GM Doug's Strength of Thousands¶
Here are the resources for my campaign. You can search, and everything in the ToC is linkable.
The Strength of the Magaambya¶
In the courtyard stands a massive monoloth carved from black stone; it is topped with the visages of ten animals: Leopard, Heron, Hyena, Elephant, Snake, Ibex, Frog, Spider, Hawk, and Bull. Upon it are inscribed thousands of names.
Your names are written as well: Wandering Glider, Soomedvi, Chimwemwe, Glimmering Hyena, and Blazing Spider.
Book 4¶
"Back in the days before days, but sometime after Jatembe returned magic to the world, three siblings—Chohar, Luhar, and Tlehar—joined together to build Mzali. Its people loved the siblings and made them joint rulers of the city. The three drew power from the sun and wielded the power of gods. Together, these sun kings helped Mzali prosper.
"Soon, the siblings believed the city was ready to stand on its own. The three moved on, leaving their children to care for the city as the new sun kings. For generations, the city prospered. And this is how Mzali was for a long time. But each new ruler would forget lessons from the past, taking the lessons for granted or allowing their ideals to become corrupted by outside evils. The last of the sun kings was a young boy named Walkena. He ignored what his ancestors taught the people.
"When outsiders reached the city seeking refuge from the jungle, Walkena sneered. “Mzali is for the people of Mzali, not outsiders,” he said. The old sun kings watched as Walkena treated the outsiders with cruelty. Angered at his actions, the sun kings called on the people of Mzali to help. Some called out, “Oh, sun kings, lend us your might so that we may teach Walkena a lesson.”
"The sun kings obliged. With the power of the sun kings in hand, these people laughed and laughed. Now no one could stop them. Not even Walkena."
Chapter Five¶
“Ah, what are you doing out of bed at this hour little one? You already got your bedtime story!” the old woman said, doing her best to put on a frown. Uzuwe shuffled her little feet. “I see. Your father doesn’t tell it as good as Nana, is that it?” she asked with a mischievous smile and a glint in her eye. “Very well, very well, come sit.”
The little girl’s eyes lit up as she leapt into bed, making her grandmother laugh heartily. “You want to hear about the Five Magic Warriors again, hm? When your Nana met them, they had only just become lore-speakers at the Magaambya. After their many adventures as students, they finally had the opportunity to teach, although many said it was too early by far. Perhaps those people were right. Perhaps they were too young to have all that responsibility.” She trailed off here, with a well-rehearsed furrowed brow.
“Heroes are never too young!” Uzuwe objected.
“I think this one might be,” she said and tickled her granddaughter’s sides. Uzuwe giggled and squirmed. “But you may be right about those heroes, because they did teach their students well. Even one particular young woman.
“Now, that young woman was not a bad student. In fact, she may have been their most clever student! She did not cause trouble. She was a victim of it. Because the thing she treasured the most, before even her own studies, was her family. When her village was hurt, she snuck away from the school to return to her home.
**“When the new lore-speakers discovered what happened, they knew that things were dire, and went to offer their aid. Along with their most beloved friends and students, they followed her…”
Chapter Four¶
Even before I set down my satchel after returning from my travels, Takulu Ot spoke breathlessly about a group of students who fought off insects, confronted an expelled pupil we all thought to be dead, and defeated griffons that had decided to feast upon mysterious anadi arrivals.
My role leading the Uzunjati and my love for a good story demanded that I ask Takulu about these students. He supplied me more information over dinner, and my initial interest turned to fascination. I have decided that I shall speak to them and, if they are even partially as interesting as Takulu makes them out to be, offer my hand to help guide their efforts.
The stories I hear about them fascinate me, but what I want to them to know—and deeply understand—is that stories of the past build the events of today. What brought the griffons to the school? Where did they come from? Griffons don’t normally prey on anadis; why did they attack those poor students? For that matter, what attracted the anadi students here in the first place? We’ve welcomed them to the school, but it seems wise to understand their motivations and their goals.
Getting the students to think about the answers to these questions, to pose their own theories, and then to investigate the truth of the situation, is far more important to their education than learning spells or rituals. Let’s get them to see what lies beneath, and we can see where that leads together.
Chapter Three¶
The Queen of Bees was stern and judicious, always striving to make the best decisions, yet her subjects were dour and sullen. The Young Trickster, a favorite of Grandmother Spider, went to the Queen of Bees with a smile and a plan. But two guards at the gates stopped him.
“What do you want, little troublemaker?” they buzzed, stingers at the ready. “Our Queen has no use for your antics on this or any other day. Begone.”
“I am here to give your Queen a great gift,” the Trickster insisted. “You would never want to deny your Queen a gift out-of-hand, would you? I could go to the Lord of the Hornets… Please, one of you should ask her first, at least.” One guard, head high, went to inform the Queen.
For a long time, the remaining guard and the Young Trickster stood in silence, so the Young Trickster hummed to himself, tapped his many feet, and started to dance. “Stop that,” the guard thrummed in annoyance and rushed forward. But the Young Trickster swept him into his dance, dancing and twirling. What fun it was! Soon, the other guard returned.
“What is happening here?” the returning guard demanded, but received no answer. The returning guard tried to intervene but was swept into the dance as well! The Queen’s steward, and architect, and handmaidens all came, each joining the dance in turn. Then the Queen herself came, for what had befallen her subjects? By now, the Young Trickster stood aside, watching the bees. The Queen saw their dancing and their delight.
“Young Trickster, you have given my people a new way to communicate. What is your price for this?”
“It is enough to see you join the dance,” the Trickster said. So she did.
And that is how bees learned to speak through dance. Then some people learned from watching them, and they made their own dances. And this is why so many dances tell stories.
Chapter Two¶
When the world was still young and there were few tales to spin by the firelight, there was a young woman who lived near the base of a mountain. Some say it was the tallest mountain to have ever existed, but who can say for sure now?
What matters is that one day, she heard the whispers of the rains and the caress of the winds and followed them up the mountain. She stayed there for a day and a night and returned as the next dawn broke.“Where did you go?”her family asked her. She replied,“I walked up the mountain and the rains told me secrets of how to move them.”And though no one understood, village life moved on.
As the weather turned crisp, a stray spark landed on the drying grasses and the fire that followed would have immolated the village. While the people scrambled to get their buckets and bowls and blankets to quench the blaze, the woman who had walked up the mountain stepped forth. Her words and hands swept the river over the fire and put it out in an instant. The people stared, unable to understand what they had seen, before all crying out at once.
“You can command the river!”someone exclaimed.“You must be a god!”
“No,”she insisted softly as she backed away.“I simply listened to the winds and rains, and they showed me ways I can help.”
“The rains, of course!”cried a farmer.“Then you will bless us with healthy crops!”
“And you can bring us river fish,”cried a fisherman,“and ease our weary backs!”
More demands rang out from the people: heal the sick, raise a house, bless a child, find a truth, grace a marriage, bring justice, bring peace, give love, give joy, give and give and give. The woman backed further and further from the demands until she felt the cool stone of the mountain behind her. The mountain had never asked her for anything despite all that it had given. She retreated further still and became one with the mountain, escaping the incessant demands of her village forever.
Magic can do much, but those who wield it deserve respect and peace, lest they vanish like the woman into the mountain.
Chapter One¶
Old-Mage Jatembe was the most powerful man in the world. Wherever he went, he spread hope and light to the people around him. All of the good things in the world were awed by Jatembe and came to give him secrets. All of the foul creatures declared war on him, but Jatembe stole their magic and banished them. In this way, Jatembe turned a world of ash into the beautiful land we have today, filled with fish and animals, grains and palm trees, sweet yams and red soil. The foul beasts wailed at their realms of ash and terror being transformed into rich and wonderful lands, but they all feared Jatembe.
One day, a creeping bad-luck spirit inched forth from the grass. It was too young and foolish to know its limits and thought,“I will take vengeance on Jatembe and laugh at his misery.”The spirit crawled into the nearby village and asked where Jatembe was, but no one could answer. It asked then where the riches of Jatembe were, but people said they knew of none. It asked where the spouses of Jatembe were, but the people could not name anyone he had married. It asked where the weapons of Jatembe were, but the old mage’s greatest weapon had always been the knowledge he kept in his head.
Frustrated, the little spirit demanded,“What manner of great man can this Jatembe be, if he has no riches, no wives, no husbands, no weapons, nor any children?”
Yet Jatembe had many children, the people answered, as they showed the little spirit the great city of Nantambu where thousands and thousands of students learned, worked, and helped each other by Jatembe’s words. The little spirit decided that if it couldn’t have vengeance on Jatembe, it would do so upon his children. The spirit listened until it found a voice that told it how to get inside. Following the voice, it crept into the city through the tiny cracks in the buildings’ walls, so small that even an ant would have to squeeze, but Jatembe’s students caught the spirit and tossed it out like a harmless grass snake. The spirit became terribly angry at its treatment but could do nothing on its own, and so it sought out others like itself to creep back inside and strike using the distraction of a celebration…
House Rules¶
Shields¶
Shields have the Shove trait.