,
they do not disappear, though capturing them
is still quite a feat. If more than 100 are in a sin‐
gle container, opening them causes every crea‐
ture within 100 feet to make a DC 17 Intelligence
saving throw or else they experience vivid hallu‐
cinations. Gathering the ekolo takes 1d4 hours
of work and a successful Dexterity check, which
can be attempted once per day.
Slither Shards (very rare, shard [bloodcut], re‐
quires attunement) haunt random ruin rooms.
These shards slither through the air as if they
were liquid, orbiting thorned wargarb in non-
euclidian patterns. There is a 1-in-6 chance of
finding a slither shard whenever thorned war‐
garb is found. The slither shard will orbit a scav‐
enger’s head if captured and attuned with.
While a scavenger is attuned to a slither shard,
their movement cannot be reduced by any
method and they cannot be affected by illu‐
sions from any source.
Samua’s Scepter (legendary, weapon [club],
shard [artifice], requires attunement) was a
powerful tool used by the marsh’s namesake.
This scepter was wrought bronze with golden
latticework holding seven shards in place along
its length. When attuned to, Samua’s Scepter is
a +3 club with seven charges. A charge can be
expended to cast one of the following spells: fly
(5th level), freedom of movement, hold mon‐
ster, or pass without trace. All charges are re‐
gained when the attuned creature completes a
long rest. This scepter’s location is utterly un‐
known, but believed to be held in Samua's
Bane’s nest.

124
 A TORN TALE

An account by Far Sayer Ishanya,

Who Walks All Worlds

“ The ekolo were kind on my visit. Showed me long men

who slithered around and coiled open air. Made sense to me.
Whoever walked these marshes before I must have known
better than to step foot in this muck. Beautiful, though. The
color of a sunset that’s melted down to the ground.
When I went, there were nine others. They were bronze-
bloods. Got here before that Howler did. Our patron was a
Bataash authority who gave us poisons and colors as pay-
ments. Worthless trinkets here. Nothing alive to poison. Not
the trees, though they pretend to be, and not the soil, and not
whoever these statues are. We mapped a dozen. One had four
arms, like a morg, and another two heads. They were horned
and their visors looked like smiles in the dusk. Those smiles
made the bronzies’ hands go tight on their weapons. I hope my
smile does the same to others one day too.
I looked for competition while out. No one else was coming
this way since there were no campsites anywhere. Even the
ones supposedly left by the green noses before us were gone.
That’s when I learned it was true that this soil moves. Land-
marks were floating around like clouds over the Sea of Myst
so we had to set up three flags to keep track of where we
were. One of the bronzies, an oxenass called Hotem, said we
were wasting markers that way. Didn’t take well to me telling
him to go kiss the moon, but by the third day of doing it his
way he realized being lost wasn’t better than conserving
markers.
Found one city. Three of the bronzies died to Samua’s Incense.
Fitting place for a funeral. Hard to run and walk there, given
how weirdly the place was built. Had to crawl around, some-
times worming my way through tubes to get from one room to
another. Reminded me at the time of the things the ekolo
showed me.
Found some quartz, left it there. We were looking for bigger
prey. Hoped it nested somewhere close. It did.
So try picturing this. Three men are lying down dead and we
can’t get them back. Then our torches flicker out. On come the
sounds. Didn’t say this earlier, but yeah, it's pretty naffing
silent in Samua. So, when we heard something like thunder,
and then a wall caved in, and then that fat, moon-kissed worm
came spilling through, the bronzies pretty much threw them-
selves in the opposite direction! Lousy scavengers, all of them.
Was a good hunt still, but got away. Only so much I could do
by myself. The tunnel it left collapsed too quickly to follow. By
that point, it was me and two others, and they were done with
the whole expedition now. Knew I couldn’t sinch the job by
myself, not how I was then, so I left too. If I return, might build
a nice little hut out that way. It's great not being able to hear
people’s toiling, you know.
”

125
126
127
THE TAINTED VALLEY enger, dealing 11 (2d10) cold damage to
them at the beginning of every day. In turn,
Walk the conflagrant road down into the the mushroom will grow larger and larger
Tainted Valley where shardstones are mined without end.
amidst scalding eruptions.
◇ Ujah, the Enigmas, the Enigmas, haunt the
From the undulating, wave-like ground rises Tainted Valley. Whenever shardstones are
those famed crystals as nodes gross in their in‐ touched do they appear, though not always
candescence. Hills and half-mountains hide are they hostile. Scavenger wisdom holds
them well, cliffsides stratified into multi-colored that the Ujah is to be respected, for it alone
layers of fuschia, indigo, crimson, vermeil, or‐ can lead a scavenger ring to some hidden
ange. Pillars too stand tall and skinny and fat mystery. For more on the Ujah, see the Scav‐
and leaning, all luminous, fulgent to such a re‐ enger Bestiary, page 228.
splendent degree that a scavenger must al‐
ways protect their eyes or else lose sight within TREASURES & SECRETS LONG LOST
a day’s toil. While shardstones are the easiest thing to scav‐
Less than one dalham can be traveled before enge, the heatdeath spores of the giant mush‐
the heat grows unbearable. Rivers of oozing ra‐ rooms are worth just as much. Bring them back
diance flow over flaming lava lakes. Wildfires and they can be used to create potions dealing
rage in the distance, pulled closed like curtains with heat, cold, and life. Provides XP as a rare
around raw shardstone outcroppings. The sky Torn resource.
here is black and orange and red; the sky here Sometimes, a Ujah will lead a scavenger ring to
is a flame itself, streaked by violet bolts of light‐ a door of borun. Never has any ring managed to
ning that blow their thunderous trumpets open these doors, and if not opened with haste
without pause. the Ujah will attack or leave. What lies beyond is
Stretching far off into the distance are mush‐ only rumored, but invokers say that instru‐
rooms the size of redwood trees that erupt ments of impossible make must lie untended
black and crystalline from crimson fields. on the other side.

Sometimes a scavenger ring dares to push past When the lava cools, rare as that is, it takes the
where they should. This is what they find. form of crystalline metals never before seen.
Bring back these ores and find wealth, and XP
equal to a rare Torn resource. Or have forged
THREATS & DANGERS TORN APART unbreakable tools forged from this exotic, raw
All dangers in the Tainted Valley have a save DC borun.
of 15. The Tainted Valley is considered to be a lo‐
cation with extreme heat, thus, a save must be TAINTED VALLEY MIRAGES
made every hour or else a scavenger suffers 1
level of exhaustion. d4 Mirage

◇ Mirages manifest in the wavering haze with

a 1-in-6 chance for every hour of travel. They A meadow of black-and-gold roses and
are impossibly life-like and commandeer 1 chrysanthemums. There is a sweet smell in
the air. A burning man ten-foot tall attacks
every sense. When seen, a scavenger must you with a curved, obsidian blade.
look away, lest the shardstones close by
make the mirage real. Hideous things will
lash from out the smoke, phantasmal, ethe‐ A waterfall tumbles from high above you,
from out the clouds. Its waters are pristine,
real, leaving very real wounds on a scav‐ 2 its rumble loud. Hands burned black reach
enger’s body in the form of horrific burns. out to grab you, to pull you in, to take you
When failing a Charisma saving throw away.
against these mirages, the heat wraiths
conjured deal 23 (5d8) fire damage, though A village of red-brick and clay, far, far away.
can only do harm when conspicuously
viewed by another creature. 3 People move about, enkindled in cloaks of
flame. They ignore the fires, beckon for you
◇ Heatdeath Spores are scattered by the gar‐ to sit with them in their black-boned pyres.
gantuan mushrooms littering the Tainted
Valley whenever a living creature passes A great door, maybe twenty blades tall, half
within 30 feet of them. Whenever they cling that in width. It opens and within a beauti‐
to something, a Constitution save must be
made, or else they will grow mycelium into 4 ful face does peer. They reach out to you
with a blistered hand, smile with their blis‐
a scavenger’s flesh, dealing 5 (1d8) piercing tered lips, pull you into their blistering
damage. From then on, unless surgically re‐ grave.
moved, they will drain heat from the scav‐

128
OF PLACES UNTOUCHED entirely of borun and they are folded in on
themselves across great spaces that reach
Of the places below, little has been seen. Scav‐ heights few can climb. So it is told that a scav‐
engers who are selfish with their information or enger ring is close to developing a way to use
rings that’ve never returned to tell these tales -
these two reasons are why scavengers go so far shardcraft to breathe at such dizzying heights,
afield blind and unprepared. Written below is for at the summit it is rumored some occult
what little common knowledge there is, pre‐ treasure awaits.
ciously gathered over many years.
VAHTAAR ISLAND
CHITINID CRESTS This island sits in the only other body of water
Here, spotted with telescopes many dal away, is found in Torn, though the water here is the
a swarm of scren unlike any that terrorizes black oil that fills the Samua Marshes. Named
Akara. Supermassive, this apocalypse, raging for Vashtaar, who found this place, the island,
and swirling about a single Monolith half- holds an empty palace wherein was found a
buried in slime and mud. fountain. In that fountain’s waters something
spoke to Vasthaar. He disappeared and took
INERT MONOLITHS with him his maps so that no ring could easily
The Akara Monolith is not alone. There are five find this island ever again.
in total, and they form a near perfect ring
around Torn’s known edge. Two have only been WINDLANDS
seen, never visited, for one is lost amongst the Here through curved rock that shows the many
scren and another lies beyond the Tainted Val‐ strata of eras long past howl winds from every
ley. The two besides the Akaran Monolith have direction. Some winds are hot, some are cold,
been visited. Inert, they are; silent and un‐ some are filled with sounds that should not be,
opened. some steal the sound itself away from thee.
Scavenger rings are reluctant to enter these
MERQUAL THAL VALLEY lands for the wind makes camp impossible, and
Here be a valley first walked by a pair of lovers without a camp a scavenger is as good as dead.
lost to time. They returned with strange tales of
black sand that rose in waves and swells, but
both disappeared many years ago and with
them went the secrets of the path needed to
find their wonder.

RINGMAZE ISLES
Just beyond the Sea of Myst, reachable by a
bridge of land that exists only a few days each
year, hides the Ringmaze Isles. Here are islands
with walls tall, cut by technology unknown. To
enter is to find oneself in a maze unsolved from
where no ring has ever returned.

SEA OF MYST
Here stretches the only ocean ever found in
Torn. Over it is a thick mist rainbow in color. No
vessel ever put to the seemingly fresh waters of
this sea has managed to float, nor has any scav‐
enger besides. Rumor has it that there are rings
working on a shardcraft vessel that will bear
them across these waters.

SILENT VALLEY
In this valley not a sound can be heard. It is a cut
in the earth lined with mute idols, tongueless
guardians, avoided by scavengers out of fear of
an ambush’s certain death.

SPIRAL MOUNTAINS
Rise, these mountains, in unnatural spirals and
whirling curls. The Spiral Mountains are made

129
130
131
 Scavenger
Suite
Playing a game of SCAVENGER with the 5th
Edition ruleset is intended to not only create a
unique experience, but to reignite the sense of
wonder both the gamemaster and players
should feel when exploring a fantasy world. This
requires not only the setting information and
art found in this book, but a suite of easy to
learn rules to enhance your game.
The rules offered in this Scavenger Suite have
been playtested in countless sessions spanning
just as many hours. They have been refined
based on the feedback given from each and ev‐
ery playtest. This ruleset will not only enhance
your games in Akara and Torn, but also in any
world where exploration and discovery are ut‐
terly vital.

THE SCAVENGER SUITE:

A SYNOPSIS
The following bullet points provide short sum‐
maries for each rule change in the Scavenger
Suite.

Core Changes: This section offers 6 elegant rule

changes to the core 5th Edition game.
Shardstones: The unique shardstones of Torn
are given a full write up in this section, com‐
plete with guidelines on how to handle magical
items and 13 new magical items to scavenge.
The Scavenging Peoples: In this section, the dif‐
ferent peoples of Akara are described, complete
with statistics.
Scavenger Paradigms: Here, the classes are
combined into flavorful scavenger paradigms
from which you choose to represent your char‐
acter with, as well as 4 new subclasses.
Akaran Backgrounds: Unique backgrounds for
Akara are presented here to help better orient
your character in the world.
A Scavenger’s Lifepath: A set of lifepath tables
are presented here with which to randomly
generate your first playable scavenger.
Patrons & Expeditions: A new experience sys‐
tem, replacing the 5th Edition’s own, is given, as
well as how to set up and run a proper scav‐
enger expedition.
Tools of the Trade: Here, equipment replace‐
ments for the setting can be found. A list of
feats is also offered.

132
SCAVENGER SUITE: Mandatory Healing Kits
Whenever you would regain hit points during a
CORE CHANGES short or long rest, you must expend 1 use of a
healing kit.
The six core changes below are intended to put
a focus on the difficulty in scavenging a dying Weaker Magic
(or alien!) world, as well as on creative thinking While adventuring in the world of Akara, you
and player skill. cannot cast spells of 4th level or higher, nor can
spells you cast be apart of the following schools:
Ability Score Proficiency conjuration, necromancy, and transmutation.
Scavengers have proficiency in ability scores in‐ Spells cast in Torn do not have these restric‐
stead of single skills. This means that if you were tions.
to make a Wisdom (Perception) check, for ex‐
ample, you would instead make just a Wisdom
ability check and add your proficiency to the
SHARDSTONES
roll. You decide what ability scores you are pro‐ Magic has never existed in Akara. The rituals of
ficient in when creating your scavenger, as dic‐ mystics, potions of alchemists, divinations of
tated by your Scavenger Paradigm. If a class the oracle - all have been false, induced by drug
feature would give you proficiency in a skill, no‐ and belief and more than a little superstition.
tate that on your character sheet. On ability Near fifty years ago, when shardstones were
checks where you can convincingly use that first mined from in Torn, this basic fact
skill, you add +1 to your roll. changed. Their sanguine light irradiated all who
If you have a feature allowing you to add double worked them - perhaps even the very fabric of
(or ½) your proficiency bonus to a skill, you in‐ Akara itself. At the same time, the working of
stead apply that to the ability score attached to shards opened up new dimensions for Akarans.
the skill. For example, if you were a rogue whose Understand that shardstones are things of
Expertise feature gave you double your profi‐ Power. Each one serves as a battery or device
ciency bonus in the Dexterity (Stealth) skill, you that warps the world around it. Within each
now add double your proficiency bonus to all shardstone are complex, near-undetectable
Dexterity ability checks instead. matrices that allow for wishes to be granted.
Note: Choosing an ability score proficiency for This is done through a number of different and
Expertise counts as two of your expertise heavily experimental methods. Each method
choices instead of one. has a mechanical representation found in the
5th Edition ruleset. Below the methods, as well
Battle Fatigue as their corresponding mechanics, are detailed.
Whenever you fall to 0 hit points, you suffer 1
level of exhaustion.

Extinction Saves
Death saving throws succeed only on a 15 or
higher.
Encumbrance
You have an encumbrance threshold equal to
your Strength + your Intelligence ability score.
You can carry a number of items equal to or
lower than your encumbrance threshold. Items
with the ammunition property take up 1/20th of
a slot, while items with the light property take
up ½ of a slot. If an item has the heavy property
or the two-handed property, it takes up two
slots, as do any sets of armor. Lastly, small con‐
sumable items such as potions or drugs take up
½ of a slot as well.
If your total number of items carried exceeds
your encumbrance threshold, your movement
is reduced by half. If the number of items dou‐
bles your encumbrance threshold, your move‐
ment falls to 5 and you have disadvantage on
Dexterity ability checks and saving throws. Any
more than that and you have a movement of 0
and automatically fail Dexterity ability checks
and saving throws.

133
SHARDWORK METHODS NEW TOOLS
Artifice. Artifice is the art of working shard‐ The following new tools can be used to manip‐
stones into complex objects for supernatural ulate shardstones, and to create new shard‐
purpose. Artifice is considered the pinnacle of craft.
what shardwork has achieved. Mechanically, ar‐
tifice is represented by magical items. Any and
all magical items, either created by invokers or ARTIFICER’S TOOLS
scavenged for in Torn, have shards as a compo‐
nent or have been irradiated by shardlight. Artificer’s tools enable a character to create ar‐
When thinking about magical items to reward tifacts and magical items out of raw shard‐
players with, consider reimagining their de‐ stone.
signs as being shard-studded or otherwise irra‐ Components. Artificer’s tools include a pair of
diated. heavy gloves, a stone face mask, a small ham‐
Bloodcutting. A shardstone’s cut matters. Dif‐ mer, a pendulum saw, materials with which to
ferent cuts draw forth different arrays of power. make casts, and a variety of bronze plates.
A cut shard can be used without training, so Craft Artifice. Proficiency in artificer’s tools can
long as the instructions for doing so have been be applied to ability checks for crafting magical
given. Bloodcutting owes its name to the color items.
of shardstones, as well as rumors that blood
must be used in order to effectively shape Knowledge on Artifact Creation. Proficiency
them. Bloodcutting represents spell scrolls and with artificer’s tools grants you knowledge
certain other trinket-based magical items. Any about artifacts, magical items, and the meth‐
character that creates a spell scroll is, in Akara, ods needed to create them. This assists with In‐
cutting a shard and loading it with a spell that telligence checks when researching how to
they know. Invoking a cut shard follows the make artifacts or revealing the effects of one.
same rules as creating and using spell scrolls. Knowledge on Creator & Make. You can deter‐
Shardscience. By creating a network of shards mine the relative age, and what part of Torn an
arrayed in different devices, supernatural abili‐ artifact may have come from. You can also tell
ties can be invoked. Many uneducated call which famed invokers created the item, or what
these abilities spells, and in some ways, they Akaran resources may have been used in the
are. Shardscience represents spellcasting. Me‐ creation.
chanically, there are no differences to spellcast‐ Restore Charges. You can use artificer’s tools to
ing. Thematically, however, shardsciences are restore the charges of shard items. Once at‐
performed by tiny, non-mechanical arrays of tempted with an item, further charges cannot
shardstones, or by being irradiated by shard‐ be restored until you finish a long rest.
light.
Torn Drugs. Torn drugs are special drugs made
from mixing crushed up shards with various
substances, such as mushrooms, herbal roots, ARTIFICER’S TOOLS
and other, stranger things. Their effects are
dangerous, and the public knows very little Activity DC
about these black market luxuries. Torn Drugs
represent potions and other magical consum‐ Brainstorm how to make a basic
ables. Found only on the black market or from artifact 10
secretive invokers, these drugs are some of the
most valuable things one can get in Akara. Torn Figure out the abilities of a magi‐
cal item 15
drugs, however, are dangerous. They have a
litany of side effects that can ruin the lives of
those who abuse them. Restore 1 charge to a magical item 20
The Fifth Method. There is a fifth shardwork
method that boggles the mind of invokers.
Prayer and ritual allows for shardstones to man‐
ifest the beliefs of Akaran mystics. How much
one must believe in their religious philosophies
and how much they must give to pull power
from shardstone is ill-understood. It is undeni‐
able, however, that mystics, some of who once
were seen as charlatans, now have some form
of proof for their esoteric beliefs.

134
 BLOODCUTTER’S SUPPLIES
Bloodcutter’s supplies enable a character to
craft raw shardstones into unique magical
items or spell scrolls.
Components. Bloodcutter’s supplies include a
small saw, files, magnifying glasses, pliers,
tweezers, and a ceremonial dagger.
Bloodcut Knowledge. Proficiency with blood‐
cutter’s supplies grants you knowledge about
different shards and what strange sciences
have been worked into their cuts.
Cut Shards. If you are trained by a bloodcutter
to cut a certain type of shard, costing you
10d100 x 10 gp and 1 months time to do so, you
can create that shard type by spending 2d20
days of downtime cutting a raw shardstone.
Additionally, you can create spell scrolls as per
normal if you have proficiency in bloodcutter’s
supplies.
Discover Shard Locations. While exploring, you
can use natural clues such as different colored
soil, strange foliage, and abnormal tempera‐
tures to find hidden shardstone lodes.
Figuring out Bloodcut Abilities. You can figure
out if the residual effects of an ability or spell
were owed to a bloodcut shardstone, and what
kind of bloodcut shardstone it may have been.

BLOODCUTTER’S SUPPLIES

Activity DC
Discover evidence of nearby
shards 10
Figure out a shard’s cut and abil‐
ity 15
Reverse engineer how a shard
was cut 15

Cut a shard to restore 1 charge 20

"One day soon, jade will be the wealth of the poor, and shardstone the
treasure of the powerful."
~ Sarok

135
SHARDS AS CHARACTER SHARDS AS MAGICAL
POWERS ITEMS
As there are no supernatural powers native to There are many different kinds of shardstones,
Akara, some class features, such as a paladin’s both natural and worked, that can be found in‐
Smite or a ranger's Primeval Awareness may side Torn. Below, a list of shardcrafted magical
stand out as being odd. In truth, these are pow‐ items are offered as examples for what you can
ers granted by shardstones as well. Exposure to create and give to your players as they adven‐
Torn, high radiation from shardlight, and taking ture.
illegal drugs made from shardstones can all be‐
stow a character with some amount of super‐ USING SHARDCRAFT
natural power. The shardcraft below are treated as magical
items that sometimes require attunement.
This is a fact undisputable yet shrouded in ru‐ However, unlike normal magical items, you can
mor-laced mystery. For fifty years have scav‐ attune to more shardcraft than your attune‐
engers entered Torn. The powers that they fos‐ ment limit. Doing so is dangerous. For every
ter never grow that high, or that widely known, shard that one has above their attunement
as most disappear like a snuffed candle when limit, they must roll on the Warp-Scars table be‐
the scavenger gets caught in some strange di‐ low. Those who rely too much on the power of
mensional warp hidden away within Torn’s shards find their bodies, minds, and if it truly ex‐
depths. While a Tarnaki citizen may have seen a ists, their souls warped by this incredible power.
Howler’s rage create literal fire that pours from
their muscles, such a sight will be so impossibly DAMAGING & DESTROYING SHARDS
exaggerated by those spreading the story that Shardstones are not indestructible. They have a
no one will know what to believe until they hardness similar to diamond and can be cut
themselves see the wonder. And, alas, that through a slew of methods. When trying to
wonder will likely be dead before it can ever be break a shard with a melee weapon attack, con‐
seen in truth. sider their AC as 15 (due to their natural
Below in the Scavenger Origin table are some strength) and their HP as 20. Shardstones are
idea seeds for how your scavenger gained immune to poison damage.
whatever supernatural abilities they hold. Shardstones that are damaged do not function
Note that not all scavengers are supernatural. properly. A DC 15 Intelligence check is required
You can just as easily be a skilled fighter, some‐ to make use of a damaged shardcraft’s special
one using artifice, or someone whose seem‐ abilities.
ingly magical tricks are just carefully executed
plans and folk knowledge. BUYING & FINDING SHARDS
There is a thriving shardstone market, one in
SCAVENGER ORIGIN which only the wealthiest and most powerful
patrons of Akara deal in. For the average Tarnaki
d8 Origin Event civilian, the purchasing of shardstones is finan‐
You found shardstones on the corpse of cial suicide. Those of other city-states find it dif‐
some sun-slain sacai who fled Tarnak. ficult to purchase them too, despite their po‐
1 You’ve experimented with it, and some‐ tential fame or wealth. This value owes itself to
times, it feels as if it has experimented multiple factors: shardstones can only be found
with you. in Torn, are always brought to Tarnak first, and
A chance encounter with a scavenger saw are likely to be claimed by any number of Tar‐
2 you changing just days after that fated naki factions the moment they are brought
meeting. back to Akaran soil.
You were an apprentice to an invoker or
3 an acolyte to a mystic whose shardcraft af‐ Still, shardstones can be bought. In the Shard
fected you as well. Market table, prices are given for shardstones
and shardcraft based on their rarity. It requires
4 You were sold a strange drug that, un‐
known to you, was based in shardscience.
a DC 20 Intelligence check to find a shardstone
merchant with available stock. If the party
knows of anyone personally who may deal in
5 An expedition to Torn saw you return with
part of that alien world afflicting you. shardstones, no check is required. On a success,
a shard-dealer is found within the day. On a fail‐
Desperate for money, be it to pay a debt or ure, the scavengers come up empty, and must
6 feed your family, you stole a shardstone to
sell - and it warped you before you got rid
try again 1d10 days later when the next wave of
expeditions returns.
of it.
You were born in the Dal Ashta outpost If a shard-dealer is found, assume the prices are
7 within the last 20 years. Being born in Torn as high as possible. Charisma checks, convinc‐
has led to some interesting abilities. ing roleplay, and other offers can be used to re‐
Life in Tarnak, exposed to shardlight duce the price of shardcraft to no lower than its
8 streetlamps, has slowly turned you into minimum value. Due to their importance and
something supernatural.

136
rarity in Akara, shardstone prices are higher SHARD MARKET
than magical items in other worlds.
Shard Rarity Price in GP
In Torn, shardstones are far more common. A
good measure to go by is to reward between 5- Common 100-499 gp
10 shardcrafted items per Torn expedition. Once
returned to Akara, the scavengers’ patron will Uncommon 500-2,000 gp
take any items they personally want and allow
the scavengers to keep or sell the rest. These Rare 2,001-6,000 gp
patrons usually lend their items back to the
scavengers for a monetary price whenever re‐ Very Rare 6,001 - 20,000 gp
quested.
Legendary 20,001 - 200,000 gp

WARP-SCARS
d10 Affliction

Strange crystals grow from the skin on

1 your cheeks, arms, hands, and back.

Sanguine stains appear like birthmarks

2 on your neck and face. They change
shape whenever you finish a rest.

A second iris appears inside one of your

3 eyes, or a new eye opens up on your
forehead or palm.
Sometimes, you speak to yourself in a
language no one has ever heard before.
4 You don’t remember doing it, and no
one knows what the words themselves
may actually mean.

Strange, colorful patterns appear in your

5 hair, always shifting.

Though you don’t become any weaker,

6 your muscles seem to shrink, giving you
an emaciated appearance.

A second face grows on your torso. The

7 face always appears to be serenely sleep‐
ing, and is of someone you don’t know.

You age 1d10 years and you never age

8 again. /Your age physically reverts 1d10
years and you never age again.

You can feel a second, third, and some‐

9 times a fourth heart beating in your
chest.
When you’re alone, and when you’re
stressed or terrified or in danger, the
world around you changes to look as if
10 you’re inside some unknown part of
Torn. When someone looks for you, you
snap back to this reality.

137
SHARD LISTINGS
◇ Bleed Dust ◇ Heart of an Alien World
Torn Drug (snorted), rare Wondrous item (shard, natural), legendary (re‐
This sanguine powder is made from crushed quires attunement)
shardstones and the bones of various now-ex‐ These massive shards--between three to four
tinct beasts. When snorted through the nose, feet in length--are found inside the constructs
you take 1d4 poison damage and become hy‐ haunting Torn’s megalithic ruins. While inside
per-aggressive, confident, and filled with en‐ of a construct, these shards serve as a power
ergy for 1 minute. For the drug’s duration, add source, keeping it alive. When attuned too, they
your Proficiency bonus to any damage rolls that lance through your chest and shrink down to
you add your Strength modifier to. Additionally, one foot in size. While impaled with these
make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a shards, you can cast 4th and 5th level spells in
success, you can cast the thunderclap cantrip Akara, you stabilize automatically when you fall
for the drug’s duration, using Strength as your to 0 hit points, and you no longer have to eat,
spellcasting ability. On a failure, you disassoci‐ drink, or sleep. The shard can be removed from
ate, forgetting who you are and treating your your chest with a DC 20 Strength (Athletics)
comrades as enemies for the drug’s duration. check. If removed, you instantly die.

◇ Consumption Shard ◇ Newvision

Wondrous item (shard, blood cut), uncommon Wondrous item (goggles, shard, artifice), rare
(requires attunement) (requires attunement)
This shardstone has been cut like a diamond, These goggles have lenses made of thin shard‐
but is missing chunks from it, as if someone or stone. While attuned to and wearing them, you
something took bites out of it. This shardstone can see in dim light as if it were bright light up
has 1d4 charges. While attuned to it, you can to 60 feet, and in darkness up to 120 feet. Addi‐
take a bite of it as an action, using up one tionally, you can see heat sources within 30 feet
charge. You receive sustenance equal to one so long as they are not behind at least 1 inch of
days worth of food and water. Once the last bronze, lead, or stone.
charge is used, the shardstone is destroyed.
◇ Oozing Radiance
◇ Dream-Pleasure Shard
Wondrous item (shard, natural), uncommon
Wondrous item (shard, blood cut), very rare Sometimes, large amounts of shardstones are
(requires attunement) melted by phenomenon unknown. Melted
This shardstone has a curious purple tint to it, shardstone rivers and lakes are common under‐
and has been cut in such a way as to cover the ground, moving in great, sluggish ways, oozing,
eyes while sleeping. When attuned to this sliming. This special container of oozing radi‐
shardstone, you experience vivid, lucid dreams ance contains enough for a single use. As an ac‐
whenever you sleep. While exploring these tion, it can be spilled over a non-magical
dreams, you are the architect of all that hap‐ weapon. For 1 minute, the weapon is considered
pens, and can create what you wish. If done magical and you add +2 to its attack and dam‐
during a long rest, you gain 15 temporary hit age rolls. Afterwards, it is destroyed as the
points when the long rest finishes, as well as 1 shardstone harden, turn brittle, and collapse
point of inspiration. into dust.

◇ Flesh-Knitting Shard ◇ Rainbow’d Sight

Wondrous item (shard, blood cut), very rare Torn Drug (ingested), rare
(requires attunement) This shardpaste is the color of blood. It tastes of
This shardstone has been cut in such a way that cherries and bitter rust, and smells of freshly
it seems cracked, damaged. While attuned to it, spilled viscera. When consumed, you see
you regain 1d12 hit points upon becoming stabi‐ strange, psychedelic visuals, such as patterns,
lized at 0 hit points. Additionally, the flesh-knit‐ geometric shapes, and vibrant colors for 8
ting shard has 1d6+1 charges. A charge can be hours. Additionally, you must make a DC 15
used as an action to restore 1d12 + your Profi‐ Constitution saving throw. On a success, you
ciency bonus in hit points to a creature within 5 gain advantage on Wisdom checks for the du‐
feet. The flesh-knitting shard regains 1d6 ration of the drug, as well as the ability to cast
charges at the dawn of every day. the prestidigitation cantrip. On a failure, you
have disadvantage on Intelligence, Wisdom,
and Charisma saving throws for the drug’s du‐
ration.

138
◇ Raw Shardstone ◇ Tribal Brazier
Wondrous item (shard), common Wondrous item (shard, artifice), very rare
This uncut shardstone burns with a fierce san‐ This brazier is crafted out of ancient human
guine light. It has been broken off of a larger bone and studded with shards. It was created
crystal lode. A raw shardstone can be shaped by wandering tribal mobs who, somehow, were
into a bloodcut shard with bloodcutter’s sup‐ able to get their hands on cut shards. When ig‐
plies. Additionally, a raw shardstone can be nited, it releases a baleful violet flame that
drained of power when a 1st level is cast. When smells of rain and worked metal and releases a
done so, the spell does not require a spell slot to coiling stack of silver smoke. If you spend 1 hour
be cast. sitting within 10 feet of the brazier, which can
be during a short or long rest, you experience
◇ Suneater visions as a result of the strange smoke and
heat. You gain a special 1d12 that can be added
to any die roll of your choice. Once used, this
Wondrous item, rare bonus die shrinks in size to 1d10, and so on until
This weird artifact has no shards covering it, but it reaches 1d4. After shrinking below 1d4, this ef‐
is warm as one burning. If you use an action to fect wears off. Once you’ve received this benefit
open it, all light within 30 feet is absorbed, cre‐ from the brazier, you must wait 50 days to re‐
ating an area of magical darkness. All creatures ceive it again.
inside this darkness must succeed on a DC 15
Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature
becomes obsessed with darkness. They will not ◇ Torn Hash
light a torch nor will they sleep without being
blindfolded. These creatures will also desire to Torn Drug (smoked), uncommon
be bathed in darkness again. This effect ends These hash leaves have been dipped into a
after the creature completes a long rest. shardpowder solution, giving them their san‐
guine highlights. When smoked, purple clouds
that smell of rain and freshly forged bronze
ooze through a room. When smoking torn
hash, you become immune to the charmed and
frightened conditions for 1 hour and feel men‐
tally calm. Additionally, you must make a DC 10
Constitution saving throw. On a success, you
can cast the cantrip mage hand for the drug’s
duration. On a failure, you cannot use any
bonus actions or reactions for the drug’s dura‐
tion.

◇ World-Tearing Shard
Wondrous item (shard, blood cut), uncommon
(requires attunement)
This shard burns with an intensity that others
do not. It is small enough to fit into the palm of
one’s hand, and is cut with a strange, curving
style. While attuned to, the world-tearing shard
can be used as a magical focus. Additionally, as
an action, power can be drained from the shard
to reinvigorate the caster. The caster regains 1
expended spell slot of their choice of 5th level or
below. Once used in this way, the world-tearing
shard cannot be used again until the dawn of
the next day.

139
 The
Scavenging
Peoples

Before the Great Dying, Akara was a life-

bloomed tapestry. A number of uniquely
evolved peoples walked the land, moving in
tribes great and small, some building cities and
others staying in their own reclusive regions.
But now the Great Dying has come, the Cata‐
clysm for All Life, and many of these peoples
have not survived it.
Of the many, the few that are left dedicate
themselves to scavenging - be it through their
desperate wanderings across Akara or hopeful
expeditions into Torn. Below the peoples are
described in detail and game mechanics of‐
fered through which to play them.

140
141
142
AKARANS AKARAN TRAITS
All akarans have the following traits.
Go back half a millennium and one will see Ability Score Increase
Akara as a place where many different humans Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and an‐
once walked. Some were furred where others other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
were not; others had larger heads, sloped
brows, and a penchant for symbology. Now, Age
most have been driven to extinction by not only Akarans reach adulthood in their late teens and
the recent Great Dying but by those who call live less than a century.
themselves Akarans in truth. It is they who built
the storied city-states, and it is they who seek to Alignment
use shardstones to create their new world. Many Akaran default to a lawful point of view,
seeing order as a way to ensure survival. More
than a few, however, are chaotic and evil, or oth‐
CLEVER SURVIVORS erwise lean towards neutrality.
Nothing can be said about the modern Akaran
if not their ability to out think prey and predator Size
alike. This is shown most clearly through their The standard Akaran diet sees them standing
use of tools. An Akaran with experience can no taller than 6 feet in height. Your size is
create dastardly hunting traps, uniquely Medium.
devastating weapons, and a host of odd tools
that fulfill abstract needs. And all of this Speed
cleverness, this ingenuity, has been put to a Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
singular purpose: survival.
Look to the city-states, such as Kanuma or Mur, Languages
and see the impossibility of their creation. You can speak, read, and write any two lan‐
Akaran language, rich and complex, has guages of your choice. Typically, you will know
allowed for generations to be born and instilled the language of your culture and Dust Tarnaki.
with the knowledge of their predecessors. Akarans are not afraid to assimilate other lan‐
Ancestors are honored for their work. Using the guages into their own.
tools of their forebears, the Akarans have
managed to establish a monopoly on natural Clever Intuition
resources. But this cleverness is not without its Your natural cleverness shines when you least
faults. Akaran societies are plagued by those expect it. Whenever you make an ability check
who seek to constantly get more than what or saving throw, and if you are proficient in the
they need. A stratified civilization of haves and roll, you can add 1d4 to the roll. If you succeed
have nots peaked just before the Cataclysm. At on the check or saving throw, you cannot use
disaster’s eve, eons of clever thinking have been this feature again until you finish a short or long
rendered moot. rest.

Skilled Survivor
CULTURES WITHOUT NUMBER You have proficiency in one ability score of your
Numerous, the Akarans. This has led to the birth choice.
of cultures without number. This is not solely
unique to Akarans, but the extremity of it is. Trade Trained
Whereas kith keep to themselves in secluded You gain proficiency in one tool of your choice.
areas and morg are lone wanderers, Akarans
diversify themselves into tribes large and small. AKARAN NAMES
Each tribe - and here, a tribe can be a village, an Akaran names are culturally dependent. Those
outpost, or even a city-state - has its own offered below are common names found
language, its own customs, its own way of life. throughout the city-states, as well as some
These unique cultures are the pride of every tribes. Note that most Akarans do not have a
Akaran. For many, it is all they know. surname. Those that do are either taken from
The Cataclysm threatens this more than their trade, some sort of moniker, or descend
anything else. Entire regions have been left from wealthy or storied ancestors.
desolate; their people disappeared. The Coral
Ranee of the Green Empires, the bone men of Male Names: Arzar, Darien, Dazden, Eloch, Gil‐
the wastes, the horizon-walking sea peoples - ames, Lusulu, Killed Prey, Lightless Day, Melkad,
all are gone and their cultures lost with them. Munamm Rahim, Taras, Veneah Veniah
Natural it is then that Akarans are not only Venoah, Wounded Bone.
scavengers for material resource, but also the
ways of their fallen kin. Female Names: Avesta, Eela, Izkar, Jelehar, Joy
in Moon, Lazy Work, Omorosa, Polished Gem,
Ruruni, Shideah, Whispered Honey, Zarene Zar,
Zyrah

143
144
KITH
In the oldest tribal tales there sits the kith. To With the Great Dying causing so much destruc‐
Akarans, they are spectres of the wilds; whisper‐ tion, clans find themselves ever pressed: do
lings hiding in root, under stone, always avoid‐ they stay in havens disaster-riddled, or do they
ing the dangers of spear and sling. Tall-tales are instead head towards civilization and the un‐
true as the monsoon season for the kith. For caring dangers within? To choose the former is
years uncounted they have kept to themselves, likely death. The latter, if chosen, will require the
hiding just behind the veil of woods world-an‐ help of their exiles, poised as they are to take
cient. cruel revenge.

AKARA’S WILDLINGS WITHOUT GENDER

Kith are recognizable first and foremost for All kith are born somewhat hermaphroditic. Be‐
their litheness. The tallest stands no higher cause of this, gender roles do not exist within
than 5 feet. Their limbs are chorded, strung like kith society, and they have trouble understand‐
instruments. This gives them a lightness to ing the difference between male, female, and
their movements - a dancer’s grace, or an acro‐ other genders when it comes to non-kith. They
bat’s elegance. In their many woods, housed still understand love, however. When two kith
within huts of root and mud, they scale trees believe that the link between them is stronger
with the deftness of a swimming fish, dance than that with their clan, they couple. Then they
across branches loose like leaves. To the eyes of decide who amongst them will bear the child.
most Akarans such poise is strange. Supernatu‐ Kith children are traditionally raised by the clan.
ral. This has led to a number of foreign names
for the kith: wildlings, spirits, whisperlings, cus‐ While a romantic love between kith and Akaran
todians…even demons. or kith and morg has remained the thing of ru‐
mor or bawdy tale, it is possible for kith to be‐
This last name owes itself to the kiths’ unique come attached to another in a similar way.
appearance. Coupling their size is their skin, sal‐ These bonds are for life. In a world of scav‐
low as a dull sun. Kith ears are wide too, long, engers, such loyalty has made them invaluable
pointed, appearing almost like fleshy horns or comrades.
the flaps of a rock howler. Along their knees and
shoulders grow hard spikes, black as their hair
and, most disturbingly of all, their eyes. It is
these same eyes that have almost poisoned the
kith reputation. Large, jet, seemingly unblink‐
ing - many an Akaran believes that it is through
this inhuman leer that a kith can read your
mind well as any scribe does a Tarnaki stone
tablet. While untrue, it is a story that many ig‐
norantly parrot, inspiring a fearful caution in the
hearts of those that encounter these naturally
docile

NATURAL EMPATHS
Unique to the kith alone is a sense of empathy
unmatched. This is the origin of the rumors re‐
lated to their supposed mind-reading abilities.
In truth, kith are hyper-readers of emotion. They
pick up on cues so subtle amongst one another
that it can appear as if they share the same
mind. This is not limited to only other kith. Na‐
ture is, to them, just another clan to under‐
stand. To this end, kith are fantastic at predict‐
ing weather patterns, the turn of seasons, ani‐
mal migrations, and yes, even the deceptions
and complex emotions of Akarans too.
Because of their empathy, kith clans are tight
knit to the extreme. Harmony in the clan is to be
kept above all. Those kith that become too vio‐
lent or aggressive are ostracized. Though usu‐
ally allowed to live in the same wood as their
forebears, they must always protect their peo‐
ple despite the harsh cruelty of their exile.
Those that don’t, scorned as deviant, break off
and become wanderers. These errants have
paved the way for their cousins unknowingly.

145
KITH NAMES Size
Kith names each have two parts, connected by Kith are short-statured and hollow-boned.
an apostrophe. The first part of the name is a Rarely do they grow taller than 5 feet. Your size
natural, concrete aspect. The second part of is Medium.
the name is an emotional word that modifies Speed
the former. As kith do not have genders, their Your base walking speed is 35 feet.
names are unisex.
Languages
Kith Names: Ahn’ahn, Ayp’yo, Bak’nyl, Ce’lai, You can speak, read, and write Quo’woah and
Ea’ela, Gil’nesh, Ke’lai, Lau’lau, Ma’she, Quz’xip, one other language of your choice.
Pin’nesh, Ta’kon, Ul’mid, Yyp,yo
Ambusher
You can climb your full movement instead of
KITH TRAITS half, and this requires no ability check to do so.
All kith have the following traits. Additionally, if you use your movement to
climb, you can use your bonus action on that
Ability Score Increase same turn to take the Hide action.
Your Dexterity score increases by 1, and your
Wisdom score by 2. Darkvision
You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you
Age as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it
Kith grow quickly at first, and then stop physi‐ were dim light. You can’t discern color in dark‐
cally aging 3 years after their birth. Most kith ness, only shades of grey.
live to 40 or so years of age.
Empath
Alignment Your natural empathy adds +5 to your passive
The kith ability to share their emotions with Wisdom score. Additionally, if a creature that
each other makes hidden hostilities and ulte‐ you can see within 30 feet is charmed or fright‐
rior motives a fiction in their society. Thus most ened, you can use a reaction or bonus action to
kith are neutral, though those separated from remove the condition.
their tribes can quickly grow evil from isolation.
Wildling
You can attempt to hide even when you are
only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, fall‐
ing snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.

“Heart beat slow, heart beat fast. Heart beat start. Heart beat stop. No
heart, different. All heart, same.”
~ A kith proverb for illustrating their worldview.

146
147
148
MORG
A world hell-harsh like Akara requires its people WANDERERS ETERNAL
to be strong. The morg, ancient, hardy, are the When a morg is born, only one parent cares for
setters of this standard. Blessed with en‐ the child. They are nurtured for just a few short
durance, strength, and the versatility of four years. Afterwards, they are left on their own. It is
devastating arms, the morg fight the land itself inherent in the psychology of all morg to be
in order to ensure that their life goes on yet an‐ fully independent. In their few years of educa‐
other day. tion, they are taught just how cruel Akara can
be. They are shown that the only way forward is
MOUNTAINS THAT WALK to beat back the sun’s cruel heat, to break those
A morg’s presence cannot be ignored. Standing who would steal their food and water, to resist
at a frightful 8 feet tall, their shadows are long the harsh damnation of earthquakes and raid‐
as the roads they eternally walk. Every morg is ing parties and sandstorms all. Each lesson is
aware that masking such grandeur is impracti‐ reinforced as the morg wanders. Wandering
cal. Thus, see them walk, with all the swagger of alone always, the morg. This makes them a peo‐
an apex predator; loping strides, heavy footed ple hard - but not cold.
until silence is needed, always positioned so Morg, though wanderers and pragmatic to a
that you know they are unmovable, or at least near fault, are not entirely antisocial. When two
something close to it. This natural intimidation morg happen upon each other they will trade
is never malicious. It is a defensive mechanism stories of their travels for a fortnight or better. If
honest as a spider’s venomous bite. With mus‐ a morg happens upon an Akaran or kith, they
cles bulging and bones hard and four arms to will attempt the same with them. For the for‐
break a rock howler in half with, they know the mer, this often leads to conflict. Morg know well
easiest way to survive the depredations of oth‐ Akaran dominance. They respect this. But they
ers is to end a fight before it ever begins. also know how many seek to enslave them, or
Those four arms - how they are famed! Many a would kill them for what they own, and the
campfire tale exists on just what they can do. prospect of murder for resource only crosses
Some Akarans tell tales of morg wielding four the minds of the most desperate morg. To this
spears at once to kill a dozen, no, two dozen end, it is hard for morg and Akarans to forge
men in war. Others say they can lift boulders proper friendship. Were it not for the Cata‐
the size of wagons, chuck them like disks at clysm, it is unlikely that so many would have
akaroks. These are exaggerations. But the ex‐ found themselves allied at all.
tremity of these tales does not reduce these
many limb’s advantages. Because of this,
wealthy merchants needing protection or
armies in need of champions are always on the
hunt for the rare morg.

PRAGMATIC PHILOSOPHERS
It is a mistake to think the morg unintelligent.
Their brawn and weakness in speech are not
handicaps. If nothing else, morg are contem‐
plative. While wandering, they will spend long
periods of time in one place in an attempt to
understand all that they see before them. They
do this pragmatically. By understanding Akara,
they survive Akara. By surviving Akara, they
best Akara. Through observation of animal be‐
havior, the secrets of Akara’s esoteric mystics,
and a thorough practice of all that they learn,
they grow smart, intelligent, dangerous. Many a
morg can thus be considered something of a
philosopher. And every sage knows well to
pride morg wisdom, especially during times as
trying as now.

149
MORG NAMES Alignment
Morg names are composed of distinct parts. A morg’s lonely wandering leaves them neutral
The first part is a name in their native language, more often than not. They do not consider
and thus never more than a syllable or two long. themselves good or evil; however, some em‐
The next part is a series of ever-changing titles. brace the cruelty of Akara for themselves and
These titles evolve as the morg wanders. Each become the latter, while others fight back for
reflects their own descriptions of the strangest others and become good.
or harshest or most beautiful adventures
they’ve had. Biological sex plays a roll in morg Size
names for pragmatic purposes. Morg stand between 7 to 8 feet tall. Your size is
Medium.
Male Morg given names: Dur, Een, Fohn, Guaf,
Guahm, Naahn, Nagh, Nyargh, Org, Wag, Worg Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Female Morg given names: Anh, Bie, Boah,
Eah, Huaye, Kiye, Mawa, Puah, Yaeh Languages
You can speak one language of your choice. You
Morg titles: He Who Traveled the Seven Lands can also speak, read, and write Morgani. Due to
Under the Rainbow, That Which Saw Moun‐ your jaw shape, it is hard for you to form the
tains Sink, Us Who Know When Seas Tremble, complex language of other Akarans. Most
She Hunting Wings Across Savanna, Who Once words are monosyllables, and most sentences
Fought Back Quaking Akara, That Who Saw are communicated through sign language and
Forests Red of Leaf, Poisoned by Black Blood of a pragmatic smattering of words.
Foul Insects Many, Who Saw the Depths Thou‐
sand Fathoms Deep, Walking Where No Soil Four Great Arms
Bares Life, Chaser of Storms and Gazer Upon As a bonus action, you can add double your Pro‐
Lightning ficiency bonus to a Strength ability check by
applying all four of your arms to the task. Addi‐
MORG TRAITS tionally, you can wield up to 4 weapons, objects,
All morg have the following traits. or shields at a time. Objects with the heavy or
two-handed properties take up 2 of your hands,
Ability Score Increase and you only gain bonuses from one of your
Your Strength score increases by 2, and your shields.
Constitution score increases by 1.
Large Build
Age Because of your great size, you add double your
Morg age rapidly their first three years and Strength ability score to your encumbrance
reach young adulthood by 10. Stress from size threshold. Additionally, you can grapple crea‐
on their organs means that most morg never tures as if you were one size larger.
see 50 years of age.
Parry
When holding a shield, you can use your reac‐
tion to add +2 to your AC when you are the tar‐
get of an attack roll.

“How’d we survive? Hate to break it to ye, but us having two morg

meant more than you having twenty men is all.”

150
 Dirge for the Charred Slums
Written by Ing, Who Saw the People's Pyre

Flee, flee the coming day,

For the sun is cruel and swells with scathing dismay.

Dawn comes and there is no joy,

For the moon has been burned and blinded today.
Flee, flee the coming day.

Flee, flee the coming day,

Over the hills it boils, over the seas, out across
Stargazer’s Bay.

Smoke now rises, storm over we,

Forked the hopes and scorched the dreams as we
Flee, flee the coming day.

Flee, flee the coming day.

Flee, flee the coming day.

Lepers lounge in ashen trays.

Men weep for children lost who spoke with night,
Saw their want, had took their might.

Charred, the gifts of the coming day.

There are gifts from the coming day.
So we must flee, flee
The coming day.

For those of us who had not fled,

For those of us, duskless dawn,
Dreaming now and forever more,
On the isle where graves wash ashore,
Flee, flee, the coming day.

151
152
SCAVENGER PARADIGM
In the world of Akara, scavengers are well- REPLACEMENT CLASS FEATURES
known to the general public. They are seen Scavenger Paradigms include a number of re‐
sometimes as heroes who bring great treasure placement class features. The features replaced
back from Torn, and other times uncertain dan‐ are those that did not thematically fit with the
gers, changed by the alien world that they so SCAVENGER game. In the Replaced Class Fea‐
thoroughly explore. However, not all scavengers ture table below, the classes and their features
are the same. A suite of different skills and tal‐ being changed are listed. These new features
ents can make up an expedition, and no scav‐ can be found described in detail in each Scav‐
enger party destined for success exists without enger Paradigm section.
a variety of talents. Thus, came to be: Scavenger
Paradigms.
In a game of SCAVENGER, you don’t pick a class
when you make your character, but instead one
of four Scavenger Paradigms. Each paradigm
offers three 5th Edition classes that can repre‐
sent it. When you choose your paradigm, you No Wizards?
choose your class.
Unlike when you choose a class normally, you Shardscience—SCAVENGER’s form of
don’t receive skill and saving throw proficien‐ magic—is still relatively new to Akara.
cies. Instead, you receive ability score and sav‐ Only 50 years or so in development, the
ing throw proficiencies as per your Scavenger complexities of power that a wizard can
Paradigm. Additionally, you receive the equip‐ achieve have yet to be fully realized. In‐
ment covered in the Tools of the Trade section stead, artificers are used, representing
instead of what your class would normally give the science-based outlook on shards and
you. All other class features, such as hit points, shardcasting popular in Akara.
hit dice, tool proficiencies, and so on remain the
same.
The Scavenger Paradigm table below names
the four paradigms and also shows which
classes are mechanically represented by the
paradigm.

REPLACEMENT CLASS FEATURE * means that the replacement feature is optional

Class Name Class Feature Replaced Replacement Class Feature

Bard Magical Secrets World-Wises

Cleric Channel Divinity: Turn Undead, Channel Divinity: Miracle Worker,

Destroy Undead Destroy Aberration
Ranger Natural Explorer* Far-Strider’s Trick*

SCAVENGER PARADIGMS

Paradigm Included Classes Synopsis

Drifter Bard, ranger, and rogue Wanderers who learn from the many peoples
they meet and travel with.

Warlord Barbarian, fighter, and paladin Raiders and warriors who rely on martial prowess
to survive.

Invoker Artificer, sorcerer, and warlock Scientist-Magicians who methodically explore

the powers of shards.

Mystic Cleric, druid, and monk Cultists and shamans who use shards to make
reality their esoteric beliefs.

153
DRIFTERS
Included Classes: Bard – Ranger – Rogue
Ability Score Proficiencies: Dexterity and one
more ability score proficiency of your choice
Saving Throw Proficiency: Dexterity

Never had he seen a cliff as tall as this; a moun‐

tain without slopes, really. Still, it was there the
suneater lied, or so the patron said. And it was
his job to lead them to it safely. Give me an hour,
he told them. In no memory had it ever taken
him so long to figure out a way around any of
Akara’s many obstacles but Torn was a place of
extremes and little else. But the hour passed,
and his studies were done, and with confidence
he knew the perfect route to get the scav‐
engers up the cliff. Now, to find just a little bit of
rope…
Few scavengers are as equipped as the world-
wise drifters. They are trailblazers who have
heard a thousand tales from just as many
campfires. This has blessed them with talents,
skills, and an overall competence that makes
them perfect for taking on the disaster- the Illiat, or the trapping tricks of the savage
wracked world and the unfathomably unfath‐ Noahd. One can spot a Far Sayer by the
omable Torn. Many drifters are specialists in one
thing or another. Below, a number of unique scrimshawed bones and tribal trinkets they
carry with them.
professions are offered to help you figure out
what your scavenger has mastered. The Orphans
The Great Dying has swallowed many a culture.
Bloodsingers Entire ways of life, all lost in the blink of an eye.
Storytelling is how much of Akara’s history is Drifters who are scavengers not by choice but
recorded. Drifters who’ve collected these stories by force - owing their current fate to the de‐
have learned to put faith in them. They share struction of their old homes - are called Or‐
the tales of tribes and city-states forgotten to phans. Know them by their unique dress, how
bolster the resolve of their comrades, to provide they speak, customs unknown, each the inheri‐
guidance to those who need it. With the advent tance of their lost homes, each this inheri‐
of shards, this faith has become a very real tance’s only heir. Out of desperation do many
weapon. Bloodsingers have earned their names Orphans turn to crime, especially in Tarnak.
from the strange performances they give. Thieves, thugs, and kidnappers are orphans
Shardfueled and dramatic, they allow for weird gone wrong, or sometimes criminals who have
powers to manifest, each of which owes their turned their lives around to be scavengers.
origin to some tale the Bloodsinger has learned.
Many have shard-studded cheeks or throats Silent Blinds
through which they channel this power. Others In Bataar, assassination has been a time-
create bizarre shardstone instruments that do honored way of life for those lucky to be chosen
much the same. by the Powder Houses. The lucky are not always
natives - in truth, it is better that many are not.
Far Sayers Thus, many drifters have been trained here to
Akaran tribal mobs call those that sojourn with be a lethal tool known as a Silent Blind. Their
them for however long the Far Sayers. The name is born from the rigorous training they
name owes itself to pragmatic reasoning; must go through to move silently through
drifters come from afar, and they have much to Bataar’s swamps and to blend in with the clever
say. A drifter claiming this title for their own is and observant Bataash natives. Results speak
one who has learned a dozen unique tricks for themselves. Silent Blinds, once free of their
from the tribes they’ve visited. Far Sayers freely contracts, are likely to ply their trade in other
share and teach what they’ve learned too. city-states. Thus, a reputation precedes them.
Whereas many drifters are secretive over their To have one as a scavenger is to have someone
knowledge, trading it only for goods or favors, a who can sabotage rival expeditions, spy on oth‐
Far Sayer is quick to teach a comrade the se‐ ers to collect rumors, and quickly remove vio‐
crets of Pua herbalism, the shadow-songs of lent foes without spilling a drop of blood.

154
REPLACEMENT CLASS FEATURES: DRIFTERS Additional Natural Terrain
For a ranger’s Natural Terrain
World Wises
Replaces a bard’s Magical Secrets Instead of the Underdark option, you can
choose Alien as your favored terrain. Alien ter‐
By 10th level, you’ve learned enough of the rains are those in Torn, or that have been heavily
world and its people to emulate many of their influenced by shardstones.
greatest legends. Choose a class feature of an‐
other class gained at 1st level that you do not al‐ Far-Strider’s Trick
ready have and that is not a subclass feature. Replaces a ranger’s Natural Terrain
You can use this class feature. Once you’ve used
it, you cannot do so again until you complete a You have seen much of the world, and it has
long rest. If the feature is a passive feature not taught you the trick of survival when only doom
requiring a use, it takes an Action for you to use seemed possible. Choose one of the following
it and the effects last for 1 minute. far-strider tricks listed below. You can use your
far-strider trick as a reaction a number of times
You gain additional class features at 14th level equal to your Proficiency bonus. You regain ex‐
and again at 18th level. The additional class fea‐ pended uses after completing a short or long
ture can be from 2nd level or below for these rest. You gain 1 additional trick at 6th level, and
additional class features. Class features gained again at 10th level.
this way do not scale; instead, treat them in use
as if they used by a character at their normally Choose one of the following far-strider tricks
earned level. For example, if you learned the listed below:
monk’s Martial Arts feature, you would do 1d4
damage with unarmed attacks, even if you’re
10th level.

◇ Boots Made Sturdy: When your movement speed would be reduced from any cause, in‐
cluding climbing or swimming, you instead move at your normal movement speed until the
end of your turn, plus an additional number of feet equal to 5 times your proficiency bonus.

◇ Hidden Cover: When you’re the target of a ranged spell, ranged weapon attack, or are
forced to make a Dexterity saving throw, you create three-fourths cover for yourself. If you al‐
ready had at least half-cover, you instead create full cover. Any cover created by this trick is
destroyed at the beginning of your next turn.

◇ Measured Strength: When you would suffer a level of exhaustion, you can ignore the effects
of that level for 1 hour or until you fall unconscious.

◇ Never Caught: When a creature has grappled or restrained you, you find a way out, ending
the condition and moving 10 feet away without prompting an Opportunity Attack. The crea‐
ture grappling or restraining you, if any, takes damage equal to twice your Proficiency
bonus.

◇ Quick Stop: When a creature within 5 feet of you makes a melee weapon attack, you can
quickly strike it. The creature takes damage equal to your Proficiency bonus and reduces its
attack roll by the same amount. If you have a ranged weapon or piece of ammunition in
hand, you can target a creature within 30 feet with this trick.

◇ Secret Cure: When you are afflicted with a disease or poison, you quickly treat yourself to
overcome the effects. At the beginning of your next turn you are no longer affected by the
disease or poison.

◇ Treader’s Wisdom: When a creature within 5 feet of you fails an ability check, you can add
your Proficiency bonus to their roll. If the new total would have succeeded, the creature is
considered as having succeeded on the ability check.

◇ Unlikely Survival: When you take damage, you can roll your hit dice and reduce the incom‐
ing damage by the amount rolled.

155
WARLORDS
Included Classes: Barbarian – Fighter – Paladin
Ability Score Proficiency: Strength and Dexterity
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Choose two from
Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution
Rattles, the dying scren, spittle and poison
flung in globules from its broken jaw, a jaw bro‐
ken by the heavy club of its slayer. She rears up
to the tips of her toes and brings her weight
down on the abomination again. And again. A
dozen times again, until its body is more a paste
than the dangerous aberration it was heart‐
beats prior. Half a dozen more scren claw at the
ground, click-scream, tails whipping to and fro,
terrified and enraged. She smiles. War-work
never ends.
To be a warlord is to be someone born to vio‐
lence. They are people who have trained most
of their lives to use their skill at arms to rip des‐
tiny from Akara’s cruel, unyielding grasp. Of‐
fered below are just a few of the many war tra‐ Oathspears
ditions that warlords may hail from. Warriors driven by zealous faith are common
amongst scavengers. They make oaths to their
patrons or to their families or themselves or to
Bronze Bloods lofty ideas and swear upon a shard that they will
Those who train to fight, and who can only ensure their duty be done. This process is one
fight, and who sell their skills to the highest bid‐ few understand. For many, an oath such as this
der are known as bronze bloods. Their name grants no power. But for a few, the oath unlocks
comes from their likely use of bronze weapons, a supernatural weapon for these warlords to
their wearing of bronze armor. Most Akaran make use of. Thus their name: Oathspears. They
armies are strengthened with bronze blood are the spears of their oaths, sworn to whatever
mobs, whose experience in the field and self- it is they’ve given themselves to so that they
provided weapons are near invaluable. This title may achieve whatever it is they seek to achieve.
is shared by warlords who go into scavenging Contrary to their title, many use a variety of
as a hired sword. It is not uncommon for bronze weapons, from the katar to the battleaxe to the
bloods to exaggerate their accomplishments. hidden dagger. All, however, are capable of
But with violent conflict blossoming across something similar to a mystic’s ritualist-esque
Akara in the wake of the Great Dying, these ex‐ shardscience. Know them for the personal
aggerations are being put to the test more and shard they carry, bloodcut and unique.
more every day. So long as the pay remains
right, however, a bronze blood of trusted skill Starfallers
can ensure a scavenger expedition’s survival. Patrons are quick to buy mercenaries who fight
well. Starfallers, however, are a special breed,
Howlers taken from Kanuma’s infamous Pit of the
Every scavenger warlord hailing from a tribe Sunken Sun. There, where the greatest gladia‐
calls themselves a Howler. It is a common tradi‐ tors fight for freedom amongst the cheers of
tion in Akara for tribal raiders and chieftans to star worshippers many, the infamous starfallers
throat-sing as they charge into battle. This are born — champions who have proven them‐
throat-singing is supplemented by a strange selves against man, against beast, and against
concoction of drug and spirit, sending the war‐ aberration. Starfallers as scavengers are quick
lord’s mind into a frenzied rage. It is the belief of to violence and know that their lives have been
lesser warriors that the only way to quiet them bought by someone more powerful than them‐
is to kill them. In modern Akara, with shards and selves. Perhaps it is the promise of freedom
Torn irradiating scavengers, a Howler’s mad‐ that keeps them putting such leal force behind
ness seems to whip up an even stranger fury, their sword strokes. Regardless of why they
one almost trance-like, unexplainable even by fight, Starfallers are quick to recognize by their
the drugs and drink that kickstart their frenzy. constellation-inked faces and their unusually
For these Howlers, the lesser warriors are right. brutal armaments.
Only death ends their bloodlust once un‐
leashed.

156
INVOKERS
Included Classes: Artificer – Sorcerer – Warlock
Ability Score Proficiency: Intelligence
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Choose two from
Constitution, Intelligence, or Charisma.

See the chamber, drowned as it is in stygian

darkness. Crimson light flashes and revealed in
that short supernova is a hunched shadow of a
man, horns curling from his head — the can‐
cers of his craft. Again, the blood-flash. On the
stone table before him, illuminated now,
worked bronze, sharpened glass, a bone‐
saw…and the shard too, elegantly cut, polished,
gleaming. The man fits the shard into his Bloodcutters
strange contraption. Never before has it been Bloodcutting is the art of cutting shards into
dreamed of in Akara. He is the first. And as it new shapes, thus working their natural power
slides in, he sits back as the device whirrs to life. into something new. For the longest time, this
Sanguine radiance becomes sanguine light‐ science went unprogressed. It is the few Mura‐
ning, electricity crackling, lumes most brilliant. neese scavengers - rare as snow in a desert -
Stygian darkness there was, but now it is con‐ that have used their legendary skill to take
quered. Light without fire has been made at blood cutting to the next level. There exists an
last. infinity of ways to cut shards, and these ways
are discovered every day, leading to ever more
Invokers are individuals much like the above extravagant powers. Know the bloodcutter by
who study shards through a scientific lens. the arrangement of shardstones they wear. No
They seek to work the powers of these stones jewelry is half as flamboyant.
into new crafts. Their hope is that by doing so,
they will further make sense of Torn, of the Colorbinders
Great Dying, and find an answer to the doom- Colorbinding is the Bataash art of creating col‐
riddle looming over Akara. However, not all in‐ ored dyes, horrific poisons and, in the tallest of
vokers are chiseled from the same stone. tales, turning mud into gold or water into wine.
Whereas one may be methodical in their work, Though these supernatural feats have long
another may use their force of personality, and since been known to be impossible, the advent
another still may combine their shardscience of shards has changed this. Bataash scavengers
with some other craft. Below, a number of dif‐ have learned to use powdered shardstone in
ferent invoker practices are named and de‐ their colorbindings, creating strange concoc‐
scribed. These do not represent all invokers, nor tions that transmute reality itself. Though only
all the different branches, styles, sciences, and truly usable in Torn, this science has led to the
purposes invokers may have. However, they are creation of Torn Drugs, which have flooded Tar‐
guide stones that show what you can do with nak’s black market in recent years. Many col‐
the power of shards. orbinders are addicted to their own drugs,
which in turn give them abilities warped and
weird. Colorbinders are known for their beauti‐
Heart-Giver ful armor dyes and their painted weapons.
An Ininnu, or Heart-Giver, owes their name to
an old akaran tradition of strange ritual. In The Radiant
times of antiquity, one would offer to Some invokers seek to imbue themselves with
metaphorically sell their very heart in exchange the irradiating power of shardlight. By exposing
for any one wish, such as wealth, weapons, or themselves to different levels of shardstone ra‐
grain. It has reemerged to describe an esoteric diance, the invoker becomes internally mu‐
branch of invokers who believe that shard‐ tated. It is a form of science hardly understood.
stones allow them to communicate with enti‐ The powers the invoker manifests are usually
ties hidden away in the depths of Torn. Their somehow connected to different regions of
peers are quick to say that these entities do not Torn. For example, a strange sanguine storm
exist; the shards themselves are manifesting observed by scavengers is reproduced by an in‐
what the Ininnu wants to see. But they cannot voker whenever they perform a feat of shard‐
deny that every night, an Ininnu will dream science. A recent hypothesis by Sarok of the
strange dreams and wake with shard knowl‐ Council of Jade & Progress is that the personali‐
edge hither too unfounded. Whether this ties of the Radiant dictates the specifics of their
knowledge does come from some obscure en‐ shardscience in deeply psychological ways. The
tity or whether it is just moments of brilliance Radiant have eyes the color of spilled blood, and
obtained from shardcraft is still to be deter‐ tattoos just as vivid.
mined. Ininnu are unassuming until their
knowledge eventually shifts and changes their
bodies in ways unexpected.

157
MYSTICS
Included Classes: Cleric – Druid – Monk
Ability Score Proficiency: Wisdom
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Choose two from
Strength, Dexterity, or Wisdom

In her locs rest a dozen shardstone studs. They

chime-tinkle as she places one hand, then the
other, on her brother’s ruin of a chest. Together
they came into Torn. Together they would leave.
She whispers this to herself, believes in the
teachings of her mother, and her mother’s
mother, and the whole lineage of her family.
Faith resonates as the philosophies, the rituals,
the mysticisms of a line of shamans Akara-old
ignites the light of each and every loc-wrapped
shardstone. Her tattoos, dark on her mahogany
skin, burn red as her brother’s flesh, his muscle,
his bones are all knitted back together.
This is the sacred work of a mystic. Unlike invok‐
ers, who carefully try to figure out the powers of
shardstones, mystics use their faith in their idols they carry with them, which serve as the
mysticisms to change the world into what they foci for their shardscience.
believe it should be. Such power has given deep
vindication to Akara’s spiritual wanderers. Now, World Speakers
many of them ply their talents as scavengers, Should a mystic take stock in the ancient belief
seeking to use their faith to heal their dying of Worldliness, they earn the name of World
world. Below, the mystic representatives of Speaker. These are mystics who are most trou‐
Akara’s largest religions are presented, though bled by the Great Dying. They, who have stud‐
in a world pushed to the edge, new beliefs are ied the ocean’s waves, animal migrations, mon‐
born every day and thus new mystics to repre‐ soons and typhoons know that soon Akara will
sent them. die and with it all of her wisdom. Thus, they
learn what they can and use this knowledge to
Ancestral Shamans enlighten their comrades and to ensure their
Ancestor worship is Akara’s oldest belief. What‐ expeditions into Akara and Torn are successful.
ever happens to the dead is for them to know Some World Speakers have shown the ability to
but their experiences, powers, and secrets are don the skins of beasts, while others can give
inherited by the current generation and then the wrathful Akara some peace for a while.
passed on in full. Mystics whose faith is past- Such power has made these mystics, few that
born has allowed for strange necromancies to they are, precious to not only scavengers, but
evolve in Torn. Some believe they can speak to Akarans everywhere. World Speakers wear
the dead, while others claim to have traveled bone necklaces and shard-studded chokers
beyond the pale and into a realm they can through which they claim to speak with all na‐
scarcely remember. Other mystics coat or stud ture’s authority.
the bones of their ancestors in shardstone,
adorning themselves in a regalia that imbues Zodiacs
them with all the wisdom of heroes long since To study the Kanuman beliefs is a common
passed. The miracles they weave are the desires thing for scavengers. Few are as sure and as
of our forebears, or so they say. proven as their stargazers. Mystics who draw
their power from these religions are called zodi‐
Shard Cultists acs for the silver-white constellations tattooed
In Tarnak, the advent of shards 50 years ago has across their arms, faces, and chest. The miracles
sewn the city with countless cults. Each cult is of a zodiac are many. Depending on the con‐
wholly unique to itself, creating idols that repre‐ stellations they imbue, they heal the flesh of the
sent their philosophies and blessing the zeal‐ ailing, scry the future, and even, or so it is said,
ous with shards. If it were not for the sheer banish the scren back to whatever blasted
number of cults, the combined powers of the world they’ve crawled out of. Rare it is for a zo‐
believers would be enough to challenge the au‐ diac to find easy acceptance, however. With
thority of Tarnak’s council. However, the cults Kanuman star-raiders growing bolder with ev‐
are doomed to endless infighting. Their reality ery moon the public opinion on all zodiacs di‐
is a tapestry of beliefs uncompromising. Some minishes. They are seen as untrustworthy, likely
worship the Great Dying itself while others seek to sell their comrades into slavery if an expedi‐
to learn the secrets of all flying creatures or to tion fails. Ill reputations or not, their talents are
somehow ascend to the skies. A shard cultist not to be dismissed.
can always be recognized by the outlandish

158
REPLACEMENT CLASS FEATURES: MYSTICS

Channel Divinity: Miracle Worker

Replaces a cleric’s Channel Divinity: Turn Un‐
dead

As an action, you present a shardstone before

a gathered group of creatures and work a
miracle before them. Each creature within 30
feet of you must make a Wisdom saving
throw. If the creature fails the saving throw,
its attitude becomes friendly towards you,
and if the creature was already friendly, it is
instead charmed for 1 hour or until it receives
damage from any source.

Banish Aberration
Replaces a cleric’s Destroy Undead
Starting at 5th level, when an aberration fails
its saving throw against your Miracle Worker,
the creature is banished to the World Torn
Apart if its challenge rating is at or below a
certain threshold, as shown on the Banish
Aberration table below. If you are already in
Torn, the creature is transported 500 miles
away from its current location.

Cleric Level Banish Aberration of CR …

5th ½ or lower

8th 1 or lower

11th 2 or lower

14th 3 or lower

17th 4 or lower

159
PARADIGM SUBCLASSES
Below are detailed four subclasses. These subclasses can be taken for each of the following classes
in their respective paradigms, as per the table below.

Scavenger Paradigm Class & Subclass

Drifter Roguish Archetype: Vermillion Hand

Invoker Warlock Otherworldly Patron: Core Entity

Mystic Druid Circle: Circle of Cataclysms

Warlord Martial Archetype: Starfaller

DRIFTER PARADIGM: VER- turn inside of a material or creature, they are

destroyed.
MILLION HAND ◇ You have 30 feet of blindsight through your
vermillion silhouettes whenever they touch
There exists in Akara a class of thief trained in either the ground or an object or creature
the catacombs of Tarnak by the Tongue & Hand. with their hands.
This thief, unlike their mundane counterparts, is
trained specifically in the theft of shardcraft. In ◇ Your vermillion silhouettes can pick up a
their training, the drifter in question becomes a small or tiny object. When an object is
saboteur and a spy of the arcane, and is ex‐ picked up by your vermillion silhouette, it ra‐
posed to measured amounts of shardlight to in‐ diates red light and can be transported by
fuse them with weird abilities. These drifters are your vermillion silhouette through other
called Vermillion Hands, and they are the only materials and creatures.
tool ever made that can properly steal a shard‐
stone’s magical powers. Shardlight Overload
Also at 3rd level, you can use a bonus action to
Legion of Vermillions cause one of your vermillion silhouettes to ex‐
Starting when you choose this roguish plode. Any creature within 10 feet of the vermil‐
archetype at 3rd level, you can create vermillion lion silhouette must succeed on a Dexterity sav‐
projections of yourself. As an action, you can ing throw, whose DC equals 8 + your Intelli‐
create one vermillion silhouette, which appears gence modifier + your Proficiency bonus. On a
in a separate, unoccupied space within 15 feet failure, the creature suffers radiant damage
of yourself that you can see. The projection is a equal to your sneak attack dice damage.
vermillion, featureless silhouette of yourself that
lasts until destroyed, you end this effect as a Discshard
bonus action, or 1 hour has passed. Starting at 9th level, you have learned how to
Your vermillion silhouette has AC 12 + your Pro‐ directly steal the power of shardcraft. As an ac‐
ficiency bonus, 1 hit point, and immunity to all tion, you can touch a creature with a magical
conditions. If it has to make a saving throw, they trait or a magical item and steal away one of its
use your saving throw bonus for the roll. It is the magical traits. This trait becomes a tiny, circular
same size as you, and occupies its own space. disk called a discshard.
On your turn, you can mentally command your The discshard has an AC of 15, 10 hit points, does
vermillion silhouette to move up to 30 feet in not make Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma
any direction (no action required). If your ver‐ saving throws, automatically fails Strength,
million silhouette is ever more than 60 feet Dexterity, and Constitution saving throws, and
from you at the end of your turn, it is destroyed. is immune to all conditions, as well as poison
Your vermillion silhouette counts as a creature damage. The discshard is destroyed after 24
for the purposes of activating your sneak attack hours or if its hit points are reduced to 0. Until a
feature. discshard is destroyed, the stolen magical trait
Starting at 11th level, you summon two vermil‐ cannot be used by the creature or item that it
lion silhouettes instead of one when you use was stolen from.
this feature. Once you’ve used this feature, you You can touch the discshard to another magical
cannot do so again until you finish a short or item of your choice. When you do so, the disc‐
long rest. shard disappears in a flash of red light, and that
magical item gains the stolen trait for 24 hours.
After 24 hours have passed, the trait can no
◇ Your vermillion silhouettes can move longer be used and the original creature or
through materials and other creatures as if magical item that the trait belonged to can
they were difficult terrain. If they end their once again use that power.

160
You can create a number of discshards equal to Shardlight Possession
your Proficiency bonus. When one is used or Starting at 1st level, when you deal damage to a
destroyed, you can then create another to re‐ creature with a cantrip, magic item, or spell, you
place it. can use your reaction to create a vector allow‐
ing the Core Entity to possess your target for 1
Hand to Rouge Hand minute. The possession ends early if the target
At 13th level, you can instantly swap places with dies, you die, or you are incapacitated. While
one of your vermillion silhouettes as a bonus ac‐ possessed, the creature suffers from the follow‐
tion. When you do so, you cannot do so again ing effects:
for that vermillion silhouette. ◇ It cannot attack you if there is another valid
Upload Shardlight target within range.
Upon reaching 17th level, whenever one of your ◇ It cannot cast spells, nor can it use magical
vermillion silhouettes is destroyed, you can use items that it is attuned to.
your reaction to crush one of your discshards. If ◇ It cannot use the Disengage or Help ac‐
you do so, you can summon a replacement ver‐ tions, and it cannot ready an action.
million silhouette that appears within 15 feet of At the end of each of its turns, the creature can
you in an unoccupied space. make a Charisma saving throw against your
spell save DC, ending this effect on it with a suc‐
cess. Once you’ve used this feature, you cannot
do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
INVOKER PARADIGM: Radical Quantum Thinking
CORE ENTITY At 6th level, the Core Entity has given you ac‐
cess to its hyper-computational mind, greatly
Heart-Sellers among scavengers often whisper enhancing your own mental abilities. You can
to one another of a strange dream they have. In use the Help action on yourself as a bonus ac‐
this dream they meet an entity composed of tion or reaction whenever you make an ability
cold, crimson shardlight that asks them for as‐ check or saving throw.
sistance. This entity claims to dwell within the
Core itself, and it requests odd tasks be per‐ You can use this feature a number of times
formed that seemingly have no coherence with equal to your Proficiency per long rest.
its previous request. Those who deny the Core
Entity have their memories wiped so that they Shardlight Domination
remember neither its appearance nor its origin. At 10th level, you can strengthen the Core En‐
Those who accept, however, forget their tity’s hold over a creature when you allow it to
dreams too but remember the task that they possess them. When a creature is first pos‐
must perform. These Heart-Sellers are re‐ sessed, choose one of the following additional
warded with the Core Entity’s own acroamatic effects for it to suffer from:
services and an instinctual knowledge of how
to use shardcraft as well as any other invoker. ◇ The creature experiences great pain, pre‐
venting it from regaining hit points from
Expanded Spell List any source.
The Core Entity lets you choose from an ex‐ ◇ When the creature moves, it must roll 1d6.
panded list of spells when you learn a warlock On a 4 or higher, you can either choose the
spell. The following spells are added to the war‐ direction it moves or reduce its movement
lock spell list for you. speed to 0.
Sacrifice to the Core
Upon reaching 14th level, the Core Entity has
Spell given you the means to feed it with the intelli‐
Level Spells gence of your enemies. You can cast the feeble‐
mind spell as an action. After you cast the spell
with this feature, you cannot do so again until
1st Bane, magic missile you finish a long rest. A creature possessed by
the Core Entity has disadvantage against its
2nd Augury, zone of truth saving throw against this spell, and if it fails, you
regain your use of the Shardlight Possession
feature.
3rd Clairvoyance, glyph of warding

4th Arcane eye, phantasmal killer

5th Circle of power, geas

161
MYSTIC PARADIGM: concentration checks until the creature
somehow moves at least 5 feet away from
CIRCLE OF CATACLYSMS its original space. Additionally, flammable
objects you hit with your spells or cantrips
As the Cataclysm rages across Akara, there are are ignited and you can automatically sense
mystics who, with the power of shardstones, when a heat raid draws near.
have decided to channel the power of those
world-rocking disasters to blow open a clear Alluvial Haven
path to a safe and viable future. It is a danger‐ At 6th level, you have learned how to stabilize
ous line these mystics walk; their powers can the world around you temporarily for the pur‐
lash out against their comrades and even poses of resting. During a short rest, you may
themselves. However such a dangerous road add your Wisdom modifier to any hit dice rolled
forward must be walked, or so the mystics say, in addition to your Constitution modifier. Dur‐
if Akara is to survive at all. ing a long rest, you always regain all of your ex‐
pended hit dice.
Disaster’s Avatar Additionally, you may grant this benefit to a
Starting when you choose this druid circle at number of creatures resting within 30 feet of
3rd level, you can spend a usage of your Wild you equal to your proficiency bonus.
Shape to channel the power of various Akaran
cataclysms into shardscience. When you do so,
you adopt physical features symbolic of the cat‐ Avatar of Greater Disaster
aclysm, such cracks through your skin mirror‐ At 10th level, you can spend two uses of your
ing an earthquake’s cruel scars, or the drowned Wild Shape feature to adopt one of the follow‐
appearance of someone caught inside of a ing benefits instead of one of those granted by
death tide. your Disaster’s Avatar feature.
When you use your Wild Shape in this way, ◇ Khavsasan Zud You adopt the power of the
choose one of the benefits below. The benefit powerful extinction event called the
lasts for 1 hour, until you lose unconsciousness, khavsasan zud. With this benefit, whenever
or until you end the benefit early as a bonus ac‐ you hit a creature with a spell attack roll or
tion. when a creature fails a saving throw against
one of your cantrips or spells, you can
◇ Death Tide You adopt the fearsome, relent‐ rapidly lower its body temperature for 1
less power of the death tides. With this ben‐ minute. At the start of every round, the crea‐
efit, you can force creatures you hit with a ture must succeed on a Constitution saving
spell attack roll or that fail a saving throw throw against your druid spell save DC or
against one of your cantrips or spells to be else suffer 1 level of exhaustion. The creature
moved 10 feet in any direction of your can make this saving throw again at the
choice so long as they are large or smaller. A start of each of its turns, ending this effect
creature you move in this way suffers an ad‐ and removing all levels of exhaustion on a
ditional 1d6 bludgeoning damage from the success. Additionally, you can always sense
sudden movement. Additionally, you gain a when a khavsasan zud is about to strike.
swim speed of 30 feet and can automati‐ ◇ Monsoon Raid You adopt the reckless and
cally sense when a death tide is coming. horrific power of a monsoon raid. With this
◇ Earthquake You adopt the destructive, vio‐ benefit, whenever you hit a creature with a
lent power of an earthquake. With this ben‐ spell attack roll or when a creature fails a
efit, when you hit a creature with a spell at‐ saving throw against one of your cantrips or
tack roll or when a creature fails a saving spells, you create a terrible storm cloud that
throw against one of your cantrips or spells, cloaks that creature for 1 minute. As a bonus
you can violently shake the ground around action, you can force that creature to make
them, knocking them prone and tearing a Constitution saving throw against your
open fissures in the ground within 10 feet of druid spell save DC. Unless the creature suc‐
them. This fissure-torn ground is consid‐ ceeds, it suffers 1d6 lightning damage, 1d6
ered difficult terrain. Additionally, your cold damage, and 1d6 bludgeoning dam‐
cantrips and spells deal double damage age from the storm pelting them with light‐
against structures, and you can automati‐ ning, hail, and wind. Additionally, you can al‐
cally sense when an earthquake is about to ways sense when a monsoon raid is about
strike. to strike.
◇ Heat Raid You adopt the sudden, lethal ◇ The Samum You adopt the city-swallowing
power of a heat raid. With this benefit, power of the cruel samum. With this bene‐
whenever you hit a creature with a spell at‐ fit, whenever you hit a creature with a spell
tack roll or when a creature fails a saving attack roll or when a creature fails a saving
throw against one of your cantrips or spells, throw against one of your cantrips or spells,
you can rapidly heat the atmosphere you manifest a terrible sandstorm centered
around that creature. This hot atmosphere on the creature with a radius of 10 feet. Any
makes it difficult to breathe, giving disad‐ creatures inside of this radius are blinded
vantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and and must make a Strength saving throw at

162
 the beginning of their turns. Unless they Bonus Proficiency
succeed on this saving throw, the creature Also at 3rd level, you become proficient in
can only choose to do one of the following Charisma ability checks if you were not already.
options on its turn: take an action, use a
bonus action, or move. Additionally, you can (In)Famous Killer
always sense when the samum is about to At 7th level, you have gained a reputation for
strike. killing with a specific weapon. Choose a specific
weapon which you currently own. This weapon
Calamity Storm becomes your infamous killing tool. Attacks
Upon reaching 14th level, you can unleash the with this weapon are considered critical hits on
very wrath of the world itself upon your foes. As a 19 or 20, and when you kill a creature with your
an action, you can force any creatures within a infamous killing tool you gain temporary hit
60 foot radius to make a Constitution saving points equal to ½ your fighter levels (rounded
throw against your druid spellcasting DC. On a down).
failure, creatures suffer 10d10 damage of your If you lose your infamous killing tool, you can
choice from one of the following damage types: gain another by killing a creature with a differ‐
cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. This damage
manifests as the world itself creates a calamity ent specific weapon that you own.
such as an eruption of magma, a sudden tor‐
nado, a spontaneous dust storm, or so on within Forever In the Pits
this feature’s range. On a success, creatures suf‐ Starting at 10th level, whenever you roll initia‐
fer half damage. Additionally, all space affected tive and have no uses of Blood Sport, you regain
by this feature is considered difficult terrain. one use.
Once you have used this action, you can’t use it
again until you finish a long rest. Crippling Entertainment
At 15th level, you have learned that crippling
your target will never fail to send the crowd into
an uproar. When you roll damage with your in‐
famous killing tool, you can force the target
creature to make a Constitution saving throw
with a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus +
WARLORD PARADIGM: your Charisma modifier. On a failure, the crea‐
ture suffers 1 level of exhaustion.
STARFALLER Once you’ve successfully used this feature, you
In Kanuma there are the Blood Pits, and most must finish a short or long rest to use it again.
famous of those is the Pit of the Sunken Sun.
There, where a star fell and Kanuma was built Sink the Sun
around it, the most famed gladiators wage a Upon reaching 18th level, when you are tar‐
war upon each other designed to entertain geted by a melee weapon attack, you can
through the shedding of blood. Gladiators choose to let the attack hit you without rolling.
named to these pits earn the title of starfaller If you do so, you can use your reaction to deal
and are given a freedom that no other of their damage to the attacking creature. This damage
caste enjoys. Starfallers are known for their indi‐ is equal to the damage dice of your infamous
vidual styles; they fight with specific weapons killing tool + the amount of damage you re‐
unique to their brand and in a fashion that max‐ ceived when using this feature. If the attack
imizes the carnage of combat. hits, it is also considered a critical hit.
Blood Sport Once you’ve used this feature, you cannot do so
Starting when you choose this martial again until you finish a long rest.
archetype at 3rd level, you’ve learned to fight in
a chaotic, dirty way, designed to maximize
bloodshed. When you deal damage to a crea‐
ture, you can choose to make it bloody, reduc‐
ing the creature’s maximum hit points by the
damage dealt, preventing it from gaining tem‐
porary hit points, and preventing it from taking
both a bonus action and an action in the same
turn. These effects last for 1 minute or until the
creature is targeted by lesser restoration or
comparable magic, after which their hit point
maximums return to their original value,
though their current hit points remain the
same.
You can use this feature a number of times
equ1al to your Proficiency bonus, regaining
uses on a short or long rest.

163
164
AKARAN BACKGROUNDS
Included Classes: Artificer – Sorcerer – Warlock ◇ Create a thematic idea and name.
Ability Score Proficiency: Intelligence ◇ Choose an ability score for it to be profi‐
Saving Throw Proficiencies: Choose two from cient in.
Constitution, Intelligence, or Charisma.
◇ Choose a tool proficiency for your back‐
ground.
A scavenger’s background is important. It tells
the brief story of how they ended up in Tarnak ◇ Create a list of personality traits, hopes, and
and what twist of destiny saw them taking on a flaws to choose from.
job precious few others are desperate enough ◇ Work with your gamemaster to brew up a
to do. flavorful, low-impact feature for your back‐
The backgrounds offered below are just the tip ground.
of the iceberg. If none of them suit your charac‐ The Akaran Backgrounds offered in this supple‐
ter concept, you can create your own back‐ ment can be found below. Summaries of each
ground by doing the following: are given in the Background Synopsis table be‐
low.

BACKGROUND SYNOPSIS

Akaran Background Brief Synopsis

Bonekeeper The world is dying. You hope to record all you can, so that future
generations do not forget what is lost.

Cataclysm Sojourner Your homeland was lost to the Cataclysm. You’ve turned to scav‐
enging in hopes of something better.

Emissary You are an emissary of a city-state or tribal mob hoping to find a

way to save both your people and your homeland.

Headhunted Exile A choice was given: face the gallows or redeem yourself by scav‐
enging. You choose an uncertain life over promised death.

You were a slave for much of your life. Now your life has been
Patron Ex-Slave bought by your patron, or your inexplicable freedom has led you
to a scavenger’s life.

Shardtainted Exposure to shards changed you, and the only way to find nor‐
malcy is to scavenge for it.

From the cradle, Akara made four: He Working Gold, She Crafting
Rings, That Cutting Stone, and They Bowing their Backs. And in their
grace: perfection.”
- Excerpt from the Dinashii’s teachings

165
AKARN BACKGROUNDS: BONEKEEPER
Every day, something important is lost. A song CHARACTERISTICS
is forgotten; a way of life fades. Bonekeepers Roll or choose characteristics from the following
such as yourself ensure that as much of Akara’s tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
history as possible is recorded. It is a way of re‐
bellion against the Great Dying and all its many
ills. By taking the bones of the dead and writing d6 Traits
upon them what they knew, you create a li‐
brary-grave worthy of worship. Scavenging for 1 For a piece of knowledge I don’t already
you is not just a search for resources, but a know I’d trade anything I own.
search for endangered knowledge. I love to teach others about Akara’s
2 many wonders.
Background Benefits I observe new things long before I take
Your background provides you with the follow‐ 3 action for or against them, no matter
ing benefits. the imminent danger.
4 My wrath is sun-hot against those who
Ability Score Proficiency destroy knowledge.
You are proficient in either Intelligence or Wis‐
dom ability checks. 5 I understand that everyone has a story,
and I’m always willing to hear it.
Additional Proficiencies I have an interesting piece of trivia for
You are proficient in four languages of your 6
every occasion.
choice.
Genre’d Scrimshaws
Roll below for your genre’d scrimshaws. This is d6 Hopes
the type of knowledge you most readily seek. Something I know could save us all. I
1 just don’t know what that something is
quite yet.
One day, a great school will be built, and
2 all that we bonekeepers know will be
d6 Genre taught from there.
I don’t believe that knowledge can ever
3 be forgotten. I’m sure I’ll find everything
1 Oral histories that’s been lost, one day at least.
Those who built the Monolith have been
4 utterly forgotten. We will not follow in
2 Civilized laws their footsteps.
If I can convince the people of my
5 knowledge’s worth, not even the Great
Dying can conquer us.
3 Myths & legends
6 Iiswill rule justly once I know all that there
to know.
4 Mystic philosophies & religions

d6 Flaws
5 Extinct animals Only the genres that I record have any
1 real worth.
6 Maps & locales 2 In secret, I destroy scrimshaws that con‐
tradict my own knowledge.

3 I am a sham, and everything I write is

Feature: Bone-Writ Academia thirdhand hearsay..
Bonekeepers are in constant contact with one Life has no value without knowledge,
another. If you don’t know a certain piece of 4 and I’d trade yours for information any
Akaran information, or if you need some kind of day.
research to guide your scavenging, you know of I believe my scrimshaws are worthless,
another bonekeeper who can help you. 5 no matter what anyone else tries to tell
me.
I sabotage other scribes to ensure I’m
6 the first to record new knowledge.

166
167
AKARN BACKGROUNDS: CATACLYSM SOJOURNER
The Cataclysm, the Great Dying, the End of the CHARACTERISTICS
World - whatever it is, it has taken everything Roll or choose characteristics from the following
from you. Your home was swallowed up by tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
sand, or maybe scren swarmed in the dead of
night and consumed everyone, everything. You
carry with you the memories of a life lost. They d6 Traits
are burning fuel for your life as a scavenger.
How can I rest easy when I know every‐
1 thing can be taken away in the blink of
an eye?
Background Benefits I don’t get attached to anyone or any‐
You gain the following benefits from this back‐ 2 thing. It's pointless, with the world end‐
ground. ing.
If you don’t know anything about my
Ability Score Proficiency 3 culture, I’m more excited to tell you
You are proficient in either Constitution or Wis‐ about it than to do anything else.
dom ability checks. Wherever I go, I make sure to warn
4 those I meet to be prepared for the
Tool Proficiency coming doom.
You are proficient in vehicles (either land or sea) Those who fail to fear the Great Dying
and a language of your choice. 5
scare me more than anything else.
Refugee Trinket I survived the greatest disaster of them
Roll for your trinket below. It is something you 6 all. I’ll survive whatever comes to finish
carry to remind you of a home lost. the job, too.

d6 Refugee Trinket d6 Hopes

1 Someone else had to survive. I’ll find

The cracked, dirty sigil of your home‐ them, no matter what.
1
land. I may have lost everything, but one day
2
I’ll find a way to build it all again.
A small toy, one handed down to you by Our culture may have lost its home, but
2 3 I’ll see to it that the world remembers us
your parents.
4 I need to find a safe place. I can’t endure
A savage scar that serves as a reminder that kind of tragedy again.
3 of what happened to you. There has to be a way to save others
5 from the horrors I’ve experienced. There
has to be.
Polished ivory horns - trophies that your They may not understand me, but
4 people would have been proud of. 6 please, I beg that they accept me, who‐
ever my new family is.

5 A ceremonial artifact invaluable, one

that represented your now lost customs. d6 Flaws

1 I’m not afraid to tell you how your cul‐

A music instrument unique to your lost ture is less civilized than my own.
6 kin.
2 No matter how much I try, I can’t get
used to this place and all of its…rules.

3 No one helped me when I needed it.

Feature: Fated Survivor Why should I help any of you?
Tragedy surrounds you, but you are fated to al‐
ways survive. You have a sixth sense that alerts At night, I relive the disaster, and it
you to horrific storms, scren swarms, earth‐ 4 shakes me to my core.
quakes, and other natural disasters. I’m not pessimistic. I’m just letting you
5 know that no matter what we do, it's
pointless; death comes, and there’s no
stopping it.
6 I couldn’t save them. Any of them. And
now I don’t think I can even save myself.

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AKARN BACKGROUNDS: EMISSARY
Your people have heard of Tarnak and all its CHARACTERISTICS
shard-powered wonders. Be it from some dis‐ Roll or choose characteristics from the following
tant city-state or a tribal people pushed to the tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
edge, you have traveled there, on their behalf,
to learn secrets only the scavengers know. Per‐
haps on your adventures, you will find a way to d6 Traits
lead your people to a place of peace, of stability. I am in wonder at all the differences be‐
1 tween this place and my motherland!
Background Benefits
Your background provides you with the follow‐ 2 Peace must be upheld at all costs, and I
ing benefits. am the one who will uphold it.
There is much to learn from these peo‐
Ability Score Proficiency 3 ple’s customs, and I will see to it that I
You are proficient in Wisdom or Charisma abil‐ bring some of them home with me.
ity checks.. As my people’s representative, I will do
4 everything in my power to appear as a
Additional Proficiencies model citizen.
You are proficient in a language and either an Whenever there is a dispute that I can
artisan’s tool or musical instrument of your 5 see, I will do my best to see that both
choice. sides walk away from it satisfied.
6 I’ve long learned that only through com‐
Genre’d Scrimshaws radery can both our lands survive.
Roll for your diplomatic gift below. It is a valu‐
able item sent by your people to be offered to
someone in exchange for patronage. d6 Hopes
I need to get the attention of those in
1 charge here. It’s the only way to help my
d6 Gift people.
There are many secrets in this world I do
2 not know. I will learn them, and bring
A perfect cut gem, scribed with the sa‐ them home with me.
1 cred philosophies of your homeland. Someone in this world has the skills, the
3 power, to change everything. It is them
that I seek.
An immaculately forged bronze weapon Though the cost may be steep, I will see
2 whose like is unfounded anywhere else. to it that my people not only survive the
4 Great Dying, but that they become the
A supply of spirits, food, and clothing of rulers of all Akara.
3 the like that only the wealthiest could Mayhaps there is no place for us in this
afford. 5 world anymore. But if there is one in an‐
other, I will find it.
Stone tablets with a list of land grants If I can just broker a union between your
4 and other privileges for the patron to 6 people and my own, the future will al‐
enjoy back in your homeland. ways smile back at us.
The trophy or relic of a great hero, be‐
5 stowing honor and prestige onto the d6 Flaws
gifted.
1 I find the people here untrustworthy. I
A dozen men-at-arms and servants to fear they plot against my own.
6 loyally serve the patron’s every need. If I must, I will sabotage everything in or‐
2 der to put my people ahead.
Surely everyone here has only the best
Feature: Diplomatic Immunity 3 in mind for my people, and I will hear no
Whenever you get into trouble with the law, or different.
with other lawful members of the land you're
visiting, your status as an emissary will reduce 4 If it means worsening my reputation, I
your punishments to their absolute minimum. will abstain from any conflict.
You are not someone of importance
5 here? Then why do you waste my time
talking?
For some reason, I cannot figure out the
6 right way to get the attention of those
who could help me!

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AKARN BACKGROUNDS: HEADHUNTED EXILE
There was no argument allowed. You were CHARACTERISTICS
guilty of your crime, and the sentence was clear: Roll or choose characteristics from the following
death. Maybe not instant death, but one tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
promised; in the labor camps, maybe, or on the
battlefield. Another option was given. Head‐
hunted though you are, you could redeem d6 Traits
yourself. Life over death meant that you must I know a liar when I see one. Conmen al‐
walk the scavenger’s path. Bring back what you 1 ways have a tell.
find, help humanity live, and your name will be
cleared - or so they said. People sneer at me. I’m always quick to
2
show them how we’re no different.
Background Benefits Authority without heart is tyranny. And
You gain the following benefits from this back‐ 3
all I see is tyranny everywhere.
ground.
Without even realizing it, I’m always
Ability Score Proficiency 4 looking to see who the most helpful
You are proficient in Dexterity or Charisma abil‐ person in the room is.
ity checks. 5 If it means I’ll survive, I’ll do anything, no
matter how low.
Additional Proficiencies If I call you friend, and I mean it true,
You are proficient in two of the following: dis‐ 6 then you could burn the world and I’d
guise kits, forgery kits, poisoner’s kits, or thieves’ still stand by you.
tools.

Your Crime
Roll for your crime below. Afterwards, roll 1d20. d6 Hopes
On a 10 or higher, you were innocent but found My name has got to be cleared. And I
guilty. 1 will do whatever it takes to clear it.
Someone out there stabbed me in the
d6 Crimes 2 back. Once I’m done with this, I’ll find
out who and return the favor.
You stole sensitive secrets and materials 3 There’s got to exist a world where a man
1 doesn’t have to sin to live.
from a powerful guild or faction.
They made a mistake letting me live.
You killed someone who wronged you 4 With what I scavenge, I’ll make a crimi‐
2 one too many times. nal empire that’ll never fall.
My crime was my art. Life as a scavenger
Theft was the only way you could get 5 will let me perfect it.
3 ahead and damn you were good at it. I did what I had to do, in order to save
6 the ones I loved. Hopefully if I do this, I’ll
4 A patron’s collection was destroyed, and be with them again soon.
they knew it had to be you who did it.
Someone important or well loved went
5 missing. You knew where, but you never d6 Flaws
said. Back then, I didn’t feel guilt. I felt high
The black market isn’t a place for 1 from what I did. And now, I itch to hit
6 friends. You got caught peddling some‐ that high again.
thing you shouldn’t and no one helped No one is my friend, even if I say differ‐
cover for you. 2 ent. If they’re not useful to me then I
don’t need them.
I know I could disappear and be free for‐
Feature: Ill Connected 3 ever. One day, I’ll ditch these people and
You have a special connection in the form of a do it.
corrupt official, crime lord, or seedy organiza‐
tion. For a small price, they’ll do a favor for you. 4 Whenever I can, I steal something that I
think might get me ahead in the future.
Once the favor is done, you’ll have to do one for Friendship is a service, and I’m the
them too. 5 provider. I never help anyone without
getting my due first.
6 Fool me once, shame on you. And I’ll
make you regret ever doing it, too.

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AKARN BACKGROUNDS: PATRON SLAVE
Before the Great Dying, slavery was the cruel CHARACTERISTICS
foundation upon which much of Akara was Roll or choose characteristics from the following
built. Tribal peoples were kidnapped, prisoners tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
of war disappeared, travelers beset upon when
they least expected it. Now, calamities un‐
counted have seen countless slaves freed as
their captors are forced to reckon with the Cat‐ d6 Traits
aclysm. Other slaves have been bought by pa‐ When others give me orders, I find it
trons for their unique talents and sent into a life 1 hard not to obey.
of scavenging.
2 I resist authority at every opportunity I
Background Benefits can.
Your background provides you with the follow‐ Chains are sinful, and I feel only hatred
ing benefits. 3 for those who put others in them.
Ability Score Proficiency Nothing is more important to me than
You are proficient in Strength or Wisdom ability 4 making your own choices, and I do my
checks. best to ensure others get to make theirs.
Life is harsh and cruel. I have learned to
5 fight against that harshness with my ev‐
Additional Proficiencies ery breath!
You are proficient in any combination of up to I was taught to be quieter than the
three languages or tools of your choice. wind, and to never speak without being
6
spoken too. I maintain these habits,
Purchased Purpose even now.
Roll for your purchased purpose below. This de‐
termines your previous (or current) purpose as
a slave. d6 Hopes
A revolution brews on the horizon. There
1 will be a world without slaves, and my
d6 Purpose scavenging will lead to it.

As a Muraneese labor slave, your sole 2 The people that chained me will be put
into chains themselves.
1 purpose was to make the lives of the
Muraneese as comfortable as possible. I may be free now, but my loved ones
3 are not. I have to find them. I have to
Kanuman blood slaves such as yourself help them.
2 lived to fight in the blood pits as fodder Something of importance was taken
for their gladiators. 4 from me when I was enslaved. Through
A tribal mob captured you and set you scavenging, I hope to find it.
to tending their animals, their food My master was kind and treated me as
3 5 an equal. If they are still out there, I wish
stores, and mending their clothing and
hunting gear. to repay them for all their kindness.
I don’t remember how to be a person
4 A wealthy Tarnaki artificer used you as 6 anymore. Will any amount of freedom
their assistant and record keeper. show me the way?
The people who enslaved you have d6 Flaws
fallen to the Great Dying. You were
5 lucky, as you were destined to be sacri‐ 1 If someone tells me what to do, I usually
ficed in the name of their maniacal answer with a punch to the face.
leader. Even if it gets me in trouble, whenever I
Your flesh was bought by a powerful pa‐ 2 see another slave, I help them in any
6 tron who believes your talents will make way that I can.
you a fine scavenger. Should the opportunity arise, I will sell
3 whatever I own to buy the contract of a
slave so that I may set them free.
The sound of rattling chains or the crack
Feature: Unassuming Persona 4 of a whip sends me into a horrified
Life as a slave has taught you how to be as unas‐ shock.
suming as possible around your supposed bet‐ I cannot stop myself from antagonizing
ters. Whenever you are in a place where slaves 5 anyone who thinks they have the right
are in use, you are able to blend in with them to own others.
and no one will question who you are or why My time as a slave has instilled a hunger
you’re there. in me. I too want to be a master, and to
6 put others beneath me, for it is only fair
that I too hold the whip.

174
175
AKARN BACKGROUNDS: SHARDTAINTED
Shardscience goes not without its tragedies. At CHARACTERISTICS
some point in your life, you were the victim of a Roll or choose characteristics from the follow‐
shard experiment gone wrong. It could have ing tables of personality traits, hopes, and flaws.
been the intentional malpractice of an invoker
that led to your body being warped, or a simple
accident where you are in the wrong place at d6 Traits
the wrong time. No matter what, you have been I loathe the color red and ask others not
left warp-scarred and disfigured. You’ve be‐ 1 to wear it around me.
come a scavenger in order to find a way to re‐
vert your many curses, and to prevent others I’m ashamed of what shards have done
from falling victim to reckless shardscience. 2 to me, and wear masks and thick cloth‐
ing to hide my warp-scars.
Background Benefits If someone offers me information on
You gain the following benefits from this back‐ 3 shards I don’t have, I’ll do anything to
ground. get it.
People awed by shards are fools, and I’m
4 quick to show them just how evil these
Ability Score Proficiency things can be.
You are proficient in either Constitution or Intel‐ Invokers and Mystics will kill us all if left
ligence ability checks. 5 alone. I do what I can to ensure no one’s
experiments go too far.
Additional Proficiencies
You are proficient in herbalism kits and either I take pride in my warp-scars. If they
6 couldn’t kill me, then nothing can.
artificer’s tools or bloodcutter’s supplies.

Warp-Scar d6 Hopes
You suffer from a warp-scar, or a unique muta‐ If there is a way to undo the damage to
tion created by shards. Find the table for these 1 my body, and the bodies of others, I’ll
on page 137. find it.
Justice must be brought to reckless
2 shardcasters. If no one else will bring it,
then I will be their judge.
Feature: Blood for Blood Maybe if I can find a way to understand
Your flesh and blood, warp-scarred as it is, holds 3 what shards did to me, I can help puzzle
tremendous value to the artificers and blood out one of shard’s many mysteries.
cutters of Tarnak. Whenever you require a favor The person who did this to me has to
from them, or whenever you are purchasing 4 pay. I’ll find them, and I’ll do unto them
supplies or shardstones from them, you can a hundredfold what I have suffered.
halve their asking price by allowing them to If we are to survive, it must be without
perform some strange experiment with your 5 the evils of shardstones. With my own
body. This halving applies even to a piece of hands will I create this future.
shardcraft’s minimum value. My body is a secret from others. One day
6 I’ll reveal it, and I can only wish that oth‐
ers accept me for what I’ve become.

d6 Flaws
Whenever I see someone shardcast, I
1 can barely hold myself together from
the seething rage I feel.
I am exceptionally cruel to those who
2 praise shards without respect to their
dangers.
I would never admit it, but part of me
3 wishes to become even more warp-
scarred in the future.
Something calls to me whenever I see a
shardstone. I cannot help but try and
4 figure out how to take them from others
for myself.
I am obsessed with artifice, bloodcut‐
ting, and torn drugs, and cannot help
5 myself from being distracted by their
marvels
The world judges me for my warp-scars.
6 One day, I’ll do to everyone what was
done to me.

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177
A SCAVENGER’S LIFEPATH
The life of a scavenger is weird indeed. From all walks of life come those who wish to travel the world
for any number of reasons. From all walks of life come those willing to risk themselves in Torn. Use
the tables below to aid you in developing your own Scavenger’s concept.

Scavenger People

d8 Scavenging People

1-4 I am an Akaran. Roll on the Scavenger Homeland table below.

5-6 I am a kith. Roll on the Kith Exodus table below.

7-8 I am a morg. Roll on the Morg Wandering table below.

Kith Exodus

d4 Reason for Leaving

1 I left the Serpent Woods due to a horrible thing I’ve done to another of my tribe.

2 I was chased out of the Serpent Woods by Kanuman star-raiders and had to find shelter
elsewhere.
3 I’ve sensed that some great trauma was destroying Akara. I left the Serpent Woods to find
its source.
I was a warrior who fought to protect my people. After my battles, I was not the same and
4 could not return to them.

Morg Wandering

d4 Discovered Places

1 I walked a hundred dalham across the Barrens. There I found an ancient ruin - a city of gold
buried in the salt.
2 South, I’ve been. Across the Bloodsands. There I found worms who could swallow cities.
There is a place in Akara that is no more, where there were furred beasts unlike anywhere
3 else. I carry with me one of their hides as proof.
4 Across the Old Sea I went, farther than any other. There I found islands, and on those islands
a single mute hermit.
Scavenger Homeland Akaran Mystical

d6 Homeland d8 Mystical Tradition

1 Tarnak 1 I am a follower of Our Cruel Road.

2 Mur 2 I am a believer in the Ruminations of

the Chain.
3 Bataar 3 I am an initiate of the Starfall Mysteries.

4 Kanuma 4 I have been inducted into a Shardstone

Cult.
5 A fallen city-state 5 I hearken back to an older mysticism,
developed by one of the tribal mobs.
6 A tribal mob. Roll on the Tribal Mobs 6 I believe in no mysticism and chain my‐
table. self to no tradition.

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Tribal Mobs
d4 Tribal Mob
1 I hail from the Ar’qui, where we wear beautiful golden robes inlaid with jade.

2 I hail from the Myra, where we use ritual scarification to remember our greatest hunts.

3 I hail from the Pua, whose feats of architecture dot the savanna.

4 I hail from the Wadwe, who are known for our sixth fingers and taming of the akarok.

Scavenging Purpose
d8 Purpose
1 I wish to find out what is causing the Cataclysm so that I can stop it.

2 There are places in Torn that we could live. I wish to find such a place and settle it.

3 Me and my loved ones are refugees from a fallen place. In order to provide for them, I’ve
turned to scavenging.
4 My heart aches when a culture is lost, so I seek to preserve what I can.
The many beasts of Akara are dying and I wish to save them. Maybe there is somewhere in
5 this world or in Torn where I can move them to.
I want to see what all this world has to offer before it dies, and am excited to discover what
6 awaits me in Torn.
7 Jade and power are the only things that will ensure my survival. As a scavenger, I will find
both.
Life is meaningless without challenges to overcome. The life of a scavenger provides me
8 with the greatest tests of all.

Scavenger Paradigm

d4 Paradigm

1 The world is vast, and it has trained me for this purpose. I am a drifter. Roll on the Drifter
Reasoning and Drifter Knowledge tables below.
Shardstones hold within them the answers to all life’s many mysteries. I am an invoker. Roll
2 on the Invoker Reasoning and Invoker Lifechange tables below.
Only in our mystic traditions will we find the power to push forward. I am a mystic. Roll on
3 the Mystic Reasoning and Mystic Lifechange tables below.

4 Battle, conquest, war - those have been my teachers. I am a warlord. Roll on the Warlord
Reasoning and Warlord Lifechange tables below.

Scavenger Background
d6 Background

1 I write down what is lost on bones for remembrance. I am a bonekeeper.

2 My homeland is lost, and Tarnak is now my only hope. I am a cataclysm sojourner.

3 Only by uniting Akara will we survive. I am an emissary.

4 I was convicted of a crime I should not have been. To earn my innocence, I have become a
headhunted exile.
5 Once I was a slave for another, until my patron found me. I am a patron’s slave.

6 Shardstones have changed me in ways I never thought possible. I am shardtainted.

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Drifter Reasoning

d6 Reasoning

1 I deserted my people and set my self adrift in the whirling cultures of Akara to learn.
As a child I’ve long since dreamed of seeing the wider Akara. Now that it’s dying, I have de‐
2 cided that is my last opportunity to do so.
My people taught me that in order to become an adult, I must see at least seven sights no
3 one else ever has. So I travel, so I see.
4 The Great Dying left my home less than a ruin, and took everything else I had. Long have I
wandered looking for a new home.
5 If the world is to die, it must be remembered. I seek the stories of Akara’s peoples, so that
they may be passed on to the generations after me - should any exist.
6 I was born on the road. It is all I have ever known. It is all I will ever know.

Drifter Knowledge

d4 Knowledge

1 In the forests, deep in the night, there are songs humming from the earth. I know them,
and they have taught me much.
There are many ways to cure the flesh’s ills. I know the secrets of medicine that most others
2 don’t.
3 There are many creatures in the world, and many more that have perished. In charcoal and
stone I have recorded the lives of the last of many of Akara’s beasts.
A thousand tribes and villages have I seen. I doubt a tenth of them will make it to Tarnak.
4 So I carry with me their cultures, their traditions, and yes, their secrets too.
Invoker Reasoning

d6 Reasoning
I had a dream of an old shadow. It wrote its name into a great shardstone, and mine under
1 that, and I awoke with knowledge foreign to me.
2 By mastering shardstones I will be able to create the perfect world for my people to live in.

3 Shardstones come from somewhere, and that somewhere may hold the answer to how to
save my people.
With shardstones, the future is before us. I want to join the greats before me in remaking
4 history.
5 I’ve always been fascinated with artifice. The life of an Invoker will let me pursue my passion
of creation.
6 With my home lost, I feel a calling towards Torn, as if it were my real home all along.

Invoker Lifechange

d4 Lifechange

1 A strange pattern has appeared on my skin. It moves and grows overtime.

2 The whites of my eyes have taken on a strange glow.

3 I must wear a mask of some sort - without it, my knowledge will leave me.

4 There is a strange echo to my voice, as if two of me were talking at once.

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Mystic Reasoning

d6 Reasoning

1 The mystics told me that I mattered - that my life meant something in the great scheme. In
the face of everything ending, what was I to do other than believe?
2 At night, a mystic came to our village. Whatever he did stripped the consumption from us
like dirt filtered from water. I now follow that path in hopes that I can do the same.
3 Ever since I was a child, the machinations of Akara fascinated me. I let myself be inducted to
learn more of our world’s secrets - in hopes that salvation is there.
In Torn, I was afraid. Hunted, maybe. Starving and thirsty, mystics helped me, educated me,
4 and now I go into Torn to do the same for those who need it.
5 In the city-square, the mystics gathered us all and showed a miracle. That’s what it was, I’m
sure. I’d be a fool to believe in anything else.
6 At the end of the day, the beliefs the mystics have given me have saved my life more than
once. I am in debt to them, and so serve them I will.
Mystical Manifestations

d4 Manifestation

1 When I travel, pilgrims beg to come with me, and word of my arrival precedes me no mat‐
ter where I go.
2 A stigmata has manifested itself on my body. If not a mystical symbol, then what else could
it be?
I’ve had visions. Many visions. I’ve seen deaths and I’ve seen fortunes and I know these vi‐
3 sions will not stop.
I’ve been initiated into the deep secrets of my beliefs. I modify my body and dress to repre‐
4 sent the depths of my new wisdom.

Warlord Reasoning

d6 Reasoning
There was me, and there were them. One against a dozen. I survived and they did not. This
1 story has earned me my paradigm.
2 The Beast would not die, no matter how many tried to kill it. My band and I decided no more.
Only I survived. Now hunting has become my calling.
3 Freedom in the Kanuman star-pits demands a high price. I paid that price a thousandfold
and learned that freedom only comes through blood.
They took from us everything. With neither weapon nor supply, I found them, and I took it
4 back. My resourcefulness was born from this.
Ten feet tall, the bastard must have been. Not akaran, but close enough. In single-combat I
5 bested him, and now I wear his bones as trophies. People see these bones and ask for my
blade in aid.
Weakened by the Cataclysm, I led my men into battle to finally rid ourselves of our enemy.
6 Now all that haunts their city streets are bones and hopes I personally skewered. Terrified of
my might, scavenger rings seek me out rather than meet me in the field.
Warlord’s Regret

d4 Lifechange

1 When I sleep , I dream of wounds, of weapons, of war.

2 Not everyone I’ve killed deserved to die. I hope one day redemption will find me...or retribu‐
tion in its stead.
3 I’ve grown addicted to violence; without it, I am as useless as water to the sea.
My name is known by those who travel and those who fight. My reputation shows little
4 sign of weakening, much to my chagrin.

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SCAVENGER FEATS
Below are listed a handful of feats for scavengers to take so that they may overcome the many
challenges facing them on their expeditions.

Akara’s Remnant Morgani Foe-Culler

Prerequisite: Akaran Prerequisite: Morg
You have survived the many harrowing trials of You were blessed with four great arms with
Akara, and you will survive all those soon to which to conquer the world. Now you have
come. learned to use those arms properly in the slay‐
ing of your enemies.
◇ Increase either your Constitution or Wis‐
dom score by +1, to a maximum of 20. ◇ Increase your Strength score by +1, to a
◇ When you make a death saving throw, you maximum of 20.
may add either your Constitution or Wis‐ ◇ When you make an attack with a weapon
dom ability modifier to the roll. held in your off-hand, that weapon does
not have to have the light weapon prop‐
Alien Knowledge erty.
You have been to Torn and back again, giving
you an alien and strange mind. As a result, you Shardscience Savant
have gained alien knowledge that lets you nav‐ No one alive has the same vision and acumen
igate those wyrding lands. as you do when it comes to shardcraft. The
things you create boggle the imagination, and
◇ Your Intelligence score increases by +1, to a the limits of your artifice are seemingly end‐
maximum of 20. less.
◇ Whenever you make an ability check or
saving throw against an environmental ◇ You gain proficiency in both artificer’s tools
hazard inside of Torn, you may add your In‐ and bloodcutter’s supplies if you did not al‐
telligence modifier to the check. You can ready have them.
do this a number of times equal to your ◇ You have advantage on any ability checks
Proficiency bonus. You regain expended you make when you use your artificer’s
uses after you complete a long rest. tools and bloodcutter’s supplies.
◇ Due to your experimental science, choose
Kith Mindmelder either the conjuration, necromancy, or
Prerequisite: Kith transmutation schools of magic. You can
So sharp, your empathic abilities, that it seems cast cantrips and spells from this school of
at times that your mind can meld with others. magic while inside of Akara.

◇ Increase either your Intelligence or your World-Weary

Wisdom score by +1, to a maximum of 20. You have seen much of the world over your
◇ You can cast the spell detect thoughts as a travels. It has made you weary of its many tri‐
ritual once per short or long rest. Wisdom is als, but this weariness has made you hardy too.
your spellcasting ability for this spell.
◇ When a creature targets you with a melee ◇ Increase your Constitution score by +1, to a
ranged attack, you can use your empathic maximum of 20.
abilities to predict the creature’s strike, al‐ ◇ Whenever you first suffer a new level of ex‐
lowing you to take the Dodge action as a haustion, you can make a Constitution
reaction. When you use this feature, you check whose DC equal to 10 + the level of
cannot do so again until you finish a short exhaustion. If you succeed, you instantly
or long rest. lose that level of exhaustion. When you do
so, you cannot do so again until you finish a
short or long rest

182
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PATRONS & EXPEDITION EX- THE CONTRACT
Historically, patrons hire scribes to record their
PERIENCE contracts with scavengers in stone tablets.
Tribal patrons are more likely to create songs as
Scavengers live for the expedition. They travel a record. The contract is created through nego‐
across Akara or venture into Torn for the sole tiation with the patron in question and the ap‐
purpose of finding lost relics, unassuming trea‐ proaching group of scavengers. Whilst every
sure, safe places, and the resources humanity contract is different, they must all include the
needs to survive. Because of this, scavengers following details:
don’t gain experience like normal 5th Edition ◇ The names of all involved.
characters do. While combat is expected in any
scavenger’s life, it is the things they bring back ◇ Goals the patron wants the scavengers to
to civilization that marks their progress complete.
However, finding precious goods on expedi‐ ◇ Goals the scavengers want to achieve while
tions isn’t all they need to do. Scavengers have working for their patron.
to find themselves patrons, or uniquely influen‐ ◇ Description of payment, usually including
tial people and organizations to work for. A what percentage of scavenged treasure
scavenger may have one patron throughout can be kept by the scavengers.
their career or could serve a dozen. This de‐
pends purely on the scavenger’s own interest, ◇ Terms for renewing the contract.
as well as what their patron needs. ◇ Terms for canceling the contract, including
penalties for breaking it.
FINDING A PATRON Once the contract has been established, it is
Patrons exist throughout Akara. Every major signed with blood in the witness of others over
city-state has numerous. Most, however, dwell a raw shardstone.
in Tarnak, where they have access to the legen‐
dar y Monolith. SCAVENGER LEVELS
To find a patron, a group of scavengers must Scavengers earn levels just as player characters
approach the various powers that be who re‐ do in Fifth Edition. Patrons, however, have an
side in one of the city-states. An audience can eye for skill, and can usually gauge the level of
usually be arranged for and held, and if the patrons. Because of this, they are wary of send‐
scavengers somehow impress their would-be ing unskilled scavengers into Torn immediately.
employer then they earn patronage. Most patrons solve this by having the scav‐
Throughout this book, every city-state included engers prove themselves in Akara. They will
two important sections: THE POWERS THAT BE send them on expeditions to find various relics,
and BRONZE-CAST CHARACTERS. The factions missing persons, or to get news from across the
and characters included in these sections are all continent so that the scavengers can earn the
valid patrons for the scavengers to seek out. If expedition experience needed to enter Torn.
the gamemaster wishes to create their own pa‐ Mechanically, most patrons will not purchase a
tron, they need to create either an organization Torn Sigil for the scavengers to enter the Mono‐
or character who has access to great resources, lith until they are 5th level or higher. This is not
powers, or influence in either a city-state or a hard and fast rule. Scavengers who can con‐
tribal mob. vince their patrons of their skill or patrons des‐
perate for some alien science can be sent into
Torn well before most would deem them ready.
Scavengers who do this increase in skill quickly,
but at a far greater risk than those who take
their time.

“And in the Beyond, a four-armed evil, and a thousand abominations

short and black-eyed and of sallow skin, and the flesh-eating apes,
hairless, hungry for you, hungry for you all.”
~ On the dangers of the outside world

186
EXPEDITION EXPERIENCE NATURAL RESOURCES
Expedition experience is the new experience Natural resources include not only food and wa‐
system used for SCAVENGER games. It me‐ ter, but places of bounty yet untouched by the
chanically represents the skill increase scav‐ Great Dying, maps to areas in Torn hospitable
engers experience as they recover the lost trea‐ for life, the pelts of rare creatures or saving en‐
sures and important resources that their pa‐ dangered creatures, and finding shardstone
trons request. lodes.
To earn expedition experience, scavengers The goals of many patrons lie in the securing of
must do two things. First, they must attain trea‐ natural resources. They are looking for places
sure from one of the following five categories: that humanity can escape too, or sources of
Armaments, Heads, Natural Resources, Pre‐ enough food or water to supply the refugee-
cious Treasure, and Shardcraft. These five cate‐ drowned city-states. Some patrons collect
gories are discussed in more detail below. Next, maps to sell to prospectors and others collect
the scavengers must safely return what they’ve the skins and trophies of rare animals to stroke
found to their patrons. Scavenged treasures their egos. Still more seek to save Akara’s rare
lost, destroyed, or stolen before they are re‐ beasts, for the Great Dying has claimed many
turned do not earn the scavengers experience. and still more hold special significance for
Scavengers of 1st level will level up once they’ve Akarans the world ‘round.
earned 100 points of expedition experience. For In the Natural Resource Experience table be‐
every level afterwards, they must earn double low, the expedition experience rewards for vari‐
that amount. For example, a 3rd level scavenger ous discoveries are offered.
would need 400 points of expedition experi‐
ence to get to the 4th level, and a 4th level scav‐ Natural Resource Experience
enger would need 800 points of expedition ex‐
perience to get to 5th. After 8th level, or 12,800 Expedition
expedition experience, the amount needed for Natural Resource Options Experience
a level up no longer increases. Rewarded
Expedition experience is earned for the entire A metric ton of food or water 10
party of scavengers instead of for individual
characters. So long as a scavenger is a part of Trophy from a creature CR 5 or
the expedition, they earn the full amount of ex‐ below 40
pedition experience rewarded.
Note that expedition experience is rewarded Individual endangered crea‐
tures of CR 10 or below 60
whenever scavenged treasure is safely brought
to the scavengers’ patron. How long an expedi‐ Individual endangered crea‐
tion takes - be it one session or five - is decided tures of CR 10 or below 100
by the flow of the game at your own table.
Individual raw shardstones 100
THE FIVE CATEGORIES
The five categories that can earn a scavenger Map to an Akaran place of
expedition experience cover a host of different bounty 200
treasures. Below, explanations of each category,
as well as a table of experience rewards, are of‐ New route to a known location
fered for guidance. in Torn 200
Scavenged treasure found can sometimes ap‐ Trophy from a creature CR 5 or
ply to a few different categories. These special below 200
pieces of scavenged treasure reward scav‐
engers with th expedition experience of the Rare resource from Torn 350
higher category.
For example, a scavenger might find a rare Map to a river or cavern of ooz‐
shard-studded bronze sword. This is worth 10 ing radiance 400
points of expedition experience as it is a bronze
weapon, but being a rare piece of shardcraft Shardstone lodes 400
means it would instead award the scavengers
with 150 points of expedition experience. The
gamemaster has the final say on what category Trophy of CR 11+ creature 450
and how much experience each piece of scav‐
enged treasure finds. Map to undiscovered shard‐
stone quarry 500
Map to an undiscovered loca‐
tion in Torn 600

187
ARMAMENTS HEADS
Armaments include weapons, armor, shields, Heads include bounties on criminals, finding
ammunition, and traps. Armaments usually missing persons, helping groups get to safety,
earn little experience by themselves; however, finding slaves, and literally bringing the heads
armaments of exceptional make or large of assassination targets back to the scavengers’
caches of weapons can earn enough to see a patrons.
scavenger raise quickly in level. If a patron is seeking heads, then its a coin-flip
Patrons looking for armaments are usually as to whether they have good intentions or ma‐
looking for ways to protect themselves and licious ones. Some patrons earnestly are trying
their resources and loved ones from the many to save as many lives as they can, or they want
refugees flooding the remaining city-states. In to find someone important to them or their
Akara, desperation sees brother turning on goals. Others want slaves for their own personal
brother to take what they need to survive. use or they want certain people dead so that
Meanwhile in Torn, the weird dangers found they can better establish themselves in their
within will destroy those that don’t arm them‐ view of the coming new world.
selves. In the Heads Experience table below, the expe‐
In the Armaments Experience table below, the dition experience rewards for various discover‐
expedition experience rewards for various dis‐ ies are offered.
coveries are provided.

Armaments Experience Heads Experience

Expedition Expedition
Armaments Experience Head Options Experience
Rewarded Rewarded
Rare armaments unique to Groups of slaves captured for
tribes, city-states, or other scav‐ 10 your patron 5
engers

Armament caches of less than Individual criminals brought to

100 items 25 justice for your patron 100

Armaments forged by master‐ Infamous and dangerous crimi‐

class or famed smiths 40 nals brought to justice 250

Armament caches of less than Finding missing persons for

1000 items 50 your patron 250

Armament caches greater than Assassinations completed for

1000 items 75 your patron 500

Legendary armaments belong‐ Groups of refugees saved and

ing to heroes or storied royalty 100 brought to a city-state 600

Assassination of rulers or other

Armaments native to Torn 200 highly influential powers 1000

“Today, I am the hand, thus I give you this - a dagger to keep you safe.
Tomorrow, I am the tongue, and this debt I will see repaid.”
~ Customary phrase said when receiving a favor in the Dagger District

188
PRECIOUS TREASURE SHARDCRAFT
Precious treasure is all that glitters and gleams. Oh, what could be more precious than lucious,
Goblets, gold coins, crowns, sceptres - these all than power, than ancient shardcraft? The arti‐
count as a precious treasure. Rarer things too, facts of Torn, the gems of bloodcutters, the
such as Bataash poisons and colors and other technology of invokers are the most valued of
goods unique to city-states fetch a high price scavenged treasures.
for many patrons. Works of art, stone tablets in‐ It goes without saying why a patron would
scribed with laws or myths, and even the songs want any of this. A desire for shards, artifacts,
and stories of tribal storytellers are likely targets and shardcraft is a hunger that can ensure life
for collection as well.
and give status. All patrons, to some degree,
It goes without saying why a patron might plan to eventually send their scavengers
want any of this. Long has humanity lusted for searching for these treasures.
wealth in all its many forms. Some patrons In the Shardcraft Experience table below, the
might be artists too, or lovers of stories, tradi‐
tions, and history. Others are religious and want expedition experience rewards for various dis‐
their mysticisms and beliefs safe with them. coveries are offered.
Still more want the wealth needed to finance
expeditions deeper into Akara or Torn for things Shardcraft Experience
esoteric and weird.
In the Precious Treasure Experience table be‐ Expedition
low, the expedition experience rewards for vari‐ Shardcraft Options Experience
ous discoveries are offered. Rewarded

Common magical items 50

Precious Treasure Experience
Expedition
Precious Treasure Options Experience Uncommon magical items 75
Rewarded
Caches of gems, art, or treasure
worth 100gp or less 10 Bloodcut shards 125

Remembered or written stories

from a tribe or city-state 40 Rare magical items 150

Caches of gems, art, or treasure

worth 1000gp or less 50 Torn drugs 175

Items unique to a city-state or Schematics for yet-uninvented

tribe 80 artifice 250

Religious stories, tablets, or

recorded beliefs 100 Very rare magical items 400

Masterwork pieces of art, gem‐

craft, or make 150 Legendary magical items 800

Caches of gems, art, or treasure Cache of 10 or less magical

worth 10,000gp or less 300 items 1,000

Caches of gem, art, or treasure Cache of 100 or less magical

worth more than 10,000gp 500 items 3,000

189
SCAVENGER EXPEDITION GENERATOR
The core of any SCAVENGER game is the expedition. It is on these that scavengers test their mettle
against the worlds of Akara and Torn, meet strange peoples, encounter alien things, and grow closer
to completing their diverse goals. Use the roll tables below to help you create an expedition for your
scavenger ring.

Scavenger’s Patron

d12 Patron

1-4 A Tarnaki faction. Roll on the Tarnaki Factions table below.

5 A Muraneese Dinashi family.

6 One of the three famed Kanuman baels.

7 One of the three famed Bataash Powder Houses.

8 The Circle of Dirt & Bones from the Serpent Slums.

9 Councillor Sarok of Tarnak.

10 Oracle Abiodun of Mur.

11 Overseer Alrak of Bataar.

12 Bael Khorax of Kanuma.

Tarnaki Factions Scavenging Goal

d6 Faction d10 Goal

1 The Council of Jade & Progress 1-2 Natural Resources

2 The Circle of Stone & Fire 3-4 Armaments

3 The Stygian Serpents 5-6 Heads

4 The Scavenger Rings 7-8 Precious Treasure

5 The Tongue & Hand 9-10 Shardcraft

6 The Ivory Guard

190
Location - World

d4 Location

1-2 Akara. Roll on the Akaran Locations

table.
3-4 Torn. Roll on the Torn Locations table.

Akaran Locations

d8 Akaran Location

1 Hidden in one of Tarnak’s districts. Roll on the Tarnaki Districts table below.

2 Hidden inside of Mur’s Yeballa Catacombs.

3 Hidden inside of Bataar’s infamous Tiali’s Jail.

4 Hidden inside of Kanuma’s guarded Tower of Horns.

5 Across Stargazer’s Bay, somewhere amidst the Bloodsands.

6 Lost inside of one of Akara’s many ruins.

7-8 Found somewhere in one of Akara’s regions. Roll on the Akaran Regions table below.

Tarnaki Districts Akaran Regions

d10 Tarnaki District d10 Akaran Region

1 The Artisan District 1 The Barrens

2 The Bronze District 2 Barrows Marsh

3 The Dagger District 3 Grayfall Valley

4 The Dust District 4 Gulf of the Staker

5 The Old District 5 Myra’s Pass

6 The Song District. 6 Root Forest

7 Deadman’s Island 7 Serpent Woods

8 The Windport District 8 Shifting Forest

9 The Charred Slums 9 Wandering Plains

10 The Serpent’s Slums 10 White Bones

191
Torn Locations Megalithic Ruins

d6 Torn Location d10 Megalithic Ruin

1 The Blightwoods 1-2 Blightwood City

2 The Pannor Plains 3-4 Merqual’s Tomb

3 The Samua Marshes 5-6 Mute City

4 The Tainted Valley 7-8 Samua’s City

5 A megalithic ruin. Roll on the 9-10 The Shardpeak Towers

Megalithic Ruins table.
6 A place undiscovered. Roll on the
Places Untouched table.
7 Deadman’s Island

8 The Windport District

9 The Charred Slums

10 The Serpent’s Slums

Places Untouched

d10 Places Untouched

1 The Chitinid Crest

2 An Inert Monolith

3 Merqual Thal Valley

4 The Ringmaze Isles

5 The Sea of Myst

6 Silent Valley

7 The Spiral Mountains

8 Vashtaar Island

9 The Windlands

10 A newly discovered location not

yet named.

192
Expedition Complications
Roll 1d4 times on this table.

d20 Complication

1 A rival scavenger ring has been hired by someone else to

outcompete the scavengers.

2 The expedition must be done in complete secrecy. If the

scavengers are discovered, their patron will disavow them.

3 The patron has kept important details secret which will

endanger the scavengers.

4 The scavengers are being framed, and upon completing the

expedition, will be labeled as criminals.

5 The scavengers will have to do something that goes against

one of their scavenging purposes.

6 The scavengers will have to do something that goes against

one of their scavenging purposes.

Another patron offers to buy out the scavenger’s contract at a

7 price they can’t refuse.

Where the scavengers are going is known to be a hive of

8 villainy.

Someone has already found what the scavenger’s want and is

9 jealously protecting it.

10 An unexpected creature that should not be there attacks the

scavenger’s during the expedition.

11 All of the scavenger’s food and water is lost due to an

unforeseen disaster.

12 The map used by the scavenger’s is destroyed midway

through their expedition.

13 The scavengers are ambushed while camping by assassins

sent by their patron.

14 A guide sent with the scavengers betrays them at the most

inconvenient moment.

15 The scavengers are stalked for the entire expedition by a

powerful and dangerous creature.

16 Another scavenger ring ambushes the scavengers when they

are returning back home.

17 The scavengers are forced to find another route to their goal

after a cataclysm closes their intended path.
While returning home, a natural event causes the scavengers
18 to lose what their most valuable find. Now they have to get it
back.

19 The scavengers are unable to find any information or rumors

about the place they must go.

20 The scavenger’s patron is mysteriously found dead the day

the scavenger’s return home.

193
TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Because of SCAVENGER’S unique setting, a SCAVENGER STARTING EQUIPMENT
number of weapons and armor types have When you make your scavenger, you start with
been changed to fit the setting. If your Scav‐ the following equipment:
enger Paradigm and class choice gave you pro‐
ficiency in a type of armor or weapon that has ◇ Either (a) ceramic-cloth or (b) chitinous
been replaced, you are proficient in the item’s hides
replacement. ◇ Either (a) 1 melee weapon that you are
proficient in or (b) 1 ranged weapon
that you are proficient in, including a
ARMOR bundle of ammunition.
◇ Either (a) 1 raw shard (b) a shield or (c) 2
Ceramic-cloth: healer’s kits
Ceramic plates are interwoven with cloth robes ◇ Two simple weapons that you are
to provide protection. The plates break when proficient with
◇ Any two tools that you are proficient in.
struck, but replacing them is easy for any scav‐ ◇ Choose from (a) burglar’s pack (b)
enger, even on the fly. dungeoneer’s pack (c) explorer’s pack
or (d) scholar’s pack
Copper wardress:
Long dresses of copper plates are taken and Interlocking exoskeleton:
bound with straps of leather, creating a loud Some massive beetles and other insects have
suit of armor with all the defensive strength of exoskeletons that, if kept intact but rear‐
a fortress wall. Warlords wearing wardresses ranged, provide a set of armor nigh-impene‐
paint them with terrifying visages. trable. These suits are expensive to make but
lightweight and easy to clean.
Ancient bones:
Creatures long since extinct have had their Chitinous hide:
bones, harder than copper, taken and cut into Many of Akara’s beasts and those found in Torn
plates, pauldrons, and other pieces of armor to have hides strong enough to turn bronze and
wear. Many of these bones are of strange col‐ rebuke hammers. These hides are taken, cured,
ors, though few can say why. and cut into wearable armor.
Bronze wargarb: Reinforced chitin:
A chest-plate of bronze, grieves, bracers, and a The chitin from the most dangerous of crea‐
skirt of bronze are worn by many scavengers tures is taken and reinforced with bronze, cre‐
across Akara. Cultural differences often see ating a set of armor prized by all but too ex‐
these plates taking on strange, but effective, pensive and rare to be worn by all save the few.
shapes.

194
ARMOR

Armor being Armor

replaced replacement Cost Armor Class (AC) Strength Stealth

Studded
leather Ceramic-cloth 45 gp 12 + dex modifier - -

13 + dex modifier
Chain shirt Chitinous hide 50 gp (max 2) - -

14 + dex modifier
Scale mail Ancient bones 50 gp (max 2) - Disadvantage

15 + dex modifier
Half plate Bronze wargarb 750 gp (max 2)
- Disadvantage

Interlocking
Ring mail exoskeleton 100 gp 14 - Disadvantage

Chain mail Copper wardress 200 gp 16 Str 13 Disadvantage

Full plate Reinforced Chitin 1,500 gp 18 Str 15 Disadvantage

195
WEAPONS INSTRUMENTS

Bladed boomerang: In SCAVENGER, instruments are not always as

Wooden or bone boomerangs have blades in‐ simple as they are in our world. Akarans have
serted or tied to them to make them all the experimented with bone, bronze, and voice
deadlier. Returns to your hand on a missed at‐ since they first started walking upright. Below
tack roll. You have to wear special gloves to use are 5 instruments unique to Akara that your
it properly, especially for the bladed one. scavenger potentially plays:
Bola: Death Whistle:
Leather chords weighted with stones are used Made from bones, and usually those of hu‐
to disable prey by ensnaring their legs. On a mans. Holes are tunneled through and wood or
hit, the target is grappled. A Strength check is glass is used to blow air through them. This cre‐
required to break free, whose DC is equal to ates a haunting, shrill scream. Most often used
the attack roll made when the bola was by tribal mobs for war and raiding.
thrown.
Glass Burns:
Dart-thrower: These glass beads, forged with a certain tech‐
A contraption of slendered, cut wood that rests nique, shatter in fire. In the process, they re‐
alongside the arm when not in used. Requires lease a strangely beautiful hymn. The number
2-foot long bladed darts for ammunition, of beads thrown into fire, size of the fire, and
which are launched with a swinging motion of the timing of the bead-throwing creates a
the arm. complex and unforgettable
song.
Katar:
By taking a bone or bronze blade and affixing Painted Throat:
it to a horizontal H-shaped hilt, a push-dagger Metal chips and frog bone are tied around the
such as a katar can be created. throat. As one swings, they are expected to hop
Wrist blade: A 2 ½’ foot-long piece of metal or and dance with it. The chattering chimes are
bone attached to a wooden contraption to the meant to be played as the musician throat-
wrist. With a flick, it explodes from its holder. sings. Named for the strange paint applied to
Lowering the hand over the wrist retracts it. the bones and metal chips.
Wrist blade: Pattern Chord:
A 2 ½’ foot-long piece of metal or bone at‐ Tight, thin cords are wrapped around the fin‐
tached to a wooden contraption to the wrist. gers and hands into intricate patterns. With
With a flick, it explodes from its holder. Lower‐ pieces of sharp bone at the end of the fingers,
ing the hand over the wrist retracts it. the chords are played. Different patterns lead to
different sounds. Most often played by children
or old campfire-sitters.

AMMUNITION Shardsong:
A new instrument, and one that only a precious
Ammunition Ammunition few have, the shardsong is a long plank of
Cost
being replaced replacement bronze fitted with thin cords and shards. When
played, if one can tap into the shards, the music
Crossbow bolts Bladed darts is amplified. What limits this instrument has on
(20) (10) 1 gp
creating music seem to be nonexistent.

WEAPONS
Weapon being Weapon
replaced replacement Cost Damage Weight Properties
Finesse, light, thrown
Crossbow, light Bola 1 gp 1d4 bludgeoning 1 lb.. (20/40), special

Morningstar Katar 15 gp 1d8 piercing 5 lb. -

Rapier Wrist blade 5 gp 1d8 piercing - Finesse

Bladed Finesse, light, thrown

Crossbow, hand boomerang 1 sp 1d6 slashing ½ lb. (30/120), special
Ammunition (60/200)
Crossbow, heavy Dart-thrower 30 gp 1d8 piercing 5 lb. heavy, loading,
two-handed

196
197
Bestiary
What lies in the following papyrus pages is but a sliver of the monstrous things prowling the dying
Akara, the alien Torn. These notes have been gathered from the broken and lost scrimshaws of bone‐
keepers and the dusty scrolls of scavenger rings long forgotten. Use them to guide you on your own
journeys; may they give you the tools that so few of your brethren have had.

There is much room to bring your favorite monsters into Akara or Torn.
Use the guidelines below to import creatures to one of these two worlds.

ADDING MONSTERS TO AKARA ADDING MONSTERS TO TORN

Akara is a grounded world with little in the way Torn is filled with the impossible. It is a world
of magical beasts. Likewise, many of the animal where countless others have been torn apart
types in other settings do not exist in Akara. For and somehow fused together. Because of this,
adding monsters here, follow these guidelines: the further it is explored, the more likely a scav‐
enger is to find something strange. For adding
◇ Convert any mammalian creature with the monsters here, follow these guidelines:
beast type into an insect or reptile variant of
itself. This is because there are no canines, ◇ While any creature type is possible inside of
cats, bears, deer, and most other mammals, Torn, the Akaran guidelines for exotic mon‐
save the following exceptions: bats, dinka ster-types, such as dragons and fiends,
cattle, fennec, ibex, muskox, pangolin, rhino, should still be followed.
rodents. ◇ There is no confirmed afterlife in Scavenger.
◇ There are no undead in Akara, as necro‐ For that reason, any Heaven or Hell intro‐
mancy as a school of magic cannot be used duced should be a strange, shard-filled
in this world. twist.
◇ Celestials, dragons, fey, fiends, and giants ◇ Humanoids of strange types can readily be
do not exist in Akara either, and should be found in Torn if you search long and far
converted into either aberrations or mon‐ enough. For these humanoids, consider
strosities. These creatures will have come giving them warp-scars.
from Torn (likely having been captured, ◇ All forms of magic encountered derive from
brought back, and then escaped). shardstones. A red dragon might be some
◇ The various kinds of humanoids (orcs, hob‐ ancient, intelligent creature whose shard‐
goblins, and so on) should look more hu‐ stone horde gave it intelligence and fire
man than they do in other settings. These breath for example.
creatures are different species of humans ◇ No mighty civilizations exist in Torn. Mon‐
near-wiped out by both Akarans and the sters who rely on this would be in the “ruin
Great Dying. Treat them in appearance as stage” of their civilization, and likely hidden
something like neanderthals, denisovans, away in a weird and esoteric location.
and other such prehistoric hominids. An‐
other route to take is to make these hu‐
manoids warp-scarred hominids.
◇ Anything with the Innate Spellcasting trait
or the Spellcasting trait uses some form of
shardscience. Likewise, any other supernat‐
ural trait is either biology or a result of
shardstone radiation.

198
199
AKAROK Wings. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach
10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 4) bludgeoning
Huge beast, unaligned damage. If the target is a creature, it must suc‐
Location: Akara ceed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or be
knocked prone.
Gaping Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit,
Armor Class 15 (natural armor) reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d12 + 4) piercing
damage. If the target is a creature, it is grap‐
Hit Points 155 (20d12 + 15) pled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends,
Speed 10 ft., 60 ft. flying the target is restrained. If the akarok has a
creature grappled, it must end the grapple on
Ability Wis +3 the first creature to grapple another.
Proficiencies
Challenge 5
Senses Passive Perception 10 Wings-
Drumbeats through sun-lanced sky.
STR 18 (+4) Comes the jeweled bird,
Seeker, ruler,
DEX 18 (+4) Sovereign monsoon,
CON 16 (+3) Mountain-crowned, valley-throned,
INT 4 (-3) Shadow shadowing fields shadowed by
killing.
WIS 11 (+0) Akarok! Akarok! There it flies, the
CHA 7 (-2) Akarok!

~ Chorus of the Min’lin Tribe’s Song of the

Death Dive. If the akarok falls 120 feet before
making an attack, it has advantage on the at‐ Akarok
tack roll and the attack is considered to be a
critical hit if it lands.
Flyby. The akarok doesn't provoke an opportu‐ The akarok is a near extinct creature whose
nity attack when it flies out of an enemy's terrible legacy as a man-hunter extends
reach. back countless generations. Akaran chil‐
dren are taught to always look for its
shadow when out on the savanna, and
ACTIONS archers in every city-state train to keep
Multiattack. The akarok makes three attacks, them away from their homes. In the past,
one with its gaping beak and two with its before the mass extinctions now plaguing
wings, or once with its gaping beak, once with Akara, the akarok was kept fearful by clever
its wings, and once with its swallow. nyradin or endlessly hunting skarag trains.
Swallow. The akarok makes one gaping beak Now they are unmatched apex predators
attack against a Medium or smaller creature it and their reign will never end lest the Great
is grappling. If the attack hits, the target takes Dying end it for them.
the gaping beak’s damage, the target is swal‐
lowed, and the grapple ends. While swallowed, An akaraok’s bones, its large beak, and its
the creature is blinded and restrained, it has hide are worth a morg’s weight in jade. The
total cover against attacks and other effects former is used to make instruments, the
outside the akarok, and it takes 15 (5d6) acid second for shields and armor for skarags,
damage at the start of each of the akarok’s and the skin for its insular qualities. When
turns. The akarok is vulnerable to all damage worn, a cloak of akarok leather will keep a
types from a creature that it has swallowed. If scavenger warm in a blizzard and cool dur‐
the akarok takes 15 damage or more on a sin‐ ing the sun’s most bloodthirsty hours.
gle turn from a creature inside it, the akarok
must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution saving
throw at the end of that turn or regurgitate all
swallowed creatures, which fall prone in a
space within 10 feet of the akarok. If the akarok
dies, a swallowed creature is no longer re‐
strained by it and can escape from the corpse
by using 30 feet of movement, exiting prone.

200
201
CARRION ACTIONS
Medium aberration, chaotic evil
Location: Akara & Torn Multiattack. The carrion makes two attacks
with either its Rib Missile or Spur Blade.
Rib Missile. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit,
Armor Class 15 (natural armor) reach 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 1) pierc‐
ing damage.
Hit Points 100 (20d6 + 10) Spur Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit,
Speed 35 ft. reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing
damage.
Damage Psychic
Resistances Roll on the Possessed Aberration table be‐
Damage
Vulnerabilities Cold, fire, force, thunder low to see what kinds of carrions you en‐
counter. In order to make another kind of
Challenge 5 creature a carrion, change that monster’s
Senses Passive Perception 9 creature type to aberration and add the fol‐
lowing to the creature’s stat block:
•
◇ Its creature type changes to aberration
STR 18 (+4) and its alignment to neutral evil.
DEX 12 (+1) ◇ It gains the carrion’s damage resis‐
tances and vulnerabilities.
CON 14 (+2) ◇ It gains the carrion’s Intelligence, Wis‐
INT 2 (-4) dom, and Charisma attribute scores
and loses all proficiencies.
WIS 8 (-1) ◇ It gains the carrion’s Skeletal Possession
CHA 6 (-2) and Spider Climb traits.
◇ It gains the carrion’s Rib Missile and
Spur Blade actions.
Skeletal Possession. When the carrion re‐
duces a creature that is not a construct to 0 hit
points, that creature becomes infected. An in‐ d6 HOST
fected creature must succeed on a DC 13 Con‐ A lost scavenger whose legend
stitution saving throw every day for 7 days. If 1 outgrew their skill.
the creature fails 3 of these saving throws, it
becomes a carrion. Once failed, this possession 2 The molted shell of a scren.
can only be undone by the effects of wish or The strangely maligned bones of a
remove curse cast at 9th level. 3 creature never before seen.
Spider Climb. The carrion can climb difficult A morg whose four arms have
surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, 4 become eight made of bone.
without needing to make an ability check. A kith who crawls along the ground
5 with a distended spine.
An akaran animal once released
6 into Torn and then killed by
something unknown.
As is written on the scrimshawed bones of
Ig, They-That-Lifted-Night-Into-Day:
Feral, the carrions, and unable to be com‐
Creatures of little comfort. Parasites that municated with; they attack at will with re‐
inhabit the bones of dead things. Exoskele‐ lentless aggression until otherwise de‐
tons of scren and other creatures theirs too. stroyed. These warped things are more ac‐
Pools of oil with rainbow-slick surfaces. tive at night, where they attack the few out‐
When drank, they invade through the posts akarans have built throughout scav‐
teeth. When touched, they invade through enger.
the nails. Growths break through flesh and
skin from the bone. Force their host to in‐ At the end of the carrion’s life cycle, roughly
fect others through violence. Project bone one month, they “bloom” into ivory trees
growths like darts. Fatal once infected. No which secrete the black oil that spreads
treatment found beyond death.” their infection.
Carrions roam Torn as terrible predators A scavenger that brings back a living car‐
seeking only to infect anything that they rion sample safely would find much wealth
can before their life cycle comes to an end. in their future.

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GUBAJAH
Large beast, unaligned
Location: Akara

Armor Class 15 (natural armor) The gubajah are lithe predators that stalk
prey by blending into the surrounding
Hit Points 37 (5d10+10) stone, sand, and ruins. For this reason, they
Speed 40 ft. are also known as rock howlers. Once the
sun sets, they let out a vicious scream that
Ability Dex +5, Wis +3 paralyzes those that hear it, making even
Proficiencies the most dangerous creatures into easy
Darkvision 60 Ft., Passive prey. Because of their ability to disguise
Senses Perception 13 themselves so well, arrows cannot be
Challenge 1 trusted to kill a rock howler.
Though dangerous, rock howlers have a
STR 15 (+2) friendly disposition towards Akarans, morg,
DEX 17 (+3) and kith, so long as they are raised from
birth. Because of this, many tales are sung
CON 14 (+2) of men and women who have a lifelong
INT 6 (-2) companion in the form of a rock howler,
and of rock howlers who save the children
WIS 12 (+1) of their old friends from certain death.
CHA 8 (-1) Akarans who train rock howlers wear spe‐
cial ear plugs to keep their screeches from
Cover Stones. When the gubajah is hidden in affecting them.
rocky terrain, they are treated as having full
cover. With the Cataclysm growing ever worse,
Keen Smell. The gubajah has advantage on rock howlers have become bold in choos‐
Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell. ing their prey, and now actively hunt hu‐
Pounce. If the gubajah moves at least 20 ft. manoid creatures.
straight toward a creature and then hits it with
a claw attack on the same turn, that target
must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving
throw or be knocked prone. If the target is
prone, the gubajah can make one bite attack
against it as a bonus action.
Stone Camouflage. The gubajah has advan‐
tage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to
hide in rocky terrain.

ACTIONS
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) piercing dam‐
age.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage.
Sudden Death Howl (Recharge 5-6). The
gubajah lets out a violent screech, forcing ev‐
ery non-gubajah creature within 120 feet to
make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a
failure, creatures are paralyzed for 1 minute. At
the end of the creature’s turn, it can make this
saving throw again, ending this effect immedi‐
ately on a success.

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INNASHT
Medium elemental, unaligned
Location: Torn

Armor Class 17 (natural armor) ACTIONS

Hit Points 123 (19d8+38) Invasive Branches. Melee Weapon Attack: +6

to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 4)
Speed 10 ft. piercing damage. If the innasht deals damage
Ability to another creature with this attack, it regains
Str +7, Con +6 half of that damage (rounded up) as tempo‐
Proficiencies
Poison, Psychic; rary hit points.
Bludgeoning, Piercing, Root Strangle. The innasht forces one creature
Damage and Slashing From that it has grappled to make a Constitution
Immunities Nonmagical Weapon
saving throw (DC 17). Unless the creature suc‐
ceeds on the saving throw, it is considered to
Attacks be suffocating. A creature that is killed by this
Damage Fire method is absorbed into the innasht. After 1d4
Vulnerabilities rounds, the innasht buds a clone of itself with
Challenge 7 half its maximum hit points.
Blindsight 120 Ft., Passive
Senses REACTIONS
Perception 13
Gallow Trap. When a creature enters a space
within five feet of the innasht, the innasht can
STR 18 (+4) force it to make a Dexterity saving throw (DC
DEX 11 (+0) 17). On a failure, the creature is grappled by the
innasht and takes 20 (4d10) bludgeoning dam‐
CON 15 (+2) age. Until this grapple ends, the target is re‐
strained.
INT 5 (-3) Unseen Predation. When the innasht leaves
WIS 18 (+4) the field of vision of all other non-innasht crea‐
tures, it can move up to half its movement.
CHA 6 (-2)

Magic Weapons. The innasht’s weapon at‐ Haunting the Blightwoods are strange
tacks are magical . creatures known as the innasht, Ribbish for
Petrified Stride. Once on its turn, the innasht “snake-trees,” a name apt because of how
can use 10 ft. of its movement to step magi‐
cally into one petrified tree or stone within it they move like serpentine rivers of wood in
reach and emerge from a second petrified tree and out of petrified trees and hard ground.
or stone within 60 ft. of the first tree, appearing Innasht make no sounds and cannot, or do
in an unoccupied space within 5 ft. of the sec‐ not, communicate in any way. They stalk
ond object. Both objects must be medium or scavenger rings throughout the Blight‐
bigger. woods until one night their prey is woken by
Reactive Growth. The innasht can take up to a tree growing up around them, crushing
three reactions on its turn. them, making them into one of their own.
Sudden Stalker. When the innasht can’t be
seen by another non-innasht creature, its
speed increases to by +80 to 90.
Tree Camouflage. When hidden among trees,
be they petrified or otherwise, the innasht is
invisible unless it moves or attacks.

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MIDNIGHT CHILDS
Medium humanoid (Akaran), neutral evil
Location: Akara

Armor Class 14 The Stygian Serpents have hidden in their

towers papyrus scrolls upon which are
Hit Points 54 (10d6 + 9) recorded the ancestries of countless Tar‐
Speed 50 ft. naki. These records are used to find specifi‐
Ability cally bred children who will grow strong
Str +7, Con +5 and tall, who will be susceptible to drugs, to
Proficiencies
brainwashing. These children are taken,
Senses Passive Perception 10 reared, filled with drugs and now Torn
Challenge 3 Drugs too and what is produced is what
they so callously call their children - their
Languages Ambara Midnight Childs.
A Midnight Child is near seven feet tall with
STR 20 (+5) skin dyed blue from strange exposure. They
are hairless. They are blindfolded. They are
DEX 18 (+2) not allowed to speak, nor allowed to think
CON 16 (+3) things the Stygian Serpents would not
INT 8 (-1) want them to think. They glide like weight‐
less gales behind the Serpents they protect,
WIS 8 (-1) poisoned weapons at the ready, their
CHA 10 (+0) minds primed to recognize only three types
of being: Serpents, potential threats, and
neutralized threats.
Torn Berserker. When the Midnight Child’s hit Find a way to cure them of their addictions,
points fall below half their maximum value,
they gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, to break the molds they’ve been locked in,
and slashing damage, and make all attacks and mayhaps humanity may return.
with advantage.

ACTIONS

Bola. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach

20/40 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 2) bludgeon‐
ing damage. On a critical hit, the target is
grappled, with the attack throw being the DC.
Drug-Laced Katar. Melee Weapon Attack: +7
to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (1d8 + 5)
bludgeoning damage. On a hit, the target
must make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw.
Unless they succeed, they are poisoned for 1
minute.
Snort Bleed Dust (1/Long Rest). The Midnight
Child can snort bleed dust, forcing it to make a
DC 13 Strength saving throw. On a success, the
Midnight Child can cast the thunderwave spell
as an action for 1 minute, using its Constitution
as its spellcasting ability score. On a failure, the
Midnight Child instead can no longer tell
friend from foe, and will attack random crea‐
tures within range until knocked unconscious.

208
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NYRADIN
Medium beast, unaligned
Location: Akara

The nyradin, known better as reapers, are

Armor Class 14 (natural armor) vicious insects that hunt across Akara’s sa‐
Hit Points 37 (5d10 + 10) vannas. While standing on all fours, they
are as tall as a full-grown Akaran to the
Speed 50 ft. shoulder, horrifically twice that when they
Ability stand on their hindlegs. Worse of all,
Dex +7, Int +1, Wis +5 nyradin are pack animals. They travel in
Proficiencies
Blindsight 30 ft., Passive groups fifteen deep, hunting down any
Senses Perception 15 sources of meat or protein that they can
find.
Challenge 2
Nyradin are somewhat intelligent. They use
their intelligence to study their prey from a
STR 14 (+2) distance, learning where they move, what
they will do as routine. Then, a nyradin pack
DEX 18 (+4) will create a series of simple traps, such as
CON 15 (+2) pitfalls, trip wires that pull trees onto you, or
even net traps. Once captured, the nyradin
INT 6 (-2) always eat their prey alive.
WIS 14 (+2) As the Cataclysm grows worse, much of the
CHA 7 (-2) nyradrins’ food has disappeared. They now
actively hunt humanoids, and have be‐
come a very real threat to the tribal mobs
Pack Tactics. The nyradin has advantage on scattered throughout Akara.
an attack roll against a creature if at least one
of the nyradin’s allies is within 5 ft. of the crea‐
ture and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Spider Climb. The nyradin can climb difficult
surfaces, including upside down on ceilings,
without needing to make an ability check.
Trap Hunter. The nyradin has advantage on
Wisdom checks to find traps or hidden crea‐
tures, and advantage on Intelligence checks to
disarm simple traps. When a nyradin disarms a
simple trap, they can arm it again.

ACTIONS

Blade Leg. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit,

reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 4) piercing
damage. If the target is a creature, it must suc‐
ceed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be
skewered by the leg and restrained.

210
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SAMUA’S BANE (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends, the tar‐
get is restrained.
Gargantuan monstrosity, unaligned Tail. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 20
Location: Torn ft., one target. Hit: 20 (4d6 + 8) bludgeoning
damage. If the target is a creature, it must suc‐
ceed on a DC 20 Strength saving throw or be
Armor Class 19 (natural armor) knocked prone
Frightful Presence. Each creature of Samua’s
Hit Points 400 (20d20 + 200) Bane’s choice within 120 feet of it and aware of
Speed 40 ft., burrow 80 ft., it must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving
swim 80 ft. throw or become frightened for 1 minute. A
Saving Throws Str +12, Con +16 creature can repeat the saving throw at the
end of each of its turns, with disadvantage if
Acid, Fire, Poison; Samua’s Bane is within line of sight, ending
Damage Bludgeoning, Piercing, the effect on itself on a success. If a creature's
Immunities and Slashing from saving throw is successful or the effect ends for
nonmagical weapons it, the creature is immune to Samua’s Bane’s
Condition Charmed, Frightened, Frightful Presence for the next 24 hours.
Immunities Paralyzed, Poisoned Swallow. Samua’s Bane makes one bite attack
against a Large or smaller creature it is grap‐
Challenge 20 pling. If the attack hits, the target takes the
Senses Blindsight 120 ft., Passive bite's damage, the target is swallowed, and the
Perception 10 grapple ends. While swallowed, the creature is
blinded and restrained, it has total cover
against attacks and other effects outside
STR 26 (+8) Samua’s Bane, and it takes 30 (10d6) acid dam‐
DEX 7 (-2) age at the start of each of Samua’s Bane’s
turns. Samua’s Bane is vulnerable to all dam‐
CON 30 (+10) age types from a creature that it has swal‐
lowed, and does not gain the benefits of its
INT 6 (-2) Abominable Hide or Reflective Carapice fea‐
WIS 11 (+0) tures against damage or spells from swallowed
creatures. If Samua’s Bane takes 30 damage or
CHA 11 (+0) more on a single turn from a creature inside it,
Samua’s Bane must succeed on a DC 20 Con‐
Abominable Hide. When rolling for damage stitution saving throw at the end of that turn
against Samua’s Bane, any die that comes up as or regurgitate all swallowed creatures, which
a 6 or lower is ignored. fall prone in a space within 10 feet of Samua’s
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If Samua’s Bane. If Samua’s Bane dies, a swallowed crea‐
Bane fails a saving throw, it can choose to suc‐ ture is no longer restrained by it and can es‐
ceed instead. cape from the corpse by using 30 feet of
Magic Resistance. Samua’s Bane has advan‐ movement, exiting prone.
tage on saving throws against spells and other
magical effects. LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Reflective Carapace. Any time Samua’s Bane
is targeted by a magic missile spell, a line spell, Samua’s Bane can take 3 legendary actions,
or a spell that requires a ranged attack roll, roll choosing from the options below. Only one leg‐
a d6. On a 1 to 5, Samua’s Bane is unaffected. On endary action option can be used at a time and
only at the end of another creature’s turn.
a 6, Samua’s Bane is unaffected, and the effect Samua’s Bane regains spent legendary actions
is reflected back at the caster as though it orig‐ at the start of their turn.
inated from Samua’s Bane, turning the caster
into the target. Attack. Samua’s Bane makes one tail attack.
Siege Monster. Samua’s Bane deals double Move. Samua’s Bane moves up to half its speed.
Chomp (Costs 2 Actions). Samua’s Bane makes
damage to objects and structures. one bite attack or uses its Swallow.
Irradiated Shardlight Ray (Costs 3 Actions).
ACTIONS Samua’s Bane opens its mouth, revealing a
throat studded in shardstones. All creatures in a
Multiattack. Samua’s Bane can use its Fright‐ 120 foot cone in a direction that Samua’s Bane
ful Presence. It then makes three attacks: one is facing must succeed on a DC 20 Constitution
with its bite, and two with its tail. It can use its saving throw or suffer 75 (15d10) radiant dam‐
Swallow instead of its bite. age. Creatures who fail this saving throw must
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +14 to hit, reach 10 also roll on the warp-scar table, suffering its ef‐
ft., one target. Hit: 32 (4d12 + 8) piercing dam‐ fects immediately. On a successful save, crea‐
age. If the target is a creature, it is grappled tures only suffer half damage.

212
There is no rhyme to its form, nor a reason O’og, drifter and bonekeeper, said nothing
for its predation. It is a thing that cannot be of the thing, but instead presented the skull
killed by Akaran arms. Once, a scavenger of his lover, scrimshawed to show that
ring thirty strong went to slay this thing which is known as Samua’s Bane.
haunting Samua’s Marsh. Three returned Its name is as much a curse as it is a fear-
and of it they spoke. tongued legend. Because of it, the Samua
Lilmesh, warlord and beast hunter, said Marshes are anathema for the scavenger
that its body could not be cut by any blade, rings. All are told the same: it hides beneath
pierced by any arrow, bruised by any force. the mud, is a hundred katar long, bursts
Fileen, invoker and colorbinder, said that from the ground and chases those it sees
no matter what shardscience she brought and swallows them whole with nothing left
against the monstrosity she could not con‐ behind.
fuse it, could distract it only a while, could
never warp reality in such a way as to stop
it.

213
SCREN, DREAMVENOM
Medium aberration, neutral evil
Location: Torn & Akara

Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Roll on the Envenomed Nightmares table

below to see what kind of things you expe‐
Hit Points 49 (10d6 + 4) rience when stung by the dreamvenom
Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft.
d6 ENVENOMED NIGHTMARES
Saving Throws Str +12, Con +16
Damage Poison Dark figures prowling on four legs
Immunities 1 stalk after you under a veil of
Condition fuschia shadow.
Immunities Poisoned, Blinded
Challenge 4 Honey weeps from cuts opening
Blindsight 60 Ft., Passive 2 across your body. Where it falls,
Senses corpses bloom.
Perception 13
The writing of a language never
STR 14 (+2) before spoken on Akara spreads
3
DEX 17 (+3) itself across everything that you
can see.
CON 12 (+1) A tall, masked, red shadow in the
INT 8 (-1) 4 distance sings to you of the demise
WIS 11 (+0) of your people.
CHA 8 (-1) A massive, roiling, shivering mass
grows out of the ground before you
5 and begins to converse in a tongue
Dreamvenom. The dreamvenom scren can you share. It speaks of food, love,
cast the dream spell on one creature that it has and death.
stung within 24 hours without requiring any
spell components. The target automatically A memory takes over your every
fails its saving throw against this spell, and the 6 sense, but it is not a memory you
dreamvenom scren knows its target's exact lo‐ have ever had before.
cation when the target wakes up. A
dreamvenom scren can only use this feature
once every 24 hours.
Magic Weapons. The swarmvoice scren’s Not every scren stings the same; and, only
weapon attacks are magical. after the sting, which brings pleasure and
Minor Mystical Immunity. The swarmvoice not pain, will a scavenger know the lethal
scren is immune to the effects of cantrips. difference. The world will melt. The scav‐
enger will see fractals and patterns of no
Akaran make bloom in violet air, across
ACTIONS their weapons, the undulating ground. Col‐
ors never viewed by a living thing’s eye will
Fever Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, dye the world and at the same time uglier,
reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 3) piercing
damage. more horrible things will appear as the
The target must make a DC 14 Constitution scavenger becomes lost in a fever dream
saving throw, taking 33 (6d10) poison damage without end, their shadows becoming
on a failed save, or half as much damage on a aberrants hunting them, eyes, eyes, eyes
successful one. Additionally, unless the target everywhere, waves of euphoria following
succeeds on this saving throw, they begin to waves of terror following waves of star‐
wildly hallucinate. The target must roll on the bursts that always ends in death.
Envenomed Nightmares table and suffer dis‐
advantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, Mystics say that dreamvenom is the key to
and saving throws for 1 minute. The target can seeing the world as it really is. A scavenger
make this saving throw again at the end of its who risks their life getting it is sure to be
turn, ending these effects immediately on a rich.
success.

214
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SCREN, DRONE
Medium aberration, neutral evil
Location: Torn & Akara

Armor Class 16 (natural armor) No one knows from whence they came;
never has a creature of their ilk been seen.
Hit Points 26(6d6 + 2) From beneath the crust of Akara they
Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft. swarm, the scren, creatures on four legs
with no eyes whose clicks and gurgling
Challenge 2 growls speak of no ability to show mercy to
Senses Blindsight 60 Ft., Passive the everything on which they prey. Earth‐
Perception 10 quakes prelude their invasions. Entire tribal
Condition mobs have been swallowed by them and
Immunities Blinded
city-states have disappeared. Rumors hard
to believe travel across Akara born by trau‐
STR 14 (+2) matized survivors who speak of how the
DEX 17 (+3) end of days will not come in flood or
through starvation but at the hands of the
CON 12 (+1) scren, the Mouths.
INT 6 (-2) There is a language to the scren but it has
WIS 11 (+0) not been deciphered. They tap their tails on
their carapaces, gesticulate in weird ways.
CHA 8 (-1) Strange scents that cannot be named fol‐
low them and it seems others of their kind
Magic Resistance. The sentinel has advantage follow alongside.
on saving throws against spells and other
magical effects. After a swarm has come it always disap‐
Magic Weapons. The drone scren’s weapon at‐ pears back into the bowels of the world.
tacks are magical. Scavenger rings have gone into these cara‐
Minor Mystical Immunity. The drone scren is vans. Those that have returned speak of
immune to the effects of cantrips. tunnels without end filled with rotting
Pack Tactics. The drone scren has advantage meat, molted shells, and even the glimmer
on an attack roll against a creature if at least of shardstones. These same scavengers are
one of the drone scren’s allies is within 5 ft. of quick to point out that in Torn’s shardlands
the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated. are the scren also found. What that riddle
Pounce. If the drone scren moves at least 20 ft. means no bonekeeper can say.
straight toward a creature and then hits it with
a claw Attack on the same turn, that target
must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving
throw or be knocked prone. If the target is
prone, the drone scren can make one bite At‐
tack against it as a Bonus Action.
Running Leap. With a 10-foot running start,
the drone scren can long jump up to 35 ft.

ACTIONS
Multiattack. The drone scren makes two at‐
tacks: one with either its bite or its claws, and
one with its sting.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.
Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
The target must make a DC 13 Constitution
saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) poison damage
on a failed save, or half as much damage on a
successful one.

216
217
 The Bane Below
A poem composed by
Drifter Shu’mal of the Cabal of Ten Knives

Undulant these
Fang-graven tunnels, these
Claw-carven caverns from
Men-bones and beast-hides and Akara’s
Death-dim roots.
Visions found in wildfire stars.
Cruel roads never meant to be walked.
Chains blood-rusted.
Shardstones bloodcut.
Catacomb-cradle for widow-maker singing our songs.
Chittering, chattering, the
Chitinous cruelty, the
Civilization culling
Cold carnage and the clattering clawed crimes in
Carmine carnal courts.
Pregnant, this apocalypse
Bearing Armageddon’s child as
Bael bears the jade blade.
O’Nestqueen, moon-kissed & sun-cruel.
Nestqueen, Nestqueen, slaughter-wise & doom-fueled.
Painted, she-thing’s lips
In liver, in bile.
Intestinal flower-crown, bloodeagle’d cape.
Egg-laid throne, pus-filled, fetid.
Mouth drips muscle; from mouth drips we.
Leelaylwa, leelaylwa -
Please, please, spare me.

218
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SCREN, NESTQUEEN
Gargantuan aberration, neutral evil
Location: Torn & Akara

Armor Class 18 (natural armor) STR 22 (+6)

Hit Points 278 (15d20 + 105) DEX 11 (+0)
Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft. CON 24 (+7)
Acid, Fire, Poison, INT 18 (+4)
Damage Psychic; Bludgeoning,
Piercing, and Slashing WIS 15 (+3)
Immunities
from nonmagical CHA 12 (+1)
weapons, Blinded
Condition Charmed, Frightened,
Immunities Paralyzed, Poisoned LEGENDARY ACTIONS
Challege 15 The Nestqueen can take 3 legendary actions,
Senses Blindsight 120 Ft., Passive choosing from the options below. Only one
Perception 13 legendary action option can be used at a time
Understands all but can’t and only at the end of another creature’s turn.
Languages The Nestqueen regains spent legendary ac‐
speak, telepathy 300 ft.
tions at the start of their turn.
Creature Sense. The nestqueen is aware of the Attack (1 action). The Nestqueen makes one
presence of creatures within 5 miles of it that feeding claw.
have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. It Break Concentration (1 action). The Nestqueen
knows the distance and direction to each crea‐ targets a creature within 120 feet of it with
ture, as well as each one's intelligence score, which it has a psychic link. The nestqueen
but can't sense anything else about it. A crea‐ breaks the creature's concentration on a spell it
ture protected by a mind blank spell, a nonde‐ has cast. The creature also takes 1d4 psychic
tection spell, or similar magic can't be per‐ damage per level of the spell.
ceived in this manner. Psychic Pulse (2 actions). The Nestqueen tar‐
gets a creature within 120 feet of it with which
Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The Nestqueen’s it has a psychic link. Enemies of the Nestqueen
innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell within 10 feet of that creature take 10 (3d6) psy‐
save DC 19). It can innately cast the following chic damage.
spells, requiring no components: Sever Psychic Link (2 actions). The Nestqueen
At will: detect thoughts, levitate. targets a creature within 120 feet of it with
1/day each: confusion, dominate monster, which it has a psychic link. The Nestqueen
dominate person, telekinesis. ends the link, causing the creature to have dis‐
Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the advantage on all ability checks, attack rolls,
Nestqueen fails a saving throw, it can choose and saving throws until the end of the crea‐
to succeed instead. ture's next turn.
Magic Weapons. The Nestqueen’s weapon at‐
tacks are magical. LAIR ACTIONS
Minor Mystical Immunity. The Nestqueen is
immune to the effects of cantrips. When fighting inside its lair, the Nestqueen
Telepathic Hub. The Nestqueen can use its can use lair actions. On initiative count 20 (los‐
telepathy to initiate and maintain telepathic ing initiative ties), the Nestqueen can take one
conversations with up to ten creatures at a lair action to cause one of the following effects;
time. The Nestqueen can let those creatures the Nestqueen can't use the same lair action
telepathically hear each other while connected two rounds in a row:
in this way.
Telepathic Shroud. The Nestqueen is immune ◇ The Nestqueen summons 1 dreamvenom
to any effect that would sense its emotions or scren, 1d4 dronescren, or 1d4 swarmvoice
scren.
read its thoughts, as well as to all divination
spells. ◇ The Nestqueen releases a terrifying scream,
forcing creatures within 300 feet to make a
Wisdom saving throw (DC 18) or spend
their next action screaming as well.
◇ The Nestqueen casts telekinesis.

220
ACTIONS Once, the famed scavenger ring known as
the Cabal of Ten Knives was hired by a
Multiattack. The nestqueen can use its In‐ time-forgotten patron to delve deep into
stinct Drive. Then it can make two attacks with Akara’s crust. Twenty strong, all moon-
its Feeding Claws. kissed and sun-cruel, ventured into a scren
Feeding Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to
hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (1d12 + 6) swarm’s chittering fissure. One month later
slashing damage. The target must make a DC did they return, a third of their number lost.
18 Strength saving throw or be grappled. Until Down there, they said, was a thing impossi‐
the grapple ends, the creature is restrained. ble: the Nestqueen.
Instinct Drive. The Nestqueen chooses one A roiling, undulating mass, clicking, the
creature that it can perceive with its Creature
Sense trait and floods its mind with cannibalis‐ eggs, the wealth of shardstones growing in
tic instincts. The creature must make a its cave - the Nestqueen was a nightmare
Charisma saving throw (DC 18) or spend their from another world and of this the Cabal of
next action attempting to eat themselves. Ten Knives was certain. What they did not
Mind Blast (Recharge 5–6). The Nestqueen share, not for years, was what it did to
magically emits psychic energy. Creatures of them.
the Nestqueen’s choice within 60 feet of it
must succeed on a DC 19 Intelligence saving To each of the scavengers did the
throw or take 32 (5d10 + 5) psychic damage and Nestqueen speak, in their thoughts and
be stunned for 1 minute. A target can repeat not their minds. It, she, that told them of
the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ancient peoples supped upon; she spun for
ending the effect on itself on a success. them tales of a place where all was alive, all
Psychic Link. The Nestqueen targets one was teeth, all was prey and predator alike.
stunned creature it can perceive with its Crea‐ Then the Nestqueen said to these scav‐
ture Sense trait and establishes a psychic link engers that they may leave should they of‐
with that creature. Until the psychic link ends, fer her sacrifices of a hand, a foot, a heart,
the Nestqueen can perceive everything the
target senses. The target becomes aware that a liver.
something is linked to its mind once it is no Their tale was not believed. The Cabal of
longer incapacitated, and the nestqueen can Ten Knives never did scavenge again, but
terminate the link at any time (no action re‐ sometime later they disappeared, one by
quired). The target can use an action on its one, on a night when the moon was full
turn to attempt to break the psychic link, do‐
ing so with a successful DC 19 Charisma saving and their heads full too of something weird,
throw. On a successful save, the target takes 10 something wrong.
(3d6) psychic damage. The psychic link also
ends if the target and the Nestqueen are more
than 5 miles apart, with no consequences to
the target. The Nestqueen can form psychic
links with up to ten creatures at a time.
Sense Thoughts. The Nestqueen targets a
creature with which it has a psychic link. The
Nestqueen gains insight into the target's rea‐
soning, its emotional state, and thoughts that
loom large in its mind (including things the
target worries about, loves, or hates). The
Nestqueen can also make a Charisma check
with advantage to deceive the target's mind
into thinking it believes one idea or feels a par‐
ticular emotion. The target contests this at‐
tempt with a Wisdom check. If the nestqueen
succeeds, the mind believes the deception for 1
hour or until evidence of the lie is presented to
the target.

221
SCREN, SWARMVOICE
Medium aberration, neutral evil
Location: Torn & Akara

Armor Class 16 (natural armor) If a swarmvoice is nearby, drones are always

close at hand. Roll on the Swarmvoice
Hit Points 49 (10d6 + 4) Echos table below to hear what they have
Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft. to say.
Challenge 4
Senses Blindsight 60 Ft., Passive d6 SWARMVOICE ECHOS
Perception 13
Condition A little girl crying for her older sister
Immunities Blinded 1 to come back.
STR 14 (+2) A woman begging her husband
2 not to go outside.
DEX 17 (+3)
CON 12 (+1) A young man pleading to be let
3
INT 8 (-1) into a shelter.
WIS 16 (+3) An elderly woman asking if anyone
4 else heard something in the
CHA 12 (+1) shadows.
Magic Weapons. The swarmvoice scren’s A little boy asking if you’re his
5
weapon attacks are magical. father.
Minor Mystical Immunity. The swarmvoice
scren is immune to the effects of cantrips. Roll twice and combine the two
Word Echo. When a creature casts a cantrip or 6 results.
a spell that requires only verbal components,
the swarmvoice scren can use its reaction to
repeat those same words to either cast coun‐
terspell or to cast that same spell on a target of Loping across the wreckage of their kin-
its choice. The swarmvoice scren uses the origi‐ swarm are things who hear the sounds of
nal caster’s spell save DC and spell attack mod‐ Akara and speak them back. Songs, po‐
ifier. ems, voices warbled and strange; lan‐
guages scren should not know, words from
tongues spliced together. These swar‐
ACTIONS mvoice are clever creatures whose alien
talents have tricked many a deadman out
Multiattack. The drone scren makes three at‐ of hiding. Though few believe they exist, the
tacks: one with its bite, once with its claws, and
one with its sting. survivors of these apocalypses are consis‐
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 tent in their tales: if you hear your loved
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage. ones crying for help then you must leave
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 them. Few are strong enough to follow this
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage. advice, and fewer still can live with them‐
Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 selves afterwards.
ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
The target must make a DC 14 Constitution
saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage
on a failed save, or half as much damage on a
successful one.

222
223
SENTINEL
Large construct, unaligned
Location: Torn

Armor Class 18 (natural armor) Roll on the Sentinel Purpose table to see
what the Sentinel is doing upon its discov‐
Hit Points 110 (15d10 + 35) ery.
Speed 30 ft.
d6 ACTIVITY
Saving Throws Str +12, Con +16
Fire, Poison, Psychic;
Bludgeoning, Piercing, Lifting random objects, holding it
Damage 1 to its shardstone, and poking it
Immunities and Slashing From
Nonmagical Weapon repeatedly - like a woodpecker.
Attacks
Charmed, Exhaustion, Stacking objects on top of each
Condition Frightened, Paralyzed, 2
Immunities other meticulously.
Petrified, Poisoned
Challenge 7
Darkvision 120 Ft., Passive Breaking things into smaller things
Senses 3
Perception 10 and rearranging them strangely.
Understands the Ancient
Languages Tongue but can’t speak
Sitting silently, curled into a ball,
4 ominously quiet.
STR 22 (+6)
DEX 9 (-1) Patrolling a plot of land with no
5 defining features inside of it, or an
CON 20 (+5) unmarked ruin.
INT 10 (+0)
Being destroyed by another
WIS 11 (+0) 6 sentinel, but not responding to the
CHA 1 (-5) attacks.

Magic Resistance. The sentinel has advantage From where they came no one can say.
on saving throws against spells and other They are the relics of the Zenith People; the
magical effects. mysterious soldiers, guardians, laborers,
Magic Weapons. The sentinel’s weapon at‐ and servants of a forever-gone civilization.
tacks are magical.
Shardscience Mirror. When the sentinel is tar‐ Across Torn do they shamble. Sometimes,
geted by a spell, it can cast that same spell as they are quiet. Sometimes, they are loud -
an action on its following turn. whirring gears, metal on metal, the hissing
of shardlight exposed to open air.
ACTIONS Whatever orders they once followed have
yet to be completed, and because of this
Multiattack. The sentinel makes two melee at‐ they have become violent. Anything that
tacks, or attacks with its slam and its shard‐ interferes with what they are doing must
stone ray. be destroyed. Whatever they are doing
Shardstone Ray. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 cannot easily be predicted; it must be
to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (4d10) ra‐ guessed from context clues, puzzled out
diant damage. A creature struck by a shard‐
stone ray has all flammable clothing that it from what they ignore and what they kill..
wears burst into flames. Harvest their heads for a shardstone worth
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 your weight in jade.
ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 6) bludgeoning
damage. If the target is a creature, it is grap‐
pled (escape DC 20). Until this grapple ends,
the target is restrained.

224
225
SKARAG
Large or huge beast, any alignment
Location: Akara

Armor Class 13 (natural armor) If you attain a skarag, roll on the Skarag
Quirk table below to see how your skarag
Hit Points 95 (15d10 + 12) treats you.
Speed 60 ft.
d6 QUIRK
Ability Con +8
Proficiencies
Challenge 2 1 This skarag enjoys licking your hair
for tasty insects to eat.
Senses Passive Perception 10
Can’t speak but This skarag leaks water out
Languages understands any that it is 2 whenever it's happy.
trained to understand
This skarag sits on its hindlegs,
3 almost like that of a person.
STR 16 (+3)
DEX 12 (+1) This skarag vomits whenever you
4
CON 22 (+6) are offended.
INT 6 (-2)
This skarag insists on sleeping
WIS 11 (+0) 5 coiled around you.
CHA 10 (+0)
This skarag brings you random
6 trinkets as a sign of affection.
Inexhaustible Mount. The skarag has
advantage on checks or saving throws against
exhaustion. The skarag also ignores the first
three levels of exhaustion. There are no beasts of burden in the world
World Drifter. The skarag can take the Dash
action as a bonus action on each of its turns. of Akara; none except the skarag, the foun‐
dation of all civilization. They are tenacious
reptiles who can grow as large as fifteen
ACTIONS meters or near fifty feet and are unique in
the social bonds they form with others not
Necrotic Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, of their kind. These bonds led to their even‐
reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 3) piercing tual breaking as mounts.
damage. If the target is a creature, it must
succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw In poetry, a skarag represents jade for the
or suffer 11 (2d10) necrotic damage at the end wealth they bring to those who own them;
of each of its turns for 1 minute. perseverance, for their survival-adapted bi‐
ology, defined by sacks of water held be‐
neath their scales; Akara’s fertile soil, for a
land rich in skarags is a land rich in life. This
last reason gives hope to Cataclysm de‐
niers. After all, skarags can still be found in
the wild. But these animals are not found
where once they were nor in their old num‐
bers. Even they must reckon with the Great
Dying.

226
227
UJAH (ENIGMAS)
Large aberration, any alignment
Location: Torn

Armor Class 10 ACTIONS

Hit Points 212 (30d8 + 77) Fractal Legion (1/Short Rest). The Ujah sum‐
mons an additional 1d6 copies of itself. These
Speed 30 ft. copies appear in an empty 5x5 space within 30
Acid, Cold, Fire, Necrotic, feet, and each takes their initiative after the
Poison, Radiant; original Ujah.
Damage Shardlight Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit,
Immunities Bludgeoning, Piercing,
and Slashing from reach 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 33 (6d10) radi‐
ant damage. A creature struck by a shardlight
nonmagical weapons ray has all flammable clothing that it wears
Charmed, Frightened, burst into flames. After using its shardlight ray,
Condition Grappled, Paralyzed, the Ujah can cast a spell that it knows from its
Immunities Petrified, Poisoned, at-will list.
Prone, Restrained
Challenge 12
Truesight 120 Ft., passive
Senses Perception 13 Throughout the Tainted Valley - radiant
echoes of light, luminous peals traveling at
speeds hitherto unknown. Scavengers
STR 10 (+0) speak of that same brilliance manifesting
DEX 11 (+0) before them in a thousand and one vermil‐
lion bodies.
CON 14 (+2)
This thing is called by scavengers the Ujah,
INT 24 (+7) the Engima, and it is many.
WIS 26 (+8) Every Ujah appears the same, at least at a
CHA 18 (+4) glance. They are a crimson spectre as tall
as a Zenith Person but with no features to
Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The Ujah’s in‐ define them. The longer they are stared at,
nate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell the clearer they become, their shimmering
save DC 19). It can innately cast the following bodies opening like curtains to reveal vi‐
spells, requiring no components: sions of people the watching scavengers
At will: blur, chaos bolt, detect thoughts, invisi‐ believe in, scenes of carnage and of rapture
bility, levitate, misty step, scrying too.
2/day each: counterspell, harm, hallucinatory
terrain, wall of force They watch from a distance or they walk
1/day each: eyebite, delayed fireball, feeble‐ with scavengers. Sometimes they are ene‐
mind, power word: stun, project image, tele‐ mies, and the heat-radiance they release is
port terrible. Othertimes they are friendly, aid‐
Incorporeal Movement. The Ujah can move ing scavengers against sentinels or scren.
through other creatures and objects as if they With a wave of their hands they make
were difficult terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force shardstones glow and dim in a code that
damage if it ends its turn inside an object.
Limited Magic Immunity. The Ujah can't be af‐ has yet to be solved.
fected or detected by spells of 4th level or No one has ever been able to capture a
lower unless it wishes to be. It has advantage Ujah. Death has them flicker out like a
on saving throws against all other spells and sputtering torch. If a scavenger could
magical effects.
Magic Weapons. The Ujah’s weapon attacks somehow bring them back to Akara, their
are magical. legacy would be etched in jade for a thou‐
Shardscience Mirror. When the Ujah is tar‐ sand years to come.
geted by a spell, it can cast that same spell as
an action on its following turn.
Shard Mind. The Ujah shares the same senses
as every body that it conjures.

228
229
URUKAN
Small monstrosity, unaligned
Location: Akara

Armor Class 15 (natural armor) Urukan, a Kamuani word meaning earth

spawn, are brownish creatures that dwell
Hit Points 15 (5d4 + 2) deep beneath the earth. Akaran history
Speed 10 ft., burrow-30 ft. has it that the urukan were rarely seen
Damage creatures found only in deep mines. The flu‐
Acid ids they secrete - a powerful acid - has been
Immunities
Challenge 1/2 used in ritualistic potions and other al‐
chemies for generations. For reasons un‐
Senses Passive Perception 9 known, the urukan are emerging from the
earth at a never before seen rate as a roil‐
ing and acidic tide spilling out from Akaran
STR 10 (+0) hills to poison Akaran soil. Some suspect it
DEX 8 (-1) is the scren forcing them out of their
homes; other see this as an omen that the
CON 11 (+0) end of days is soon to come.
INT 4 (-3) Collecting urukan and their fluids can lead
WIS 8 (-1) a scavenger to a prosperous and happy life.
CHA 6 (-2)

Akaric Acid. Any nonmagical material that

touches the urukan is corroded by acid. Crea‐
tures and materials take 14 (4d6) points of acid
damage. If what touches the earthspawn was
armor or a weapon, it suffers a -1 penalty to the
AC it provides or to damage rolls made with
that weapon. If this drops armor’s benefit to
providing no additional AC, or if this drops a
weapon’s damage to -5, the material is de‐
stroyed.

ACTIONS
Acidic Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +2 to hit,
reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6) piercing
damage. A creature bitten by the urukan suf‐
fers the effects of its Akaric Acid trait.
Grub Ball. The urukan rolls itself up into a tight
ball. While rolled up, the urukan cannot move
or take any actions and its AC increases to 22.

230
231
 SCAVENGER INDEX
Ability Score Proficiency, 133 Cataclysm, the, 85 Gate of the Seven Lights, 19
Additional Natural Terrain, 155 Cataclysm Sojourner, 168 Gate of the Skarag, 19
Akara, 9 Chain’d Schools, 76 Generation Torn Apart, 38
Akara’s Remnant, 182 Channel Divinity, 159 Grand Katar Wall, the, 19
Akaran Mysticism, 71 Charred Slum, the, 28 Great Dying, the, 85
Akarans, 143 Circle of Cataclysms, 162 Gubajah, 200
Akarok, 200 Circle of Stone & Fire, the, 35 Gulf of the Stalker, 88
Alien Knowledge, 182 Cobalt Fruit, 115 glass burns, 196
Ambara, 10 Colorbinders, 157 Heads, 188
Ammonia, 106 Consumption Shard, 138 Headhunted Exile, 172
Ancient Tongue, 10 Core City Ruin, the, 101 Heart of an Alien World, 138
Ancestral Shamans, 158 Core Entity, 161 Heart-Giver, 157
Armaments, 188 Council of Dirt & Bone, 28 House of Five Deadly Venoms, the, 49
Artifice, 134 Council of Jade & Progress, 32 House Unpainted, the, 49
Artificer’s Tools, 134 Cradle, the, 68 Howlers, 156
Artisan District, 22 Crimson Square, 27 Hundred-Colored Pond, the, 46
Asphalt Lakes, 114 Crown Shards, 107 hand (measurement), 10
ancient bones, 194 ceramic-cloth, 194 hanyi, 74
B!ayeh, 10 chitinous hide, 194 heat raids, 85
Banish Aberration, 159 copper wardress, 194 Idakhan, 98
Bataar, 45 Dagger District, 23 Innasht, 115, 206
Bataash Shell, 10 Dal Ashta Outpost, the, 97 Invokers, 157
Battle Fatigue, 133 Damaging & Destroying Shards, 136 Ishanya the World-Treader, 37
Bael, Baels, 57 Deadman’s Island, 25 Ivory Guard, the, 40
Bael Madeel, 57 Dinadan, 10 interlocking exoskeleton, 194
Bael Urbarriar, 57 Dinashii, 67 Jade, the, 10
Bael Ziadi, 57 Dirge for the Charred Slums, 151 Kanuani, 10
Bleed Dust, 138 Dream-Pleasure Shard, 138 Kanuma, 53
Blightwoods, 111 Drifters, 154 Kanuma’s Calendar, 10
Blightwood City, 101 Dust District, 23 Kanuman Sigil, 10
Bloodcutting, 134 daggermaster, 23 Ka’rum, 98
Bloodcutter, 157 dal, 10 Khorax, Bael Khorax, 58
Bloodcutter’s Supplies, 135 dalham, 10 Kith, 145
Bloodsands, the, 88 dart-thrower, 196 Kind Mind-Melder, 182
Bloodsingers, 154 death tides, 85 Kumashek, 98
Bonekeeper, 166 deathwhistle, 196 kataar, 196
Bronzebloods, 156 “E” Language, 10 khavsarsan zud, 86
Bronze District, 20 Ekolo, 122, 124 Mandatory Healing Kits, 133
Buying & Finding Shards, 136 Emissary, 170 Merqual’s Tomb, 101
blade (measurement), 10 Encumbrance, 133 Midnight Childs, 36, 208
bladed boomerang, 196 Entomism, 80 Minister’s House, the, 49
blades of curved bronze, 123 Extinction Saves, 133 Monolith, the, 18
bola, 196 earthquakes, 86 Morg, 149
bronze wargarb, 194 Far-Strider’s Trick, 155 Morgani, 10
Cancerous Lichenshard, 114, 116 Far Sayers, 154 Morgani Foe-Culler, 182
Carrion, 106, 200 Flesh-Knitting Shard, 138 Muraneese Majestic, 10
Carrion Glade, 114 Gate of the Caught Sun, 19 Mur, 63

232
Murd, 10 Samua Marches, 119 Suneater, 138
Mute City, 101 Samua’s Bane, 212 Sun Uruk, 98
Mystics, 158 Samua’s City, 101 samum, the, 87
megalithic ruins, 101 Samua’s Incense, 123 sigil, 10,
monsoon raid, 87 Samua’s Scepter, 124 shardsong, 196
Natural Resources, 187 Samua’s Sunshade Mud, 123 star-raider, 57
New Market, 27 Samuan, 10 Tainted Valley, 127
Newvision, 138 Sarok, 32, 43 Tarnak, 13
Nowheres, 106 Scavenger Codes, 10 Tarnaki, Deep, 10
Nyradin, 210 Scavenger Paradigm, 153 Tarnaki, Dust, 10
Of Places Untouched, 129 Scavenger Rings, the, 37 Tiali’s Jail, 46
Oathspears, 156 Scavenger Suite, 132 Tongue and Hand, the, 38
Old District, 25 Scavenging Peoples, the, 140 Torn, 91
Oozing Radiance, 138 Scren, Dreamvenom, 214 Torn Drugs, 134
Oracle Abiodun, 64 Scren, Drone, 216 Torn Disks, 107
Ores Masgel, 33 Scren, Nestqueen, 220 Torn Sigil, 94
Orphans, the, 154 Scren, Swarmvoice, 222 Tower of Thoughts, the, 35
Overseer Alrak, 49 Sea of Songs, 89 Tranquilizing Ponds, 123
Our Coming Exodus, 80 Sentinel, 224 Tribal Brazier, 138
Our Cruel Road, 74 Serpent’s Slum, the, 28 Torn Hash, 138
Pannor Crush, the, 106 Serpent Woods, 89 Twin Towers of the Torn Sun, the, 97
Pannor’s Grass, 107 Seven Jades, the, 19 thorned wargarb, 123
Pannor’s Gallows, 106 Seven Scavenger Truths, 7 Venturehall, 97
Pannor’s Jade Katan, 107 Shamash, 67 Vermillion Hand, 160
Pannor Plains, 103 Shard Cultists, 158 Ujah, 128, 228
Pannor’s Sunspears, 106 Shard Market, 137 Urukan, 230
Patron Slave, 174 Shardcasting, 134 Using Shardcraft, 136
Pentad, the, 57 Shardcraft, 189 Usuo, 10
Pit of the Sunken Sun, 54 Shardstones, 133 Walkers, 74
Precious Treasure, 189 Shardpeak Towers, the, 101 Warlords, 156
Princess Ida, 15 Shardscience Savant, 182 Warp-Scars, 137
Power Houses, the, 49 Shardstone Cults, 80 Weaker Magic, 133
Pyroclastic Geysers, 114 Shardtainted, 176 Windport District, 26
painted throat, 196 Shardwood, 116 Womord, 10
pattern chord, 196 Shifting Forest, 68 World-Treader, 37
Quo’woah, 10 Silent Blinds, 154 World-Tearing Shard, 138
Radiant, the, 157 Slither Shards, 124 World Speakers, 158
Rainbow’d Sight, 138 Skarag, 226 World-Weary, 182
Raw Shardstone, 138 Song District, 25 World Wises, 155
Red Fang, the, 80 Song of the New Akara, 80 wristblade, 196
Regional Eruptions, 114 Spider’s Harp, 123 Yeballa, 68
Ribbish, 10 Stargazer, 78 Zazan, 10
Ruminators, 76 Stargazer Bay, 89 Zenith People, the, 98
Ruminations on the Chain, 76 Starfall Mysteries, the, 78 Zodiacs, 158
reinforced chitin, 194 Starfaller, 162 zahaq, 123
rock howler, 200 Starfallers, 156
Samua of the Stygian Serpents, 33 Stygian Serpents, 36

233
 THE FIRST SCAVENGERS

Aaron Abdelmaseh, Aaron Gomez, Aaron Jones, Aaron Rhoads, Acinonyx, Adam Domingue, Adam Everman, Adam J.
Zoch, Adam K, Adrian Czajkowski, Adrian Praetorius, Adrian Ulff, Ago, Al Bartlett, Alessandro S., Alex Huyer, Alex
Lyman, Alex Melluso, Alexander Laurell, Alexander Matyushev, Alexander Neumann, Allan (The other Weird Al),
Michie, Alvari Juhola, Andreas Starrsjö, Andrei Lazarescu, Andrew Alsberge, Andrew Lewis, Andrew Lotton, Andrew
R H Girdwood, Andrzej Krakowian, Andy Fones, Andy Zeiner, Anthony Knight, Anthony Prentice, Arno Gradwohl,
Austin Silva

Bailey J Martin, Baptiste Gauthier, Barneso, Barry Horsley, Bartimaeus, Benjamin (Crazy Cat Lady) Menard, Benjamin
Barham, Benjamin R Childerhose, Bill Dickinson Jr., Bill Lord, Bjorn Beckert, Błażej Maron, Borja Bermejo Merino
(BormerBerme), Brendan Mayhugh, Brian Koonce, Bryan Gibbons, Bryan Scott Anderson

Calavash, Callum D. Donaldson, Calvin W.R. Young, Cameron Krier, Cameron Price, Canli Kastner, Carl Rideout, Cem
Tüzemen, Cezary „Verencius” Wysoczański, Charles M Schmidt, Chase Street, Chevy Josselyn, Cheyne, Chris Babcock,
Chris Hammel, Chris Johnson, Christian J Menza, Christian Pagliari, Christian Thomas Hurley, Christoffer Sevaldsen,
Christopher Cecil, Christopher Farina, Christopher Gallivan, Christopher Harlan, Christopher K Olsen, Cirlot, Clark
Langridge, Clay Trimble, Cole Nordin, Connor Davies, Cullin Gardner
Dafegar, Damien Serrano, Dan, Dan AD Harrison, Dana Swithenbank, Daniel Rossi, Daniel Russell, Danny Awal Jr.,
Darian Churchill, Dave Kirkham, Dave Sealy, David Alexander Parker, David Amodeo, David C Hubble, David Harrison,
David Kogan, David Michael Melville, Dennis Horte, Dennis Owen Carroll, Derek Burkeen, Derek Vendt, Desirae
Beedle, Dingmamon, Dominic Pescosolido, Dominic Reyna, Dominic Rosa, Donald Cowie, Dustin K Miller, Dwight
Winters III, Dylan Stayman
Edd0, Eduardo Charvel, Elena De Stasio Stabile, Elgin Scott III, Elijah Jacob Witherspoon, Elliot Wenzel, Eontes Game
Master, Eric Hellickson, Eric Presuhn, Eric Stinemetz, Eric Toczek, Eugene Reilly, Ezequiel Fiumara

234
Faye 'RonPhang' Esswein, Faye Sewell, Fernando Reis Innecco, Filipe Passos Coelho, Filthy Monkey, Florian Ravine
Derudder, Franck Vaquier , Frank Payne, Frank Van Camp

Gabriella Bengtsar Håkansson, Gary & Teresa Flowers, Gerben van Eijk, Gert-Jan Germeys, GHOST4, Glass & Morgan
Cartwright, Glen Stark, Glizda, GM Tron, Grady Dunworth, Grant Bischoff, Greg Brunell, Greg Dunn, Greg Krywusha,
Gregory Lynn, Guðjón Jósef Baldursson
Hall Hood, Hanz Ifurung, Henrique CL Jucá, Hilius von Kürbiskern, Hunter Henrichsen

Ian Taylor, Ioannis Delios, Ira Shantz-Kreutzkamp, Isaac Segura, Ivan Milovanov (mozzribo)

J. Howerton, Jaakko Saari, Jacob G Cohen, Jake Loveless, James C. McClure III, James Halger, James Michael, James Zwiers,
jamie, Jamie Wheeler, Jamie Young, Jangus C. Cooper, Jared Trulock, Jason Fuhrman, Jason Heredia, Jason Ji Jun Fung,
Jason Kogan, Jason Neff, Jason Singh, Jason Smith, Jay Peters, Jean-Vincent Picard, Jeff Robinson, Jeff Scifert, Jeffrey
Quigley, Jena Sanders, Jeremy Bohan, Jeremy Hochhalter, Jeremy Kear, Jerry Beasley, Jerry Panagiotakis, Jesper Nøhr,
Jim Fuß, Jim Page, Joachim Heindler, Joan Ribas Rossell, Joe Rigney, Joel Baker, Johan Nilsson, John K Stone, John
McCloy, John McKay, Joni Skonbäck, Joran aus den Schatten, Joseph Guzman, Joshua C. Keaton, Julian Makin, Julian
Reinalter, Jundigon, Justin D Nickerson, Justin Sadosky, Justin Vander Schaaf
Kalamboo, Kalysto, Karen kehoe, Kári Gauti Gudlaugsson, Kaz The Unenlightened, kc, Keith E Morrison, Kelly Fisher,
Kelsii Weber, Kevin Alexander Pason, Kevin Alsdorf, Kit Blow, Kostas Papazis, Kraig Hausmann, Kyle Botterill, Kyle Lee,
Kyle McPhee
LandisTheThief, Lasse Dalsgaard Andersen, Laurence B Walls, Lazar Stojkovic, Lee Scolin, LeoKeros, Liam Hall,
Loren Skinner, Lorenzo Mastino, lubez88 (Torrey Lubiens), Luis Fernández González, Luke Dell

Magnus Gademar, Mahaffay, Manoel Marx, Marcus Baseler, Marie Claeys, Mark Eckenrode, Mark Tresidder, Marsh
Hock, Martin Kaiser, Martin Legg, Martti Huusko, Marvin Langenberg, Mary Zawacki, Mathieu Kautz, Matt Norris,
Matt Rock, Matt Snow, Matt Z Sealy, Matteo Autunno Di Domenico, Matteo Signorini, Matthew Rizdon Delaney,
Matthew A Strudwick, Matthew Cole, Matthew kroell, Matthew Rick, Matthew Sperling, Max Kindred, Maxime
Bombardier, McKendry Herrmann, Melvin Gage, MEZ, Michael Knighthawk Gammell, Michael Abspoel -xprnstr-,
Michael Barker, Michael Culp, Michael Jaksa, Michael Loney, Michael Maitlen, Michael Manzer, Michael Nichols,
Michael Pritchard, Michael Weeks, Míchel González, Mike DeCriscio, Mike Kalos, Mikko Kristian Kojola, Mister Lamp,
Monte Morast II, MooN, Moonfly, Moreau Colin, Morgan Hauth, Mr Jordan J Rowbottom, Myriam & Clement Jauvion
Nadia Rizk, Nate Bourne, Nathan Luster, Nathan Post, Nathan Skipper IV, Nefthalie Nelson Ramos, Neil McKeagney,
Nicholas Woonitu Wood, Nicholas DeLancey, Nick 'Weasel' Frymet, Nick O'Bryan, Nicola Russo Pratt, Nicolas Bím,
Nicolas Castagnet, Niklas Raunio, Niles George, NYX ROMAN, NZS Games
Oliver Brooks, Olivier Darles, OlivierMaître HibouRobineau, Ols Jonas Petter Olsson

Parker, Parker Smith, Pascal 'Necral' Daniel, Patrick Callan, Patrick P., Pedro L. Salgado, Peter Fox, Peter Siljedahl,
Philip Geving, Philip Mangiaracina, Phillip Maddi, Phillip Yeakley

R.P. Allen, Rachel Ayers, Rafael Mull-Pernetz, Randall M Holmes, Randy Nelson Smith, Raven Daegmorgan, Rebecca
Foxhoven, Richard H. Perry, Richard Henning, Richard Mundy, Richard Neary, Richard Schulzki, Richard William
Sorden, Robert Casey, Robert J Gamble, Robert S Paine, Robert Winchester, Robin Irwin, Rochelle F, ronald g paris,
Ronald Marx, Ross Hammer, Russel Hiatt, Ryan Brent, Ryan C Smith, Ryan Thomas, Ryon Ready
S.R. Davey, Sarah Kenny, Scott Reichelt, Scott Rumptz, Scotto, Sean I. Donnelly, Sean Jack, Sebastien Rodrigue, Seipke
Seraphymn, Seth Woolwine, Shad Scarboro, Shane Asharon Sylvia, Shane Tidus Lahue, Shawn Gamez, Shawn Stutzel,
Shiona K., Silas Mead, Simon Domich, Sir Glancelot, Stanislav [Drakzar] Ivanov, Ste Chandler, Stephen Gilliland,
Stephen O'Dell, Stephen Revill, Steven Chan, Steven Killen, Steven Moy, Steven T. Skelley, Syllyo
Taylor Inesta, Terry Pike, Thac0 of Chainmail, Thalji, The Damato Family, The Duke of Earl, The Raven Rolls, TheDobble,
TheRealHeinz, Thomas E. Spink II, Tim Rudolph, Timothy Baker, Toawk of The Stone and Field, Todd Wilkes, Tomasz
Pudło, Tommy Johansson, Finland, Torsten Frei, Travis J. Agaman, Tristan Prather, yler Wilhelm
Vaughn McCance, Ventress Vines, Vincent Henrotte, Virgiliu Ionescu, Volodymyr Revenok
Walter Wolowicz III, Wes Baker, Wesley Brown, William Hob Shaw, William Bartram, William Hatcher, Withrow G
Berry
Xandar Miller
Yura *HeraldOfAbyss* Stetsenko
Zach Jensen, Zach Morris , Zane Zimmerman, Zaphius97, Zeroun Blue

235
OPEN GAME LICENSE Version 1.0a

The following text is the property of Wizards of the Coast, 6.Notice of License Copyright: You must update the COPY‐
Inc. and is Copyright 2000 Wizards of the Coast, Inc ("Wiz‐ RIGHT NOTICE portion of this License to include the exact
ards"). All Rights Reserved. text of the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any Open Game Content
You are copying, modifying or distributing, and You must
1. Definitions: (a)"Contributors" means the copyright and/or add the title, the copyright date, and the copyright holder's
trademark owners who have contributed Open Game Con‐ name to the COPYRIGHT NOTICE of any original Open
tent; (b)"Derivative Material" means copyrighted material Game Content you Distribute.
including derivative works and translations (including into
other computer languages), potation, modification, correc‐ 7. Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product
tion, addition, extension, upgrade, improvement, compila‐ Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, ex‐
tion, abridgment or other form in which an existing work cept as expressly licensed in another, independent Agree‐
may be recast, transformed or adapted; (c) "Distribute" ment with the owner of each element of that Product Iden‐
means to reproduce, license, rent, lease, sell, broadcast, tity. You agree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptabil‐
publicly display, transmit or otherwise distribute; (d)"Open ity with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in con‐
Game Content" means the game mechanic and includes junction with a work containing Open Game Content ex‐
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tent such content does not embody the Product Identity ment with the owner of such Trademark or Registered
and is an enhancement over the prior art and any addi‐ Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game
tional content clearly identified as Open Game Content by Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership
the Contributor, and means any work covered by this Li‐ of that Product Identity. The owner of any Product Identity
cense, including translations and derivative works under used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and
copyright law, but specifically excludes Product Identity. (e) interest in and to that Product Identity.
"Product Identity" means product and product line names,
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ments, dialogue, incidents, language, artwork, symbols, de‐ are distributing are Open Game Content.
signs, depictions, likenesses, formats, poses, concepts,
themes and graphic, photographic and other visual or au‐ 9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents
dio representations; names and descriptions of characters, may publish updated versions of this License. You may use
spells, enchantments, personalities, teams, personas, like‐ any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and
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creatures, equipment, magical or supernatural abilities or under any version of this License.
effects, logos, symbols, or graphic designs; and any other
trademark or registered trademark clearly identified as 10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this Li‐
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which specifically excludes the Open Game Content; (f) tribute.
"Trademark" means the logos, names, mark, sign, motto,
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Game Content. (h) "You" Not for resale. Permission granted 12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply
to print or photocopy this document for personal use only. with any of the terms of this License with respect to some
System Reference Document 5.1 2 or "Your" means the li‐ or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial or‐
censee in terms of this agreement. der, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any
Open Game Material so affected.
2. The License: This License applies to any Open Game Con‐
tent that contains a notice indicating that the Open Game
13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if
Content may only be Used under and in terms of this Li‐
You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such
cense. You must affix such a notice to any Open Game Con‐ breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All
tent that you Use. No terms may be added to or subtracted
sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.
from this License except as described by the License itself.
No other terms or conditions may be applied to any Open
14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be
Game Content distributed using this License.
unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the
extent necessary to make it enforceable.
3.Offer and Acceptance: By Using the Open Game Content
You indicate Your acceptance of the terms of this License.
15. COPYRIGHT NOTICE Open Game License v 1.0a Copy‐
right 2000, Wizards of the Coast, LLC.
4. Grant and Consideration: In consideration for agreeing to
use this License, the Contributors grant You a perpetual,
System Reference Document 5.1 Copyright 2016, Wizards of
worldwide, royalty-free, nonexclusive license with the exact
the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris
terms of this License to Use, the Open Game Content.
Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert
J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Town‐
5.Representation of Authority to Contribute: If You are con‐ shend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and
tributing original material as Open Game Content, You rep‐ Dave Arneson.
resent that Your Contributions are Your original creation an‐
d/or You have sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed
END OF LICENSE
by this License.

236
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