Carnon Furrows

Place of Interest

Description:

More Than It Appears to Be

For centuries, the barren lava plains of Carnon were avoided by all but the most dedicated (or desperate) of travelers. A handful of tribes who hunted the steppes surrounding Carnon would use the rippling expanse of basalt as meeting grounds for ritual combat or purification dances, but it was many years before anyone learned of the strange things that flourished beneath the sterile stone.

Bizarre Hidden Gardens

A section of the Carnon lava plains appears to be a long and regular series of furrows, as though some great power took a plow to the basalt but left it barren.  Most are roughly a kilometer long, and measure fifteen meters deep and wide. Some of the furrows have kinks along their length and seem to wind in serpentine patterns, while a scattered few intersect those beside them in short diagonal lines, as though letters in some enormous abecedarium.

The latter was a theory once posited by Timekeeper scholars traveling overhead by aerostat, but the true nature of the Carnon Furrows was realized on the discovery of hatches designed to blend in with the stone around them. Those bold enough to open one of these hatches and go through it found themselves in massive chambers nearly filled to bursting with a riot of alien flora and fauna.

Quirks:

Garden or Accident of Nature?

 There are a number of opinions as to the true nature of the Carnon Furrows, with most scholars proclaiming allegiance to one of two camps: the Gardeners and the Naturalists

The Gardener faction believes that an unknown ancient race of beings (referred to, coherently, as the Gardeners) either created or found the furrows in the lava plains of Carnon and deliberately seeded them with life. Evidence that supports this claim include the hatches into the underground chambers (which smoothly open with a light touch in the correct place, but otherwise remain sealed tight) as well as the mirrorichalcum "airlocks" that block off the hatch antechambers from the "gardens" themselves (not to mention the Wondrous "mittens" that rest in the cubical depressions set into the walls of the antechamber, which are necessary to navigate the gardens safely). 

The Naturalist faction concedes that the hatches, the airlock walls, and the mittens all appear to be purposefully manufactured objects, however, neither their nature nor their presence near the gardens necessitates that the gardens themselves be constructed. It's completely possible for the so-called "Gardeners" simply found the furrows as they were, and created the hatches, airlocks, and mittens to take advantage of this strange location that they'd found.

In either case—Gardeners or no Gardeners—those wishing to explore what lies beneath the Carnon Furrows had best put on their mittens in the antechamber before traveling through the shining metallic airlock that leads into the gardens themselves.

Dark, Hot, Humid, and Rotting

The first thing an explorer will notice on passing through the mirrorichalcum wall is that the chambers are completely dark. With the proper finger movements, the mittens can create strobing lights, but be warned—the effect can be disorienting, so use it with caution. Almost at the same time as the darkness, one may notice that the best word to describe air of the gardens (which is breathable to most common humanoid species) is "intense." From its smell of putrefaction to its incredibly high heat index, the gardens' environment was clearly designed for the comfort of its inhabitants, and no one else.

Inhabitants of the Gardens

If one translocated a 21st-century biologist to gardens beneath the Carnon Furrows and asked them to describe the primary fauna that dwell there, the answer would most likely involve a lot of screaming, flailing, and peeing of their pants.* The former is a perfectly safe activity in the Gardens—the creatures most refer to as "legbeasts" seem unable to perceive sound in any way. However, the latter two activities would quickly lead to the unfortunate scientist's demise, as legbeasts are extraordinary at sensing heat, scent, and air currents.

A suitably rigorous dissection of these creatures has not yet been achieved by modern scholars, however, tales told by explorers and natives local to the area describe them as being composed almost entirely of long segmented legs like whips, finely scaled tentacles that end in squat ridged claws, and feathery antennae that never seem to stop moving. Living legbeasts seem to be sessile, with each one taking up station in the ceilings of the furrows and never moving from this location until death. (Interestingly enough, while legbeasts don't travel away from their "spot," they do slowly turn in place, rotating either clockwise or counter-clockwise. An especially long pair of limbs held just above the surface of the ceiling thus marks out their territory, a border which newly spawned legbeasts cross at their own peril.

Protective Mittens and Other Safety Gear

Of course, if our time-traveling biologist happened to have their breakdown while wearing a pair of protective mittens, they'd be fine (so long as they were appropriately armored, of course). The mittens seem to masks their wearer's heat and scent signatures, making them almost completely undetectable to the legbeasts. Would-be explorers should be advised, however, that legbeasts are by no means hesitant to use their claws, however, even if their whip-like limbs detect something that turns out not to be food. (As such, crush-resistant clothing is advised.)

Flora, Fauna, and "Other"

Speaking of food, the legbeasts seem to depend completely on the growths of what the locals call the meatpod bush. When stimulated simultaneously by all three types of a legbeasts' limbs, the numerous thorny limbs of the bush contract to reveal a central stalk, which then vomits out a hot, stinky sack of what seems for all the world to be an animate hunk of meat. The "meatpod" is capable of leaping short distances through rapid contractions, and seems custom-made to be a legbeast's ideal snack appealing to its sense of touch, heat, and smell.

When not eating meatpods, legbeasts spend most of their time interacting with the plants, fungi, moss, and other vegetative lifeforms that make up the fecund abundance of the gardens. Though a difficult prize to recover, numerous scholars have made names for themselves by distilling this odd flora into all sorts of compounds.

Adventure Hooks:

Solving the "Gardener/Naturalist" Debate, Once and For All

A Timekeeper scholar named Hebbadon Floon is not only certain that the gardens of the  Carnon Furrows were deliberately constructed, but they also have reason to believe that it was the legbeasts themselves who built them. To prove their hypothesis, however, (not to mention repair their somewhat abused reputation among their fellow scholars), Hebbadon needs undeniable proof. 

That proof should be relatively easy to acquire (thanks to Hebbadon's...unofficial requisition of a Wonder that should facilitate communications with the creatures), but the journey to the lava plains will be full of peril, not to mention the atmosphere of the furrows themselves. As such, Hebbadon is seeking a group of adventurers to safeguard them over the course of the trip, with payment rendered in advice as to the most valuable types of flora found within the gardens.

War Comes to the Plains of Carnon

While Carnon's basalt plains are no strangers to blood spilled in ritual combat, or even small-scale skirmishes between tribes when times are desperate, war the likes of which has never been seen by the locals is coming. It seems that the Voivode of Bitterburning, the Apodektai of Tenth Wisdom, and the Edictor of Everlasting Light each had a dream of revelation.

In this dream, the leaders learned that if one were to view the Carnon Furrows from above, the pattern they create (when properly interpreted) will not only spell out the location of an ancient superweapon, but also give one mastery of it as well. As the peace between the three nations is an uneasy one, to bring anything less than overwhelming might to the lava plains is to risk one of the other nations decoding the clues first. Now the armies of three nations are headed to the plains, and it's quite possible the gardens beneath them may be destroyed forever,

Those Who Steal a Monster's Dinner Might Become One

In the last decades, a quartet of tribes has formed a more permanent settlement in the steppes close to the Carnon Furrows. Though they have their herds of scriggles and telleps, the land is harsh and food is often scarce. With the discovery of a fracture in the side of one of the underground gardens and careful attention paid to how the legbeasts interact with the meatpod bushes, particularly brave villagers have taken to regularly harvesting the legbeasts' snacks to supplant the bolster the communal larder when times grow tough.

However, it seems that sufficiently hungry legbeasts aren't quite as sessile as everyone thought, and some are now leaving their gardens to search for other forms of sustenance...

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*A more stoic or well-temporally traveled biologist might compare them to whip spiders. 

Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece

Organization

Description:

Put most simply, the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece (often called “Timekeepers”) is an organization of scholars, teachers, engineers, and explorers dedicated to studying the artifacts and ruins of the past. A fundamental Timekeeper belief is that many things may be unknown, but nothing is unknowable. The key to understanding the powerful artifacts built by the ancient ones who came before us lies in observation, experimentation, and very detailed notes.

The Timekeepers understand that their profession can be a dangerous one, however, both to themselves and the wider world. Every junior scholar, grease monkey, lecturer’s aid, and cartographer’s apprentice is taught the lesson of the lamp: The flame that brightens the darkness and warms the winter can just as easily consume the page and burn the flesh. But unlike their allies in the Order of the Immovable Anchor, Timekeepers do not fear the discoveries of the past. They rejoice in them.

The artifacts and machines and creatures built by those long ago are proof that mortal minds once understood the universe well enough to shape it to their will, and the mission of the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece is to reclaim the lost knowledge of the past and ensure it’s wielded responsibly moving into the future.

Emblem:

A black isosceles triangle with eight glyphs running along its edges (24 different ones in total). Inside the triangle is a toothed circle, and inside the circle is a vertical bar with notches at the 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, and 5 marks.

The triangle represents the mountain where the Eternal Timepiece was first discovered, and the 24 glyphs are the the Clockmakers’ syllabary, the ancients who built the Eternal Timepiece. The toothed circle represents a gear, one of the many kinds used in the ancient clock’s mechanical computers, while the notched bar is marked with the first six of the Fibonacci numbers, keys to the Clockbuilders’ mathematics.

Motto:

“Nothing is Unknowable, Merely Not Yet Known”

Prominent Figures:

1028 Inveterate Archivist

The common view of Timekeeper scholars sees them as academics nestled in caves of datacubes, or in the more romantic mode, as brilliant-but-clumsy researchers who suddenly spy a connection between two disparate pieces of information that’s bound to change the world. In reality, Timekeeper scholars (also called “mindmappers” after a graphical method of visually organizing data to better understand it) are expected to be methodical, not easily bored, and passionate about their chosen subject matter. This doesn’t mean they don’t count geniuses among their number, however. One of the most brilliant mindmappers of the current age is, for example, 1028 Inveterate Archivist.

Often referred to simply as “1028,” xe is a neuter humanoid of middling height, a calm temperament, and an organic composition. Xir only “distinguishing” physical characteristics are xir eyes (which appear to be solid steel spheres in xir eye sockets, though do not affect xir sight in any way), as well as xir utterly black skin (which appears to be made of some kind of organic fractal nanotubing).

1028 originated as an experiment by an unknown organization, and while xir memories of that time are inaccessible—thought to be a result of whatever explosion destroyed the laboratory and facilitated xir escape—1028 remembers that the project’s purpose was to create “Paragons”: sane and stable individuals that excelled in a single field, both physical and mental. Xe also remembers that xe wasn’t the only Paragon, but xe can’t remember anything about the others in particular.

As can be discerned from xir name, 1028’s specialty is the organization of information, and there is no Timekeeper that hasn’t murmured a paean to 1028’s system at one point or another. No matter how exotic the media nor degraded its message, 1028 Inveterate Archivist is up to the challenge of storing and categorizing it, which is why most Timekeepers call the organizations archival system the “I.A.” (Also, it should be noted that there is a long-running betting pool which may be claimed by the first person to stump 1028 on the location of an individual record. 1028 has yet to lose a challenge.)

chaNamarand Seko

Although Timekeeper engineers are commonly called “clocktenders” due to the link between the organization’s origins and the Eternal Timepiece, the interest of these engineers often extends far beyond mere timekeeping. Clocktenders not only maintain the many devices, artifacts, and Wonders used by their fellow Timekeepers, but also use their skills and knowledge to modify preexisting Wonders, as well as study the principles behind their operation and create entirely new ones (an ability viewed with great suspicion by even the organization’s closest ally, the Order of the Immovable Anchor).

Starting out, would-be clocktenders begin their training as grease monkeys, tool gofers, and perform other menial duties, though their labor is punctuated by sessions of intense hands-on training as well. Apprentices soon learn the different qualities of materials, capabilities of tools, the methods by which a schematic may be created and interpreted, and more. To ascend to the ranks of true clocktenders, an apprentice must first prove themselves capable of distilling the possible from the merely probable, and secondly, transforming the possible into the actual. The person they have to prove this to? chaNamarand Seko.

Originally a Namarand nomad of the Guldavi Waste, Seko was exiled at the age of seven (thus the cha- suffix in front of her clan-name) after her curiosity compelled her to try and repair the water still at a brackish oasis. Seko’s failure destroyed the still completely, and for the crime of willfully questioning the beneficence of the Water God, she was cast out. On that day, Seko learned two lessons. The first was that one cannot fully trust what one does not understand, and second, while the consequences of one’s failure may be wisdom, they may also be death. (As the welded sign says above her door, “Measure Twice, Cut Once, and Trust Nothing.”)

After creating the schematic for their masterwork, would-be clocktenders must bring it to chaNamarand Seko, who will interrogate them about it. There are rumors that this is the test itself, and that no matter what one builds after this conversation, Seko’s mind has already been made up, but nothing officially supports this conclusion. Seko’s questions are often piercing, and no question asked of her about one’s masterwork will be answered. The clever apprentice will be sure to record the questions asked of them, however, a key flaw has been discovered by many an apprentice who thought twice about what seemed to be a stray observation by Seko at the time...

In addition to her duties as the valve through which apprentices become engineers, chaNamarand Seko dabbles with a variety of musical instruments of her own design and construction. A concert featuring her inventions is as much about the mechanical workings of the objects that make music as the music itself, and tickets are highly sought after by Timekeepers and outsiders alike.

Important Organization Facts:

Revelation in the Mountain

Many years ago, a group of scholars and explorers stumbled upon a trove of ancient knowledge hidden deep within a mountain. Their key discovery was of an ancient Wonder, one that had been keeping time for innumerable ages, which they called the “Eternal Timepiece.” The device, as well as the educational materials found within the mountain, was proof that “mere mortals” were capable of creating Wonders, and that no matter how arcane or bizarre the world may seem, with the correct tools, it is possible not only to understand it but also shape it as well.

This was quite a heterodox position to take at the time—common sense, people believed, said that the bizarre artifacts found in ruined facilities were obviously placed there by malevolent gods as temptations for the foolhardy, or they were gifts from trickster spirits, or they were the pride of the ancient ones made manifest in the world, that sort of thing. The idea that a person—a mere mortal like anyone else—could have ever been capable of creating such puissant devices was a view only espoused by the ignorant or the deranged.

So when the Timekeepers’ founders announced their discovery, that a mountain fastness held evidence to show that while their theory was heterodox, it was also correct, the powerful did not receive the news in good humor.

Hide the Flame, Lest Others Quench It

Countless rulers of structures political, religious, commercial, and more claimed some measure of legitimacy from the unknowable origins of their Wonders. These rulers used their supernatural possessions and holdings as proof of their right to govern, claiming that they had been chosen by the gods to do so, or bested the spirits of the Other Side for the honor, that sort of thing, Many of them, no doubt, believed the stories that they told. But the idea that the ineffable marvels of the world could be explained as the inventions of mere mortals was untenable, and as the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece wouldn’t stop spreading that “lie,” the powers of the world vowed to stamp them out. And so began the Years of Darkness.

The Years of Darkness

During this time, any accused of being a member of the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece faced terrible persecution, especially due to the fact that being accused of being a member was as being one, no matter the proof, and countless innocents lost their lives for the price knowing too much about geometry, for peering too deeply into the well of the past, or for having an interest in old ruins. Many Timekeepers hid in these old ruins through the Years of Darkness, trusting that few would stumble onto them accidentally if they dwelt deeply in the heart of “tainted” lands, for fear of being thought a Timekeeper themselves.

Necessity and hostile conditions honed the critical thinking skills and encyclopedic memories of many Timekeepers as they struggled to stay alive during the Dark Years, but for every artifact found or discovery made, the candle flames of far too many brilliant souls were snuffed out as well.

As for the Eternal Timepiece, it was thought fitting to safeguard it from those who would destroy what they do not understand through the use of time itself—the Founders detonated the only ten-star Obsidian Egg ever to be discovered right next to it. The area of effect was quite small, barely covering the whole of the hastily cleared-out chamber, but the first Timekeepers ensured that the device that inspired their organization’s’ birth would still be accessible to whosoever found them in the future, no matter how the War Against Reason fared.

Timekeepers Out in the Open

Eventually, attitudes towards the Keepers of the Eternal Order softened, with many seeing the learned first as valuable resources, and then as forces for progress. True, “common knowledge” says Timekeepers worship the Eternal Timepiece or the Founders who kept it safe. Though this misconception is corrected whenever it is found, Timekeepers agree that it’s an understandable position—they do venerate the ancient ones who built the Eternal Timepiece and the vault to protect it, as well as everyone who kept the metaphorical lamp of knowledge alight during the Years of Darkness, founders and regular Timekeepers alike.

To honor these sacrifices, Timekeepers use the syllabary and spoken language of the ancient ones as their official written and spoken tongue. (It also helps that faculty with this language makes comprehending historical artifacts and ruins somewhat easier, of course.) While few people besides the Timekeepers themselves speak or write Ancient as their native tongue, its usefulness in trade and diplomacy have caused it to spread quickly as a second language, much to the organization’s delight. After all, communication is key to understanding, and understanding is key to the Timekeepers.

Also key to the Timekeepers—ensuring that the legacy of the Clockmakers and the Founders does not wind down, but continues every onward, just as the Eternal Timepiece itself. To that end, there are as many explorers and teachers among the organization as there are engineers and scholars. Many a small community owes their understanding of hygiene, or the literacy of their children, or the repair schematics for certain devices to the Timekeepers who shared that knowledge with them.

Adventure Hooks:

Lessons Lamplighters Do Not Want to Teach

The PCs have been asked by the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece to assist one of their number in the humble double-village of Llaidwithyn-Garn (so long as one stands on the eastern shore of the Great Rill, of course, or else it’d be referred to as Garn-Llaidwithyn). The individual in question is a synthetic being called “Adhoc” who’s served as the double-village’s only lamplighter after their last teacher passed away. By all accounts, Adhoc has been very successful in convincing the locals the virtues of education, but has recently reported issues with the spread of Nightrager ideology in the area, especially among some of her more easily influenced students.

When the PCs reach Llaidwithyn-Garn, they spy a group of Nightrager toughs following a thin woman who is very pointedly not acknowledging them. From the lamplighter scarf around her neck (a tessellation of black and white hexagons), this is clearly the person who they’ve been sent here to see. Before the PCs can intervene, however, Adhoc rounds a corner where they can see her, but the toughs cannot.

In an instant, she transforms everything from her clothing to her posture to her species. The underside of her scarf is a pale grey, which she throws over her shoulders as a sort of shawl as she seems to lose a foot of height. Her face undergoes an even more impressive transformation, with her features shifting and warping to accommodate a sucker-like mouth full of sharp hairs as well as a trio of serrated horns that sweep up from above her eyebrows. When the toughs finally turn the corner to see their quarry fled and their only sport a notoriously touchy (and venomous) Dliglossamal, they turn back the way they came, now raising their voices in a chant-song as vile as it is out of tune.

After a moment, Adhoc spies the PCs and heads their way, reverting back to her original form as she does so. “Oh,” she says, “I’ve been expecting you. Come to the schoolhouse and I’ll explain the issue.” It turns out Adhoc does need help with the Nightragers, and she is worried about violence, but not in the way the PCs might expect. “I was originally programmed for infiltration and assassination,” she says, her hands shifting into blades and needles as easily as someone else might crack their knuckles. It seems that Adhoc wants the PCs to handle the gang because if she does, she’ll kill them all, and she wouldn’t be able to bear what that’d do to her students.

Podilious Cristilamin Nwahr and His Last Crusade

According to Podilious Cristilamin Nwahr, no explorer nor adventurer has ever traveled as far as he has, escaped death as many times as he has, or smoked as many pipes of foul-smelling geargrinder as he has. If one were to ask his fellow farseekers of the Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece, it would seem that, despite his grandiloquent claims, Nwahr actually is quite the explorer. Or at least, he was. The farseeker’s age is catching up with him, and the PCs have been asked to accompany the “living legend” on what will be his last expedition before he retires to write his memoirs.

The trip will take them to a ruined facility half-buried beneath a glacier. And while the ancient machines and dead modular robots are certainly fascinating, things get hairy when some sort of subterranean quake drops a hundred tons of ice and rubble on their only way back out. Nwahr is confident that heading deeper into the facility is the way to freedom, and unable to shake the intractable old explorer’s confidence in his assertion, the PCs follow along, careful not to lose their footing on the greasy little pellets of amethyst scattered here and there the floor.

As they descend—the frequency of the pellets slowly rising the deeper they go—Nwahr displays a casual mastery of several ancient languages (not to mention a seemingly endless repertoire of dirty jokes), although it’s the former skill that most comes in handy when he suddenly stops, brushes aside a small drift of pellets with his foot, and reveals a blue enamel starburst set in the floor. The old man’s knees pop as he hunkers down and traces seemingly random scratches in the surface of the starburst with the tip of his finger. He mumbles to himself for a moment before nodding, standing up again with a grimace, and says, “Welp, I don’t plan on starting an apocalypse today, so you listen up and listen good.”

It seems that the starburst was the ancient equivalent of an industrial warning sign, and while Nwahr’s lllOOOooooooOOOlll is a little rusty, he’s fairly confident that their whole situation has gotten much dicier than he first thought. First, the little “pellets” are actually pearls of bwell suspended in a protective matrix. Bwell, it seems, has the unique property of converting regular old water molecules into an incredibly energy-dense fuel (if a little prone to spontaneous explosions), with a transformative property that propagates through any nearby water molecules like a fire through dry tinder. Second, the ancients weren’t morons—to prevent bwell from reacting with the ambient moisture in the air, it’s suspended in an incredibly stable protective matrix. That matrix isn’t perfect, however, as it starts to degrade when exposed to freezing temperatures for too long.

Nwhar’s frosted breath should as he makes this statement should hammer the point home for the PCs. “Third thing we know is that these pellets have been created recently, what with their slipperiness, and based on the number we’re seeing, I’d guess some automated bwell-maker is still operating at full steam.” The old explorer’s face looks haggard a moment before his expression changes to one of resolve. “We’re going to have to find it, shut it off, and then figure out a way to safely dispose of these pellets, and fast, because if one of them converts that glacier up top...the whole world goes kablooey.” 

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Also, please note—The Gazetteer of the Weird and all entries within it are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, so be cool.

Gultan's Reef

Place of Interest

Description

The Reefwall is named after the legendary (and potentially apocryphal) explorer named Gultan. According to the most commonly told stories, Gultan found the Reefwall when their traveling companion suddenly fell into two perfectly vertical pieces, sliced down the middle by some unseen force, a force that turned out to be the eponymous Reefwall. 

A two-dimensional wall that stretched ten feet high and over a hundred rods long, the Reefwall appears to be made of pale gray stone studded with numerous apertures along its length. Some are as wide as a hand while others are so large that one could walk through without crouching. A semi-transparent, rose-colored liquid covers the apertures, which flows up into a series of intricately carved channels that ring the apertures, pulling the roseate substance up towards the top of the wall, where it’s converted it into a sheet of pink mist that rises into the sky.

But while the exterior of Gultan’s Reefwall is odd (and its endpoints are dangerous), it’s what lies within it that draws explorers, scholars, merchants, and more to this Place of Interest: the eponymous Gultan’s Reef.

Quirks
A Reef of Invisible Water

The Reef gets its name from what look like coral reefs found within it, colorful forms that seem almost hybrids of rocks and plants, all rough exteriors, numerous branches, and leaf-like blades that slowly sway in unseen currents. The creatures that inhabit the Reef are just as varied (and just as strange) as those found within terrestrial seas and skies, although it can be difficult to differentiate between those that “fly” and those that “swim,” and perhaps such a strict line need not be drawn between the two at all. Why?

Because the “water” within the Reef...isn’t. Those who enter most apertures in the Reefwall find themselves swimming through what feels like water, but the viscosity of the “water” inside the Reef varies greatly, ranging from “molasses” to “water” to “foam” to “air” to “vacuum,” and there are occasions and locations where things change from one end of the scale to the other without warning. 

Thus, for the purpose of safety, the Guild of Gultan’s Guides (a troupe of explorers who offer their services to those interested in safely exploring the Reef), prevent free travel through just any aperture. Some are forbidden to the casual explorer for fear that they may underestimate the dangers of the seductive fire fountains or incorrectly calculate the timing needed to navigate the Foamstone Labyrinth. Others are barred to all, deemed too dangerous for even hardened veterans to enter, with what lies beyond those portals better left undisturbed (and even unthought of, for fear of the consequences...)

Forcefield “Bubbles”

Though the Reef may hold dangers within it (not to mention the deadly, two-dimensional edges it sports on either terminus), there are a handful of safety measures that seem built—or grown—into it, and chief among them are the forcefield bubbles.

Those who enter the apertures in the Reefwall and who pay close attention during the process will notice themselves sheathed in a whisper-thin membrane of the same roseate liquid that covers the holes themselves. This membrane allows nonindigenous beings to enter Gultan’s Reef with a moderate supply of air (depending on one’s respiratory needs, of course) as well as the ability to see while in the Reef—as far as can be discerned, no natural light sources have ever been found there.

These sheaths work in reverse as well, enclosing whatever items or objects explorers bring back from the Reef in a similar (if somewhat thicker and slightly stickier) version of that same pink membrane. If not returned to the Reef in a few days time, objects so enclosed will melt into a kind of dark green slurry before they and the forcefield “shell” dissipate completely. 

Merchants Along the Wall

Luckily, for all those interested in plumbing the depths of the Reef in search of treasure (both natural and artificial), there is a way to remove objects from their forcefield bubbles...for a price. The exact process involved is a highly guarded secret (only the Gallowglass and Nrw’Mrw’Prw merchant families possess it), but any who visit the Reef and wish to bring home a souvenir simply pay the fee to either clan and receive their prize.

Other goods and services for hire along the Reefwall include food, beverage, and intoxicants; guides to the most picturesque areas of the Reef; guides to some of the more dangerous places of the Reef; collectors interested in purchasing rare flora and fauna; purveyors of neural maps and navigational aids; and more.

In addition, it’s traditional for those exploring the Reef on for the first time to pay homage to Gultan’s lost companion by paying for a special token to hang on one of the end posts constructed to keep others for suffering the same fate. Purchase of the token goes to funding the Guild of Gultan’s Guides, as well as maintaining the safety end posts themselves, and it’s said that hanging the token (or paying someone to have it hung for you) increases your chances of a safe return from the Reef. 

NOTE: The tradition pertains to one’s first foray into the Reef. Those who claim it’s a requirement each time one enters are thieves and charlatans, and should b reported to the Guild of Guides immediately.

Adventure Hooks:

• A pair of spouse smiths have recently started offering arms and armor incorporating pieces of the roseate forcefield that encases objects brought back from the Reef. According to rumor, the pair discovered a way to preserve the forcefield “shells” rather than the objects insides them, and then are able to work the wondrous material into useful equipment. No one’s quite sure how they manage the feat, but both the Gallowglass and the Nrw’Mrw’Prw are willing to pay a significant amount to anyone who can discern their secret.

• The adventurers break up a fight between an angry explorer and a sputtering guide. According to the explorer, the mindmap purchased from the guide was inaccurate. The guide maintains their wares are only of the utmost quality. Is the guide a charlatan, or has the interior of Gultan’s Reef really changed?

• Unbeknownst to any along the Reefwall, Kaz-Maz the Gregarious (a local scholar and eccentric) has successfully cultured a piece of coral from the Reef in their laboratory’s largest aquarium, and it has started to produce the invisible “water” of the Reef. Unfortunately, Kaz-Maz has gone missing, and with no forcefield bubble to contain it, the level of “water” is rising. What’s worse, Kaz-Maz’s laboratory is hidden, dug into a nearby hillside, so the first that any might be aware of the problem is when a torrent of invisible liquid rushes down the hill and toward the Reefwall...

• A rumor has spread to all nearby towns that someone discovered a Wonder in the Reef that purports to show the way to Gultan’s treasure horde, a vast collection of wealth and powerful Wonders that Gultan stashed in a hidden section of the Reef where no one would be able to find it without the Wonder. As a result, countless treasure-hunters have descended upon the Reefwall, and the locals are making money hand over fist. But is there any truth to the rumor? And if so, where is the Wonder that will show the way to the horde? 

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Also, please note—The Gazetteer of the Weird and all entries within it are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, so be cool.

Order of the Immovable Anchor

Organization

Description:

While commonly thought of as the militant arm of the more scholarly Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece, the Order of the Immovable Anchor is technically a separate sodality. The two groups do work closely together, however, with the Timekeepers often providing archival, research, and analysis services to the latter, while the Anchorites help to subdue, fortify, and guard relics and ruins of interest to the former.

At its core, the primary purpose of the Order is to protect the fabric of reality from unraveling, whether due to the creation of time paradoxes, careless use of Wonders, bumbling explorers in Places of Interest better left untouched, the effects of creatures like angular hounds and frictive emancipators, or other sources.

While the missions of both associations focus on the powers of ancient relics and locations, they differ in outlook. Keepers of the Eternal Timepiece wish to study and experiment with these bizarrities not only to learn better how to harness their power, but also to improve sophonity’s understanding of the universe at large. The Order of the Immovable Anchor, however, knows far too well that Worldsnarls (i.e. anything that would threaten to fray or unravel the fabric of reality) are much easier problems to create than to solve, and that the end to all things might be caused merely by an over-eager Timekeeper with clumsy fingers.

Emblem:

A black ship’s anchor centered on a fractured circle that’s half green and half blue. The anchor is outlined in gold, and the gold seems to “seep” from this outline to slowly fill in the cracks in the emblem.

Motto:

“Reality Will Unravel Before We Do”

Prominent Figures:

Worldwarden

• The title held by the Order of the Immovable Anchor’s founder, Argden Kel-Min-Ha, as well as each leader to have succeeded hir.

• The current Worldwarden is Bellamie Vorn, a taciturn figure renowned for their quick wit, sharp tongue, and the intricately filigreed iridium walking chair in which they ride like a robed spider. (Rumor has it that Worldwarden Vorn lost the use of their biological legs in the same ruin where the walking chair was discovered and managed to physically wrestle the device into accepting them as its master.)

Waymaker

• The Waymaker is in charge of the Order’s chief armory, ensuring that all itinerant Anchorites have the means to protect themselves and others as they patrol in search of potential threats to reality.

• The current Waymaker is Tahan Qulla. Despite her trembling hands, stooped frame, and snow-white hair, Waymaker Qulla’s aged appearance belies her near-supernatural faculties with every weapon in the Order’s armory. It is said that the Waymaker once forestalled a rampaging taltherizin with nothing more than a sternly arched eyebrow—a tale believed by any Anchorite caught failing to care for their weapon as thoroughly as they should and forced to face her wrath.

Gatesealer

• The Gatesealer is in charge of securing the Order’s network of Worldsnarl vaults. Those that can be safely moved and secured are brought to Anchor’s Rest, chief fortress of the Order. Those that are too difficult to transport (whether they’re too large, or heavy, or delicate, etc.) are instead guarded where they’re located by Anchorite chapters, and vaults are often constructed around them. The Gatesealer is responsible for maintaining the viability of these chapterhouses and their vaults.

• The current Gatesealer’s persona is now called [Brittle Water/Third/Kebblite/Semi-localized], though a version of that Sebbinix has held the position of Gatesealer since the Battle of Hegden Pass (where it experienced its first mind-death). Thanks to its ability to distribute aspects of its sensorium and consciousness, every Anchorite chapterhouse is under the watchful “eye” of Brittle Water, and those large enough to house Sebbinix mindfragments can rely on the Gatesealer’s wisdom as well.

Other Information:

Anchorites vs Timekeepers

Over the years, disagreements between the Timekeepers and the Anchorites on the subject of how to handle powerful Wonders and Places of Interest have ebbed and flowed in intensity, only reaching a peak at the Battle of Hegden’s Pass. There, two stars of an Obsidian Egg were activated (see the entry on ‘Battleside’ to learn more about the effects of an eight-star Egg).

When the aftermath was contained and the casualties given what mercies they could, both sides agreed that conflict between them would only endanger the world. The death of a Timekeeper, after all, represents the destruction of knowledge that could prove vital to the safety of the world, while the death of an Anchorite meant the absence of a defender of the Fabric against whatever Worldsnarl might threaten reality next.

And so the organizations agreed to the Hegden’s Pass Accords, a set of guidelines and treaties that would bring them closer together, resulting in an alliance so entangled, most are surprised to learn the two define themselves as discrete groups.

Foundation of the Chapter of the Lost

Not all within the Order were pleased with the Hegden’s Pass Accords, however. The cynics—or realists, as they’d called themselves—in the Order understood the seductive hold that Wonders can pose not only to those with more brains than sense (like the Timekeepers), but to the very weft and warp of the fabric of reality itself.

And so the Assistant Worldwarden at the time secretly laid the foundation for what would become the Chapter of the Lost—an organization within an organization prepared to do whatever it took to keep dangerous Wonders and places of interest not only secure from dangers within and without, but to ensure that these potential Snarls go forgotten, unnoticed, and unfound.

The secret chapter gets its name from the honor bestowed upon members of the Order who not only fall in the line of duty, but do so in a way that their remains are unidentifiable, or no longer perceivable in this universe. To become a member, an individual Anchorite must prove themselves utterly committed to the cause of protecting the Fabric, no matter the cost; have no spouse or children; and be willing to undergo extensive physical changes not only to hide their identities, but also make them better able to survive their mission. Those who join the Chapter of the Lost understand that doing so will mean an end to their old lives. Almost everyone they’ve ever known will think of them as dead.

Adventure Hooks:

• The hot springs in the Malachite Gardens are famed throughout the empire for their restorative and medicinal properties. However, even the utmost efforts of the Garden’s healer-florists are unable to calm the madness of a wandering (and somewhat violent) mendicant who not only claims membership in a “secret chapter” of the Order of the Immovable Anchor, but that if the Shattered Serpent’s Son—the Wonder that circles above the Gardens and key to their healing properties—isn’t repaired in ten days time, it will become a Worldsnarl. The healer-florists are fairly certain these claims are naught but the phantoms of a diseased mind, but any adventurers currently visiting the Gardens might want to speak to the “mad” mendicant themselves.

• Rumor has it that the overzealous inspectors of the local Anchorite chapter have confiscated the latest acquisition of a wealthy collector of ancient relics. As members of the Order, the inspectors have carte blanche to operate as they see fit in the region, so there’s no legal mechanism by which the collector can reclaim their property. But if someone were to “acquire” said relic from the chapter’s vault and return it to its rightful owner, those noble brigands could expect to be handsomely rewarded for their act of justified lawbreaking in the face of the Order’s overreach.

• While at the Emerald Emperox’s Zero-G Masquerade (celebrating the 100th year of the Emperox’s reign), an Anchorite champion runs into some acquaintances—the adventurers. The champion explains that they have reason to believe that a cultist of the Awakened Dreamers has somehow secreted a Calabi–Yau destabilizer into the monarch’s currently-empty throne. When the Emperox takes their seat at the end of the night, the destabilizer will activate, and the consequences will be dire. The Anchorite entrusts a device that should contain the destabilizer to the adventurers and vanishes before they can ask any questions. Question is: how can you trust anyone’s word at a masquerade?

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If you enjoy my work and would like to see more stat-less bizarrities, places of interest, odd creatures, and strange settlements, please support me on Patreon or Ko-fi! (Non-monetary support is always welcome, too. Spread the word of the #WeirdGazetteer far and wide!)

Also, please note—The Gazetteer of the Weird and all entries within it are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, so be cool.