Corapeti Tail of the Necklace of Plenty At the southern tip of the Necklace of Plenty lies Corapeti, an archipeligo within the larger Necklace chain of islands, and also the name of the largest island within the Corapeti Archipeligo. The islands range from rocks a few metres across (and home only to sea birds) to Corapeti Island itself, one hundred miles long by fifty wide at its extremes. Corapeti Island and the other large islands are lush and verdant, covered with tropical vegetation. Human colonisation is a relatively recent event. Corapeti Island rises to a tall mountain spine on its western side, and the eastern land slopes down in a gentle escarpment to the sea. Cutting across this land are deep gullies and ridges running east-west, and some gullies are so deep that the bottom sees no daylight. The First Settlers and The Wall Corapeti Island was settled just over one hundred years ago by settlers from the Empire of Splendour who wished to escape from what they saw as the decadent trappings of civilisation. These were simple, honest agrarian folk with an ethic of hard work and community based upon the teachings of the sage Divine Manrupashnar. The settlers soon discovered the vast cyclopean ruins of an ancient civilisation. A wall nearly four hundred meters high cuts the southern quarter of the island off from the rest. This southern region had been tamed, the land carved into enormous terraces each twenty meters above the one below, but no sign of houses or any other such structure existed, nor any clue as to who the mysterious architects were. The Corapetii, as they called themselves, took to farming the terraces and, after the few expeditions beyond The Wall failed to return, remained confined to the southern tip of Corapeti in their town named Harmony. Recent Settlement In the last twenty years or so, new settlers have arrived, spurred on by the Merchants League and the discovery that the mountains were a rich source of minerals and vug. These newcomers thought the Corapetii to be simple, in-bred idiots and soon exploited the gentle settlers' innocent way of life. Expeditions have crossed The Wall and survived, bringing back vugs and tales of creatures of gigantic size. There are rumours of a mysterious reptilian spirit-people living beyond the Wall. The Corapetii's old settlement of Harmony now finds itself the unwilling neighbour of several traders' stockades. Many of the other larger Corapeti islands have a League presence too, extracting the heretofore untapped riches. Although the stockades are independent entities, each representing a particular merchant family or company, it is whispered that a shadowy underworld figure known only as Father Camaya is running affairs for his own purpose. It is a matter of much speculation as to who is the real face behind Father Camaya. Using Corapeti The lands beyond the Wall are a rich source of "lost world" style adventures, with characters driven by the search for riches or perhaps a clue from an earlier adventure. Some members of the party may just wish to become rich, others may want to solve the riddle of mysterious ruins, whilst others may seek the unusual creatures rumoured to live beyond the Wall. On top of simple action and exploration there is the possibility of politicking with the various League factors, or running foul of the mysterious Father Camaya - some PCs may have been sent by a patron to explicitly unmask this shadowy criminal. We leave the exact nature of the jungle-dwellers and the architects of the ruins up to the gamesmaster. In keeping with the "lost world" style, there may be dinosaurs of varying kinds, or giant apes and other such monsters. There may be tribes of lizardfolk, or if a continuing Conclave theme is required, they could be degenerate variants of Ptorac or Ssth-Gar. There is likely to be a connection with the Lesser Dragon Empire, possibly a location for a Wizard Gate, in which case there may be yellow jade as well as vugs. Although remote, Corapeti can serve as a place where many mysteries of Conclave can be tied together and revealed. Adventure Seed: Secrets of the Vug The vug, strange living construct creatures that can be trained to obey simple tasks, are "harvested" by explorers in mountainous regions in the Empire of Splendour. What no-one knows is that the vug were originally a servitor race of the Lesser Dragon Empire, created in magical life-foundries. Some of these still remain, operating automatically and occasionally throwing out new vug. Vug harvesters may know of strange cave complexes where the vug seem to originate, but they are generally of a kind who prefer profit over curiosity. The Lesser Dragon Empire has a command of life-creation that far surpasses those of the Ssth-Gar (who may be performing a pale copy of those ancient techniques). It may be that some intelligent life on Conclave was created by the Lesser Dragons. Of this we cannot say. The vug foundries on Corapeti are more advanced than those elsewhere, or those elsewhere are damaged, and the vug produced on Corapeti are more intelligent, with a degree of self-awareness. There are rumours of an artifact that enhances intelligence in vug. Such a thing would not be welcome amongst those who use vug as expendable labour, but vug with intelligence may seek it out. Voice of Many Voice of Many is an Awoken Vug, a vug with intelligence and autonomous will. It (for vug are genderless and Voice does not identify with either male nor female) may be the result of a freak glitch in a vug life-foundry, or perhaps it is how vug should be and it is the others that are faulty due to the sheer age of the life-foundries. It may have come about due to an item, a vug sapience generator, or it may be a natural phenomenon. Whatever its origins, Voice seeks intelligence and emancipation for other vug, and is tireless and remorseless in its focus upon this goal (one thing Voice shares with non-intelligent vug is the ability to focus on a single task). Voice is amoral, much like a child. Non-vug mean little to it and it has no compunction against harming non-vug, particularly those who enslave its fellow vug, but neither is it overtly cruel or malicious. Voice keeps itself hidden and disguised most of the time, but has been known to infliltrate places pretending to be a non-intelligent vug. Possibly Voice is Father Camaya, having subverted the criminal organisation's resources to its own purpose using its magical powers of persuasion. Voice Of Many Awoken Vug Brd6: CR 7; Small Humanoid (vug); AL N Abilities Str 12 (+1), Dex 10 (+0), Con 16 (+3), Int 13 (+1), Wis 14 (+2), Cha 16 (+3) Initiative +0; Speed 20 ft. Armour Class 12 (+1 Size, +1 natural) touch 11, flat-footed 11 Saves Fortitude +7, Reflex +5, Will +7 Hit Dice 6d6+18; hit points 39 Base Attack/Grapple +4/+1 Melee Dagger +6 (1d4+1, crit. 19-20) Special Attacks None Special Qualities Animal companion, bardic music (countersong, fascinate), energy resistance 5, immunities, low-light vision, nature sense, organic construct traits, resist nature's lure, wild empathy +9 Skills Bluff +9, Diplomacy +11, Disguise +12, Gather Information +9, Hide +11, Intimidate +5, Listen +8, Move Silently +7, Perform (oratory) +9, Sense Motive +8, Sleight of Hand +9 Feats Great Fortitude, Quick Draw, Skill Focus (disguise) Languages High Imperial, Low Imperial Possessions Dagger, writing equipment, hooded cloak Spells Known 2nd level (2/day, save DC 15) - alter self, invisibility, tongues. 1st level (4/day, save DC 14) - charm person, expeditious retreat, silent image, ventriloquism. 0th level (3/day, save DC 13) - dancing lights, flare, mage hand, open/close, prestidigitation, resistance. Energy Resistance (Ex): Vug have resistance 5 to acid, cold, fire, electricity and sonic damage. Immunities (Ex): Vug are immune to all disease of a non-magical nature. They gain a +4 bonus to saving throws against poison. Organic Construct: Vug seem to fall somewhere between animal and construct. They are made of living tissue, heal naturally, can be healed by cure spells and suffer critical hits, breathe, but do not need to eat or sleep, and are immune to sleep effects, nonlethal damage, fatigue and exhaustion. Vug can be stunned, paralysed, ability damaged and drained, and affected by death effects. As an Awoken Vug, Voice is no longer immune to mind-affecting effects, and is counted as a Humanoid for effects related to type (rather than Animal like normal vug). Voice of Many is a shadowy figure that seems to haunt the settlement of Harmony and League enclaves of Corapeti. It keeps its true nature, as an intelligent vug, secret, and most think it some kind of spirit creature or perhaps a salsham'ai. Voice seeks to emancipate its fellow vug, and seeks allies for this cause. It is quite sneaky and manipulative and not above sending characters on a quest that will further its cause whilst encouraging them to think that they are doing something else entirely. Voice uses the "fey" variant of the bard class, swapping Bardic Knowledge and others powers for druidic class abilities. It has a close connection to the nature spirits of Corapeti Isle. (c) 2012 The Creative Conclave. Contact us.

Links Empire of Splendour Lesser Dragon Empire Merchants League Necklace of Plenty Ptorac Salsham'ai Ssth-gar Vug Wizard Gates Discuss this article