Ten artifacts that fell from the sky

1. A boat made of transparent material. There are several intricate mechanisms visible inside locked compartments on its bow and stern.
2. An enormous brass cogwheel. Its surface is covered in runes and reliefs depicting equine creatures.
3. A helmet made of shiny metal. It has a system of pipes protruding from its back and sides. Too large for humans to wear.
4. 20-feet long metal rod, as thick as man's arm. Each of its ends is tipped with a sizable spherical object. One of them is really hot to the touch, while the other is very cold.
5. An anchor. Its surface is painted gold and adorned with wreaths and colorful ribbons.
6. Sword made of opalescent metal. Its edges are jagged and its handle is weirdly curved, making it unwieldy for most humanoids. It's extremely light.
7. A human-sized flask made of extremely tough glass. It is capped with a partly-destroyed clockwork contraption that looks like it was ripped from a larger mechanism. The jar is filled with light red, translucent liquid.
8. Huge cubical monolith made of polished black stone. There are at least dozen metal pipes protruding from each of its sides. Smaller pipes or cables are coming out of each pipe.
9. A child-sized metal mirror, framed in gold. Reflections of any living beings are shimmering and weirdly twitching, while inanimate object look perfectly normal. The mirror emits constant, low-pitched hum.
10. Giant humanoid made from matte, gray metal. Its skin has many segments and its arms and legs have too many joints. Its eyes are made of green crystals.

Five Magical Jars [Aldarien's Magic Tome]

Some random glass containers! You'll get five more in the Aldarien's Magic Tome! And now roll 1d10:

1-2: Lantern Jar. Contains a glowing fish inside; fish must be fed insects once per day or it will stop emitting light and will die after 2d4 days.
3-4 Musical Jar. When opened, it will emit very loud sound for 2 turns(1d6: 1 war horns, 2 out of tune violin and pleas for help, 3 delicate lullaby played on a lute, 4 dissonant harpsichord, 5 hypnotic drumming, 6 flutes and oboes).
5-6 Jar of Hungry Transmutation. Transmutes food into gold and gold into food. The process lasts 1d4 hours. Eating partially transmuted objects is probably a bad idea.
7-8 Jar of Whispering Lies. One must shout a question inside the Jar – after 1d3 turns it whispers the answer. The only problem is that the response is a lie – if possible, an exact opposite of the truth.
9-10 Jar of Mending. When shattered, the remains will slowly (24h) crawl to one another to reattach the Jar.

Artpunk? Artbook!

There's a war on artpunk. Or is there? Honestly, I don't really care - people have the right to think what's right and wrong - and to express these feelings. In case of my artpunk-ish setting, the Ashen Void - any publicity is a good publicity. Especially when the written content is of any positive quality. And I believe it is!

(in addition, I've made a no-art edition as well, for all those haters who still want to enjoy over seventy random tables without the need to damage their eyesight with the disgusting, AI-generated deformities!)

BUT - to be honest, I'm quite tired of wars within the hobby. Being it edition wars, wars on artpunk, or even wars on particular people, no matter whether they deserve the hate or not. Fuck it. Negativity is rarely a sign of an improvement.

I'm still quite enamored with the basic idea of artpunk RPGs. But the think I'm working on has quickly evolved beyond the artpunk aesthetics. In fact, it has quickly evolved outside the role-playing games. Or even games in broader sense.

The Black Tome of Nothingness will be an artbook. And while the basic idea was to make a book that could be handed to the players as an in-game artifact, the actual thing quickly became something more. At least for me, from the author's perspective. The statement above is still true - there will be nothing about any kind of game mechanics, rules or "laws". But for me, the maker - the process is much more important. So, you may expect a messy mix of styles and ideas, sprinkled with an unhealthy dose of ugly artwork.

 

The thing will be quite sizable - for now, I have ideas for over 200 entries (very briefly described HERE). And each one of them will be a full-sized mix of artwork and handwritten bullshit. And only like 5 are already done. 

The process of creating them is quite interesting in itself. I have like 3-5 sentences-long descriptions of each entry. And when I start to lay out the basic images that relate to the text, the new text is also born. And it leads to the new doodles. And so on - until I run out of space on one A4-sized workspace (yes, everything is made digitally). Any leftovers are noted, as in most cases they are some cross-references to other entries. 

I love making it. It's fun.

Judging from my pace of creating previous things - expect the Black Tome to be released somewhere in mid-2040s! I will try to keep you up to date - but I think you know me already.

Oh, and the February sale of all my shit on DriveThru is still on! Grab yourself a PDF or two, while they're 30% off!

Black Tome of Nothingness - list of topics 4/4

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE
 

Shimmering Dimension - our plane of existence.
Shroud, the - veil separating the mundane and the divine. Most likely a sophisticated form of a Timeless Machine.
Silver People - the original inhabitants of the Silver Sphere. Some classify them as one of the Feeble Races.
Singing Columns - associated with Crystal Towers - but located Beyond, amongst the Grave of the World.
Sinful One - the Saint who escaped the Exile Ritual.
Sirui - the Diviners. One of the Noble Houses. Many Saints seem to be obsessed with their destruction.
Sisters of Dawn - keepers of the Tower of the Exalted Light in the Church of the Saints.
Soulless Monarchs - Saints who tried to gain control of Radh but turned on each other.
Sources of Magic - flows of energy that once powered the Eternal Machines. Now they are all dead.
Staves of Function - the most common examples of Abstract Technology.
Stone Circles - portals between the Spheres. Some were also built on other celestial bodies (moons?).
Sun Priests - extinct sect of the Enlightened Ones. The ones who built the Transplanar Sundial.
Taroz the Diviner - High Priest of the Wall, obsessed with the idea of summoning the Godkiller.
Temple of the Shroud - a place where the Veiled One resides.
Temporal Liches - participants of the Mage War who were trapped between time and space, life and death.
Thanatomorphosis of Rhanorr - destructive death cult of Vokra. Eaters of the Saints.
Theogonia - work of Reerd the Eyeless, covering the origins of the Lesser Deities, as well as both Deicides.
Thol - desert-like wasteland at the bottom of the Stone Sphere, beyond the Black Plains.
Tlorn - a destroyed kingdom of the Brass Sphere. Claimed by the Fungi of Llai.
Tnaro - one of the Noble Houses. Masters of the Flesh Sorcery.
Tower of Blood - bottom part of the Iron City, located at the Inner Surface, pointing at Fear.
Tower of the Exalted Light - topmost part of the Church of the Saints. Guarded by the Sisterhood.
Tower of the Moon - an opposite pole of the Altar of the Sun. Built on Danaad.
Transplanar Sundial - the most powerful of the Timeless Machines located in the Stone Sphere. Now lost forever.
Tree People - mythical inhabitants of the Inner Spheres. Some claim that they created the Root Maze.
Triangle of Despair - a philosophy which describes the Nothingness as of three nightmarish possibilities.
Ttatonyl - a being who stole the Rite of Sanctification to fight the gods. Highly admirable.
Ttth - the Soul Crystals. Ancients who created the Spheres - or maybe even the entire Shimmering Dimension.
Ullu-Abo - the Black Root. A Plant Deity that pierced into the Silver Sphere from below, looking for the surface.
Umber Tome - accursed book that caused at least one major disaster in the past.
Underworld - the Deeper Spheres. That’s where the secrets of Nothingness are hidden.
Unknown Entity - not much is known about the force meddling with the world’s story throughout its existence…
Un-Tower - the bottom part of the Church of the Saints. Much older than the temple built above.
Valleys of Naalu - place where the Pyramids were destroyed. Most likely buried during the Collapse.
Vardi the Timeless - the Last Chronomancer. Executed and buried in the Colorless Tomb.
Veiled One - mysterious deity of the Church. Even the Lesser Gods don’t know much about him.
Vaults of Kresht - an ancient treasury, Secret Chamber from the time of the Pyramid Wars.
Vokra - the Grave City. Built around the Wells of the Damned. Final resting place of many historical figures.
War of the Spheres - conflict amongst the Ancient Ones that led to their destruction.
Watcher of Ngaros - fourth Eater of Madness. One who was fascinated with the mystical energies of the Spheres.
Water Serpent of Ssest - a Saint occupying the Aqueducts. The Defiler of Pathways.
Weapons - behold the edges that shaped the world!
Weeping Pilgrims - useless herd of lamenters over the fate of the world. But there is a Saint that follows them.
Wise Women of Radh - one of the major factions of the Iron City. The first ones who descended there?
Wounded Crags - the edge of the Stone Sphere, far beyond the Ash Basin.
Xeddia - one of the Noble Houses. The Necromancers. Even the Engineers turned their backs on them.
Xonn - capital of the Silver People. Control Panel of the Outer Spheres.
Xosoko - Ancient Race, masters of All That Was Hidden. Sculptors of the pocket dimensions.
Yngar Bridge - the only known passage between the Silver and the Brass spheres.
Youngest Son, the - mythical figure from the Iron City’s past. Presumably devoured by the Demon Lord of Fear.
Yvesi - the Mathematician. The Second Eater of Madness. The One Who Deciphered The World.
Zaat - the Gray Planet. Home - or the former prison - of the Cyclops. Now barren and devoid of any life.
Zodaar - the Nightmare King. One of the most prominent figures from the Mage Wars.

Black Tome of Nothingness - list of topics 3/4

PART ONE | PART TWO

Lesser Deities - petty gods, still delusional about their power over the world. Fodder for the Blade of Murder.
Library of Uncountable Sapphirine Deaths - Secret Chamber containing the most important books of all.
Liturgy of Reversal - ritual performed by the Chronomancers that led to their destruction.
Llai - Fungal Forest sprawling through the destroyed portions of the Brass Sphere. Home of the Plant Gods.
Lovers - madmen afflicted by their imprisoned muse - a goddess or a saint assimilated by the Spheres themselves.
Mage War - the largest man-made cataclysm since the Pyramid Wars. Looks like we never learn.
Magic - for some, incomprehensible powers of the universe. For others, just the energy powering the Spheres.
Maze of Roots - overgrown tunnels below the Reservoir, inhabited by the last remaining Korri.
Mindless Forces - the Primeval Gods. Representation of the forces of nature which shaped reality.
Miracles - all cases of successful uses of the Abstract Technology during the Age of Men.
Molten Spheres - transitional areas between the layers of Deep Underworld
Moon Kingdom - home of those who escaped the Pyramid Wars to settle on Danaad.
Museum of Time - sacred vault of Radh, containing numerous artifacts of the past.
Mutterings of Phandra - written by the First Eater of Madness, contains information about the Ancient Ones.
Muurn - the one who Hunts Down the Lost. Shadow God, courageous enough to remain active even these days.
Naygrar - once the tallest peak of all the Places Beyond destroyed in a magical explosion that buried Ganth.
Ngaros - the Infernal Observatory. Build deep underground to determine the Sources of Magic.
Nghsh - one of the Ancient Races. Ones that were bound to operating the Eternal Machinery of the Spheres.
Nightmare Thrones - demonic interfaces to the Spheres, made by the degenerate inhabitants of the Iron World.
Noble Houses - last descendants of the Enlightened Ones, entangled in the eternal power struggle.
Nothingness - that’s how we call our reality - a tear in the Shimmering Dimension, in which the world resides.
Null Wraiths - creatures born of the disasters of the Mage War. Echoes of the Sundial’s destruction.
Nybel of the Night - Saint protector of Kothra. Has disappeared into the Un-Tower.
Nynal Vost - one of the few humans to ever reach the Gray Planet of Zaat.
Obfuscated Doorways - work on the topic of the Secret Chambers. Attributed to Yvesi.
One Who Speaks Words No One Wants To Hear - the final, Fifth Eater of Madness. The Harbinger of Apocalypse.
Othuriarth - the Jade Rift. The Primal God whose awakening has started the First Deicide.
Parasitic Worlds - the most known book on the topic of the Spheres. Filled to the brim with false information.
Pantheon, the - the currently active Shadow Gods of Nothingness. The Contained Gods are literally worthless.
Phandra - the Discoverer of Truths. The first Eater of Madness. The one who knew everything about the past.
Plant Gods - the most powerful beings currently alive that aren’t cursed with consciousness.
Portals to Hysteria - a scroll describing all known connections between the Spheres.
Priesthood of the Wall - those who guard the border with the land of the dead.
Pure People - last descendants of the Enlightened Ones. The Noble Houses seem to be obsessed with Pure Blood.
Pyramid Wars - the war that caused the heavens to fall down on earth, causing the Collapse.
Pyramids - the most powerful war machines ever created by humans. Almost led to the destruction of the world.
Purgatory Theorem - my own theory about the world being a transitional space, something not as cruel as the reality described in the Triangle of Despair - but still quite unsettling.
Raktai - one of the Ancient Races. Poisonous amphibians who disappeared even before the War of the Spheres.
Reerd the Eyeless - Third Eater of Madness. The One Who Knew All Names. Croyle?
Red Sands - desert-like cavernous halls, full of ruined Eternal Machines. Located in the Iron Sphere.
Reservoir Temple - a fortress guarding the place where the Aqueducts end.
Rine - the second, smaller moon. Has a very unstable orbit, so It’s rarely seen. It sends visions to the worthy.
Road of the Giants - half-mythical pathway through the Spheres.

Rhud - I think that the author of this tome deserves an entry about himself.

Saints - humans who were blessed with the powers of the Veiled One and received almost godlike powers.
Sapphire Chambers - place where the Lesser Gods walled themselves to avoid the Othuriarth’s hunger.
Sapphire Gate - destroyed magical portal to the Sapphire Chambers, located at Naygrar's peak.
Secret Chambers - concealed parts of the Spheres, extremely difficult to find without a key or a guide.
Scientific Mysticism - religion and/or philosophical movement devoted to the Geometric Gods.
Scars of the Earth - massive wounds of the planet, often piercing through several Spheres.
Scroll of Hidden Realms - oldest known tract on the Spheres, describing their names and properties.
Shadow Gods - those Lesser Deities who weren’t consumed by fear. Still active today.
Shapers - inhabitants of the Spheres of underworld, highest-ranking Engineers.

Black Tome of Nothingness - list of topics 2/4

  

PART ONE

* * *

Eaters of Madness - five greatest sages of all time.
Emerald Crown - artifact of the Ancients, used to operate the Transplanar Sundial. Now lost.
Engineers - the (Ancient) ones who had the power to operate the Eternal Machinery.
Enlightened Ones - people of the past, who understood the Abstraction of the technology of the Spheres.
Erkal Crystals - the rarest secretions of the broken Eternal Machines. Found only in the Inner Spheres.
Eternal Machinery - technology of the Ancient Ones - or the magic propelling the Spheres.
Eternal Monarchs - corpses raised as rulers of Vokra. Still better than relying on gods, if you ask me.
Exile - a ritual stripping a Saint of their power. Can be used to temporarily power the Abstract Technology.
Eyeless Queen - Goddess of Stagnation, residing below the Castle.
Fates - either the goddesses of cruelty - or the Saints who devoured them. The truth is unclear now.
Fear - inner sun of the Iron Sphere. Said to be extinguished during the war between the Ancients.
Feeble Races - us, the humans. And some other, much more elusive ones, trapped in the Nothingness along us.
Figurines - artifacts from the Inner Spheres, left as the clues by the Shapers.
Five Candles, Five Wounds - a blasphemous tome about the true purpose of the Eaters of Madness.
First God of Murder - slayer of the Jade Rift, bearer of the Blade - as well as its second victim.
Flesh Sorcery - Intricate rituals of human sacrifice to gain access to the Abstraction. Domain of House Tnaro.
Followers of the Black Tome - one of the factions of the Mage War. The Seekers of Iaad.
Forbidden Palace - buried below the Un-Tower. Tip of the Iron City.
Forge City - half-mythical place, heart of the Iron Sphere. Left deserted after the War of the Spheres.
Formless Idealists - faction of philosophers who worship chaos as the “Great Mover of the Spheres”.
Ganth - the only known human settlement located Beyond. Now buried under millions of tons of rock.
Gardens of Danaad - forests or other dense foliage located on the larger moon, visible from here.
Geometric Deities - those gods who survived the First Deicide by cheating and bending the laws of reality.
Geometrists of Sorrem - priests of the Geometric Deities. Or the scientists of the Depths. Or both.
Ghoul Lanterns - the only devices that allow the navigation through the Bone Sphere.
God of the Wall - the One who Guards the Dead. The Bone Sphere itself.
Godkiller - the entity responsible for the Second Deicide. Disappeared without a trace afterwards.
Grand Measurement - obsession of the Scientific Mystics, may be a reminiscence of the Pyramid Curse.
Grave of the World - endless sea of shattered stone. Anomalous monument to the Collapse of the Stone Sphere.
Great Symmetry - the “impossible” and “unnoticeable” force of the universe that keeps it in motion.
Heretics - the most radical of the Antitheists, actively seeking the destruction of everything divine.
Hidden Sphere - portion of the Emerald Realm that was ripped out and corrupted, creating the Sapphire Vault.
Hrithia - a long lineage of assassins. Their history is intertwined with the Noble Houses.
Honnaop the Bone Sorcerer - a Saint who descended through the Bone Vaults into the Bone Sphere.
Hyperdimensionalists - faction of the Mage War who wanted to collapse the Spheres to reignite the Fear.
Hyperglyphs - trans-dimensional means of communication, the original way to command the Eternal Machines.

Hallucinations of Rhud - I’ve stumbled upon the booklet when I was halfway done with my research on the Black Book you’re reading now. At first glance I thought it was written to discredit Rhud and his masterpiece. I couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Ice People - constructs of the Engineers, remaining in a constant state of war with the Silver People.
Inner Surface - located at the Iron Sphere’s Centre, once illuminated by the Fear.
Iron City - a colossal spire that pierces through all the Spheres. Partly inhabited by humans. Also known as Radh.
Itt’ib - the Entropy Sludge. The Ancient Ones who emerged from the corpse of Othuriarth.
Kadri Plains - anomalous wasteland, sometimes accessible via the tunnels below the Church of the Saints.
King, the - the last hereditary ruler of mankind. Disappear without a trace, probably into the Underworld.
Kingdom of Light - our home. But there is no light left. Only laughter in the dark.
Korri - one of the Feeble Races. Inhabitants of the Maze of the Roots and the Daughter’s Gardens
Kothra - the Prison City. One of the biggest complexes of Secret Chambers. Ruled by the Priesthood of the Wall.
Kresht - one of the oldest human settlements, located in the gorge between the Church and the Castle.
K’tegh - subhuman troglodytes, either created by the Raktai or devolved from humans.
Lcanter - one of the Noble Houses. The ones who gained access to the Iron City.
Lenses - made of pure silver, allow to peer into the Underworld Spheres. Conduits of insanity. Ngaros!

Black Tome of Nothingness [and its huge list 1/4]

Well, I'm cannibalizing my own projects once again, fusing ideas together. But in most cases, ones who do this with their creative output do so to create something more coherent, easier to digest. But not me. I'm stitching two projects together to make them even more convoluted and difficult to grasp.

THIS and THIS post. They contain something useful about the thing I started working on after releasing the Ashen Void. And HERE are some doodles about the second part. And THIS also ended up on the chopping block. And I liked the idea for the cover artwork. So I'll reuse it.

The book will look like a babbling of a madman. It won't be artpunk. It will be an artbook. And it will be ugly. No PDFs. Only printed copies. And I'm making it solely because of THIS.

What should you make out the following bullshit? And from the next three posts? I don't know! I think it's a proto-master-index of the artbook mentioned above. Brace yourself, the list is quite massive.

* * *

Abstract Technology - lost powers of those gods who really deserved the title.
Alcove of the Eyeless Queen - the First Nightmare Throne, at least the first in the Stone Sphere.
Altar of the Depths - enormous Secret Chamber, thought to be a central connection between the Spheres.
Altar of the Sun - a flawed interface to the Transplanar Sundial, built to replace the Emerald Crown.
Amber Sculptures - figurines whose discoveries always led to a disaster. The last one was found a few weeks ago.
Ammonite Prophets - the fossilized wise men of the past, encased in the timeless monument deep below.
Ancient Ones - former rulers of the world. Inhuman in every respect.
Anomalies - Scars of the Earth, places where the toxic radiation of the Inner Spheres poison our realm.
Antitheists - the Cult of Nothing. The only ones I respect.
Ash Basin - the sea of dust. Or the burial site of one of the Primordial Ones.
Aqueducts - the only labyrinths we need.

The Annotations - the Book within the Book. A Glimpse of Light in the Darkness.  I’ve added them here, to explain and expand on Rhud’s thoughts. I know it only fuels the flame of your confusion, as I often ask even more questions, without providing answers to the already existing ones. But you must forgive me. Frankly, you don’t have a choice other than tossing the Book you’re reading into flames.

Beltai - the Goddess of Heresy. I almost admire her.
Black Plains of Iaad - the place where all the remaining gods will be sacrificed during the Third Deicide.
Black Tomes - you are reading one of them. Probably the final one ever written.
Blade of Murder - the god-killing weapon. The only force of true balance in this world.
Blighted City - huge complex of ruins, presumably once inhabited by the Raktai.
Blood Crystals - solidified ichor of the Eternal Machinery.
Book of Infernal Angles - the only detailed description of the Pyramids that survived to this day.
Book of Ngaros - full of diagrams leading to the Sources of Power. Unfortunately, written by a lunatic.
Book of Whispers - another tome full of nonsense. But in this case, fights over that nonsense led to the Mage War.
Book Plague - cause of destruction of the Nobility of Vokra. Connected with the Umber Tome.
Bone Keepers - sect of traveling undertakers. The ones able to speak with the dead.
Bone Vaults - ossuaries of mankind, the only testimony of our past that is free of deception.
Breutsk Quarry - one of the few Places Beyond that wasn’t destroyed by the Jade Rift.
Broken Saints - those whose bodies and minds have rejected the Communion of the Veiled One.
Brorg - the Crumbling God. Some say it’s a reflection of the Stone Sphere’s condition.
Burial Dimension - a strange Outer Sphere of the world, separating our reality from the Underworld. Bone Sphere.
Carved Path - a long stairway of ritual importance. Connects the Wells and the Temple of the Shroud.
Castle - one of the topmost parts of Nothingness. A king-less house of the Nobility.
Celestial Bridge - one of the last Miracles that still works as intended. Connects the Church and the Castle.
Chamber of Convergence - a place of holy rituals of almost all major factions of Nothingness.
Chronomancers - one of the factions from the Mage War. Obsessed with the past and the lost knowledge.
Church of the Saints - monument to mankind’s ascension. The final slap to the face of gods.
Cleansing - a temple beneath the Castle, maintained by the Noble House Sirui.
Collapsed Sphere - a huge portion of the Stone Sphere that was destroyed during the Pyramid Wars.
Colorless Tomb - resting place of the last participants of the Mage War.
Communion - process of Sanctification, during which the mortal human becomes a Saint.
Contained Gods - the greatest cowards that ever existed. Deities who entombed themselves to avoid devourment.
Croyle - one of the Noble Houses. All are born blind. They serve the Queen.
Crystal Towers - spires brimming with Abstract Technology. Most of them have been claimed by the Nobility.
Cyclops - invaders from the Gray Planet of Zaat. One of the Ancient Ones.
Danaad - larger of the two Moons. Visible once per 33 years. Home of the Moon Kingdom.
Daughter, the - offspring of the last King of the Castle. One of the first Saints.
Dead Forests - Anomaly surrounding the outer walls of the Castle. Cursed by the Chronomancers’ magic.
Deep Stronghold - an underground fortress overseeing the fringe of the Collapsed Sphere.
Deicide, First - forging of the Blade of Murder and killing of Othuriarth.
Deicide, Second - emergence of the Godkiller. I still mourn his failure.
Demons - strange creatures, originating from the Iron Sphere.
Desert Chasm - located in the middle of the Wastes of Thol. It reaches the Silver Sphere.
Diagrams - sacred drawings usable to conjuration of magic. Different schools were compiled by the Watcher.
Disciples of Paradox - faction that emerged after a war between Scientific Mystics and Formless Idealists.
Dranth - now ruined Temple of the Thousand Gods. Home of the Heretics, Broken Saints and philosophers.

Deicide, Third. Now we live in these times, when the gods emerged from the Sapphire Chambers to fight the hopeless war amongst themselves. Their hubris is too great to let them accept the fact that they’ve become executors of the Godkiller’s will. That they let themselves to the sacrifice. And that their blood seeps through the stone to finally enrich the lifeless soil of Iaad.

Breaking the shackles of expectations

Another thing released. Another waiting for some reviews, sales reports etc. Another disappointments because of lack of uhh, instant-ish gratification. Or rather, validation. Or recognition. Or whatever.

Yeah. Exactly.

Whatever.

About one week ago I've moved far from home. I've moved into a tiny town in the middle of the mountains. To look for peace. And some quiet environment, devoid of background noise and distractions. Devoid of crowds.

And it worked. It's very quiet here.

And you know what? It's amazing to sit in an apartment, record or just play some music, draw some weird stuff and write even weirder stuff. Much, much weirder if you ask me (more info soon).

And you know what? Fuck promoting my works (frankly I always sucked at it, I always treated my creations as some kind of obscure, underground shit - and I don't plan to change it!), fuck checking the  viewcount of the newest blog entry, fuck checking the sales of the newest release. The joy of the creative process is a reward in itself.

I forgot about how much fun it can be. But now I'm re-learning it. To just be happy to be creative.

And I wish the same to all of you.

Magic-related rumors [Aldarien's Magic Tome]

Here are twenty random rumors about magical items and occurrences. Grab Aldarien's Magic Tome to get eighty more!

1. There’s an entire clan of assassins who are possessed by the spirits of the dead. They were tricked to enter the Crypt of the Winds as part of the contract. That led to the unshackling of the ghosts trapped in that burial site for centuries. It’s still unclear who coined the plan to use the killers for hire - maybe it was the Red Necromancer, maybe it was someone else.
2. It's common knowledge that each seventh magical ring you’ll find will lead you to your doom. But do you know anyone who has at least one magical ring? I certainly don’t!
3. Haven’t you noticed that the City Wizard is acting strangely nowadays? That’s because the Red Larva has infected his brain. It’s slowly eating it away, taking more and more control over the poor fellow’s body.
4. The Man-Fish lives in the cave where the Acrid Jungle meets the ocean. You must place gifts in front of the cavern and back off. He’s too elusive to easily encounter him - but the attempts are well worth the effort. No one knows the passage between the Eel Crags better than the Man-Fish.
5. Dragons are unable to lie. Ones who do are either the False Dragons - powerful changelings, or are possessed by spirits or dark powers. Beware though - the carefully crafted misinformation can be entirely based on truth.
6. There's the entire Inverted Cathedral buried beneath the Forest of Ruined Columns. The Goddess of Time has cursed the temple for vile, blasphemous rituals performed there by the priesthood.
7. The Crimson Coffin Fiend was brought to the city! The procession of flagellants who arrived yesterday have his casket! Someone must get it out of the city walls before the equinox to prevent a disaster!
8. The Wizard Hunter is a wizard himself! But he rarely relies on spells - in most cases his Anti-Magical Targe and sword made of bone are enough to overwhelm any magic user he was paid to find and either subdue or outright kill.
9. There’s an ancient dwarven forge, located in the dormant volcano. It was abandoned when the magma flow went unstable. Hundreds of years later, the flow stopped and lava solidified. I bet there is still some miraculous dwarven technology left in the forge.
10. The Mushroom Gremlins dip their blowgun darts in the lethal poison. Eating the Black Amanita makes you immune to the venom. But bear in mind that it will come with a cost - a cost of severe, hyper-realistic hallucinations you experience when you eat the mushroom.
11. The Order of White Owl gathers in the small cave at the bottom of the Basalt Cliff. Each full moon they try to summon their god, with no success. I’ve stolen their Silver Claw - that’s why they are doomed to fail.
12. The Head of Saint Helfa must always be kept in the leaden box. Otherwise it will shout obscenities and cast cursed spells aimed at anyone around.
13. The strange apparitions you’ve seen in the marshes aren’t the ghosts of the drowned. They are the guardians of the Mud Queen - spirits born of her loneliness. Nevertheless, they sometimes kidnap travelers and adventurers to bring them to their mistress. And then they must entertain the Mud Queen for the rest of their lives.
14. All Unicorns have black coats and red eyes. And even though they resemble horses, they are carnivorous. And they love the taste of human flesh. And the elven even more. And they hunt in packs, using their poisonous horns to either paralyze victims or simply stab them to death.
15. The White Star is a title granted to the chosen elven royalty. They were protectors of the forests and of their people. But in our stories, they are all cursed by the ghostly glow of the Star - devoid of feelings, compassion or empathy. They all became monsters, twisted beyond recognition. Now they roam the Ancient Woodland, hunting down the ones they once called their brethren.
16. The Crone of the Gray Keep accepts the gifts of blood. She will tell you if you are destined for greatness. She always says the truth - but you should always remember that the paths of fate are twisted and that there are the Watchers. And they dislike when one wants to know anything about  the upcoming events.
17. Have you ever seen the Mark of the Serpent? The long, wavy birthmark some people of the land possess. The Assassin Prince is looking for such people. I think that he wants them to join his ranks.
18. In the past, the Great Purple Fungal Jungle was covering an entire island. But the mushrooms were overharvested due to their healing and life-prolonging powers. Now you can still find the Purple Fungi in the cold, damp glades deep in the woods. And the alchemists are willing to pay lots of gold for even one tiny cap. I don’t know how valuable the mycelium is - but I know it’s almost impossible to harvest without killing it.
19. The Head of the Council is… a head. In a jar. A royal wizard who was beheaded by his king for plotting the coup. But the sorcerer’s powers were immense - strong enough to survive the lethal blow. His remains were stolen by other members of the Secret Council - and he’s still their leader, even after all the centuries that passed since his… accident.
20. The Crimson Sky Spirits reside in the trees split by lightning. Offer them cinders, incense and mead. And they will protect you from being struck by heavenly fury - even maybe from the literal one, coming from a deity’s wrath.

[SALE] Aldarien's Release Party DTRPG 30% discount

Fuck yeah! Due to the fact that two days ago I've released my newest booklet, all my previous shit on DriveThruRPG is now 30% off. The sale will last until the end of February. Grab your pee dee eff goodies while they are still hot!

SALE OF MY THINGIES ON DTRPG

Aldarien's Magic Tome is out now!

Whew, It was faster than I thought! Aldarien's Magic Tome is ready and up for grabs!

The book has 42 pages and contains 30+ random tables, adorned with some quite disgusting drawings by me! Hit the link above (leading to some more links!) to read more about the book's contents.

BUY ALDARIEN'S MAGIC TOME ON DTRPG

BUY PRINT ON LULU

BUY PDF ON LULU

Aldarien's Magic Tome

Something new is coming!

I'm working on a new book - this time about magic. Items, mostly. Not spells - the community is already full of amazing spells (here?). Of course, it will be 99% made of random tables. Because I fucking love them.

And about 90% of the book's written content is already done! Almost 11k words (already more than Ashen Void). I'm still working on some magic-related rumors - I want to include lots of them. Plus, of course, something additional might be added virtually at any time. For example, the Ten Magical Steeds (see below) were added today.

Here is the list of the book's contents. Of course, the list is not final.

• Ten Magical Jars
• Twelve Magical Flutes
• Thirty Transmutation Mishaps
• Demonic Messengers
• Holy Tracts
• Unholy Tracts
• Gibberish Tome Names
• Twelve Useless Elixirs
• Six Magical Chalices
• Eight Unusual Magical Tools
• Twelve Magical Ropes
• Magical Droplets
• Six Magical Cubes
• Potion Alternatives
• Six Magical Crowns
• Eight Nasty Magical Keys
• Ten Cursed Blades
• Six Enchanted Rods
• Twenty Places of Power
• Twenty Pocket Dimensions
• Magical Chess Pieces
• Ten magical Steeds
• Spell names (Good/Neutral/Evil)
• Twelve Magical Wands
• Six Luck Talismans
  
• One hundred magic-related rumors!

More info coming soon!