Kith and Kin: d12 Campaign Settings

 Some settings in Kith and Kin. These are all survival-sandboxes, just with a different (likely changing) status quo for each one. Some are easier to survive in than others.

1. Verdant Labyrinth

Life flourishes in the eternal rainforest, even the fires from the heavens or the monuments of great empires only scar it for a generation, before the Green closes in and reclaims what rightfully belongs to it. Tribes cautiously migrate among the tangle of life, for while the tangle feeds all equally, so too does it hide both hunter and hunted. They are not alone, as animal life surges with equal vitality to the green itself, and things far more alien dance on branches that should not hold their weight. Even the plants themselves can be dangerous, to those who lack knowledge. The berries of one tree may make a feast, while those of another may be filled with the most potent of poisons. Yet these are said to barely compare to the secrets hidden deep in the tangled green itself. Some of these hidden secrets are sure to still live, not a ruin swallowed by the rainforest, but a place in tandem with it.

2. Along the Great River

For generations many tribes have called the savannahs home, the era has been one of peaceful stagnation. Now, however, some have settled along the great river, building monuments to their revered leaders and to spirits who's names you have never heard, and who's nature is different to those you are familiar with. The spirit of the river grows restless, and thus so do all other spirits along its bank. Soothsayers see fires on the futures horizon, but if they are the fires of a warm hearth, or of a great conflagration, none yet can say. The future remains unwritten, even as some prepare for conflict, and some prepare for new alliances.

Ring of Brodgar, Orkney

3. Valley of Megaliths

The stones were here before all others. Great matricies and concentric circles of immense megaliths, set into the earth to ensure their lasting stability. Many are etched with strange symbols and diagrams of a nature unknown. Their very presence seems to charge the valley with a spiritual presence. Who built them, none who still live can say. As new cultures establish themselves in this strange place, the spirits grow restless. Rumors and stories of strange figures with burning eyes, wearing cloaks as black as pitch, of man and beasts with with masks that depict the other and of things far far stranger still, emerging from hidden places deep within the earth, and wandering among the great megaliths. The entire valley holds its breath, waiting.

4. The Archipelago

Humanity thrives, the islands and the sea grant bounty incomprehensible, but the spirits of the sea remain ineffable and inhuman. Each island, or small cluster of islands, holds but one tribe that lives by the grace of the islands spirit, the tribes patron. A comfortable situation, for most, as even an uncaring spirit may show kindness on a whim. But spirits that have been active for generations have grown silent, and spirits that have laid dormant for ages have begun to stir. Mountains that billow plumes of smoke and ash whisper prophecy, and things who's forms belong to no animal recognized by the islanders reach for the surface and invade the dreams of mortals. Few are unaffected, especially as strange groups have started to form, seeking to understand the mysteries of the deep.

5. The Eternal Winter

Creeping ice and snow is all that is known to the tribes who dwell here. The night, temporarily held at bay by the soft rays of the sun, laughs with glee. The dead grow restless as the dark encroaches, and spirits darker still creep between the pines. The glacial spirits of the great mountains of ice hold their court with no concern for the brief flickering flames of mortal life. Food is scarce, even between the evergreens. But still the living endure, even as things that never should be named lurk just beyond the edge of the camps, eager to snatch away what scraps of life they find. When summer comes, there is brief respite as the latest of snow melts under the brief surge in the suns strength, but when the deep winter returns, the daylight is swallowed by midnight for an entire moon.

Thorn Tree, In the Namib Desert

6. The Deserts Due

The Desert is a harsh land. Its shifting dunes and mirages confound even the keenest of senses. Yet even here, humanity endures. The hardy plants that grow here act as a source of nurturing water, their roots and berries filled with the essence necessary for life itself, and game is equally vital to the survival of those who dwell here. The great tribes that dwell here migrate between great oases, who's spirits favor may be the life or death of entire cultures. Yet even those who do not rely on the oases may survive. Spirits of illusion, flame and sand rush through the desert, and all pay their due to the great storm spirits, for when the rain comes the harsh scarcity of the desert is banished for a short time.

7. Herders of the Steppes

The mammoth steppes are a testament to the vast power and scale of the great Mammoths, for their very presence forces the spirits to acquiesce to their will. While the mammoths are hunted occasionally, the cultures here prefer to herd smaller animals. Goats, Yak, Auroch and more. This has been for millennia, but strange times are always ahead. The spirits the herders so revere have begun to recognize the presence of a few mighty spirits, who's potency and scope are said to cover the whole of the steppe, and who's wisdom is said to elevate them yet further. This new paradigm has split the herders, some of whom differ to these new mighty spirits, some of whom wish to continue the elder ways. A few, however, turn to darker things, sorcerous arts to enslave spirits, either to field against the new paradigm, or for it.

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China

8. Sky-Spires of the Alchemists

Great spires of earth reach for the heavens and in the forests between them people make their lives. The peaks of these great mountains are reserved for the most sacred of shrines, wisest of mystics and the spirits themselves, for few others even survive the treacherous journey. Rope-bridges and ladders make the journeys easier, but the fear alone makes even these journeys harsh. In recent years, some trained by the mystics and who possess knowledge of the stones and herbs have taken to a novel path of study, refining and studying the physical and metaphysical properties of the substances of the world. The spirits aid and hinder this path equally, and the old authority is split. Does this new path equate with Sorcery? Or Mysticism? Or is it something entirely new?

9. Endless Village of Stone

Where land meets sea at the mouth of a great river, the First City sprawls. Founded so many generations ago that none know its true origin anymore, it stretches from horizon to horizon and beyond, its great concentric walls divide it both from the outside, and the inside. The hundreds, potentially thousands, of spirits once of the land it now occupies, were granted shrines and temples to satisfy their need for a dwelling, and they have grown potent and strange off of the worship, sacrifices and environment of the city. The culture of the city is far different than you are used to, there are classes and inheritance and poverty, but so too is there strange hope and joys. Yet there are whispers of something beneath the city, that it was not the first to stand here, that the sewage system connects to deeper tunnels where things stranger than spirits dwell.

10. The Sacred Delta

Of all the lands, this delta holds the most sacred substances known. A vast delta that becomes an even vaster wetland. There are dozens, perhaps hundreds of different entheogenic substances here, such that even some animal life is said to bestow visions when consumed. The great spirit of this place is not a passive occupant, like others. A many-headed serpent-crocodilian of venom and poison, who slays by simply severing the spirit from the flesh. Yet it is not an evil spirit, merely wild and protective. A necessary trait to have, for those from outside the delta sometimes seek to conquer it for its rich mystical bounty, wielding enchanted and metal weaponry, yet none have succeeded thus far.

11. Desolation

Mountains upon mountains, climbing high into the clouds. Lava flows and noxious fumes plume into the skies, and the rains carry the very hunger of the earthly spirits themselves, eating away at metal and flesh. This land is the most hostile to life of all mentioned thus far, its spirits are wild and uncaring for the living and even other spirits. Burning serpentine beasts wheel through the heavens and hungering beasts descend from the clouds of noxious fumes, riding the acidic rain itself. So few dwell here that some call it bereft of all folk. Yet there are pockets of life even here, clustered in caves and rock shelters, only daring to leave to hunt and forage when things are relatively calm.

12. Islands Woven by Hand

In the open ocean, life is lived by boat or by island. The seas bring bounty that cannot be measured, but so to does it bring doom and hardship. Most of the open ocean live by the sails of their great ships, pausing briefly at islands and beseeching the spirits of wind and storm to aid them in their travel. Yet a new innovation has arisen. Certain sea plants can be forced to grow upon other structures, anchoring too them. It was first used by those nautical nomads, to cultivate food as they travel, supplementing their diets, stabilizing their ships (albeit slowing them down a fair bit), and acting as a lure for aquatic game. However, some island cultures have learned to use it to artificially expand their island homes, weaving vast nets of tough sea-plant anchored to cliff-faces, coral reefs and other tough shallow places. Thanks to this innovation, the population and power of these island-tribes has boomed. Yet the sea may not tolerate much more intrusion into its dominion, and though these floating villages are hardy and flexible, they have yet to become fully immune to the ravages of the great storms.

Inspiration List

Verdant Labyrinth is inspired by how some rainforests, if given the right infusion of soil-repairing nutrients, can transform a very deforested and lifeless zone into more rainforest in just a decade or two.

Along The Great River is basically proto-Egypt or proto-Mesopotamia. Any "river valley leads to sedentary culture" case really.

Valley of Megaliths is inspired by the various megalithic sites around the globe, and the notion of living among the remnants of a much older culture.

The Archipelago is mostly inspired by, of all things, the How To Train Your Dragon books, but its mostly my invention. If it lines up with any real cultural stuff that'd be neat, but I kind of doubt it.

The Eternal Winter is basically circumpolar land meets a bunch of undead, dark spirits and ice-fairies.

The Deserts Due is mostly just inspired by how desert forager cultures live, with little else. The spirit description is probably inspired by Djinni and similar concepts though.

Herders of the Steppes is inspired by some of the history around the Proto-Indo-European cultures, the idea being that this is before even them, the "Gods" are new in this one.

Sky-Spires of the Alchemists is inspired a little bit by Avatar: The Last Airbender (with mystics living on the top of spire-like mountains), but is mostly an excuse to have the emergence of Alchemy (neither "western" or "eastern", ideally an invented tradition) in this setting.

Endless village of stone pulls a bit from City of A Hundred Gods, but also from pretty much every other fantasy metropolis.

The Sacred Delta is an old setting of mine (initially for Pariah), and probably has these floating in the rivers and wetlands (but more in line with pariahs entheogen format).

Desolation is inspired by "The Great Dying", the worst extinction event that has occurred thus far on earth, but also by the Siberian Traps, which are the result of the volcanic shit that caused it.

Islands Woven By Hand is one of my favorites of these, but I think I need to write out a full post before I'm actually satisfied with it. The seaweed-net stuff is cool, but I think I'll need to go into detail about it before I'm fully fine with it. Inspiration-wise I'm unsure.

The places where its harder to survive have less "plot" going on since the likely focus is going to be "survive." Not that I wouldn't put some shifting status quo in the background...

Anyways, I'll probably have more of these locked and loaded sooner or later. These being both settings and lists/tables like this.

Some Spirits

 System agnostic and/or FKR. Your pick. Even if I was making them for OSE, I wouldn't give them stats. Spirits aren't mortal, and you aren't going to be able to hit them hard enough to do anything permanent to them. You don't get that luxury.

(That isn't to say you can't physically punch a spirit. It might be possible, especially with those who have very material manifestations, but its not going to do much more than buy some time.)

CW for the "Skindog" entry. Body horror, mutilation, (both specifically around skin and eyes), desecration of the dead, and a fucked up fantasy disease (like hypothermia on sterioids).

The others are nicer I promise.

Great River Spirit

It is the spirit of the river that fuels all life at its banks, and the savannahs beyond it. A serpent covered in green fur, or perhaps river-algae, nine paces wide and of a length that cannot be estimated. Some say it winds forever, slithering through both the material and immaterial worlds.

Around its head, the "fur" forms a great mane, like that of a lions, though green as the rest. It has the face of a human, androgynous and breathtakingly beautiful, though its ears are pointed, furred and swivel like those of a deer. A bulls horns sprout from its head, a crown one is truly born with. It opens its mouth and there are great fangs as long as scimitars, rows and rows and rows that seem to open to eternity. Its eyes are like great black pearls set into its face, with rings of glowing gold set in as irises.

Though its manifestation is great, it is not a showy spirit. It manifests infrequently, more often as a mere premonition. Ripples in the river that go against its flow, impossibly. A glimpse of its fur, the glint of gold in the silt. These glimpses are held by the wise ones to be signs of its favor, or its displeasure. Though most often it alternates between passive disinterest and cautious curiosity.

It is a spirit that comes and goes as it pleases. Only the truly mighty and skilled could ever hope to summon, bind or exorcise it. And even then, it likely would not stick...

To channel a fraction of its power grants one a measure of control over the currents and flooding of its river, and a degree of influence over any river one may encounter, as their spirits would instinctively recognize the favor of their kin.

It is said to be able to teach one the arts of the serpents, to strike empty handed and yet leave venom in your foes blood, to twist and flex in impossible ways, and to take upon the very form of a serpent, but if so it has not shared this secret in generations.

Mushwisps

They dwell beneath the soil of forests of many kinds, though they favor those that grow the sacred mushrooms. They are spirits of connection, of mutualism and symbiosis, and so it is kindness and aid that can bring their favor.

Their appearance is preceded by the sprouting of sacred mushrooms, typically in circular, spiraled or networked patterns. This is a gift they give willingly and freely, as the mushrooms would have to sprout regardless.

They do not often manifest, but one can see them if they partake of the sacred substances. They look like glimmering cobwebs, dancing on winds that do not exist. The "cobwebs" flicker and glow with different colors, dancing between them all at once. Other sorts of spirits, unique or common, may dance among them, as they are an easy companion to make.

They often congregate in great numbers, for individually they are little more than a flicker of power. They are never alone, even when they are not congregating, and they will favor those that seek companionship and help, as well as those who give it, drawing them together.

All spirits are difficult to channel, but these ones require little in the way of convincing. However one cannot channel only one of them, and it is very difficult to convince only a few of them to, for they are reluctant to part individually.

If one succeeds, they find that they grow luckier in opportunities for mutualistic relationships, in forming relationships, and if they are learned in the Arts they will find that sympathetic magic gleefully springs to their fingertips. However, the host will come to find that perishables that remain in their presence for more than a day are prone to sprouting mushrooms. These will often be common ones, but occasionally rarer ones may emerge...

Lunar Owls

They are meddlers, and prefer to manifest, rather than simply observe. They are preceded by the sight of blood diffusing in waters that are illuminated by a full moon. This is a major component of rituals to summon them, which must be conducted under the full moon.

They sometimes simply take the form of an owl, albiet one in impossible shades and sizes. Like the owl, they fly silently and hunt with absolute precision, but this is not why they are summoned.

More often, they take a theriocephalic form. They appear as nude figures, of any gender or combination, albeit lacking genitalia and nipples. They have an owls head with eyes like the full moon, dextrous birds-feet with great talons for feet and hands, and either great wings with a wingspan of six times their considerable height, or a cloak of owl-feathers.

Their skin is extraordinarily smooth, like that of a baby, or like silk, and so pale as to almost be luminescent under the moonlight. This gives them their most common euphemism, "Ghost-Owls."

They deal in memories, blood and secrets, and they will exchange these with a subject. They are not hunters, despite their skill, they "partners" and "patrons." They will exchange much for blood, and when it is agreed to be given their beaks will open, and a long spiny tongue will emerge to swiftly swipe away their payment.

It is said that there are very few of these spirits who descend to the earth regularly. They are prideful and find the mortal world to be beneath their interest. Those that do offer arcane and sorcerous secrets in exchange for blood, but the blood required to learn such things is far to much for just one to bare. This concerns them little.

They can be warded with certain herbal smokes and ritual chants, protective circles, as well as by the coming of the dawn, and by lunar eclipse.

To channel their power, one must regularly offer blood. The source is irelevant, but they enjoy variety. Do this, and they will grant you their ability to see through illusions and lies, to move silently, and to move through the air impossibly. Please them especially well, or provide genuinely enthralling entertainment, and they may offer arcane secrets for very little or even no blood. However, to host their spirit is to take upon their thirst, and while normal food and drink will sustain you, nothing with match the rush of fresh blood.

Skindogs

Conjured by sorcerers of a darker disposition, these spirits make a dangerous, though valuable, reperitore of servants. Native to the darker pits of the Lands of the Dead, these spirits coagulate from bloodshed, venom, defilement and hatred that persists beyond death.

Their unmanifest presence can be ascertained by the clotting of blood, the unforeseen worsening of the effects of venoms and poisons, and the nervousness of animal life, which will become quiet as they move through the world.

They are horrifying when manifested. Imagine a dog that can walk upright as a man, imagine it can hold tools and weave delicately with its hands, imagine it stripped of all its skin, with its eyes left as pitch black pits in its skeletal face. Imagine it may laugh a pitched laugh and descend upon its victims with claws and fangs dripping with dark malice. Imagine what act must be performed to bring such a thing into this world.

Their claws and fangs are not venomous in the way a snakebite is. They carry a dark curse, rather than a physical venom. Victims will find themselves with a horrific fever, that slowly gives way to a dark chill. Unlike freezing to death, there is not the mercy of an eventual warmth as your body ceases to be able to recognize the cold. This curse will force the chill to grow impossibly deeper.

In the terminal stages, visions assail the victim. They can glimpse the world of the dead. Far more unfortunately, the Skindog will be able to track the victim so long as the curse exists in their veins.

Those unfortunate who fall victim to them will perish, but the Skindog may yet inhabit their corpse, driving it to further horrors. The spirit will tend to mutilate the body ritually, stripping away skin and eyes.

They are summoned by a defiling blood rite. A corpse must be ritually prepared, for the spirit to emerge from, and a bowl of blood must be mixed with a toxic substance of some kind. The resulting mixture must be poured over the body and its eyes and lips (at the very least) must be removed. If successful, the creature will inhabit the corpse, and may yet emerge from it.

If channeled, they allow you to infuse your weapons, bites and magic with their accursed venom, though you will suffer from constant pain that you will never, never grow completely used to.

Binding it is a different matter. Exorcisms involve salts, healing herbs, spices and incense, all of which drive the spirit to a destructive fury, yet force that fury inward. Though not guaranteed to succeed (unless an impressive amount of each substance is used), the spirit will likely appear to tear itself apart from sheer rage. The spirit has in fact, died. However the spirit was already dead, and may yet be summoned again. Similar treatments can purge its curse from its victims, and must be done so before or after its death, for if the victim does die in the later stages the spirit can use them as a way back into the land of the living.

The Thing That Fell

Of all the spirits presented thus far, this one is most associated with a physical location.

As you approach it, the rainforest grows more and more tangled, and more and more active, until you are fighting against actively coiling vines and swaying trees to get through. They hold no malice, they do not even realize you are there. Cutting through will only cause them to grow more tangled, as they supernaturally burst with yet more vitality. Move with the plants, and you will find passing through a simple (though drawn out), process.

Eventually you will emerge from the tangle, into the crater itself. The plant life refuses to move or grow into the crater itself, forming a wall of sorts.

The crater is enormous. A kilometer wide and half a kilometer deep, and there at its heart, that which fell from the heavens.

Once you come within a quarter of a kilometer of the great thing, the sky will change. Regardless of the time, it will be lit as if it were twilight, and stars will be visible. Strange stars you have never seen, in colors that stars never are.

It will be like the night sky completely unblemished by light that would interfere with you seeing it, yet alien. No milky way, but spirals and networks and contorted globular formations. All alien. All beautiful.

Reading this sky may reveal many things, but this is beyond the scope of this post.

The object at its heart is impossible. A glossy black geometric object of uncountable and ever-shifting sides and vertices, etched with constantly shifting glyphs and sigils. It is ten meters wide, and when coming within tens of meters of it, reality will seem to become more fluid. You will find inconsistencies in how you percieve the earth beneath you, the rainforest beyond and even the dimensions of space and time. The sky will remain unchanged, and the fallen things position and properties will be unchanged. All else will seem inconsistent.

Making contact with the object will allow you to channel its power if you possess the necessary skill, otherwise you will fall into a trance and find yourself outside of the crater, having lost several hours of time. If you succeed it will grant you some strange property or ability which defies the rules of creation. What you gain is not consistent. Perhaps you can find faster ways between two places than a straight line, or perhaps you can impose a bit of its destabilizing nature on the world around you, or perhaps you learn the secret to some strange new form of sorcery.

When you dream, you will dream of the Fallen Thing and the alien sky. You will dream of strange places that you've never been. You will dream of other skies as well, all alien, many with objects you do not have names for. When your mind wanders, the sky will seem to warp into these alien skies.

Perhaps there are spirits you will find in these dreams, in these alien lands and skies.

If the Fallen Thing can act, it never does. If it can think, it shows no signs.