Southland: Southland Secrets 2

THE SOUTHLAND

A Fantasy Core Setting

© Jerry Harris 2014

Published here as Open Game Content.

(This link will take you to the Fantasy Core Index.)

Southland Index

Southland Secrets 2

● Meanwhile, the Commonwealth Emperor Leon is becoming increasingly irritated that the Southland is not being fully exploited of its resources because of Humanoid interference.  The military, the Circle of Elders (Paladins), and the Wizard Council have been charged with finding a “Final Solution” to the issue.  The Alice Springs outpost was established as a secret testing ground for it.  Raids into the lost colonial town of Cairns also seem to be a part of it.  They’re interested in the Necromancer’s research. 

● Yes, these guys set up the encounter in “The Thing” Sample Adventure.  They uncovered the magical ruins, set up the sign, and then buried the Mummy Zombies in the area.  It was meant to be a trap for the Humanoids.  Final Solution was remote monitoring the site.  When the characters stumbled on it, they decided to activate the trap to remove the witnesses.  They still might want to go looking for the characters.

● The Necromancer was with the “Final Solution” group at Alice Springs.  He got a little too deep in his understanding of surviving Ancient texts and magic.  He basically went insane and joined the other side.  The Humanoids think he is an Ancient because of his magic and follow him.  (He’s been promising them Vegemite as well, but he hasn’t figured out that he needs eucalyptus for it yet.)  Southern Cross Rangers are furiously searching for the Necromancer to silence him.  He knows WAY too much.   

[And you probably thought I was going to name the “Wiz” in Cross as the Necromancer in disguise.  No.  That’s so clichéd, not doing that is the twist.  But, the Wiz does know him and would like to interrogate him for knowledge, preferably before the Rangers find him.] 

● While the Humanoid Elders and the demons of Hells Gate have a common enemy (invading humans), there is no love lost between them.  The big egos and chaotic nature of the creatures involved will not let them work together at all.  The Elders are content to leave the demons alone, as long as they’re trapped.  If the demons could get loose from the keep, and were still able to stay in the Southland permanently, they’d go right after them. 

Neither side blatantly acts against the other, but there are little proxy battles going on all the time, testing each other’s defenses.  The Oriental demons (Ogre Mages and Oni’s) are the demons’ outside agents (and their own purposes in this are unknown).  Their actions have helped keep the Alice Springs outpost from being overrun by the Humanoids.  

● The Hegemony’s  plan in the Southland, the DarkContinent, and Norther March (the barbarian frontier of the Commonwealth homeland, which I’m not planning on ever detailing) is to force the Commonwealth to draw off more and more of its military resources abroad so that it can launch another invasion into their homeland.  The Oriental empire is actually aware of this.  As soon as the Hegemony starts their invasion, the Empire plans on invading the Hegemony from the west and carving them up.

● Yeah, the Gillmen are actual “space aliens.”  I probably dropped that hint in few times.  They might be an advance party (summoned by the Ancients?) or perhaps a trapped, lost colony attempt (stopped by the Ancients?).  Their underwater bubble city is a spacecraft.  Antalamya, the shell dragon, actively fighting this alien invasion.

● The dinosaurs in Tasmania were not an Ancient “Jurassic Park” genetics experiment.  There’s another portal (like Kalibarri) on the island that was used to bring them in from the past.  That portal is still actively doing so, either by its self or by some unknown force.  (Is there actually a Tasmanian Devil?  Is there a reason, other than the Bass Strait water barrier, that this island was untouched by the Catastrophe?)  There’s a network of these portals on the continent.  So far, only the Necromancer has figured out where they are (some are well hidden) and how to use them.  The Crossbones have not found the Tasmanian portal, but they are actively exploring the island for more Ancient artifacts.

● The Wizard-Kings weren’t buried at the Ayres Rock tomb.  Many were transmuted into the land itself at (wait for it) the Olgas monument next door.  The spirits in the rocks are the Wizard-Kings.  Ancient records enigmatically refer to this process as “They were returned to the earth.”  However, no one living knows this.  The spirits are so old, they don’t even remember, though they could, if reminded.

● However, that wasn’t the fate of all the Wizard-Kings.  Some wanted a physical form to match their magical power.  Thus the creation of the Dragons.  These are totally artificial magical artifacts with powerful human souls jarred into them.  This form is nearly immortal, requiring only consumed human blood to remain animated.  

These creatures’ magical nature allowed them to survive the Catastrophe, but not unscathed.  Many lost their minds or were physically damaged.  All of them lost their ability to cast spells.  As they attempted to feed on the Humanoids, the Dragons found themselves overmatched by sheer numbers.  So, most are dead, a few gone dormant from lack of blood, and a very few (Argula, Abraxus, and Antalamya) have found a protected niche. 

That Dragon “Stockpile” in the military bunker in the Nullarbor Plain are Dragon bodies that never had human souls placed into them and were never activated.  This does require an elaborate magical ceremony, none of the details of which have been found.  I wonder if the Necromancer is looking for them?