Animals and beasts (pt. 1)

Thisp
Mammalian snake like creature covered with "fur" which is really a symbiotic algae colony. The photosensitive algae colony provides chameleon like properties, shares it's photosynthesis with the animal when hunting is scarce, and shares the snake's caloric intake at night. The snake has a euphoric venom, which is in fact plant based. 2 - 3 feet in length, brown skin with a "fur" that changes color with the leaves.


Karr Hound
Quadrupedal mammal, powerfully built, 5 to 6 feet from nose to hindquarters, with a long tail.
Resembles a large, powerfully built hyaena in basic form, though longer of limb and with feet that resemble rudimentary hands. Hairless save for a strip of fur that runs down their backs. Climbing pack hunters that live in hilly and mountainous terrain.a

Need:
[swamp dragon]

[plains ape]

[desert cat]

Some thoughts on corruption in the natural world

Need to consider what effect the corruption has on the natural world.  The gods came to a world already full of life and merely modified some of it to fit their dneeds, so it's not like all life in the world was inextricably intertwined with them.  But I've established that there are "natural magics" so there must be some connection.

Shamanistic magic is a slow and gradual accumulation of power to subtly manipulate the natural world. As such it is relatively safe, much like alchemy and enchantment. But of course the corruption is insidious, and even the most careful use of power has the potential to become tainted. 

Occasionally, in areas where a lot of magic directed at the natural world has been practiced, a thread of corruption will affect a plant or animal. Usually, this ultimately leads to blighted areas devoid of life and radiating sickness. Every now and then, the plant, creature or area is merely changed, warped and mutated.  This is how rothounds are created, but they are not the only such creature. 

When entire areas are so affected, becoming twisted and corrupt parodies of nature, they are often inhabited by a Lotho Defiler, who will become its protector. 

Started to put a character together in my head. A black-skinned Geb shaman, who had touched Blood and decided to embrace it, still alive, but on his way to transforming into a blessed, and gaining considerable power from the blood. Tall, with a row of small horns across his forehead. Jet black skin, broken by patterns made up of glowing veins of red blood. Carries a staff.  After I pictured this in my head, I realized that I had just made Darth Maul...

Some brief notes on tone.

   Okay, so the vast majority of what I've written here so far has been very dark in tone. And I'll admit, this is pretty much intentional. Plagues of undead, the blood of dead gods, malevolent blessed, fairly heavy stuff overall, and a pretty dark world outside the city walls.

     But I don't want to leave the impression that it's pretty much pure doom and horror.  I mean, a fair amount of doom and horror, but unrelieved blackness is boring, and needs some contrast. There are steampunky elements, commercial intrigues, piracy, and plain old interspecies conflict to provide breaks in background foundation and narrative tone. In the end I want portions of the world - the city of Ammadhur and its environs, other similar places - to be beacons of enlightenment and civilization, and provide opportunities that are less survival horror and lovecraftian vision and more swashbuckling, urban, investigative, and noir.

     Okay, kind of schizophrenic in tone, but that's in part why I want to make this a group effort and an open/mosaic fictional world, to allow these conflicting tones and backgrounds to find a way to mesh and play nicely together...

Some random collected notes on magic and the blood of the gods

Alchemy is a subset of Enchantment, and is a blend of magic and science, Alchemy is the safest of the magical disciplines. It's slow and methodical, skimming the top of the well, and the corruption can (generally) be effectively filtered out and avoided. Enchantment is used to create magic items and objects, including all of the techno magical stuff in the rich parts of Ammadhur.  The items you end up with can be quite powerful, but enchantment in and of itself has no direct combat or improvisational use.  Basically engineering, for all intents and purposes.  Enchanters' guilds tend to be quite politically powerful in Ammadhur.

A sorcerer who embraces the corruption and delves deeply into the Gods' blood can use it to create a variety of effects, almost anything imaginable, limited only by the skill and strength of will of the caster. However, how easy it is and the effect it has on the caster will vary depending on where the effect falls on a scale from corrupt to pure.

It can create poison, rot, darkness and corruption effects quite easily, and casters are "rewarded" (so to speak) for doing so. Fire, and mental domination are slightly more difficult. Healing and purification are nearly impossible, and would exert a terrible toll on the caster if attempted.

If performing tasks that are evil and fitting in with the corruption theme, the caster either is either unaffected or moves one step closer to "transcendence", turning into one of the more powerful and intelligent undead.   Attempting more "pure" effects brings the caster closer to death, or to transforming into a mindless undead. Willpower and discipline can slow or mitigate that change, but cannot eliminate it. Destructionor transformation are inevitable.

A direct attack that poisoned it's victim's mind and body would be a fairly straightforward use of god's blood.  Drawing someone else's strength and life force into yourself  would be more difficult, but still possible, as it has a balanced affect - harming another while benefiting yourself.  Healing wounds on another would be impossible or nearly so.  Any beneficial effect must generally be at least balanced with a harm.

Once one has physically touched a pool of gods' blood, one can draw on it from anywhere, with some limitations that I don't know yet. Merely touching it causes pain, damage and corruption, but creates the link. Immersing oneself in it entirely will either destroy one utterly, or immediately transform you into an undead.

Note that one need not eve physically touch or even see a Blood pool to draw on or utilize the Blood, or to feel its corruption. Any use of magic has a chance of opening one to the Blood, the more power used or expended the higher the chance.  However, drawing on that much power without physical contact takes a tremendous amount of magical skill and/or willpower. However, the weakest minded person, with no magical skill or training at all, can find themselves possessing tremendous power if they actually physically touch Blood.