The Primal World of Thaia – 10 Characteristics of Thaia – Part II

A few day ago I shared the first part of this article detailing the first 5 of the 10 Characteristics of Thaia that sets it apart from other fantasy settings, helping players and Referees get the most of the game setting, and explore its endless possibilities.

Today we are back with 5 more! So let’s see what else Thaia can bring to your game table! Remember, all this and more you will find in the first issue of The Primal World of Thaia zine for Old-School Essentials and Primal Quest!

The World Is Changing

A lot has happened already, but the world keeps changing. Humanity has recently arrived and is already changing the landscape and the balance of power in the world, upsetting ancient beings and other creatures. But something else is changing, something that will change the very nature of the world, altering its fate forever.

d6	Signs of Change
1	Temperatures have been rising year after year, and it has never been this warm before. Some animals and plants can’t beat the heat and are dying.
2	New stars are appearing in the night sky, changing the predictions the sages would make and causing concern in those cultures that look to it.
3	Tremors are becoming more and more common, and the terrain around you keeps changing from time to time.
4	Great Icebergs are floating south from the Frozen Wastelands of the north.
5	The animals are changing their behavior, migratory patterns, and simply disappearing.
6	The weather is becoming unpredictable. When once was cold, now is oppressively warm, where rain was common now barely sees any water.

Past And Future Collide

Time is cyclical in Thaia, and the past and the future collide. Ruins of forgotten civilizations hide relics that will only be created millions of years in the future. Time travelers from different epochs sometimes end up in Thaia, and more often than not are stuck in this mythic age. However, even though the past and future are the same, they are not immutable, and the events of today can determine how the future will unfold and inevitably become the past further along.

d6	Signs of Time Collision
1	Under a small hill, one can see the carcass of an old fish tail cadillac. It is rusted, beaten and broken, but most of the parts are still there.
2	A guy named Ted, from California, who ate a bag of mushrooms and, all of a sudden, was walking on Thaia.
3	Deep within a ravine, the structures of old buildings form a modern city can be seen inside the rocks.
4	A skeleton of a neanderthal holding a small shiny box that when open produces a small flame.
5	A flat thick crystal that emits lights and sounds irregularly and has a bitten apple drawing on the back side. It’s cracked and dented here and there.
6	A rusted metal blade, with the handler long gone. In the blade one could read the saying “there can be only one”.

They Came From The Stars

Change is also coming from the stars, as new beings from another galaxy are arriving in Thaia, each with their own agendas. Some of these arrived on their own volition, some are here by accident, and there’s even ones here by force. In any case, their arrival is sure to shake the balance of forces in Thaia.

d6	Signs that Came from the Stars
1	A star in the sky is getting bigger everyday, as if it’s approaching Thaia.
2	Paintings on cave walls show creatures of strange appearance coming from the sky in black sphere.
3	A small meteor was about to hit the planet and just stopped right above the ground and started to hover.
4	Far away from the shore, some strange structure is jutting out of the water. It’s dark and shiny, and doesn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen in Thaia.
5	A new warlord is uniting the tribes to the west. Rumors say they got a new weapon as a gift from the star gods that makes them win every battle.
6	For some reason, now some of the stars in the sky don’t remain still anymore and move around during the night.

The End Is Coming

And with all that, the inevitable end of the world is a very real possibility. Many of the powerful individuals in the world that can, somehow, see a glimpse of the future have had visions of catastrophic events that could mean the end of the world as they know them. Will they do anything to stop the apocalypse from happening? Or is the fate of Thaia sealed?

d6	Signs of the End
1	Messages arrive from elders of other villages. They all have seen the death of the Mother Tree. And this means the end.
2	A gigantic asteroid appears in the sky. Its size increases just a little bit every day. One day it will appear as big as the sun in the sky. Before it crashes and destroys Thaia.
3	Rivers are drying out. The fish are all gone. Animals that drank from it are dying. And the world will forever beart the mark of a river that is now dead.
4	A deadly disease has appeared in the south. It’s spreading slowly but constantly. Few can survive and rumors even say that this will kill all the peoples of Thaia.
5	The winds are changing. A terrible cold is coming. A cold filled with death and stillness. It has already started. The Ice Wall is forming in the north.
6	Weird robbed figures are now being seen in the distance, observing villages where elders had catastrophic visions. No one has managed to approach these figures yet.

Survival Is Its Own Reward

In the end, survival is its own reward in Thaia. It’s a brutal world, filled with extravagant primal vistas, vibrant and energetic people, and strange deadly mysteries. A world that calls for adventurers, for people that are willing to risk everything to leave their mark, to shape its fate. For better or worse.

d6	Signs of Survival
1	A small burnt village, with half a dozen huts. Dilacerated bodies lie everywhere, and by their side the corpses of horrible canine monsters. One set of human footsteps leaves the massacre.
2	In a tall tree, in the middle of the jungle, leaves hide a large treehouse of small proportions. In the shadows, a large group of children is hiding, clutching their spears.
3	A tribe’s member returning from a mission in the east, covered in blood and scars. They went with a group of 6, but only one made it back.
4	A group of travelers arriving from the north. They each look completely different, each the sole survivor of their people. Death is coming south, they say.
5	A tremor is starting right now. It starts slow, but it’s getting stronger and stronger. Can you survive this one?
6	A very tall, pale, and long haired feminine looking humanoid with pointy ears, and bright eyes. They say they’re named Aladriel, and that they are the last of their people.

In the next post we will be back with some random tables (Cave Folk Names, Weather in Thaia, Weird Skulls, Trinkets of the Ancients) for Primal Quest and The Primal World of Thaia, an upcoming zine for Old-School Essentials and Primal Quest!