This is a continuation of my notes on the ttrpg setting Themuria, the Drowned City, the Whorl. Part 1 appeared last week. I’ll be slowly filling in these notes, but don’t expect answers. Questions are much more interesting. And don’t expect coherence; the setting is being fleshed out nonlinearly, and there are hints of other elements everywhere. The system we have been using to explore the Whorl is a big bag of rules acquired from the Black Hack and its hacks, sort of a hacky-sack, called The Other Hack.

Deities of the Whorl first. Below that , you can find the next thirty relics in my list that’s aiming for a hundred.

Deities in the Whorl

The deities of the Whorl are the greater Others who have seized power. There are four, or five, or more, dpeending on who counts.

The four well-acknowledged gods of the Whorl are the neutral gods Sil and Hel, and the opposed gods of good and evil, Themuria and Ta. Tyche Set, the goddess of Luck, is well beloved by many and considered to be something like a younger sister tot he primary deities.

There are several more powerful Others in the Whorl, not worshipped widely as gods, but active to one degree or another in the affairs of the Whorl. Creatures in the Whorl may seek out any of these poewrful Others for favors, or to serve them as their Chosen agents in the Whorl.

Bentan Sil the Clockwork God

Bentan Sil is a patron of order. Logic, light created to shine in dark places, mechanics like clockwork and gears and steam, civilization, mining, industry, and crafts and craftspeople. Generally a benevolent and popular god in the Outer Rim, but generally a neutral one.

Favored weapon: Mace (one- or two-handed as a maul).

Creatures: Ants, spiders, woodpeckers, and blaze otters.

Bentan Sil rose to prominence during the Blending Plague. As the horrors spread, warriors gathered in the name of Bentan Sil to protect the remaining pockets of civilization. Legends say that Sil himself defended the last towns and stood with the armies of light on the walls, to defend against the chaotic monstrosities rising from the sea

Themuria, the Drowning City

In the Whorl, the cradling earth is neither a stern father nor a nurturing mother. It is a city whose deaths spawned the history of this world. Themuria the ancient, the drowning city god in which the world resides. Life, rebirth, revelation of hidden truths, knowledge, earth and rock, herons and whales. The peoples of this land tell tales of Themuria’s destruction at the hands of Un Set Ta, its resurrection as the Whorl, and how the Chosen of Themuria led the peoples of the Outer Rim to the ruined towers of the city for shelter from the goblin invasions. Themuria is seen as the protector of the peoples of the Outer Rim, the defender who lays down its life to hold the gate against the enemy hordes.

Favored weapon: Two-handed sword.

Creatures: Herons, stonebears, and deephins.

Mornuvin Hel, the Beetle Lord

God of rot, decay, regrowth, fungus, and beetles. Not of death, but of natural processes following death. Hel is not a beloved god but is considered to be a neutral, natural, and orderly one.

Favored weapon: Staff.

Creatures: Beetles, fungus, and undead.

Hel worship increases significantly after each apocalypse, as the inhabitants of Themuria pray for the remains to decay and feed new crops. Themurians have learned to use all the resources at their disposal.

Un Set Ta, the Serpent Queen

Goddess of chaos, secrets, death, depths, darkness and shadows, concealment, betrayal. Ta is feared in the Outer Rim, but she is seen as necessary in some times and places. Her worship - where it occurs - is conducted in secret, and in many towns serpent worship is expressly forbidden.

Favored weapon: Dagger.

Creatures: Serpents, snarecats, and piranhas

Ta worship pre-dates the Deluge. The Serpent Queen is widely acknowledged to be responsible for the schemes which led to the Deluge and the drowning of the city. Un Set Ta and Themuria stand in opposition to each other.

Tyche Set, the Smiling Storm

Tyche Set is said to be the younger sister to the four major gods of the Whorl; her devout would say that they all bow to her from time to time. She is the storm that destroys ships and washes up treasures from the depths. She is the avalanche that crushes the village and reveals the hidden riches within the mountain. She is luck, chance, fate, and fortune. Tyche is worshiped by gamblers, sailors, sorcerers, and adventurers. Her symbols are rabbits, frogs, and clover.

Favored weapon: Sling.

Creatures: Rabbits, deepfrogs, and fateshrikes.

Torre Dun Sheggoth, the Hunter

A demon rumored to hunt the Whorl from its home in the Needle. Some say it has the shape of a monstrous fish, others an enormous bird, and still others say it is a foul mist that devours. Sheggoth does not participate in the affairs of mortals beyond identifying their greatest hunters and setting them to find the most dangerous prey in the Whorl: leviathans in the deeps, tangles living in the dark ruins, and the most dangerous warriors, killers, and assassins among humankind.

Favored weapon: Bow

Creatures: Grimbudgies and sharks

Conogorrah the Eleven-Eyed Collector

Perhaps a famed wizard, perhaps an old god with a hobby. Conogorrah appears to its followers in indistinct form, with eleven eyes - said to be on stalks by some - floating in a thick mist. The Collector is one of the most mysterious patrons, but is also one of the most easy to understand. It simply wants to expand its collection, and tasks its Chosen with doing so. But what does it collect? By all reports: books for its library, creatures for its zoo, and curiosities both magical and mundane.

Favored weapon: Axe (one- or two-handed)

Creatures: Squirrels, ravens, and hoardcrabs

La Merrogath the Reconciler

Once a Chosen of Un Set Ta, La Merrogath is the only mortal - or so it is said - to have gained any glimpse of the infinite depths of future time. But, she was cursed to see only one potential timeline. In doing so she died and her ghost gained great power, but in gaining that power she became trapped by the future she saw. She works to reconcile the future she believes must pass with the future she sees unspooling before her. Merrogath’s powers from her time as a Chosen are legend among all faithful. Her service to Ta is often connected with the Deluge in historical records. Her powers as an Other are undoubtedly great as well; the Crashing Waves are said to have been inspired by a ghost priestess obsessed with time and its correcting, a priestess whose followers called her the Reconciler. Whether or not these legends are true, Merrogath is certainly one of the most active patrons in the Whorl, mistress of schemes and manipulation.

Favored weapon: Spear

Creatures: Slipfoxes, flying tortoises, and octopi

Buggash Dun Aggarath, the Dream Worms

Migrating colony of enormous dream worms that haunt Suenomara, the dream sea-of-sand. Some say they are merely the power of living dreams condensed, others believe they have an alien consciousness. If you want to know what Aggarath wants, or whether it is too alien to want anything in the sense we mean it, you will have to find that out yourself. Aggarath’s Chosen never speak of their dealings with it.

Favored weapon: Unarmed.

Creatures: Cats, dragonflies, and knowleeches.

A side note on Suenomara, the Dream Sea-of-Sand: While it is true that Themuria has been cut off from all other planes and worlds, it could not be separated from its own inhabitants. As in all worlds, the collective psyches of all beings gather and chat, and as in all words, the place they construct to do that is always the dream sea.

But as with Themuria itself, the dream sea, Suenomara, has been transformed by apocalypse. It is dry, emptied, a vast sand-choked desert of the unconscious dreaming mind. Dream things prowl its wastes and dreamers still visit it from time to time.

The wise have many theories about what happened to Suenomara. Advanced logarithmic eschatonics and other such theoretical wizardry aside, the simplest question remains: where did all the water in the sea of dreams go? And that is so tantalizingly related to the central mystery of Themuria’s drowning: where did all the water in the Whorl come from?

But in any case, Suenomara is now a desert, a vast sea of sand and rock lying under a perpetually starlit sky. Dreamers still wander there, and their dreams still shape it. Dream things still haunt it, and if they are different now, horrifying and insane and carnivorously tricksy, well, one must adapt to one’s environment, adapt or die…and dream things cannot die.

If you can find the mind of a dreamer in Suenomara, you may discover things from it that their waking mind was too guarded to reveal.

Cats of all sizes have a special relationship with the dream sea. It is said there is one last oasis in Suenomara, a last, vast pool of dream water. It is said that the great dream city of Ultana is built on its shores. It is said that Ultana is the true home of all cats and is ruled by them, it is said that they can always find their way home in times of great need, and it is said that Ultana’s streets and alleys lead to every dream sea in every world. But none of this is said by cats. They care not for bipedal ways, and they count themselves wise to avoid speaking of much at all. Perhaps they have the right of it.

Thirty more relics you might find in the Whorl

Purloined from locations various and sundry. Relics here are as described in the ttrpg Cairn.

Focus Lens - 3 charges - A round lens held in the hand, appears as a large marble. Look through it to see microscopic objects. Recharge: Soak in strong alcohol for 1 hour.
Message Un-sea Shells - 3 charges - Three seashells that fit easily in the hand. When one is spoken into, listeners at the other two shells will hear the message. All words strongly related to the sea - ship, fish, whale, sailor, and so on - are changed to the word “zork”. These relics only use a charge when spoken into. Recharge: The three shells must be stacked together in a bowl of seawater for one hour.
Pawn’s Scarf - 1 charge - A simple and brightly colored ascot. In the first round of combat the wearer may move twice their movement rate. Recharge: Use the scarf to polish three ornate candlesticks.
Eyestone - 1 charge - A small stone painted to look like an eye. Place the eyestone in a location. Look into a polished mirror and see as if through the eyestone. Effect lasts until the eyestone is moved. Recharge: Repaint the eyestone as an eye of a different color.
Stomping Boots - 3 charges - A pair of heavy boots with thick spikes in the soles. Leap onto a target; the target takes all of the fall damage you would have received. Bane on saves to swim or be stealthy. Recharge: Carefully spear one apple or similar fruit onto each spike, let rest one full day.
Feather Coin - 3 charges - A large gold colored coin with a wren etched on it. When on your person, you may activate it to fall at 10 feet per round for one minute. Recharge: Place in a box with six gold coins overnight. Consumes the coins to recharge.
Black Lotus Pipe - 1 charge - A large-bowled smoking pipe. After smoking tobacco through the pipe, make all saves with a boon for one selected ability, all other saves with one bane, for one hour. Recharge: Clean carefully with tincture of black lotus and wrap in leather overnight.
Ugly Stick - 3 charges - An ugly stick, as a one-handed club. Activate and tap a creature to give them a bane on all Favor saves for one hour. Recharge: Must be carried for a full day by a creature with exceptionally low Favor.
Mask of Speaking - 1 charge - A mask that covers the lower half of a humanoid’s face. When worn and activated, the wearer can speak and understand any language they do not know, and cannot speak or understand any language they do know. Effect lasts until removed. Recharge: Must be worn by a humanoid creature over 7 feet tall for one hour.
Key Ring - unlimited charges - A ring in the shape of a screaming face, with the mouth as the finger hole. When worn, and held near a lock, the finger transforms into a key which has a 2 in 6 chance of opening the lock, one try only. If the key fails to open the lock, the ring screams unnaturally loudly several times over the next minute.
Ineffective Dagger - unlimited charges - A curved dagger with a heavy crossguard. Any nonlethal wounds it makes heal themselves after one minute.
Corpse Ring - unlimited charges - A simple silver band. When placed on the finger of a humanoid, they are as dead: unmoving, unbreathing, cold. When removed, they are returned to their previous state. The wearer cannot remove the ring themselves.
Walking Stick - 3 charges - A common staff. When activated, it sprouts legs and follows the user at a distance of a few feet. Will remain upright as long as no more than a few pounds are tied to it. Recharge: Use as a walking staff for three days.
Unglue - 3 charges - A squat clay jar with a strong-smelling paste. Smearing this on an object has the opposite effect as glue; it doesn’t stick, not even a bit. Unglued objects slide right off tables and cannot be picked up by their unglued surfaces. Effect wears off after a full day. Recharge: Place fish oil, almond paste, and a snip of smolfolk hair in the clay jar, seal tightly, and leave overnight.
Speaking Tube - 3 charges - A thick clay tube as long as a finger. Activate it and speak through it to amplify your voice enormously. Screaming through it has a 2 in 6 chance of stunning creatures within 1 square of you. Recharge: A bard must sing odes to Tyche Set through the tube for ten minutes.
Mimic Pen - 1 charge - When activated, mimics the handwriting of the most recent person to have written with it. Recharge: Store in an inkwell in Whitehall overnight.
Wand of Distant Visions - 3 charges - A slender wand of polished walnut. Create illusory images very far away, always indistinct and unidentifiable, and always very far away. Shadowy shapes flying at sunset, a troop of stooped figures digging on a hilltop, a distant column of smoke, and so on. Recharge: Dip in the waters of the Whorl’s sea on a moonless night.
Fortune’s Die - 2 charges - A standard six-sided die made of polished stone. When activated by a keyword, grows instantaneously to fill a cube 5 feet on a side with stone, weighing thousands of pounds. Requires a second charge and the spoken keyword again to return to its die size. Recharge: Bury with a corpse in a grave for one week.
Rumble Ring - 3 charges - A ring of two colors of glass braided together. When activated, the ground nearby shakes as if for earth tremors. Recharge: Soak in a solution of snake venom and oil for one hour.
Follow Swallow - 1 charge - A carved wooden swallow. Its owner indicates a creature or ship in sight and activates the swallow. It discreetly follows the selected target for one day. It then returns to its owner, who may ask it yes/no questions which will be answered truthfully. The swallow stops when it hits the third no response. Recharge: Lower into a vat of brewing beer, leave for one week.
Revealing Kerchief - unlimited charges - A conservatively styled pocket handkerchief. When contained in a pocket, the bearer is under the illusion that they are completely nude. No one else senses this illusion. The bearer can still feel their clothes and access their pockets, but cannot dispel the illusion.
Escape Raft - 1 charge - A small wooden bowl. When tossed into seawater, it immediately expands to the size of a small boat, roughly coracle-shaped, able to carry about ten human-sized people and a moderate amount of cargo. The effect vanishes after an hour. Recharge: Attach to the clapper of a large bell and ring three times.
Handy Trick - 3 charges - Appears to be a desiccated monkey’s paw in a cylindrical container. When someone holds the cylinder, it offers them wishes in exchange for gold. When, the bearer puts a piece of gold in the cylinder and reseals it, they experience the illusion of having their wish granted. The illusion’s effects fade after an hour, and the gold is gone. Recharge: Remove the paw from the cylinder for one day.
Weighting Pen - 3 charges - An ornate quill pen. Dip in ink and mark identical sigils on two objects. The lighter one now weighs as much as the heavier one until one of the marks is cleaned off. Recharge: Must be mistaken by a spider for prey and wrapped in webbing for a day.
Detection Torch - 3 charges - Appears as any torch. Each charge allows the torch to burn for one hour. When the torch is within 100 feet of a tangle it changes color to burn blue. Recharge: Soak in a large tub of mashed root vegetables overnight.
Signal Whistle - 3 charges - A polished wooden whistle on a lanyard and a wooden case. When the whistle is blown, only the person in possession of the case can hear the signal, and can hear it at any distance. Recharge: Thoroughly smash the whistle to bits with a mallet. Place the bits in the case and seal it with wax for a week. The whistle is repaired and recharged.
Critical Coin - 1 charge - A bright, copper-colored coin. When rolling a save, flip this coin instead; on heads, critical success and on tails, critical failure. Recharge: Must be spent on a purchase then stolen back again a day later.
Jellied Brooch - unlimited charges - A strange, plain brooch with a piece of candy growing in the middle of it. Pluck out the candy and eat it; the effect depends on the color. 1 - Red - Fire breath blast, d6 damage to all in a 20 foot line once. 2 - Blue - Water body, weapons do no damage to you for one minute. 3 - Green - Earth meld, you plant yourself into the bare rock or earth and cannot be moved for one minute. 4 - White - Air fury, take one extra attack or one extra movement pre round in combat for one minute. No recharge needed, but the brooch requires a full day to grow a new candy. Roll d4 to determine color.
Ghost Shard - 3 charges - A piece of a broken dog’s dish with the name Lucky on it. Use it to scratch your palm. A massive, spectral hound with flaming eyes and massive teeth appears. Lucky can keep watch, understand very simple yes/no questions and respond to them with shakes of his head, and can be visible or not to others as you will it. Recharge: Put the shard in a bowl full of the blood of any wild creature. In the morning, the blood will be gone and the shard recharged.
Darkness Ink - 1 charge - A bottle containing a clear liquid. Use this as ink. It is invisible on the page in light, but glows brightly in the dark. Recharge: Refill with water and one juniper berry and wait one day. Only needs to be recharged when emptied.