The Water Mill (Petrichor 365)

With the farms outside of Port Imperial finally beginning to produce grain and thus, a mill is at least needed.  The Graanmolen Hal of Asterdahl had purchased the land early on and laid the foundations but had not finished the building until just ahead of the first major harvest.

The Water Mill, as the only one it needs no other name, is built using the latest Gemkine waterwheel technology, a mill pond stores water until it is needed.  Everything is new but using the best of perfected Gemkine design so it has proven to be both reliable and efficient.

The Mile Stelae (Petrichor 365)

Before the Empress began the GodsWar and overthrew the gods and the old Empires, there were many great empires, most supported by one or more of the gods.  However, even their names have mostly been lost to history, though occasionally remnants of them can be found.

On the route out of Port Imperial, placed every old Corisan mile (roughly 1.1 Imperial miles), is a stele starting with one marked with the deeds of King Herniv III “the Builder” and with the number sixteen.  As almost no one reads old Corisan only the number is of note to most who pass it by.   The stele stands nearly six feet (1.8m) tall and is of a hard, dark grey stone that shows very little ill-effect from time or weather.

Cadet Ship HDMS Star Tiger (Petrichor 365)

The Imperial Navy primarily recruits its working members from experienced sailors but many of its officers come up through the service.  Part of that training is learning the actual workings of the ships by serving as sailors aboard ships such as the Her Draconic Majesty’s Ship Star Tiger which is designed as a cadet ship to teach young officers the ins and outs of the working of the craft of sailing.

The HDMS Star Tiger has recently been assigned to Commodore Pharos‘ flotilla as an opportunity for them to get some real experience.

The Cove Cat, a ship (Petrichor 365)

Most ships travel to Port Imperial and then return to their port of call or another port well away from Petrichor.  The Cove Cat is an exception, she travels up and down the coast from Port Imperial dropping off expeditions of venturers and other explorers, parties of miners and prospectors, and even small groups of settlers (and occasionally retrieving them as well).

HDMS Flying Cobra (Petrichor 365)

Her Draconic Majestry’s Ship Flying Cobra is a patrol frigate based out of Port Imperial.  It is part of the slowly expanding Imperial naval forces assigned to Petrichor under Commodore Pharos to watch over the coasts and monitor the comings and goings of ships and people.

The Flying Cobra is a three-masted frigate starship made of jade-green Octolia wood and the masts are ivory-white snow pine.  She is of a recent design, sleek and dangerous, equipped with magical bolt throwers and enchanted defenses.  The Flying Cobra is about as fast and maneuverable as any starship of her size can be.

A ship arrives at port (Petrichor 365)

Ships are arriving in Port Imperial all the time.  So, for inspiration for such ships, we have another random table!

A ship arrives in port!

It is (d12)
1-9 Alone
10-11 Part of a small convoy (1d3+1 ships)
12 Part of a large convoy (1d4+4 ships)

The ship is: (d10)

Lofan’s Tea Cart (Petrichor 365)

For those just arriving in Port Imperial, one of the first things they may encounter is the tea cart of Lofan which serves tea and snacks, at a reasonable price, to those just off the ships’  Lofan provides a friendly face and can offer directions, and flyers, to places to stay, get a meal or any of a dozen more common requests.

The tea cart is a well build wooden push cart decorated with bells and colorful ribbons that contains a big samovar along with snacks, other supplies, flyers for various concerns (that pay Lofan a small fee for each costumer they direct), and occasionally other things.  Lofan also trades in rumors and information, that trade is actually more lucrative at times than the tea.

The Giant’s Sword (Petrichor 365)

The Giant’s Sword is a mystery, it was not there when Port Imperial was established then, one day, it was.  It is a sword scaled for use by a giant of the tempests, a good nine feet (2.75m) of blade and hilt emerge from the stone into which the remainder of the blade is embedded at a slight angle.  It was quickly roped off by the Imperial forces and signs posted, in multiple languages, warning people not to touch it.

They were quickly ignored.  The first few people who tried to pry it free were found either electrocuted or frozen to death, possibly both, and it claims at least a life every other week as someone tries to wrench it free or break the stone around it or use magic to shift it.  All have failed and those who have tried have been, at best, horribly injured.

New Monster – Goblin (Stellar) for D&D 5E (A to Z)

Goblins in the Sea of Stars, as one would expect, are different.

Goblin (Stellar)

Mirror, mirror polished bright
Mirror, mirror warding light
Mirror, mirror night and day
Goblin, goblin keep away
-Traditional Visse Cleaning Rhyme

You turn to see something duck behind a rock, a moment later it is leering at you from around a tree.  Glittering yellow eyes slit like a cat’s under a wild green and orange hair peer out from a face like a squashed child.  It laughs evilly as you realize your shoes have sunk into the ankles in a pile of dung that was concealed by loose grass and straw.  You look back and the creature has vanished.

Divine Artifacts in the Sea of Stars

We are about halfway through February’s RPG Blog Carnival for the Month of February, 2021, on the theme of Gifts of the Gods, divine artifacts, so time to add some more to that theme.

Unlike many worlds, the Sea of Stars has almost no new divine artifacts being created, almost all of the such items date to before the Sundering.  The God of Smiths, whose portfolio also included creation, was slain before the Gods War even began, throwing the primary chain for the creation of artifacts into chaos and confusion.  Of course, the forges of the militant gods keep working and the Law Lords and the Shadows of Chaos prepared for the coming war, sadly, they were preparing for the wrong one.

But at the end of the Gods War, almost all of the surviving divine artifacts were seized by various dragons, the majority (about three fifths) were grasped by the Empress and her agents, the next largest amount fell into the claws of Ba’ai’ai, the Dark Star, with the remained shared among the other dragons, almost every dragon who fought in the Gods War managed to acquire at least one divine artifact in the process.  Over the years, the Empress has drawn more and more of the surviving artifacts to her, soliciting them as gift, accepting them in lieu of taxes or fines, or, rarely, purchasing them. 

The Empress keeps these artifacts sealed against times of great need, for example she is well equipped to repulse any attempt by the Law Lords or the Shadow of Chaos, should either return by some means, to restore their power using the arsenals prepared by their opposites.  Further, the Imperial Arsenal lacks no number weapons optimized towards the slaying of angels, demons and devils.  For most situations, normal draconic might and enchanted weapons are sufficient, divine weaponry is only used when it is desperately needed.

Naturally, there are very few divine artifacts made in the Sea of Stars now, the Sun Cult produces a small number of items (such as the Sun-Blessed Diadem) but no weaponry . . . that the dragons know of.  (There may be a cyclops smith still producing Sun’s Champion’s Blades somewhere.)  The Moon Cult sporadically produces divine items for its members use, though with little rhyme nor reason.

There are a handful of hidden artifacts left, placed for divine quests which were . . . interrupted or never started.  It is possible that someone could stumble onto the items or into the quests (and thus, eventually to the items).  Unfortunately, the cyclops who made the divine artifacts were almost wiped out, a few were captured by the Empress, if any other survived they were likely hidden away by one of the Draconic Houses or the Dwarven Holds, the only groups with the resources to hide such a valuable being from the eyes of the Empress.

Notes: Who makes the divine artifacts in your campaign world?

Image “Venus at the Forge of Vulcan” by Louis Félix de La Rue (French, 1731-1777) is marked with CC0 1.0.