Cheating Again

Again, posting some stuff that needs to be written up anyway. Oh, well, it's wordcount.
Some Star Wars Future stuff:

General History
100 years have passed since the Battle of Endor, now generally considered to mark the fall of the Galactic Empire. The century has not been a kind one for the galaxy. The whole time period is now generally regarded as part of one long drama, the Fall of The Republic. Although the New Republic attempted to reestablish the traditions and authority of the Old Republic, they were constantly beset with chaos, infighting, and attackers from outside. The Republican system had been ripe for the fall for decades, perhaps centuries, before ever Senator Palapatine decided to make himself Emperor. The New Republic did not so much fail to catch a falling vase as fail to catch a falling safe.
For the first 35 years after the Battle of Endor, they tried their best. But the pressure became too great. External foes, such as the Yuuzhan Vong, while eventually defeated, cracked the New Rebulic's carefully constructed system. But it was not external pressure, but internal, that finally burst the galaxy apart. The first of what are now called the Succession Crises began 37 years after Endor. A group of systems demanded independence from the New Republic, citing numerous greivances, including unfair trade policies, humanocentrism, and a general failure by the New Republic to live up to its defense commitments. The Republicans tried to keep the systems within their government, but the local governers were adamant: they wanted out. The New Republic was unwilling to use force to keep local governments in, so they were eventually forced to let the systems go. This was the match that started a raging bonfire. System after system demanded independence. As systems became autonomous, they began to fight one another, over trade rights, religious and species divisions, or over old grudges. A thousand brushfire wars broke out across the galaxy, and the Republic's death knell sounded.
The Republic, of course, did not entirely disintegrate. They kept control of most of the Core Worlds, including, of course, the governing planet of Coruscant, as well as the economic powerhouses of Kuat and Corellia, and many smaller worlds that depend on the great systems.
Outside Republican space, two other major organized groups have defined themselves.
The first is the Imperial Remnant, now again calling itself the Empire. As the Republic collapsed, the Empire began to again gain power, without the constant threat of the Republican military. Also, many systems began to think of the time of the Empire as a time of stability and prosperity, and longed to return to them. Thus, the Empire regained some of its former power and prestige. Currently, the Empire occupies a chunk of the Outer Rim area, with about 4 days travel time between it and the nearest border of the Republic.
The final major power in the galaxy is the Free Worlds Alliance, a loose federation of worlds that has arrisen to combat the anarchy of the galaxy. It is notas centralized as either the Republic or the Empire, existing primarily as a forum for disputes between members and as a mutual defense organization. It is also almost entirely composed of non-human worlds. Many of the species that make up the Alliance believe that humanity has unfairly dominated the galaxy for too long, both during the Empire and before it, and they see the reformed Republic as simply a new method of perpetuating this. Alliance space lies almost opposite Empire space from the Republic, with a trip of about 5 days between Alliance and Republican borders.
Between and outside these three major powers, thousands, if not millions, of other systems exist. Most have no government higher than the system level, and some even have independent planets within a system, or even independent nations on a planet! Sometimes, a few systems band together to form a small regional power, but these are few and far between. Various regional powers, particularly crime syndicates like the Hutts, sometimes tie several systems together, but they rarely provide actual government, simply a single source of banditry.

The Jedi
"Jedi" is the current word for anyone who uses force powers. The average citizen of the galaxy makes little distinction between "dark" and "light" side. Every being who exhibits a unusual mental power is given the Jedi label.
Users of the Force still play a role in the new order of the galaxy. However, the Jedi are no longer divided into a simple two opposing groups. Like the Republic itself, the Jedi have fragmented, into subsections and independent schools, all of whom claim to be the "true" inheritors of the Force. Seven major "schools" of Force users now exist, and innumberable minor schools that span only a single planet make life even more complicated.
The seven great schools are those whose reputation and influence span the galaxy. They include the Skywalker School, the Solo School, the Republican Legion, the Imperial Guardians, the Sith, the Order of Light, and the Grey Cloaks.
The Skywalker School is perhaps the school with the best claim of descent from the original Jedi Order. Founded by Luke Skywalker, the first of the New Jedi, the school's home base is still the Jedi Academy, on Yavin 4. The Skywalker School is the second largest group of Jedi in the galaxy, after it's splinter daughter group, the Solo School. Ideologically and politically, the Skywalker School is commited to one thing above all: the maintenance of peace and good government throughout the galaxy. Skywalker Jedi act as freelance mediators, peacekeepers, impromptu judges, and simply heros, wandering space, looking for people to help. They generally have a policy of letting local people decide their own government, only stepping in to help when the government fails, and they rarely act to remove what a society has put in place for itself. Though some Skywalker Jedi take permanent positions in a system, most continue to roam, trusting in the Force to bring them to new problems that need their skills to solve it.
The Solo School is also directly descended from Luke Skywalker's teachings, by way of his neice and nephew, Jania and Jacen Solo. The Solo twins split from Luke after the fall of the New Republic, when Luke refused to use the Jedi to force the squabbling systems to rejoin the galactic government. The twins firmly believed in the ultimate benefit of a single, unified government for the galaxy, and they formed their own group, followed by those Jedi who thought likewise. Their basic goal is the same as the Skywalker School: peace and happiness for the greatest number of people in the galaxy as possible. However, their methods differ. Whenever possible, Solo Jedi work towards greater unity and cohesion between systems. Their internal organization is more structured than the Skywalker School as well, with individual Jedi often sent on specific assignments rather than simply going where whim takes them. The Solo school is based on the Noghri planet of Honoghr.
The Republican Legion is the organization of Jedi devoted to defending the Republic and promoting its interests. They are descended from several notable Force-using patriots of the New Republic, most particularly the famous X-wing pilot and member of Rogue Squadron, Corran Horn. The Republican Legion are considerably less concerned with the good of everyone than either the Skywalker or Solo Schools. Those who are concerned about such matters at all tend to be of the opinion that having the whole galaxy within Republican hands would be of most benefit to all, but most are simply strong Republic patriots. The Legion has a loose organization, more of an old boys network than a true hierarcy. They are scattered throughout the Republic's military, and, more rarely, its diplomatic services. The most powerful are usually high ranking, since their Force powers tend to make them obvious canidates for promotion. Many Legionares are starfighter aces, and it has become tradition for the Republic's crack squadron, Rogue, to include at least one Legionnare.
The Imperial Guards are the Empire's counterpart to the Republican Legion. They descend from various members of Emperor Palapatine's personal staff, whom he trained in using the Force. Despite this dark origin, and contrary to Republic propaganda, however, most Guardsmen are not particuarly dark. In fact, the Imperial Guards are probably, on average, more disiplined and controlled than the Legionnares. The Guards have a very formal organization, with strict division into ranks, culminating in the High Prelate, who reports directly to the Emperor and Prime Minister. The Guardsmen are trained to fight in small, highly effective units, typically deployed in tactically important situations. The simple appearance of a unit of Guardsmen, with their highly distinctive red uniforms and lightsabers, can often cause an opposing force to retreat. Guardsmen also act as intelligence agents for the Empire, travelling incognito both inside and outside their borders, reporting potential trouble, and, in many cases, removing it before it can become a serious threat to the Empire.
The Sith are not really a school in any formal sense at all. They have no identifiable founder, and it is uncertain whether they descend from the pre-Empire Sith cult at all. The Sith gains a new member whenever a Jedi totally gives into their passions, and allows the Dark Side to take over completely. Sith are typically passionate, cruel, and violent. Most simply wander from world to world, taking what they want from the weak and enjoying their power. Some set themselves up as petty dictators, although this usually attracts attention that eventually brings them down or forces them to move on. A Sith sometimes takes an apprentice, although this usually simply means a Force-talented youngster who is willing to put up with constant abuse in order to learn what they can by observation. When such a student gains enough knowledge, they inevitably challenge their teacher. Usually, there is only one victor in such a duel, thankfully for the rest of the universe. Sometimes, though, both master and student survive and go their separate ways, which creates yet another Sith to trouble the world.
The Order of Light is the school most devoted to mastering the "Light" side of the Force. Its origins were those Jedi who, in the early days of the new order, decided that the only way to avoid temptation was to completely remove any aspect of the Dark side from themselves. The Order is generally considered fairly successful in this task. However, this very success leads to the Order being fairly unimportant in galactic affairs. True mastery of the Light Side seems to lead, more and more, to stasis, an attitude of "destiny will take its course", and an unwillingness to actually do anything about the world. Members of the Order are generally mystics and pilgrims. They sometimes wander the world, but not usually to right wrongs or dispense justice. Instead, they seek inner harmony and enlightenment.
The Grey Cloaks are probably the most pragmatic of the major school. More than any other group of Jedi, their view of the Force is basically mechanistic. They see it as a tool to be used to advance themselves, and little more. The Grey Cloaks also have no strong political agenda. They generally have only one motive: profit. The Cloaks have mastered the arts of stealth and spying, using highly trained skills as well as the Force to mask their presence. They sell this expertise to the highest bidder, offering one of the most reliable information and espianoge networks in the galaxy. The Grey Cloaks have no known central hierarcy, and their origins, like their actions, are shrouded. However, the Cloaks do seem to be able to act on a wide scale, with cooperation between members across the galaxy, when it proves needed.

Metaphysics
The Force is not quite as the Jedi of the Old Republic claimed it. The Force does have two sides to it, true, which are in opposition. However, they do not simply map to "good" and "evil" the way the old Jedi would have us believe.
Instead, the Force is divided into an active side and a passive side. The active side is that commonly identified as the "Dark" side, and the passive the "Light" side. The active side thrives on emotions, movement, and energy. It tends to fuel powers that directly manipulate the world. Such powers include many of the obvious Jedi tricks, such as telekinesis, mind altering, and the notorious Force Lightning. It is notable that even the old Jedi used many powers that primarily depended on the Dark side to function.
The passive side of the Force lives in stillness, calm, and stasis. It fuels powers that prevent change, preserve the status quo, and sense the world as it is. It is also the part of the Force used to fortell the future; basically, it assumes that everything will continue to go as it currently does, and looks at the expected outcome.
Both sides of the Force have their inherent drawbacks. A Jedi with only the active side of the Force is a constant whirlwind of change and passion. He has no stability within him, and every emotion is uncontrolled. He follows every whim. To be totally controlled by the active side of the Force is something close to madness. A very powerful active adept constantly twists the very fabric of the world around him, warping the minds of those around him, even the very laws of reality.
A Jedi in touch only with the passive side of the Force, in contrast, is totally still. She is completely calm, emotionless. She is perfectly still, sensing everything around her, and doing nothing about it. A passive side master would sit on her hands while entire species were destroyed, explaining that it was destiny. An adept of the passive side of the force can freeze space and even time around her, extending her stasis to everything in her immediate vicinity.

700 Words of Miscellania

I'm filling up those 700 words left over from the last post. Then I'll post something worth 2000 words (no, not two pictures!). So, to start:

Saving Ways [General]
You are expert at saving money, and always getting the best deal possible.
Benefit: Whenever you make a purchase that would reduce your Wealth bonus by 1d6, you instead roll 1d4. Whever you make a purchase that would reduce your Wealth bonus by 2d6, you instead roll 1d10.
Whenever you sell something that would add 1d6 to your Wealth bonus, you instead roll 2d3, and whenever you sell something that would add 2d6 to your Wealth bonus, you roll 3d4 instead.

Minions [General]

You attract devoted followers, low level NPC's who loyally serve you for little reward beyond your gratitude.
Prerequisites: A character must be at least 6th level to take this feat.
Benefits: Having this feat enables you to attract followers. See the table below to determine how many followers, of what level, the character can attract.

Leadership Number of Followers by Level
Score 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1 or lower - - - - - -
2 - - - - - -
3 - - - - - -
4 - - - - - -
5 - - - - - -
6 2 - - - - -
7 3 - - - - -
8 4 - - - - -
9 5 - - - - -
10 6 - - - - -
11 8 - - - - -
12 10 1 - - - -
13 15 1 - - - -
14 20 2 1 - - -
15 25 2 1 - - -
16 30 3 2 1 - -
17 35 3 2 1 - -
18 40 4 2 1 1 -
19 50 5 3 2 1 -
20 60 6 3 2 1 1
21 75 7 4 2 2 1
22 90 9 5 3 2 1
23 110 11 6 3 2 1
24 135 13 7 4 2 2
25 or higher 165 16 8 4 2 2

Sidekick [General]
You attract a cohort, a loyal NPC with a level close to yours, who is willing to fight beside you for little reward besides your gratitude.
Prerequisites: A character must be at least 6th level to take this feat.
Benefit: Having this feat allows you to attract a cohort. See the table below for the level of cohort you can attract.

Leadership Cohort
Score Level
1 or lower -
2 1st
3 2nd
4 3rd
5 3rd
6 4th
7 5th
8 5th
9 6th
10 7th
11 7th
12 8th
13 9th
14 10th
15 10th
16 11th
17 12th
18 12th
19 13th
20 14th
21 15th
22 15th
23 16th
24 17th
25 or higher 17th

Horde Summoner [Magecraft]
You can summon larger groups with your summoning spells than normal.
Prerequsites: Spell Focus (Conjuration)
Benefits: Whenever you use a Summon Monster, Summon Nature's Ally, or Summon Spirit spell to summon a number of creatures from a lower list, you add 1 to the number of creatures you summon if you are summoning from a list one level lower, 2 if you are summoning from a list two levels lower, or 4 if you are summoning from a list three or more levels lower.
For example, Sarah has this feat. She casts Summon Monster V. If she chooses to summon creatures from the Summon Monster IV list, she can summon 1d3+1, instead of the normal 1d3. If she chooses to summon creatures from the Summon Monster III list, she can summon 1d4+3, instead of the normal 1d4+1. If she chooses to summon creatures from the Summon Monster II or lower lists, she can summon 1d4+5, instead of the normal 1d4+1.

New Ranger Combat Styles
Skirmishing: 2nd level: Mobility
6th level: Spring Attack
11th level: Sudden Charge
Mounted: 2nd level: Mounted Combat
6th level: Ride-by Attack
11th level: Spirited Charge
Grappling: 2nd level: Improved Grapple
6th level: Clever Wrestling
11th level: Earth's Embrace

Playing Catch-up

Ouch. I need to post 5000 words today. Good thing it's my day off.
I'm going to be dividing these into several posts, to make later re-reading easier. Also, I'm going to cheat a bit by posting some campaign stuff that I would have to write up anyway. Oh, well.
Starting with spirits:

Spirit of Love
Small Spirit (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11)
Initiative: +0
Speed: Fly 60 ft (perfect)
Armor Class: 12 (+1 size, +1 deflection), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-4
Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1) (only on the ethereal plane)
Full Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1) (only on the ethereal plane)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, incorporeal traits, damage reduction 5/cold iron or magic, ethereal jaunt
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +1
Abilities: Str 9, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 12

Skills: Bluff +5, Diplomacy +6, Intimidate +5, Sense Motive +6
Feats: Doubly Talented (Diplomacy, Sense Motive)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Often neutral

A small cherub, its form wreathed in rosy light and drifting rose petals, flies towards you, giggling softly and happily.

A love spirit exists as an embodiment of the concept of love, as percieved by humans. A love spirit of this potency could be created by any mild outpouring of love or romantic emotions, such as that created by a theater full of people watching a romantic movie.
This level of love spirit is distinctly unsubtle in its approach to spreading love. Usually, it hides until it sees a reasonably attractive person, then uses its spell-like abilities to make them fall in love with the spirit. A somewhat less selfish love spirit may also try to give a person advice in winning someone else's heart.
The appearance given above is only one possible form for a love spirit. Others include amorphous rosy clouds, highly attractive, or somewhat androgynous humans. The exact form usually depends on the prevelant culture of the area the spirit formed in.

Combat
This level of love spirit is incapable of attacking foes physically on the material world, due to its incorporeality. It usually tries to use its spell like abilities instead. Even on the ethereal plane, where it can physically attack, it does not prefer to, as it is physically quite weak.
Ethereal Jaunt (Su): A love spirit can shift to the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa, as a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity. However, any attacks made during the round a spirit changes from ethereal to physical have a 20% miss chance, since the spirit is only partially substantial during the round.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will - message, guidance (DC 11); 3/day - charm person, hypnotism (DC 12); 1/day - invisibility (DC 13); Caster level equals the spirit's hit dice. The save DC's are Charisma based.

Spirit of Fear
Small Spirit (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 2d8+2 (11)
Initiative: +0
Speed: Fly 60 ft (perfect)
Armor Class: 12 (+1 size, +1 deflection), touch 12, flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/-4
Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1) (only on the ethereal plane)
Full Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3-1) (only on the ethereal plane)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft, incorporeal traits, damage reduction 5/cold iron or magic, ethereal jaunt
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +1
Abilities: Str 9, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 12

Skills: Bluff +5, Diplomacy +4, Intimidate +7, Sense Motive +5
Feats: Doubly Talented (Intimidate, Sense Motive)
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Often neutral

A small creature lurches towards you, its form seemingly shaped of living nightmare. Its flesh drips multicolored slime, spikes and horns jut randomly from its skin, and its face is twisted in a horrifying grimace.

A fear spirit exists to spread fear and terror, its only joy the screams of others. This level of fear spirit could be created by any mildly scary event, such as a theater full of people watching a horror movie.
This level of fear spirit is deeply uncomplicated. It simply approaches anyone it can, hoping that its appearance alone will terrify them. If it doesn't, the spirit then procedes to use its spell-like abilities to provoke the desired response.
Not all fear spirits are overtly terrifiying. Some appear like normal (albiet small) humans, but with an indefinable aura of fear about them. Others appear as classic images of terror, such as famous horror movie monsters.

Combat
This level of fear spirit is incapable of attacking foes physically on the material world, due to its incorporeality. It usually tries to use its spell like abilities instead. Even on the ethereal plane, where it can physically attack, it does not prefer to, as it is physically quite weak. A fear spirit of this power level is full of bluster, but it lacks much ability to actually back up its threats.
Ethereal Jaunt (Su): A fear spirit can shift to the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa, as a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity. However, any attacks made during the round a spirit changes from ethereal to physical have a 20% miss chance, since the spirit is only partially substantial during the round.
Spell-Like Abilities: At will - daze, ghost sound, dancing lights (DC 11); 6/day - cause fear (DC 12); 1/day - invisibility (DC 13); Caster level equals the spirit's hit dice. The save DC's are Charisma based.

Spirit of Radiation
Small Spirit (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 1d8+4 (8)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft
Armor Class: Physical: 17 (+1 size, +6 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Incorporeal: 12 (+1 size, +1 deflection)
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-3
Attack: Slam +1 melee (1d3+1 plus poison); or incorporeal touch attack +1 melee (poison)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +1 melee (1d3+1 plus poison); or incorporeal touch attack +1 melee (poison)

Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Poison (DC 11)
Special Qualities: Acid immunity, darkvision 60 ft, incorporeal traits, damage reduction 5/cold iron or magic, ethereal jaunt
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 12, Dex 10, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 6, Cha 6
Skills: Intimidate +6, Spot +2
Feats: Toughness
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Often evil

A cloud of dark smoke, lit on the inside by an eerie green glow, drifts purposefully towards you.

This spirit is the embodiment of dangerous radiation, taking joy in the destruction of living things. A radiation spirit of this degree could be created anywhere there is a mild radition hazard, such as at an X-ray machine in a hospital.
A radiation spirit attacks any living creature it can see, unless ordered otherwise. It lives only to kill.

Combat
Radiation spirits close and attack physically as soon as possible, due to their lack of ranged attacks or abilities. This level of radition spirit is very dim-witted, and has very little grasp of strategy beyond “hit the enemy”. Their one concession to tactics is that they usually stay incorporeal while they move towards foes, in order to avoid ranged attacks. However, once they reach their target, they almost always manifest, finding the satisfaction of doing physical damage to their enemy outweighing the danger of physical presence. A controller who wants them to stay incorporeal must constantly order them to stay that way.
Physical Form: A radiation spirit can assume physical form, effectively losing the incorporeal subtype for as long as it desires. Assuming physical form requires a move-equivalent action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Resuming the incorporeal subtype is a free action.
Poison (Ex): Injury, Fortitude DC 11, initial and secondary damage 1d2 Con. The save DC is Constitution-based.
Ethereal Jaunt (Su): A radiation spirit can shift to the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa, as a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity. However, any attacks made during the round a spirit changes from ethereal to physical have a 20% miss chance, since the spirit is only partially substantial during the round.
Skills: Radiation spirits have a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks.

Spirit of Disease
Small Spirit (Incorporeal)
Hit Dice: 1d8+5 (9)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft
Armor Class: Physical: 17 (+1 size, +6 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 17
Incorporeal: 12 (+1 size, +1 deflection)
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-3
Attack: Slam +0 melee (1d3 plus disease); or incorporeal touch attack +1 melee (disease)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +0 melee (1d3 plus disease); or incorporeal touch attack +1 melee (disease)

Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Disease (DC 11)
Special Qualities: Acid immunity, darkvision 60 ft, incorporeal traits, damage reduction 5/cold iron or magic, ethereal jaunt
Saves: Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 6, Wis 6, Cha 6
Skills: Intimidate +6, Spot +2
Feats: Toughness
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Often evil

A small humanoid, covered in rashes and oozing sores, stumbles in your direction.

This spirit embodies disease. It revels in the chance to infect others, and likes nothing more than causing an epidemic. This degree of disease spirit could be created in any mildly diseased environment, such as a clinic during flu season.
A disease spirit will generally try to spread its disease to any being capable of being infected, unless commanded otherwise.

Combat
Disease spirits tend to stay incorporeal, as that allows them to infect their opponents, while preventing the opponents from responding. They will manifest if commanded, and they do enjoy physically attacking creatures, but they generally prefer not to completely kill their foes - they much prefer the opportunity to spread their disease that a living but infected enemy represents.
Physical Form: A disease spirit can assume physical form, effectively losing the incorporeal subtype for as long as it desires. Assuming physical form requires a move-equivalent action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Resuming the incorporeal subtype is a free action.
Disease (Ex): Slimy doom - slam, Fortitude DC 12, incubation period special, damage 1d4 Con (when damaged, character must succeed on another saving throw or 1 point of damage is permanent drain instead). The save DC is Constitution-based. When this disease is contracted through the attack of a disease spirit, there is no incubation period: a failed save indicates that the relevant ability damage is taken immediately. If the disease is passed to someone else, however, the incubation period is 1 day.
Ethereal Jaunt (Su): A radiation spirit can shift to the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa, as a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity. However, any attacks made during the round a spirit changes from ethereal to physical have a 20% miss chance, since the spirit is only partially substantial during the round.
Spell-Like Ability (Sp): 1/day - invisibility (self only).
Skills: Disease spirits have a +4 racial bonus on Intimidate checks.

Fire Spirit
Small Spirit (Incorporeal; Fire)
Hit Dice: 1d8+3 (7)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft
Armor Class: Physical: 16 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +3 natural), touch 13, flat-footed 14
Incorporeal: 14 (+1 size, +2 Dex, +1 deflection)
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/-4
Attack: Slam +0 melee (1d4 + 1d4 fire); or incorporeal touch attack +2 melee (1d2 fire)
Full Attack: 2 Slams +0 melee (1d4 + 1d4 fire); or 2 incorporeal touch attacks +2 melee (1d2 fire)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Burn, spell-like abilities
Special Qualities: Fire immunity, darkvision 60 ft, incorporeal traits, damage reduction 5/cold iron or magic, ethereal jaunt
Saves: Fort +1, Ref +1, Will +1
Abilities: Str 10, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 8, Wis 8, Cha 12
Skills: Knowledge (Nature) +3, Perception +3, Run +4
Feats: Toughness
Environment: Any
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 1
Treasure: None
Alignment: Often chaotic neutral

A small figure approaches you, its entire form wreathed in crackling flame.

Fire spirits are typically passionate, short-tempered creatures. They can be kind and nuturing, doing their best to help everyone they see, then shift in the blink of an eye to a blinding, destructive rage, where they try to burn everything in their path.

Combat
A fire spirit has no particular preference for either its physical form or its incorporeal form in combat, using whichever form is most useful at the time. It does enjoy starting fires, and will attack those it percieves as most flamable preferentially.
Physical Form: A fire spirit can assume physical form, effectively losing the incorporeal subtype for as long as it desires. Assuming physical form requires a move-equivalent action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Resuming the incorporeal subtype is a free action.
Ethereal Jaunt (Su): A fire spirit can shift to the Ethereal Plane from the Material Plane, or vice versa, as a full action that provokes attacks of opportunity. However, any attacks made during the round a spirit changes from ethereal to physical have a 20% miss chance, since the spirit is only partially substantial during the round.
Burn (Ex): A fire spirit's slam attack deals bludeoning damage plus fire damage from the spirit's flaming body. Those hit by a fire spirit's slam atack also must succeed on a Reflex save (DC 10) or catch on fire. The flame burns for 1d4 rounds. A burning creature can take a move action to put out the flame. The save DC is Constitution based. Creatures hitting a fire spirit in physical form with natural weapons or unarmed attacks take fire damage as though hit by the spirit's ttack, and also catch on fire unless they succeed on a Reflex save.
If a fire spirit is in incorporeal form, then it loses its ability to set creatures on fire, even though its attacks do fire damage.
Spell-Like Abilities (Sp): 3/day - burning hands (DC 12); 1/day - scorching ray (DC 13); Caster level 1; The save DC's are Charisma based.

There. 2300 words.

Posting Time is Here Again!

Doing it early for once, since I seem to have some modicum of inspiration.

The conquests of Alexander the Great had a major impact on the water-temples. At first, of course, their labors were disrupted. War always leaves long-term projects like theirs relegated to the background. But the most significant effects occured after the conquests were completed, and the Greeks began to take stock of just what, exactly, they had gained. Although Alexander was not, perhaps, the most competent civil administrator, his empire contained a goodly number of them. Greek bureaucrats and governers, eager to make their mark and gain the Emperor's favor, began to cast about themselves for ambitious projects to sponsor. From multiple directions, reports of the actions of the water-temples began to filter in. From Egypt, reports of significantly increased crop yields (up to 30%, in some luckier districts). From Babylon itself, demonstrations of improved irrigation, and the first tentative reports of success in desalinating fields. From the northern hills and mountains, proposals to divert streams and minor rivers to swell the amount of water available to the great waterways of Babylon.
Perhaps it was just a lucky coincidence; ten or more different administrators all suggesting things to use the water-temples for, all arriving on the same day. Or maybe Alexander noticed a pattern; his administrators kept mentioning these water-temples... Whatever it was, something caught Alexander's attention. Instead of handling the reports and projects piecemeal, he gathered the heads of ten of the most prominent water-temples together in Babylon, and proposed something to them: unification. Instead of each temple being an independent operator, allied to but separate from its neigbors, the temples would be a single, unified administration. They would have charge of all the water and irrigation in Alexander's empire.
The heads of the temples conferred (history claims for no more than 10 minutes), then returned an answer: an unequivocal "Yes!". Thus, under Alexander's reign, the temple of Zeus-Rain Bringer was formed (it was deemed politic to use a Greek god). The temples in the empire were now unified and part of the government.
Alexander died only 8 years later, but by then, the water temples had become a through part of the administration. They survived the power struggles surrounding Alexander's death, with each successor state simply inheriting the temples in thier territory. The temples in Greece fared less well than those in Egypt or Persia, being seen as a foreign Asian influence. In any case, the Greek terrain was less well suited to improvement by the water-temples' methods. However, the water-temples under the reigns of the Ptolomies in Egypt, and the Selucids in Persia, had great days. The centralized administration and vast resources allowed them to expand their projects, in many cases linking up. Particularly in Persia, the water-temples also began to work on very large scale engineering projects. Probably the most significant of these were vast resivores, designed like those in Egypt, but on a larger scale, that were built in Babylon and the surrounding cities. There, water was stored against dry years, and the irrigation systems was made even more organized and efficient. The temples introduced a number of major changes to the system to preserve water, including insuring that all main irrigation channels, and most minor ones, were covered to prevent excessive water loss through evaporation.
The water-temples in Persia proper also ran into another invention that they began to spread westward: the windmill. At first, it's transfer was slow. While the extra power could be useful in some situations, the water-priests had not yet found its "killer app", so to speak. Its time would come, but for now, it languished, half-forgotten in some cases.
In Egypt, meanwhile, however, another invention was causing a much bigger stir. In the mid-200's BC, word began to spread among the water-temples of a remarkable new invention: the Archimedes screw. This ingenious little setup could raise water from a low level to a higher one, much easier than hauling it up in buckets. Most of the North African temples found some use for it, but the greatest use was found by the temples in Egypt. There, their great water retention projects had always been hampered by the fact that the resivores could only be effectively filled once a year, when the Nile flooded. At other times, there was simply no cost-effective way of filling the resivores. Bucket hauling took far too much manpower away from other tasks, and rain was simply too infrequent.
The Archimedes screw changed all that. With it, a fairly large amount of water could be moved uphill, at a relatively low cost in manpower. When some bright temple apprentice observed that, by using waterwheels at the lower end of the screws in the Nile, the river itself could pump its water for them, the priests knew that they had just found answers for a hundred problems. No longer did the resivores run out months before the next flood season. Now, the growing season could be effectively extended throughout the year. As the resivores emptied, the screws placed in the Nile refilled them. Although the cisterns still emptied, there was always water within them now. Careful husbanding of it allowed constant irrigation. Egypt's productivity began to swell. Within a hundred years, it had achieved an almost 100% increase over the time before the screws.

Meanwhile, further west, the inventor of the new devices, Archimedes himself, was about to have a fateful encounter with the water-priests.
The empire of Carthage had been fairly good for the water-priests. The merchant-princes of the city had been well aware that the water-temples kept their local hinterland productive and green. The temples had recieved generous donations, and were often encouraged to establish new temples in Carthaginian client cites and colonies. Thus, water-temples had spread to Sicily, where they had first encountered the Archimedes screw, in Syracuse. They had spread it from there, and the water-temple in Syracuse was well aware of the value of the inventor of the device.
When the Punic Wars began, the water-temples kept a careful policy of neutrality. They liked Carthage well enough, true, but Rome was obviously on the rise, and they, paricularly the temples in Sicily, had to be cautious not to be caught in the middle. The water-temples took refuge in their historical independence. Whenever a Roman general, or a Carthaginian one, took issue with reports of water-priests helping the other side, the temples he took his complaints to could always point out that they were unable to compell obdience from other temples, and that they had never yet been proved to be transfering vital information to the enemy.
This allowed the water-priests, during the Second Punic War, to be relatively trusted by the Romans. They had found that, in their governership of Sicily, that the water-temples had been very cooperative. In fact, the water-priests had often been overjoyed at the engineering skill exhibited by the Romans. Their irrigation projects went smoother, were sturdier, and were more extensive, when the Romans were behind them.
As a result of all this, the Roman general Marcellus was receptive when a delegation of water-priests came to him with an offer. They wanted Archimedes preserved at all costs, if Syracuse was conquered. Marcellus had his own desires in this direction, and with the signifcant bribe offered by the water-priests, he not only ordered Archimedes taken alive, he threatened dire punishments to anyone who killed him, including execution, the selling of his family into slavery, and the decimation of his unit.
These threats proved effective, and when Syracuse was finally conquered, Archimedes was not killed, as he was in our timeline. Instead, he was brought to Marcellus (after finishing the equation he had been working on when the soldiers burst in), and the general proceded to have a talk with the philosopher. He came away looking rather confused, it is generally reported, Archimedes being of the opinion that pretty much everything the general wanted to know about (claws that could lift ships, levers for moving the world, etc.) were essentially toys, distractions from the true work of mathematics. Luckily, the water priests were somewhat more patient. They were willing to sit though endless hours of mathematical lecturing, if it meant more things like the Archimedes screw. In fact, some of the younger priests even found the math fairly stimulating. However, the most immediate effect did not even come from something Archimedes directly told the water priests. History has recorded the tale thusly.
One day, five years after the end of the seige of Syracuse, a young priest was lounging about Archimedes' home, after a rigourous morning of math (he had been learning integral calculus, although he didn't call it that). Glancing about, he noticed a bronze mirror laying on a table. Being a rather vain man, he picked it up, ready to check his face for blemishes. To his dismay, he found the mirror was concave, distorting his face most horribly! Dissapointed, he turned to Archimedes and asked why the old philosopher had such a useless thing lying about? Archimedes replied that it had been an old trick he had worked out. He explained that if the mirror was created correctly (here he rattled off some formulas describing the proper curve the mirror had to be set to), it could seemingly concentrate the heat of the sun. He mentioned, rather casually, that it could even light something on fire, if held long enough. He had apparently contemplated using larger versions during the seige, but could never get the creation process to scale up properly; the craftsmen simply weren't good enough to create big enough mirrors. Oh, well. It had been a thought, and besides, it had turned out to be futile, anyway.
The young priest, meanwhile, had mostly stopped listening after the part about "heating things to the point of burning". His mind was racing, and as soon as he could politely excuse himself, he was racing himself, to get back to the temple. There, he quickly sent an apprentice for a bowl of seawater. While that was being found, he did some tests, and quickly found the focal point of the mirror (earning himself a scorched finger in the process). When the apprentice returned, he was set to holding the light over the bowl of water, carefully keeping the focal point on the surface. Within the hour, the priest was sure: the level of the bowl was distinctly lower, a salty residue had formed, and the apprentice's arm was dead tired. Not that the priest cared. He rushed to tell his superiors the good news.
For some time, the priests had understood the concept of evaporation, if not the exact mechanics of it. Water, exposed to heat, vanished, leaving behind anything in it that wasn't water. Evaporation had nessecitated innovations such as covered irrigation channels, and the universal practice of providing any open body of water with as much shade as possible. But evaporation was recognized as not a univeral drawback. The principle of purifying water by evaporation was also widely understood. In fact, some temples, closer to the coast, had tried to increase their water supplies by boiling salt water, and collecting the steam. They had been stymied by the cost of wood for heating. And evaporation from sunlight was simply too slow. But here - here was a way to concentrate the sun, to force it to heat water faster! In addition, the salt left by evaporating sea water was valuable. This new method promised not only to increase the amount of water avaiable to the temple, but to increase its profits above and beyond that provided by water, as well.
A test area was quickly set up. Although local Syracusian craftsmen had not been able to create significantly larger mirrors, the water-priests had wider resources. The money of the temples brought in some of the finest bronze casters in the Mediterranean, and Archimedes casual provision of the formula for finding the focal point proved invaluable. Soon, mirrors up to 3 feet across were being created, and set up. Some research into the mirrors determined that a convex mirror, properly set up, could be set up in the focal point of a larger mirror to create a beam that was capable of being bounced off normal mirrors, still retaining its heat. Soon, a small operation was underway on the coast. Resivores were hollowed, with connections to the sea. Each resivore was set up so that a strong heat beam was reflected in through a hole low in the side. Meanwhile, passages higher up, on the roof, led to a second, dry cistern. As the light was shone in the hole, the priests waited expectantly. By the end of the first day, a foot of water was already collecting the second resivore. Cautiously, the head priest took a glass from it, and tasted it. His smile told his fellow priests all they needed to know. The water was fresh, and they had a new method of getting clean water...

Sigh.

It's too damn late, and I have to be up at 6:50 tomorrow. Looks like another 2000 word post it is. Sorry to my devoted audience. On the plus side, I'll be able to post double the length of more CHGIY!

A Digression

I'll get back to the "Classical History with Good Irrigation! Yay!" (or CHGIY! for short) later. Right now, I want to talk about language.

Specifically, the English language. Now, a lot of people are down on the English language. "It's irregular" they cry. "It's always changing!" To these people I say "Fie! Fie upon you, you base varlets! May your tongues fall from your heads, speaking such affrontery upon our noble tongue!" Not nessecarily because I believe it, mind you, but because I can. I like English, see. Not as some pure, noble language, whose purity must be defended (Heh. "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
- James D. Nicoll
If you've liked this quote, check out James' blog, at http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll/, which is filled with more pithy oberservations, tales of James' misadventures, and, of course, stories about his cats. The last bit, because every blog has stories about the owner's cats. Even if they don't have cats. It's a quantum thing. Shrodiner's Post.)

Anyway. My enjoyment of English is a more personal thing. I can see why some people don't like it. Although, seriously, folks, complaining about English's irregularity and so forth is not smart. The Language Gods might here you, and give us a language that's really irregular. According to a linguistics class I took, we're only middle of the road when it comes to irregularity. Can you imagine if it got worse?
English is my native language. I know it best. In fact, it's basically fair to say that it's the only language I know. I have a few years of pre-university French, but I dropped that when I was allowed to (something I regret, now), and I took a year and a half of Latin, but that's fading now too.
But English is not inherently a bad language, either. Frankly, if it was, we couldn't put together poems like this:

REQUIEM
Robert Louis Stevenson

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from the sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

See? Every word in that poem is modern English. The only one that might give someone trouble is "grave", and it's quite clear from context. I challenge you, English detractors. A language that could generate that is not a bad language. Simple, concise, short. But it burns its message into my mind every time I read it.

It's interesting to think about languages and reading. To my mind, there are two kinds of books that people like. Some good books are written about something interesting. Other books are written interestingly. And it's the latter that don't nessecarily translate well. Let's take two of my favorite writers in English: Shakespeare and Tolkien. Both of them, I suspect, lose something in translation. Because, to my view, both of their excellence comes, in large part, from a masterful command of the language. Take Tolkien. He knew how to write in style. Say what you will about his sense of pacing, his treatment of characters, his ability to grab the reader. If you tell me he didn't write with style, I will laugh, then explain how you must have been high to have missed it. Take the Council of Elrond. In that chapter, Tolkien had a whole bunch of characters (something like 20 or so) all together in the room, each with something to say. Yet, he doesn't do a whole lot of "Elrond said '...' ", or "Gandalf spoke up '...' " Each character is defined, subtly, by the style of their speech. You can tell Elrond from Gandalf from Aragorn from Boromir from Bilbo from Frodo. That's command of the language. Of course, Tolkien also had a decent plot, IMO. The concepts explored by it are good.
Shakespeare, OTOH, in my opinion, never really had much in the way of plots. Oh, they weren't bad plots. Most are pretty iconic. Everyone knows what you mean when you call something a "Romeo and Juliet story". But he didn't come up with them. I think The Tempest is the only play he didn't crib the plot for from somewhere. But his plays are still works of genius. It's not the plot. The pacing is good, and suspense is good. But, basically, it's the language, man, the language. I'm going to quote a lot of it, just because I love it so much.

WESTMORELAND
O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

KING HENRY V
What's he that wishes so?
My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow
To do our country loss; and if to live,
The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is called the feast of Crispian:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember with advantages
What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
Familiar in his mouth as household words
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remember'd;
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Damn. Gets me every time. There was a dude who could write. It makes me very sad that, in a few hundred more years, we English speakers probably won't understand him anymore. It'll be like Chaucer: everybody's heard of him, knows he's supposed to be hot stuff. But we don't read him, because his English was different enough to make it a barrier. And if that happens to old Billy S, I think our language will be the poorer for it.

And yet, I really can't do anything about it. The language moves on, and not our piety, or wit, will move it back half a year. Speaking of which, I hope Shakespear gets as good a translator as Omar Khayyam did. I dunno about the original poems, as I can't read Persian. But

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it

Is damn good poetry all by itself.
Anyway, enough rambling on English. I'm going to bed.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!

Little more tired than I expected. Oh, well. Hopefully, the coke I'm drinking will keep me coherent and creative for long enough. On with the alternate history!

In our past installment: a small tribe, on the edge of the Sahara desert, discovers a system of plants and water management that allows them to cultivate slightly more arid area than in our timeline. After c. 2000 years of this system being stable, a young priest of the local religion has decided to shake things up, mostly out of greed.

The next ten years were harsh, demanding work for everyone, the priest included. Irrigation ditches had to be dug, cisterns created and filled with the output from the spring. The water-retaining plants had to be carefully cultivated, a few hundred feet of ground made stable and semi-fertile each year. Twice years with low rainfall almost doomed the project, killing even the hardy plants of the desert. Once, an unexpected rainstorm almost flooded out the whole area, threatening to wash away years of work in a single afternoon.
But through each year, the priest learned a little more, and discovered new ways to advance his goal. He learned quickly that the plants had to be expanded slowly, in the proper order. The grasses had to come first, to fix the shifting, loose soil of the desert. Then the shrubs and tubers, to futher fix the soil, and to more throughly distribute the water and nutrients in the soil. Finally, the straight agricultural plants could begin to be planted; hardy, low water grain varieties, and more edible tubers and berry shrubs. It was four years before the first food plants were successfully grown in the new lands. But once they were grown, and successful, the priest knew that he could make his plan work; desert had been transformed.
The drought years taught them that the cisterns needed to be large, and always filled. The second drought year, 8 years into the project, taught them much about proper water rationing - it was no good trying to grow a food crop during a drought; simply maintaining the plants holding the soil was the vital task.
The flash flood taught them all the value of charting watercourses, even dry ones, and the necessity of overplanning their irrigation system. Fields were lost when they drowned because their irrigation ditches overflowed, and precious water simply flowed away into the dust, because little had been done to catch it. New cisterns were built, designed to catch any future overflow, so as not to squander the bounty provided by the rain god.

Finally, after ten long years, the priest (now a middle aged man of 35), had his proof: desert could be, with sufficient work, dedication, and planning, be turned into arrable land. In the process, he had created himself, almost without meaning to, an entire clan of acolytes. Every member of the clan was now at least partially versed in the intricacies of the system, and several were almost as skilled in it as himself. And every member of the clan was fanatically devoted to him; he was viewed almost as a savior, sent by the water god himself. The clan now lived far better than it had before, with the new farmland. In addition, the process of reclaiming the desert had taught them better use of their existing irrigation system, allowing their previous lands to be more productive as well.

The priest now set out on the next stage of his plan. Taking a few trusted followers, leaving the clan in the hands of his most trusted apprentice, he made a journey, beyond the lands of the tribe altogether. He went north, to a leader of one of the more prosperous tribes, and proposed a deal: he could give the leader the secret to conquering his home tribe, and keeping the land fertile this time, as none of the leader's ancestors had been able to do for generations. In addition, he could improve the tribe's own farmland, and even expand it, into the desert border, provided the tribe was willing to work.
The leader was initially sceptical, but the priest convinced him to send agents to the home of his clan. The reports the agents brought back were spectacular: a tiny spring supporting a huge area of farmland, and a clan that knew irrigation and cultivation of marginal areas cold. The leader agreed to the priest's bargain, and began to supply the priest with his long craved-for wealth: a large house, precious goods, good wine, good food, slaves; the whole package.
The next year, the priest's old tribe discovered they were once again being invaded. They sighed, and did what they always did: head for their hilltop fortresses, with permanent water supplies and food for two years or more, and waited for the invaders to find that they could not farm the land. But this time, they were in for a surprise. The invaders did not fail to farm the lands. In fact, in some areas, they actually seemed to be getting better crops than the original tribe had! The people of the area sank into despair: clearly their gods had finally abandoned them, after guarding them for so long. Most fortresses surrendured, and their population merged with the invaders. A few fortresses were taken by siege, or finally were starved out as their food stocks were finally exausted. One or two committed mass suicide rather than be taken. But the tribe was finished, whatever the final end of its people.

But its religion, in a sense, lived on. After his aid had allowed his adopted tribe to conquer his own people, the priest had been showered with riches by a greatful chief. But he still wasn't satisfied. He looked around, and discovered that greater wealth and more luxury were still to be had. And deep in his heart, he felt restless simply lazing about all day. The 10 years of hard labor had left its mark, and he was no longer content with a simple life of lesiure.
So he began to sell his services. He offered, to any that could pay his fee (an enormous amount, by the local standards), to improve existing agriculture, and to add agricultural land to the desert border, provided there was a water source. Some tribes took him up on his offer. He used his clan, still fiercely loyal to him, to guide the adjustment and creation of the agricultural systems. By the end of his life, he had turned 5 oasises into fertile land, and improved the land use of thousands of square miles. He lived in the greatest luxury of practically anyone in 500 miles; he was richer than most tribal chieftans. But all his money was not spent on himself: he created a number of temples to his rain god. They were initially staffed by members of his clan, but as time went on, they began to accept novitiates from the surrounding populace. The temples taught the worship of the rain god, and the agricultural and irrigation methods, so painfully learned. They created a philosophy composed of equal parts profit motive, strong work ethic, and experimental investigation. The ideal priest of the rain god always had his eye on the best way to make a coin, was willing to work harder than anyone else to get it, and was able to think up a new way of doing the job when the old ways failed him.
Within 3 generations of the old priest's death, the religion he, essentially, created had spread far beyond its homeland. The temples were always well paid for their efforts, and all made a point of expanding whenever their coffers and population of priests allowed it. Each temple was independent, but all kept in contact with each other, and were willing to aid each other in times of need. This gave them significant political clout: a tribal chieftan who tried to browbeat, threaten, or overtax a temple on his lands could find himself without a temple, with an irrigation system falling into disrepair without knowledgeable people to maintain it, and his neighbors circling like vultures, waiting for his food supplies to grow low enough to make him an easy conquest.

Over the next 500 years, the water god's religion spread east and west across North Africa. By 650 BC, they had reached Egypt. There, their influence was stymied for a time. Egypt, it seemed, did not need them: the Nile provided all the water and nutrient-rich mud any farmer could want, making the water-god's innovations mostly useless. The best the temples could do was improve the irrigation system slightly. They did have some success in improving the Al Fayum oasis, almost halting its centuries-long decline into a salt flat. However, it was not until c. 500 BC that they made a truly revolutionary change to the Egyptian agricultural experience.

In the south of the nation, an ambitious temple, eager to increase its fortunes and its political power, began a large-scale undertaking. They convinced a provincial governer, himself eager for advancement, to sponser them. The temple began to construct a huge series of cisterns, larger than any before attempted, mostly carved straight into bedrock. They were designed to fill when the river flooded. Then, with the first group of cisterns filled, the water was forced to flow slowly, in shallow, wide channels. In these channels, it deposited its load of nutrient rich silt, which was collected and stored separately. Then the water flowed into large holding cisterns. When the floodwaters receeded, the resivores were full. When the dry season came again, the new resivores provided water to irrigate the land, allowing a longer productive growing season, and the silt collected from the river and hauled away, was able to make formerly marginal land, at the edge of the flood zone, more fertile.

The project succeeded, although it took almost twenty years of work, experimentation, and more than a few dead ends, to finally get all the bugs out. By this time, the governer's son was now the governer, but his father's investment more than repaid itself: the province was able to notably increase its productivity, and thus the taxes it paid to the government (at that time, Egypt was ruled by the Persian Empire). The new system was adopted in many parts of Egypt. Where no good stone for cisterns was found, artifical caves of oven-fired brick were created.

In addition to increasing Egypt's productivity, the success of the rain-god's temple attracted the notice of the Persian emperors. They began to hire temples, enouraging them to move to Asia, where centuries of irrigation had began to take their toll on the land.
The temples began to work in the land of Babylon. This was a differnent task then they had before faced: usually their work involved simply adding water and fixing soil dried and denourished by dryness. Now they had to cope with land actively poisoned, by built up minerals and salts from millenia of irrigation. The work took longer than any project before. They slowly began to learn the tricks and methods to do it, but it required all their ingenuity. They were forced to find plant breeds that could not only flourish in the soil, but purify it. They had to learn how to tell mostly pure water from that which would further salinate the soil, and find some way to select the good water and leave the bad. In fact, before they were even halfway through the work, they had to suffer the disruption of the greatest conquest in history: the wars of Alexander the Great. But Alexander would provide an opportunity greater than any they had ever seen, and change the nature of the rain-god's temple forever.
But that's the next post.

I know, I know...

I missed a day. Luckily, my dissonance conditions are Nybbasian: I'll make it up by writing at least 2000 words tonight. I'll do it later, though, as I currently have insufficient inspiration. And I don't work tomorrow anyway.

An Alternate History

This one I think I can get several posts out of. So, on with the first one!

Point of Divergence: c. 3000 BC.
As the Sahara desert creeps northward, a small tribe make a lucky discovery. They stumble on the proper combination of plants, in the proper setting, that can hold the dry earth in place and leave it relatively fertile. With this agricultural package, they are able to maintain an existence further into the arid areas of North Africa then was otherwise possible in our timeline.
Not very far, mind. Probably only about 50 miles further, at least for most of their history. The tribe that made the discovery did so out of necessity, as it had always been hindmost on the long retreat from the desert. While their agricultural techniques and water management skills gave them an ability to farm more arid regions than their neighbors, it never gave them enough surplus to make any significant attempts at conquest. The tribe ended up in what is now Libya.
For the next two thousand years, the tribe's existence changed little of history. While they did add slightly more arable land to the desert's edge, no other tribe or nation managed to take advantage of it; the complete knowledge of the plant species and water management techniques needed to maintain the land was only the property of a select priesthood, who worshiped the tribe's god of rain and water.
The tribe developed a simple defensive tactic: they built fortified buildings on the dry hills and mountains of their land, fortifications that always contained at least a year's worth of food, and, more importantly, a water supply - usually a spring, often augmented with cisterns. If invaders came, the people retreated to the hill forts, and waited. The invaders inevitably found that the land they took quickly began to dry up and become useless; the plants that preserved the soil required careful, knowledgable tending to properly flourish. Invaders usually left after their first failed harvest, and the people of the tribe would come down from their fortresses, replant the important plants, and start growing their crops again.
The people actively avoided domesticated animals larger than the dog. Cows, sheep, even goats and pigs, were too hard on land already barely able to support the humans. Thus, the tribe never gave up hunting as a major source of protein. Of course, since game was scarce on the edge of the desert, this only contributed to the tribe's relative poverty.

2000 years after the tribe's effective beginning, this would all change. The beginning, of the end for the tribe, but of something much larger for the world, came in the form of an ambitious young priest. He was the younger son of a (relatively) rich family. His father was a trader, trading what little surplus the tribe could produce to other, richer tribes futher towards the coast. Thus, the young man was exposed to wealth. Unfortunately, this only awakened his greed. He knew that other people had far more than his people ever could, and this always chaffed. His father eventually gave him to the priesthood, hoping they could curb his avaricious spirit. A significant donation to the local shrine to the water god helped them accept him as an excellent canidate.
Fortunately, the young man was a good canidate, at least in one respect. He was a very quick learner, and was easily able to absorb all the knowledge the priests could impart about the plants and practices that helped the soil remain fertile. The young man entered the priesthood at 14, and was made a full priest at 18, two years ahead of schedule.
His first 5 years as a priest were not only not distinguised, they were actively notorious. He was moved to three different small settlements in that period, as at each village his greed got the better of him, leading him to various improprieities.
Finally, in desperation, the priesthood sent him to a place they though he could do no possible harm: a tiny settlement, with only a single family, right on the very edge of the desert, the poorest place possible. This turned out to be the priests' fatal mistake.
The young man had, by this point, learned patience. His schemes had failed him, almost always because he rushed in. Now he had learned the value of thinking and planning ahead. And there, on the edge of the desert, his greatest plan was born. The priest realized that the priesthood was not likely to move him anywhere else again, lest he again cause trouble. So, the only way to gain wealth and status was by gaining them where he was. But how? He thought and thought, until one day, he realized that the most signficant barrier to wealth in this tiny village was its lack of arrable land. He thought to himself "what if I could somehow increase the land these people could farm?"
To any of the tribe, this was a revolutionary idea. Always, they had maintained a holding action, preserving what they had, but not expanding. Expansion was difficult: it used water that could water fields instead, leaving the possibility open of starving both old field and new. The priesthood had formed an almost taboo attitude toward it.
But the young priest was never one to be overly concerned with social mores when his own well-being was at stake. He began casting about his immediate surroundings for something to help him with his plan. Almost at once, he found an ideal test bed: a small oasis, 5 miles out into the desert. He soon explored it, and found out all he could. The oasis was supported by a small spring, which seemed quite regular, not significantly affected by the dry season or the rainy season. The young priest began to work out how much water the spring produced, and how much water a given quantity of land needed. He practically had to invent new math himself to do it, but he got a good approximation by the end. He determined that with careful management, the spring could support almost four times as much land as it now did, although none of the land would be terribly lush. Nonetheless, a significant step. But to do it, he needed support: the task of water management was nothing to do on one's own.
His next step was to enlist the aid of the clan that he was assigned to. He went to the clan head, and explained that he could add a large new area of land to the clan's holdings, if they followed his lead. The clan chief was willing, both due to respect for the dictates of a priest, and because he himself had often desired a little bit better social status. Soon, the priest had all the able-bodied folk of the clan working for him, planting the seedlings of the plants needed to hold the water and the soil, building cisterns and resivors to hold excess water, and creating irrigation ditches to spread the water around. Now, the priest had to wait.

Crap

Stupid blog double-posted my last post, and now I can't get it to delete it. So I'm editing it into this complaint.

The Promised Shadowrun Fixes

But first, a retraction. The last post was not, in fact, my seventh. This post is. Boy, do I feel dumb.

To begin with the Shadowrun.

First thing, I'd add a couple of skills. Perception needs to be a skill. Right now, it's simply an Intelligence roll. I want characters who train their perceptions. The concept of the only moderately bright, but terribly sharp-eyed character is entirely absent from Shadowrun. The other skill I'd add is Dodge. Currently, dodging is handled by rolling dice from your combat pool, which means that the only way to get better at dodging is to get better Intelligence, Agility, and Strenght. Again, not particularly good, genre-wise. I don't think this idea skews the balance particularly, either. While some dodging can be accomplished regardless of how much combat pool you have left, you're now limited on the amount of combat pool you can spend on dodging (no more than the amount of skill dice you have), and combat characters now have another skill they have to spend stuff on.
Speaking of the combat pool: I'd stop making it universal for all characters. Instead, I'd allow each character to pick a knack. Your knack gives you a dice pool that you can use for a set of related tasks. The pool is determined by taking the averages of two or three attributes which are used for the skills involved. The Fighter knack gives you a combat pool, which I would also extend to Athletics skill rolls made in combat, allowing a fighting type to run faster, climb better, etc, while "in the groove". Basically, that's what a knack represents: a set of skills for which you can get "in the groove", doing better than your pure skill would represent. Other knacks would include Magic (which would expand to cover summoning and banishing spirits, rather than just casting spells), Face (charisma and social skills, basically), Pilot (driving/piloting skills, maybe split this into Driver and Pilot), Hacker (computer skills), Gageteer (build/repair skills), and Ninja (sneaking and perception skills). You could also add other knacks, like Athlete, Craftsman, etc. A character could buy a second knack for 10 points, or recieve 10 points by choosing to have no knack. Basically, this would tend to secure niches, and let each character to particularly excell at something. Dice pools would refresh at different rates, depending on the type of knack. Combat pool refreshes every round, as normal. Social pool would probably refresh every encounter, as would Sneaking pool. Hacker and Magic and Driver, probably every round as well. Another change to dice pool mechanics: You can expend one die from the pool for the rest of the session, in order to get an automatic success. So, if you want, you can insure that the one hit you need to make does hit, but you'll be handicapped in combat for the rest of the session.
Karma pool would be given to everyone, and probably work the same as normal. I think I'd give out 2 karma pool dice to start with, instead of one, but that's just because I prefer a more cinematic game where heros are lucky.

Skill costs: I'd completely change the way skills were costed. I'd make them cost the skill level squared in karma, up to double the related attribute, whereapon there'd be a further 50% surcharge. However, the cost of whatever level you're currently at in the skill would be subtracted from the final cost. For example, Bob has a skill of 1 in Stealth. Having been shot one too many times, he decides to boost this to 4. A skill of 4 would normally cost 4^2, or 16. However, it would only cost him 15, since he already has skill level 1 in Stealth. If his Agility (Stealth's base attribute) were 4, then Bob could buy up to level 8 in Stealth at this normal cost. However, level 9 would cost him 121 karma, rather than 81, due to the 50% surcharge for it being above double his Agility.
Skill learning time would be equal to the skill level squared times 2 in months (assuming 4 hours a day studying, with no days off). By doubling your karma cost, you can reduce to level squared weeks, and by quadrupling the cost, to level squared days. In addition, you can make Will rolls to study more per day. This is TN 4, and each success adds one hour to the time spent studying per day, up to a maximum total of 8 hours. Like karma costs, your current skill level is subtracted from the total training time.
This gives a result of 18 months for a skill at level 3, generally considered professional level. That's a pretty hard course of study, too, and of course a professional needs several skills at 3 to be really good. Thus, the training time seems reasonable.
Attribute costs would be similar, except that karma costs would be level squared times 2. So, level one is 2 karma, 2 is 8, 3 is 18, 4 is 32, and so on.

Defaulting needs to change. Currently, if you're defaulting, you roll your relevant attribute dice, but with a -4 penalty, and a maximum result of 8. However, if you have one level of skill, you have to use that skill. So, for example, Bob has no Stealth skill, but an Agility of 6. He rolls 6 dice for Stealth tests, but at a -4 penalty to each. However, if he gains a level of Stealth, he can only roll one die, albeit at no penalty. At certain target numbers, his chance of successfully making his roll has actually decreased. This is bad. I think an Attribute of 4 should reduce TN of skills based on it by 1, and increase the default cap by 1, while 6 would decrease TN by 2, and increase the cap by 2, and so on. Also, I think Attribute dice should "convert" to skill dice as your skill level goes up. That is, if you have Agility 6 and Stealth 1, when rolling a Stealth roll, you would roll one die normally, and 5 dice with the normal penalty and cap. When you reach Stealth level 6, your skill would completely eclipse your Attribute, and it would clear from then on.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm going to bed.

Feeling Silly...

Which, of course, informs the content of the post. To start with:

The 10 Commandments of Gaming

1. Thou, DM, shall be a democratic god.

Seems simple enough. The DM only has the power the other players give them. If you want to be a god, fine, but ask the other players first. If you don't, you might just find yourself a god without players, which is rather boring.

2. Thou shalt not worship at the false idol of F.A.T.A.L.

http://atrocities.primaryerror.net/fatal.html says it all for me, really. Don't play this game. I'm not kidding. There will be lightning involved.

3. Remember thy gaming day, and keep it holy.

Which means, being translated, try to let people know at least a week in advance if you aren't going to be there, and don't dick around too much with the scheduling. (I'm guilty of this one, myself.)

4. Honor thy gaming group.

If you dislike someone, not causing fights is still nice. If you can't not fight with them, probably one of you should consider leaving.

5. Thou shalt not player-kill without permission.

I'm sure your character could kill his. Don't. Unless you both decide to do it as part of the game.

6. Thou shalt not screw around.

If everyone else wants to play, play. Don't quote Monty Python again. (Yeah, I'm bad for this too.)

7. Thou shalt contribute thy fair share of the snack food.

If you eat chips, drink pop, etc, give some cash, or bring some of your own next session.

8. Thou shalt not bear false witness about the state of thy dice.

If you're going to fudge a roll, ask the group. Don't hide it. That's cheating. A DM can get general approval, but a player should probably have to ask every time.

9. Thou shalt not covet, nor touch without permission, nor cast a hoodoo upon, thy neighbor's dice, nor steal the luck thereof.

'Nuff said.

10. Die! Die, bad robots, die!

Well, that came out somewhat more seriously than intended. However, the next batch really shouldn't. I present: geeky poetry! (mostly limericks, but, hey...)

There was a young geek from Nantucket
Who loved buying dice by the bucket.
He had too many by far
to ship them all in his car.
So to get to his game he must truckit.

A comely young goth girl named Alice
played vampires with relish and malice.
She tried drinking blood,
but found with no food,
she was seriously lacking in ballast.

Truly I can't tell a lie;
when a new game catches my eye
the store owner is cheerful
while my wallet is tearful
for I just can't help but buy!

A chrome plated robot named Wally,
while shopping one day at the mall, he
saw a red ATM.
He gave his PIN out: a 10;
Now with a wedding in store he's most jolly!

Learning to game is not very hard
Just choose fighter, cleric, or bard
or wizard or druid
or ranger or fluid
or sentient self-motile playing card!


Hmm. 500 words, and 5 very bad poems. Well, I can always talk about... Um. Stuff. Stuff is good.
Hmm. Two hours later, and I can't think of anything particularly funny. However, I have a mini-rant about what's wrong with Shadowrun, which I shall trot out now.

First, the system as a whole tends to be rather unbalanced. There are two routes to combat effectiveness: magic and cyber. Having simple very good skills does not compete. I can't create a master gunman who won't get pasted by someone with equal points who invested them in either Resources (to buy cyber) or magic. This stings.
Second, the skill system not only permits the Ed Gruberman Syndrome, it encourages it. It's actually cheaper and faster to buy up your skill all at once, rather than leveling up over time. Bad.
Third, the wound system tends to seriously lead to a death spiral: the first person to get hit for damage in combat, all other things being equal, is the one who tends to lose.

That's about it for Shadowrun. Problems, though not serious enough to make me stop playing them. Fixing them, however, should be worth a thousand words or so...

Soooo... New feats, I guess.

Seeking Spell [Metamagic]
Your ranged spells that require an attack roll have a second chance if they miss.
Benefit: This feat can only be applied to spells that required a ranged attack roll, touch or not. If you miss an attack with such a spell, the spell will circle and then try to attack again one round later. The second attack roll is made with your attack roll at the time. If the second attack misses, the spell acts just as if it had missed on the first round.
This feat increases the level of a spell it is applied to by 3 levels.

Quick Stealth [General]
You can be stealthy even while moving quickly.
Prerequisites: Stealth 9 ranks
Benefit: When moving, you do not take a -5 penalty to Stealth checks while moving at more than half your normal speed but no more than your normal speed, and while attacking, running, or charging, you only recieve a -10 penalty to Stealth checks.

Flit Through The Shadows [General]
You can be stealthy even when moving as fast as you can.
Prerequisites: Stealth 15 ranks, Quick Stealth
Benefit: You take no penalty to Stealth checks for moving more than half your normal speed.

Light Sleeper [General]
You wake at the slightest sensation.
Prerequisite: Perception 4 ranks.
Benefit: You only take a -5 penalty to Perception checks while sleeping. In addition, you can be woken from a sleep spell or similar magical effect that allows waking as a move action.
Normal: You take a -10 penalty to Perception checks while sleeping, and waking someone requires a standard action.

Ech. This one has been like pulling teeth. Oh, well. Tomorrow I'll have a better one, I swear. And, this post marks my 7th straight day. One whole week! Go me! Only 51 more to go... Ok, time to stop before I depress myself.