It's not a bad rule, we kind of house-ruled it away for simplicity and I completely forgot about it. When I have the time, I should probably give the rules another once over in case there's important context there.
Having now read them myself, I think you should at least skim over the rules for how weapons are fired and what a typical number of attacks per round is.
I mean, we see all this power armor with hundreds of MDC going around, and the typical infantry weapons might be a lazorthing that has, say, 2-12 MDC damage output... and you'd think that's a major disparity in favor of the defense. But then you read a little deeper and realize that in a typical firefight that lazorthing might get fired several times per fifteen second combat round, possibly with damage multipliers for sustained bursts...
Okay, combat is divided into fifteen second rounds. A character with no combat training or skills gets one/melee action each round, one shot, one punch etc. With skills, you normally start with four and pick up another two or three along the way as you level. Manually fired gun turrets get as many shots per round as the operator, automatic ones sometimes have more, as do characters with super-speed like Juicers or Crazies. Some aliens/D-Bees, by virtue of fast reflexes or multiple limbs also get extras. Fastest I can recall is 16.
Urchin Destroyer armor is basically the War Urchin scaled up for Overlords.
War Urchin power armor is a high-mobility type, sort of like SAMAS and Sea SAMAS with a port for interchangeable water-jet and jetpacks. A collaboration with some Techno-Wizards, it has tons of magical goodies and some spellcasting abilities. It's also pretty much made out of grenade launchers, 10 in all.
230 MDC, run at 40 mph/64 kph, flight pack gives 100 mph/160 kph at 6,000 ft. without it can still fly via fly as the eagle spell. Swimming with water-jets is 60 mph/96 kph, without is about 10 mph/16 kph plus bonuses from swim like a fish spell, either way the depth limit is 2.4 miles. The helmet is cramed with every kind of sensor, radar, sonar, lidar, light-amp, IR, UV, and thermal, plus permanent casting of see invisible, sense magic and sense evil.
The fins are vibro-blades (2-12 MD) and the urchin like parts are the grenade launchers, there are 20 grenades in total, two in each launch tube, 300 ft. range. Plasma, frag, concussion, HE and gill clog. The right gauntlet has a bg laser (3-18 MD, 40 shots) and can cast fire bolt, globe of daylight, and magic net. The left has a grappling hook with 40 ft. of line and can cast call lightning, energy bolt and befuddle. There are three chest buttons each corresponding to a section of three spells that can be engaged with a press and mental command, combat, defense, and underwater spells, two can be active at once but can quickly drain the PPE battery which takes twelve hours to recharge. Underwater activates breathe without air, swim like a fish, and impervious to energy. Defense layers simple invisibility on top of chameleon plus fly as the eagle. Combat mode gives escape, repel animals and time slip.
Urchin Destroyer armor is pretty much War Urchin scaled up for Overlords. Plus an extra spell in each mode. Try not to stare at the crotch-spines.
440 MDC, runs at 30 mph/48 kph, integrated aerial/underwater propulsion systems. 60 mph/96 kph up to 1,000 feet in the air, and coincidentally 60 mph/96 kph to a depth of nine miles underwater. Same sensor systems.
Weaponry, it has a large shoulder cannon plasma (10-60 MD surface, 10-40 underwater) and two laser (10-60 MD). Fourteen grenade tubes with three each, or 50 grenades, the standard loadout is apparently half concussion and half gill clog. Same magic systems with just these modifications, the left gauntlet replaces befuddle with grow tentacles. Add underwater spell impervious to depth, defensive spell energy field, and combat spell energy disruption.
War Fish armor is actually in two parts. Humanoid armor, and a lower "fish" section with all the weaponry and propulsion systems. The pilot can detach to wander around, fully armored, on the shore and the fish section will fire on any strangers who approach, or fellow minions that try to touch it, and signal an SOS to the pilot.
375 MDC, runs at 40 mph/64 kph when the pilot detaches, 100 mph/160 kph underwater to a depth of 2.4 miles, 140 mph/224 kph running on the surface. Same excellent sensors as all Kittani underwater armor. Weapons include two lasers (3-18 MD each) and a plasma cannon (10-60 MD) on the forward arc, each can rotate 45 degrees in any direction. Plus a dozen mini-torpedoes and vibro-blade fins (3-18 MD).
War Crab and now we just get weird. Apparently the visible pilot is a decoy, the real pilot and a gunner lay prone in the lower crab section. And I'm pretty sure including hands is largely useless, you're not going to pick up anything with those claws getting in the way, actually I know they can telescope out a few feet. The legs use electromagnets to cling to ship hulls.
600 mph, can walk or swim at 20 mph/32 kph and dive down to three miles. Okay, lower section left side is a quad-barrel plasma canon, 10-40 MD (or 40-160 MD for simultaneous shot) right side is two laser cannons (4-24 MD), two ion guns (3-18 MD). Two forward railguns (10-40 MD) in their own small turrets, and two lasers (3-18 MD) to the rear. The humanoid torso fires heat beams (1-6 MD) from it's eyes and can launch it's six shoulder spikes for 1-6 MD. Plus a variety of mega-damage melee options.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
I have to assume that most of these underwater vehicles/armors, when firing their energy weapons under water, will cause immense columns of boiling water to follow after/above them, when used. Is it also safe to say that, unlike vehicles or armors used on the surface, if one of these gets breached while a mile or so down, you're pretty much killed instantly, (unless you were already able to tolerate such depths/pressure)?
And the Mk. 4 War Shark is the Splugorth's standard submarine. It even swims with a swinging of the tail and can bend itself into a U shape. Carries two Mk. 5 Sharks, two dozen Urchins, a dozen Fish and Crabs and eight Destroyer armor standard.
3,000 MDC, does 29 mph/47 kph on the surface, and 52 mph/84 kph underwater down to 3 miles. Half speed if it loses the swinging tail mechanism. Standard crew is 72 plus 60 marines. It's got seven heavy torpedo tubes (40-240 MD, 20 mile range) in the nose with 48 torpedoes in the magazine. Plus ten mini-torpedo launchers with four fish each (40 total) half below each side fin. If surfaced, it has 200 SAM mini-missiles on top of the head, big belly laser does 30-120 MD. The thing that should really worry you though, is the bite. The jaws can do 200-1200 MD and breach most hulls. Inside the mouth is a hatch the marines can use for boarding a ship breached in this way, in fact the bay normally used for deploying armor underwater, and 100 rapid-fire lasers in four banks of 25 to make sure no one boards them and/or help with the "chewing." 100-600 MD for each battery, or 400-1600 MD for all of them.
The Mk. 5 War Shark is a scaled down mini-sub version of the above. For the Kittani sense of honor, smaller, more fragile and rapid moving craft/armor are more prestigious because they take more skill to use. Fighter pilots are cool, but power armor pilots are rock-stars. In space, your first command might be a carrier or a battleship, and you'd hope to get a small raider. In the ocean, everyone wants the mini-sub and the tendency to put veterans there make the small fry more dangerous than just the numbers might convey.
850 MDC, surface speed is 29 mph/47 kph underwater is 60 mph/96 kph down to 2 miles. Crew of six. 7 mini-torpedo tubes in the nose, 48 fish, plus 10 one-shots on the side-fins. Belly laser does 10-40 MD, still has a bite attack with vibro-blade teeth (20-120 MD) but no troop door or inner lasers.
The Splugorth Sea Skimmer, or Splugorth Ark, is at once a large and heavily armed freighter, VIP transport, and a battleship. It's what they use when they want to travel in style or show they're serious. And pretty much the only difference in roles is the size of the crew as they reconfigure the cargo hold to carry troops and weapons. Usually travel in pairs, sometimes in convoys of six. Coalition naval intelligence believes Atlantis has a bit under 300 of these. Though the sail part billows, it is in fact a very thing metal.
It's very much worth taking a minute to talk about magic systems. The ship is covered with 30 Orbs of Eylor. This lets the captain and his two most senior officers form a telepathic bond with the ship so they can steer it with their brains (manual steering does exist) and see out of the eyes, in any direction for seven miles or more with 300x magnification, through fog or darkness or blinding light, seeing magic and the invisible. These officers can also cast any standard spell up to level 8 albeit slowly but team-casting is a thing, and to converse telepathically with each other and anyone within 1200 ft. of the ship. The senior officers can also whistle up a magic storm to double the ship's speed and ruin other people's day, or raise a forcefield. When stationary or slow moving (under 12 mph/19 kph) the ship turns invisible though it can be seen again if you close to 4,000 ft. and is totally silent in it's running. Plus a magic ram I'll get to again.
30,000 MDC, plus 1,000 MDC from a magical forcefield that can be raised 13 times a day, even right after it gets pounded down. Travels 50 mph/80 kph or hovering 50 feet in the air, double speed with a storm on their heels, quadruple if it's a ley line storm, and double altitude on ley lines or in magic triangles like Bermuda or the Med. Can be magically teleported up to 45 miles away. The rear has two massive laser turrets, 100-400 MD each, hanging below the afterdeck. On either side amidships is a plasma cannon, 200-800 MD. Two point defense turrets on the poop deck 10-40 MD each. Four heavy torpedo tubes, 40 torpedoes, in the bow. At will, the commanders can conjure a magic ram, a wedge of fire or lightning 200 ft. long before the ship which does 100-600 MD if it connects and can spam energy blasts (20-80 for fire, 20-120 for lightning). Can also do 10-40 MD by raking with the hydrofoil-like blades.
Splugorth Arks can generally carry 100,000 tons of cargo or about 8,000 slaves. Peacetime crew will be anywhere from 90-240 usually with 2-4 Warlocks and room for 200 marines. In a battle configuration, double the casters, make that 300-900 or so discounting the 10-40 fighter jets and 140-560 power armor of varying types.
Last is the Sea Fin, their multi-role vessel. No picture, or rather a double-page spread that'll look terrible in pieces. Imagine a large speedboat, covered so as to be watertight submersible and shiny silver, now cover the top end with little turrets, add two large fins at the back, like Jabba's sail barge and you're there. This is also largely a transport, but can easily serve as a warship, the Splugorth seem to have learned a lot from the Naruni that way. Has 20 Orbs of Eylor and all the same advantages off them the Ark does, same magic stealth too.
15,000 MDC, plus 500 MDC for shields. Surface speed is 60 mph/96 kph, can dive down half a mile and do 30 mph/48 kph while down there. Has three heavy laser cannon (100-400 MD) one forward, two back plus a forward plasma cannon (200-800 MD) same as the Ark's. But has six laser PD turrets (10-40 MD) followed by 48 medium or heavy torpedoes and 48 medium missiles in 12 tubes/launchers for each.
Can also carry 100,000 tons of cargo, but only 4,000 slaves. Actually slaves are a large part of the crew, 50-80 of them plus 40-160 Minions. Always expect one or two casters and 20-40 power armor.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
biostem wrote:I have to assume that most of these underwater vehicles/armors, when firing their energy weapons under water, will cause immense columns of boiling water to follow after/above them, when used.
So I imagine it, certainly for plasma and p-beams.
Is it also safe to say that, unlike vehicles or armors used on the surface, if one of these gets breached while a mile or so down, you're pretty much killed instantly, (unless you were already able to tolerate such depths/pressure)?
Very much so. You lose your armor you are exposed to the environment. If the environment happens to be vacuum or an ocean floor or the inside of a furnace, well it's hard being you. Briefly.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
The obvious problem with the Kittani is that bigger, slower craft are more expensive than smaller, faster ones. But at the same time, you will inevitably have more rookies than veterans of a given seniority in your fighting service, because some of the rookies die or wash out before becoming veterans.
So how on Earth or off it do you have enough battleships to give every lieutenant a battleship command, while the long-service veterans are all operating singleships and fast-dancing fighter craft?
biostem wrote:I have to assume that most of these underwater vehicles/armors, when firing their energy weapons under water, will cause immense columns of boiling water to follow after/above them, when used. Is it also safe to say that, unlike vehicles or armors used on the surface, if one of these gets breached while a mile or so down, you're pretty much killed instantly, (unless you were already able to tolerate such depths/pressure)?
It takes a direct hit from a mega-damage weapon to breach the armor (and, so far as I can tell canonically, it has to be the hit that removes the last MDC hit points).
If you are an SDC creature (e.g. any humanoid including biochemically enhanced ones), and you get hit by an MDC weapon that your MDC armor doesn't successfully block, you are basically always going to be dead (cooked or shredded) meat. Sort of like how if in real life we had power armor, and your power armor eats an antitank missile, you're going to be dead, because the overpenetration will be enough to totally destroy a human body with blast and shaped charge jet and whatnot.
The only difference from fighting underwater would be that death is certain, instead of being only almost certain in the sense that you might 'only' get your arm blown off and bleed out in seconds.
Near the ruins of Cleveland, on the south shore of Lake Eerie is a magical place called Queenstown. City of 160,000. A free port, sort of like a Tortuga of the Great Lakes. The queen, Lilia Seabreeze, is a an Atlantean LLW and retired adventurer who built her city to the aesthetics of the 16th-18th Century because it's her favorite period of Earth history.
Aside from the various pirates (btw, there are like three pirates and a privateer class, but they're skill bundles) Queenstown is home to the technologically advanced Nuhr Dwarves, a renegade High Lord of Atlantis who built a pyramid as a combined school/hospital, and the Temple of Seven Waters, a growing faith that worships sea gods from all Pantheons, but particularly their own patron Ippotomeni.
Queenstown keeps a standing army/police force of 10,000. Dressed as redcoats, they're issued a techno-wizardry musket and pistol that fire magic firebolts (4-24 MD and 35 shots for the pistol, 6-36 and 50 rounds for the musket) and mono-edge bayonets, knives and swords made from a nearly indestructible metal (500 MDC) called Kisentite. And each man's belt buckle is a magic talisman, pressing it can raise a 100 MDC armor of Ithan forcefield thrice a day.
Queenstown is further protected by a squadron (6 ships, they built 10 and sold off 4) of their Windjammer Frigates and a friendly Hydra named Trash.
Windjammers are extensively protected, first an ironwood enchantment makes the planks MDC 750 for the main body, 90 to de-mast and just 30 MD to poke a hole in the sails, than more armor of Ithan 150 MDC, three activations a day, each lasting fifteen minutes. The ship is under a constant circle of protection effect, and cannot be boarded by supernatural beings, including demons, deevils, evil spirits, dragons and many monsters, unless their names are added to allowed slate on the walls of the captain's quarters. Speed is 16 mph/26 kph regardless of wind, 6 mph/10 kph on the oars. The ship has 20 guns, Thunderball Cannon that use pulses of TK to impart railgun-like velocities on the cannonballs and achieve MD. Two kinds of enchanted ammo, standard loadout is 200 thunderballs that do 5-30 MD and cause a stunning effect for a decent radius on impact, and 100 thunderfire balls that explode into fireballs when hitting and do 10-60 MD.
The real prize is the Crystal Dome of the Elements, a handcrafted, indestructible crystal orb that is also a portal to the elemental planes of Water and Air. Queen Seabreeze is highly secretive about how these are manufactured, but twice a day the captain and first mate can summon a major water or air elemental to serve them. They can also cast calm waters, calm storm, create fog, atmospheric manipulation, summon and control storm, change wind direction, wind rush, whirlpool, water wall, see invisible, anti-magic cloud, speed of the snail, sonar hearing, impervious to fire and turn the whole ship invisible.
There are lots of ships that are faster, tougher, have more firepower and are generally objectively superior in almost all ways to the Windjammers. But there are no ships on the seas of Rifts with this much style. Has to count for something, right?
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
...There is a glory to a sloop of war which cannot be matched, save perhaps by a ship of fifth rate or higher built using the same technology.
I am honestly surprised no one has done this on a larger scale with oceangoing vessels. Picture a 74-gun ship of the line built with similar technology... and heavier timbers. Probably can't get that much Millenium Tree wood. Darn.
Oh, we're not quite done with the Splugorth for now, I forgot the standard raiding forces.
The Slaver-Raider ship is the standard craft for long-range slaving expeditions. It's a fast hydrofoil ship with a faster hovercraft mode that can only be used over calm waters (and not land) though it is amphibious and can crawl on land as a sort of large APC/tank. 200 ft./61 meters long. Carries a dozen Slaver barges, supported by 64 troops who may or may not use power armor, and cell space for 800 prisoners (the cells get really cramped) and 500 tons of loot. Zombitrons may be broken out for the more troublesome or high-value ones.
2,500 MDC, 100 mph/160 kph normally, 400 mph/640 kph using the hover system on calm waters, and 40 mph/64 kph on land. Three triple-barrel ion pulse turrets, 10-40 MD individually, 30-120 MD if all three guns in a turret fire at one target. Also has two launchers for a complex and expensive system of long-range missiles that double as (slow) heavy torpedoes, 1800 mile range by air, 500 miles by sea. 64 missiles in each launcher, so 128 at the ready, and 512 reloads in the hold. Will also have 24 depth charges 20-80 MD.
This big guy is alternatively a Splugorth Slaver Mothership or just a Splugorth Dreadnought. There's only four on Rifts Earth, two roaming the Atlantic looking for trouble, one on a long mission exploring/raiding the coasts of Asia, and one is more-or-less permanently parked off of Africa, though each usually drops by Atlantis once or twice a year. A Dreadnought is sort of like an aircraft carrier sans the aircraft meets a battleship, a massive fleet control flagship that serves as a mobile base for Raiders and other Splugorth craft. Docking and repair facilities for eight ships two on the inside of each support leg.
The fluff text claims it's as big as three 20th Century carriers, the listed dimensions are 800x800x400 feet, length, width, height or 244x244x122 m. Apparently the height includes the support legs which are 100 ft./30 m. tall. Listed weight is 300,000 tons, which is about three carriers' worth.
28,000 MDC, Kittani make so no magic forcefield. 40 mph/64 kph on the surface, is submersible with half the surface speed but apparently only ever dives to escape fierce weather or enemy action and never goes that deep. Crew of 1300, plus 1500 marines/troops with 66% being Kittani. Cell space for 20,000 prisoners, since it's the mobile base where most Raiders off-load before turning around and going raiding for more. Long range missiles has 720 in six launchers, over eight thousand more in storage, and each launcher can volley 72 missiles in fifteen seconds. 960 mini-missiles for AA, 2400 more in storage. 8 laser cannon turrets 20-120 MD. Six medium torpedo tubes, well they're actually dropped into the water from above, 20-120 MD with a ten mile range, 150 fish aboard. Finally depth charges, number unknown but four launchers, standard 20-80 MD.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
In counterpoint to the Wndjammers, the Black Ships.
A staple of the Palladium Fantasy setting, Black Ships are crewed by demons and the damned. Not built, but summoned intact with their crews through a most secret ritual, involving dozens of human sacrifices. In PF, they are prized for their relative toughness and ability to sail against the wind, though much more so for what's about to be boarding you. Most of which would be less impressive in Rifts, but the excess of magic energy makes them MDC and regenerating (well, they always could but much slower).
There are thirteen known Black Ships on Rifts Earth, a dozen came through with a Shifter (magical summonng/dimension travel expert) named Kharkon the Conqueror. Kharkon made a pact with a Supernatural Intelligence named Drekkon the Destroyer. When Drekkon was nearly destroyed by a group of gods and adventurers, he sent his last bit of essence to possess Kharkon to recover, but he was weaker than he'd thought, and Kharkon stronger than he could have imagined, and the essence of Drekkon was devoured. Kharkon gained 1300 MDC, regneration (2-8 MD per hour) supernatural strength, virtual immortality, some minor psionics and knowledge of all spells plus depp wells of magical power beyond his imaging. And all he paid for it was some odd flashbacks and growing scaly skin, horns, fangs and pointy ears. Using Drekkon's knowledge he built an army, summoned a hundred Black Ships and in a decade had conquered 95% of his homeworld. As he was bringing his fleet down on the last islands, the residents through a magic storm his way, to delay and scatter the fleet, and hide that they also opened a rift to send the Dark Lord and his inner circle someplace else. Kharkon's not to broken up over this, it was a clever ruse and besides he's conquered a world before and can do it again. Right now he's set up a base on Nightmare Island off of Brazil and has been doing some trade with the Splugorth. Kharkon is probably the one source on Earth for the Black Ships ritual, but he sees no percentage in sharing that information.
The other ship is the Vulture late of the Western Empire, PF world, which was randomly rifted in. Run by a pair of brothers, captain Bronn Drake and the first mate is Shifter Odan Drake. They spend about half their year in the Great Lakes and half roaming the Atlantic, have often worked for the Splugorth. Recently having a bit of a divide, where Odan is obsessed with getting home, while Bronn has fallen in love with Queen Seabreeze of Queenstown.
1200 MDC, regenerates 100 MDC a day, twice that on a ley line or in a magic triangle. Sailing speed is 16 mph/26 kph going by the wind, the ship has a magic ability to do 32 mph/51 kph in any direction as long as it's feed a healthy amount of PPE every hour. If the crew can't supply it, slitting a throat or two every hour should suffice, the ship automatically eats any PPE death-burst on board. On a ley line, the energy costs are 80% less and the ship can hit 720mph/113 kph.
Depending on the specifics of the summoning ritual, the ship will be 180-220 feet long, crewed by 40-120 skeletons, 16-40 demons with one quarter being Greater Demons the specifics of which type determined by the ritual casting, maybe 2-8 (more than 4 is rare) spellcasters, usually shifters, summoners or diabolists who made some very poor life choices and are know compelled to work off their debts to the powers of Hades. Plus room for 30-80 additional crew, and 20 tons of cargo. Kharkon always springs for the biggest ships with the most crew and space, his preferred demon crew mix is 4 Baal-Rogs, 4 Jiin (2 each green and white) 8 Aquatic Demons, 2 Incubi/Sucubi and 14 Gargoyles/Gurgoyles.
Being from a medieval setting ,the only integral weapon to a Black Ship is the ram which is enchanted to do extra damage to the enemy and ensure the ship is never harmed by impact on the ram (I suspect it reflects all force applied) 30-180 MD, plus 5 MD for each mph in speed the ship had at impact (max 190-240 MD). Kharkon has added to his 10 railing swivel guns, modified Splugorth security turrets that self-recharge. two on the prow, four to a side, they do 10-40 MD each and after 40 shots need an hour to recharge, or can accept an e-clip for five more shots.
Kharkon also had most of his old crews except the casters executed and raised as skeletons/zombies so they'd be less useless while he recruited a more technically literate crew.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
There's a lot more now. The Demons and Deevils have both brought some to take the Minion War to Earth's seas. They want as many as they can get, however, so even old Kharkon is feeling pressure to choose a side.
Not an armored Jigglypuff
"I salute your genetic superiority, now Get off my planet!!" -- Adam Stiener, 1st Somerset Strikers
Long as we're on a sort of pirate theme, may as well run with it.
The Piranha is a fast submersible attack boat from the Late Golden Age. Every remaining example has been handed down to descendants of the original crews or since stolen, in the hands of pirates, smugglers or simply heavily armed and fiercely independent sailors. None fly under the flag of any existing government, which is something of a pity, because most technological powers have engineers that would love to dissect one. How is a ship that big, that fast? How is a ship so small so tough? Piranhas tend to occupy the enviable position of being able to outrun most anything they can't outfight, and casually smack down any ship that can keep up, though their record against aircraft and long-range missiles is somewhat less stellar.
600 MDC, surface speed is 80 mph/128 kph (uses a hydrofoil), underwater is 40 mph/64 kph, no maximum depth listed but I'm assuming it's not that deep. The ship is a hundred feet long with a nominal crew of four, can carry twenty troops or passengers.
Corsair hydrobike, basically a glorified jet ski covered with weapons. Favorite of river pirates, but can still be used as a smallcraft on the seas.
123 MD, speed of 60 mph/96 kph. Eight mini-missiles, a 3-18 MD laser and something called a rocket machinegun, I think more gyrojets, 4-24 MD for one shot, 8-48 for an 8-round burst, 20-120 MD for a long 20 round burst.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Know O'Neil readers, there was once an alliance of four Great Races, who had magical civilization on Earth while the rest of us were still figuring out how to smelt metals. The Atlanteans, masters of dimension travel, the Nazca who drew stuff (we'll get to them in just a bit) the Lost Ones and the Lemurians.
The Lemurians began as a coastal civilization ringing much of the Indian Ocean. Clever and skilled in magic, they eventually met the Atlanteans and learned, of maybe taught there's some debate, Stone Magic and the making of magic pyramids. Lemurian pyramids are different, stepped ziggurats rather than Egyptian-style, which makes them much better as centers for magic healing though about useless for dimension travel. Fine with them, though, since it let them discover and magically alter DNA. They also around this time started building cities to float on the sea or fly through the air, the Lemurians wanted to see the world, weren;t much attached to nay particular spot of land, and found it easier when threatened by barbarians to pack up and leave, rather than annihilate the enemy with magic. The Lemurians have always had strong morals.
Having mobile cities, a deep curiosity and the keys to life, it took no time for the Lemurians to become very interested in the ocean, mod their cities for underwater travel and themselves to be amphibious. It was around this time they constructed Mu, the greatest of their cities.
Well, all good things come to an end, you already know what became of the Age of Magic. An Atlantean named Pan Dora got the brilliant idea to try and make a Super-Rift connecting to dozens of dimensions at once, they lost control the Super-Rift caused ferocious storms all over the world, deposited all sorts of monsters and other nasties and burned out something critical, so magic became a non-renewable resource, finally burning out two thousand years later. The Atlanteans reinvented their society as pentinent monster-hunters, finally fleeing just before the magic gave out, and Atlantis vanished from the Earth.
Well, the version in this book seems to skip over the whole two thousand year gap between Pan Dora's Folly and the Doom of Atlantis, not sure if that's a retcon or just a continuity goof. Here, the Lemurians were caught in the storms, heard distress cries and on investigating found Atlantis gone. They pieced together what happened and were bisieged by anyone looking to steal a bit more magic, as here the decay took bare months.
The Lemurians did what they always do when attacked, retreat underwater. Then they found a rift in the Marianas Trench, leading to another world with earthlike seas and magic, but decaying fast and held open only by some unknown force. They bum-rushed the rift, which happened to be Larry, Lord of the Deep's escape hatch. Each city that went through destabilized things more and sped the collapse, and Larry himself destroyed two of the stragglers and captured a third before the rift sealed, trapping him on Earth.
Well, the other side wasn't so much a planet with it's own oceans as a pocket-dimension of sea, with a 100:1 time ratio. By the Lemurian's calendars, just 150 years passed between the Doom and the day magic returned and they got spat back out into the Pacific, right into Larry's face. Good thing he was still waking up, they high-tailed it out of there and spent decades just figuring out what happened and where they were now.
And here they are, magic aquatic men of an age long past.
Lemurians look like any other people, gold or brown-skinned, but with shiny blue-green flecks on the neck, shoulders and arms, visible gills on the neck, and an inability to grow body or facial hair. Oh, and they have a wider range of hair colors, including white and natural purple, and often with blue or green highlights. They usually wear their hair long, and while Lemurian fashion is a complex and ever-shifting thing, partial or full nudity is not uncommon. Lemurians are not naturally MDC but having been the recipients of many genetic tweaks tend to be just a little better than baseline humans in all their stats, though exceptional humans can still beat out average Lemurians. They age very gracefully, generally living three hundred years, sometimes four hundred so there are many living Lemurians who recall the old days. They tend to look 20-30 until sometime around their second century, and have to really work at it to get fat.
Lemurians can breathe underwater, naturally, and dive down to a mile unharmed. They can make ultrasonic dolphin noises, and have their own language inaudible to most humans and can learn to cast Whale-Songs, not just the rituals. Pretty good nightvision, can generally recognize people and obstacles a hundred feet out. Half damage from cold and heal twice as fast as other humans, double it again on ley lines, and swim twice as fast too. All Lemurians are at least minor psychics with Empathy, Telepathy, Mind Block and two more physical or sensitive powers. 30% are major psychics with seven powers, and 10% are master psychics.
Lemurians can sense living things within a 30-100 ft. radius depending on level, meditating for a few seconds can let them filter out specific types of life, and undead, demons and other supernatural nasties register to this sense as anomalous abominations. They also have a great sense of empathy with animals, most non-predatory species will get along fine with Lemurians, plus a sort of familiar bond with an animal companion. With their sense of life and their empathy for animals, Lemurians can't stand to see animals suffer, and take a very dim view to people who exploit nature.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
So, floating cities. A Lemurian city has 17 pyramids, each linked in a small artificial network of semi-ley lines that carry magic energy but don't generate it. A big central one holds all government and the command center in which mages control the city's speed and direction, as well as power distribution. Then a ring of eight at the cardinal and ordinal directions (nominally, the cities do rotate some) about 4-8 miles out depending on the size of the city mostly serve as hospitals and research facilities. Another 4-8 miles and we get an outer ring of more militant pyramids at the outer border, crossing over the air-skin and serving as the city gates. Oh yeah, each city is covered in a living creature called a Bio-Skin that keeps the water out, the air fresh, and provides a barrier against intruders. 200 MD to poke a hole large enough for a person to fit through, regenerates 10-40 MDC an hour, double that on ley lines.
There's usually a company (a hundred) of Lemurian warriors in each of the outer pyramids, a platoon in the inner ring and two companies in the central one. Friendlies can easily teleport from one pyramid to another, so hundreds of reinforcements can arrive within a minute of getting an SOS. Meanwhile, anyone trying to teleport or rift into a Lemurian city is redirected to a very secure chamber surrounded by guards. Each pyramid can, once a minute, fire a magic lightning bolt (100-400 MD normal, 100-600 MD if the city is on a ley line). The real defense is the pyramids' ability to control the weather, and to provide ungodly amounts of PPE to the many casters (20-30% of the population) to use for the civic defense.
The city can float on or below the water at up to 70 mph/112 kph, and fly at 320 mph/512 kph, to an altitude of 22,000 feet, half again as fast over a ley line. Can also hover. If on a ley line nexus, the city can be teleported anywhere along any of the lines, or to any nexus point on Earth, though it costs a lot of PPE. The city has vast reserves, which can be recharged with just a day spent on a ley line, the city typically rotates to bring as many of the pyramids as possible into line with the ley line. Without a ley line, the city can maintain movement and all it's magitech for 2-5 months depending on charge, normally they don't like to let it drop below 60%.
Mu, the largest city, has a population of roughly 375,000. The cities have a relatively low population density, full of gardens and parks and very few straight lines outside of pyramid placement. Aside from pyramid transit, there are canals and pressurized water tubes for getting around, with air-skin transit cars moving through regularly.
Lemurians have a caste system, the leadership caste Ali'i get that way through literally generations of heroic feats of arms, or humanitarian service, or earthshaking discoveries. The King is selected from this caste, by tradition one reigns for 20-30 years or so then chooses an Ali'i as his or her successor and retires to pursue other interests. The present king of all Lemurians is named Tangaroa and has a reputation for tactical and strategic brilliance, as well as kindness towards his subjects. The Kahuna are scholars, casters and otherwise well-educated professionals. The Maka'ainana are workers, and also warriors, apparently a measure meant to keep soldiers humble. Kauwa are friendly outsiders uninterested in joining up, apparently you can do that and achieve any position in Lemurian society by your merits, save that of king. While the Maui-Kau are criminals, traitors and outcasts. The Mauian Order is a splinter faction that blames the Atlanteans for everything going horribly wrong, more on them in a bit.
Like I said, 20-30% of any Lemurian community are spellcasters. However, the Lemurians frown on dimensional magic after Pan Dora, magic that involves treating with other powers in particular, and dark magic most of all. Even Priests and Warlocks are viewed disfavorably, though Air and Water Warlocks, and Priests of benevolent sea gods somewhat less so.
Lemurian diet is heavy on the greens and the seafood. Because of their particular magic, biomancy, they can encourage and alter the growth of all sorts of all life, and so grow bumper crops in hydroponics caves and greenhouses, they're particularly fond of kelp, seaweed and kale. Another facet of this is their ability to grow roe, caviar and fish cuts/fillets from cell cultures. All eggs produced in this way are nonviable, fish are never grown past the individual muscle stage. If pushed, Lemurians can and will hunt or fish for food, they just prefer cruelty free when they can. If they hunt, they'll use up as much of the beast as possible, and select their victim for minimal disruption to the ecosystem.
Lemurians also have a few satellite underwater farming villages, in carefully hidden and remote locations, shielded by illusions and with a planned series of distractions for any intruder before they say screw it and attack. Also a vast network of evacuation tunnels in each. Terrestrial crops are handled a bit differently, they find or sometimes make tiny remote islands, seed them and then go away, They'll check in every few months, scouting ahead with warriors first, and eventually collecting the harvest. If the islands are found or settled they may abandon them, or just harvest by night.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Biomancy is the ability to manipulate lifeforce and DNA through magic. It is unique to the Lemurians and the Jungle Elves of Maga Island, South America. In general, Biomancy can be thought of as the ability to sense, strengthen, enhance, animate, heal, shape and imitate other plant and animal life. Biomancers must be very in tune with nature, so much so as to find cities highly distasteful, and even the life-filled cities of the Lemurians uncomfortable. Biomancers have been called the ultimate survivors and universal symbiotes, because of their ability to adapt all other life to their needs without harming it.
The life-energies of Biomancy are incompatible with the dark energies of Necromancy, in a mutual-destruction sort of manner. So Necromancers can easily slay the living allies of Biomancers, while Biomancers are hell on wheels as far as the undead are concerned.
There are three political factions within Biomancy, and this is true for the Elves and the Lemurians. Acceptors accept the "crimes against nature" others do as a part of life and evolution, and are friends to civilization while remaining a few steps outside it. Patient Ones absolutely reject things like hunting, deforestation, pollution etc. but do not seek to harm others, only remove themselves from civilization and seek to repair or lessen the damage. Defenders are pretty much crazed eco-warriors.
All Biomancers have a life sense with 4x the range of base Lemurian, and equivalent range for sensing undead and supernatural evil, the ability to share simple feelings and images with plants and animals, a healing touch (1-4 HP/MDC per level) and the ability to create and maintain Yuuzhan Vong-like bio-tech. They can persuade any plant to give up a "gift" of an edible gourd, or if smllaer than a small bush, melt a plant into an edible paste. Animals do not harm biomancers without a good reason, bees do not sting, mosquitoes don't bite etc.
Biomancy
I. Algae Bloom- hide a 50 ft./level area (double on ley lines, 4x on nexus) of ocean surface in a cloud of algae
Bio-Scan- detect vitals, injuries, foreign materials, cybernetics, bacteria, virii, poison, drugs, cancer, parasites etc. Lemurian Gene-Mages can use to scan DNA too.
Bio-Scan: Plants- the above but for plants, and vitals means respiration, photosynthesis, CO2 consumption, access to light, water and nutrients.
Commune With Nature- sense unbalance in the ecosystem, pollution, fires, drought, volcanos and similar disturbances. 1 mile/level.
Heal Plants- guess.
Ink Cloud*- cover a 50 ft./level cube with concealing ink.
Insect Signals- can understand the communications and moods of insects.
Shape Plants- can bend a small plant or tree limb and have it hold the shape. With a dozen castings can shape even a tree.
Weather Sense- can know all things about the present weather and a perfect 24-hour forecast, assuming no one with weather control or ley line storm messes things up.
Whale Speak*- ability to understand whales and dolphins, and duplicate their noises.
II. Amphibious*- give sea creatures the ability to breathe air and crawl on land, and terrestrial animals/people webbed digits and the ability to breathe underwater and dive to a mile. 20 minutes/level.
Minor Animate Plants- give motion to plants up to "average tree" size. Cannot attack or restrain others, can make a lot of noise. 15 seconds/level.
Simple Animal Weaponry- caster grows claws and fangs. 3-18 SD.
Bait Ball*- cause plankton or small fish to swarm in a tight ball for 2 min/level that can be moved and used as bait.
Bioluminescence*- caster glows in the dark, and can make other people/objects/ships glow too.
Bio-Electric Touch*- touch attack does 1-6 MD.
Filter Feeder*- caster can absorb plankton into his skin for food,one casting and 9-14 minutes of swimming around provides a day's nutrition.
Harvest- fruit, nut and vegetable bearing plants instantly sprout 1-4 examples of their food, or a nutritious gourd. Animals give up their venom, quills, horns or other valuable parts and instantly regrow them. Other plants or plant-parts melt into a nutritious soup or paste. Feeds one or two people per level, depending on PPE commitment.
Insect Chemical Trail- can scent the trails left by certain insects, and leave one of your own to let other Biomancers follow you.
Insect Leap- Jump 50 ft. (+10/level) long and 10 ft. (plus 6/level) high.
Plankton Bloom*- exponentially multiply plankton in the water for yet another concealment effect. 90 ft./level radius.
Plant Virtual Sight- magically see through a plants eyes, or as you would if a plant had eyes. Can plant "eye" anywhere on plant, even in the top of the tallest tree.
Weave Plants- cause bark, leaves, vines etc to come apart into fibers and come together into simple shapes: sheets, ropes, thread, sacks. Clothes if you have any skill at making them. Otherwise your skills are kind of set at cloak.
III. Accelerate Plant Growth- instant year's worth of growth, including a year's fruit/veggie yield. Can grow seeds to mature trees in two castings, adult trees get 4-24% bigger.
Poison Animal Weaponry- grow claws and fangs with your choice of venom; paralyzing, fever-inducing, lethal or MD lethal (2-12 MD).
Chitin- caster grows an armored exoskeleton 40 MDC +5 MDC/level.
Coral Growth- encourage coral to grow 100x faster by speeding their life-cycle.
Electrolocation*- sense living things by their bioelectric current, live wires too, 100 ft./level.
Fish Skin- fish rapidly shed and regrow scales, scales come together into armored cloth 10 MDC plus 5 MDC/level. Also available in SDC for reduced cost.
Insect Climb- spider-mancer, spider-mancer, does whatever a spider can....
Life-Link- form a bond with a specific person/animal/plant, you shall each know roughly where the other is, what they're feeling and if they're hurt as long as you stick within 3,000 miles of each other.
Nutrient Bath*- form a large bubble of water with cleaning, soothing and very mild healing properties.
Repel Sharks*- create a 10 ft./level radius of space hostile to sharks and rays, painful and injurious for them to enter.
Seaweed Net- seaweed forms a regenerating net, big enough to snare four people. 18 MD or Dispel Magic Barrier will destroy the net.
Shrink Plant- plant loses 10-90% of it's mass, caster's choice in gradients of 10%. Doesn't stack, can be made permanent for a high energy cost. One minute/level otherwise.
Tracking Barnacle- summon a barnacle that acts as a magic tracking device. One hour per level.
Weaponize Sea Anemone- pluck a sea anemone from it's perch and relocate it, say a door, or your armor. Will live as normal, even outside the wet and merrily sting whoever touches it.
IV. Major Animal Weaponry- caster grows MD claws and fangs, horns or antlers optional. 2-12 MD.
Forest Camouflage- become invisible in tall grass or shrub, moving doesn't disrupt, immune to most counters for invisibility, particularly see invisible. But step into the clear and you're made. 2 min/level.
Insect Silent Walking- make no more noise than an ant, as long as you stick to half your normal speed. 5 min/level.
Re-hydrate- restore normal water levels to one tree or person, or 3-8 small furry friends.
Safe Fire- magical campfire is great for heat and cooking, will not spread under any circumstances, leaves no embers or ash.
Scent Cloak- hides your scent. Can even hide a blood trail from a shark.
Seaweed Floating Platform*- create a seaweed raft 6 ft./level across. Won't lift you out of the water but will keep you from sinking.
Strengthen Plant- gives plants MDC. Blades of grass become tiny knives (1 MDC) small bushes get 4-24 MDC, trees get anywhere from 10-700 MDC (four size categories plus roll).
Weaponize Eel- bond an electric or moray eel to your skin or armor, in a fight it will snap at any opponent in reach.
V. Amplify Scent- boost a scent to make people easy to track. Or for juvenile pranks.
Animal Phantom- create an illusion of an animal common to the area that acts normally. Good for a distraction, Jungle Elves love this spell for making hunters chase ghosts all day.
Major Animate Plants- animated plants can now entangle or fight for you. With enough juice, you can make them MD/MDC.
Birth Giver- gain temporary skills of expert midwife. Painless births in half the time, drastically reduce risk of serious complications. Works on all species that give live birth.
Insect Brother- insects and arachnids see you as one of their own, will not harm unless provoked. Xiticix and other sapient species will be tricked at a distance, but realize the ruse the moment they get a visual.
Metamorphosis Plant- turn into a plant. Unlike other Metamorphosis spells, lose spellcasting, speech and physical abilities. Can still see and hear, and turn back. Good for hiding.
Revitalize Plant Life- heal all plants within 50 ft./level radius.
Seaweed Bloom- multiply seaweed to create area of low visibility and much entanglement, slowing things to a crawl. 60 ft./level radius.
Seaweed Lift*- creates a raft of seaweed that can actually lift up to 10 feet out of the water, on a tendril of seaweed.
VI. Barnacle Armor- form armor of barnacles 24 MD +8/level, regen as magic is pumped in, can fire shotgun blasts of barnacles 2-12 MD. Persists.
Bio-Blast- a bolt of life energy, mild damage and disorientation to living things, 1-6 MD to inanimate objects, 2-12 MD to undead.
Coral Whispering- speak to coral, learn it's general health, if anyone interesting passed by recently, stuff like that.
Immune System Push- hard reset and bolstering of immune system. Cure for HIV/AIDS. lupus, can get immune system to attack cancer cells.
Nutrient Feed- give all or selected plants within a radius a day's worth of nutrients in a minute. Can act a bit like a watered-down mass Accelerate Growth.
Seaweed Path*- part seaweed to make a path or tunnel, 120 ft. long and 15 ft./level across, double width on ley line, double with PPE commitment for ships.
Tree Teleport- turn to bio-energy and arc over to a tree. Like normal teleport but 200 ft./level range and needs a tree as the destination point. No passengers, but up to 150 lbs. of gear.
Tree Whispering- talk to trees, make sure they're okay, ask about any weird activity in the area.
VII. Superior Animate Plants- the biomancer actually possesses a plant, can speak through it and uproot to walk around.
Restore Bio-Armor- repair 10-60 MD on Lemurian living power armor, recharge one weapon.
Seaweed Bridge- form a bridge out of seaweed, under on or above the water, strong enough to accommodate 30 tons, gives like a rope bridge.
Suspended Animation: Bio-Armor- normally Bio-armor needs to be worn one day a week or it loses it's bond to the pilot and dies. This spell preserves the armor for 1 month/level.
Tree Phasing- turn trees and all plant life intangible along a 100 ft./level long and 15 ft./level wide path. The biomancer must stay with the first plant as others cross and go last.
Tree Warrior- animate a tree as a badass Ent, 200 MDC regen 8-48 MDC a minute,half damage from fire and plasma, strong enough to casually flip over a truck. Can spam bio-blasts 3-18 MD, double for undead. Will settle and return to being a tree when the spell ends.
Undo Undead- cover undead in life energy. 10-60 MD +2 MD/level only to undead. Pretty much save-or-die for all but the very toughest.
VIII. Coral Menace- animate a coral golem twice the size of a man. Same as Tree Warrior but 300 MDC (same regen and bio-blasts) and half again as strong.
Remove Parasites- coax parasites out. Doesn't work on symbiotes, doesn't heal damage already done by parasites.
Suspended Animation- Biomancer can hibernate for 5 years/level, aging one year for every five. Needs a telepath or magic tree to be roused.
Touch of Life- revive the dead with infusion of life energy, must be done within 24 hours of death, death still causes lasting trauma.
IX. Bio-Energy Weapon- turn a wood, bone or coral weapon MD. 1-6 MD/level, +10 against supernatural evil, double for undead. Weapon can be used as a healing focus, 2-12 hp/SDC or 1-6 MDC per touch.
Creature of the Forest- biomancer turns into a lemur-like critter. Very agile, great for climbing and swinging through the trees, good for blending in. Other animals accept the Creature.
Heal the Earth- remove poison, pollution, radiation and restore nutrients to the soil for a 100 ft./level radius.
Reconfigure Bio-Armor- adapt dying armor to a new pilot, or restore link with a negligent one.
X. Bio-Field- biomancer strengthens their own life-force temporarily, MDC transformation with 24-144 MD regenerated a minute. Immune to disease and poison. Also causes plants to grow and flowers to bloom all around as he passes.
Creature of the Sea- biomancer turns into a tiny whale, thrice his normal size. MDC transformation, regen 8-48 MDC a minute, supernatural strength, Fast swimming and dive down to 8 miles. Other animals accept the Creature.
Reverse Undead- free vampiric thralls, 75% chance of restoring a vamp who has never fed before to life, turn skeletons and zombies back into inanimate remains.
Woodland Entity- biomancer turns into an Ent. 300 MDC, regen 12-72 MDC a minute, no bio-blasts but 6-36 MD with a claw attack, full damage to vamps and weres, double to SIs.
XI. Nutrient Push: Soil- infuse soil for 500 ft./level radius with nutrients and life energy. All crops will go from seed to harvest in 1-6 minutes. Tree seeds become saplings, saplings become mature, adults grow 25% bigger. For 2-12 years thereafter, the soil will be super-fertile and any plants grown will be 50% bigger and yield 50% more food.
Remove Symbiote- removes symbiotes, such as those used by the Splugorth or common in Wormwood.
XII. Forest Walk- all plants in a 40 ft./level radius uproot and march towards a specified destination where they resettle. How Lemurians clear farmland.
Mimic Plant or Animal- DNA copying turns the biomancer into a specific plant or animal. All physical abilities, no monsters or magic.
Reconstruction- super-heal, full return to factory standard, exactly what your DNA says. Goodbye cybernetics, addition, and all manner of implants and scars.
*Is also an Ocean Magic spell of the same level. Dammit!
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Sorry for the OCD derail, but this is going to drive me crazy until I fix it. Since Ocean Wizards are common among Lemurians it even sort of still works.
the Definitive Ocean Magic
Note: Anyone who take Ocean Magic can learn from a small stack of standard spells too. Breathe without air, obviously, and a bunch of utility spells. Most illusion, stealth and invisibility spells, also see invisible, magic net, globe of daylight, tongues, close rift, calm storms, summon and control storms, summon fog, summon ley line storms, animate/control and turn dead, banishment, heal wounds, negate poison, impervious to poison, and sickness.
I. Capture Moisture- condense atmospheric water vapor into a gallon per level per minute of potable drinking water. Spell can be maintained for one minute per level.
Float on Water- magical life jacket, people bob up to the surface and can swim twice as long without tiring, provided they aren't trying to dive.
Ink Cloud- cover a 50 ft./level cube with concealing ink.
Sense Direction Underwater- magically know up/down, compass direction, depth and the speed and direction of the ocean currents.
Water Pulse- burst of simulated current does a bit of SD, but more importantly will knock a man-sized target back 10-40 yards. Can be targeted precisely enough to disarm someone, can also kick up a great sandcloud or clear an area of sand.
Whale Speak- ability to understand whales and dolphins, and duplicate their noises.
II. Amphibious- give sea creatures the ability to breathe air and crawl on land, and terrestrial animals/people webbed digits and the ability to breathe underwater and dive to a mile. 20 minutes/level.
Bait Ball- cause plankton or small fish to swarm in a tight ball for 2 min/level that can be moved and used as bait.
Bioluminescence- caster glows in the dark, and can make other people/objects/ships glow too.
Bio-Electric Touch- touch attack does 1-6 MD.
Black Water- turn the water for hundreds of feet black and spooky. Anyone who enters will be blinded and struck with a magical disorientation effect.
Depth Tolerance- lets you or one subject dive down to one mile or 150% your normal depth limits, whichever is greater.
Filter Feeder- caster can absorb plankton into his skin for food, one casting and 9-14 minutes of swimming around provides a day's nutrition.
Float Underwater- same idea as the First level version, except instead of bobbing all the way to the surface it won't let you drop below a thousand feet.
Plankton Bloom- exponentially multiply plankton in the water to hide behind a cloud of murky water. 90 ft./level radius.
III. Buoyancy Blast- short ranged spell that makes things and people float up, whether they want it or not. Limit is 200 lbs. plus ten per level. Can be used to deflect torpedoes if you're fast, lucky and have good aim.
Breathe Air- allows your fishy friends to run air through their gills and breathe it just like water.
Electrolocation- sense living things by their bioelectric current, live wires too, 100 ft./level.
Flying Fish- lets you and two friends leap from the water 20 ft. into the air and glide for 100 ft. per level at 40 mph/64 kph. On landing, you can leap again in 15-60 seconds. In this way you can make great time at swimming.
Nutrient Bath- form a large bubble of water with cleaning, soothing and very mild healing properties.
Repel Sharks- create a 10 ft./level radius of space hostile to sharks and rays, painful and injurious for them to enter.
IV. Impervious to Cold- self-explanatory.
Seaweed Floating Platform- create a seaweed raft 6 ft./level across. Won't lift you out of the water but will keep you from sinking.
Sonar Hearing- gain echolocation for 2 minutes per level.
Speak Underwater- Lets you speak and be heard underwater as you would be on the surface.
Water Envelope- encase aquatic animals in a 20 MDC bubble of seawater that lets them navigate the surface world. Dolphins and the like get outside air filtered in. Cannot be used on terrestrial beings.
Weed Snare- animate seaweed to try and grapple, restrain or otherwise greatly inconvenience others.
V. Communicate with Sea Creatures- talk to animals, just not invertebrates or sapients.
Draw Water- make water rise into the air and pour itself over a target. Can be used for shower, laundry, putting out fires, or murderizing vampires. Skilled users can hide their identities behind a cloak of water.
Light up the Deep- conjure a light bright enough to see 50 ft./level. Startle and blind creatures used to the dark of the deep, underwater undead cannot enter the lit radius.
Ride the Waves- create a wave, speed and direction under your control, 40 mph/64 kph max, and surf it with or without a surfboard. Can carry a small boat with no motor, but at half speed.
Seaweed Lift- creates a raft of seaweed that can float above the water and actually lift up to 10 feet out of the water, on a tendril of seaweed.
Water Nourishment- turn 8 oz. of water (fresh or salt) into a delicious nectar that provides a full day's nutrition for one person.
Waterspout- create a waterspout hundreds of feet in the air. Can get carried up for the view, signal others, can maybe capsize a boat if you aim it carefully.
Water Rush- more serious current, knocks others back 30 ft. per level.
Water Seal- make a bag/box airtight and water resistant.
VI. Air Swim- Lets you swim through the air as you would the water. Altitude limit is 10 ft. per level.
Armor of Neptune- Personal forcefield with 15 MDC/level, impervious to cold, with unlimited fresh air and depth tolerance.
Change Current- change the direction of an ocean current, thousand foot radius per level.
Healing Waters- create a softly glowing patch of healing water (1-6 SD/MD per minute) a yard per level in diameter.
Manipulate Thermoclines- a thermocline is a sort of broad band of water at similar depth with similar temperature. Because of the different temperature and motion of the water, it's hard for sonar to spot things in a different thermocline and with limited current exchange scents don't carry over super-well. This spell lets you move a great deal of water a few miles up or down to create a hiding place a couple miles across. It's not perfect though, and nothing stops the enemy from entering the altered space and thus finding you.
Mystic Seahorse- Summon a minor water elemental that takes the shape of a giant seahorse. They're not very bright but reasonably quick (40 mph/64 kph) and well behaved mounts. They also work underwater, to a great depth, unlike most spells of nautical quick travel.
Seaweed Path- part seaweed to make a path or tunnel, 120 ft. long and 15 ft./level across, double width on ley line, double with PPE commitment for ships.
Senses of the Shark- gain the most impressive senses of a shark. But animalistic urges carry a penalty to all skill checks, and there's a chance the smell of blood will drive you berserk.
VII. Abilities of the Snail- grow antennae and gain a snail's ability to cling and climb, super-scent, motion detection, double strength and greater depth tolerance. A thousand feet. It's more useful than it sounds, you can even latch onto the underside of a boat under power.
Coral Armor- conjure coral armor with 15 MDC/level. Takes a third normal damage from cold, water or lightning attacks, and spiky bits do SD if anyone tries to grab or grapple. Won't you help you breathe underwater or survive at depth.
Impervious to Electricity- exactly what it says.
Sound Sponge- create a large bubble that absorbs sound. No return whatsoever from sonar or echolocation.
Strength of the Whale- double strength and upgrade to supernatural. Double endurance, double depth tolerance, double SDC or increase MDC by 50%, and can now jump 20 ft. out of the water.
Transmute Water- purify 10 gallons/level of seawater, or turn the same amount of freshwater into saltwater.
Water Shield- invisible forcefield prevents people or objects from getting wet. Can also be used for instant drying off.
Water Wall- raise a wall of water from the surface, 5 feet high and 10/level long. It doesn't have an MDC exactly, but reforms instantly when parted. Projectiles and most energy weapon and spells are stopped cold. Missiles get deflected, lasers diffracted. A boat or a person ramming the wall takes 10-60 MD, and loses half their speed. One minute per level, half duration and damage when cast underwater, where it's also easier to just go around.
VIII. Grow Tentacles- Grow 2-6 tentacles out your sides. As long as your arm with 60 MDC. Handy in a fight or for multitasking. Better at freaking out your friends.
Summon Sea Friend- summon and form a telepathic link with a random friendly sea creature to help you out of a jam. Includes dolphins, orca, sea otters, sea turtles, mantas and seals. May or may not obey a dangerous command.
Travel Above Water- Lets you hover a foot over the water. You can walk or run as normal or just lay back and let the waves take you wherever. As long as nothing yanks you underwater, your clothes and possessions will remain perfectly dry.
Walk like a Human(oid)- sea creatures grow temporary legs.
IX. Current Curtain- Creates a 20 ft./level area either unaffected by current and wave, or alternatively so violently turbulent it's almost impossible to swim out of, you need high supernatural strength to manage, and anything held will be lost. Plus a hefty stack of combat and skill debuffs for being disoriented and unable to move in the direction of your choosing. Torpedoes lose a third their speed and are deflected 10-40% in a random direction. Ships and subs lose all commo and sonar and 2-12% of their speed.
Metamorphosis: Fish- You turn into a fish. You retain speech, spellcasting, your physical strength and SDC/MDC, gain underwater breathing, depth tolerance and hopefully a faster swimming speed, plus a disguise. Available forms include only Class Ostericthyes. Watch out for nets.
Whirlpool- creates a whirlpool. Serious MD (10-60 MD to people, 20-120 for robots or small boats, 200-1200 for big vessels) plus a 90% chance of sinking any surface craft, 50-50 for subs. Dispel Magical Barriers will instantly dispel, but not a ton of casters know that.
X. Impervious to Ocean Depths- makes you immune to the crushing pressure of any amount of water, you can enjoy tea in the abyssal depths. Never ever let this spell run out.
XI. Calm Waters- stop tidal waves, whirlpools, waterspouts, and calm waves from storms or underwater earthquakes/volcanoes. Pacify angry water elementals and slow currents.
Metamorphosis: Crustacean- turn into a crab, lobster or shrimp. Gain their abilities, plus 15 MDC/level and the strength to lift three tons if you pick a giant monstrous crab. Retain speech, spellcasting and other non-physical abilities, plus your own physical strength and SDC/MDC.
XII. Metamorphosis: Shark- turn into a shark.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Biomancy has many fruits and also vegetables for the Lemurian people.
Most prominently is the Tree of Knowledge. Looks like a big oak, a bit wide and not quite as tall, with glowing egg-shaped blue-green orbs in place of leaves and some dangling vines. The trees are sentient and telepathic archives, recording and sharing memories of important events and skill knowledge over the course of a nearly immortal lifetime. Each will, however, know only one school of magic though they'll know and be able to cast every spell from it, a quarter each know Biomancy, Ocean Magic and the standard spell list, the remaining 25% mostly Whale Song and Stone Magic. 300-1800 MDC, immune to normal fire and cold, half damage from the MD and magic versions, regen 10-60 MDC a minute. As a last-ditch defensive effort, the tree can invest it's consciousness in a single orb and launch it up to a mile away to seek help and eventually root and regrow. They grow in nature on ley lines and nexus points, on the land or the ocean floor, generally speaking every Lemurian city has at least a dozen.
Crystal Trees are also sentient, made of living crystal, a Stone Mage/Biomancer collaboration that was supposed to provide easy gems and PPE batteries. Instead, they have sweet anti-vamp trees that can cast all light spells, plus life blast, shatter, cloak of darkness and throwing stones. Wands or staves made from the crystal limbs serve as PPE batteries, do MD against vampires and demons, and let the wielder cast these spells, while the crystal fruit make decent amulets and the leaves arrowheads that suppress the shapeshifting abilities of vamps.
Blue Death Trees were a... confused project. I blame whoever tried to combine so many objectives, they wanted a defense, a scavenger to eat garbage and a PPE-food producer. What they got was a carnivorous plant that uses a tasty and magic-boosting fruit as a lure before yanking its victims into it's mouth and digesting them. Discontinued, but some got into the wild and some Maui types cultivate them.
Wizard Wrap is a kind of kelp, if made into a sleeping bag or bedclothes, it doubles the PPE/ISP regen of a caster or psychic who sleeps in it. Any kind of hat or headgear provides a tiny bonus to all skills.
Dark Seed Kelp is black with tiny glowing purple nodules, adapted to absorb light and energy. Can be shaped by Biomancy into MD spears, and if you stick one of the nodes on a string and wear it around your neck it will eat the first spell cast at you, then take two days to recover.
Tangleweed grabs anything, and can be easily shaped by biomancy into nets and ropes with the same qualities.
Sungrass Seaweed naturally produces antiseptic chemicals and if used as bandages will double the rate of healing.
Mana Limu is a magic algae, easily made into a highly nutritious paste, a healing potion, a salve, or a potion that lets people hold their breath for 8-14 minutes. Eaten daily, it will boost one's PPE (mana) reserves by 10% at least until you go a month without.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Lemurians have a mystic martial art called Kapu Kuialua, or Demon Fighting. At base, it lets one deal MD blows to supernatural MDC beings, as well as successfully parry/block the same. At each level they gain more moves, and further resistance to supernatural powers, possession, petrifaction, that sort of thing. By max level they get a personal MDC forcefield (4-7 MDC per level) immunity to demon and dragon fire, no need to breathe, the ability to grapple even demons on fire, and triple MD against undead, double against lesser demons, and the ability to strike/grapple incorporeal spirits.
Kapu Kuialua is an incredibly demanding art requiring years of training and a high magic potential. Unlike most such, it is available to casters, bar biomancers, just halve their PPE and starting spells to reflect the incredible commitment of time and energy this requires. The art was invented by the Mauian Order, but has spread to mainstream Lemurian society, and a significant percentage of their warriors learn it.
Lemurian weapons are usually made from living materials and charged with life-energy by biomancers which has a handful of effects; It makes them MD and MDC, it gives them a unique power based on material, if a supernatural baddie has a particular weakness the Lemurian weapon counts as it, some but not all can fire 5 shots of MD bio-energy and recharge in a few hours or a moment on a ley line. Lemurian tridents, spears and polearms can generally fold/retract to half or a third their normal size for easy carrying and storage.
Barracuda weapons are silvery and serrated, made by extracting some kind of 'essence' from the named fish, and usually have a hidden utility. The knives have water filters to purify saltwater in their handle, the spears have a hook on the non-blade side, the sword is also a prybar with a can-opener in the pommel, and the trident makes a good surveying tool when planted in the ground. Bone/tooth/shell weapons return when thrown, so are often spears, arrows, or tomahawks, a shark tooth sword deals double damage to sea serpents. Coral weapons all have the energy blast ability. Serpent weapons are made through the same essence extracting process and effectively do double damage by stacking some kind of fire/electric charge on top of its MD, exclusive to the Serpent Hunter class. Wood can toggle between SD and MD.
Other melee options include a giant crab-claw gauntlet, 3-18 MD for stabbing, 5-30 MD for closing the pincer on something. A net with 30-120 MDC and regen that returns if it misses, and a sword with three tentacles, one on the handle secures the blade to the wielder, the other two try to grasp, push away or entangle an opponent's weapon.
Coming from the Bronze Age to the present, it's taken a while for the Lemurians to adapt to modern weapons and tactics. Aside from a couple of ancient oddities, they didn't really have a lot of ranged firepower until around sixty years ago, well after returning to Earth. What they did have consisted of the Bio-Energy bow, which lacked a string but if you went through the motions would shoot 3-18 MD bio-energy blasts, 40 rounds before needing a recharge, and a sonic staff that damaged and disoriented anyone but the wielder for a 50 ft. circle.
Clamshell pistols look like small scallop shells, but a hand grip folds down and the clam makes and holds 15 pearls it can launch magically at railgun velocities 2-8 MD. Ink Gun fires a charge of ink that later bursts, obscuring an area. Messing with sea urchins and jellyfish through biomancy yields a pair of maces that double as 6 shot spear guns, 1-4 MD for the urchin, the jellyfish does 2-8 SD, or one MD, plus a nonlethal poison. A waterjet gun drinks water up and sprays it with enough force to knock people back or cause minor injuries.
Stone Mages have gotten into the game too. The standard issue for most Lemurian warriors are stonecaster rifles/pistols which generate small rocks that can transition between three types of ammo; sedimentary frag rounds (2-12 MD, 10 ft. splash), armor-piercing (5-30 MD) metamorphic rocks, and igneous stones that cling to the target and turn to magma (3-18 MD on impact, hits twice more for 1-6 MD each.) Twelve rounds for the pistol, twenty for the rifle. Four hours or a magic charge will refill, but you can also just drop any old rock of roughly the correct size in. There's also a lava projector, a staff or rod that sprays lava, 2-12 MD for a wide area blast, 4-24 MD if focused on a specific individual, twelve shots.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
There are so many Lemurian symbiotes, ordinary creatures modded by Biomancy to serve as bio-tech that just listing them can get a bit daunting.
For starters, clams, mussels and snails can be tweaked to hold a single-use spell that can be activated by any Lemurian, up to 7th level. Ocean Magic, standard, or Biomancy. That gives even non-mages easy access to healing, protection, magic stealth or enhanced vision, as well as increased mobility.
The Sea-Eye is amphibious with great nightvision, UV and IR, and the tremendous long-range sight. It can bond physically with a human or Lemurian and share all it sees.
The Sea Doctor is sort of like a Sea Cucumber with a mouth rimmed with tiny tentacles on one end. It eats most poisons, dead or infected tissue and filter most toxins, bacteria, virii, and nematocytes while hiding the scent of blood. It injects the subject with a strengthening agent, on a ley line can heal 1-4 SDC/MDC and is a psychic with most healing powers, plus mask prionics and alter aura which are always on. When not in use, rolls into a grapefruit-sized orb and hibernates, can survive up to eight weeks outside the sea like this.
Breathers are big jellyfish lacking nematocytes (stinging cells) that can be worn like helmets and filter air to the wearer.
The Lemurians also have a variety of giant seahorses and rays used for mounts (and some of their greatest warriors ride sea serpents and aquatic dragons) and they have living saddles that fit themselves to the mount and fold into a tiny patch when not in use. Plus bio-skin barding armor, usually good for a 50% increase in MDC.
Personal bio-skin armor is also available. Outsiders get gill suits with 24-34 MDC, regen 1-4 an hour and provide underwater breathing and a depth tolerance of two miles, a Terrain Suit is basically the same thing for letting aquatics get around on the surface. Specialized dive suits can go down three miles, get 35-45 MDC and regen 1-6 per hour. Dedicated Protective suits get 47-62 MD, regen 2-8 MDC an hour, 3 mile depth, cold tolerance of -70 F, heat up to 300 F and two hours rad shielding.
They also have an octopus that glomps your arm, then lets you control it's tentacles for extra multitask.
Squid packs grab hold of the user and jet around in bursts of 45 mph/72 kph. Also have a fin pack that's like a manta ray, that attaches to the back via giant suction cup then swims along at a consistent 30 mph/48 kph for hours between rest breaks.
Another altered octopus/squid, the Bio-lock is used as a form of restraint.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
I know it's been a touch tedious going through the bio-tech without a lot of discussion of military capabilities. Almost there though.
Like I said before, every Lemurian has a bond with a familiar, sometimes two. Most common are ring-tailed lemurs, bred and tweaked for increased intelligence, loyalty and longevity. And a lemur tweaked to be amphibious. Other candidates include;
Blue Otters that are basically low-level Mystics, with intuitive spellcasting and psychic abilities.
Large MDC slugs that can eat anything, originally tweaked to consume pollution and hazardous materials.
And empathic flying seahorses. Alongside a variety of possible pets, mounts etc.
As for more military things, there are essentially four warrior classes for the Lemurians. Birdmen were their warriors in the ancient days, the traditional warrior-poets. Oceanic Guardsmen are a more recent tradition, mimicking the professional armies the Lemurians have encountered since their return. Serpent Slayers are basically Lemurian Paladins, with such a developed wild empathy power they can tame or make deals with, bond and ride sea serpents and aquatic dragons. Finally Sea Sentinels are essentially fighter pilots for the Lemurian's vast fleet of magic airsubs.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
So one site of continuous import to the Lemurians has been Rapa Nui/Easter Island, for a variety of reasons. The island is host to the largest ley line nexus outside of Atlantis, it was settled fairly early in the Lemurian's history, and it was to be the first of many Sanctuary Islands, where a cult of Stone Mages warded the whole island to high heaven so no supernatural evil, no monsters or demons or supernatural intellgiences or dark gods, could approach within 10 miles. Which was good, however the knowledge of how never spread that far before everyone involved was slaughtered by demons to contain it. Which was very bad.
In fact, when most Lemurians left Earth during the Doom of Atlantis, those tht tried to stay behind and live in a post-magic world settled there, but were in time absorbed by other cultures. Today, Easter Island is home to a terrestrial and underwater Lemurian town, home to 50,000 mostly involved in high-end magical research, some of that focused on duplicating the island's protections and the Moai, the stone heads of Easter Island.
Anyways, said giant heads of Easter Island? Lemurian Stone Magic, guardians for anything that managed to game it's way around the protections. They're actually golems with great detection abilities, a variety of ranged energy attacks, and can be piloted like mecha.
The Moai come in three sizes; small 13 ft./4 m. versions with 330 MDC. Large 33 ft./10 m. ones with 900 MDC. Giants 72 ft./22 m. tall with 1700 MDC. The smallest version make up about two thirds, the large ones a third, and there 22 Giant ones, most of them part of the secret underwater reserve of 300+. The Moai are immune to magical attempts to control them, magic fire or lava, and take half damage from magic cold. If on one of their specialized charging platforms or a ley line, the Moai self-repair 10-60 MDC an hour. If destroyed on a line, self-repair may be delayed by two days.
Regardless of size, all Moai can sense supernatural evil at a range of a thousand miles, 5,000 if exceptionally powerful and evil, and will emit a loud groaning alarm that can be heard across the island. When asked they can detail the nature, precise direction, distance and line of travel of the threat. The Moai can run at 40 mph/64 kph, swim at 50 mph/80 kph, no depth limit, and fly at 60 mph/96 kph to a max altitude of 5 miles. Double all speeds if traveling along a ley line.
Moai have two ranged attacks, a fire breath that does SDC to mortals and 4-24 MD to monsters and laser eyes that do variable damage depending on the stone head and the target. Small ones do 3-18 MD normally, 4-24 if pointed at demons or monsters, and 10-60 MD against the big leagues; Demon/Deevil Lords, Intelligences, and Dark Gods. Larger ones get 4-24 MD base, 6-36 against evil, 20-120 MD against the most powerful of supernatural evil. The handful of Giants do 6-36 MD basic, 10-60 against supernatural evil, and 30-180 against major supernatural threats.
Generally, the Moai act as automatons in groups of seven or so and obey simple commands. The command hierarchy goes: King of all Lemuria> the royal clan > Lemurian Stone Mage > Birdman. When a command word is given, the Moai head opens to reveal a small cockpit, fighting with a pilot actually doubles their attacks per round. Moai are the only mecha a wizard can spellcast from the inside of, double range of all spells and add 50% to the damage/effect. The pilot can also see through the magic eyes of the stone heads, able to see perfectly in the dark, spot a single bird on the horizon 6 miles away, and see all things invisible. Aside from generally having command authority, a Birdman can perch on top of a Moai and fuse with it, controlling it mentally while shielded by it's armor and able to dive down to incredible depths. The visual effect is like the top of the Moai turning to lava, encasing the Birdman and hardening into stone.
The Moai used to need special charging platforms, but as supercharged with magic as RIFTS Earth is, any ley line will do. The small ones need eight hours of downtime once a month, the big ones sixteen hours every two weeks, the giants need a full twenty four hours a week to rest.
Birdmen are an elite group of the extended Tangatu Manu clan. That group has always been drawn to seabirds, empathizing with them beyond all other life and thousands of years ago formed their own religion centered around birds and flight. They were also pretty involved in the sanctuary islands project, everyone who made the wards is dead, but they remain.
When a boy (or girl) of the Tangatu Manu wishes to become a Birdman Warrior he undertakes a rite of passage in which he mush climb down a steep cliff, swim across shark-infested waters (should be easy for a Lemurian) and safely and without help recover the egg of a Sooty Tern.
The kid raises the chick even as they undergo years of rigorous combat training. Upon completion, a Biomancer helps them form a permanent familiar bond with the bird. At the same time, they get swarmed by all the other bird familiars of Birdmen which for twenty minutes rub off feathers all over that the Biomancers fuse into a living MDC, flight-capable armor.
257 MDC, regenerates 2-12 MD an hour, double on ley lines. Running speed is 35 mph/56 kph, can jump 10 ft. high and 30 long. Swimming is 30 mph/48 kph down to a depth of two miles. Flight is 100 mph/160 kph, 20,000 ft. flight ceiling. Not really big on integral weaponry, hand claws do 2-12 MD, feet ones 3-18 MD, will usually carry a pair of melee or ranged weapons.
To teach patience, humility and good judgement, after a Birdman finishes training and receives his familiar and armor, his first task is to administer a small village for a year. Settle disputes, help whoever needs it and protect the community from supernatural threats. Only then is he ready to join the groups of Birdmen at Easter Island and the floating cities.
All of this takes an astonishing amount of time to produce a warrior though.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
Sadly, the Moai do not fire ring-shaped fire blasts.
Bio-armor is the pinnacle of Biomancy. It's effectively living Body- or Power Armor, and can be made from a variety of substances.
The Jungle Elves of Maga Island can make simple Wood and Chitin Bio-armor, while the Lemurians have learned a lot more. Due to their nature, most of them are going to be based on aquatic life. They can make Wood and Chitin armors as well, but theirs are more advanced than the Jungle Elf version.
Wood Armor is formed, like all Bio-Armors, through a ritual done in close contact with a living being(or collection thereof) that provides the substance from which the armor is made. Naturally, in this case trees. The Biomancer chants for about ten minutes while the recipient (does not necessarily have to be the biomancer his- or herself) stands or leans with their back to the tree (or one of a group of smaller trees). The tree engulfs the recipient and covers them completely for one to four minutes. Needless to say, this can be disquieting for non-biomancers, and panicking during this stage can ruin the whole thing(this is actually a problem with most Bio-Armors). Once the ritual ends, the recipient is of course left wearing the suit of Bio-Armor. Styling depends on the Biomancer conducting the ritual.
Maga Island Wood armor comes in Light and Superior versions. Light Armor is basically a suit of medium body armor. It's form-fitting, and moves perfect with its wearer without encumbering them. It can also seal itself up with a ten-minute air supply(and can filter gases and toxins beyond that) and deploy thorns and spikes from the knuckles, forearm, shoulder, elbows and knees to defend the wearer. Superior armor does all that, but with nearly twice the protection, and can boost the wearer's strength(to supernatural levels) and reflexes like a suit of powered armor. If the wearer doesn't want to wear the suit, it just rolls off their back, turning into a mound of thorns. When the time comes to wear it again they can just pick it back up, and it will flow back onto their body in ten seconds. Superior Bio-Armor is also compatible with Biomancy spells: Any spell that can add armor or weapons to a person can be cast directly on the armor, and applied to it.
Lemurian Wood Armor has over three times the protection of even Superior Magan armor, with roughly a 30% additonal boost to strength. Run 40mph, swims about as well, but with a maximum depth of four miles. It cannot fly. It regenerates three times as fast, and can even boost its strength and speed by absorbing energy from the sun. Like the Magan armor, it can deploy thorns, and one arm has a magic disk/shuriken launcher that fires flat razorshells up to 2000 (609m, half underwater) feet. It has a payload of 120 shots, which can recharge 10-40 per hour, or the whole payload on a ley line. Razorshells are about as powerful as a laser rifle, and tend to leave bleeding wounds in living targets. Not a good thing in waters where sharks may be nearby. The other arm has three sharp arm spines for close combat. Lemurian Wood Armor takes about as much energy(P.P.E.) to create as Superior Magan armor, but the price for the extra power is a longer ritual (15 minutes). Also, Lemurian armor is bulkier, and as such there is a little encumbrance.
Chitin armor is made from, as you may have guessed, bugs. Yes, getting this armor involves letting yourself get covered in a huge swarm of hundreds to thousands of insects. Without moving. For twenty minutes.
The reward for all of this NOPE? Even the light armor has nearly as much protection as Superior Wood armor. It regenerates twice as well as Wood armor, and can deploy wrist blades about as strong as a vibro-knife. It also has twice the air supply. Superior Chitin Armor has nearly an extra 50% armor protection(Superior to most heavy body armors), Supernatural strength enhancement, and Biomancy compatibility.
Lemurian Chitin armor, again, has over twice the protection of Superior Magan armor, and can deploy insect wings and fly, though not as fast or as high as the Birdman suit(50mph with a 10,000ft ceiling) Swims about as well as the Birdman and Wood armors too. It has the same forearm blades, but bigger, and also adds biting mandibles and a pair of beam guns built into its collar. It's also about as maneuverable as the Magan armor.
Not an armored Jigglypuff
"I salute your genetic superiority, now Get off my planet!!" -- Adam Stiener, 1st Somerset Strikers
Ahriman238 wrote:Regardless of size, all Moai can sense supernatural evil at a range of a thousand miles, 5,000 if exceptionally powerful and evil, and will emit a loud groaning alarm that can be heard across the island. When asked they can detail the nature, precise direction, distance and line of travel of the threat. The Moai can run at 40 mph/64 kph, swim at 50 mph/80 kph, no depth limit, and fly at 60 mph/96 kph to a max altitude of 5 miles. Double all speeds if traveling along a ley line.
Uh... thing is, Easter Island is less than five thousand miles from the supernatural vampire intelligences of Mexico...
[scratches head]
Are they somehow not "exceptionally powerful and evil" enough? Or did the statues just get tired of groaning?
Ahriman238 wrote:Regardless of size, all Moai can sense supernatural evil at a range of a thousand miles, 5,000 if exceptionally powerful and evil, and will emit a loud groaning alarm that can be heard across the island. When asked they can detail the nature, precise direction, distance and line of travel of the threat. The Moai can run at 40 mph/64 kph, swim at 50 mph/80 kph, no depth limit, and fly at 60 mph/96 kph to a max altitude of 5 miles. Double all speeds if traveling along a ley line.
Uh... thing is, Easter Island is less than five thousand miles from the supernatural vampire intelligences of Mexico...
[scratches head]
Are they somehow not "exceptionally powerful and evil" enough? Or did the statues just get tired of groaning?
As it happens, they're specifically listed as a source of evil powerful enough to be detected at that range. I suspect the Lemurians just got tired of the constant alarm and told the big heads to keep it down until and unless they moved in a threatening manner. Pure conjecture on my part.
....
Plan was to do the Oceanic Guardsmen, use them to talk about all the Bio-Armor, but I only actually captured pics for half of them. While I fix it, have another winding update on the Serpent Hunters.
"Any plan which requires the direct intervention of any deity to work can be assumed to be a very poor one."- Newbiespud
