Nyx: A World of Eternal Night

[K.O.]

Concept:

Nyx is a planet of everlasting night, caught in a rotation around two suns, with an asteroid ring completely creating a wide band between the planet and the suns. Only the north and south poles receive direct sunlight, where the belt is thinnest. Certain creatures who come into contact with too much light (from the sun, light crystals found in caves, or by other means) may become corrupted and must be either cleansed or destroyed.

History:

Lucityn, a vampire who is strengthened by light and was brought into the world centuries ago through mysterious circumstances, wishes to destroy the asteroid belt between the suns and Nyx and bring an everlasting light upon the world, which would cause incredible suffering to the inhabitants of the planet. He has been raising an army of light-corrupted creatures to find a way to bring this terrible dream to a reality.

Setting:

Nyx exists on the edge of an asteroid belt, and beyond that lay its twin suns Wyderin and Deos. The light of these suns filters through the thick layers of the asteroid belt until only glittery remnants of their once bright beams penetrate the atmosphere of the planet. Thus, Nyx is a world enshrined in night; however, it is not bleak. The flora and fauna of this world have evolved to emit bioluminescence, and their glow is both beautiful and strange. The only place where direct sunlight touches are at the north and south poles of the planet. There, the asteroid belt thins, and so humans and day creatures generally inhabit these areas.

There are very few humans in Nyx proper, and they must wear night vision goggles or use some other form of enchantment to be able to see in the dark. There are creatures such as giant moths, who are greedy and covet light, they eat cloth and their children can be very destructive to the crops Nyxians grow.

Locations:

Gloomtown

A rural town of Nyx, many farmers and tradespeople live here. It’s small and quaint, with charming cottages draped in glowing moss and flowers. It has a pub, an herbalist, a blacksmith, and several other small shops.

The Lantern

A refuge in Nyx where the humans who venture into the dark regions of the planet can find solace and hospitality. Human party members may enter The Lantern, other party members must wear lightscreen or LPF (light protection factor) cloaks, and night goggles, which can be purchased or crafted. A smaller magical shield, similar to Lumenburg’s, surrounds it.

Phosphoria

The capital of Nyx, a bustling city with beautiful opalescent towers draped in bioluminescent moss and lichen. The streetlights are made from large glowing seed pods found deep in the Stygian Sea, and you will find a wide variety of the inhabitants of Nyx; great and small, live here. There are also many shops and taverns available to patrons.

Lumenburg

The only city of the north Solar Circle, mostly humans and a mix of diurnal animals live here. A magical barrier created from the power of light crystals protects the inhabitants and keeps wayward monsters from wandering in at night. Poorer and less advantaged humans live closer to the outer edges, where day consists of a dusky twilight realm outside of the magical shield, and they must use more conventional methods to protect themselves.

The Stygian Sea

A great black ocean lit faintly by the bioluminescent animals and plants that live within it. Only the bravest Nyxians dare to sail its seas and harvest the seed pods they use for illumination within the towns and cities of the planet. There are strange and alien creatures lurking in the depths below its inky surface.

The Starless Grove

An enormous forest where the most wild and dangerous creatures of Nyx’s land dwell. The glittery diluted light that filters through the asteroid belt is completely absent here, so you must bring a glo-lantern, fireflies, or simply follow the dimly lit paths lined with glowing mushrooms. Many creatures will try to lure you off of the path; if you see something glowing in the depths of the forest and you decide to follow, you may never be seen again.

The Light Crystal Caves

A place where light crystals are mined to be used in shielding areas of light, such as The Lantern and Lumenburg. If a night creature enters the caves and stays too long, they may become a light aberration. Wearing lightscreen or LPF (light protection factor) cloaks negates the effects of the light.

Characters:

Fung (they/them)

• Age: ???
• Race: Sentient mushroom
• Class: Druid (nature magic/healing)
• Description: Fung is a small creature of indeterminate gender, who resembles an Omphalotus illudens, or jack-o-lantern mushroom (a species of bioluminescent fungus). They have stubby arms and legs, and a squat, fleshy, orange body that glows softly in the darkness of the Nyxian night.
• Stat: Wisdom
• Special Abilities: Nature Sight, Friend to Fireflies, Spore Magic (heal, poison, sleep, etc)

Sy’rahl (she/her)

• Age: 87
• Race: Dark elf
• Class: Berkserker
• Description: Sy’rahl is tall, lithe and powerful, with exceptionally large arm muscles. Her skin is dark charcoal grey with a lustrous blue-purple hue, and her glowing eyes are green like firefox. Her hair is silver and shines like a moon Nyx has never known. She wears bioluminescent warpaint on her face and body that is made from the blood of beasts she has hunted. She has glowing crystal dual axes made from the antlers of the Morbabeast.
• Stat: Strength
• Special Abilities: Rage, Dual-slash, Stampede, Stun

Grrf (he/him)

• Age: 2045
• Race: Troll
• Class: Rogue
• Description: Grrf is large, grey, and resembles a glacial boulder. He is covered in glowing moss and uses his unassuming appearance to hide and sneak up on enemies. He’s surprisingly graceful for his size. He carries glowing daggers made from giant glo-bumblebee stingers
• Stat: Dexterity
• Special Abilities: Hide, Sneak, Poison, Backstab, Throwing Knives

Ackna (she/her)

• Age: 642
• Race: Bansidhe
• Class: Necromancer
• Description: Ackna is spectral and gaunt, her hair is a light blue that gives a soft glow, and her eyes are hollow and empty. Below her waist where one might generally find legs on a humanoid, is simply mist and fog, therefore she floats a few inches above the ground. She carries a wand made from one of her own bones.
• Stat: Wisdom
• Special Abilities: Shriek, Raise Dead, Death’s Tongue, Silence

Nimdar (he/him)

• Age: 28
• Race: Human
• Class: Alchemist (transmutation magic)
• Description: Nimdar is a human of average height, lanky and lean, with an olive complexion, dark brown curly hair, and tawny eyes. He wears magical night vision goggles and carries a stave made of bioluminescent willow.
• Stat: Intelligence
• Special Abilities: Transmute, Create Homunculi, Bestow Temporary Immortality

NPCs:

Lucityn (he/him)

• Age: ???
• Race: Light vampire
• Description: Very tall and courtly, with long blonde hair, steely gold eyes, and sharp, cruel fangs. His skin is pale white and glows eerily; he is almost hard to look at. He carries a longsword made from a light diamond.
• Motivation: Wants to bring light to the world, which would destroy it.
• Special Abilities: Blind, Bite, Drain, Slash, Release Light

Duskwing (they/them)

• Age: Two weeks as a moth, three years as a cocoon, sixty years as a caterpillar
• Race: 'Creatonotos gangis' Moth
• Description: Fuzzy black antennae, white scaled wings with straight black lines down their length, a fiery red body, and four large, hairy black tentacles sprouting from his abdomen * Special Abilities: Sleep Dust, Consume, Pulsate, Swarm

Vinchirth (he/him)

• Age: 54
• Race: Goblin
• Occupation: Cloth merchant
• Description: Merchant Vinchirth is fairly short with a slight overhang to his belly, bald with pointed ears, a ghoulish green pallor to his skin, and facial features which are grumpy and stern.

The Wick (she/her)

• Age: 43
• Race: Human
• Occupation: Appointed leader of The Lantern
• Description: The Wick is a trim, athletic woman, honed from years of battle against the darkness. Her long, wavy hair is a fiery red, and her eyes a speckled hazel. She has lived much of her life in the darkness of Nyx, choosing to forgo the Solar Circles, and as such she is quite pale.

Brissa (she/her)

• Age: 23
• Race: Avian sp. Nightjar
• Occupation: Insect baker
• Description: Small, pudgy, and humanoid, many shades of brown and tan feathers, vestigial wings used as arms, large black eyes.

Denral ‘Den’ (he/him)

• Age: 18
• Race: Avian sp. Nightjar
• Occupation: Insect hunter/seller
• Description: Similar to his sister, though slightly taller and leaner.

Mobs:

• Lucityn’s army of light aberrations
• Duskwing’s children (moths and caterpillars)
• Feral creatures of the Starless Grove

Other Notable Aspects:

Species:

• Dark elf
• Mushling
• Undead (Spectre, Bansidhe, Wraith, Ghost, Shade, Ghoul, Zombie etc)
• Troll
• Human (rare)
• Goblin
• Gremlin
• Avian (Nocturnal bird species such as nightjars, whip-poor-wills and nighthawks, owl, potoo, etc)
• Firbolg
• Unseelie fae
• Gargoyle
• Slimeling
• Arachnoid
• Crystalline
• Vampire
• Werecreature
• Giant Moth
• Giant Toad
• Kelpie
• Siren
• Mer-person
• Lamia
• Demon

Plotlines:

Quest Idea 1 - ‘Glo-away!’

Giant moths are accosting traders and other people journeying the road between Gloomtown and Phosphoria and eating any cloth they have on them, so they’re arriving naked to the town. They are also laying their eggs in the fields along the road, and the monstrous caterpillars are eating all of the crops Nyxians need to survive. A rich traveling cloth merchant named Vinchirth has had enough and will pay you several gold pieces to be rid of them by any means necessary. You must convince a large sentient toad to follow you to the fields and eat the caterpillars, because there are too many to fight (they keep respawning if you attack them). The smaller moths can be killed, but you must somehow lure the largest moths to the Northern Circle, where they will see the light from the suns, fly towards Lumenberg, and be zapped on the magical barrier that surrounds the city. The king of the moths, Duskwing, shouts as he’s flying manically towards the barrier that, ‘The world will be engulfed in everlasting light, and no one can stop the Lightbringer.’

Pass: Get rid of the caterpillars and moths

Fail: Unable to convince the toad to help you, unable to get the moths to Lumenberg

Map Areas: Gloomtown, Phosphoria, The Northern Solar Circle

Quest Idea 2 - ‘Blinded By The Light’

The Lantern’s supply of light crystals is running low, and they aren’t able to get into the Light Crystal Mines to retrieve more supply because the area has been overrun with light aberrations. If the town goes dark the shield holding the night at bay will fail, and the humans and day creatures who live there will be plunged into darkness and will be helpless to the night creatures who lay in wait, wishing to overrun the town. The Wick (their leader) has tasked your group with clearing the mines and returning with several crystals. She gives you a lantern with a special crystal that acts as a prism to cleanse the monsters, but it will take longer than killing them, and you must lower their health first.

She appeals to you to try to cleanse them first, as they were once inhabitants of Nyx, but this is up to you. You must cleanse or fight your way through the mobs in the cave to the light crystals. When you reach the cave of crystals, you find Lucityn, the Lightbringer waiting for you. He reveals his evil plan and sucks the light from all the crystals in the cave into himself, leaving you in darkness. He draws his sword and uses it as a conductor to blast the light he’s devoured towards a small bat near the ceiling; which transforms into a hideous monster.

Sadly, you must kill the beast, as it's too large for the lantern to cleanse. When defeated the bat will turn into a large crystal which you will return to the refuge. When you give it to The Wick, the ghost of the bat will appear, and follow Ackna as her familiar. When you tell The Wick about what you witnessed in the cave, she seems very disquieted and says she must get word to Lumenburg.

Pass: Defeat/cleanse the light aberrations and bring a crystal back to The Lantern

Fail: Don’t defeat/cleanse the light aberrations, don’t defeat the bat, fail to return the crystal to The Lantern

Map Areas: The Lantern, the Light Crystal Caves

Quest Idea 3 - ‘Sus-fish-ous Disappearances’

People and other creatures have been mysteriously vanishing from Gloomtown in the nearby Starless Wilds. Brissa, an Avian nightjar (bird-humanoid), has tasked you with finding her lost brother, Denral, who went hunting for insects in the Starless Grove to sell at market a few days ago and hasn’t returned yet. You must make your way into the forest, choosing to bring a light source, or just follow the trail of luminescent mushrooms. Ravening beasts of darkness will attack as you investigate the forest for clues. You find strips of torn clothing, dropped items, huge claw marks, paw prints, and a gooey substance that could only be described as, ‘drool’.

After finding several clues and wandering through the maze within the forest, you see a light in the distance. It’s large, round, and bobbing, seemingly floating in the air. You must step off the path to reach it. When followed, it leads you to a large clearing filled with bones. From the shadows slithers and hops a terrestrial anglerfish; also known as a Pollywangler, a feral creature that looks like the strange combination of a frog and a deepsea fish. It is huge and bulbous, squatting on its four tiny legs, baring menacing fangs and a deep underbite. From high up in a tree, you hear a squeaky voice, shouting for help. Defeat the creature and Denral will come down from the tree. Lead him back to Gloomtown and gather your reward from Brissa.

Pass: Find the clues, defeat the boss

Fail: Fail to find the clues or defeat the Pollywangler

Map Areas: Gloomtown, The Starless Grove