The Outer Rim

In this post we’ll take a look at some locations in the Whorl outside the Braes, with a focus on the three largest islands in the Outer Rim.

Down below, forty more relics you might find in the Whorl.

Outside the Braes

The Wall

The Whorl was not formed by geological processes. Its lands are twisted and disturb the sensibilities of outsiders. Everything we see is the accumulated dirt of ages, deposited in crusty aggregation on the tops of the towers of a dead city. When we speak of an island, we mean to say the top of an ancient building extending above the water.

Not that the placement of the Whorl’s islands is chaotic. To the contrary, the Whorl has too much structure and an abundance of symmetry. Purpose and design? If one could delve the minds of the dead, perhaps one could discern such. The current residents of the Whorl know only that much about their history is lost. They do not even know what species built the city that cradles their sea.

The Whorl is a roughly circular sea. Its waters are held in by the Wall, a literal wall surrounding the city. Colonies of winged humanoids - Virios - live in the part of the wall above water; it is thought that sister colonies of sea people live below. Whatever their original purpose, the Virio now consider themselves the guardians of the Wall, and suffer few to approach. Virio hunters and fishers are ferocious, but their colonies are vast. Outer Rim scholars believe they must be supported by some other food source.

The Outer Rim

Inside the Wall, a short expanse of sea, and then the Outer Rim. The Rim is a circular archipelago of thousands of islands, but three make up over ninety percent of the Rim’s available land: Spear, Moon, and Quentish. More on each of those later, but for now…

Spear is named for the massive tower of ruins emerging from one end, leaning slightly out to sea, and also known as the Spear. The largest city in the Whorl, Whitehall, is built at the base of the Spear. Its seat of government is housed in the ruins, in halls of the strange white stone of the ancients. Spear’s main industries are shipbuilding and mining, and the financial district in Whitehall is the only place in the Rim to speculate and invest. Arguably, Spear is the seat of power in the Outer Rim.

Moon is named for its shape, a massive crescent shape sheltering the largest harbor in the Whorl. The inner side of the crescent is a beach made of fine, white sand, valuable for glassmaking. The wizards of the Whorl make their home on Moon, to be closer to the source of the glass they prize for their work. Note: Wizards are quite distinct from mages in this world. Mages are casters of spells and workers of magics. Wizards are…something else. They manipulate and twist natural forces to their unnatural ends. While this has resulted in gunpowder, excellent optical devices, and airships, it’s broadly understood that wizards were at least in part responsible for the the Blending Plague. Wizards are well-respected and avoided whenever possible. Thieves will mark the sign of the Moon wizards, a rectangle with a crude slash running diagonally through it, at establishments known to be frequented by wizards. More on mages and wizards another time. A cluster of hundreds of islands lies between the horns of Moon, called the Tears of the Moon. When asked, residents of the Whorl will have no idea why Moon is named as it is. Their moon is a simple sphere, unchanging in shape, size, or position, always hanging at the same location on the Needle, and very faintly visible during the day.

Quence is the largest island in the Rim. Its primary industries are agriculture, fishing, and timber. Quence also has mining resources, but is not truly a rival to Spear. Quence’s massive area footprint means that it also has a massive underground footprint as well. Rumors abound of passages through the ruins of the old city to other islands, of communities of underground dwellers, of secret smuggling hideouts, or really of anything you wish.

Lagos

A dozen or more miles of sea separate the Outer Rim from a second massive circular archipelago, Lagos. Lagos has no islands nearing the size of Spear, Moon, or Quence, but its tens of thousands of islands collectively have more area.

The Towers

Another dozen or so miles of sea, and then the Towers, a circular archipelago made up of massively tall islands. Most rise at least a hundred feet vertically out of the water. The Towers is home to what may be the second largest city in the Whorl, Sanctuary. Named for its role in sheltering refugees during the goblin invasions of the Crashing Waves, Sanctuary is a massive tower with a flat top sitting a few hundred feet off the sea. A makeshift system of docks and nets allows ships to tie up and become, briefly, part of the city. Sanctuary is unregulated by the Outer Rim, though Whitehall has made attempts. Sanctuary is now a refuge for many who prefer a different lifestyle and a more flexible moral structure.

As one moves further into the Whorl, the winds and currents increase, and beyond the Towers is where that effect can begin to make ship handling more challenging. With constant currents, ships in the Whorl don’t have sails; there’s never been a need. No, ships in the Whorl don’t face problems with moving, only with stopping, and so most ships are equipped with large, launch-able grappling hooks to latch on to whatever island they happen to be passing. No sails, just brakes. Further into the Whorl, the currents begin to reach speeds that may rip the brakes off the ships.

The Braes

Beyond the Towers, another few dozen miles of sea, and then the Braes. This is a massive ring of stone rising out of the sea and circling the Whorl. It is named the Braes in joking reference to its vague similarity to a sequence of vertebrae. No mapped sea passage through the Braes is known, though there are always rumors. There are also rumored to be cities atop the Braes, and of course the Whorl continues inside. But, the Braes can be thought of as the limit of what the Outer Rim knows.

Inside the Braes

Little is known to the Outer Rim about the Whorl inside the ring of the Braes.

The Known

Inside the Braes the sea continues, and circular archipelagos continue as outside the Braes; this much can be seen from airships. The winds and currents grow stronger as one moves further into the Whorl, and the current crop of airships are just not sturdy enough to continue into the Whorl past the Braes. The Needle stands at the center of all things.

The Rumored

Expeditions have been sent further into the Whorl, in times when the great technologies of pre-deluge Themuria were still functional. Most accounts have been lost. Those that remain speak vaguely of a great whirlpool, a verticality, and the sea taking the shape of a funnel as it nears the Needle. The most complete surviving account describes a sea that whirls faster and faster as it swirls downwards in a funnel shape. The sea becomes steep enough that one can simply leap off the deck of a ship and fall, perhaps to collide with a tower jutting horizontally from the funnel sides, perhaps to continue on downwards to an unimaginable end. The Whorl becomes the inside of a waterspout, more or less. No end is discovered or speculated by these explorers. They only speculate that the Whorl continues downwards forever, an infinite area of space constricted into a smaller and smaller volume. Though one commenter does speculate that perhaps there is an end to the funnel: an exit from the Whorl.

Bizarre creatures have adapted to this life in high velocity, and communities dwell on and in the towers that jut from the sides of the funnel.

Forty More Relics You Might Find in the Whorl

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

Ghost Puppet - unlimited charges - A wooden humanoid puppet about the size of your hand. With the right offerings, you may attract the ghost of a departed humanoid into the puppet. After that it’s your problem. The ghost may animate the puppet and speak. If the ghost decides to leave you may attract another into the puppet.
Tesseract Flask - 1 charge - A simple flask, but reaches into an extradimensional space. Can hold up to a 30 foot by 30 foot by 30 foot cube of water. Open it and tip it on its side; water will pour out at the rate expected for an hour. Recharge: Place in liquid with the lid off and let the liquid run into it to fill it up. Takes as long to fill as to empty.
Freezing Powder - 10 charges - a small felt bag with a blue powder, cold to the touch. When sprinkled on water, freezes immediately to ice in a five foot by five foot square. The ice is one foot thick or as deep as the water, whichever is least. Recharge: Once the pouch is emptied, place 10 gold and a sapphire in it, close it, and let it rest overnight. In the morning the gold and sapphire are gone, the powder is restored.
Vile Dagger - 1 charge - A dagger with a strangely thick blade and an odd little hole at the tip. If you have a disease or are poisoned, jab yourself with this dagger. It causes 1d6 harm unblocked by armor, and extracts the disease or poison from your body. Recharge: Jab the dagger into another creature and press the jewel on the hilt. This releases the contents, infecting or poisoning the creature and emptying the dagger.
Righteous Deck - unlimited charges - A standard deck of playing cards. The face cards will voice loud accusations whenever they appear in a cheater’s hand.
Subtly Righteous Dice - 3 charges - A set of six sided gaming dice made of polished bone. When activated, the dice will glow whenever in the hand of someone who has lied in the last ten minutes; the effect is visible only to the person who activated the dice. Recharge: Place under the pillow of a traitorous person for a full night.
Rant Stone - 1 charge - A jagged, chalky piece of stone. Activate and place in the possession of a speaking creature. For ten minutes everything they say will sound like an angry and senseless tirade for the duration or until the stone is removed from their possession. Recharge: Cook in a soup for 1 hour; the soup will taste terrible and the stone will recharge.
Smelly Socks - 3 charges - A pair of thick, ugly socks. When worn, they emit a nauseating odor, suppressing the appetites of anything hungry within several hundred feet. Recharge: Wash by hand in ice cold water.
Love Potion - 1 charge - A beautiful, shapely crystal bottle with a rose-colored liquid. Activate the bottle; the next person to touch the bottle with bare skin will be affected and believe the contents are a true love potion. If the affected person gives the liquid to someone, the affected will interpret all of their target’s behaviors as though they are under the influence of a love potion, but the liquid itself is non-magical, simply sugar water. Effects last one full day. Recharge: Carry the bottle to the top of a tree and drop it so that it hits exactly three branches on its way down..
Talisman - 1 charge - A round medallion on a chain with a noble’s head on one side and a wolf’s head on the other. Once activated, it provides protection from all harmful magical illusions or compulsions cast by one creature. To activate, the wearer must speak three truths about the person they believe is about to cast spells. Recharge: Must be worn by a magic-user for one day.
Documentation - 1 charge - A piece of expensive looking parchment. When presented to an official, they will see it as documentation verifying the identity or credentials of the bearer. The illusion lasts until the bearer loses contact with the parchment. Recharge: Lay flat in a clearing in a forest to soak up moonlight for one night.
Snack Pouch - 1 charge - A simple leather wallet. It holds enough trail rations for one person for one day. Not delicious, but edible and nourishing. Recharge: Leave it closed overnight.
Whalebone Flute - 1 charge - A flute carved from dark wood the length of a human’s forearm. When played, whales within a mile will suddenly feel uncontrollably amorous and will seek out other whales immediately for gratification. Recharge: Soak in a solution of seawater and rose petals overnight.
Bottomless Glass - unlimited charges - A solid and serviceable seeming pint glass with the name of an unknown pub etched on its side. When the glass is set on a wooden table and a liquid other than seawater is poured in, it disappears when it hits the bottom of the glass. Visual and tactile inspections will indicate that the glass is exactly as it seems. If the glass is tipped as if to pour, nothing will come out for a full minute, and then the liquids that have been poured in since last emptied will come rushing out, in a last in first out order. It is unknown whether there are limits to the amount of liquid the glass can hold.
Chameleon Dagger - 3 charges - An artistic seeming dagger, perhaps more decorative than functional, with a wavy blade and long green ribbons dangling from the hilt. When the bearer is attacked in combat with the dagger in hand, it will immediately transform itself into a copy of the assailant’s weapon, without magical properties. Recharge: Tie the ribbons to a tree branch at least 40 feet off the ground and let rest overnight.
Tailor’s Shears - 3 charges - A well-made set of shears, sharp and serviceable. Touching them to an article of clothing will immediately resize the clothing to whoever happens to be wearing it. Recharge: Must be sharpened by a giantkin woman.
Portrait Knife - 1 charge - A small, delicate carving knife. The bearer may concentrate for a minute on a person or creature they know, and then over the next hour carve their precise likeness into a chunk of wood. The likeness will be exact to scale, and the carving will be a handspan tall. Recharge: Clean the knife with an oil solution made from ground peach pit and eel oil.
Degunker - unlimited charges - A heavy ceramic crock. When held near the ear of a whale, all of the earwax liquefies, flows into the crock, and reforms. Immensely satisfying for the whale; perhaps there is some use for all that wax?
Cat Caller - 3 charges - A small wooden whistle shaped like a bird. When blown, cats of any size within one mile will come to investigate. Recharge: Carry across the crescent beach of the Isle of Moon.
Spectacles of Hindsight - 3 charges - A pair of wire-rimmed spectacles. When activated the wearer gains two boons to saves to perceive hidden things in their memories of more than 24 hours before. Oh, we did miss a secret passage on the fourth floor! Recharge: Polish carefully and place in a tortoise shell overnight.
Continuing Flute - 1 charge - A small wooden flute. Play one note on it. The flute will then float in midair and continue to play, improvising a melody. Continues until touched. Some say it is not very musical, others say it is experimental. Recharge: Must be played by a humanoid woman named Pauline.
Ring of Fire Detection - unlimited charges - A solid gold band, heavier than it seems. When placed directly in fire, the ring glows and letters in a waving, fluid script appear. The letters mostly speak gibberish, about rings and power and whatnot, but wrap up by noting the ring is in a fire and should be removed.
Shield of Arrow Attraction - 3 charges - A round, rough looking wooden shield. When activated, all arrows for the remainder of the round become aimed directly at the shield’s bearer. Recharge: Lean it against a standing wall clock in a room with old warriors telling stories of the old days for one hour.
Precision Scope - unlimited charges - A complex seeming device with small hinges and lenses. By sighting through it and pretending to make various adjustments to wheels and dials for one minute, the bearer can precisely measure the distance between any two points in sight: height of a tower, depth of a canyon, wingspan of a swallow.
Cloak of Billowing - unlimited charges - A beautiful cloak of dark fabric trimmed with silver. Billows dramatically and continuously when worn.
Hat of Wandering - unlimited charges - A simple hat with a wide brim. One boon to the wearer on all saves to navigate with a map. Each morning, there is a 1 in 6 chance the hat will wander away. It returns in a week, slightly damp and ashamed.
Coin of Indecision - unlimited charges - A solid silver coin with heads and one side and tails on the other. When flipped it always lands on edge.
Amulet of the Thief - unlimited charges - An amulet on a chain, with an ornate spider carved on one side. If the wearer goes to sleep with the amulet on, it will detach itself from the chain, scuttle away, and steal an object no larger than itself. The object must be in the possession of a person. It returns to its chain in an hour, placing the stolen object in its wearer’s pockets or pack.
Cloak of Shadows - 3 charges - When activated, the cloak helps the wearer blend into the shadows, so much so that they begin to become a shadow themselves. 2 boons to attempts to sneak or to hide, lasts until removed. If the bearer of the cloak wears it more than ten minutes, there is a 1 in 6 chance in each ten minute period that the wearer fades into the shadow realm, unable to be heard or seen, or to interact with material objects. The effect fades if the wearer removes the cloak and waits an hour. Recharge: Fold carefully around the skeleton of a small rodent and stow in a wooden chest overnight.
Ring of Hunger - 3 charges - A dull copper-colored band. When the wearer taps another creature with the hand wearing this ring, they give the creature a strong hunger for one particular food and dampen all other hungers. Effect lasts until the creature eats its next meal. Recharge: Stir into a large pot of sauce, simmer for 1 hour.
Camouflage Goo - 1 charge - A small jar of a brownish paste. When applied to gear or a creature, makes them highly non-reflective and gives a boon to saves to avoid being spotted. Allies may also have trouble seeing the object or creature. Effect lasts until wiped off. Recharge: Fill with whale earwax and seal for 1 week.
Ring of Wings - unlimited charges - A beautiful golden band with a carved hawk. When placed on the finger, the wearer grows wings appropriate to their size and believes they can fly. The wings are nonfunctional.
Diving Pearl - unlimited charges - A large black pearl. When held in water, pulls the bearer rapidly towards the bottom, where they will cruise gently to a stop.
Turtle Nest - unlimited charges - A wooden box with a door and a hole on the bottom for mounting on a pole. Almost irresistibly attractive to flying turtles as a nesting site.
Bracelet of Hiding - unlimited charges - A polished band of some sort of stone. Wear the band and hold an object in the palm of that hand; it will not be found by the most diligent searcher, as long as it does not extend beyond your hand.
Circus Balls - unlimited charges - Loose sewn leather bean bags. When thrown, they always return to the hand that threw them before hitting the ground.
Witch’s Whisk Broom - 1 charge - A whisk broom, hold in one hand. When activated, can fly at 40 feet per round as the user wills, as long as it remains in their sight. Can hold objects up to a pound and release them on command. Recharge: Must be used to sweep up an entire home.
Saga Painting- unlimited charges - A simple frame with a blank canvas. Sign on the back and hang on the wall of a room. Once per day, just before dawn, the painting will create a new image, selected from the events in the life of the signer during the day just past. The painting will put a slight dramatic twist on things; artistic license.
Sword of Retreating - unlimited charges - Seems to be an elegant and well-balanced sword. If it anticipates being carried into battle, it will wait until it is out of hand, sprout legs, and make its escape
Mage Terminus’ Scroll of Revision - 1 charge - A simple, blank scroll. The writer may make one edit to their life and then burn the scroll. Once the last bits of ash have drifted away on the wind, the change is made and it will be as though it ever was. Terminus was a notorious stickler for balance though, and there may be some terrible cost to using the scroll. Recharge: You burned the scroll. Not coming back from that one; this is a strictly one use item. There might be more of them out there.