nonamazing

[nonamazing]

genuinely wild to me when I go to someone's house and we watch TV or listen to music or something and there are ads. I haven't seen an ad in my home since 2005. what do you mean you haven't set up multiple layers of digital infrastructure to banish corporate messaging to oblivion before it manifests? listen, this is important. this is the 21st century version of carving sigils on the wall to deny entry to demons or wearing bells to ward off the Unseelie. come on give me your router admin password and I'll show you how to cast a protective spell of Get Thee Tae Fuck, Capital

[nonamazing]

Fort Collins Comic Con

Yesterday, my partner and I made a long drive up north to attend the Fort Collins Comic Con. The entire experience was a delight, but the main reason we went was for the opportunity to see Aabria Iyengar (@quiddie) and Erika Ishii. They're both brilliantly creative, enthusiastic, skilled performers. I admire them tremendously and am also very envious of them both. While we were there, my partner was fortunate enough to get a signed copy of the Monster Lovers print they had shown on Instagram. But this morning, as I lay drowsily in bed, I thought, "Wait, shouldn't we have paid for that print?" In their Instagram posts, Erika and Aabria mentioned that they would be vending the prints. Fort Collins Comic Con is still pretty small, and I worried that due to normal human miscommunication some part of the signing booth might not have been organized as expected. But whether or not the prints were intended to be free, I still wanted to do something to support these remarkable individuals. So I signed up to support the Worlds Beyond Number Patreon. I really like the podcast and I'm excited to listen to some of the supplementary materials they've put together for their Patreon. And from their posts, I believe one of the main reasons they came to Fort Collins was because of the convention's support of mental health programs. So I made a small donation to the Alliance for Suicide Prevention, which was the convention's main partner this year. Thank you for coming to Colorado, Aabria and Erika! I hope you have a peaceful and safe return trip to your homes.

[nonamazing]

Every January I check in on which emulators are currently #1 🏆

I reviewed Emulation Wiki and updated my "Top Emulators" guide with the latest & greatest emulators.

So are there any updates from 2023? SameBoy is now #1 for GB/GBC. Other than that, there are no changes in the top emulator for every other system.

Note that the graphic I attached is simplified for social media. If you check out my guide, I offer different recommendations for advanced users and people with old/slow machines.

I put (*) for RetroArch since it's a multi-system emulator. Different cores power its video game emulators. And my guide states which core is recommended per system.

[nonamazing]

90% of arguments about media could just be solved by saying “different people like different things in their stories” and leaving it at that

[nonamazing]

I've had this idea running through my brain for months, and reducing it to a tight 200 word count was challenging and fun!

I am certainly okay with having this 200-word RPG archived off-site for posterity, thank you.

Designing Deities:

Designing Deities:

Phase One: In random turn order, each player selects one Domain, a broad category of reality their deity oversees (War, Magic, Time, etc.). They may choose up to two Domains, excluding the same Domain another player has chosen. This phase ends when all players have selected at least one Domain.

Phase Two: Each player selects Subdomains, detailed spheres of influence related to their Domains (Swords, Divination, Clocks, etc.). Each player may choose up to four Subdomains, or pass. This phase ends when all players pass consecutively.

Phase Three: Each player describes their deity's appearance and personality based on their chosen Domains and Subdomains.

Phase Four: Each player describes four characteristics of a Civilization their deity is associated with, such as species, government, environment, or any other possible characteristic. Each other player then adds one additional characteristic to the Civilization or passes, with the turn ending when all other players have passed. The next player then describes a new Civilization in the same manner, continuing until all players have described at least one Civilization. Players may repeat this phase as often as they collectively choose. The resulting collection of deities and civilizations becomes the setting for the players' next TTRPG campaign.

Tumblr 200-Word RPGs 2023

Last November, we did an informal game jam for folks who wanted to write something for Writing Month, but would prefer to write fewer than fifty thousand words of it. You can find the complete list of participants for that event in this post here. There's also an off-Tumblr archive of entries whose authors gave permission for them to be preserved here, if any of those links turn out to be broken.

Last year's collaboration went over well enough that I thought we might dust it off again this year. To be clear, this is just for fun – it's not a curated jam, and nobody's judging winners or handing out prizes..

If you'd like to throw your hat in, just follow these steps:

Step 1: If you're unfamiliar with 200-word RPGs, read a bunch of last year's entries (linked above) or browse the 200 Word RPG Challege archives at https://200wordrpg.github.io/ to get your brain-meats properly configured.

Step 2: Write your own 200-word RPG. If you're not sure whether you have 200 words or not (and with RPGs it can genuinely be difficult to tell!), you can use the word counter at https://200wordrpg.github.io/wordcount to check.

Step 3: Reblog this post and append your 200-word RPG.

Step 4 (optional): Please indicate in your post whether you're okay with having your 200-word RPG archived off-site for posterity – if you don't say anything one way or the other, I'll assume the answer is "no".

(As before, as a courtesy to anyone who's creeping the notes, please restrict non-200-word-RPG commentary to replies and tags until November 2023 is over – let's make the actual games easy to find!)

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/16

A chasm leads to a warren of fragmented caves deep beneath Blacksand Island, filled with dangerous creatures, part insect and part construct. But those who delve deep enough will find an entrance into a long-forgotten triton embassy, and from there into the underwater capitol of the triton civilization.

Overall:

No light sources aside from some small clusters of bioluminescent fungi

Intensely and uncomfortably cold; danger of hypothermia or exposure

A. The Climb

Rocky surface with plentiful handholds, damp but not particularly difficult to climb

Descent can be made even easier with the climbing gear found in location D, Blacksand Island

Characters that fall will likely be caught by the hive guards in location B, below.

B. Hive Entrance

Small ledge, with 1d6 insect creatures keeping watch

Cold air emanates from cave entrance here

Scorch marks around mouth of cave showing evidence that some sort of explosion happened here

C. Failed Construction

Organic material (which the hive cannot digest) has been scattered across this room in strange constructions, as if the hive were trying to build something

Rope stretched between the walls resembling something like a spider's web, making it difficult to cross the chamber.

D. Hive Prison

The hive tosses captured creatures here

Although the hive can't eat organic matter, it doesn't understand what to do with living beings, so it simply leaves them here

Severe danger of hypothermia, starvation

The hive absconds with any metal carried by a prisoner, consuming it

E. Ice Pool

Subterranean lake, now completely frozen solid

This lake is the source of the unnatural cold which permeates the caverns

The hive as a whole tends to avoid spending time in this section of the cave, only passing through on their way to location G

At the bottom of the lake is an artifact, once sacred to Githwyn, now broken, which is the source of the ice magic

The artifact may be impossible to retrieve

F. Main Hive

Dozens of hive creatures located here, clinging to walls and ceiling

Most are dormant to conserve energy

The hive leader is a 'rat king'-like creature composed of several smaller hive insects fused together

G. Descent to City

Natural crack in the earth, difficult to descend

Tracks of hive creatures showing that the hive have been moving back and forth through this passage

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/15

Location G: Lighthouse

Not a lighthouse, in fact, but more or less the opposite, this midnight-black obelisk sits on the northeast side of the island, tall enough to be visible from any other point on the island. But although the structure is easy to spot, it's purpose remains inscrutable.

The base of the tower resembles a pearlescent nautilus shell, creating a spiral staircase winding up three flights to the tower itself. About 35 feet in diameter and about 75 feet tall, the narrow obsidian surface of the tower is smooth and almost completely featureless except for a green jade keyhole on on side, about five feet off of the ground.

The tower is actually a sentient construct charged with controlling and maintaining several enchantments across the island, including the preservation enhancements on several buildings, the banishment spell that captures any ships approaching the dock, the illusion spells that hid the island from view, and the weather spells that misdirected any oceangoing traffic approaching the island. (Many years ago, before the city below was submerged, the tower protected the triton compound from airships. After the land was flooded, however, the tower was intelligent enough to adapt to the new environment.)

The tower cannot be accessed without the proper key--in this case, the arcane journal located at the dock. If the journal is plugged into the green keyhole, the tower will then respond to any verbal commands given, and provide any information asked for. It knows that some of its spells were recently disabled (the illusion and weather spells) but does not know the cause (the triton mage Colvyn, in preparation for sending an expedition to the island). It can release the ship currently being held in an pocket dimension (see Location E).

The tower is sentient, but doesn't fully have a grasp on concepts not directly related to its function. It doesn't see anything odd about the fact that the environment around it has changed, or that there haven't been any visitors to the island for many, many years. It is also not aware of the cavern beneath the island or the hive creatures dwelling there--neither of which existed when the tower was originally erected.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/14

Location F: Triton Compound

Two tall, rectangular buildings with wide windows are connected to a third, dome-shaped building by two narrow hallways. The buildings share the same triton architecture as the other structures on the island (wave-themed decorative elements, blue marble and stone with ceramic accents) and are all well-preserved.

The dome was designed as a peaceful resting place for tritons visiting the surface from the city below. A warm pool takes up most of the space in the center of the room, surrounded by dense, brightly colored vegetation intended to mimic the colors and textures of deep sea coral.

Down the hall to right is a simple storage room containing clothes, cleaning supplies, basic tools, extra chairs, and the like on the first floor, and a combination office/meeting room on the second. The two-story building down the left-hand hallway was divided into eight spacious bedrooms, for guests that would be staying for longer periods of time (as mentioned before, the majority of guests would be travelling down into the city below, but for that handful unwilling to travel via teleportation, the tritons built these rooms).

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/13

Location E: The Dock

A small dock sits on the east side of the island, with room for only a small handful of ships. A very long time ago, the tritons allowed esteemed guests to briefly use this dock for arrivals and departures, but an ancient trap makes the docks dangerous to approach.

The dock here has a two buildings on the shore side, the larger one used for storage and the smaller as an office for the staff that would have once worked here. The structures were designed to leave a good first impression on visitors--well-built, elegant, and sturdy. Along the side of one of the larger building, facing the water, is a mural comprised of thousands of pieces of ceramic tile depicting sunbeams breaking through clouds over a stormy ocean.

The magic that protects the dock wasn't intended to be lethal. Ships that approached the dock without a proper token (see Location B), were pulled into a misty pocket dimension, essentially a magical holding prison. There, unauthorized sailors would wait until triton mages could spare the time to meet with them and determine the reason for their visit.

However, since the tritons are long gone, anyone who sails into this dock without a token is essentially signing their own death certificate--trapped in a prison with no one to release them, eventually to die of thirst or starvation.

This is what happened to Felwyck's companions (see Location D). They had originally anchored their ship off the northern shore of the island and rowed in, but while Felwyck was off exploring, the crew decided to move the ship around to the dock to make it easier to retrieve supplies and to leave the island once their expedition was over.

Now, the crew is stranded in a pocket dimension, with their rations running dangerously thin. To the crew, it seems like they are lost at sea, surrounded by thick fog that never lets up.

One of the explorers, a tabaxi named Redpaw, has been camping out at the dock for several days. She's found an arcane journal in the dock office, but have no idea of its significance, nor that it can be used to control the trap that has her crewmates imprisoned. Redpaw isn't even aware that there is a trap, or that there's anyone else on the island with her--she believes her crew has left her behind, but she still hasn't given up hope that they will return for her.

She knows that Felwyck left to explore the central cavern, but hasn't heard from him since them. She thinks the arcane journal is just a hunk of carved jade, valuable but not important. She's hidden it away in her backpack, planning to sell it whenever she finally returns to shore, and she'll try to keep its existence a secret if at all possible. After all, why should she share the spoils with her crew--they left her behind for days!

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/12

Location D: Long Hall

A little south of the cavern entrance are a series of stone slabs embedded into the hillside, creating a staircase that gently curves up to the top of the hill. A well-preserved marble and stone building sits atop the hill.

This hall was used for meeting with minor ambassadors, merchants, and diplomats either not important enough to be invited to the triton capitol or who were unwilling to make the trip (a surprisingly large number of people had irrational fears about teleportation).

The building's architecture is similar to the shrine at location A, but in much better shape. Like the shrine, it is open walled--numerous blue marble pillars, carved to look like waves, holding up a long rectangular roof. Unlike the shrine, however, the floors here are smooth, polished and clean, free of sand or dust. A handful of minor magical enchantments keep the protected against normal wear and tear (there were once similar enchantments on the shrine, but they were broken some time ago). The ceiling is painted to look like a crowded night sky. At night, the painted stars glow softly, providing enough light to read by.

It may occur to player characters that the hall is an excellent place to camp. They wouldn't be the first to think that. At the south end of the hall, a couple dozen bags, backpacks, and bedrolls are arranged in a semi-circle around a small campfire. Among the supplies are food, fresh water, warm clothing, and an abundance of high quality climbing gear and hundreds of feet of rope.

There is a note pinned to one of the bedrolls:

"I waited here for you for two days. Where did you guys go? And why did you move the boat? I know that you wouldn't have abandoned me...

I'm assuming that you went back to see Colvyn for more supplies. I hope nothing's gone wrong. Redpaw thinks you might have intended to move the ship over to that dock we found? She's going to head there to keep an eye out for you. I'm going to continue exploring the cave, take some of the rope and spikes and start getting things set up. Come and find us when you get back, alright?"

A few weeks before the shipwreck (location A), the triton mage Colvyn sent an expedition to the island. This note was written by Felwyck, a Verdan explorer whose party disappear while he was exploring the cave beneath the hall.

Unfortunately, the other members of Felwyck's party are all indisposed (see location E for more details). Felwyck himself has been captured by the insect hive deep beneath the island, and is close to death.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/11

Location C: Cavern Entrance

A wide, low hill rises up on the southwestern side of the island, and on the eastern side of the hill is an irregularly shaped cavern entrance. Air condenses around the cavern entrance, leaving a layer of dampness on everything. After about 30 paces, the cavern floor drops out, leaving a seemingly bottomless shaft descending into darkness.

Jela, a young tabaxi sailor, is hiding near the cave entrance, wounded and unconscious (see location A for more information about Jela). He had recklessly though to climb down the shaft to see how far it went (Jela is a naturally skilled climber), but he was attacked by the insect hive that lives in the cavern, and only barely made make it back to the surface.

If given medical treatment, Jela is happy to explain what happened. He didn't get a good look at the creatures, and describes them as something like a 'wolf-sized roach-crab'. He thinks that they were afraid of the sunlight, and that's why they didn't follow him.

Fortunately, Jela's injuries aren't severe. Inspecting him closely, it appears that the wounds were from something that was trying to restrain him--he mostly hurt himself in his panic to escape, and collapsed into unconsciousness from exhaustion and shock. Someone with a very detailed sense of smell might notice that the wounds smell like metal and oil.

The cavern is much colder than it should be, just a little bit above freezing temperature. Intensely cold air drifts up from the dark shaft, causing condensation across the roof of the cavern. Jela thought that this could have been a good source of fresh water, and was tempted to climbing down by the thought that there might have been a lake or a pool at the bottom (he hoped to impress his crew and his adopted mother by finding water for them).

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/10

Location B: Shrine

A beautiful blue marble shrine sits here, long deserted. It gives off an unsettling vibe, a reminder of a great civilization fallen and a goddess lost. A statue of Githwyn stands near the entrance, the face cracked down the middle.

A flight of stairs leads up to the wall-less shrine itself, broad columns holding up a wide dome over the 60 diameter circular structure. Inside, the ceiling of the dome is painted with a diorama of marine life, at the center of which are a quarter of idealized triton warriors. Each of the warriors wields a different classical triton weapon: a trident, a net, a harpoon, and a spear. The floor of the shrine is covered in black sand blown in from outside. Beneath the sand is an intact teleportation circle, although it is currently inactive (keys can be found in the city below that will reactivate the circle and connect it to other circles inside the city).

Many years ago, a triton summoner died within the shrine after trying to escape they city. Although badly wounded, before they died they managed to deactivate the teleportation circle from this end, preventing anyone or anything from following them. Their remains can be found on the southern side of the shrine, nestled against one of the pillars. The surprisingly well-preserved triton still holds their arcane journal in one hand (a cross between a familiar and a spellbook, to be discussed in detail later) and a hammer in their other. By their side is a waterproof satchel containing various supplies (spell components, a well-made ceramic knife, empty bottles, a set of polished rocks, a wooden medallion carved to look like a ship).

The triton summoner's companion, a water elemental, has been trapped in the shrine for many years now, since the spellcaster died. It has become extremely unstable, and will likely lash out at any creatures that enter the shrine. Although it lacks intelligence, some part of it instinctively understands that if its form is destroyed on this plane, it will be banished back to its home.

As the elemental attacks, parts of its body keep transforming into ice, melting, and then freezing again. It seems to have some connection to Githwyn and her opposing duality of water and ice, perhaps because it has spent so long within her shrine, or perhaps because its home dimension is linked to hers. Repairing Githwyn's statue will cause the elemental to become calm and still, at least temporarily. Although it isn't able to communicate, the elemental will continue to stay near the triton's body, occasionally splashing droplets of water on the arcane journal and the hammer.

Destroying the journal will end the connection tethering the elemental to this plane, allowing it to peacefully leave. If kept intact, however, the journal may be valuable later on, should anyone discover how to access it and the spells stored within.

The wooden medallion in the triton's satchel is slightly magical. It is a ward needed to prevent the traps at the dock (location E) from activating.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/9

Location A: The Shipwreck

A large ship, slightly damaged, is beached on the north side of the island, with a small campfire nearby. Supplies are running low, but morale is still good. The crew of the 'Bright Red Sun' are hopeful about the prospect of rescue, and will energetically attempt to flag down any passing ships. Sharp-eyed observers may spot their smoke signals from several miles out.

The crew consider one another to be family--they are close-knit and affectionate. Despite their stressful situation, they have not given in to the temptation to bicker and fight.

The crew have gathered several flat rocks to sit on, and dragged them to the beach near their ship. Three tents have been circled around a large fire. Up to this point, the crew have maintained the fire with scrap wood from the ship, since nothing seems to grow on the island.

The captain is a gorgeous tabaxi named Rainfall. Her white fur is streaked with a pattern light blue stripes cascading down her body from her shoulders to her feet, looking like rain amongst clouds. She is soft, gentle, and caring, although perhaps a bit too unwilling to take risks. Her crew has been trying to convince her to tear apart the ship and use the wood to build a raft, but she worries that a small craft would be quickly capsized should another sudden storm appear.

The first mate, Halick, is a large owlin matron who doubles as the ship's cook, and who has been best friends with Rainfall for decades. Anyone Halick has a positive opinion of will be offered food after minutes of meeting her. Normally talkative and gossipy, Halick has been a bit reserved during the last few days, since her adopted son Jela has been missing.

Jela, the youngest of the crew, is a tabaxi boy who was adopted and raised by owlin parents. Jela volunteered to scout the island for supplies a few days ago, and hasn't returned since (he is wounded and dehydrated, hiding from the insect creatures in location C). Jela and Halick will be ecstatic to be reunited.

Pelmaris is a young nonbinary yuan-ti scholar whose logical mind helps keep the ship organized. They studied for a while on the island of Pential, but their grasp of the magical arts is still rather minimal--they preferred history and literature instead. They are able to read and write the triton language, and know a little bit about triton history and architecture.

Pelmaris' father, Niom, is a grizzled yuan-ti mercenary who was hired more for his frightening appearance than for his actual combat skill. Truthfully, he's a soft-hearted poet and pacifist who hates the idea of fighting, but he's good enough at bluffing that he can usually talk or intimidate his way out of any trouble.

Rockwater is the ship's carpenter, though in fact the middle-aged tabaxi is skilled in a number of crafts, including rock chiseling and tattooing. Rockwater is affable, loud, large around the middle, and quick to joke--a true cat dad to the crew around him. He has tried to make the crew's temporary island home a bit more hospitable by sprucing up the tents with small decorations carved from driftwood.

Five other tabaxi sailors round out the crew, but Rainfall and her first mate will likely take point in any interactions with potential rescuers. Niom tends to follow a few feet behind the captain, staying silent and trying to look intimidating.

Rainfall's main goal is to get all of her crew safely off the island. They were originally sailing north from Melin to Cerrit when a storm appeared from nowhere and blew the ship way off course--Pelmaris belives the storm was supernatural in origin, but is keeping that to themselves so as not to panic the rest of the crew. Rainfall and Halick are somewhat confident that they've landed about ten miles southwest of Melin, but have a bit of doubt about their conclusion since their maps show there's aren't any islands in that area.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/8

The recently discovered Blacksand Island serves as the entrance to a vast dungeon, complex and dangerous. But before I start getting into details about each individual location on the island, let's recap the major narrative elements that provide the background to the story thus far:

The tritons were a highly-developed civilization, skilled in both magic and science. They ruled from a sprawling city deep beneath the ocean.

The triton deity, Githwyn, was a goddess of nature, seasonal change, and balance.

About three or four generations ago, an environmental catastrophe damaged this world's weather systems, flooding the majority of dry land.

This catastrophe also changed Githwyn's outlook, turning her from a goddess of balance to a goddess of extremes. The world now violently oscillates between only two seasons--hot rain and freezing snow.

(Or was it the other way around? Did Githwyn's change trigger the environmental catastrophe?)

One major costal city, allies to the tritons, now survives only as a fragmented island chain, the highest points of the city that still remain above water.

A couple of decades after the environmental catastrophe, two triton mages retreated to this island chain and began researching ways to undo the damage that had been done. They built arcane towers on the islands of Lil and Tal.

Only a few years after they started working together, the two mages' early work was sabotaged, and their towers are destroyed. The magical disruption also caused their bodies and minds to be fused together into one creature, which called itself Colvyn.

Roughly a month ago, Colvyn secretly gathered a small group of students from the island of Pential and sent them to Blacksand Island, which Colvyn knew to be an entrance to the triton city, once used by ambassadors and diplomats.

Colvyn had previously been unable to make much headway in its explorations of the island due to an infestation of part-insect, part-construct creatures. Colvyn hoped that a skilled group of explorers could find a way to deal with the creatures.

The explorers deactivated the island's magical protections, which had previously kept it hidden in fog with currents that subtly push all ships away from the island.

One week ago, the 'Bright Red Sun', a trading vessel, crashes into Blacksand Island.

Now: the player characters become involved in the search for the missing ship, ending up on Blacksand themselves.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/7

The final island in the chain was only recently re-discovered, although it's been hiding there for quite some time! After the cut, I'll write down some brief notes about each location on the mystery island.

Overall:

Black sand, black rocks--primarily black except for buildings

Very few plants, no animal life whatsoever

A. Shipwreck

The crew of the 'Bright Red Sun' are currently camped here, stranded.

8 Crewmates ( 5 tabaxi, 1 owlin 2 yuan-ti)

One of the tabaxi is missing (lost on island)

Small campsite with supplies running low

B. Shrine

Temple to Githwyn (pre-catastrophe)

Temple is in poor condition, main statuette of Githwyn is broken

Engraved teleportation circle on floor

(Player characters will eventually find teleportation circles in the megadungeon that will return them here)

Water elemental guardian (confused and not fully in control of itself)

Triton arcane journal, supply cache left behind by triton mage

C. Cavern Entrance

Spiral tunnel leading down

Infested with giant insect-like creatures (hybrid of insect and construct)

Deeply cold, damp

Lost tabaxi solider from location A is here, wounded

D. Long Hall (Hilltop)

Free-stranding structure of marble with ceramic decoration, well preserved

Supplies and old campfire indicated a group stayed here (weeks before the ship that crashed on the island)

Supplies left behind including climbing gear, indicating whoever was here planned to delve into the cavern. What happened to them?

E. Dock

Room for no more than 2 or 3 boats

Trap: security measure sinks ships without proper clearance (specific triton magic--the arcane journal from location B would suffice)

More traces of the explorers from the camp at location D can be found here

F. Triton Compound

Two tall squarish buildings linked to a clear dome-like structure

The dome has a large, deep pool surrounded by abundant vegetation

The other buildings are intended for storage and guest quarters

G. 'Lighthouse'

Multi-level spiral staircase leading to base of tall, narrow tower

(Spiral architecture resembling nautilus shells is a common element of classical triton architecture)

Tower itself is black, featureless, without any form of entry

Key found in megadungeon below opens tower

The magic of this tower previously kept the island hidden and generated currents that kept ships away, but it has been tampered with.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/6

A little bit to the southeast of Melin are two tiny islands, Lil and Tal, both little more than desolate chunks of rock. Nothing grows on either island, and there are no communities or villages on either (not that there would really be room, even if the islands were more fertile). There is a rumor that a hermit is living on one of the islands, but no one has actually confirmed this.

Is there anything of interest on these two? Read on to find out!

In the years before the environmental catastrophe that submerged most of the land's surface, the triton civilization was by far the most advanced. Their vast capital city, located in the deep ocean, was a center of learning, both scientific and mystical. Although the tritons generally preferred a non-intervention policy with regard to other civilizations, they also tried to strike a balance between remaining isolated and sharing the fruits of their academic endeavors to other cultures.

It was in this spirit that they worked with their neighbors in a large coastal city to built a unique geothermal power plant. The plant worked on principles both arcane and practical, dredging up heat from deep beneath the earth and using it to warm the homes of the people who lived in the city.

The plant consisted of two great spires designed to pull up heat from the Earth and storing it. When the city was submerged, the plant became badly damaged, overloading and exploding into shattered chunks . The heat from the spires fused the broken rock together into the tiny islands that we know today.

Several stories speak of ruins on the islands, but these broken structures were actually built after the catastrophe that sunk the city. A pair of surviving Triton mages attempted to build towers on each of the rocky outcroppings, a foothold in their attempts to repair some of the damage caused by the environmental catastrophe. Something went wrong, however, and now neither of the towers survives intact.

As part of the same magical mishap that leveled their towers, the two triton mages were fused together into a single being, who now lives alone on the islands, occasionally traveling back and forth between the two (this is the mysterious hermit about whom there are so many rumors).

The two small islands are surrounded by fast growing coral, which has created an underwater bridge between the two of them. Some aspect of the broken magic from the power plant has been causing the coral to grow at an unbelievable rate. At some point, this may become a hazard to ships in the region.

[nonamazing]

Dungeon23 - 1/5

Continuing along our island chain from north to south. We now come across the island of Melin, a wild island with two small, relatively peaceful communities. Read on for more!

Melin has two villages, one on either side of the island, north and south. The northern village is comprised mostly of owlin, who are primarily active at night. The owlin hunt the islands plentiful wild game (mostly wild boars and similar creatures), and trade the meat and fur with their neighbors to the south and with the other islands in the region.

The southern village is comprised mostly of tabaxi, who are active throughout the day and focused mostly on sailing and fishing. Both communities are friendly toward one another and to the other villages throughout the island region as well.

A short time ago, a ship set sail from Melin on its way to Cerrit to trade for some supplies. The crew should have returned days ago, but unfortunately has not, causing the villagers to fear the worst.

What they don't know is that this ship crashed into a previously unknown island, and the sailors are currently stranded there. The villagers of Melin beginning to ask their neighbors from the surrounding islands for help in tracking down the missing ship is the inciting incident of our story, leading player characters to the entrance of the megadungeon itself.

But we'll cover that in more detail starting next week, as we begin to look at the mystery island where our sailors were shipwrecked. Tomorrow, the tiny twin islands of Lil and Tal!