My Fantasy RPG World, Feedback and Ideas appreciated

The moon and the tides

Astute observers have noted that when the moon is in the full or new moon phases, the tides are more severe than when the moon is in between phases. There is much debate on why.


Some crackpot "scientists" speak claptrap about the moon and the sun having "gravitational forces" creating the tides and that when the moon is full or new the sun and moon are both pulling the same direction (creating severe tides) and when the moon is in between phases the sun and moon pull in opposite directions (creating mild tides).

Poppycock. There is no such thing as "gravitational forces." Things fall down, they don't get pulled in every direction!



Most Scarterrans believe that battles between earth and water elementals during the Second Unmaking have created echo effects. Along every coastline the earth and sea are symbolically reenacting the historical fights between earth and water elementals. The moon is not directly involved.

Depending on whom you ask, the moon seems to correspond to the cycle of the tides because Zarthus set the moon that way to claim credit for the tides. This is the official teaching of the Masks of Phidas who hate to give Zarthus credit for anything.

Others state that the elemental forces are always present but the inherit magic of the moon will feed the elemental forces thus make the tidal effect observed more or less severe based on the the phase of the moon. In this way Zarthus is partially responsible for the cycle of the tides.



Scaraquans know better. They know that Dalgari (Zarthus) is very smitten from their first meeting their very first meeting. with Taedi (Greymoria) but Taedi does not reciprocate Dalgari's affections. Taedi only swims into the sky to visit Dalgari when she wants something from him. Despite this Taedi always promises she will come back "soon" and Dalgari falls for it every time, relighting his silver torch every 28 days so she can find him easier.

When the moon is full Dalgari is optimistically wading into waters of the Sea calling out her name, expecting Taedi to be just around the bend.

When the moon is new, Dalgari enters the waters of Sea to shout his anger at Taedi for spurning him saying he will never relight his torch for her (though he always does.)

Either way, when Dalgari enters the waters of Sea, his movement stirs things up and makes the tides more severe. The ocean continues to shake afterwards which is why lesser ties persist between the new and full moons.



Another story is told, that the few Scaraquans aware of believe was stolen from them and had the major players changed because Scarterrans do not believe that Zarthus could ever romantically fall for Greymoria. Most Scarterrans believe that Zarthus is pining after Mera. Mera has very complicated feelings for Zarthus and her love blows hot and cold. When she gives her affections to Zarthus fully, his face shines bright on the full moon. Mera, goddess of the sea reaches out towards the sky creating severe tides.

Eventually, Mera tires of Zarthus and begins to spurn him. Zarthus' face, the moon grows dim with disappointment until Zarthus turns his face from Mera entirely, at the point of the new moon. Mera changes her tune and calls Zarthus back, reaching out to Zarthus as the sea reaches out to the sky again creating severe tides.


And now for something completely different!

In other news, I found an extreme closeup of a cute bat from a scientific magazine that with a little imagination based on the camera angle, maybe this could the head shot of a kalazotz.



There are lots of good potential camazotz but they are all renditions of Kirk Langstron, the Manbat from DC. I do want to risk the ire of the legal team of DC right now.

 

Rather than lump Scaraquan metaphysics with Scarterran metaphysics, I started their own entries. I could in theory create two World Anvil Worlds at no extra cost to me and have one Scarterra and one Scaraqua, but there is enough cross pollination to justify these two worlds being part of the same world.

Here is my short and sweet article on the basis of Scaraquan religion.

Seeyirah, the daughters/sisters of the Sea

Scaraquans view Sea (with a capital "S") as a cosmic force of great power. Sea is mighty but Sea does not have a mind or sentience in the way Saraquans relate to such things, so no one prays to Sea (Because Sea either will not or can not answer prayers).

Some time ago, before life as we know it existed, the Sea gave birth to the Seeyirah, which loosely translates to "Sisters of the Sea" or "Daughters of the Sea".

The three Seeyirah are Taedi, Mubete, and Enosha.

Greymoria, Korus, and Mera btw

Most cosmic events are the result of the three Seeyirah arguing with other, making alliances, breaking alliances, scheming and counter scheming.

The Seeyirah are the primary deities of Scaraquans. They are not quite the goddesses of everything, but they are the goddesses of everything that truly matters.

The other deities are often viewed as sidekicks, lesser cousins, rivals, or hangers on to the Seeyirah.

Almost all Scaraquans acknowledge the Seeyirah in their spiritual lives. A majority of Scaraquans worship the Seeyirah primarily.



@pendrake the symbol you cooked up for the Nine makes me very happy. It is elegant in it's simplicity and it has both a cosmic and a fantasy vibe to it. It's so simple that I could draw it, if I smart enough to come up with it.

It is currently credited to "pendrake" on my World Anvil but if you want me to use your real name or another alias there, let me know. I also have the option to put an artist's website connection if you are interested.

I have used it as the header for most divine related articles, it's my generic cover page and my generic article cover page for anything I haven't found a picture for.

Do you have any ideas for what a simple and elgant symbol for the Seeyirah would like. Artistically my brain comes up with ideas that are too grandeous for my unskilled hands to create.

For instance, since Mubete is sort of the generic goddess of fish, Enosha is the goddess of aquatic mammals, and Taedi is the goddess of cephalopods, I could have a stately fish, octopus, and dolphin rising out of a dark sea trench or whirlpool, but that's really complicated.

An abstract symbol easy for a Merman to scrawl on a rock would be best. Any thoughts? Cannot do three equilateral triangles because the Zelda video game franchise beat us to it.


While I flagged Pendrake, it's an open question to all.


Almost bedtime and the leader ranks were updated. I'm in 9th place for World Ember but now I'm 3000 words away from 8th place. As I suspected, The world of Amalgama has rocketed forward taking a commanding first place lead of 83,000 words. The author is crazier than I am, writing about five times as much as I do each day.

 

I take one day off of heavy writing and I slip from 9th place back to 11th place.

I only wrote a few hundred words yesterday. But I did create some quote-unquote "art"

Scaraquans do not lump all of the Nine together.

Taedi, Mubete, Enosha (Greymoria, Korus, and Mera) are the Seeyirah or daughters of the Sea. They are the important.

The second most important deities are the Sons of the Sky, Heekma and Dalgari (Khemra and Zarthus). I created a symbol for them on MS Paint after wasting time trying to find a nice royalty free picture of the sun and moon above the ocean.

Because I wanted a black and white image I used generic rays of heat and light rather than trying to draw a sun and a moon. Though Heekma and Dalgari probably have more complicated individual symbols based on the sun and moon respectively.



As far as most Scaraquans are concerned, heating the sea is the only thing the Sons of the Sky are really good for.

Below the Sons of the Sky are the Sons of the Sea Floor. They are important to the crab like Astakalians but I didn't want their universal symbol to be based on crabs, so I based it on this crude representation of undersea chemical vents.

This is their collective symbol.



For Merfolk, squid people, and Karakhai, the gods Resona (Phidas) and Mangcha (Hallisan) are practically interchangeable. They are both associated with crustaceans, the sea floor, chemical vents, construction, and craftsmanship.

For the Astakalians, Resona and Mangcha are VERY important. And also distinct. I wanted to write entries for Resona and Mangcha, but I had writer's block and couldn't come up with anything beyond Resona is Lawful Evil and Mangcha is Lawful Good.

My goal is to keep the essence of the Scaraquan similar but to make Good and Evil, Law and Chaos less clear cut.

The last two deities, both female are Kantona (Nami) and Bellusk (Maylar)

The other deities are either Daughters of the Sea, Sons of the Sea Floor, or Sons of the Sky but Kantona and Bellusk are probably not going to be lumped in the same.

The only thing that makes them in the same category is that they are hard to categorize. Bellusk is going to be the Mother of Sharks, but that's not her only role. I'm not sure whether I want her symbol to be a shark's dorsal fin, a giant fang, a mouth of fangs, or something else. A shark-like villain is a good starting point, but I want her to be more than a one-dimensional predator.

Kontona, I'm not sure what she is going to do. Probably whatever she wants. I will probably make her the goddess of rain and by extension the Scaraquan equivalent of Prometheus. Much as in Greek mythology Prometheus stole fire to advance humankind, Kontona is going to steal water and bring it onto land to allow life to exist on Scarterra.

I guess if I make Kontona the rain goddess that would make her symbol very easy to come up with and it will tie into Nami being the weather goddess. Cool, I guess I have a short article to write now.

 

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How Scaraquans see the land in metaphysical terms
Sea, with a capital "S" is a great cosmic force. sea with a small "s" is simply a basic descriptor of geography. Water with a capital "W" is the primal essence of the Sea, and water with a small "w" is just a common thing. Nevertheless, "water" is by extension part of "Water" and therefore in it's own way holy.

In a similar vein, Sky is a primal force with a capital "S", different from "the sky" with a small "s." "Fire" with a capital "F" is the primal energy of light and warmth from the sun, moon, and stars. "fire" is just a thing that occurs outside of water (though it is fascinating in it's own way.)

The "Sea Floor" is a lesser cosmic force differentiated from the noncapitalized "sea floor."

The land is no big deal. There is no "Land" with a capital "L" or Earth with a capital "E." To most Scraquans, land is a collection of rocks and dirt, a pale imitation of the Sea Floor, which is basically a sidekick to the Sea and Sky anyway.

Some Scaraquans, take these even farther and liken the land to a hairball, piece of vomit, or turd that Sky and/or Sea excreted while they were making real life in the Sea.

So how is it that life on land exists at all if it's a dead piece of rock upchucked from the universe?The goddess, Kontona, is responsible. Life exists in the oceans because the Sons of the Sky and the Daughters of the Sea agreed to share their Fire and Water respectively.

The Sea collects warmth and light from the sun and moon while this in turn allows Water to evaporate and the sky to fill with moisture.

Fire is wild by it's nature, Heekma cannot prevent light and warmth from landing on the land (not that he has any reason to try to stop this). Sometimes this can even create lesser fires that burn.

Much as Taedi once seduced Dalgari into stealing some Fire for her, Kontona seduced and tricked Dalgari into disrupting the transfer of moisture into the sky, creating clouds which leak Water down onto the Land in the form of rain.

The rainfall has created Little Seas, lakes, rivers, ponds, and aquifers that store water on land. Between this and the rain. This allows Scarterra to support life similar to Scaraqua on what should otherwise be a barren piece of rock.

Not every Scaraquan resents Scarterra for "stealing" their rain. Many are delighted that the essence of Water is bringing life to the land.

 

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How Scarterrans view the sea in metaphysical terms
Back before the the Divine Rebellion, when Scarterra was located on a single mega-continent, the ocean around the mega-continent was all fresh water. It was pure and clean and drinkable and filled with fish. The inland sea in the center of the mega-continent and the ocean around were basically reservoirs to sustain and feed the more complicated life on land.

When Turoch died, his blood spilled on all the world, solidifying into salt. Most life in the ocean died, but some adapted. It took a lot of work from The Nine , especially Korus and Mera to adapt the salty oceans to once again teem with life. It was never quite at the diversity and richness of life on land even though the land was also devastated by the spillover effects of the Divine Rebellion.

Once the land was getting crowded, dragons and their thurekal began settling in the oceans more and more, but this was generally considered less valuable real estate. The beings that lived in the sea were generally of lower social status than the those that lived in the land and sky who were literally above them as well as figuratively above them.

After the First Unmaking when the Nine created elves to be the new dominant race, some of the Nine made their own races to live alongside the elves. A few races were created to live apart from the elves under the sea. Not many, but some.

This was insurance against another cataclysm like the First Unmaking because it was noted that the disasters struck the sea less than the land all things considered, but this was kind of a Plan B or even Plan C for the Nine, kept on the proverbial back burner.

After the Second Unmaking, the Nine created humans to be the new dominant race, but they spent a lot more time and effort creating undersea people's just in case. This is why Merfolk among others, kind of look like humans and there are other less obvious but ever present parallels between different life in Scarterra and Scaraqua.

As far as most Scarterrans are concerned, Scaraqua is a copy of them made on a somewhat lesser budget. To use a Disney metaphor, Scarterra is the block buster animated film (Lion King, Moulan, etc) and Scaraqua is the straight to video sequel made on a tighter budget by the Nine's B-team spirits.

Not that this is a problem. Most Scarterrans don't mind that their world has a second ecosystem filled with life almost as rich as theirs.

 

I probably shouldn't focus too much on the rankings.

I am back to 10th place and am about 4000 words behind the 9th place person. I'm going about 2000 words a day.

The top world, Amalagam is writing about 25,000 a day. And the content from what I can glean, is high quality stuff.

Number two is in French or some other language I cannot read.

Number three is, according to the rules, a cheater, at least with regards to World Ember. He is taking a popular fantasy novel series and RPG series and is essentially adapting and older game system into D&D 5th edition. Useful for fans of both Rakugan and 5th edition but as world building goes, it's technically plagiarism. Though I would not mind playing Rakugan in 5th edition some day...

#4 seems like a kindred spirit with his world with a Greaco-Roman vibe I can really dig.
I'm following him. Or actually, them. It's a collaboration project. I cannot really compete with three writers.
https://www.worldanvil.com/w/akadimia

#5 is writing good stuff, but not World Ember eligible stuff which is supposed to be about world building not prose. He is posting the entire rough draft of a novel on his page and occasionally make short world related articles on the side. I don't know if that's cheating but it's bending the rules.

#6 is set in the published world of Eberron, but the author is adding his own stuff to someone else's world. I don't know if that's breaking the rules or merely bending them.

#7 is a kindred spirit with a very different approach to the same goal. A fantasy realm kind of like my own only this author is starting bottom up whereas I went top down. He is a developing a single small continent in great detail. Whereas I like a few big articles, this guy has lots of little ones.

#8 is taking the well known published D&D setting Greyhawk but is changing it by moving it out of the Middle Ages tech (where most fantasy worlds linger, mine included) and into the Renaissance. Kind of bending the rules since it lifts a lot of stuff on the gods from published works.

#9 is an interesting take. Whereas everyone else here was already working on their fictional world and just dove into World Ember, this person seemed to have started a new world on day 1. It's a futuristic sci-fi with what seems like an authoritarian Earth pushing the colonies around. Been done but, I cannot knock it if it works. He's still going down...I will not stay in 10th place.

 

You only need 10,000 words to qualify for prizes in WorldEmber.

You have a follower now btw. I expect to see more

You are ahead of me in the novel department, I only have a limited outline.

There is a voice in my head telling me to stop worrying about the petty details and just write something.

Well there a main author and two co-authors. I think that's allowed.

 

I could take a co-author (or just chain Pendrake in my basement and have him draw stuff for me), but I'm probably too bossy to have co-authors.

I'm running out of stuff in my notes that hasn't made it to World Anvil yet. Here's one of the last ones.


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The Legend of the First Dead
Scaraquans know that Life as we know it life as we know it exists because the Daughters of the Sea and the Sons of the Sky agreed to share Water and Fire between them respectively.

When Fire and Water come together, life is possible given that they are the purest essence of Sea and Sky.The exchange of Fire and Water now is continuous. Every day, the oceans (and the land for what little that is worth) soak up Fire from the warmth of the sun while the Sky collects Water in the form of moisture within clouds. While the moisture in the air is a start, most surface life requires at least occasional rain to fall to exist.

If this continuous transfer of Fire and Water was ever broken, most if not all living things would die very quickly.Originally Taedi stole a small amount of fire and created the first life n secret without the knowledge or permission of the Sons of the Sky. It is not clear what the first life looked liked or how much of there was, but it is known that Taedi's stolen fire did not last very long. As soon as it was gone, the first life became the First Dead.

Taedi's sisters initially thought the first life disintegrated and dissolved entirely but secretly she hid away their essence hiding the First Dead in the deepest darkest trench she could find.

It is not clear whether the First Dead represent a serious of distinct entities like individual fish within a massive school or a single substance with a shared identity a giant clump of algae. Either way, when Taedi is backed into a corner and releases a portion of the First Dead (or portion of the First Undead escapes her clutches), all of Scaraqua trembles.

Whatever the first life looked like, the First Dead does not resemble. It is incorporeal and amorphous. If witnessed by the living it will instinctively change it's appearance to a mirror image of the viewers darkest fears.

Little more than a disembodied collection of thoughts of feelings, the First Dead is literally the stuff of monsters. The First Dead is dangerous enough as a psychic threat but sometimes it merges with physical substances to create terrifying undead monsters. It is unclear what forces serve as the catalysts for these physical transformation.


And here is an extension of the First Dead that I had been pondering but did write down till this morning.


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Dark amalgams
Their exact origins are unknown but Scaraquan scholars widely believe that they occur when a part of the First Dead manages to imprint itself onto a corpse somehow.

Dark amalgams are floating blobs of corpse parts that absorb other corpses gradually increasing in size. Any corpses assimilated into the amalgam are warped by the amalgam's instinctual shape changing. Dark amalgams assimilate the abilities and features of corpses they absorb.

Each dark amalgam is a Frankenstein-esque chimeric monster of terrifying size. These blobs of dead flesh are able to grow fanged mouths, prehensile tentacles, fins for propulsion, and grasping claws and pincers.

Dark amalgams can only assimilate fresh corpses, so they are constantly driven to kill living beings to grow larger. A dark amalgam that goes a long time without assimilating any new corpses will eventually begin to eat itself and shrink.

Larger dark amalgams are more powerful, but they are also slower and less stealthy. It's rare for a dark amalgam to get much larger than the mass of two or three whales, at which point the amalgam cannot really catch any new prey and all but guaranteed to trigger an organized response from one or more of Scaraqua's larger nations.

Once identified, it is relatively straightforward for an elite group of warriors with some magical back up to take apart a large dark amalgam. The hard part is not defeating the massive dark amalgam but making sure every piece is chopped up finely or incinerated with magic because dark amalgam seem to reproduce by budding. If a large enough piece breaks away, it can regrow into an independent dark amalgam.


I hope that came across as scary. I fear my words do not do it justice.


I'm trying to come up with undersea monsters but I am kind of stuck on "Like this this fish but BIGGER."


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The First Kraken
Scaraqua has small numbers of massive cunning of kraken swimming the remote dark waters. Massive cephalopods capable of taking down whales.

There was supposedly The First Kraken was of such great size that it dwarfed a modern day kraken the way a great white shark dwarfs a guppy.

Legends are contradictory but Taedi created the First Kraken as her enforcer during a goddess equivalent of a hissy fit. But she accidentally united all the forces in Scaraqua against the First Kraken and by extension her.

After the incident with the First Kraken, Taedi received fewer worship for many generations. Since then, when seeking to bring her enemies low, Taedi has been seeking more subtle means of enacting her wrath.

There is however, a fringe group of Taedi worshipers called the Cult of the Kraken that is seeking to recreate or resurrect the First Kraken.


I guess I can write about the lesser Kraken swimming around. Barely more than 50 words to talk about them. Or I could watch some videos zefrank1 and load them up with many special abilities.


The picture above is royalty free and is menacing and dark so I use it as my generic picture for scary Scaraquan things.

 

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Modern Kraken
Kraken are giant, evil tempered squids. They are fully sapient and not just as smart as people, but they are smart as smart people.

They are fast swimmers and surprisingly agile for their massive size. They have very acute senses with smell and taste receptors in their suckers. Some say they have eyes in their tentacles or electrical receptors. In any event, they seem to have little to no problems navigating in complete darkness.

They have poisonous beaks and two kinds of ink they can release, blinding and poisonous. The blinding ink just blackens the water while their poisonous ink causes slow loss of physical attributes of those inhaling it.Most Kraken have modest sorcerous ability, frequently specializing in illusions or transmutation spells.
Civilization And Culture
History
Believed to be spawn of the the First Kraken, the modern Kraken, while much less powerful than their illustrious forebear, they are very formidable monsters.

Some legends say the First Kraken had children, laying eggs like any other cephalopod but others say it created spawn by fertilizing rocks on the sea floor transforming them into eggs or that it broke into smaller Kraken upon dying.

Whatever the case, Modern Kraken bear the name of their ancestor and have a similar hostile disposition to most other life. They are mildly loyal to Taedi declaring her their spiritual mother, but they are not very emotionally close to her.

Interspecies Relations And Assumptions
Kraken are a willful cruel lot and do not work well together. They have even more difficulties working with lesser beings, which in their view is everyone that is not a Kraken, even other ruthless highly intelligent Cephalopods.

Kraken are arrogant sadists and delight in causing pain and death on lesser beings.

They do recognize that for all their cunning and might they are vastly outnumbered by the lesser beings and cannot indulge in their blood lust with inpunity forcing them to be subtle in their attacks.

A few of them have taking to attacking Scarterran ships figuring that they can avoid an organized response against them if they swim hundreds of miles between attacks to avoid retribution.


Fun with Microsoft Paint

I figure a simplistic picture is better than no picture at all. Here is my attempt at the Imperial Sting Ray of the Oshamni Empire (ie Water Rome).

I'm still not sure whether it looks better with or without the eyes.



Unless someone has a suggestion for an easy tweak, this is going to be the picture I paste above most articles about the Oshamni Empire aka Water Rome.

I still haven't figure out how I'm going to round out the cast for Water Carthage, Water Scythia, Water Gaul, Water Atilla the Hun (okay the Huns are probably going to be Karakai), Water Classical China and the rest.

And of course some of the groups conquered that are now apart of the Oshamni Empire are going to maintain local regional cultural differences.

I need to watch some more videos on real world Rome for inspirational.

My broad outline is this. Oshmanus was basically a small Merfolk city state. It had a tumultuous early history very slowly annexing other small Merfolk nations nations then it had a very tough war with a large group of Astalakians (crab people). After beating the crabs into submission, the Astalakians assimilated into the Oshamni and that's when the Oshamni power really took off. Astalakians are slow swimmers and not very agile but they are great builders and crafters and they were highly literate.

Once the merfolk of Oshamni became highly literate and became armed with the best weapons and armor under the sea they had stronger soldiers and a better infrastructure to support the logistics of a growing Empire.

I want the terrestrial Sea Elves to be scrappy underdogs. So while Sea Elves are definitely going to be allied with Scaraquans, they definitely should not be allied with the Oshamni Empire.

I don't want the Sea Elves to be constantly fending off attacks the Oshamni either, so they are probably going to well out to the edges of what the Oshamni consider to be the frontier.

 

So I think it was here a while back, that someone suggested standardized artificial pearls be the base currency of Water Rome.

The base currency of real Rome was denarius or denari plural. I almost busted a gut when I put "pearls" in an English to Latin translator.


Margaritas. Truly priceless!


I think having people trade margaritas would break suspension disbelief so I'm going to call them paulolunes (Pow-lo-loon-ess)

Latin for tiny moons. Kind of.


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Imperial pearls
The official currency of the Oshamni Empire are artificial pearls of standardized weights and shapes.There are larger and smaller standard weights but the main currency most commonly circulated is the pauoluna (paulolunes plural). It has roughly the equivalent purchasing power to five Scarterran silver pieces.
History & Usage
History
As the Oshamni Empire matured, they found a need for currency. Pearls have been a common trade good within and within the borders of the Oshamni Empire, but the pearls circulating came in many different colors and sizes. This prompted the need to create standardized weights and sizes for pearls used in trade.
Everyday Use
Artificial imperial pearls are created like tiny donuts, allowing them to be put on strings fairly easily. Citizens of the Oshamni Empire often choose to wear their money on necklaces and bracelets and add or removes pearls from the jewelry they are wearing.
Cultural Significance And Usage
Establishing imperial pearls as the coin of the realm has bled into the rest of Scaraqua. Imperial pearls are accepted currency in many undersea realms outside of the reach of Oshamnus.The fact that many have taken to wearing their money has only increased the popularity of Scaraquans, especially Merfolk choosing to wear decorative non-currency pearls as a status symbol.
Refinement
The Empire creates artificial pearls in vast oyster fields, harvesting them en masse harvested them at set times.
Distribution
Trade & Market
Ritalunes: Worth 5 copper pieces each
Paulolunes: Worth 5 silver pieces each
Margarlunes: Worth 50 silver pieces each
Law & Regulation
The oyster fields where pearls are grown are closely guarded. The punishments for interfering with the fields or trying to pass counterfeits are usually very severe.

 

When the pineapples under the sea, are but distant memories


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The Lost Gnosispongia
Sponges are filter feeders, so they don't need to move much. Sponges are poisonous to most sea life so they don't have to worry about predators.The Gnosispongia were fully sapient sponge people that lived in Scaraqua in ancient times.They were said to spend their time in quiet contemplation. They had long life spans and eidetic memories. Renown for their wisdom and impartiality, many Scaraquans turned to the Gnosispongia to mediate disputes.

They had no enemies because they never needed to compete for resources with other Scaraquans. At least they had no enemies until the Second Unmaking spilled into the sea. The Gnosispongia were not completely immobile but they were easily the slowest and least mobile mortal race in Scaraqua.

After a hundred generations of never knowing any form of warfare, the Gnosispsongia were completely eradicated by the Void Demon armies, their wisdom seemingly lost forever.

Cultural Spread
While always respected for their wisdom, the tales of the Gnosispongia's knowledge and wisdom only increased with each retelling to the point where modern Scaraquans view them as being practically omniscient.

Some stories say they were gifted seers and foresaw their own demise but took no actions to prevent their destruction because they fatalistically accepted what they saw as being absolute.

A few adventurers seek the hidden depths of Scaraqua hoping to find fragments of their ancient wisdom.

What is more often found is their undead remnants, often called Nightmare sponges.


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Nightmare sponges
Nightmare sponges are a Scaraquan threat that defies easy classification blurring the line between undead creatures and Psychically Tainted Locations.

They are spiritual and psychic remnants of places where large numbers of Gnosispongia had their lives and souls consumed by Void demons.

Now nightmare sponges siphon the lifeforce and sanity of mortals around them both sickening their bodies while inflicting them with nightmare hallucinations about their worst fears and insecurities.

Nightmare sponges manifest in places with lots of seemingly ordinary sponges. Much as ordinary sponges feed nutrients out of the water around them, nightmare sponges feed on the fear and pain of Scaraquans unfortunate enough to swim near them.

 

Recently I have been creating many smaller articles of like 80-300 words as opposed to my usual 500-1000 word articles.

Apparently Scarterra made the top list for World Ember participants by number of articles. Now I have two leader boards to slog my way through.

• 1 177 Tatortotzke
• 2 151 phd20
• 3 139 TheRealSpaceBandito
• 4 139 ErikBloodAxe
• 5 134 Kokopelli08
• 6 131 lengna
• 7 117 theaaronw0
• 8 113 Scalenex
• 9 112 lilithgaskarth
• 10 106 m6marsh

That was several hours ago when the leader board was updated, so I could move up even higher.

I am going to kick so many people into the pit death....

What I'm not doing great on is the like based contests.

I only have two likes, this one (that Pendrake and I discussed a lot many months ago), and this one.

I guess I don't really need likes for my self esteem since I get hundreds from Lustria-Online but even though it has nothing to do with World Anvil, I would like to get a few likes on my Nine based articles.

The Nine's cosmology is the bedrock on which Scarterra/Scaraqua is based on. Without, it's just another D&D world.

 

Hmm, my power grows. Besides people on Lustria-Online following me in the last 24 hours. Most of the other World Anvil account holders I recently began following are now following me.