This is a follow-up on yesterday's post on CrawlJammer and creating a fantastic version of our Solar System.
Ceres, Heaven’s Garden, Jewel of the Archipelago
Ceres, the miracle planet, is one of the most difficult
places in the Aetheric Sea to find, lost as it is in the cosmic debris of the
Archipelago. It is a pilgrimage destination for the Worlds’ richest and most
desperate, because Ceres offers healing to those who have no other hope.
Things grow well on Ceres. The tiny planet is covered in
gigantic versions of plants recognizable from Aereth: forests of tulips; great,
towering clover; cabbages like castles. The majority of the fauna is insectoid.
There are intelligent races of both insects and plants.
Wounds heal quickly. +1d6 of natural healing per day. If a
person spends enough time on Ceres (3d6 seasonal cycles), even missing limbs
will grow back. The new limb will usually have some plantlike properties (skin
like bark, the occasional budding leaf or cluster of berries, etc.).
Seasons on Ceres affect the whole planet simultaneously. Each
season is short, lasting about an Aereth month.
Moebius |
Spring is a time of sudden storms and rapid transformation. When
the winter snows melt, there are a few days where Ceres is little more than a
ball of mud. Almost immediately, plants burst forth, growing at an
astonishing rate. Great swarms of insects hatch from defrosting clutches of
eggs, ravenous and growing.
During Spring, the ground is so fertile that there is a 1 in
20 chance that any object, organic or inorganic, buried in the ground will bear
forth a plant with attributes of the sown object. One might encounter a tree
with paper leaves that become covered in words as they ripen, or a bush bearing
left shoes, or a vine of braided leather. Precious metals and gems create
flowers of intense, vibrant color.
Summer is a period of idyll, when the hectic pace
of growth slows down, and plants and insects alike linger and mature. During
this period, Ceres is hailed as the most beautiful place in Creation.
Autumn is a period of industriousness.
Plants and insects devote themselves to producing seeds and eggs. The
intelligent species stockpile food and shore up their defenses. The combination
of bountiful life and impending death lend an air of ecstatic frenzy to even the
most mundane activities. This is the time of the Circus Cereale.
Winter is spectacularly harsh. Snows pile hundreds of feet high,
capped with hard crusts of wind-carved ice. Much of the planet’s life dies off,
leaving seeds and eggs buried in the snow for Spring. Some of the larger
insects hibernate or enter a pupa stage. Many intelligent species retreat to
elaborate tunnel systems. A few apex predators remain active, and they are
desperate with hunger.
During winter, the healing bonus ceases, and any direct
exposure to the elements results in 1d6 damage per turn.
Some significant locations on Ceres
Circus Cereale. A natural amphitheater/valley consecrated to
the Gods. In the last weeks of Autumn, hundreds of thousands flock to it for
every manner of game, ritual, and celebration they can devise. It is considered
a great blessing to continue celebrating until the encroaching winter takes
your life, and many of Ceres’ old and infirm pilgrimage to the Circus for their
final season.
The Messor Hive. A
sprawling beehive at the planet’s southern pole. The center of magical learning
on Ceres.
Promitor. An idea of a city that takes on a new form at a
new location every year. Carved out of giant fruits during the warm seasons,
and out of snow in winter. A cosmopolitan city where many insect races mingle.
The Thimbletombs. Resting place and repository of the
Ancient Spider Empresses.
Vervactor. A vast excavated city of ant-centaurs with
tower-mounds that reach above even the winter snows. Provisioned and fortified
over the course of thousands of years, filled with the material riches of
Ceres.
Edit: The same day I posted this, Goblin Punch presented a write up for Bee-Ladies. They're pretty great, and works perfectly for Ceres. Although I think the Bees of Messor Hive are actually giant bees, with no anthropomorphism, I don't think anything mechanically needs to change from Arnold K.'s write-up.
Edit: The same day I posted this, Goblin Punch presented a write up for Bee-Ladies. They're pretty great, and works perfectly for Ceres. Although I think the Bees of Messor Hive are actually giant bees, with no anthropomorphism, I don't think anything mechanically needs to change from Arnold K.'s write-up.
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