Bridges of Time - Immortals

 

"On a long enough time-scale the survivability rate of everyone drops to essentially zero..."

---quote from Archean days, "Information" age, re-translated at least ten or twenty times so some exact meaning might be lost.

 However, essentially does not mean Zero.

There are exceptions to every rule and over enough time and frequency an unlikely event occurs more than a few times.

Some fictional and one perhaps non-fictional examples:

citing fair use and parody

In this age far into the future there are more than a few "Immortals" - beings that simply do not die on a regular timescale.  They are all unique with rich tapestries of stories on why and how they lasted beyond their natural lifespan and then the eons that followed.  A few simply won a 'genetic lottery' and whatever trigger in Man's pattern of life that causes eventual death is off.  These are rarer amongst immortals for every thousand years it is near certainty of some fatal event even in civilizations and worlds of very low war and personal danger.  Others are more special but more believable - they were blessed or cursed by what Gods there be to not die and when killed they regenerate or reappear by some ancient divine Magick.  Some have bodies enhanced by man's magick and occasional bouts of enhanced knowledge of natural law called "Technology" and they have tiny clockwork inside of them or are some kind of tiny clockwork in their entire body and will rebuild any wound and not age in appearance.  Others are constructs of light, sound, energy, altered tissue that pretends to be a form of man or like man or woman.

Does this mean they are lucky?

A society in man's pre-dawn days had a curse - "May you live forever" - they were supposedly the best warriors in Man's history and while this certainly has been surpassed in the near thousand-thousand years hence of the Far-Tomorrows, the legend of their valor and sayings do remain.  They had no 'Valhalla' to reward warriors, their religion had a gray and depressing afterlife and the best warriors got merely a gravestone to remember they ever lived if they died in battle.  Yet even far back and living such a harsh life they knew that Immortality was not a boon but could be a curse.  Thus this phrase would only be uttered to their worst traitors or the most wretched failures and cowardly amongst them.

New Logo for Orange Sun / Far Tomorrows

 Just a quickie here - new logo for the RPG.

And Artwork!

-Maxx Feral

D&D is dead, long live TTRPGs! aka OSR 1.1

 Greetings, my Fishes!

Tis I, the Imperator Offensiveness MaXXXimVs!

The FIST of the Divine Emperor Gaius...!

Most of the time you hear from my storyteller buddy Maxx Feral but I handle the web design, graphic design, try to solicit 3rd party help, have the good software... 

I've re-written many of my personal scripts so Maxx could upload them in the "Attack of the Robot Barbarians" blog and keep Ko-Fi support since not X rated versus MY edits.. I'm doing some work for the Orange Sun/Far Tomorrows project and on the side my comics, pulp novels and the next TTRPG free XXX product of mine coming soon...Whew...

Anyways, the net is a-buzz with the OSR 1.1  If it was "Testing the Waters" they threw a match into an open tub full of gasoline...!    90% against, even the "Woke" invader / grifter content producers are sh-tting bricks!

Here's the sanest take on this:

https://youtu.be/yydxzM8p4RI

We have no affiliation with "Dungeon Craft", just are fans.

As it looks like this is legit, obviously even the PG-R rated Orange Sun and Far Tomorrows will steer clear of OSR period.  We are 'outsiders' and 'indies' so would be first on the list for them to take everything from us if we were foolish enough to sign to 1.1 or to harass us with lawyers if we clung to 1.0, especially with my dealing with Cancel attempts from the Zwei-hander people and some extreme trolls.

Big F-cking deal!

We are going full steam ahead!

Let me say - the TTRPG is not just a "Game" that might be written by one person or sold by another.  Oh, it is that also.  But it is not.

A TTRPG is a "State of Mind" you enter and share with others hopefully!  It gives the same primal instinct thrill as when the Shaman told the tribe's tales and danced and the hunters talked of how the hunt would be.

Every old Grognard or first gen "Munchkin" has thought way too much about the rules, the world, the alternatives to the TTRPG hobby.  Many of us have gone "What if?" through the years.  Maxx and Me have been working on the design of this world but had given up on making NEW rules sets thanks to OSR.  Why ask potential buyers to memorize a whole new set of rules?  However now, it will be Hasbro's G-rated SLUDGE that they have 3 "Sensitivity Readers" go over to make sure no one no where is offended by them...  I'd not EVER want to buy or play something produced by that so why should I support it in any way, that includes "Stealing" aka insisting I can do OSR 1.0 and waiting for the lawyers though the threat of suits can disrupt payment processors and webhosts - even Dreamhost would take down a real DMCA backed by a real lawyer planning to go to court.  For a day, then put it back up when a counter-DMCA was filed - if it was a real complaint versus a Pirate Bay 2.0 thing.

But when you steal something, you argue its VALUE.

So -with all the producers going OSR holdout and waiting for lawsuits, why do I dare consider new rules?

Well you can't copyright or trademark a games rules system.  Only, maybe, the expression and of course copyrighted property...  Oh, wait, D&D is a rip-off of Jack Vance, Robert E Howard and VERY heavily TOlkien.  There's almost NOTHING original in that Night Hag's Cauldron...!  Even the "Unique" monsters are ChinaSaurs - crude, cheap "Dinosaur" figures made in the Walled City of Kowloon in tiny factories next to Brothels next to Schools next to Opium Dens...  The whole game system and lore is a lawsuit magnet for what little isn't ancient folklore.  Once someone takes them to court for real with a lawyer ready to do battle they'll lose.  The problem is challenging such things in court takes too much time and money.  And again argues the value.

So we'll make our OWN.

Now if you are familiar with "The Old Dragon Game" to use a key-word - you won't find our rules a hassle.  We are going to juggle some ability scores but it'll make sense when you think of it.  And add a stat or two.  BUT we'll do our best to compress the mechanics into a few pages.  Serious!  AND we won't be CopyWRONG trolls.  You'll be able to use the rules, no need to pay us!

The collection of critical, stats, die rolls, etc. can be simplified very easily.  I'm going to shuffle them a bit, not fearful of Hasbro but rather would like to improve a bit.  Some stats need to bleed into others.  Its nothing anyone familiar with the core game would be confused over and a new one diving in wouldn't have trouble going back to the original.

Again, in a way I'm GLAD this is happening.

I was going to make stats using OSR based on 2.0 release of AD&D - but worried people from the 3.5 era (good!) and (aaarrrggg!) 4 and (Gaaahhhh!!!) 5 era would freak out.  The woke I don't care about but new players/customers?  I do care about those.

So if its my own simple rules, great.

And again, in the air, but if I think I make something good I'll "Open Source" it.

That means you couldn't copy the guidebooks and our art, but if you said "Orange Sun Rules" - whoops better make it "Far Tomorrows Rules" (FTR) or I WOULD get sued - remember Gary Gygax's post TSR projects?  If you used those rules in your own project, I'd be flattered.  Couldn't PAY you but wouldn't charge and if you did something we hated (a WOKE version by the Zwei-hander people!?) well free speech, free press.  Even those Wokardz I'd let them do it - if say GDW gets covetous (they use Warhammer Fantasy Role Play base) and they need to make $ and use something.  A hyper politically correct but fake Grimdark parody?  Fine! 

So hang tight people!

We are shifting gears just a little but luckily the last part was puppeting all the characters and monsters to an RPG system.  I'm going to seek some review help so the launched ship doesn't sink but I can easily think of a new system and approximate scores.  A very SIMPLE one that fits in a few pages and echoes "The classics" though is its own.

Magna Determinato!

Ruin or Greatness - The Spirit of Adventure in the Far-Tomorrows

"Ruin or Greatness"...

"The stars were against me..." Norbor thought as he spent the last night on his Clan's farm sitting outside the Western field staring at part of some ancient ruin his family had farmed around for eons but never dared dig inside.  Somehow it was his favorite place, more because the jeers of his 'brothers' were not so prevalent.

He looked at the sky on a beautiful night - the mid-summer's twilight lit by a full moon.  The moon was so bright and he could see it was lush and green with its pine trees and even the reflection of its small oceans.  Some said it was a fantastic place but Man had not visited it since the days of the "Wonder Tales" they printed in the Capital and surely the Men there might be very different now.

"It wasn't the stars, it was that prediction..." it had been a family tradition to have an Astrologer do a reading on each family member upon becoming able to do children's duties.  They were never told until later but most were smart enough to pretend not to care then listen in or learn from others.  Norbor was merely playing but heard the commotion which had ended that family tradition...about his fate...

He faced complete ruin in his life - all the points had shown he'd fall short, fail, not achieve...  Fearing for his life the Astrologer left, dropping some equipment, but he had told it could also mean a grand destiny just not the one the family would want for him.  There was arguing and his mother was weeping but the family had tried to distract him.  

He found in the trash heap a part of one of the Astrologer's scrolls - the map of his life...  It was an odd pattern from those of other family members.  He had no idea what any of it meant, but it was like every single dot touched a dot no other of his Clan had and the symbols interpretedclashed with perfection.

It had proved a fulfilling prophecy.  He was reasonably smart and certainly strong enough to pull more than his weight - he should have done well in his farming clan family where one would think all he needed was an endless willingness to work and basic courtesy to his fellows.  But - things didn't fit in somehow.  He had a brown thumb.  Equipment tended to break in his hands and he didn't get along well with his peers.  Surely he'd be starving and constantly begging charity from others and what unfortunate woman was chosen for him if any would weep daily.  However even that would not be his life.  His own brother had started the fight, that was not in question, but with the anger of years of hurtful words he had fought back too hard and they had to spend a lot of money on advanced medicine in the capital  Cain's Sin had never been committed in his family in any of their histories and it surely would someday...if he were to stay.

So, at a time he should be cutting his own section of land with an arranged wife Norbor was sitting with his few belongings and some money he had saved, preparing to leave.  His thoughts moved to his Uncle from his Dad's brother by marriage - he had had rapport with old Gornham...  The man had been a traveler and served in the High King's guard and taught him to fight both in a military unit and in unfair combat and told him a lot about the lands outside the pastoral lands his and other clans had farmed for thousands of years.

Old Gornham had died of old age a few years back, but he told him about his reading.  It wasn't failure, it was that his fortune had to be his own.  It could be a recipe for failure but if he would seize his own fortune it is a recipe for greatness.  It was not the easy path, far easier to scrape a living from the soil and pay the Duke for protection, but live life ignoble and humble.  Yet that was not his choice, only the road ahead which would lead to ruin or greatness.

Norbor had stayed up almost all night looking at the ruins.  No last minute jeer and save ceremony no one to wish him goodbye.  His brother was pretty popular, still he was glad he did not kill him.  He had built a large fire since there was much deadwood but none gathered to party with him one last time.  It was no bother, the light added to the bright moon to illuminate the ruins he'd take one last look at especially the giant statue of the tilted King.

Most of the time he had been by these ruins in his recent years it was to plant, tend, harvest the crops and everyone else wanted to be done and quick so he had not really had the time to study them.  His family had discouraged him from playing around in the ruins for fear of curses and worse.  It was some ancient King with some heads of perhaps his advisors or companions on pillars around him in what had been once a great capital.  His family only cared that the endless shifting of time left most of it deep enough for a few feet or more of soil that they could plant on for the stone it was made of was some wonder material not easily cut.

He studied again the giant carving of some great warrior king of thousands of years ago, now slightly off angle as the Earth had shifted several times.  Who was he, this Ancient King, he had asked time and again from his youth?  They cared not, there were dozens if not hundreds of such statues within a few weeks walk.  Earth had many kings and tyrants and grand rulers going back to the first days.  A few like this one left statues on what now were the ruins of their palaces - but also were guarded by curses and traps and monsters of the Dark who would destroy those who tried to plunder their treasures.  It was a lesson they said to live a humble life, that if you struggle for greatness and somehow triumph the weight of time will only wear your works down.  All you would be for all the risk and danger and fear and responsibility would be a fading statue somewhere known to none.  Even with that warning Norbor had always admired the visage of that ancient king, regal on his throne, staring at eternity even as it would engulf him.  When he dared a closer inspection countless carvings at the base showed the king on his throne, surrounded by courtiers, dancing beautiful women, magicians or in Great Battles.  The main statue was just the king on his throne, so bold and simple and powerful. His face was rugged and real.  

The king's stare seemed to pierce through the Eons to humble Norbor.  In his despair at his lot in life and resignation to a path perhaps of beggary but perhaps adventure or fortune elsewhere he expected this idol to somehow stare at him and say words of condemnation.  He saw no such ill thought in the statue's face, rather the same determination against time itself.

"If there were monsters hiding here, surely they'd have attacked us by now..." Norbor thought and investigated closer...  He had always noticed some lines beneath the King's feet but his brothers had shouted at him to get back to work and not disturb this cursed place.  He'd risk dying by some unknown trap, it was his life not his Clan's now and if he met his fate in this manner scavengers would remove all trace before they returned to harvest.  They always grew crops in this area that took little maintenance, afraid of this ancient icon from the far past as they were so content to live in an eternal present.

A closer inspection revealed that this space beneath the king's legs seemed to be perhaps a hidden compartment, but how to open it without spending days chipping at this rock like material that could shatter a pickeaxe but was worn with countless years?   It was not the lines that signaled a compartment that had drawn him but the symbol - he was never allowed to be close enough to read it.  It resembled his own Astrological reading...!  It was from an earlier time - they always had the fifteenth and twentieth wandering star but he noted only the symbols for up to the fourteenth?  Still it had his own scattered reading, every symbol leading into another leading into a dead end or rather the absence of fate.  To the sides were words - an ancient dialect but just enough of the language had remained - "Ruin - choice - Greatness...!"

Norbor touched the symbols of the words and the box glowed in the twilight...the container gently pushed out from beneath the King's feet.  He should perhaps have run in fear, lest there be a trap, but not this time.  Somehow he knew it was meant to only be opened under Luna's full light by the right person.   After all these Eons surely nothing should remain but in it perhaps was an enchantment that had frozen the passage of time in that small space. The stone vault opened to reveal a sword of eqsuisite works, a bag of coins and gems, a book in an ancient language and a few maps.  There was also, in a tiny cloth bag that had somehow survived the years and looked new an odd gem that looked like an eye floating inside a crystal sphere...!

The first page of the book - though he could not read it had the ancient symbols for farming and harvesting - crossed out - and an arrow towards the symbols for journey and adventure and a drawing of the ancient King's Crown...!

Norbor looked again at the carving of the Ancient King - and he realized that all these years the monument of the King was not an image celebrating his rule and power however brief against the infinite arrow of time.  The King had reached through time to give one last gift, not to the last of his worshippers, but to his successor!  It was nearly dawn now but the moon still shone brightly so he packed his things after dousing the fire and made his way out of the lands he had never left in his life.

----

Many old Fairy Tales started when a young man of Noble Birth was set to "Seek his own fortune" - this was a tragic beginning.  Normally the middle ages had tons of "Petty Wars" where the noblemen had their own children KILL each other's so only the strongest and smartest would LIVE to inherit the throne.  When they didn't do that they faced the land being split again and again until it was nothing but peasant huts with one "King" in each and of course be laughably swiped off the map by others.  The Holy Church did away with this as there was too much suffering caused by this petty warfare and they feared a wave of Muslims coming in or Huns.

Thus there were many young men who had nothing to do and nowhere to go.  Many Bandits were of noble birth due to this.

It is a sad cruel whim of fate that many people are not able to handle the station they are born to.  They either fail to fill it or they seek more or different instinctively and can not be content with it.  The results are usually tragic but sometimes the best of Man's accomplishments have come from this.

Thus in the Far-Far Future - the "Far Tomorrows" we have that age old story of those on the path of adventure.  Often they are starting out as failures or exiles and have no path but the road ahead.  This is as old as mankind.

It is also "The Hero's Journey" - though the call to adventure be perhaps not so noble.

In a TTRPG game the DM should consider all Player Characters to be set on this path;  Ruin or Greatness.  Some factor in their lives clashed - from true tragedy they were not in fault of to sensing a greater destiny to truly failing and needing cash in desperation so they become mercenaries who raid ancient ruins.

The course of their lives is to delve into the cave - again and again - to emerge into the light changed and to keep the road onwards and improve until they become truly heroic truly great.

In the Far-Tomorrows mankind is locked in an eternal cycle and live on the legacy of the endless past.  Earth will abide man many times even this far future a thousand-thousand years nearly ahead of our time and near a thousand times that.  And due to ages of "Wonder" and strange things in the sky there probably is even something in place to stop the sun from burning the earth far into that future.  What can any man do to challenge those works?  What can the greatest man do but be another statue that even of some matter not quite stone that breaks a mattock still is corroded by endless time?

The heroes - the Player Characters - are those people.

Man's true spirit is in a long respite waiting for one final evolution so that far into this future of the future man will at last truly ascend.  It will take a very long time but the "Wandering Heroes" are a crucial component of this!

What does this mean for the Campaign, how the game is played?

This is a recommendation not a rule - Unlike those trying to ruin the hobby as this is typed I certainly shall NOT tell you how you must play the game or what your politics must be.  This is a suggestion but a strong one;

The players must NOT be able to 'retire' until they reach level 10.  If they do they'll lose their wealth - by squandering, by invasion or disaster, by local political power growing fearful or jealous and they have to run.  Whatever set them on the road is still in them and must be satisfied.

Look no further than the Arabian Nights - the Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor!

He was a Rake - a spoiled rich brat who inherited a fortune from his Merchant / Noble parents and squandered it in a few years.  He had just enough to eat gruel until he died of old age.  He knew he could not do it so he invested in a ship to trade and started his life's adventures.  But when he finished the first voyage and came back wealthy he again partied it all away.  So he did it again and came back...  After Seven Voyages that in TTRPG terms are pretty deadly and certainly worth greater than 1 level per adventure he finally calmed his restless spirit and retired in wealth and fame.

A modern critic would call him the WORST sailor ever, a rich elite who should be ... But I am SO sick of those types, no?

Quoth the late Harlan Ellison "Boy, he sure knew how to LIVE...!" - from his preface to Corben's contribution from the 70s/80s.

Again I suggest - the PC's goals should be to get wealthy and retire (or regain the .... throne, restore faith to the land...) but even if they roll good on "Random Loot" tables they do NOT get to just settle down or something will happen and they'll have to pick up the sword or staff again.  Once they go 10th level or higher they can return, be it to be a King or a Village chief with perhaps one last adventure to justify it.  Then in a later campaign they are "Powerful NPCs" that can be beneficial (within sane reason) to newer PCs the character plays!

----

--from upcoming "Orange Sun" / "Far Tomorrows" project

written by Maxx Feral

The Flower Brides of the Cruel Emperor Tzon-Chon

 The Flower-Brides of the Cruel Emperor Tzon-Chon

-an Orange Sun/Far-Tomorrows fiction by

Maxx Feral

"Oooh...!" the soft voice gasped....

"You... are an unannounced visitor?"

The woman was standing with her musical instrument in the Forbidden Gardens of one of the many Forbidden Palaces where the Cruel Emperor kept court.  He was rumored to be staying in the palace at this time.

"I am here to see the Emperor..." the man said, standing with his curved Asian sword and wearing a jet black skin tight uniform that shimmered as it created a bubble of counter information.  He should be invisible to any human or mechanical eye.

"Ooohhh...." the beautiful woman said again...  "I was reading from an ancient text while playing an ancient tune.  We are privileged here for the Emperor Tzon Chon has forbidden these works to the rest of his kingdom lest they distract from simple labor or confuse the mind with unnecessary thoughts."

She started playing again and singing...

"Please, woman, I must be on my way..."

"I fear our Emperor might find me to have been rude to a guest for he must have given you permission to enter this garden.  Only a few save he is allowed to even be in our presence?"

"Sisters?  Let us dance and sing for this man!"

She started playing and as if from the many exotic and unique plants in this vast garden a dozen or more women of incredible beauty emerged and danced and sang all around the visitor.  The first woman gave her musical instrument to another who pulled its two strings expertly as she embraced the visitor not caring his sword was still drawn.

"You wouldn't hurt us? Have we displeased you?  Would you hurt innocent women whom the Emperor honored to spend their flowering years pleasing him?  Would you have their families shamed with dishonor and slowly cut apart in front of their village to shame them?  You would not want us used like disposable girls to have many embryos put into our wombs then be cut open so dozens of several week spawn spill out for his soup of immortality?"

"Please...  I have urgent business and must see your Emperor..." he said but she held with great strength as he tried to push past.

"You wouldn't want this innocent but beautiful woman to have been found not pleasing to any guest of great honor in Tzon-Chon's garden?  To see us put to agonies or have our families killed in front of us?  He rarely sends men such as yourself to us but has assured us to tell them they are not a threat to him or his ego no matter their manhood...?

They started to try to undo his outfit, ignoring some sparks as the connections in the meta-material that resembled a silk Ninjustu outfit of ages past were disrupted.  Several women were now holding him and caressing him, pulling off his clothing to reveal a not unattractive man of Greater Kathay.  He noticed his sword had been removed from his hand and now a woman was caressing and sucking on his fingers.

"I must see the Emperor.  I shall speak no ill of you.  The Emperor's wrath will not be an issue after I ..."

"Assassinate him?" the first woman said with a smile and still an expression of love to his face.  "All who are in this garden without permission are considered Assassins and so we are ordered to assume as such..."

She split open as did her sisters or fellow pleasure women.  

From almost invisible creases on their bodies the Emperor's Flower Women expanded into their true selves; Monstrous plant/animal hybrids!  Their beautiful exteriors burst to reveal razor sharp leaves and thick tendrils full of fangs that were hollow to drain blood.

The Assassin had but half a scream before he was enveloped by them...

-----

Later the Emperor was holding a torn bit of the Assassin's metatmaterial stealth clothing and his sword.  The Minister of War was prostrating himself trembling and begging for mercy.

"Calm yourself and be a Man.  I shall not slay you on this day despite your loss of composure for a brief second.  I know full well how many you slay almost daily before they even reach inside the wall of my palaces.  My concubines hold a special place in my heart but I do understand your frustration."

The concubines were all lined up in front of him, fanning themselves, swaying, giving looks of innocent seduction.  They had wrapped themselves back into their feminine, pleasing appearance and even their robes were petals that they had grown.  Save bangles and other jewelry they were entirely camouflaged plant/animal hybrids created to serve and protect the Emperor.

"The Minister of War was frustrated you left so little evidence.  I will not find fault in you either but if or rather when the next Assassin ventures into your reach please do your best to leave some evidence.  A hand or better yet a head...  It will make his job easier for these Assassins rarely act alone.  There is usually a dozen or more Traitors who do not Praise the Mandate of Heaven and my Glorious Empire of pure order and justice involved behind a single Assassin who will recruit more or in desperation try to sabotage some part of my Red Dragon Kingdom before killing themselves to escape justice.  Even if an Assassin acts alone surely there is someone needing punishment for not being alert and ready to report suspicious behavior.  This material and the sword alone I shall put someone to justice for if I can find who gave or made this for them...

"Rise, Minister of War - do your best to find this Assassin, there are bits of him you can trace on the ground for hopefully his DNA is on the public registry at least.  Look for the real ones, no more confessions encouraged by discomfort or threat of it... I want those that did this or I want to know we did not.  I know you do your best for me.  What I seek is knowledge or the lack of it on this day from you.

And I am sure my concubines forgive the 'stupid flowers' remark?"

They bowed and one came over and kissed him.

"Minister of Propaganda - let the News channels say an intruder was executed by my Minister of war before he reached my inner garden.  No news about my private world is to be leaked.  Offer a reward and forgiveness if someone gives us information that leads to the capture of these Assassins but perhaps simply forgot to mention it?

The minister of Propaganda bowed but the Emperor noted he paused but a moment...

"I mean forgiveness for I am generous on this day.  If an Assassin turns in the others I shall make him a Prefect...of the edge of the burning deserts or the Antarctic re-education colonies...station, reward, Honor...and far away and watched to not be a problem.   If some citizen merely did not notice but remembers sale or possession of illegal materials or a sword and remembers later indeed reward them, I fear some might worry that reporting makes one a suspect...?"

The Minister of Propaganda bowed again and left in haste.

"Good.  All is in order again." said the Cruel Emperor Tzon-Chon and he mounted a golden throne in his Forbidden Garden.  "I shall take some relaxation and celebrate another day where an Assassin was at least thwarted before he got within a hundred paces of my Divine self.  You be about your Duties, Minister of War but if you catch the other Traitors sooner than today just leave note with my Secretaries for I shall not want to be disturbed until tomorrow save the direst of reasons..."

The Flower-Women surrounded the Emperor and danced, played, sang and caressed him.  His Other Ministers and guards grabbed the evidence from the scant remains of the Assassin and respectfully bowed and backed out to seal the door behind thick walls of dark Jade like mortar...

-----

In the "Orange Sun" or "Far-Tomorrows" TTRPG setting there are plenty of monsters and by far most were created by the "Wizard Lords" for petty whims.  Especially the mostly female monsters or "Monster-UUU" in an ancient dialect.

The Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon however is credited with creating the first human-plant hybrid, at least the first one functional outside blobs of tissue in a laboratory.  He did this because while making himself biologically immortal with the technology of the time he allowed no other access to it and grew tired of his concubines and how they'd usually try to kill him or run after decades even before age might have faded their beauty.  Only a few lasted long enough to be retired from his service honorably which he would have rewarded with wealth and status.

Thus he turned to technology to create "Maidens of Flowers" where plant tissue was somehow manipulated into a creature that could mimic an idealized human female.  These beings were alien and their behaviors merely survival for at heart they were plants still.  All they really needed was to roam about his private gardens and would pleasure him or keep him company, reading the ancient poetry and literature that was mostly banned to all but he and his inner circle. 

They also aided in his defense for there were many Assassins sneaking in to try to kill the Emperor they acted as unexpected guards for the sun on their skins was far too little energy and they relied on flesh to keep active as an animal...  Those who were not him nor a few of his trusted inner circle were legitimate prey.  Their delicate feminine appearance quickly folded away into their inner bodies of fast moving leaves and piercing spines that resembled teeth but would drain blood from prey.

Long after his passing they remained for they were plants and designed to regenerate from near total destruction.  There were natural limits on their total numbers to prevent them over-running the world but they did multiply and spread through the world including into the west.  These inspired the "Wizard-Lords" to make their own plant based monsters of mostly female appearance for aesthetics beyond acting as guards to their castles.  Still some of the more ancient and powerful monsters are the "Flower-Women" and the dreaded "True Alarune"...  There are many other plant based "Monster-Uuu" including confusingly "Rose Girls" certainly created by the Wizard-Lords that came long after the Cruel Emperor of course.

Most of these have a "Backup" where there is a seed somewhere about the size of a loaf of bread and it uses the "Root Network" where plants and mushrooms all link and communicate.  If a Plant based monster is destroyed it usually regenerates on the spot within a few months or years.  If there  is exceptional call to kill it - such as 20+ cubic meters of earth dug up and sterilized or a Dragon's fire on the ground the seed waits a decade or longer and sprouts another one.  Over a long interval of centuries they might produce another naturally but this is done to keep them rare by the Genetic Engineers who designed them.  They can also reproduce on command but those commands are long lost.  Biologically immortal these creatures live to live like any plant.  

They will use their skills from seduction to predation to continue their existence.  While most of the Wizard Lord's plant-women are immobile or limited to a set space the Flower-Women are free to move and do so.  They will sometimes be a mistress or seductress and other times appear as a mostly dead tree resembling a woman but with some leaves growing out and stay still for decades.  They rarely attack without good reason for even though they are near impossible to destroy and will grow back if chopped to bits they do not like to do so.  However they can and will split into a terrible plant monster and kill an opponent by ripping flesh and draining fluid.  This they usually do if no one else sees it fearing being seen as a "Monster" and so will often use their slightly better than average strength to fight off an attacker if witnessed.

These beings are greatly feared in the East for even many, MANY thousands of years after the Cruel Emperor's reign they are a dark memory.  In the West they can be prized concubines of Nobility and Rich merchants;  Perfect beautiful women who mostly stand around and be beautiful at day but can play and entertain and then become passionate at night or in private.  They will not fade in beauty and will usually come back if killed.  They do have their own minds and can and do choose to be a mistress or a wanderer or a near inert plant based on their moods and desires.

Note they are intelligent but in a different way.  They can speak and act but must commit to it so they can rarely act suddenly.  When they do speak or converse for too long their tissues heat up and usually they sweat or their eyes water with streaming tears.  This creates an exotic and sympathetic effect but it is merely to protect the special tissues the  plant uses for its brain usually somewhere in the mid-section.  If this is disrupted by stabbing through the plant is usually immobile for a day but returns to look like a beautiful woman in a statuesque pose.

Note also their hair color, clothing and skin are all changeable.  These are modified "Petals" in effect as hair and fingernails are chitin to animals.  They started out appearing as perfectly beautiful eastern women but they have all learned and shared how to appear as such but by Western Standards.  For Western ones they usually embrace the 'flower' aspect allowing recognizable petals to grow from their heads and their dresses leaves and petals as often as appearing as silk and velveteen.  For easier appearance due to the Negative association they are more formal growing silk like cloth petals and strict long black hair though on close inspection the hair is thin long petals but would be flat and wide compared to a human hair.

The Reign of the Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon - Codex historiae antiquae

 The Twenty-Thousand year reign of the

Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon

"YouuuuuuUUUUU!" the deep and terrible voice blows from the great machine fueled tubes that echoed from the palace in the City of Perfect Celestial Order.

"YoouuuuuuUUUU!" the voice unmistakeably the voice of the Divine Imperial August Wisdom Mandated by Heaven Tzon Chon of the Eternal Red Dragon Empire.

"You...!" the deep voice hissed

"I have a question for you, you who conspire against me...  You who think even if you have never spoke a word against me conspire against the Mandate of Heaven and perhaps vandalize my kingdom, disrupt my productivity schedules, somehow even if in your mind work a way to try to thwart my rule...  I have a question...

"How great is your HATRED of ME!?"

"You may think you can do injury to my right rule.  You may think I have not caught you.   Perhaps you are right, my Mandarins in charge of Justice are very busy and a few of the lesser filth slither by even my best of servants of my Justice.  I am forgiving to those whose every breath and act is to support me.

"But know this;  I will know.  If I do not know now I shall find out.  I have much time and my servants are tireless and many.  Go ahead, think you can sabotage my rule and defy the Mandate of Heaven...  Have a nice life, a warm family, much rank and recognition...

"I will know.  I will find out.  I will suspect.

"One day, like any other harmonious day you will fall asleep.

"You will wake in the Ministry of Punishment with your bones bolted to a vivisection table.  My agents will have come for you and your family in the night and anesthetized you.  Then we will remove the sleep and inject drugs which magnify pain and those that keep the heart from stopping.  You will wake when we put the scalpel in you, perhaps to cut across your chest, perhaps to remove the cornea from one of your eyes...!

"You will awake screaming to see your family including your children and servants also being slowly worked upon by my State Torturers.  You will awake to your screams!

"And - you will be honored to an audience with me, your Emperor!

"You will see my eyes staring at you and you will know then you know nothing of Hatred!"

--Recordings from daily broadcasts during the Twenty Thousand year Reign of the Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon who came into absolute power approximately five thousand years after the first space flight.  Cited from "Histories of the Far past by an anonymous monk of the Agnost Orthodox Church..."

I have up to this point talked about the mostly legendary "Dawn Age" of Mankind's long past times.  I have discussed creation myths and historical supposed facts and have tried to keep them in appropriate eras.  However all of this has been wiped out with the Reign of the Cruel Emperor and what has become agreed upon as the beginning of history from our perspective.

The Cruel Emperor Tzon Chon began his rule a mere five millenia give or take a few decades after Man's first known spaceflight.  By then Mankind had sailed through the dark between the stars on ships and crossed the distances that make our nearness to Sol infinitesimal.  Our world was becoming a backwater an 'ancestral homeland' already when Tzon seized power.  The Empires of the East had been dominant and had naturally returned to their orderly dictatorship of Mandarins and officials.  He did this in a mass-murder of his relatives and a particularly bloody coup amongst the bureaucrats in a move so perfect and bloody a city was literally flooded with blood that killed thousands more.

A tyrant seizing power is nothing new but the scope of the Cruel Emperor's wrath was beyond measure.  He managed to control through fear and brutal tortuous execution and a network of spies and counter-spies to keep each individual alone and frightened even up to top Mandarin level.  None could trust another enough to express any discontent much less plot a coup.  He used the advancing technology of his time to make himself effectively immortal.  Then came the final murder of the entire Imperial family and the purging of history and the conquest of the world.  This was all done with brutal efficiency.

What followed was twenty millenia of pain and fear.  His rule was absolute, his word law, his justice swift and without mercy.  He would have no heirs for he would live forever and he would have no family for they would betray him.  His society would simply obey him, the perfect Emperor who would hold the Mandate of Heaven forever.  Those that opposed him were mere cancer that he would often assist his torturers in cutting out himself.

I shall not go into much great detail on the particulars and years of his reign.  In the dim far past they talked about earlier tyrants sometimes saying "To know his atrocities would destroy you."  All of these past despots were as children compared to the Cruel Emperor.  To live in his realm was to live a life of utter fear from the humblest of peasant to the highest official.  Life was regimented and decided by his complex bureaucracy and save slight variances such as by success in education or performance one had no say in how their lives would be lived, save the option of voluntary suicide by public booth though a few of those were reputed to lead to torture chambers for even ending one's life was in a way a betrayal of the Emperor's will.  His crimes are cataloged in a matter that perhaps approaches a third in the "Codex of Jade and Blood" or the allegedly self penned "I hate my enemies - they shall scream!" book of Asian poetry.  Both are restricted as reading them can cause insanity it is said and "Ill" advised on many levels to pursue.

Of note I shall say he made countless walls to protect his empire as did the Lord Mandarin Emperors of Far Cathay in the dim past of Man's pre-history.   Those walls were made with their own people allegedly enslaved and when they died working they were cemented into the walls.  That was unlikely given the technology of the times.  It is undeniable - and an archaeological milestone if an official building in FarCathay was from before or after the times of the Cruel Emperor in that his buildings indeed were made of substances where the countless persons executed by him were incorporated.  This is a material alchemists use and man has used en-masse during times of Technological waxing called "Poly-Mer".  He simply converted the flesh of his endless victims into this and sealed them in a type of artificial resin which was mostly dyed Jade Green.  The great defensive walls had crystal hard dark green rock while the paper on sliding doors was replaced by thin and flexible light jade green of this hellish substance.  His workers of course did their best to twist the bodies and faces of his victims into expressions of horror and pain.  Even after the end of his reign the material was used though rarely with any human remains if ever.  Thus digging in some ancient ruin one can tell if it was after, during or before his reign by this substance.

All Empires are immortal in their own eyes and all fall.

His terrible reign lasted for at least Twenty-Thousand years.  It is difficult to find any truthful record of its end and the particulars.  This is even considering how monitored and recorded each and every day of each and every citizen his monitoring was and how these records have been kept in documents that do not wither with time written in the unflinching 'Asian Basic' as we call it, or the old devices that contain moving pictures and sound - of the daily lives and countless horrific deaths of his subjects.  His death and the end of his empire is unknown.

On that note - if any who read this are of Adventuresome spirit and seek to plunge the Entropic Ruins those of his era are especially ancient, full of exotic treasure and utterly deadly!  If you encounter the Jade-like reisen with slices of humans in horrific pain in a simple room with scrolls and ink seals (often carved from compressed infant bones) and see a 'projector' - a metalized and poly-mer like device the size of a loaf of bread - do NOT manipulate it.  These usually show historical records of the day;  Men and women marching in unison on day to day business, recordings of street activity - a window to this far past.  The scenes will then cut so to speak to the horrific tortures and slow agonizing executions and prolonged mutilations and maiming....  I have had this experience myself....  I think it not some cruel trick;  The era was so full of such suffering day to day images of children playing, men working, monks chanting, armies marching and horrific executions and tortures were part of the normal day.  The 'poetry' I crudely translated was broadcast several times a day as were the screams of the days victims.

Oh, by the Increate, I have faltered in my penmanship and the Fuligan ink is smeared.  I care not.  I shall not erase.  Let me warn you if any warning will do you do not wish to see infants blinded with acid and their parents forced to praise the emperor as he continues the atrocity at the slightest rumor of disloyalty...  IF you encounter a "Device of Public record" from his era I urge you to wrap it up and bring it to some official who can appreciate it with this warning.  I shall vouch for the "Agnost Church" being an ordained priest perhaps bias - we pay not too much but a tidy sum and give a blessing.  Some people rich in coin but sick of mind do wish to see these and other who merely have much coin and foolish curiosity.  We often consul the latter but fear the former.  Again the Agnost church holds much of history to study by trained professionals like myself, we should be the caretakers even as I shudder to be given another "Box of Yellow Hell" and ordered to at least skim its horrific contents...

His death and the succession wars that replaced him seem gone from this history.  Some argue there was an effort to erase his name as he had erased much of the history before him also.  However there is no attempt recorded or uncovered to do so.  In this age the problem is usually there is too much history save Mankind's Dawn Age and the difficulty is to sort it.  There is nothing on his end or a century or so after.  We have even tried to ask people of the Far East and they only respond "The monster was destroyed..." and give no details.

Unless my superior forces me to erase from the Algal parchment my Fulligin ink and re-write I shall also leave my unprofessional opinion on this sloppy page; 

I  do not think the Cruel Emperor was a sadist in the manner much of us define the term.

You are likely aware of the term from Ribald Tales of decadent Noblemen taking a young maid to a punishment room and ...  I hope that happens be it silly or serious a thousand times versus real life but the Holy Agnost Church tries to get people not to read such rubbish.

Again I do not think Tzon Chon was a sadist.  I think he came to power in very brutal times and history does back it up and merely killed those he saw as enemies first and never stopped.  There is no indication he gained any personal pleasure from this but saw it a mechanical duty.  He saw himself as the right Eternal Emperor of all humanity or at least all Earth though was biased towards the realm of Far Cathay of the distant past and did whatever was necessary to achieve some far off goal.  He was full of hatred for those he assumed worked against his plan but to destroy them in agony was merely a chore of the endless burden a 'true' Emperor must bear.

There was no attempt to erase him from history for he had ruled as long as those in the late "Dawn age" recognized mankind's official history to be - Twenty Thousand years.  There are legends that man's history goes back nearly a thousand thousand years before that, almost as far behind as the age I write in is ahead.  Ancient empires destroyed by flood, wars of giants and divine beings ravaging the earth much like the end of the Age of Wizard-Lords that occurred long after the Age of the Cruel Emperor.  Man would love to forget him but would only erase their own history and ensure the next one has no warning to hinder him.

Furthermore the Cruel Emperor left his mark on Humanity far deeper than any historical record and even across the world that suffered the least of his evil reign he is still known today many thousands of years after his time.  He cut into mankind much as one of his State Torturers did with a scalpel and left indelible marks.

Of the most note is that even many thousands of years later the East and West are still different cultures though logically they should have merged so many times as to be unrecognizable from that dim age in the far past.  There are occasional wars and periods of merging.  Travelers go to distant lands and we have those from there come here.  Sometimes they settle and live their final days among us as one of us.  However the West is still West and East still East.

Another aspect is what he taught us by his negative example - to respect life and dignity and true justice.  We have had tyrants and despots West and East since but most have been deposed.  The Wizard Lords achieved far more power and did abuse theirs but not to a scope even approaching the Cruel Emperor though even attempting would be an unthinkable endeavor such as an immortal building one of his many walls with bricks by hand over tens of thousands of years.  As a general rule those who fall to tyranny and cruelty usually get deposed much faster than those who show reasonable mercy.

"I claim safe passage" - an ancient saying from before the Dawn Age but it is a boon to many of those of Adventuresome spirit;  In the Reign of the Cruel Emperor moving anywhere without permission was instant painful death though at least quick execution like slow hanging.  Permission could be asked for and was usually denied.  One would not be executed for a mere request, their butchers were busy all day and night, but if one made a few unusual requests and a negative rumor popped up the requests would ensure the death of the individual.  Thus it became a point of just rule to respect the right of persons to move at will including those from different nations and different cultures.  Unless there was good reason such as with evidence to assume banditry or espionage any could claim this and any ruler who denied it was marked a tyrant and had a much greater chance of being dethroned quickly.  Most lords of any fiefdom or Provence usually respect the Right of Safe passage and have their officials talk to those from far away to prevent problems with culture and language from creating a disturbance.  Powerful travelers get more scrutiny but it is often to be invited to the Lord's table to feast with him so they have a soft bond of loyalty with him and he can then set them to task chasing bandits for coin or otherwise providing services.  Often maids and attractive peasant girls will chase the most heroic and can bond a hero to their fiefdom or Provence.

Those truly untrustworthy try to steal his silverware at the table and can be justly dealt with!

A final note is the horrific Isle of Uccastrog aka "The Isle of the Torturers"...

It is a mid size island somewhere in the Sea of Cathay where there should be no islands for the Black Oceans are terrible and deep.  These islands are jagged peaks of rock with sharp edges sticking almost vertically out of the deep black ocean and many are just under the water only coming just above the surface with rare extremes of the Moon and tides.  These destroy most ships venturing nearby who sometimes are unlucky enough to swim to shore or float on driftwood or the many 'safety rafts' the inhabitants 'generously' launch when they see a ship with their spyglasses.

This island is full of a special race of specialized "Torturers" that in his last Millenia the Cruel Emperor twisted the life-matrix of some of his Asian people into beings specially toned for torture as he was increasingly demanding more and more of mere human agents of pain and even after millenia finding atrocities they'd hesitate to commit.  The Torturer race was too pure for this, their humanity removed save appearance and re-shaped to be perfect instruments of the Emepror's Justice.  They were like Asians but slightly larger with in the males a slightly bunched and hunched chest that caused them to naturally lean forward.  Their skins were pure yellow with very slanted eyes and fanged teeth.  Their arms spindly and long with long and strong fingers ending in almost claws.  Beyond their bodies their minds were stripped of any empathy and turned into analytical machines only capable of following orders and traditions with a passion and those were to be of course to re-commit the Emperor's countless atrocities.  

The women tend to be more normal in appearance except that they have idealized beauty and often larger breasts and hips than normal Asian women.  They also have natural makeup of pale white faces with blood red lips and natural black teeth that are fanged also.  The women assist both in the tortures but also to give false hope to the captives, sometimes pretending to visit them secretly to massage them, heal their wounds perhaps even have sexual relations with them - anything to give them hope for a few days then as the final tortures are applied they greet them to laugh at them and leer at their despair.

He then left them on this Island as "Perfect Followers" and they merely waited for his sky-ships to drop off those he felt the need to express his justice upon but not waste his personal attention.  It was assumed that any who arrived on the island without being the Emperor or one of his officials with an official edict and guards was sent there for a prolonged tortuous death.

These "Servants of the Divine Emperor Tson Chon" have never wavered in their devotion and even many thousands of years later they merely chuckle at shipwrecked victims who try to tell them that the "Cruel Emperor" is long dead - it is merely proof of their treason and why they were sent there.  Like their emperor they seem mostly polite and courteous though perhaps some sadism is emerging without his hand.  There are few survivors of that island so details about it are rare.  The various empires of the East that came after have often tried to send their Navy there to purge the isle and its horrific inhabitants but the unique geography and perhaps some ancient magical machine has kept the isle hidden and every expedition has been lost.  It seems to be quite easy for ships blown off course by sudden black clouded storms in the Cathay Seas to find however...

The only reason there are records is that some have escaped the island - including inhabitants!  They live in harsh laws and when no ship-men paddle to shore to be greeted warmly then slowly murdered they can often turn on each other, finding an 'odd man out' who violated even the most mild of their endless laws.   Thus sometimes a Torturer escapes what some would consider "Poetic Justice" though be it his or her fault to be born there?  They usually will take a captive to hidden boats that many construct or salvage from wreckage and use their sailor skills to reach the mainland, guiding them through the sharp rocks.  It can be a male torturer seeking escape lest he be the next victim during idle times or a female perhaps angry her brother was so killed.  Sometimes they are bored with their lot in life and like those with the "Adventurer Spirit" do seek to escape their chosen role and risk all on the road to adventure.

Note that most of the Isle try to reach the Western lands.  They would be put to death on the spot if they land in the East.  Even in the West most visiting "Asians" will try to kill them or shout to officials they must be killed and why.  Th

ey tend to be very intelligent and resourceful people who while trained in the arts of torture are rarely dangerous sadists or else why leave their Isle?  Most of the Eastern lands are very tolerant of Western mistakes;  Mispronouncing everything, assuming wild and fanciful behaviors and customs...  But to say an Easterner is from that Isle they will often become enraged and attack even if they said nothing to one not taking off their boots entering their homes, eating with both hands, asking if women of the house could sexually service them...  Do NOT do any of that in the last sentence - try to be respectful and polite and if they seem hesitant just ask them - they will teach you much if you are willing to learn and will reciprocate kindness and courtesy.

What follows this dark chapter:

The Second Age of Wandering Heroes

The Rise of the Wizard-Lords

From "Codex historiae antiquae"

--Written by MaxxFeral for Orange Sun / Far-Tomorrows TTRPG project - all rights reserved

A cure for a Malady of the Minde - a tale in which the Wytches of the Eros Cult do a good service for a family...

"Mother!  Father!  Enough...  I'm ...sorry (he choked back tears...) but I love Pietor and he will be my partner for life no matter the Increate said we would be both males in this lifetime.  Let the Speaker try to scare us with Dawgma all day.  And if it be I must seek my own fortune, so be it, I shall go to Tipor the coastal city with Pietor.  He is an artist and artisan and I've learned my trade in Wares to be Journeyman so I shan't ask a sovereign coin from you...

"Son..." his father said, "It is that you are the only Male besides me in our household.  The name must continue.  You can just be best friends with Pietor and once in a while ... go camping.  Some men do that and almost every woman has a friend she shares ...secrets... with...?"

"Like Mum and my non relative Aunte Bernicey?"  he said, "I suppose that is who I got my ... nefarious malady from..."

"Siemoen...!  Don't you dare leave this house...!?"
But the lad picked up his already made pack and left the door closing loudly on the way out.

"I shall pray for him..." said Father Speaker Thomas, the local Agnost Priest.
"What good will that do.  Your Dawgma scared him nothing?"  Simeon's father, Donovam said as his wife held him and wept.

"The Increate has allowed Mankind his Free Will, that is Dawgma.  We speak and interpret his will and counsel men but if there be direct reward for virtue and sure punishment in life for sin then there be no Free Will.  I can give tongues to speak his word, I can smite true enemies but the miracles I am given do not allow me to force one's mind."


A knock on the door and a voice called from the street through the viewing bars, a low soft but powerful feminine voice; "I see your sign say ye be not to be disturbed on this day but I was given word you might need to consult my order...?

"Enter!" Donovam almost shouted,  The door opened and in strode several females in robes that almost covered their strong, voluptuous bodies and shrouded their faces.  They were wrapped for modesty but their curves and especially hips and enormous breasts were neigh bursting the thin soft fabric.   They wore sparse jewelry, sandals advertised their perfect feet and they carried staffs carved into a wooden double phallus cardecus

"Wytches!?  Of the Eros cult!?" Speaker Thomas spat out, "No!  The Church does NOT approve....!"

"You yourself said you can not force free will.  And the Wytches are an option of any free citizen per the treaty...."

"Please...  Your daughters know your craft well and I could find an orphan.  Or we could wait a while?"
"A man must succeed me, Speaker, to carry on my lawful name and I doubt any adult male I could train in my crafts in time could be found.  I know it be a sin to consul the Wytches but I will bear it if need be to protect my household!"

The Agnost excused himself in disgust and walked out the side door to come not near the Wytches who were greeting with kind gestures but of a fleshy kind.  The head witch made an arms out bow and if by will alone the Hausfrau, Donovam's wife was the one to talk to despite it being a matter of defending a Patriarchal issue."

"A quick chat we shall have, Daughter, over obligation and recompensense but we must make reasonable haste...  May I assume the young man running out of the house is the one you wish us to give ... Consul?"


Later - in the forest - the two men were keeping a brisk pace.
"I know these woods well, Siemon, we'll be in HansForge before the moonrise and in a week or so's walk the Coast.  I have coin and hard sausage saved well.  Don't look back, I've shed too many tears also.  Won't it be fun to settle in the coastal city instead of just visiting once every other year and be too busy on business to enjoy oneself?"

They stopped in their tracks seeing a strange green mist...
It wrapped all around them and it was like blackest night had fallen and the only light came from the glowing green mist at their feet!

"Little lost lambs....." a feminine voice cooed.
"Little Sinners..." another spake.
"We are here to cure you..." a third hissed!

"Wycthes!?" Pietor gasped.  Simeoen took front and pulled his short-sword.
"I be of legal age and by guild of Journeyman status...  I may go of my own by right of way and with me..."

He was standing alone in the mist, though shadows of voluptuous ladies seemed to dance around him.
"Ye be young madmen...  Your parents both asked us to cure your sickness of the Mind..."

"No!  I will..." - Simeoen grunted as the short sword was knocked from his arm by an unseen hand.  He could tell that the had had such strength and speed it could have pierced his chest casually if it had wanted to.  Immediately two of the Wytches were holding him and he heard a suppressed scream of his lover Pietor off somewhere in the mists..  "You cute little Sinner!" a Wytch giggled.  She reached into his pants and undid the leather straps to hold his front but her other hand was on his head and held him in paralyzed shock, sparks from her body entering his mind.  Another Wytch had grabbed him by his arms but when her syster had held his mind had moved to his legs, helping her fellow manipulate between his legs.

 

"It is not your fault, little Sinner..." the Wytch cooed, her breath breathing into his from sweet lips and he noticed her curly red and auburn hair - the smiling lips, the short kisses...  "Oh, some perhaps are born your degenerate way, others choose to sin...  But no matter, we are here to help you..."
Simoen gasped as his manhood became full and started quivering.  He noticed again the sweet breath, the kisses, her enormous breasts squeezing against his chest.  Milk squirted when pressed and the warm milk soaked onto his skin through his clothes and seemed to burn.  He'd have tried to fight but his body was held without his will as both Wytches held him and manipulated his body.

Simoen screamed as his manhood erupted and kept erupting in a wave of pleasure and pain as the strange magicks from the Wytch's hand burned his brain.  He lost consciousness...

Later, in the Donovam household.  A bed and darkened room.  A dim fire with some books and Pfennig-dreadfuls of questionable lifestyle advocacy burning.  In the room with Simoen were his parents, the Agnost speaker, the Wytch and now Anette, the young woman whom Simoen was betrothed...

"So we've worked with Pietor's household, he'll go to the Pine Mountains and a year's stint in the guards but the unit he's in is strict and there are ... women there?"

"Yes, and thus he will not meet Simeon for quite a while to complicate things.   His parents owed me a lot or we'd be sending our son off but better the bond with Pietor be broken and heal in a normal presence."

"I must take my leave now.  Have the young lady hold his hand.  She should be careful, he'd be the last to hit a woman willfully but might thrash in nightmare.  The spell I cast will take time and better he form a bond to her than chase any woman with newfound passion.  May I assume that as she was matched with him, an excellent one at that besides his malady, you consent with him cohabiting with her?  Excellent.  He may be needy in an obvious way.  Blessings of our God be upon this household..."

"I still oppose this utterly." the Agnost Speaker said to the Father of the household.
"I know it be a Sin, to turn to the Wytches, but I'll risk my judgement to protect my household."
"It is not that," said the priest, "I did not think your household could easily afford the Wytches...  Consulting a Wytch for a fortune is bad, paying for a lesser service is also bad but such a service costs very much...  More than a tradesman even of your good status can easily afford.  Did you...?"

"Suspect them not." said the young woman at Simoen's side, a raven haired lady in a nice tradesperson class dress.  "I took the full price." and she bore her chest with breasts only small in comparison to the Wytches.  The mark of Luna in crescent form and tiny dot of her daughter was upon them, small and almost under the left breast.

As the priest gasped and stared she said - "I was his betrothed.  I'd asked my parents to set me up with him as I had eyes for him since we were children.  We tried to make it work, even ... did things before just to see.  But he only had passion for his male friend.  I paid the price so if you denounce anyone as Apostate it be me!"

The priest held his own staff out, the Cross of the Great Wheel in the Sky with its twelve houses for the drivers of the Age in between its spokes, the cross in the center representing the Great Son.  He tapped her lightly on the head;  "I grant thee lesser Martyr status.  You threatened your soul and status in pure love not greed nor evil.  You must increase your efforts to behave in accordance with universal law but I shall not denounce you for this deed."

The priest bowed and left.  They noted the Wytch was still there.
"What will you ask in exchange...?" she started, covering her bosom up.
The Wytch helped her with her dress and put her hand back on her Beau's as he twisted in uncomfortable dreams.
"Nothing that will hurt another or even embarrass your poor Speaker.  You'd think he only knew of us from fairy tales wanting you to drug the sweet juice at the party and tuck curse-dolls under beds.  We'll only ask mild favors for our order now and again, nothing too taxing nor illegal or any of that.  And we'll check in from time to time to make sure your Husband's malady does not return, it is not a debt but a bond and obligation.  I have many myself and must be off." - and the Witch left the room, leaving a relived set of parents with their 'cured' son and his bride to be.

As she left the door her voice carried, "And you may even bear a Hero of this age amongst your children...!"

---End

---FYI - "Mark of the Wytch" in this far age vs a simple crescent as in the past (and a REH story!)

Luna under its thin atmosphere in the waning period with the rare and either malefic or benign appearance of her 'daughter' a new satellite that's usually invisible.  When the tattoo is done by a Wytch proper, taking some materials and secret techniques it appears as a blue ink but will shine under the moonlight and the dot for the Moon's "Daughter" will sparkle.

-----Note - the two illustration images are cuts of a larger image - which will be in the full book.  A commission by "Gulavisual" for this project - if you wish to see the full image earlier and perhaps more images from this project I have no problem with you logging into his site and signing up to see these and many more erotic and fantasy/science fiction based drawings!

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The Witches of Eros

A cult in the Far-Tomorrows of immense power and influence, the Witch cult guards secrets and provides services to society in pursuit of its long term goals.  It centers around worship of the Elder God, Eros, once depicted as an infant in an ancient Pantheon of Gods from Man's pre-dawn age now an elder being usually only depicted as a face from an ancient statue and these are often crumbled with age.

Most of their social influence revolves around women, femininity, harvests, festivals and health especially that of women.  They provide many services for free or a trifle, such as advice on harvest, health, cycles of nature and of body, simple potions (non-magical), women's health and services of, fortune telling, fitness and martial arts.  They have little if any official political power but it is said they can whisper into half the ears of all women and influence them greatly so that the beds are burning for men who tend to have the power decide in the way the Witches suggest.  What they ask directly is rarely anything that seems to affect any power structures or economies so officials usually cater to them.

The Greater Path

A Witch of Eros is not just about spooky behavior, sexual feats, transformations, secret rituals in deep elder forests - though that's a good part of it.  A With has a lifelong mission to fulfil long term goals that are secretive to all but the heads of the order and perhaps the God Eros himself.  It seems to be around mostly breeding humanity so that he stays largely human as he was in the past but slowly might be ascending to a transcendant state.

A Witch of Eros thus sometimes needs to explore ruins and wildplaces to collect samples and perhaps enrich herself with treasure for her own comfort and to donate to her order for minor status.  However she is always working on the order's goals - thus she has a steep cost in actions she must perform or face higher ego loss and some power dampening until corrected.  There is always a "Witch Mother" who trained her and can control access to greater ascension in the ranks and greater powers who seems to know her every move and somehow suggests what she needs to do.

There will be tables of suggestions for in dungeon adventure conditions and between adventure missions.  They can't only just relax, play, have sex waiting for the next Dungeon Crawl.

Role-play advantages:

Witches of Eros are a good effective Fighter+Magic User+Cleric combo - powerful both with magic and combat

They get to be "As sexy as they want to be"

Have lots of perks and powers

Disadvantages

High responsibility - so most between adventures are mini-solo adventures to regain ego and if missed have a reduction in ego, even powers until the balance is met.

Set of rules - and tables - on what to do/not do

Hierarchy of power and command - has "Witch Mother" direct line that can control or command

Higher experience/levelup and while the highest levels are certainly in "Epic" category the "Archmages" or free traditional magic users are certainly more powerful.  They need more XP to advance but have more demands so they are challenging but not a long grind to get powerful.

neutral:

Spells are non-"Vancian" meaning can cast more based on other factors (HP, Blood, special rituals or components) than the study, use, forget method but also less flexible.  Note this game tributes back to original source where the limited spells had more flex for focus versus power.  A "Shield" spell could be tweaked to be 10x more powerful say against metals at the cost of being vulnerable to wood or anything else really and it'd be the Mage's gamble to do it.

ONLY female characters to be a Witch of Eros.  Males certainly are part of the "Eros cult" truly anyone bound to them in any way is a welcome part, but plenty of laypersons live their lives with the religion being their background but those with power are women priestesses.  They have Dawgma to not see themselves superior to men, it is a matter of Men's roles and Women's roles.

Role-play tips:

Be mysterious and feminine - 

They have great influence but it is carefully used for some far in the future goal and so care must be taken in each step.

Avoid direct fighting and initiating combat unless it is clearly the right action.  Being able to shape-shift into a warped but pretty hyper feminine powerhouse after a few levels helps said confidence.  Be direct and deadly when force must be used.

You drip sex and sexuality but are not a whore or a slut.

You are a woman's potential best friend and even a man's if they will come to you and be of use to the Cult.  Certainly one they want as an ally and never an enemy.

You also certainly are not without personal desire - and as long as it doesn't hurt the cult and might help it you may indulge - such as a liaison or going on a fun trip with explorers.  On the latter, gold, jewels and artifacts aid personal luxury but sometimes some deep secret is found and it is great status to share it with the Mothers...