Amber Wastes Gazetteer

[KingCorn]

The Fraternity and the Cafe have done plenty of netbooks, such as Souragne and The Nocturnal Sea. What about a 3e exploration of the Amber Wastes. It could explain Pharazia and how it interacts with the core and Hazlan, the secrets and mysterys of Sebua and Har-Akir. Theres done's of stuff to draw from

[Mistmaster]

It's a good idea.

[KingCorn]

I already have a few ideas.
-Set Animals: A dark creature of the Amber Wastes, they are said to be servants of the storm god set. They are said to leap down from storm clouds, and will stalk their prayer for leagues. Despite their evil nature, like the god they are named after they are loyal guard dogs to the rare souls which might tame them.
-WereBaboon: Mostly naturally born, some say they are the result of wild child of Sebua growing up.
-Anhktepot Legacy: While the blood of the Anhktepot dynasty has long since dried to dust, it is said members of their royal line reincarnate from time to time, with the tell-tale signs of divine blood, as well as divine curse.
-Story/Framing Device: Set it up not with the Fraternity of Shadows, but with Tomb Raiders and Treasure Hunters searching for treasure. As they journey through the wastes, they begin to turn on each other in greed, desperation, and sheer terror till only two are left. Eventually at least one of them meets their end at the hands of Anhktepot. Could draw inspiration from NeoTiamat's Eye of Anubis campaign. Certain scenes I have imaged:

• -Ending Sebua Chapter: After wandering the empty wastes of Sebua for a long time, the expedition hears sound of music and laughter from a strange palace, aglow with light in the cold desert night. It looks warm, inviting, and alive. As they enter, seeing a water filled moat, they see no servents, but see shadows behind the bright curtains into the courtyard. As they enter, it is suddenly gone. There is no light, just cold and overturned braziers. A long dead lawn in an empty pavilion. Not a sound, not a soul. Confused and afraid, they search around the estate, getting lost. One of the named explorers is later found dead, his heart missing, a victim of Tiyet. In terror, they flee from the Palace and Sebua itself, running all night.
  -A brief meeting with a member of the Fraternity of Shadows in Pharazia, with a Baboon familiar (cause thats cool)
  -One of the explorers having visions which make him believe that he is a reincarnated member of the Anhktepot line, thought its ambiguous if he is or merely going insane from heat and thirst.

[Mistmaster]

If I were to work on it I would make everything bigger and more populated.

[The Lesser Evil]

Although it's more of a new remaking than a gazetteer of the old Pharazia (and to a lesser extent, all of the Amber Wastes) is revisited in the Quoth the Raven 21 article “The Domain of the Endless Word" as the peninsula of the Pharazian empire. That version is a lot more expansive and advanced than the canon take.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I would cheer on anyone willing to take this on, but considering we haven't been able to fully finish our Sea of Sorrows gaz after... what.. 12 years? I wouldn't expect any "FoS official" one from us, sadly.

[Joël of the FoS]

But some FoS might be able to work on parts of it

[Mistmaster]

In the meantime you could finish reading and commernting this year Qtr.

[Joël of the FoS]

I have read it, mind you

[Mistmaster]

Good, now you only need to give us your hopinions .

[Mistmaster]

Good, now you only need to give us your hopinions .

[kourkenko]

If i would add one idea, i think Ankthepot is way underused, sleeping everytime is in tomb. IMC, i'll use the Shabti.
This PC race is a creation of pharaos and richs nobles used to hide their sins to the gods and gain access to a good afterlife, all sins are charged in the Shabti and they'll have to pay for them or redeem themselves.
If this kind of creation is able to lure gods, why not trying it on the dark powers ? So, it seems Ankhtepot was sleeping but he was creating a shabti and will try to use it to distract the DP to flee his tomb and his domain. Building a network of servitors and planning his revenge. It can be an interesting take. I'll try it.

[The Lesser Evil]

The Fraternity and the Cafe have done plenty of netbooks, such as Souragne and The Nocturnal Sea. What about a 3e exploration of the Amber Wastes. It could explain Pharazia and how it interacts with the core and Hazlan, the secrets and mysterys of Sebua and Har-Akir. Theres done's of stuff to draw from

The "Domain of the Endless World" article from Quoth the Raven 21 is some what akin to a gazetteer, although it is a radical reinvention of the Amber Wastes as a much more socially developed and populated place than the Amber Wastes of canon. The article is also not done in character and avoids game mechanics.

If i would add one idea, i think Ankthepot is way underused, sleeping everytime is in tomb. IMC, i'll use the Shabti.
This PC race is a creation of pharaos and richs nobles used to hide their sins to the gods and gain access to a good afterlife, all sins are charged in the Shabti and they'll have to pay for them or redeem themselves.
If this kind of creation is able to lure gods, why not trying it on the dark powers ? So, it seems Ankhtepot was sleeping but he was creating a shabti and will try to use it to distract the DP to flee his tomb and his domain. Building a network of servitors and planning his revenge. It can be an interesting take. I'll try it.

If Anhktepot were to have a Pathfinder-style shabti be created, I could see it happening in one of two ways. When he was alive on the material plane, he might have had one constructed to avoid the punishments of Ra (Ra was the one whom originally cursed Anhktepot during his life time, though the Dark Powers stepped in and drew him into the Demiplane of Dread after he was killed and mummified). This is unlikely, as the Dark Powers would have either seen the ruse or simply drawn in the shabti facsimile of Anhktepot in the first place. While in the demiplane, I think Anhktepot would have to arrange the shabti's construction to finish on the day he transformed into a mortal, such that he could "die" again and then his punishment be redirected.

[KingCorn]

I figure this could project could get off the ground since lockdown means everyone has some free time. If anyone's interested in working on this together, send me a message and maybe we can work some group work out.

[KingCorn]

One problem I'm focusing on as a starting point before anything else is how to change Diambel to be less offensive, cause he's too much a Muhammad stand-in to not cause some controversy. And while some amount of stereotyping has been allowed, like the loa in Sourange, or the vistani, some damage control would be good.

While Neotiamat's idea of him being a false priest who is now an agent of fate is awesome, it rely's on common worship of the Lawgiver which wouldn't make sense given the assumption that Pharazia is from the same world as Har'Akir and Sebua, and also takes away some agency from the further evil acts of Diambel. Being a darklord means choosing to continue to do evil. Even the insane who feel they have no choice usually have a choice. With Diambel believing himself and agent of fate, taking away his agency even as it gives him power, also limits the evil he chooses to do on his own.

One idea I had to limit the Muhammad allusions a little bit is to have him not be the founder of his religion, but merely a rather fervent follower of the unnamed faith, a leader of a much larger army group. His acts comes from a deep desire to be an angel and serve at the side of his god (sorta like Alexander Anderson from Hellsing). So he kills his father, a military leader, as he feels he is more fit to lead a unit of a crusading army, that the higher he climbs the closer he is to his god. So he commits some more acts of sabotage and assassination against people with authority to do just that, eventually leading a great crusade of his own. Then he starts commiting atrocities and then gets sent into the mists. This isn't a great fix, but this is just off the top of my head.

Another idea is to have him be from Al-Qadim in Forgotten Realms, though again this faces the problem of not being from the same realm as the others of the Amber Wastes, unless all where from there too which only leads to a bigger mess of problems.