From: "G.G.Lepper" Subject: WFRP: South Lands... Hey, I don't think I've seen anything on the Southlands recently...so I'll post an idea or two, just a little sketch of whats happened down there for the last few thousand years! If you read this, you're then obliged to respond. Remember that! THE SOUTHLANDS Ah, the lovely Southlands, flora and fauna unique to the area. One of the unexplored places of the continent. Small tribes of humans live there in relative harmony with their environment, if not with their neighbors... THE SLANN In the hierarchy of ancient space travelling Slann society, amonst the greatest and wisest of the Slann, there were the gahdSlann. There were three known. The first, and greatest, was Mazdamundi, now Emperor of the Slann Empire in Lustria. His site was located where his capital is now. He was the one responsible for the seeding of Elves and Dwarves, he then turned this over to his protege... His protege, lived at a large Slann settlement and spaceport in the Southlands. His name is forgotten, it's doubtful in Mazdamundi even remembers.... This gahdSlann eventually started seeding and developing humanity under the guidance of Mazdamundi. The third, was working on the Steppes between Kislev and Imperial Cathay. What his duties were, no one remembers... What's important, is what each did when the disaster struck. Mazdamundi, the greatest, before it happened, had a premonition. All the gahdSlann were hooked up to devices, communicating with the Slann Empire. These devices, which partly consisted of a strange mirror (which Mazdamundi uses to this day, to watch over his Empire in Lustria...) operated by opening a tunnel through the void. When the entire Slann portal system collapsed, the tides of Warp (Chaos) flooded into the system with catastropic effects. Mazdamundi, forewarned, destroyed the portal, and all the satellites in space orbiting, that were part of the system. He therefore survived, and lives to this day. The one in the steppes, was taken unaware, and the void flowed through him, into the machinery and had a chain effect, destroying all the Slann ouposts in the Steppes with massive Warp explosions. The gahdSlann in the South lands, the one working on humans, was a gifted and innovative one. That's why Mazdamundi had placed the human research in his hands. He too was connected to the same system. When the Warp struck him through the portal, he instinctively channeled it through his mind, instead of closing the portal. As it flowed into his mind, the Warp permeated every aspect of his being...He tried in those few precious moments of time to channel it, to alter it, to force it to take shape. When he realized that this was impossible, before he could be consumed, he projected the Warp flow from his mind to all the Slann under his control. He simply couldn't contain it, and it was this final act of self preservation that doomed the Slann in the Southlands. The projection had disasterous effects. Within seconds of the intial Warp Portal collapse, and the consequent projection of the Warp, the minds of most Slann, and their physical being were utterly consumed. Slann's head exploded, their bodies blew apart...Some were sucked into the void, others had their minds or body terribly mishaped. The majority of buildings disappeared in explosions like those in the Steppes... The human savages, under control of the Slann, suddenly found their masters dead or raving mad. In a bloody uprising, the humans killed their owners, and tore down their former prisons. The Slann were broken. A few mishapen, ugly mad Slann crawled off into the jungles...twisted shadows of a fallen Empire. Over the years, the humans gradually worked their way north, although a few stayed behind. However, for the gahdSlann in the Southlands, not all was over. As he was projecting the Warp instantaneosly...Mazdamundi had managed to shut the Warp gates. The ones at the poles he was to late to save, they had blown open, and also destroyed Slann outposts at the poles. A few other gates remained open, beyond Mazdamundi's control, and a handful were not even disturbed by the disaster. With the portal to his mind closed, the ghadSlann of the Southlands discovered, with his last sentient thought, that he had himself became a sort of portal... The void did not yet have the Chaos gods, they were manifestations that came later to imprint themselves from the impressions of the developing races... The gahdSlann had attempted to impose order on the Void and failed. His whole being was imbued with the warp, and lay half way between reality and the Void (later known as the Chaos realms). His impressions were amongst the first impressed into the Void. In essence, he became the first Chaos god! THE RESHAPING He lay crippled, his mirror and devices shattered, inside a partially destroyed Slann pyramid. He lay there for thousands of years, half dead, entirely insane, and eternally damned. He has, and will continue, to escape the notice of the Chaos gods, not belonging in the Realms, nor in reality. His mind and body crippled, he lay there, gradually swelling with the power of the Warp, as it still contiued to leak in minute amounts into his body. From his throne, his body spilled as it grew out of the rooms, through cracks, in ventilation shafts, down electrical lines. His body gradually took over the ancient Slann machinery over thousands of years. His pyramid had escaped the majority of the destruction (his act of self preservation). In time, his body had joined with the technology of the building. He has become a portal to the warp, a chaos god, and a living building. Deep in the heart of the building lies his bloated body filling the central chambers and creeping along the arteries and pathways of the pyramid. TODAY... Lately, in the past few hundred years, the pyramid looks unoccupied. Deep inside, the machinery and the gahdSlann are coming alive...forgotten Slann portals in the area flicker open, machinery long lost in the jungle switch on, startling the nearby wildlife. With the strange occurances in the jungle, the witchdoctor and wise man of a local tribe, urged the chief and the warriors, to seek out the danger. They left. A few days later, they returned. They grabbed the other members of the tribe and dragged them screaming to a strange humming pyramid in the center of the jungle... Over the years, four other tribes have fallen prey to the gahdSlann. Dominated by the awesome Psionics, magic, and technology controlled by the gahdSlann, he has become worshipped by the local humans. Strange daemons now come and go, summoned by foul sacrafices by the humans. These subjugated tribes sometimes bear an ancient relics of the Slann, powerful weapons capable of incredible destruction. For now, the majority of tribes fear the Daemon haunted living pyramid, with it's foul servants and bloodthirsty human guards. The human minions are nearly crazed automatons of an unthinking monster. It is feared that things could change. Many tribes are not even aware of the danger, but with everyday the creeping strength of the things in the jungle, more and more become conscious of the danger. More and more fear...