Due to the far-reaching nature of the Jorians’ call for their kithkind, their large body of oceanic knowledge, and their openness to receiving visitors, it’s likely that the player characters would hear about them or the city at some point. It’s easy to incorporate that hint of information into a campaign.
The most likely scenario is that the PCs or someone they know needs to gain unusual information about the ocean and has heard of the blue mazars and the Mazarium. The trip is long and dangerous, and most will pay a decent sum to ensure their safe voyage.
Perhaps the characters run into someone who was born in Joria and wants to return there before he dies. He has spent much of his life tracking the granthu’s migration and believes it will surface sometime soon. Or perhaps a scientist tracking and documenting the world’s largest creatures has heard rumors of the granthu and wants to prove its existence. He’ll pay well for anyone who can help him find it. Additionally, the PCs could meet someone who claims to be kithkind to the Jorians and is trying desperately to find a way to visit the city.
While in the Shallows, the granthu molts, shedding patches of its algae-covered shell until it reveals the new, pink exoskeleton beneath. It does not molt in the places where the city is built.
Granthu: level 10; health
1,000; Armor 7 “I do believe there are other peoples such as ourselves, out there in our world. That there are other granthu such as our own. And that someday the orbits of our granthu will overlap and we will come to meet and know our true kithkind.” ~Diu
Heu: level 4; persuasion, mediation, and diplomacy as level 5 Shyphe: level 4, motivation and mobilization as level 5
Blue mazar: level 4,
oceanic knowledge as level 6
The inhabitants of Joria firmly believe the world holds many other cities like their own, but they are in different orbits and haven’t yet come close enough to be seen or contacted.
The Peacebringer and the Warholder: The city is always led by an elected couple, one of whom is called the Peacebringer and the other the Warholder. The current leader- couple is composed of a Jorian named Heu
and a human named Shyphe.
Heu, the Peacebringer, is particularly skilled in persuasion, mediation, and diplomacy. It’s the Peacebringer’s job to calm rising tensions and diffuse difficult situations.
Shyphe, the Warholder, was rescued from a boating accident and brought to Joria as a child. Shyphe, who is blind from the accident, specializes in mobilizing and motivating those around her. It’s the Warholder’s job to incite citizens into strong action when necessary.
JORIANS
Jorians are humanoids with skin the color and texture of malleable wet stone. Their skin tones range in hue from light grey and silver to dark green and near-black, depending on their environment. Their dark eyes are covered with protective lenses that adapt to the amount of light.
stone, large metallic orbs, membranous orbs made of mesh and synth, and triangular towers. About half of the interior of the city is filled with water and half is filled with air and pressurized, another testament to the Jorians’ ability to adapt quickly and easily across environments.
Most Jorians have the skills to repair and keep up the building structures, but not to design or create new ones. Some believe that their ancestors built the city, but that the knowledge of how to do so has been lost through the generations. Others believe that the granthu built the city for them.
It’s not known whether the granthu is the only one of its kind, or whether there are additional such creatures in the world. Jorians believe that other granthu do exist, and thus so do others of their species. They seek constantly to find their kithkind. Much of their technology is created with an eye toward finding and contacting these other Jorians.
Blue Mazars: A special group of Jorians known as the blue mazars is entrusted with keeping extensive records of the ongoing search. In doing so, they have accumulated a large body of work that explores the ocean in great detail.
They’re omnivorous, subsisting mostly on the chemosynthetic plants that they grow, and supplementing their diet with whatever creatures and plants they can harvest and properly preserve.
Although best suited for living in the
Deep Dark, which is where the granthu spends the majority of its life, Jorians are highly adaptable to their surroundings. Their lungs fold up like accordions, becoming small in the high-pressure atmosphere of the Deep Dark, and then expanding to accommodate lower pressure and higher oxygen levels.
Even for a race as adaptable as Jorians, the change in sea level has undesirable side effects. When the granthu begins to rise into the warmer, more oxygenated waters of the ocean (the area called the Gloaming), Jorians begin to feel lightheaded and overly warm. A yellow fungus called blossom sometimes grows on their skin, beginning around their ears, eyes, and mouth. All of these symptoms begin to pass in a matter of days, as the Jorians’ bodies adjust to the new surroundings. Their lungs expand slightly, their metabolism begins to run at a slower rate, allowing them to stay cooler, and their eyes begin to adjust to the lighter waters.
The last section of the orbit is the
Shallows. While here, the granthu may even rise above the water for short periods of time. The Jorians’ skin begins to produce a protective coating that shields them from the increased sunlight, the lenses on their eyes darken, and their lungs expand to their full size and capacity.
Jorians can live up to 150 years, but many expire after their second return to the Shallows. They find the transition back to the depths more difficult the second time and often succumb to the high pressure and cold temperatures on the return journey.
Most Jorians speak the Truth reasonably well, as well as a smattering of other languages picked up from visitors.