cultantumcampaign

[cultantumcampaign]

So…

Most of the high-ranking officials in Cultantum are Monsters, so what happens when someone from another country needs to meet with the Cultantum officials.

Is there protocol in Bugansworth to “Get the literal lich/ulitharid/ancient gold dragon in our borders without getting adventurer’s attention”, or is it policy that all meetings with them happen within Cultantum’s borders?

The nobles of Cultantum are often seen as "special exceptions" by most countries that actually work with them. Burganworth with often spend a carriage with guards around it while Thema is so small that the trip to their capital often doesn't require special protections. Most nobles don't visit either country with the exception of King Olberic and Princess Titania. Titania with often take a carriage while Olberic will just show off and fly to where he needs to go.

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Its me. I'm your local wizard

[cultantumcampaign]

So uh…. What’s Cultantum’s view on gnome ceremorphs?

They are welcomed into society and often are excepted without resistance by Cultantum ceremorphs. The Gnome ceremorphs themselves find this odd at first usually but get used to it

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A Semi-Illustrated Quick-and-Dirty Guide to Illithids Part One: Tentacles, but Less Sexy More Evil

Anatomy, Physiology, and Reproduction

-SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE-

OKAY LETS TALK ABOUT ILLITHIDS

(D. Lukacs’s illustration from the Lords of Madness: Book of Aberrations)

This is a long one, so brace yourselves. (It’s actually so long I had to break it into three parts because I can’t get it all done in one sitting LOL WHOOPS. Stay tuned tomorrow for parts 2 and 3)

Because the Trove is still down several of the books that I only own physical copies of that are out of print like the AD&D Fiend Folio and 2nd Edition AD&D Monstrous Manual are going to be cited based on my memory of what they say. Moreso the latter because I read it a million times as a kid.

To Preface: I love illithids. They’re my favorite monsters. (I’m literally wearing a T-Shirt with an illthid on it right now. My LOCK SCREEN is an illithid. fuckin’ FITE ME) Their backstory is INCREDIBLY ridiculous and they are just, in general, very fun. I was first introduced to them in the Aforementioned 2e Monstrous Manual and fell in love instantly, long before I ever touched Lovecraft. I also ran a oneshot campaign called “Brain Food” I think that was about a restaurant that catered exclusively to these guys. I still have it at my parents’ house somewhere.

That being said, I have amassed… a lot of squid knowledge over the past 15 years or so. And while most of this stuff could easily be found on, say, the wiki or whatever, I figured I’d flex my hyperfixation muscle a little and write this.

 I’m also, for the sake of originality, going to include some lore from the comic I’m scripting, Pitiful Creatures, that I used to fill gaps and things done in partial collaboration with @manticorablogs​ back when we used to RP together. All that will be clearly marked though so you can accept the headcanon or skip it if you want to.

Many of the books I reference in this are old/Out of print so… yeah. Do with that what you will. But I’m gonna try and include images from them when I can.

LET’S DO THIS.

Keep reading

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chromatic dragons; a series of commissions through patreon

[cultantumcampaign]

The condemned maiden storyline from some of the most used cards in yu-gi-oh~

For context the four ideas she takes as based on holy Christian artifacts (shroud of Jesus, the holy grail, etc.) And the bearded guy is supposed to be god. So if you really wanted to you could see her as Satan.

There are more cards in this series but they mostly depict the bearded guy and are mostly the "solemn" line.

Storyline cards in yu-gi-oh are some of my favorites like Outstanding Dog Marron and Sangan

who keeps giving her these things

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Gith

About 1000 years ago the githyanki tried to invade Cultantum to destroy their illithid population. This resulted in King Olberic flying into the air and biting a young red dragon in half. Since then the gith have refused to invade Cultantum despite knowing there are illithids there.

There are rumors that Vlaakith has even forbid mention of the Hasturen sphere for unknown reasons. Any githyanki that ends up in Hasturen's sphere is considered a lost cause and will not be rescued or retrieved.

It is also unknown if the githzerai are aware of Cultantum's illithid population.

[cultantumcampaign]

More squids more squids more squids

Rebelex'ahal is in the ice covered north of Burganworth. They are extremely beautiful illithids with skin that looks like stained glass. Some even have a rare mutation where they grow wings. The Rebelex'ahal illithids live in an old dwarf fortress they took over. They don't keep thralls due to lack of reliable food sources for them. Instead the Rebelex'ahal illithids raid the surface often and eat the brains of everyone they attack.

Zexal'ahal is a mostly Abysmal colony. The cruelest of any illithids on Andnya. They specialize in making intelligent devourers and even have made horse sized ones for labor. They have two ulitharids, the elder one, Dragovuva, is a tyrant who tortures not only those whom they capture but also other illithids when displeased. The younger, Yibin, is a quiet oracle who can forsee the future.

Also updated on Uddex'ahal illithids. They can shoot jets of water from their bodies to launch themselves up to 30 feet out of the water. They often do this to surprise attack ships.

Burganworth and Thema Illithids Colonies

While Cultantum has its surface dwelling friendly illithids, there are of course your traditional mindflayers as well. There are about nine other colonies in Burganworth and Themas' underdark. I'm not going to list them all but here are some fun facts:

Colonies on Andnya normally are named after their elder brain with the suffix of 'ahal added at the end. So if the elder is named Trozzilt his colony would be Trozzilt'ahal.

There is a colony called Halkadula'ahal but often is just called the Red Falls Colony. Red Falls is a location in the underdark with fresh water and iron rich soil which makes the area red. Red Falls illithids are even deadlier than their normal counterparts. They have retractable claw like barbs on their tentacles and sharp beaks around their mouths. They sometimes don't even need to stun their prey to kill them. They are constantly waring against a local drow city over their water supply. It is said if you see a white illithid with red markings you should run as quickly as possible before it can grab you, because even one alone can kill a party.

Therara'ahal is in the crystal yards, a massive field of glowing crystals that leads to a drop off called the Cliffs of Madness. The cliffs are called this because at the bottom of this is an enormous elder evil. This evil is unnamed and doesn't move. Its thousands of red eyes gaze upward unblinking. No one knows why it is there, or why it doesn't move. The Therara'ahal illithids have even sent thralls to collect samples from the elder evil. The Therara'ahal illithids live above it on homes dug into the cliffs because it radiants psionics energy they can harvest.

Uddex'ahal is actually underwater. The entire colony is beautiful with waterfalls and corals growing inside it. The Uddex'ahal illithids act as pirates and attack ships that get too close to their territory.

Trozzilt'ahal is home to the most prominent Ariser in Andnya. Trozzilt believes Cultantum is on the correct path to reclaiming the illithid empire. His illithids are master spies and they study the surface and learn about it as much as they can. Many of the other colonies think Trozzilt is crazy but because he is one of the oldest living elder brains on Andnya his words carry weight. He is a careful tactician and his colony has thrived because of it.

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My lock screen and background are Brooke and Vusiks so... a lich and an ulitharid. Good thing i like both of them

You’re married to your phone background/lockscreen how fucked are you

[cultantumcampaign]

Burganworth and Thema Illithids Colonies

While Cultantum has its surface dwelling friendly illithids, there are of course your traditional mindflayers as well. There are about nine other colonies in Burganworth and Themas' underdark. I'm not going to list them all but here are some fun facts:

Colonies on Andnya normally are named after their elder brain with the suffix of 'ahal added at the end. So if the elder is named Trozzilt his colony would be Trozzilt'ahal.

There is a colony called Halkadula'ahal but often is just called the Red Falls Colony. Red Falls is a location in the underdark with fresh water and iron rich soil which makes the area red. Red Falls illithids are even deadlier than their normal counterparts. They have retractable claw like barbs on their tentacles and sharp beaks around their mouths. They sometimes don't even need to stun their prey to kill them. They are constantly waring against a local drow city over their water supply. It is said if you see a white illithid with red markings you should run as quickly as possible before it can grab you, because even one alone can kill a party.

Therara'ahal is in the crystal yards, a massive field of glowing crystals that leads to a drop off called the Cliffs of Madness. The cliffs are called this because at the bottom of this is an enormous elder evil. This evil is unnamed and doesn't move. Its thousands of red eyes gaze upward unblinking. No one knows why it is there, or why it doesn't move. The Therara'ahal illithids have even sent thralls to collect samples from the elder evil. The Therara'ahal illithids live above it on homes dug into the cliffs because it radiants psionics energy they can harvest.

Uddex'ahal is actually underwater. The entire colony is beautiful with waterfalls and corals growing inside it. The Uddex'ahal illithids act as pirates and attack ships that get too close to their territory.

Trozzilt'ahal is home to the most prominent Ariser in Andnya. Trozzilt believes Cultantum is on the correct path to reclaiming the illithid empire. His illithids are master spies and they study the surface and learn about it as much as they can. Many of the other colonies think Trozzilt is crazy but because he is one of the oldest living elder brains on Andnya his words carry weight. He is a careful tactician and his colony has thrived because of it.

[cultantumcampaign]

Me when starting to world build Cultantum: Okay I going to make sure that I am inclusive to all monsterous races and everyone has their own spot they are represented at

Me now: SQUIDS SQUIDS SQUIDS SQUIDS SQUIDS

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One of these days I'm going to write a comprehensive set up for Cultantum but I'm afraid its going to be the size of the Silmarillion

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hot take: 

Gloin is the sexiest dwarf by dwarf standards.

Kili is the sexiest dwarf by elf standards.

Thorin is the sexiest dwarf by human standards

& Bombur is the sexiest dwarf by hobbit standards

[cultantumcampaign]

[cultantumcampaign]

Hear me out

What if elf ears worked like puppy ears where when they're young they're kinda floppy and bend over and then they get fully pointy when they're grown up a bit more

[cultantumcampaign]

𝒊𝒏 𝒂 𝒇𝒂𝒓 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒍𝒆 🏰

[cultantumcampaign]

people talk a lot about getting the mcelroys on critical role and whether or not they’d break matt and honestly? I think matt would be fine. matt has been doing this for many years of many different players’ bullshit and he actively enjoys it when his players throw him a curveball. (also he has a serious advantage that Griffin doesn’t, to whit, he isn’t their shithead little brother and therefore it is unlikely to be as fun to make him Mad.) he can run with whatever they throw at him, it’ll be great.

no, what I think would be the biggest problem is Matt frantically scaling his encounter difficulty down mid-battle as he realizes that he made an extremely bold assumption about their grasp on the mechanics of Dungeons & Dragons.