I haven't done one of these in ages. These are creative challenges to the community, not so much contests as places to ponder a strange/interesting aspect of fantasy. Hopefully, if I do my job right, they'll require you to think about something in a new way or at the least more than you have. Be as short or as detailed as you'd like: it's all about using your brain and seeing what other people come up with.
This weeks Think Tank focuses on the idea of a Necropolis. What this means is entirely up to you. Obviously, it'˜s a city somehow tied to death, but that'˜s all the term has to mean. In this Think Tank, the questions you should answer are these: (answer as many or as little as you'd like)
1) What is the nature of the necropolis?
2) Who/what inhabits it?
3) Who rules it?
4) What is its history?
5) Why was it created?
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
7) Why would PCs go there?
As always, I'll post my ideas after I see what you've come up with. Happy posting!
1) What is the nature of the necropolis?
It is a ruinous city that sits in the vast, forests of Carbaen Moor. Think a massive ziggurat, wrought from stone wrought of broken bones and mortar of sinew. Ancient funerary pyures burn along it's pinnacle in the evening.
2) Who/what inhabits it?
The Carbaen, a forgotten elven society. Specifically, wicker-masked elves that worship death, insomuch as that they strive to become the Unliving.
3) Who rules it?
The Carbaen, a coldly-neutral bunch of folk. They were outcast from the verdant forests as mankind gutted their ancient forest sanctuaries in the Myrkwood. They're lead by Ard Lassiac, the second priest-king of the Carbaen folk.
4) What is its history?
Necropolis was "found" by the Carbaen tribesmen. Its chieftain Siabra Bhael was led to it by a vision from a long-forgotten god of the First Age. The Necropolis, almost a living being, promised power, it promised vendetta, it promised revenge against mankind for upsetting the natural balance. However, in typical Cthulu mythos, it corrupted the Carbaen elven tribesmen, turning them into a highly insular society bent on summoning the spirits of their dead elven ancestors to understand the mysteries of how they preserved their culture for so long.
5) Why was it created?
The Necropolis wasn't created, as so much as it has always been. The Carbaen believe it to be some sort of ancient ediface that predates their seed from touching the world as they know it. It is almost worshipped as a living entity, as forgotten elementals of blood and sinew dwell deep beneath it.
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
There aren't any intelligent undead, as the Carbaen have yet to understand the secrets of becoming "Hurmasti" (dweller between the worlds -[the undead]). Their society is in its infancy.
7) Why would PCs go there?
Players may be driven there by curiosity, perhaps an Elven relative of one of the PCs has been drawn into a "cult" or even they accidently stumble across it, as they've become lost in the wilderness.
I'm aware of three different types of Necropoli
1) Tombs, tombs, tombs: The first is the classic. Or cliché. Whatever. It's a tomb where the number of "residents" number in the tens of thousands. This is the kinda place Indiana Jones or the animated Jackie Chan has fun in. It's trapped, it's spooky, and full of stuff people though they could keep when they passed away to the other world.
Lute to enter. Loot to leave. Sometimes booby traps are placed to catch boobs.
2) Raccoon City: It was a city, but some jerk played with stuff he wasn't supposed to, or the evil twin of Deus Ex Machina and now everybody is dead. Well, not quite dead, but definitely not alive either.
3) City Painted Black: If you didn't pay attention, you'd think this was a normal town. There's people, pets, children, chickens, guards, gold, miscreants, merchants, wizard, waffles, and even flowers on fences. After the initial monotony becomes, well, monotonous, you'll start to freak out.
All the people saunter about in slow careful movements, all the pets keep to the shadows, the children exchange limbs like Lego pieces, all the chickens are gaseous, the guards have no flesh on their bones, the gold floats from hand to hand, the miscreants are the merchants, the wizards have greasy black hair, and the waffles are precut.
It functions like a normal town, but the place is filled with the undead and grave born. You could even buy a house here, and live like a normal person as in any other town. Just that all of your neighbors are right out of a Tim Burton's movie.
Hmm.
I have 2 necrpopli in my setting.
The one that the players deal with the most is the Corpusmunt, the necroplis of Stenron.
Stenron is ancient. In the dawn of the Age of Legend, it was actually here that the original Douhis of the Celestial PLanars was built, the original temples where the gods walked. While search after search has gone on for the Vale of Silence, where this legendarily took place, no PC has yet realized (I think) that the huge and sprawling city of Stenron sits on this most holiest of places.
The City of Winterloo originally sprung from the Omwo~ (elven) settlements just south of the Vale. After the Accords of Presence, and the leavetaking of the Planars, the settlement that served those places grew, bth in response to a loss of imagined security, and by habit. Windatu was what it was called then, and it grew rapidly in it's first 500 years, and by that time no one even remembered why the city had grown here, and they even grew over the original temple complexes. Many outer towns also formed a few hours or days outside this city.
The dead of the area started to be buried on a huge tree spotted hill, about 6 miles north of the city. By now, trading had become steady, and the citys name had become Winterloo. This settlement grew, and grew on top of itself and outward, and the Street of the Gods (part of which is still laid over the original Vale of Silence) sent missionaries to build shrined near where there worshippers were being buried, so a whole settlement of churches and temples has been built around and in this hill graveyard are.
Centuries pass for this old city, and some of the settlements outside it are swallowed as it grows, and become neighborhoods and wards. Outer estates of the rich built an hours ride outside the sity become a short ride, then a walk, and are then engulfed by it's growth. By the end of the Age of Heroes, the southern half of the 36 square miles of the corpusmunt is covered around the city.
Flashing forward another 800 years, to -130 before the Common Age, Winterloo becomes the capital of the City Stae of Winter. Winterloo is a sprawing city of over 400 square miles, and what was once a seperate necroplis is toally engulfed by the northern part of the city. The 2 parklands near it asd some of the major buildings near the outskirts are drawn into it's territiry. Some of the family tombs and temple burial areas are already 3+ millenia old, and some of the4se are buried, some crumbled, some re-used. people clear an area, start digging and hit old ruins, ancient brick paths, or statues in the ancient, stiff Omwo~ style. Whole buildings are sometimes uncovered...and looted, or covered by new ones.
Back in 223 in the Commmon Age, the Collegium Tortoris, on the edge of the Corpusmunt, was a building that was still active but was within the necroplois boundaries, and when it was shuy up and the League of the Dead sent to guard it, it became a building that all thought was a tomb.
By today, 895 in the Common age, the necroplis is a spooky, wierd place, with ancient temples and old orders protecting secrets they have forgotten. Catacombs line the corpusmunt, and the wrought iron chain link fence arounf the whole 56 square miles of the place is guarded by patrols frok the temples within the Necrpolis of Stenron. Every day, the old families still have burial shere, and the religsous orders send thier dregs and outcasts, angry and afraid, to their outposts in this land of the dead.
1) What is the nature of the necropolis? Who/what inhabits it?
The Necropolis is an undead metropolis where creepy undead people lead creepy undead lives. For some reason, when ever I hear that term, I see Undead People walking around is Aztec-esque Headdresses. At any rate, the Necropolis' inhabitants are mostly medium-sized undead but many of the city's guards and police force are undead Ogres and Trolls, or other such big guys. All in all, I'd say the city is very much more likely to be cosmopolitan in their racial make up than the average living city.
3) Who rules it?
The Ruler of the Necropolis is typically a single or group of ultra powerful Liches. I'd say there would be a fair number of Necropolis' ruled by Draco-Liches and Powerful Necromancers, though I have no doubt there might be the odd Necropolis ruled by a warrior 9who probably took command by slaying the former ruler).
4) What is its history?
The Necropolis used to be a large city in the years of yore. Now the city lies in ruins and shrouded in darkness, typically in old forests or underground or near volcanoes. The city was re-founded by the Liches, who now use it as a home base on their way to destroying the world (or other more insidious goals).
5) Why was it created?
As stated, to be a base for the leaders. Also, it helps to organize the various undead in the land into a central location where they can gather in safety, away from Pelor-ites and their ilk.
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
Well if it's underground or in an old forest, not much contact. If it's in a more populous area, then it would typically be the main obstacle to world/regional peace and would never have any allies except those of convenience.
7) Why would PCs go there?
To find an old undead guy who has information, like Odysseus did, to slay the Lich-King or other people of importance. Perhaps they venture to the city to acquire an ancient artifact long thought to be lost. Perhaps your PCs are more hack-and-slash oriented and just want to level up and they're like 'hey, lets go grind against hordes of undead!' :P
The Onix Age of Mirafar
1) What is the nature of the necropolis?
Type 3: Creepy, undead metropolis. It's a would be "noraml" city save for the fact that the place is run by Vampires and Liches, and guarded by many easily controlled undead creatures such as zombies, skeletons, ghouls and sword wraiths.
2) Who/what inhabits it?
A motley assortment of humans and elves, though goblins are kept around as grunt labour, and two tribes of orcs supplement the undead army.
3) Who rules it?
Primarily the Lich King Mirafar, the nosferatu bard whom founded the city, but he delegates task to three councils to free up some of his time for personal endeavors.
The Vampire Counts regulate the flow of wealth and art thru the kingdom. The Counts also police the living population, and make sure the guilds are performing their duties free of corruption.
The Guild Masters regulate the forces of labour and the flow of necessary trade goods thru out the kingdom, including goods. They also have control over the supply of magical reagents and arcane literacy to make sure no magical entity can become as powerful as Mirafar himself and threaten the kingdom.
The Lich Lords regulate most of the undead in the city, as well as produce the magical devices that automate some of the more dangerous productions a ever expanding empire needs.
The three councils of Mirafar are often in constant arguments and feuds, often require the Lich King's attention to settle. Often in bloody and flashy spellcastings.
4) What is its history?
5) Why was it created?
The Lich King was sick and tired of being chased out of a city every time some upstart paladins discovered his true nature. So he made some allies, walked into a city and took over. Ever since, Mirafar has been a haven for Vampire and practitioners of Death Magic. It's also been a nearly unbeatable military force on the prime material, and thankfully largely keeping to itself.
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
Countries don't exist n this D&D setting. It's the Iron Age, with Fireball.
Mirafar gets along well with some of the more eccentric Kingdoms, though their lifespan is often much shorter than one of the Lich King's moods. Some of the kingdoms that were on Mirafar's ally list even had their former rulers mummified to act as body guards for the successors.
Kindoms that openly traded with Mirafar were often attacked by disgruntled factions that saw the undead city as a blight on the face of the world, though those same kingdoms were also loaned part of Mirafar's army for protection, making dissident factions short lived.
7) Why would PCs go there?
In addition to the same reason anyone would go to a city (Politics!) the PCs are also given the option of invading Mirafar to try and "purge" the evil undead presence and "free" the populace. Quite frankly, The Lich King himself is not an evil overlord, despite his Evil alignment, and is perfectly content on having a thriving living populace to supply him with a fresh harem of willing blood pets every twenty years or so.
The common peasant is just as content as a peasant in any other city, despite the fact there's a couple of holes in his neck, and that grandpa is now shambling about the city streets with some of his buddies keeping the peace.
In terms of Wonders, the closest thing would be Xatak'om, which is the ancestral burial place of the Duer.
1) What is the nature of the necropolis?
Xatak'om is sacred ground from a Duer point of view - it is frequently covered by mist from geysers and is centred by a deep shaft into the ground which, at its bottom, is essentially the largest geyser of them all. Although at the top there is a small village which houses guards, priests, the occasional visitor and the ever-present wardens, the majority of it is the silent, underground maze of tunnels that spiderwebs out under the island, full of mummified corpses and scent-burners kept alight by those who tend to the necropolis.
2) Who/what inhabits it?
A small village of inhabitants - all Duer - is constructed atop the island. However, beneath are corpses in their thousands, and at least some of these corpses are probably undead. The wardens - who know the necropolis inside-out, and are responsible for everything from mummifying bodies to carving out new tunnels - know how to deal with the undead, and it is thus unwise to go down into the catacombs without a guide.
3) Who rules it?
It is owned by one of the more powerful Duer houses, but is effectively self-contained.
4) What is its history?
Because of its mystical nature, the powerful blasts of water that sometimes explode from beneath the ground, and the fact that it is frequently totally covered in mist, the island was immediately declared sacred by the first Duer to colonise that area of the Tandhus Archipelago. The first diggings began after wealthy Duer began having their bodies placed in caves around the island, a short time before the first Order of the Watchers was founded (a section of the priesthood here), and spread rapidly. It was conquered several times during the Housewar, but rare was the Seat who was brave enough to deny burial rights to his enemies for fear of Ancestral intervention, and it was thus more of a morale thing than anything else. Now it is 'neutral ground'.
5) Why was it created?
It was dug out, as before, to house Duer dead after burying them at this sacred site became common practice.
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
Whilst there are many (at least, for Wonders) intelligent undead, most of them keep themselves to themselves and only occasionally speak to relatives. Some are inside their bodies, some merely remain close by in the spirit form. However, due to the nature of the bond that creates these undead, some are desperate to end their half-lives, and some are driven mad by the strain of having to put up with the ever-constant geas that keeps them existing. These mad ones are tended to by the wardens, their needs seen to, and so on and so forth. This is how Duer treat the undead, as they would an eccentric or mad relative - with respect and care.
7) Why would PCs go there?
Hmm, a tricky one, as Xatak'om is reserved for the Duer alone. It could be that an all-Duer party is going to a funeral procession, going to ask a revenant ancestor for aid or view the mummified corpse of a particularly famous relative, and something goes wrong. For only partially-Duer parties, it would be much more difficult.
Ehebura
What is the nature of the necropolis?Ehebura is an old district of Humlabura, capital of the Ceramic Kingdom. It sprawls west toward the jagged reefs of Cjubui, and north toward the Terracotta Mountain. It is scarred with glass-rimmed pits that sigh forth black effusions of smoke thicker than the city's own sable towers. Red clouds give the sky the appearance of a festering wound, and cry caustic rain that eats away the district's stone facade, steadily reducing it to ruin.
Who/what inhabits it?Predominantly the Uhut, an amalgam of several ethnic minorities that inhabited the district before its desecration, as well as certain criminals and other undesirables.
Who rules it?Ostemadu, former High Adjuticant of Humlabura. He was relegated to the position of Overseer in Ehebura when Queen Ashu succeeded Annuk the Fourth in 2330. In his time as Overseer, he has transformed the district '" which is pathologically ignored by the greater city '" into a bed of illicit trade and profiteering. It was also by his campaigning that the district became a destination for certain petty criminals and dissidents, all of which merely contributed to the invisible workforce that even now toils under his opportunistic administration.
What is its history?When the Ceramic Kingdom seceded from the Allied Archipelago Territories, at last declaring its opposition to Aghatt Ur's crusade, the Praetors of Aghatt retaliated by bombarding the capital city from the Cjubutas Sea. Though other districts suffered damage, Ehebura was by far the worst struck, such that it was deemed virtually uninhabitable. At the time, Ehebura was mostly inhabited by the Uhut, a group largely persecuted under the reign of the Annuk dynasty, as well as a few other souls too poor to reside in other districts. In the aftermath, the Queen declared it a no-man's land; no one present at the time of the Scouring, nor their descendants unto the end of time, would ever be permitted to leave.
Why was it created?Technically, it wasn't created so much as wrought through destruction. Its existence is a direct consequence of the retaliatory measures taken by Aghatt Ur during the Great War. Today, it is little more than a monstrous oubliette, where entire peoples may be consigned to fall in time from the face of history.
If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?It doesn't have undead. Rather, there are the
otjuramu, the obsidian-skinned men born from the district's wounds. They wander blind through the streets at night, hungrily seeking the breath of the living, who guard their doors with gruesome charms and perfumes. There are also the avian
miasmid, born in the acid skies above, whose dreary cries breed disease, madness and treachery. In terms of general interaction, there really isn't all that much. People tend to pretend it isn't there, even as its viridian skies creep ever closer to the clean city beyond its walls.
Why would PCs go there?The Ceramic Kingdom is, at least in the West, the gateway to the Sundered Isles and the mysteries they hold. Many treasures from the Isles find their way into Ehebura, where the government is, by law, forbidden to exercise its powers. No crime committed within Ehebura is considered a crime without (which is why some of the more degenerate nobles go there to wreak havoc on the locals), and it is an easy place to escape the debtors, the gangsters or the gallows. However, the walls of Ehebura are diligently patrolled, and one must pay well to pass freely to and from.
The Ruins of Mirafar
1) What is the nature of the necropolis?
Type 2: Has-been city turned ghetto by planar invaders almost a hundred years ago that got worse. What once was bustling metropolis is now an unmappable expanse of enclosed spaces, piles of rubble and wandering undead that continuously hunger for living flesh.
2) Who/what inhabits it?
The invaders converted the city into a form of prison for PoWs after they took over, but the remnant necromantic powers of the Liche's Guild got loose and wrecked the whole system. Now Mirafar is a post apocalyptic nightmare scape in a box. small groups of humanoids cling to life in tiny pockets of hallowed ground.
3) Who rules it?
Anarchy. Some Vampire Counts have tried to reinstate order, but the sheer mass of mindless and psychotic undead makes any form of rule impossible.
4) What is its history?
As Mirafar was the greatest city on the prime at the time, the planar invaders dispatched an insurmountable force and rattle decimated all of Mirafar's armies. The Lich King sealed himself deep within the underworld as the final battle drew to a close, and the city was taken.
Still being a very easily defensible area, the invaders converted the city into a staging area for further invasion across the Prime Material.
But after the primary planar force left the city, remnants of the Liche'd Guild unleashed a torrent of foul magic in an attempt to retake the city. It failed miserably, though the planar invaders where transformed into undead by the event.
6) If it's full of intelligent undead, how does it interact with other countries?
Countries don't exist in this D&D setting. It's the Iron Age, with Fireball.
The undead are effectively trapped within the walls, but the constant supply of prisoners and fallen planar army keeps their numbers high and a threat to the outside world, should they get loose.
7) Why would PCs go there?
Treasure! Adventure! Rescueables! Busty Vampire Countesses!
The premise of my Reclamation game was that the PCs where the only plausible heirs to the city, and could have it if they could take it back for themselves.
MONSTER MASH FEST!!!
Some of these are so typical of their settings...very interesting.
Moniker: I love the wicker masked elves worshipping death. That's typical of you in a way, a single vivid image to have me go "Hm...let's hear more about that."
Fascist Almond: I love the description you have at the start--it says right there and then "something is wrong here".
the taken: ...busty vampire countesses? You have those in your setting? And interesting the idea of it being simply a city ruled by undead with living commoners and the like.
Elemental Elf: I like the Aztec motiff. It's very Aztec in fact your idea, where the dead simply have a somewhat perverse version of living society.
Wensleydale: Typically Duer--weird and alien. Strangers coming there would be freaked out. I've never liked the idea that tomb cities are just slightly old and creepy but that you'd readily overcome this for TREASURE!!! Instead here you'd be thinking, "what am I dabbling with...and why does the very environment seem hostile?"
Vreeg: Yours is typical as well, of the sense of the layers of history that affect life in Celtricia. You aren't content to have just one past era but several, which makes sense when you think of it.
MINE.
The Necropolis represents the wrath of the lich Kalikazan, who is finally unleashing his undead upon the world of the living. He has seized control of the city of Tallyth and by creating the Gate of Bone is using it as the hub of a land of the dead.
Few living remain there; those that do are either allies (pawns) or slaves that are needed as they are, either as a source of food of some kind or as servants posessing skills or knowledge they might lose in undeath. The rest are a gathering horde of zombies, ghouls, ghasts, wights and other creatures.
The Lich Kalikazan rules it aided by a cadre of vampires and death knights.
The history of the place is recent. The lich chose Tallyth because it is in a central but easily controlled location, using magic and treachery to gain control of it. Once the gate was made a powerful compulsion spell drove its people through the gate to emerge as shambling undead. The only people able to resist either fled, hid or are prisoners.
Kalikazan has already formented disorder in the general realm Tallyth is in, and has allies in the demon worshipping land of Harlaw and decadent Yasg, who will be unaware of his true plans until it is too late. The republic of New Edom and the Kingdom of Svartaheim, which are nearby Tallyth, will be assaulted by armies of the walking dead. As the uhallowing of the Bone Gate spreads they will find that there is no more room in Hell.