The Twitter “Miracle”: Introducing Netasis

A perfect stlorm of professional and personal frustration resulted in an epic “eff-it-all” moment from yours truly…on twitter. Why twitter? I don’t know but before you knew I was ready to throw all my gaming work down the toilet. All the dissapointments, missed opportunities, aggravations that I’d been working through perfectly fine until that moment, just came pouring down…some people think it was just because of not being on a mailing list, but I’ll protest that I’m really not that shallow or thin-skinned. Needles, haystacks, etc…that’s what was going on but that is so over now.

Now after my mini-explosion, I got a lot of (greatly appreciated) “step away from the ledge!” “Don’t do it!” “Huh?” tweets back, but the one that aligned me quickest to what it is that I needed to feel better was from @rdonoghue. His advice was twofold. One — Step…away…from the internet. Two –When you get back from the internet, try some Githyanki Therapy.

Githyanki Therapy? In its creator’s words:

What is Githyanki Therapy?

This is the act of posting a mad and beautiful idea on the internet, bonus points for posting it in such a way so that others can participate and/or post their own mad and beautiful ideas.

For me, this usually has something to do with Githyanki. I have no idea quite why. Maybe it is because they wield silver swords or worship their liche queen or have a pact with red dragons whom they often ride into battle.

I was a little suspicious at first — Rob Donoghue is One Bad Egg, after all . Rob is also the most consistently eloquent person I follow on twitter. “Suspicion” or eloquently stated facts? You know which won. So I stepped away from the internet, came back and got ready for some GT. To be able to find this sort of stuff btw, is what makes twitter so awesome. If you follow the right people, beautiful ideas float by and smack you in the face.

On Judd Karlman’s blog –follow @judd_of_kryos and become irradiated with awesome ideas– we have this tasty morsel:

Make your own New Crobuzon

So, to make your own N.C.:

1) Take your three favorite human-ish monsters out of the Monster Manual and they are minority citizens in the city. Detail how they get along, how being in the city has culturally changed them and what niches they fill in the city. How do the powers that rule the city keep them down?

2) Take three really bizarre fucking monsters and figure out how they exist in the nooks and crannies of the city and how the powers that rule the city keep these beasts from doing unacceptable amounts of damage?

3) Um…play?

He’s already got a library of awesome creations that other people created. Never reading the source material didn’t prevent me from recognizing awesome ideas when I see them. Now, I normally stay away from internet memes. I consider myself more a “me first” person than a “me too!” person. But when a brilliant idea comes to the fore, I feel you have to honor it with your participation. So, without further pre-amble I present Netasis, City of Miracles.

The City of Miracles

The elevator pitch:

Netasis is a city full of illusory and real miracles, ruled by a city of renegade angels who turned their backs on a pantheon of ancient gods in pursuit of material wealth and power. Founded on faith, yet built up by deception, it is a place where black and white merge into grey, where players must make many difficult choices in order to achieve their goals and to thrive.

For the first post, I’ll stick strictly to the format outlined in Judd’s post above. in subsequent posts I will detail the history and the area of Netasis, including hooks for insertion of the city into your own campaign world.

Some goals I have for Netasis:

• introduce a new race –The Dharmun
• convert a monster race into a PC class
• use material from the Open Gods , which I’ve had on the burner for a long time
• build a background based on divine politics
• introduce some new rituals.
• create a strange & memorable place for PCs to visit

Three Races

Bullywugs — At the peak of the Dharmun rebellion, The Elder Choir was hard-pressed to provide examples of their divinity. Having been stripped of their divine powers, the group of renegade angels needed a new source for their miracles. Lamshak, Minister of Providence, “discovered” the Bullywugs working as day labor within the confines of Netasis, and took note of their “talent” for drawing the power of the universe against them. This power often worked against the bullywugs, but their misfortune became the miracle that the Choir required to prove their divine connection and sieze power back amidst the sea of unrest.

Lamshak and his wizards devised several key rituals that would focus the universal energies arrayed against the bullywug into rituals that could restore vitality or heal any ailment. All that these “miracles” required was the blood of a bullywug or, in some cases, the death of a bullywug.

The rituals were crafted into elaborate ceremonies of worship. Netasis had fallen from grace because it had refused to see these creatures amongst them, these holy saviors whose pain and suffering could cure all that ails. The Dharmun were appeased by this, and the uprising was quickly pacified.

Bullywugs are at the heart of the “miracle machine” that drives Netasian society. They now enjoy a protected status in the city. It is illegal and punishable by death to harm or kill any bullywug in Netasis accept via sanctioned ritual magic. The price of this elevated status however is that the bullywugs are now property of the state, and can be harmed or killed any time the Choir requires. Still, many bullywugs hear of the raised fortunes of their brethren within the city of miracles and accept the risks anyway.

Kenku –In the early days of Netasis, raids from the kenku were a daily occurence. The birdmen were at first unpleased about watching their territory encroached upon, and skirmished with the settlers to drive them out. As Netasis grew in size and influence, hostility gave way to the kenku’s curiosity. They approached the city in peace, and attempted to establish themselves within the city’s borders. Integration proved difficult. Netasis’ citizenry were unable to do as the Kenku and forget the past completely. Their memories were much longer, and the kenku absorbed much abuse and persecution. Forced out of place after place within the city, the kenku gathered into a small section of the city referred to as the Aviary. With little prospect for work or acceptance into the city, the kenku began to make their livings from crime. With their talent for mimicry, the kenku are masters of pranks, cons, muggings and thefts.

Kenku rule the underworld of Netasis, with shadar-kai working as their enforcers. Organized into “nests”, they have actually found some acceptance within the city –from The Elder Choir. While the Choir does make a show of pursuing and prosecuting nests, the most powerful nests avoid prosecution, and often provide resources for the

Myconid –the “garbagemen” of Netasis, or it’s grubby unsung heroes. If you ask a myconid, the answer will certainly be the latter. Myconids take care of nearly all menial tasks within the city. When the bullywugs ascended in positions, there was even more work for the myconids to take over. The mushroom people take immense pride in their work, and feel that the whole city would shut down were they to slow for even a moment.

To a degree, they are correct.

Three Monsters

The Terrasque –under Netasis exists a large cavern filled with the roars of an eternally burning Terrasque. The second of the Choir’s “New Miracles”, this chained and burning monster has served the Choir well, and though it’s usefulness has passed –few, if any, citizens go to witness it– they have no way to kill this creature

Succubi –the secret enforcers of the New Choir. Realizing that they could never subjugate the citizens of Netasis by sheer force, the Choir made a pact with a group of succubi . These succubi are given the souls of troublsome and ddissenting Dharmun, in exchange for infiltrating Netasian society, and directing people to the will of the Choir. To this end, the succubi perform more than adequately, though it is difficult for the Choir to assess what extra-curricular activities they may engage in…

The Lich, Roma Viktros — the only member of the Elder Choir who is not an angel, Roma Viktros appeared to the Choir centuries ago and demanded a seat. Before the Choir members could object, Roma recited a list of the Choir’s secrets. The only way the cabal of angels could keep others from knowing these secrets was to grant him a seat at their table. Reluctantly, they agreed.

Despite the origins of his inclusion, Roma works diligently for the Choir, putting it’s needs ahead of his own. The problem? As a disciple of Vecna, no one actually knows what his own needs are…

In the next post, we’ll discuss the history of Netasis, and it’s other inhabitants. Would like to hear your thoughts!

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