The Campaign Builder's Guild

The Vashaan Desert

Vast and punishing, mystical and beautiful, the Vashaan Desert seems like a spartan heaven to many holy men who cross or come from the heights of the Urda Nation to wander in its expanses. However, it would appear that the desert's inhabitants don't think the same way. The desert is the largest area in the entire world, but it has the smallest, and most swiftly dwindling, population - sparse tribes of orc and dwarf nomads. A constant stream of migrating tribes and individual orcs and dwarves passes over the mountains into more civilised lands. The time of the tribe, they say, is over. The time of life in happier, less harsh climes, has begun.

Vashaan is hit by very little rainfall, and its name means 'empty' or 'dry' in Debelzja. Its few oases are near to its coastline, which is known for the large amounts of salt on the beaches. These are great stopping points for nomadic tribes and small villages spring up around many of them. Water is a valuable resource here, and dwarves and orcs train to live without it - they are slightly like camels in some respects. They favour camels and Zharrash, sand-lizards, as their mounts.

Monsters of Do-Ze-Rahl

Zharrash
Large Animal
HD: 3D8
Initiative: +3
Speed: 40ft (8 squares)
AC: 15 (+3 Dex, +2 Natural), Flat-Footed 12, Touch 13
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+2
Attack: Bite +2 (1D6+0)  
Full Attack: Bite +5 (1D6+0)
Space/Reach: 10ft/10ft
Special Attacks:
Special Qualities: Sunlight Sensitivity
Saves: +3, +6, +1
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Wis 10, Int 2, Cha 2.
Feats: Alertness, Weapon Finesse
Skills: Climb +7
Environment: Vashaan Desert
Organisation: Solitary, Pair
CR: 2
Advancement: 4-5HD (Large)
Level Adjustment: -

COMBAT

Sunlight Sensitivity: In areas of darkness, a Zharrash takes a -1 penalty to intelligence and a 10ft penalty to movement speed.

Skills: A Zharrash has a +1 racial bonus on Climb checks.

The Labyrinth

Formed from the boiling blood of the first daemon, the Labyrinth has no explanation - it is chaos incarnate, becoming unbearably hot or freezing cold, corrupting water and cleansing air in a moment. It is larger than the world it is supposed to be beneath, and rumours persist of the far-off land of Punt, and other islands, being accessible beyond the Great Storm if you travel through the Labyrinth. Its civilised inhabitants are few - nomadic Aelves and Duerg communicating in Xahin, are all that wanders this unpredictable corkscrew of magic without fear.

Of course, we do not mention the OTHER inhabitants of Xahin, which means in its namesake language 'Twisting'. The Daemons, spawned from the rock and water, fire and ice of the Labyrinth itself, are imbued with some little part of Nether's power. Although they may last only for a few hours, tortured bodies shifting constantly, their blood remains - and if collected before soaking back up into the suddenly-porous floors, it reaches a massive price on the market. Daemon blood is both a heavy hallucinogen and a potent spell component, and so is favoured by many people despite its rarity. It is known, however, to slowly kill off the drinker and destroy any magical ability they may have - but small colonies around the Greengate are known to have heavy addicts, once sorcerors, now completely incapable.

Aelves and Duerg are known to live in small tribes, sometimes family groups, in the darkness, and many of them make a living from daemon-hunting and, of course, the culling and capturing of other dangerous Labyrinth beasts.

Talents

[spoiler=Weaves]
Weaves

Weaves are the equivalents of spells. Weavecasters use weaves for good, bad, or any purpose at all, a Weavecaster is as capable of spontaneously combusting an enemy as she is drawing water from a well, all without touching. Weaves are made up of components, called 'Talents'. Talents are, in turn, split up into categories - damage, travel, improvement and object. Talents can be mixed together to form powerful, and dangerous, combinations. Read on!

 Using Weaves  
Below is a step by step guide to using weaves.

 Step 1: Can you cast it?

Brutus the sorcerer is only level 1, and thus he has access to level 1 talents only. He has chosen to learn Fire and Water as his castable talents, and can cast those and none other.

 Step 2: In the morning...

There are two ways of casting weaves: Spontaneously and with Preparation. The weave costs in the post below assume that you have prepared the weaves - that is, you have taken time in the morning (1 min/weave) to ready some magical patterns - as a Harpist may practice a few tunes to help him play them later on in the day. Using this method, your weaves will be prepared and ready to cast later on in the day (see Casting the Weave), and cost their normal amount of MP.
The amount of weaves you can prepare in a day depends on your class and level. When you prepare a weave, you must declare the Talents you are using (you can use more than one of the same category - for instance damage weaves, but it costs +1/talent level for every extra) and the augmentations you are applying (and to which talents, if applicable). Augmentations must be applied to all talents combined as a weave - that is, you pay double, and the effects are applied to all of them.
For example: Brutus, at level 5, decides that today, he's going to cast his self-styled Brutus' Icy Pyre. Therefore, he prepares a weave of two Talents - Water and Fire. They are both damage weaves, so this is perfectly all right. Damage Talents are, as default, touch attacks dealing 1D4 damage. Brutus doesn't like close combat, so he pays 2MP (1MP for each talent) to increase it to a ranged touch attack (30ft). He decides that this is enough, and prepares it. It will cost 5MP - 2 for the base weave, +2 for the augmentations, +1 because he has two talents there instead of one. He can now cast this for 5MP any time he wants today, as many times as he wants whilst he still has enough MP.

Alternatively...  

You can cast Weaves spontaneously. This requires a standard action to create the potential for the weave inside your head - during this time, you must declare what talents and augmentations you're using. The Weave costs +2 MP/level of the talents involved. You can then cast it at any time within the next 24 hours - after that, the Weave fades slowly from your mind.

Example: Brutus finds himself trapped in a cell. All he has left today are a few utility weaves - being able to detect magic is nice, certainly, but not particularly useful to him in his prison. He quickly prepares a weave of water to swiftly rust the bars - Water is a level 1 weave, and thus it costs him 1MP for a base +2 MP for preparing it spontaneously. He also has to use 2MP to make the water real, allowing him to rust the bars. He touches them, and they collapse, allowing him to escape - for 5MP.

Step 3: Casting the Weave

So, let's say Brutus has prepared his Freezing Pyre spell this morning. All that remains for him to do is fling it - and fling it he does. Casting a weave is a move action that provokes Attacks of Opportunity, but you can't do it more than once in a round. Brutus could also have spontaneously created a spell and used it in the same round, if he had so wished.

 Augmenting Weaves  

Weaves can be augmented for extra mana points; that is, a basic fire weave, for extra cost, can have the same effect as a regular DnD fireball, a flame strike, or even a meteorite swarm. For instance, Brutus, at a higher level, comes up against a group of changelings. He wants to damage all of them in one strike, so he spontaneously readies a regular fire weave, but augments it as follows:
1. He spends 1 MP to increase the die used from a D4 to a D6.
2. He spends 1 MP to add an extra die of damage.
3. He spends 4 MP to make the spell affect a 3x3 area.
4. He adds +2 points for readying it spontaneously.

So, the spell does 2D6 +2 (because of fire) points of damage to everyone in a 3x3 radius, and costs 9MP!

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=A Simplified Version of the Above...]
 How Weaves Work

So... a short version of the rules, perhaps?

Well, without the slightly confusing mass above, I present to you a summary.

Talents are parts of a weave. They are split up into three groups: Damage, Object, Improvement. Two or more of the same group can be combined into one weave.

Weaves are made of one or more Talents. They can be cast in one of two ways, and the more talents you use in a weave, the more it costs. They are cast as a move action (provoking attacks of opportunity), and are almost unlimited in their options. Unless you use certain feats, you can never cast more than one weave in a round.

Augmentations are effects applied to Weaves to improve them. There are two types: standard, and special. Standard augmentations can be applied to all talents of a category - Damage and Improvement have the most of these. Special augmentations are unique to different talents - or at least, can only be applied to certain talents. Although it varies from class to class, Weavecasters all have a limit to the amount of MP they can apply to an augmentation.

Spontaneously Cast Weaves cost +2 MP/talent level included within them. However, they can be created as a standard action, as an alternative to preparatory casting, and thus you can create and cast a weave in a single round with this method.

Weaves cast with Preparation cost the normal MP amounts, but take 1 min/talent level included within them to practice and ready. Once prepared, they can be cast spontaneously for the rest of the day - but they must be cast exactly as prepared, without any augmentations except those added during preparation. Of course, multiple variations on the same weave can be prepared.

Talent Levels are gained as you gain Weavecaster levels. Most classes gain access to either five or six different talent levels. These scale in power, and a talent costs 2x its level -1 in MP to cast in its most basic form. You can learn talents from more powerful talent levels as you gain more Weavecaster levels.
[/spoiler]

The Weaves

[spoiler=Talent List]
Level 1: Damage: Fire, Air, Water, Earth Improvement: Seeing Object: Creation (Minor).

Level 2: Improvement: Protect, Emotion, Light, Hide Object: Plants, Weather (Lesser).

Level 3: Damage: Acid, Poison Object: Shape (Lesser) Improvement: Metabolism, Farsight.

Level 4: Object: Weather, Magic, Mind (Lesser), Control.

Level 5: Improvement: Movement, Direction, Life Object: Objects.

Level 6: Damage: Force, Light (Greater) Improvement: Knowledge, Hatred Object: Communication.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Augmentations] These augmentations can be applied to any weave, although some of them may be useless for some weaves (such as increasing the dice size for a creation weave).

+ Dice Size: Increases the die size used by 1, for instance, D4 to D6. 2 points per die size.

 + Dice: Adds another dice roll of the chosen size. For instance, 1D4 to 2D4. 2 points per die added.

 Shape: This augmentation changes the shape of the weave, for instance, from a cone to a cylinder. You can change shapes freely within the following groups:
Group 1: 15ft cone OR 10ft radius cylinder, 40ft high OR 30ft line OR 5, 10, or 15ft radius sphere.
Group 2: 30ft cone OR 20ft radius cylinder, 40ft high OR 60ft line OR 20 or 30ft radius sphere.
Group 3: 60ft cone OR 40ft radius cylinder, 40ft high OR 120ft line OR 40 or 80ft radius sphere.

You can change between groups for +4 MP/group number. You can't skip groups, meaning you have to first pay for group one and group two before group three, and to apply this augmentation to the weave it must first have had at least one range augmentation applied.
You can increase line length, cylinder radius and height, sphere radius and cone length by paying +2MP per 5ft.

 Range: This increases the range of the weave from touch upwards. It costs 1 point to increase the range to short, 2 to increase it to medium, 3 to increase it to long and so on.

 Split: With the basic use of this augmentation, you can hit two enemies, or two areas, with the same weave. This reduces the range of the weave by one category, and the areas or enemies must be within 30ft of one another. This costs 5 MP. For an extra 2 per 10ft, you can increase the maximum distance apart that the areas can be. You can also use the 'Range' augmentation to reincrease the range of a Split Weave, but it costs +1 extra per category increased to. The Split augmentation cannot be applied to touch weaves.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 1 Talents]

Fire
Type: Damage
Level: 1
Saving Throw: Reflex

Unaugmented, fire is a touch attack dealing 1D4 points of fire damage and costing 1 MP. Fire deals an extra +1 point of damage per die.
It has the following special augmentations:

Magical: Changes the 'heat' damage to fire damage, making it magical and able to bypass heat immunity. +3 MP.
True: Allows the weave to become true flames, igniting flammable objects. +1 MP.
Maintain: This can only be applied to a weave with both the Magical and True augmentations also applied. It allows the mage to maintain magical fire, even on non-flammable objects. This could work in many ways. A mage could coat a weapon with magical fire and maintain it using it to do extra damage, or he could keep burning a person after the flames should have gone out. Either way, it costs 1MP per 1D4 rounds of the flames continuing.
Object: Fire can be channeled into an object, heating it up. This has the same effect as a heat metal spell on that which is affected. +2 MP.

Water
Type: Damage
Level: 1
Saving Throw: Fortitude

Unaugmented, Water is a touch attack dealing 1D4 points of damage and costing one MP. Water deals an extra +1 point of damage per die. It has the following special augmentations:

Magical: Transforms the cold damage to water damage, allowing it to bypass cold immunity. +3 MP.
True: Allows the weave to become true water, quenching flames and soaking opponents. +1 MP.
Object: Water can be channeled into an object, cooling it and affecting various things. It has the effect of a chill metal spell on all objects that it enters, and as both chill metal and rusting grasp on all metal objects that it enters. +2 MP.

Air
Type: Damage
Level: 1
Saving Throw: Reflex

Unaugmented, air is a touch attack dealing 1D4 points of electricity damage. Air has a +2 bonus to attack rolls against opponents wearing metal armour.

It has the following special augmentations:
Magical: Transforms the electrical damage to air damage, allowing it to bypass electrical immunity. +3 MP.
True: Allows the weave to become true electricity, making opponents' hair stand on end and small objects float. This can have one of two effects:
1. If applied to an enemy, they take -1 to AB with metal throwing weapons.
2. If applied to a shield, weapon, or other object of your own, it grants +2 AC against metal throwing or ranged weapons (as they veer towards the object woven). Either way, +2 MP.
Maintain: This can only be applied to a weave with both the Magical and True augmentations applied. It allows the mage to maintain magical electricity, even on non-conducive objects. This could work in many ways. A mage could coat a weapon with magical electricity and maintain it using it to do extra damage, or he could keep harming a person after the electricity should have dissipated. Either way, it costs 1MP per 1D4 rounds of the electricity continuing.
Object: Air can be channeled into an object, causing electricity to discharge into the first person to touch it. The damage that the weave deals stays in the object for 1D6 rounds + any from the Maintain augmentation. Anyone touching the object during that time takes the damage stored within. +4 MP.

Earth
Type: Damage
Level: 1
Saving Throw: Fortitude

Unaugmented, earth is a touch attack dealing 1D4 sonic damage. Earth deals -1 points of damage per die, but deals double damage to crystalline objects and ignores hardness.
It has the following special augmentations:

Magical: Transforms the sonic damage to earth damage, allowing it to bypass sonic immunity. +3 MP.
True: Allows the weave to become true sonic damage, harming the ears. After 8 points of sonic damage within 3 rounds of one another, an enemy must take a DC10 + druid level fortitude save or be deafened for 10 rounds. +1 MP.
Maintain: This can only be applied to a weave with both the Magical and True augmentations also applied. It allows the mage to maintain magical sonic energy, even on non-crystalline objects. This could work in many ways. A mage could coat a weapon with sonic energy and maintain it, using it to do extra damage, or he could keep harming a person after the vibrations should have dissipated. Either way, it costs 1MP per 1D4 rounds of the sonic vibrations continuing.

Seeing
Type: Improvement
Level: 1
Saving Throw: ---

Unaugmented, Seeing allows you to see one material or creature type within 30ft. You can see all objects of this kind within a 30ft cone radiating from you that are not blocked to your sight - they glow with a golden light to your eyes, but you can't see through walls or other nontransparent objects to them. For instance, you could detect gold, steel, stone, dragons, outsiders, or plants. This costs 1MP/type detected and lasts for 1D4 rounds. You can use the standard augmentations to allow others within an area to use this effect.

Magic: This allows you to detect weaves or bound magic. This costs +2MP for either, or +4 MP to detect both. You can guess the average strength of a weave or binding from its glow - blazing is extremely powerful, whilst dim is weak. A weave that uses at least 10 MP more than your full total or a caster that is at least 5 levels above you immediately ends the weave and stuns you for 1D6 rounds.
Detection: This augmentation doesn't just make you see the objects, it allows you to detect them, meaning you can sense them through solid objects. For instance, you could sense water through 8ft of stone. This makes the weave a 5ft radius sphere around the user, which can be increased as normal by use of the shape augmentation. You cannot detect objects through steel or lead. +3 MP.

Creation, Minor
Type: Object
Level: 1
Saving Throw: ---

Minor Creation allows you to create lesser objects and materials by magic. You can use augmentations on it to increase the range (so you can create pots from far away, or drop a pound of iron onto somebody's head after creating it in midair) but not to increase size. Minor Creation can perform the following effects:
Create Substance: You can weave 1 pound of any substance into being that does not require special forging (i.e. steel requires binding of different metals together). The substance is extremely unstable, unless you pay +3MP to stabilise it. Unstable materials collapse into themselves after 1D10 rounds, however, they may be manipulated. You may, for instance, create 1 pound of iron and form it into a brooch by hand before stabilising it. You can create more of the substance by paying +2 MP per pound. This weave does not allow you to manipulate the substance via magic.
Shape Substance: You can shape 1 pound of clay, liquid metal or any other malleable substance in basic ways. You can't, for instance, form an intricate brooch, but you can make a brick or basic pot. You can shape +1 extra lb per +3 MP spent.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 2 Talents]
Protection
Type: Improvement
Level: 2
Saving Throw: ---

Unaugmented, Protection allows you to add a +1 deflection bonus to your AC for 1D4 rounds. This deflection bonus works against ranged and melee attacks (but not area attacks). It has the following special augmentations:

Shield Increase: You can improve the deflection bonus by +1. 4MP.

Time: You can increase the duration by 1D4 rounds. 2MP.

Emotion
Type: Improvement
Level: 2
Saving Throw: Will

Unaugmented, Emotion allows you to calm or anger, upset or terrify a single being as a touch attack. It has four main functions:

Calm: This function of Emotion allows you to remove any other emotional effect - raged, feared, shaken - from a willing target. An unwilling target is entitled to a will save and gains a +2 bonus on the roll.

Rage: This function of Emotion puts somebody into a rage so great that they gain the effects of a barbarian's rage (1st level). After the rage they are fatigued, and cannot rage again during the encounter. An unwilling target is entitled to a will save and gains a +2 bonus on the roll. The rage lasts for 1D4 rounds.

Upset: This function of Emotion puts somebody into a state of such upset that they are Shaken for 1D4 rounds.
 
Terrify: This function of emotion puts somebody into a state of terror, and they are feared for 1D4 rounds. For an extra 4MP, the victim is petrified for the duration.

All functions possess the following special augmentations:

Time: You can increase the duration of an effect by 1D4 rounds. +2MP.

Light, Lesser
Type: Improvement
Level: 2
Saving Throw: --

Unaugmented, Lesser Light allows you to make an object, a person, or a small sphere above your hand glow with light. You can choose bright or low light, and change the density each round. The light does no damage unless it is used against a creature with light sensitivity or another light-based quality. You can cause yourself or an inanimate object or friendly creature to glow with light, or an unfriendly creature if you hit on a touch attack. The light lasts for 1D4 rounds. Lesser Light has the following special augmentations:  

Flash: This allows you to forgo the 1D4 rounds of constant light for a single blinding flash. This stuns anyone within 30ft who does not succeed on a fortitude save, and acts as bright light for the purposes of light-sensitive creatures. The effect lasts 1D4 rounds. +3MP.

Time: You can increase the duration of the effect by 1D4 rounds. +2MP.

Hide
Type: Improvement
Level: 2
Saving Throw: --

Unaugmented, Hide increases your hide skill by +1 for 1D4 rounds.

Bonus: You can increase the bonus granted by +1. +1MP.

Time: You can increase the duration of the effect by 1D4 rounds. +2MP.

Plant (Lesser)
Type: Object
Level: 2
Saving Throw: --

Unaugmented, Lesser Plant allows you to either grow, control or shrink unintelligent plants for 1D4 rounds.

Grow: This allows you to make plants undergo a period of extremely fast growth, forming a barrier of plant matter five feet high and ten feet long. You can increase the width or height by 5ft for +2MP a foot. The barrier is impassable on foot and must be hacked down. It has the normal hardness and HP for a plant of its type.

Shrink: This allows you to shrink plants to an easily passable floor covering. Poisonous thorns etc still have the same effect, but you can walk across the plant matter as if it was flat terrain. This only affects the height of the plants, not the width. You can pay an extra +2MP each time to reduce the area by one 5ft x 5ft square.

Control: This allows you to take control of vines or thorns for 1D4 rounds, allowing you to command them. You can tie knots in vines as if they were ropes using the Use Rope skill, gaining a +2 bonus on the check (the knot stays tied even after the duration has expired). You can also cause vines to entangle the feet of a victim, giving the same effect as a 'web' spell, although the vines can be broken and loosen at the end of the duration. Finally, you can cause a single branch of a tree to rot and fall off, costing +1MP per extra branch. These branches make perfect firewood.  
 [/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 3 Talents]Coming soon![/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 4 Talents]Coming soon![/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 5 Talents]Coming soon![/spoiler]

[spoiler=Level 6 Talents]Coming soon![/spoiler]

Items

 Pure Magecrystals
 
Pure Magecrystals are a rare form of jewel found in the upper reaches of the Labyrinth, supposedly crystalised and ancient Daemon blood. They come in nine levels, and hold 10MP per level. A sorceror can draw upon a magecrystal partially or fully to fuel a weave, allowing him to avoid being harmed during the casting and avoiding MP loss.
Once gone, the Mana Points cannot be replenished except by a sorceror feeding raw magical energy into the gem. The gem can never hold more than the amount of MP it held originally. Feeding more magical energy into the gem costs twice as many mana points as actually ends up in the gem - for instance, a sorceror attempting to feed five MP into a magecrystal would actually pay out 10. It deals 1 point of nonlethal damage per MP that the sorceror loses.
A Magecrystal costs 1000GP per level.

Elemental Magecrystals

Much more common than their pure counterparts, Elemental Magecrystals work identically apart from the fact that they can only be used to fuel the type of weave they are attuned to - fire, water, air or earth.
Elemental Magecrystals cost 250GP per level, and must be attuned to either fire, earth, water or air.

Belief Band

Although the existence of higher beings is debatable, the power of belief certainly isn't. Belief Bands focus this power, and act as a Magecrystal equivalent for Divine Channels. Belief bands usually look like some form of tiara, crown, or band of metal, generally marked with a religion's symbol. A high or superior quality headband, bracelet or phylactery of some sort, made of gold or adamantine, is required for all levels of Belief Band. It must be blessed by a Divine Channel of that religion, and have an amount of diamonds or other equally valuable jewels equal to the desired level (one to nine) broken over it. Finally, the magical energy must be stored within it. As an Arcane Jewel, Belief Bands waste half of the Mana Points fed into them, but feeding a Belief Band does not harm the Channel in any way.

Belief Bands cost 1000GP per level.

Prayer Band

The divine equivalent of an Elemental Magecrystal, Prayer Bands are identical to Belief Bands except for that they are attuned to one first level Talent (any, not just an element). Prayer bands do not require the diamond component, and so are quite a bit cheaper, but they are essentially conduits for one aspect of a deity's power.

Prayer Bands cost 750GP per level.

Whirring Sixblade

The Whirring Sixblade is a dangerous tool for both user and opponent, and requires intense training before it can be used. Developed in the Labyrinth, it essentially appears as a long chain ending in a pair of spinning disks. Attached in between these two disks are a set of long, wicked blades, spaced evenly around the wheel. When using the weapon, the chain is spun around the wielder's body, lashing in at angles impossible with any other weapon. A skilled user can change the Sixblade's direction with a flick of the wrist, or make the blades spin with a single well placed swing. A user with the feat Weapon Focus: Sixblade can make one extra attack with it per round at his full base attack bonus.

Name	Cost	Dmg (S)	Dmg (M)	Crit	Range Increment	Weight	Type
Sixblade	100GP	1D6	1D8	19-20 x2	-	6lb	Slashing

Artifacts

 Do'Enkid's Armour

Do'Enkid was an Aelfin warrior, one of the first to fight the Daemon Nether, but he was not one of the party who eventually slew him. Although Do'Enkid was the most adept of his kind, alone he could not defeat the Evil - embedding his blade deep into the Daemon's chest, he found its foul blood locking him in a deadly embrace. As Do'Enkid's life energy slipped slowly away, his armour was coated in the disgusting liquid, which soon crystallised. Do'Enkid was gone, but his empty, emerald-shining armour remained deep in the labyrinth, holding a broken sword dripping with now-crystallised blood.

Do'Enkid's armour gives an AC bonus of +8, can be worn by mages, and has a -2 Dex and Skill Check penalty. It acts as a Magecrystal, but it holds 5000 Mana Points. However, as the direct blood of the Daemon Nether, it not only harms the user as normal, but doubles the damage taken from Weaving. The armour also grants DR 10/Magic.

Feats

[spoiler=Expert Linguist]
Expert Linguist
General Feat
Prerequisites:
At least one rank in any Speak Language skill.
Benefit:
This feat grants you a +5 bonus on all Speak Language checks, and you count as Trained in all language skills.
[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Linguist]
Linguist
General Feat
Benefit:
This feat grants you a +10 bonus on Speak Language checks with a language of your choice. If you have no ranks in the chosen language, you are still treated as Trained for the purposes of that language.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Overchannel]
Overchannel
Casting Feat
Prerequisites: Knowledge (Arcana) 4 ranks, at least one level in a casting class.
Benefit: You can overchannel yourself once per day. You can take Constitution Drain to gain MP, with an exchange rate of 5MP per Constitution Point. You can exchange as many constitution points as you wish, but it must be all at the same time.[/spoiler]

Skills

[spoiler=Speak Language]

In Do-Ze-Rahl, you gain full proficiency with only a few languages - those you gain through your race and intelligence bonus. For these, you automatically understand the language - passing all speak language checks required of you. You can also use the Speak Language skill to gain extra languages - but Speak Language does have DCs, and you need ranks for decent proficiency.  

Speak Language (Int, Trained Only)

Like the Knowledge, Craft and Profession skills, Speak Language encompasses several different 'semiskills', in this case different languages. You can gain as many ranks as you want in any language. Example scenarios and DCs are below.

[table Scenarios and DCs]
[tr][th]Scenario[/th][th]DC [/th][/tr]
[tr][td]Understand/speak a few words[/td][td]12[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Understand/Speak Sentence[/td][td]  15 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Understand Native Sentence[/td][td] 18 [/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Understand/Hold Conversation[/td] [td]26[/td][/tr]
[tr][td]Understand Native Conversation [/td] [td]28[/td][/tr]
[/table]
[/spoiler]

Labyrinth Culture

[spoiler=Aelfs]
The Aelfin have many odd quirks in their culture - having few centralised points in which to mingle, they have split into many thousands of tribes with little contact. There is no Aelfin society, as a whole. There are some traits, however, that they all share.

 The Order of the Blackened Blood

The Order of the Blackened Blood have a terrible and horrific history, although they can hardly be called an Order any more - there is a different Sect for each tribe, and due to the lack of cohesiveness within the Aelves, things are done differently among different groups. There is no longer a High Archmage of the Order, the last one dying shortly after the Aelves were cast into the Labyrinth.

The Order began as a group of Aelves dedicated to destroying the Daemon Nether. They fought with his creatures in every concievable place, but he always eluded them. Then some of them found that they had the Gift... the Gift of Talent. They could transport themselves and their warriors through gateways in the air, rip holes in the ranks of the Daemons with a word... but the magic began to consume them.

Slowly, the warriors were disbanded - one by one they either left by choice or were forced out through mind-twisting Weaves. The newly named Order of the Blood became determined to destroy the Daemon once and for all, through his own powers. They came to face him, finally, on the Fields of Dahran, among the party that would slay the creature - but they fell. All their powers were useless, ripped out of them as if the Daemon was drinking his own lifeblood from the air. Only one survived, and he swore as he lay dying that he would ensure Weaving was never used again...

He was the Last Archmage of the Order. Although he refounded it in the Lost Age, as many Aelfmages no longer wished for their powers, his task was ultimately futile. The Order lives on now - made up totally of mages who refuse to use their powers unless forced to in the most dire of circumstances. Of course, the rules for each Sect are different - some will use it to heal and protect, others only to protect themselves, some never at all.

Most sects are restricted to Aelves only.

Daemon Hunters

An infamous and famous part of Aelf culture are the Daemon Hunters. Although they are not exactly of one group - indeed, each group, even each individual, often chooses a different name - they are stereotyped as a whole as macho, tall, muscly and heavily armed Aelves with an arrogant attitude that comes from slaying the most infamous beasts in the whole of the Surface and Labyrinthine worlds. This is usually not true - in fact, most daemon hunters are Duerg. However, the arrogance and heavily armed parts tend to be correct - you don't fight daemons without at least three extra weapons.

Ancestor Reverence

A practice which is now dying out among the Aelves is that of ancestor reverence. Older Aelves are no longer interested in the surface races, but they do believe that their own actions on the surface were extremely important, and worthy of extreme admiration bordering on a kind of worship. Aelves attempt to be like those ancestors if they can, and this is probably part of their drive to destroy daemons. They believe their role is one of protection and defence, that they are the first and last line of defence against the darkness of Daemonkind. Younger Aelves are beginning to split away from this role, however...[/spoiler]

Debelzi Culture

[spoiler]The Debelzi Empire is the largest single nation in Do-Ze-Rahl, and the richest. It has a higher immigration rate than any other nation, and the most diverse population. In fact, the Empire is the most mixed and complicated nation in the world.

Languages: There are three languages spoken widely within the Empire - Delbezja, Delbezi, and Athurdis. The first is used mainly to the far west of the Empire, and also as the cultured language of scholars and priests, used to recite prayers to Delbez - many words are recognisable to Delbezi speakers, but Delbezja is the old form of the language, mostly unchanged from that spoken by the Prophet Ishmael and his people. Delbezi is spoken by traders, and as the common language in the central empire - a less formal form of Delbezja which took on a new pronunciation form, various new words and odd quirks of grammar from Athurdis and other native languages of the Southern Pincer. Athurdis is a conglomeration of several tribal tongues once spoken across the south, mostly dead in the western empire but still commonly spoken in the East. As well as these tongues, Xahin and Verda-In are commonly heard in the cities of the Empire from immigrant mouths, along with various other human speeches.

Everyday Life: A normal Delbezi citizen sees little difference between one day and the next. Most go to work, eat, sleep and have small periods of rest, filling in the time between feast weeks. On a feast week, all work is suspended, money is given out freely by nobles, and there is drinking and wild dancing on the streets. Food is laid out for beggars and nobles alike, and all rub shoulders together. During a feast week, a pauper may dance with a princess, but afterward he must behave like he never met her or face possible execution.

Delbezi phrases tend to be religious in nature - 'By Delbez' blood!' 'In the name of Ishmael!' and so on. They are used whenever possible by most people, on the grounds that invoking the name of a god, be it for luck, a curse, or for any other reason, can only help their cause.

Most Eastern Delbezi cities are laid out on the same kind of plan, as they tend to be built on the lush ground surrounding rivers rather than the dry, infertile hills that are scattered more and more densely as you get closer to the Urda Nation. Mostly, nobles will live in rich estates near to the water, surrounded by their privately owned farms (which, of course, pay a tithe to the emperor) and backed with a merchant district and private homes. Beyond that, mining camps and Red Guard billeting villages line the horizon. Beyond that... nothing.
[/spoiler]

oops, wrong tab on my firefox.  please delete this, mod.

Desert Culture

[spoiler=Orcs]
Orcs are often considered primitive by others, or not quite 'real'. Their slightly feral appearance, bizarre worldview, and ancient traditions, along with their carnivorous and sometimes cannibalistic eating habits, make them feared and distrusted by many of the other races of Do-Ze-Rahl. However, one thing must be understood about the orcs before one makes judgement against them is that they do not think of life as true life.

The Great Circle

As do many cultures, the orcs believe that the world... rotates. Life becomes death, death becomes life, and the flesh, or mortal part, of a being is sacred and holds their essence. Thus, those dying of great age - considered wise, or strong, or some other worthy attribute - are often consumed by their kin in a ritual act. Who eats the body is decided normally by the favour of the deceased, but if there is a dispute, ritual battles may ensue. These battles prevent outside forces - magic, for instance, which the orcs see as a part of the Great Circle and not something to be used lightly - and are fought between orc and orc, with no weapons but themselves, no protection, and no time limits. The fight must be fought honourably - no kicking in the fork of the legs, for example - but otherwise, everything is allowed.

This is all based around the orc version of 'reincarnation'. They do not believe the spirit is reincarnated - but more that it lives on through its descendants. Orcs believe that once, they were all one spirit, but slowly the race is constantly splitting into smaller and smaller shards. Consuming the shard of another strengthens you, especially if the spirit is strong in said shard.[/spoiler]