The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: PolycarpI am keeping the fluff of CJ totally separate from the Pathfinder crunch.

In your write-ups, maybe you are, but by assigning crunch to the game, in the actual gameplay (which will be the main way most players experience the setting) you are making assertions that have mechanical ramifications. For example, you have created four very interesting races, but by assigning them a lot of racial traits, you are making the choice of which race to play a mechanical one as well as a theme-oriented one. Players who want to create an optimized character are thus going to find their choice of races curtailed, and, given their uniqueness, to me that is a shame. I'm not saying "make everyone the same," of course, but right now you're pretty much ruling out Gheen Fighters or Iskite Sorcerers-- or whatever you end up calling the classes-- and to me that feels like a net loss.

sparkletwist's point has some validity, but it's a problem that always afflicts d20 games with races.  I would maintain, however, that some of the above statements aren't quite true.  For example, sparkle, you say that no one would make a Gheen Fighter, presumably due to their strength penalty.  I disagree - no one is going to make a Gheen front-line melee tank Fighter, but that's partly because Gheen, as a species, are really ill-suited to that role.  What you could make, though, is a dextrous, nimble Fighter with weapon finesse or a focus on ranged weapons - a Fighter who devotes their bonus feats to Precise Shot and Point Blank shot instead of Cleave and Power Attack, who emphasizes having a high AC and a high ranged to-hit over high damage or hp.  Such Fighters might well mix in some Rogue or Ranger levels.  My point is that saying no one will make a Gheen Fighter misses the flexibility of the Fighter class, which while perhaps archetypally a burly front-line warrior in heavy armour isn't necessarily so.

EDIT: the Iskites-can't-be-sorcerers thing has more validity but there's an incredibly easy fix - just give Iskites the ability to cast from Wisdom instead of Charisma.  Problem solved.  Call it "Iskite Priesthood" or something.  This could also be a feat.

Quote from: Superfluous CrowI'm assuming you want to do a Channeler class. That said, incorporating the First Discipline into a feat would make sense in regard to otherwise non-channeling adventurers taking it. Since there is some overlap, I would probably make Endurance a prerequisite.

Actually, I'd been originally trying to avoid a Channeler class, but I may end up doing it anyway.  I'd like channeling to be something that every character might consider taking, even if they're primarily a combat or socially-focused character, but making First Discipline available to all classes while restricting proper discipline-based channeling to one or more classes might be a more straightforward way to accomplish that.  I  agree with regards to Endurance; as Llum mentioned, Endurance is currently a bonus feat for Tahr characters, but those racial statistics are drawn straight from Lost Scribe's work with minimal alteration on my part and I have no qualms about rearranging them as needed.

QuoteThe first level in Channeler should thus give the player Endurance and First Discipline as feats. I don't think either of these are going to be so powerful that a player would wish to take that level just to get those, but that depends a lot on the balancing. I also think that a player should choose his Path at level 1. These should probably be designed like wizard schools, sorcerer bloodlines, or cleric domains in that the Channeler should get some minor additional benefits from them. Especially considering that all paths but the final one limit the Channeler discipline-wise.

This is making be think that I should increase the "tiers" of understanding the breath from two to three.  As it stands, there are two ways that characters understand and use the Breath - A) Unconsciously, and B) Consciously.  Most characters understand that the Breath exists but "use" it only subconsciously, when they exert themselves to accomplish great feats.  When a character spends a breath point to give themselves a bonus on a roll, for instance - something that any character (and every NPC and almost every monster) can do - this is not a conscious act on the character's part.  A Channeler is distinguished in that he perceives the Breath consciously, and thus can use it in more advanced and complex ways; he does this by understanding the Breath via a particular Path.

The problem this creates is that you can't channel without a Path; even First Discipline forms are consciously used and thus require a Path.  As it stands, I can't both make Paths channeler-only while letting other characters use First Discipline forms.

I could, however, expand the levels of awareness of the Breath to three, in that there could be a level of semi-conscious understanding in between "everyday" unconscious Breath use and proper Channeling, in which a character had a rudimentary understanding of the Breath that allowed the use of First Discipline forms but did not require a formal Path, thus limiting Paths to the true channeling classes.  It's worth a thought, at least.

QuoteThis system is probably ill-suited for a plethora of spells, so I'd make something more akin to the Warlock with a few limited powers that can be used often. Maybe add a pool mechanic.

I'm going to have to look into the warlock, then, because I don't know anything about it.  My understanding is that it hasn't been "formally" converted for Pathfinder.

QuoteIs Breath a finite resource or can the Channeler keep performing his supernatural feats forever?

For lower-level forms that require no upfront cost of Breath, it is effectively infinite as long as you don't mind occasionally failing, because you can always choose to not spend a breath point if you fail the Channeling check to initiate it and try again next round or whatever.  If you are in a critical or combat situation, this may not be a good idea, forcing you to expend breath points when you fail as to not waste time sputtering about doing nothing for precious rounds.  Higher-level forms with high DCs or that require up-front spending of breath points are finite over the course of a day, because you will eventually run out of breath points to spend.

If you mean over a long-term period, they are infinite, in the same way that a Sorcerer's magic is infinite over the course of his lifetime.

Quote from: SparkletwistIn your write-ups, maybe you are, but by assigning crunch to the game, in the actual gameplay (which will be the main way most players experience the setting) you are making assertions that have mechanical ramifications. For example, you have created four very interesting races, but by assigning them a lot of racial traits, you are making the choice of which race to play a mechanical one as well as a theme-oriented one. Players who want to create an optimized character are thus going to find their choice of races curtailed, and, given their uniqueness, to me that is a shame. I'm not saying "make everyone the same," of course, but right now you're pretty much ruling out Gheen Fighters or Iskite Sorcerers-- or whatever you end up calling the classes-- and to me that feels like a net loss.

Well, that's certainly a valid concern, but I'm not sure how I would go about addressing it.  The four races are different and will inevitably have different strengths and weaknesses when expressed in a gaming system, and players who are in a mood to do so will inevitably find a way to maximize one strategy or another.  I care about balance and not making obvious sub-optimal character choices, but even the fluff supports the conclusion that a Tahr warrior will probably crush a Gheen warrior on an otherwise equal playing field.  The crunch may support that, but I don't think that's an innovation of the crunch.

Additionally, I don't think I feel quite as strongly as you that these races are "ruled out" quite yet.  While Gheen suffer from their smaller size and lower strength, there are positive combat attributes from small size, and their dexterity and mobility on the battlefield would seem to make them very competitive as either ranged combatants or skirmishers.  Likewise, while Iskites suffer a penalty to Charisma (which is the primary attribute of Channeling), they can make up for this by choosing a Channeling path that adds their Con or Int bonus to Channeling checks, since they receive bonuses to these attributes.  The Path feats need an overhaul right now, but my intention is that every channeler will have the potential to be on an equal footing with another channeler regardless of race via the selection of an appropriate Path feat.

You note specifically that having "a lot" of racial traits is a problematic choice.  I think that Lost Scribe took the approach of giving a crunch parallel to every attribute of the races that I described in fluff, and (to my observation, at least) had little concern as to the balance between them or the min-maxing potential created by it.  Do you think that reducing the amount of traits to an "essential few" would help avoid the pitfalls that you've raised as concerns?

Quote from: PolycarpYou note specifically that having "a lot" of racial traits is a problematic choice.  I think that Lost Scribe took the approach of giving a crunch parallel to every attribute of the races that I described in fluff, and (to my observation, at least) had little concern as to the balance between them or the min-maxing potential created by it.  Do you think that reducing the amount of traits to an "essential few" would help avoid the pitfalls that you've raised as concerns?

I'll just reiterate the suggestion I made on IRC, so that it's preserved for posterity. :)

What might actually be the most expedient approach for you is to figure out how your mechanics, particular rather complicated mechanics custom to your game like Channeling, are going to work in Pathfinder, and do so assuming just a "generic bonusless human" as an archetype. Then, maybe think about classes and feats. Finally, once you've got a much firmer grasp on how your game's mechanics work and how they've changed from base PF, to assign racial bonuses and abilities that complement the kinds of things that players would probably do with their characters using all those other rules you've created.

Let me say that I'm damn proficient at Pathfinder. They even let me write a bit o' it. ;)
I suggest you use the words of power variant system, but rather than accessing it through a class you devise a feat matrix (comparable perhaps to 3.5 ToB Iniator feats) that allows any character with the right prerequisite take the right channeling/WoP.

Nomadic and I were discussing the matter last week and I think we came to the conclusion that a feat-based system, rather than a skill-based one, was probably the way to go.  I wasn't aware of the words of power variant, though, so thank you for pointing me in that direction - I'll definitely check it out.

I've been vacillating on the issue continuously, but right now I'm leaning towards not having "spellcaster" classes per se, but perhaps having a few classes that give characters a head start on prerequisites towards channeling without forcing them to do that to make the class effective.  That seems well-suited for a feat-based system, but we'll see how it goes.

It's been a while - grad school really takes it out of me - but I intend to push forward with CJ this year.  I'm in the process of going through and editing some already-written stuff to get it ready to add to the thread and wiki, and it occurred to me that I never posted the last entry in my culture series, the Umbril.


Cultures are listed in physical order, starting with the largest purple blob and moving clockwise.

Uncolored areas aren't necessarily Umbril-free, but they are definitely not a significant race in such areas, and any colonies found there are likely to be highly isolated and possessing of very unique cultures and traditions that reflect that distance from a greater community identity.

Wash Nevir
Territory: The Wash, the Skyshield, unclock Whitefen
Language: Zivenid
Religion: Ivetzivenism, various local and alien cults

The Wash Nevir are the largest component of the "Great Web," the arc of Nevir-Umbril settlement that once spanned continuously from Gearfall to the Grand Mangal.  The Wash Nevir themselves believe their people and all Nevir (indeed, all Umbril) originated in the Wash, but "Wash Nevir" presently refers to all the Nevir colonies between Feathervale and the Chokereed.

The Wash Nevir, being the most numerous and widespread of their race, are the Umbril considered by most aliens to be "standard" or "normal."  The 'default' Umbril culture described in the article on Umbril is the Wash Nevir culture, and their society and habits are explained in more detail there.

There has been a steady differentiation ongoing between the Nevir of the Wash proper, who closely associate themselves with the Ussik, and the more recently settled colonies of the Skyshield that are more interested in the politics of the Black Circle and the Shield Gheen than the threat of the distant World-Queen or the provincial concerns of White Lotus and its Greenwash dependencies.

White Nevir
Territory: The Red Depths
Language: Zivenid
Religion: Ivetzivenism

The White Nevir (alternately "silver," "pale") are relatives of the Wash Nevir who migrated out of the Great Basin into the Red Depths and Gearfall.  "White" is a reference to an ancient Umbril system of assigning colors to cardinal directions, in which white was the color corresponding to outwise.  Like the Ardaun Tahro, they were largely driven out of Gearfall during the Szelsh invasion and have recently faced pressure in the opposite direction from the expansion of the Yrtan Empire.

The White Nevir have a long history of interdependence with the Red Gheen, which has resulted in the practice of "fareethi" in which an Umbril colony enters a client-patron relationship with a prominent Gheen family for protection and mutual benefit.  This kind of relationship is discouraged in Yrtan territory but continues elsewhere in the Depths.  In contrast, the White Nevir are often competitors with the Ardaun Tahro for territory, trade, and resources.

The Nevir of the Depths speak Zivenid like their Wash cousins, though their regional dialect is often difficult for Wash Nevir to penetrate (and vice versa).

Darkling Nevir
Territory: Outwise Maw, clockwise Whitefen
Language: Various Zivenid-related languages and isolates
Religion: Ivetzivenism, Cult of the Calligrapher, The Lost Sight

The Darkling Nevir represent the farthest extent of the Great Web, the fringe of the wider Nevir race that migrated into the misty vales of the Maw in Antiquity.  Their name comes from the fact that some of their colonies, particularly those in Whitefen, are located entirely in karst cave systems below the earth.

The Darkling Nevir live in an easy to transit part of the Maw – relatively speaking – and are in closer contact with one another than the communities of other races native to the region.  Though unity does not always follow from this, their colonies have increasingly become consolidated under cluster-wide regimes to resist Iskite and Ajen expansion.  The Darkling Nevir also control the paths between the Maw and the Red Depths, the easiest part of the Maw's border to traverse.

The Nevir of the Maw tend to be extremely mistrustful of outsiders – even for Umbril – and dealing with them is extremely difficult for anyone without previous contacts in their society.  They presume Iskites, Gheen, and Ajen-Umbril to be their enemies, are highly suspicious of fellow Nevir, and are only slightly less suspicious of the Tahro, whom they have occasionally allied with against the Maw Iskites.

Many Darkling colonies speak languages that are related to Zivenid, but not closely enough to be mutually intelligible.  Explorers have reported that some colonies in more isolated areas have languages apparently unrelated to Zivenid in any respects.  Their religious practices are eclectic, typically including cults to local powers like the Graven Calligrapher alongside bits and pieces of traditional Ivetzivenid ritual.  Many colonies in Whitefen practice a religion known as the Lost Sight, whose rituals are extremely secretive but are suspected by some to have some connection with the Golhai that dwell in the deeper caves of the region.  It is known that some colonies engage in Cog-worship, which Szelsh scholars have hypothesized is related to the practices of the Cult of the Great Machine, an apocalyptic cult active in Gearfall in Antiquity.  Evidence for a direct relationship, however, is thin.

Golden Ajen
Territory: Greater Cogsteeth, settlements of the Black Circle
Language: Golden Speech, Trade Cant
Religion: Ivetzivenism, various Black Circle cults

The Golden Ajen make up the bulk of the Ajen subrace.  They are the native inhabitants of the inner valleys of the Greater Cogsteeth and hold virtually complete dominion over these mountains.  Though individual Ajen have traveled far and wide as merchants and explorers, their colonies have never spread far beyond the mountain valleys.  In the modern era, Ajen communities can be found in nearly every city on the Black Circle, particularly the City of Orpiment (which was founded by the Ajen and built by their slaves).

The Golden Ajen are, in theory, all united under the rule of the Ul-Ivet, styled "Prince of the Ajen."  The apparatus of state is known as the Golden Principality, but the Principality bears little resemblance to what we would recognize as a state – it maintains no army or police force, collects no taxes, and passes no laws.  The Ul-Ivet functions primarily as a mediator between the "septs," large alliances of various metils, using negotiation, subterfuge, bribery, and prestige to maintain a semblance of harmony between the colonies and metils of the Cogsteeth.

The Golden Ajen are differentiated from other cultures in a variety of ways.  The Ajen of the mountains tend to be more respectful of the soldiers' vocation than the Nevir or Evne, in part because of a very warlike past.  The metil is of singular importance to them, and nearly every Ajen is a member of a metil, which in turn is usually tied to a traditional sept.  In the modern era, the Umbril concept of ambition has become more and more economically-oriented among the Golden Ajen, and the Golden Principality has been steadily transforming into a mercantile state since the end of the Cities' War.

Though the Ajen are believed by other races to be especially open and abiding of aliens compared to other Umbril, this is only true of those individuals who live closest to the Black Circle.  Most Golden Ajen colonies, perched up in the mountains, have very little contact with aliens.

The language of the Golden Ajen is called, appropriately enough, the Golden Speech.  The Trade Cant, which may as well be the "official" trading language of the Circle, is based primarily on the Golden Speech but with considerable borrowings from Well-Tahr, the Luminous Tongue, and the slang of Circle flyers.

It should be noted that "Golden Ajen" is a term used almost exclusively by scholars – until the recent discovery of the Maw Ajen, the so-called Golden Ajen were thought to be the only "kind" of their race and were referred to simply as "Ajen."

Maw Ajen
Territory: Outwise slopes of the Greater Cogsteeth, inwise Maw
Language: Vale Speech
Religion: Various

Until recently, it was believed that the "Golden Ajen" was the only culture of Ajen that existed.  It was only in the last century that Szen-Sel the Whistler, an Iskite explorer, discovered a pass through the mountains and made contact with an Ajen colony in the Twistwood that had no knowledge of any such thing as the Golden Principality.

It is unknown precisely when the Golden and Maw Ajen diverged, but it certainly happened before the Age of Prophets.  The Maw Ajen speak a variety of languages, many of which are recognizably related to the Golden Speech, but some are also clearly influenced by Zivenid.  The language family is collectively called "Vale Speech," though many of these languages are not mutually intelligible.  As with the other peoples of the Maw, the Maw Ajen have few universal customs owing to the isolated nature of each of the Maw valleys.  Many Maw Ajen communities, however, exhibit some level of nomadism, and may maintain seasonal camps in the Tahr fashion.  As the Umbril have no need to worry about exhausting the food supply of a region as the Tahro do, the purpose of their migrations is presumed to be cultural or defensive in nature.

Though some Maw Ajen colonies have retained the worship of Ivetziven and its facets in a recognizable form, most have developed religious traditions that borrow from alien tradition or have apparently developed entirely original spiritual beliefs and practices.

Isle Evne
Territory: The Sea of Indigo/Netai, outwise Chalklands
Language: Indigo Speech
Religion: Netai Ivetzivenism, Cult of the Mentor

The Isle Evne, also called "Netai Umbril," are the larger of the two extant branches of the Evne Umbril.  The Evne originally resided on the outwise shores of the Sea of Netai and within Old Chalicewood, but were forced to flee their homeland by the Orange Horde and the expansion of the Mosswaste.  The Isle Evne took to the waters and settled the islands of the Netai, and within the last hundred years have spread to the inwise shore and the borderland between the Chalklands and the Chromatic Plain.

In the modern era, the Evne were largely united under the rule of the Oranid Princes of the Green until their overthrow and the establishment of the Netai Confederation.  While the Confederation only holds sway over (most of) the Netai isles, aliens often refer to even the Evne of the Chalklands as "Confederation Umbril."

The Isle Evne are generally regarded to be the most outgoing of the Umbril, an outgrowth of their close coexistence with other races over their history.  Their cultural and religious practices are not especially syncretic compared to other Umbril cultures, but they are not immune to alien influences – their concept of the "spiritual descent," absent in other Ivetzivenid rituals, is thought to derive from Tahr belief.  Islander religion differs in substantial ways from the Nevir Ivetzivenid cult, though to outsiders it is notable chiefly for its greater visibility in public life.  Isle Evne priests are generally not social outcasts, and they construct actual temples and ritual edifices that are unheard of among the whole of the Nevir.

The Isle Evne are a highly urbanized people, unique among all other races.  Even the coastal Evne, who lack any true cities, congregate in larger and more built-up colonies.

Delta Evne
Territory: The Mouth of the Great Mire
Language: Indigo Speech
Religion: Netai Ivetzivenism

The Delta Evne are the lesser branch of the Evne Umbril, descended from Evne who migrated into the mouth of the Great Mire instead of into the Netai isles.  While their language and rites are close to those of their islander cousins, they are more traditionally Umbril in their attitude towards foreigners and aliens and the urban life of the Isle Evne is foreign to them.

Unlike the Nevir of the Great Mire, the Evne do not have a particularly close relationship with the Tahro; in fact, they are a rather aggressive people in their region, often raiding Nevir colonies to expand their territory.  In terms of the status of warriors in their society, they are more similar to the Ajen than to their island cousins.  Though they were not part of the rebellion that ended Oranid rule in the isles, they did contribute incidentally by taking advantage of the conflict to plunder Iskite, Tahr, and Nevir settlements along the clockwise Netai coastline whose best warriors were serving the Oranid Prince in the isles as mercenaries.  In recent years some colonies have taken up piracy, slipping out in small craft at night to seize hapless ships near the coast.  It is believed that the Prince of Meja, the last Oranid outpost, has been courting them as allies against the Confederation, but the Delta Evne have yet to organize themselves for any larger undertaking than a razzia against their neighbors.

Mire Nevir
Territory: The Great Mire, unclock Chokereed
Language: Green Speech
Religion: Ivetzivenism, Cult of the Redeemer

The Mire Nevir are an offshoot of the Nevir community that grew apart from the rest of their cousins in distant Antiquity.  It is unclear exactly when their ancestors left the lands of the Great Basin or what route they took to the Great Mire, but the Umbril of the Mire (save the Evne of the Mouth) are unquestionably Nevir in physiology.  Their language, called the "Green Speech" in contrast to the "Indigo Speech" of the Evne, bears no obvious resemblance to Zivenid but also shares virtually nothing with the language of Netai.  Like the Black Gheen of the Circle, they are something of an anomaly.

Unlike the Black Gheen, however, the Mire Nevir are widespread and populous, with colony clusters throughout the Great Mire and the lower Chokereed, the most habitable part of that great untamed river system.  Though they greatly outnumber the Tahro who share their lands, they enjoy a fairly good relationship save in matters of religion – the Nevir despise the Elder Wyrm Imauwr, an important deity among the Mudfoot Tahro, and in turn the Tahro have nothing but disdain for those Mire Nevir who consider the Prophetslayer and "Redeemer" Enti-Ven Famar to be the herald of a future paradise.  There may be more followers of the Cult of the Redeemer among the Mire Nevir than those of all other races and cultures put together, perhaps in part because they were visited by the Prophetslayer but never victimized by the Orange Horde itself, which had disintegrated by the time Enti-Ven Famar reached the Great Mire.

The Mire Nevir are unique in that their culture has no concept of the metil, an Umbril "family."  Instead of the usual free-for-all social system of the Umbril, they have a caste-based society in which certain castes have unique privileges and responsibilities.  Ivets are rare among them, with most Mire colonies ruled in theory by an oligarchy of the highest caste.  In practice, as among most Umbril, power may not always lie with those who are formally charged with wielding it.

Vars
Territory: Ninefold Vale, Halberd Spires
Language: Grey Speech
Religion: "Fire worship" and wyrm cults

The Vars ("Talus") Umbril are an isolated subspecies of Umbril residing in the steep valleys of the Ninefold Vale and the cloud forests of the Halberd Spires.  They are physiologically and linguistically differentiated from the Nevir, and until the Nevir expansion into the Skyshield they had virtually no contact with other Umbril communities.  Their own dialects are all related to one another and referred to collectively as the "Grey Speech."

Knowledge about the culture and customs of the Vars is very limited.  Only one Vars attempt at colonization outside their "native" range is known – a Vars group founded the colony of Ithels on the Black Circle in late Antiquity, on the site of what is now Koldon's Well.  The colony appears to be unique in Vars history.  The Vars were brought to popular attention in the modern era by the writings of the Gheen explorer Taku Yim, who was nearly killed in a khauta crash in the Halberd Spires and was subsequently captured (and eventually released) by the Vars.

Vars society is focused around the colony.  There are no metils and very few politically united clusters.  Colonies are generally led by an Ixar, which is popularly believed to be a corruption of Ivet ("prince," literally "foundation") but appears to actually be etymologically unrelated (better translated as "commander" or "dictator," more literally "one who shouts").  The Ixar is typically an elected position, but the electorate is composed only of veterans, those who have fought in the colony's defense.  Taku Yim described the Vars as "militaristic" and believed that the constant wars between Vars colonies were not so aimed less at conquest but were rather a means to allow enterprising young Vars to gain the vote.  Ixars appear to have more actual power than many Ivets, though they are sometimes purely war-leaders who leave "domestic" governance to advisors.

The Vars are unique among Umbril in that they do not appear to have any vestige of the otherwise-ubiquitous Ivetzivenid pantheon represented in their religious practices.  They were described by Taku Yim as "fire-worshippers" and are also known to have cults devoted to wyrms.  Priests of the Vars are generally 'high-status exiles,' itinerant Umbril who belong to no colony but are welcomed and respected in all of them.  Because they are welcome anywhere even in time of war, Vars priests are also commonly diplomats and traders, to the point where the same word is used both for "merchant" and "holy man."

...and then I thought to myself, "what would it look like if I overlaid all these maps on top of each other?"



When I started making cultural area maps, I didn't create them with this in mind, but I'm pleasantly surprised to find that when put together, my culture maps are a good indicator of how I think of populated areas in CJ.  There are, essentially, two main "complexes" of settlement.  One is the broad arc from Gearfall to Netai in which most of the population lives.  The second is the Scalemount-Clawed Thicket-Vinetrough complex, which is isolated by nearly-impassable regions (the Mosswaste, the Moors, and the Mountains).  Immediately the importance of the Sekah stands out, which is that narrow isthmus of settlement between Scalemount and Netai that pushes through the Flowering Moors; this is the path of the Rainbow Road, a trade route that connects the two complexes together.  Another point of connection is through the Vinetrough via the Black Circle, but for geographic reasons that's a somewhat less practical route.  Unfortunately, this map only tells you where there are settlements, not how many there are or who is settled there.

The Mire-Chokereed-Ninefold Vale region, also cut off from the rest of the world but for one point (roughly, the Chalklands/Netai), has the look of a separate complex, but the Mire and the Vale are only "connected" in settlement by the Black Blood, which does no business with anybody - practically speaking, the Vars-Umbril are up there by their lonesome, and the Great Mire is more of a standalone periphery.  Chalicewood is also a "stranded" area, with the Lost Flock of the Chalice Gheen even more isolated from the world than the Vars.

We can take this same information and go a different route:



This is the same map, but with each race colored in at 40% opacity.  The darker an area is, the more races it has living in close proximity to one another - it's a "diversity map."  The Netai shows up as one of the darkest areas, which is intended.  Most interesting may be that light-shaded area around Feathervale that separates the darker-shaded part of the Wash and the Red Depths.  That, starkly illustrated, is the domain of the genocidal World-Queen; those dark zones on either side of it were once fully contiguous.

MORE CLOCKWORK JUNGLE! Woo my life has meaning again :D

I kid of course, but still woo I am happy. Always loved your stuff man.

CJ update?

Actually, I've been posting various pieces of material on the wiki for a few months now, focusing in particular on the Golden Principality and its history.

Notable articles:
*The Interregnum, a decade-long Ajen civil war during the Cities' War
*Thas-Var Fushin Vir-Ivren, also known as Shif Thuar ("It Exhales Death"), the channeler who seized power over the Principality at the end of the Interregnum, and supposedly died on the altar in an attempt to become a telavai (or did it?)
*Whitewalls, Thas-Var's signature deed in which the Hearth of Sagacity was turned into a bloodbath, and from which we get the closest saying the Ajen have to "collateral damage"
*Virishka, the Traitor, who may be unfairly maligned, but definitely did attempt to conquer the Principality with Iskite backing, only to fail spectacularly, flee the Circle, and end its days in Andar.  Though not much more than a decaying lump now, some say it still whispers to those few individuals who wander through the Wilting Garden of Andar...
*Thar Zejal, named after Zejal the Besieger (or Szejal Sun's-Arrow, or Szejal High-Hackles, depending on who you are), a military camp outside the City of Orpiment that has developed into a half-ruined settlement on the Black Circle route, where the drink at the Four Princes gondola serves equally well as airship fuel

I'm not sure where the next content push is going to be - probably either the Vars-Umbril in their mountain hermitage or the expansion of various stubs concerning the Netai.

What's still taking up most of my CJ thought right now, however, is adaptation for play.  I have some general thoughts on that which I will hopefully be posting soon, because there's nothing quite like dumping your entire thought process into your homebrew thread!

Awesome updates! I have always loved this setting, especially its exotic beauty and socio-political complexity (and the most recent updates certainly reinforce the latter).

I look forward to seeing more, and to the prospects of seeing mechanics for gameplay.

I've always had a great fascination for the Clockwork Jungle. It's different enough to be very unique and interesting without coming off as starkly alien and too weird. It also has always given me a Myst sort of vibe with its strange landscapes and lost culture - I look forward to seeing what, if anything, you do to make it playable.

Also, I've been reading the wiki now that I know it's been updated. Early on it's stated that the races of CJ hunt the Cogs for glass and gears and such, but I would wonder how sustainable that is. Is it a recent practice? Do I underestimate the sheer volume of Cogs running through the forest? Or is this something better left to mystery?

Quote from: WeaveIt also has always given me a Myst sort of vibe with its strange landscapes and lost culture

This makes me happy.  I was crazy about Myst, Riven, etc. as a kid and I think it's one of my biggest aesthetic influences.

Quote from: WeaveEarly on it's stated that the races of CJ hunt the Cogs for glass and gears and such, but I would wonder how sustainable that is. Is it a recent practice? Do I underestimate the sheer volume of Cogs running through the forest? Or is this something better left to mystery?

Well, Cog populations actually can be depleted.  The Cog version of the saszih, or "village bird," is specifically mentioned as being (apparently) extinct in the Chalklands due to scrap-hunting.  Cog-hunting is not a recent practice, but there are a few certain or potential reasons why they're not all gone.

• There's a lot of them.  Depending on the species the ratio of organic to Cog animals ranges between about 10:1 to 2:1.
• The civilized races, on the other hand, don't actually have that many individuals – there number of Iskites in the entire known world, for instance, is probably not much more than a million, spread over about two million square miles of territory.  If we assume all the civilized races have the same population (dubious, but let's go with it) that means that even the most liberal estimate places the population density of the Clockwork Jungle at less than half that of Mongolia, the country with the least population density in the world today (barring territories like Greenland).
• Not all cogs are actually useful.  Cogsteel is very nice, but it can't be reforged without losing its unique properties, so pieces of cogsteel that aren't shaped in a way that's useful are no more valuable than scrap iron.  "Cog gold" (actually brass) is more valuable, but it's not present in large quantities (it generally makes up little gears and springs in the inside of cogs rather than limbs or body pieces).  The resources you will get from a Cog songbird probably just aren't enough to bother with, unless you specifically need really tiny machine parts.
• Cog hunting has fallen off at least somewhat in the modern age as ironworking has become more refined and widespread.  The Forest is dangerous, and the better metalworking becomes the more sensible it is for communities to produce their own weapons and tools rather than hunt for Cogs.  Glassmaking is also more widespread than it used to be.
• Recall that the known world doesn't actually have an "edge."  The border of the known world is where it is because after that point lodestone pseudomagnetism fails, and it becomes almost impossible to find your way anywhere.  Cog animals don't really care about getting lost; the "edge" means nothing to them.  For all anyone knows, there could be much larger populations of cogs outside the edge that sustain the predated populations within it.
• The most valuable Cogs are really, really hard to kill.  Cog elephants may be tougher than Cog Soldiers, which is saying something, because Cog Soldiers are one-man armies.  A Cog Assassin Spider will really ruin your day, and the prospect of hunting one is not very attractive.
• More than one scholar has conjectured that the Cogs may have some way of reproducing.  The sunken mural in Teven portrays what appeared to be Cogs making other Cogs, but the "smith cogs" it depicts have never actually been seen before.  Some places like the Heart of the Machine in Gearfall have been proposed as Cog creation sites, but again, there is no evidence for this; the Heart of the Machine is best known for "disappearing" pretty much everyone who goes inside, including the last Prime of the Cult of the Great Machine who supposedly fled there when the Tribe of Isz conquered Gearfall.  (I may do Gearfall and the Heart as the next content update, as most of it is already done).

Quote from: Polycarp
CJ update?

Actually, I've been posting various pieces of material on the wiki for a few months now, focusing in particular on the Golden Principality and its history.

Notable articles:
*The Interregnum, a decade-long Ajen civil war during the Cities' War
*Thas-Var Fushin Vir-Ivren, also known as Shif Thuar ("It Exhales Death"), the channeler who seized power over the Principality at the end of the Interregnum, and supposedly died on the altar in an attempt to become a telavai (or did it?)
*Whitewalls, Thas-Var's signature deed in which the Hearth of Sagacity was turned into a bloodbath, and from which we get the closest saying the Ajen have to "collateral damage"
*Virishka, the Traitor, who may be unfairly maligned, but definitely did attempt to conquer the Principality with Iskite backing, only to fail spectacularly, flee the Circle, and end its days in Andar.  Though not much more than a decaying lump now, some say it still whispers to those few individuals who wander through the Wilting Garden of Andar...
*Thar Zejal, named after Zejal the Besieger (or Szejal Sun's-Arrow, or Szejal High-Hackles, depending on who you are), a military camp outside the City of Orpiment that has developed into a half-ruined settlement on the Black Circle route, where the drink at the Four Princes gondola serves equally well as airship fuel

I'm not sure where the next content push is going to be - probably either the Vars-Umbril in their mountain hermitage or the expansion of various stubs concerning the Netai.

What's still taking up most of my CJ thought right now, however, is adaptation for play.  I have some general thoughts on that which I will hopefully be posting soon, because there's nothing quite like dumping your entire thought process into your homebrew thread!

I was afraid Rome ate it...

[ic]If my stone knows not the way to the Mountain, I may die; but if my soul knows not the way to justice, I have never lived.

- Szelsh Proverb[/ic]

The unclock edge of the Outlands is hard to recognize.  To the ground-walking traveler, there is no obvious border where the high forest of the Red Depths falls into the lower forest lands behind the Lesser Cogsteeth.  The declining height of the forest is gradual and frequently marred by patches of taller trees sprouting up miles ahead of the great mass of their cousins.  The border can only truly be seen from the air, during the day – though mottled and indistinct, one can see the gradient in which the reddish hues of the Fiery Alak that give the Red Depths its name become the more common forest and emerald greens of Gearfall, the unclock end of the great Outlands.

[note=From the Archives]This feature was actually 90% completed months ago, but I never really got around to finishing it up.  I spent a little time cleaning it up this week and thought I might go ahead and post it.  It's not the only document I have like this but it was definitely the one closest to completion.[/note]
The Outlands – also called the "lands behind the veil" – are well known for their great remoteness from the rest of civilization.  Squeezed between the mountains and the edge of the known world, the great crescent is a mystery to most.  The fact that a part of this remote land is also one of the great centers of Iskite culture and civilization is a testament to what is perhaps the most legendary feat of migration of all time.

In distant Antiquity, Gearfall was a very different land, populated primarily by Tahro bloods and a few dozen Umbril clusters that kept in close contact with their kin in the neighboring Depths.  A thousand miles away, however, events were transpiring that would have far-reaching effects upon these early denizens.  The Scalemount had exploded in the first throes of the Great Social Reform, in which the Iskites overthrew – often violently – their old rulers, old cultures, and old philosophies over the course of decades of turmoil.  It was around this time that a reformist named Isz the Pale, named for her ivory-white scales, led a great exodus of her persecuted followers from their ancient homeland, through the Duskwine Gap, and beyond the edge of the known world.

Here, the "Tribe of Isz" passes from the history books of Scalemount.  If any remembered them, it was as a doomed expedition, fools following a foolish leader into oblivion.  Yet from oblivion the host returned, six generations later – not into the Clawed Thicket, where they originally left the known world, but into a new land entirely.  One can only guess at the shock of these Iskites when the lodestones they had been carrying as useless relics of their ancestors sluggishly began to stir, giving them an undeniable sign that they had at last returned from exile.

Equally amazed were the natives they encountered there.  Their stories – those that remain – tell of the coming of a vast host of unfamiliar aliens from beyond world's edge, heralding a time of great uncertainty, strife, and ultimately loss.  To them, the Host of the Pale One brought not civilization, but the spear.  Soon after their arrival, the Tribe of Isz began expanding more and more aggressively into the lands of their new neighbors, leading to near constant warfare between them and the "alien natives."  Gearfall smoldered for generations.  Bloods migrated into the realms of the Gheen, and Umbril colonies uprooted and scattered into the mountains.  In the end, only the apocalyptic Cult of the Great Machine fought to the very last, and its destruction heralded the final victory of Isz's descendants and the establishment of an Iskite hegemony over the entire region.
[note=Name] The origin of the name "Gearfall" is disputed.  It may be the result of a Szelsh mistranslation of a pre-invasion Umbril toponym meaning "valley of machines/Cogs."[/note]
These events were already passing into legend by the time of the Oracle Tree.  They have meaning now only to those few subjugated, hidden, and exiled bloods that still remember.  In the present day, Gearfall is an Iskite land, nearly as Iskite as Scalemount itself.  It is their culture and their will that dominates, and it is from here that this will exerts itself upon neighboring lands, seeking to rebuild a new order from the chaos of the last age on the edge of the world.

The Wandering

In Antiquity, several thousand Iskites traveled far beyond the known world.  Six generations later, they returned.

A person returning from beyond the Great Circle isn't unheard of.  Numerous explorers have made forays beyond it, but these are usually short affairs – without the benefit of lodestones, navigating in the ever-changing Forest is extremely difficult.  Some communities have legends of longer trips; the Red Gheen, for instance, believe that their people originally came from somewhere outside the known world, crossing into the Red Depths in the forgotten past.

The wandering of the Szelsh Iskites, however, stands alone among documented forays beyond the edge of the world.  The number of years they were actually outside the influence of the Grandmother Mountain is not known; according to their own stories, it was "six generations," though a precise length of time is not given.  Traditionally, Szelsh scholars have assigned an estimate of 22 years to a generation, though this figure was chosen more for its geometric neatness than its accuracy.  A trek of 132 years beyond the edge of the world would be a feat truly unparalleled in history.

Some, considering the story wildly implausible, dispute that the Tribe of Isz really left the known world at all, or if they did, it was only for a short period during their migration.  These critics argue that it is far more likely that the Szelsh merely migrated through the Outlands, crossing from the Clawed Thicket to Gearfall through the Sea of Ink.  The Szelsh reject this, pointing to their own written legends, which clearly state that the lodestones stopped working during the lifetime of Isz herself, and were inert until six generations later when the tribe arrived in Gearfall.  As there were no known civilized peoples in the Sea of Ink until the modern era, there are unfortunately no other written or oral traditions from other sources that could corroborate this.

If the story is indeed true, what did the Szelsh find beyond the world's edge, and why were they gone for so long?  Szelsh hagiographies recount that Isz died not long after her followers departed from the world, and that before her death she told her flock that their journey would be long and difficult, but if they were faithful to their philosophy, they would one day return to the world and receive a new homeland where they would prosper.  Supposedly, her followers buried Isz where she died, and raised a great monolith over the tomb.  A handful of explorers have sought this tomb beyond the Clawed Thicket, but none have ever found it.

The writings of the Wandering do not describe the land beyond the world as terribly different, though a few passages are striking.  At one point in the "official" story, the Szelsh come to a vast plain of "white dust" with no end in sight in which nothing grows.  Modern scholars believe this to be a reference to snow; although the antique Szelsh words for dust and snow are distinct and unrelated, it is assumed to be a poetic form or the interpretation of a scribe unfamiliar with snow.  The account describes mountains as well, described as broken crags of red stone, so steep that the Forest grew no taller upon their slopes than shrubs and vines.  In Szelsh oral tradition these peaks are called the burned mountains, for supposedly the sun rose from the other side of these mountains.  One Iskite managed to climb atop them, but when dawn came he was burned immediately to ash (other traditions hold that he was not killed, but was permanently blinded).  The written hagiographies have no mention of anyone climbing these mountains.

Many non-Szlesh doubt the veracity of the written records, which are believed to have all been written well after the Tribe of Isz had settled in Gearfall.  With the usual Iskite fondness for consistency and orthodoxy, alternative versions of the story were quashed, surviving only partially in the oral tradition.

Cultures of Gearfall

Iskites

The "Tribe of Isz" is not an orthodox Iskite culture.  The Iskites that were originally led outside the world's edge were largely Dualists, one of many philosophical sects that arose during the Great Social Reform, and one that opposed the Polemicists, the radical sect that eventually triumphed in the Scalemount and created what is now recognized as "orthodox" Iskite society.

Dualism in its original form was touted as a compromise between the "Orphans" (anti-heredity sects) and "Kinsmen" (pro-heredity sects).  All people would follow the precepts of what are now known as the first three books of the Mainspring Analects, but the fourth (called the Polemic, from which the Polemicists derived their name) which controversially attacked heredity and nepotism, would be followed only partially.  The vast majority of Iskites would live in "sodalities," much like an Umbril metil, in the manner of another Orphan sect known as the Covenanters.  Dualists, however, continued the tradition of hereditary rulership in the form of the "Elect," a second societal tier composed of the extended family of the village's ruler.  The purpose was to preserve the traditions and communal identity of Iskite society while addressing its flaws in a moderate fashion; the result was that the sect was rejected by Orphans and Kinsmen alike, and the Dualists were largely converted, killed, or driven into the wilds.

The ways of the Gearfall Iskites, however, have changed from the social philosophies of the Dualists of old from which they are descended.  Soon after their exodus and arrival in Gearfall, the Elect became more than simply rulers, for Isz the Pale had become venerated as a divine prophet, even a goddess.  Her descendents were thus semi-divine, and the limits that the original Dualists had carefully placed on the power of the Elect fell away.  The coming of the Age of Prophets and the Grand Authority ended the Umbril-like system of sodalities, which was gradually replaced with the "orthodox" system of trade societies and the Allotment.

The rule of Isz's descendents was repugnant to the Grand Authority, but the Gearfall potentates resisted change to their own status.  Some villages overthrew their rulers and others stepped down of their own accord, but many continued to rule in the face of the Authority, which had no means to enforce their edicts other than stirring up Gearfall villages against each other.  Still, the Elect were a dwindling group until the Recentering, when the destruction of the Grand Authority and the prophets caused a great resurgence for the House of the Pale One.  Certainly many had been Fruit-eaters themselves, but many had not, and these quickly found themselves back in favor among a people who craved stability and tradition after the great disaster.

Most Gearfall villages are still ruled by lords claiming the ancestry of Isz (though some are likely impostors).  White is still considered the color of authority, reserved for kinsmen of Isz and the priests of her cult, who use white pigments to mark their faces and hands.  The blood of Isz still seems to linger in this land, for about one in every twenty of the true Elect is born "pale," with most or all of their scales a striking ivory color.  This is an objectively disadvantageous adaptation (the normal mottled greens of an Iskite provide it with excellent camouflage), but such births are often considered highly auspicious for a village, and pale Iskites benefit from a strong social preference.

Though the flowering and destruction of the Dominion Tree caused great suffering in Gearfall, it was never touched by the Orange Horde or its subsequent strife.  The Gearfall Iskite community made it through the Recentering with far more of their communities intact, and – perhaps most importantly – their culture as well.  In some ways, they are more "traditional" than even modern Iskites of Scalemount itself, as the artifacts and guardians of their culture and history were not so deliberately and irrevocably destroyed.  They do not speak the Luminous Tongue, but a language called Szelsh that was spoken in parts of Scalemount during the time of Isz; the Grand Authority tried to change their ways but they stubbornly refused to relinquish their ancient speech.  They are undoubtedly a people proud of their history, and that adherence to tradition and ancient ritual is often compared to Tahr traditionalism.  It is likely that this is an organic cultural growth, however, rather than an appropriation of Tahr ways, as there is little such alien influence evident in their practices.

Indeed, the Gearfall Iskites tend to be rather dismissive of aliens and their achievements.  Their culture is highly insular.  While aliens are unlikely to meet with hostility just for being alien, an alien traveler should expect only the most formal of courtesy.  Many villages consider their walled territory to be "sacred ground" and prohibit aliens from setting foot within; there may be a structure outside the walls to receive traders and travelers, or they may simply have to camp outside with whatever shelter they carry with them.  In many villages, looking an alien in the eyes is said to bring ill-fortune; in some, drinking from tea from the same pot is similarly inauspicious.  Doing such things to a member of the Elect would not just be unfortunate, but a serious offense (even other Iskites avoid eye contact with the Elect in some communities).  While most Gearfall villages can be expected to render aid to an alien traveler, they seldom go beyond what is strictly necessary by the demands of hospitality, and receiving this aid can be a strange and rather galling experience.
[note=Tulou]The Szelsh village-buildings were inspired by the tulou, the communal housing of the Hakka people of China.  The splash picture above is of one such building.[/note]

Szelsh villages take a different form than most.  Rather than a grid of buildings surrounded by a wall, their villages are typically one large multi-story ring-shaped building, with dwellings inside the "ring" itself, their entrances all facing inwards.  Inside of the ring is typically a large communal space with gardens, shrines, game fields, and various other structures crowded together.  From the outside, Szelsh villages look like squat, cylindrical towers of packed earth, with no windows and only one or two large exterior doors.  Sometimes large villages include two, three, or rarely even four such ring-buildings close together or even adjoining.  Szelsh hatcheries are usually located underground, at the center of the ring.

Gheen

The neighboring Red Depths is home to one of the three branches of the Gheen race, known as the Red Gheen.  While the Red Gheen were never unknown in Gearfall, the high forest of the Depths is favored over the low forest of Gearfall, and dreys in Gearfall were probably never common even before the arrival of the Iskites.  The Gheen appear little in Szlesh literature from Antiquity, and when they do it is usually as foreigners from the Red Depths interested in trade but uninvolved in the struggle between the Tribe of Isz and the natives of Gearfall.

Gheen passed through Gearfall in substantial numbers during the Recentering.  Several dozen families of Red Gheen, seeking a new start during the upheaval of the era, migrated through Iskite lands into the Sea of Ink.  The dominions of the Peregrine Gheen, as they are now called, send occasional representatives into Gearfall to trade with the Iskites or their cousins in the Red Depths beyond.  There are no known dreys in Gearfall proper.

Tahro

The vast majority of the Ardaun Tahr bloods that survived the Iskite conquest of Gearfall fled into the Red Depths.  Some may have crossed the Cogsteeth into the Maw or gone clockwise into the Sea of Ink, though they have evidently either died out or assimilated seamlessly into Maw Tahr culture since then.  Tahr bloods remained in the steep valleys of the Cogsteeth facing Gearfall after the conquest, but they have never been great in number and typically avoid any contact with the Szelsh altogether.

The Tahro may well have been the most numerous race within Gearfall until the Iskite conquest, but the nature of their nomadic lifestyle means that there are few remaining traces of their habitation.  A number of ruins have been found that show evidence of being used as Tahr camps, and some bloods fashioned quite impressive camps from scratch that remain today, Sulodun chief among them.  Practically all these sites are now abandoned, as it is not usual Iskite practice to establish villages amidst ruins, though some ruins once occupied by the Tahro formed the basis of later Szelsh szalkas, elaborate palace-fortresses.

Reconstructing the Tahr culture that predated the Tribe of Isz is difficult, though given the general conservatism of Tahr society it's possible that the drift between pre-Szelsh and modern Ardaun cultural practices is not very great.  The Ardaun of the Red Depths were heavily involved in the resistance against the Iskite conquest of Gearfall, and even after the conquest was complete, Ardaun bloods frequently launched raids into Iskite territory.  There was continual violence around the Gearfall-Red Depths border for several generations at least, which only subsided over time as the Tahro who had originally been driven from their homeland died off.  The cultural memory of the Tahro is long, however, and Ardaun Tahr bloods have many chants and tales of the "lost cause" and the ancient yearning for their homeland.  Though they are no longer in a state of war with the Szelsh Iskites and have not been for centuries, there is still considerable mistrust between the two groups.

Umbril

The original Umbril inhabitants of Gearfall were probably closest to the White Nevir, the same culture that inhabits the Red Depths currently.  Like the Ardaun Tahro, the White Nevir fiercely resisted the Szelsh invasion, but unlike the Tahr bloods of the Depths, the White Nevir in Gheen lands did not extend much assistance to their "cousins" in Gearfall.  The Umbril seem to have realized sooner than the Tahro that continuing the struggle was futile, and most scholars believe that after the initial exodus most of their uprooted colonies resettled in the Depths or broke up and assimilated into existing colonies there.

Some scholars have noted the existence of "Cog-worshipping" cults of the Darkling Umbril, native to Whitefen and the unclock Maw, and have put forward the competing theory that the Gearfall Umbril - or at least the last few waves of them - crossed over the Cogsteeth into the Maw, filtering gradually unclockwise towards Whitefen and integrating with the Darkling there.  This is a considerable distance to travel over some of the roughest terrain in the Forest, however, and it is unclear why they would make such a journey when their White Nevir neighbors were living quite comfortably in the Red Depths.  Szelsh histories also contend that the Cult of the Great Machine was entirely wiped out, though the Cult directed by the Primes may have been merely a latter day radical development of a broader religious tradition among the Gearfall Umbril which was translated elsewhere when Gearfall was abandoned.  The White Nevir do not seem to have any such traditions.  As the White and Darkling Nevir are not physiologically distinct, it may be impossible to determine exactly what the fate of Gearfall's last colonies was.

In the modern era, the White Nevir – whether they are descendents of Gearfall colonies or not – have been steadily infiltrating back into Gearfall through peaceful means.  Gearfall may be an Iskite land, but it is still the Forest, and Iskites do not live everywhere there.  Colonies have begun sprouting up in places unsuitable for a Szelsh village, like particularly marshy areas and the rocky foothills of the Cogsteeth.  Though the Szelsh Iskites are not great participants in regional trade, some villages have found a use for the Umbril in this capacity and have some relations with these colonies.  Other White Nevir colonies in Gearfall are simply beneath the notice of the Iskites, or have yet to be discovered at all.

[spoiler=Sites of Importance in Gearfall]
Heart of the Machine
The inner-unclock region of Gearfall is home to one of the more curious ruins of the Artificers.  It is a large ruins complex, though not the largest, nor physically impressive next to such marvels as the Tower of Abeyance, the ziggurat of Teven, or the Monsoon Palace.  What makes the Heart of the Machine so remarkable, and gives it its name, is that the complex is no mere feat of palatial architecture.  Its halls are permeated by a great interconnected series of mechanical parts.  Some are intricate gearboxes; others are enormous cogs, shafts, levers, chains, and jagged-toothed racks that span multiple rooms and levels.  Many parts are ruined and pieces are obviously missing or disconnected in some places, in part from the scavenging of the civilized races over thousands of years.  Yet the Heart of the Machine still exists in large part because it can defend itself – it is "inhabited" by more than a dozen active Cog Soldiers, one of the largest complements known, and their standing orders appear to require them to patrol the Heart and destroy any creature that attempts to enter it or lingers about the premises.

The purpose of the machines within – or machine, as some believe it to be one single enormous device – is unknown.  It does not appear to be functional, but it is also largely unexplored.  The complex extends for some unknown distance underground, and part of the complex that was once above the forest floor was buried by an ancient landslide.  Some believe it to be haunted by evil spirits, demons, or the Artificers themselves; others wonder if it is home to even more Cogs deep below, as those who have returned from voyages into the Heart often report the occasional echo of clicking, rattling, and squealing machinery issuing from below that cannot be entirely attributed to the ruin's known Soldiers.

To outsiders, the Heart is an intriguing mystery, but the Iskites of Gearfall it is considered cursed because of its association with the Cult of the Great Machine, a violent sect that rose and fell in distant Antiquity.  The cult blossomed as a resistance movement against the Iskite invaders from beyond the world's edge, and was eventually crushed after nearly a century of appalling bloodshed.  The only remaining sources on them are Iskite, and thus unreliable – they are charged by the Gearfall Iskites with such sundry atrocities as the wholesale slaughter of non-believer communities (Iskites, Tahro, and Umbril alike), the sacrifice of sentients, bizarre torture and self-mutilation rituals, and fighting with a fanatical disregard for their own lives.  Some texts also describe their leaders, called "Primes," as exerting some kind of mind control over their followers.

The Heart of the Machine was their holiest site, and it was suggested by the Primes themselves (again, according to Iskite texts) that they drew some power or inspiration from within, perhaps from the Machine itself.  The cult was eventually crushed after more than a century of constant atrocities and reprisals culminating in the euphemistically-named Cleansing of the Heart, when a thousand Iskite warriors surrounded and stormed the last Cult encampment near the Heart of the Machine.  The Iskites took no prisoners, but it is written that the last remaining Prime fled into the Machine itself.  It is unknown if – and if so, how – any being could avoid destruction at the hands of the Heart's guardians for long, as they don't seem to show any regard for such things as religious affiliation.

Szalk Arash
Though the building of szalkas, the great monumental structures of Iskite Antiquity, died out in Scalemount during the Great Social Reform, the lords of the Tribe of Isz constructed many such edifices of their own between their arrival in Gearfall and the onset of the Age of Prophets.  Unlike Scalemount szalkas, which were intended primarily as monuments and boasts rather than functional structures, Gearfall szalkas were often in regular use as fortresses (particularly near the Red Depths) and occasionally as temples to the deified Isz.

Szalk Arash itself was built as a fortress in unclock Gearfall.  It was constructed in late Antiquity in the closing years of the Iskite conquest, but after the Cleansing of the Heart it was superseded strategically by positions closer to the Red Depths borderland.  During the Age of Prophets, Szalk Arash became the domain of a series of Fruit-eating seers, who became some of the most fervent supporters of the assimilation of the Szelsh Iskites into the culture advanced by the Grand Authority.  The seers of Arash were driven mad, like all their ilk, in the Diviners' Wrath, and the fortress was infested by the Peril.  Unlike many other lands, however, Gearfall was untouched by the Orange Strife, and relatively soon after the Wrath local Iskite villages marched on the Szalk to cleanse it.  They found one seer still alive – mad though he was – and set him on fire.  He escaped the mob and fled into the central tower, still aflame.  The resulting fire raced through the fortress, destroying the Peril within but also the priceless library of the seers of Arash.  By the next day it was a burned-out husk.

Around EVP 40, the fortress was reclaimed by the Kaj of the Wind's Eye, a kaj of aseng ("tranquility"), and the oldest Iskite school of channeling in Gearfall.  The masters of Wind's Eye maintain their kaj was founded by Isz herself during the Wandering, but there is little evidence that Isz was even a channeler of any note.  The school may have been founded on the Wandering as a means to preserve knowledge of the Breath among the Tribe of Isz, or it may have been established early on in the Szelsh conquest of Gearfall; either way, it existed for some times as a "floating kaj" before its masters decided that Szalk Arash would make an ideal hermitage to delve into the mysteries of the Breath without any interruption.

Today, Szalk Arash remains a working kaj, with around 60-80 channelers and initiates present at any one time.  The practitioners labor under a general vow of silence, even wearing spider-silk slippers within the halls to muffle their footsteps.  Most of the reclaimed interior space is a series of small "cells," some only accessible by ladder or very steep steps, that serve as meditation chambers.  The grounds within the curtain wall are devoted to carefully manicured gardens; some parts are devoted to herbs and fruits, while others are simply ornamental, serving a similar purpose to the meditation cells.  The Kaj sustains itself through an agreement with several neighboring villages, who provide "tribute" in the form of foodstuffs in exchange for herbs and a share of the "fees" brought by those hoping to become initiates.

The feats of the masters of the Wind's Eye are legendary in Gearfall, though the most widely repeated tale is that a select few are able to leave their bodies entirely, letting their spirit float on the winds as their body remains in a deep, nearly catatonic meditation.  Whether this is simply a poetic description of channeling or a hint at some unique form is unclear.  In the neighboring villages, the Iskites may sometimes be heard to mutter when a sudden and momentary breeze passes by – "the deep ones are walking."

The Excavation
Not far from the outer edge of Gearfall is a great pit in the earth, nearly 100 feet wide and around half as deep.  Nothing is remarkable about it whatsoever, save that for as long as anyone is aware, a Cog Hauler has been attempting to dig it deeper.

It may be that the Hauler has been at it since the days of the Artificers; none can say.  With a scoop-like attachment on the end of its central winch, the great mechanical tripod labors continuously to dig down into the earth.  The Forest rains turn the exposed dirt into soupy mud, however, and the earth that the construct digs up is constantly sliding back into the hole.  The Hauler is heedless of any attempt to coax it away from the pit, though it may not be physically capable of climbing out at this point anyway.  If attacked, it strikes back, but it will not leave the pit.

During the Age of Prophets, there were some experiments performed on the site.  One work party attempted to shore up the sides of the pit with timbers in order to assist the Hauler.  Attempts were made to pull excavated dirt out of the pit to allow the Hauler to make some progress, with workers attempting to dodge the machine's great scrambling legs, which stop for nothing.  Every attempt to break the stalemate, as it were, ended in failure – rains collapsed part of the pit's side, setting the digger's progress even further back, or Forest roots grew rather abruptly to destroy the timber retaining walls.  Some remarked that the Forest seemed almost hostile to any attempt to assist the Hauler, though the Forest is well known for overturning and devouring constructions of all types with astonishing speed.  The Excavation is seldom visited now, save by the occasional kaj initiate dispatched to the pit's edge to contemplate the concept of futility.

Sulodun
Sulodun is a relic of the pre-Szelsh past, the site of what must have been one of the more prominent Tahr Red Camps in Gearfall before its associated bloods were either pushed out or destroyed.  Located in the foothills of the Cogsteeth, Sulodun is occupies a natural ledge on a forbidding rock face at least 400 feet above the Forest floor.  On the ledge, which is only accessible by a handful of narrow paths along the rock, one can look out over the canopy for miles and miles.  The Tahro dug a number of caves into the cliffside which probably served as shelters and meeting-spaces during the annual conclave.  Though most caves are simple and shallow, some bear traces of more detailed carving, and a few exploit cracks in the rock to delve a bit deeper into the rock (the deeper caves seem to have been used as storerooms).  There are few remnants of the bloods here now, other than broken pottery shards and a few faint splotches of color from long-faded paintings when the plants are peeled away from the cave walls.

Now the caves are totally overgrown with creepers, shrubs, and moss.  The center of the growth is the "rainy cave," a 60-foot deep cave which "rains" continually from the ceiling, probably indicating a spring higher up.  Not far from the rainy cave is a deep cleft in the rock – natural, not dug out – that the wind continually blows through with an eerie sigh.  An Iskite explorer let herself down into the crack using a fixed rope, only to find that below was a chasm full of thousands upon thousands – perhaps millions – of Tahr bones; she could not find the actual floor of the chamber.  More recently, Sulodun has become the roost of a pack of canopy wyrms, who have found it to be an ideal perch from which to survey their territory and hunt for prey in the forest below.  It may be possible to reason with them when they're not hungry, but it is generally believed anything of value was either taken by the bloods that abandoned the place or decayed away long ago.

Sulodun does not lie far from the slopes of the Cogsteeth where a few Tahr bloods still remain.  They are well aware of the site and consider it sacred.  There is a widespread belief among them that they will someday return and hold conclave at Sulodun once more, but Szelsh power has been waxing, not waning.  It is uncertain if the Iskites would tolerate the re-habitation of one of the greatest Tahr sites by the descendants of those whom they drove from it.[/spoiler]