Herakanthia the Jungle Outpost

Map of Thyatian possessions on the Davanian Coast
Scale is 72 miles per hex

The Thyatian hold in Davania is primarily the two towns of Cittinova and Raven Scarp. However, they have also established a number of smaller outposts on and near the coast, including Herakanthia. Founded 50 years ago by the adventuring swordswoman Heraka this has proven to be a useful base camp for exploring the jungle, sitting about 50 miles south of Cittinova but still only an hour’s walk to the coast 

Herakanthia has 240 inhabitants, and is surrounded by a ditch and wooden palisade, with a single guarded gate. It sits on a hilltop and the residents have cleared away trees and bushes so that approaching creatures can be seen easily. There is a path east to the coast that is maintained and at the nearby beach (2 miles along the path) there are 12 large boats - mainly for trade and passengers to Cittinova but also as a potential means of evacuation if the whole outpost is in mortal danger. The sea along the coast is also the main trade route to Cittinova and Raven Scarp - the jungle is too dense, rugged and dangerous for overland routes. 

There is a standing garrison of 50 soldiers, some local to Davania others drafted from the Thyatian homeland. They are all equipped with crossbows, polearms and chain mail. Other residents will join in with defence as they are able to - there was a notable incident ten years ago when a pair of Allosauruses broke through the palisade and killed several people, and everyone who could wield a spear or pitchfork had to form an impromptu phalanx to drive the dinosaurs off.   

At the base of the hill that the outpost stands on are a dozen acres of farmed land where wheat, maize and vegetables are grown. This is a mixed success - sometimes it provides plenty of food, but other times the crops are hit by various tropical blights, devoured by insects or trampled by huge wandering beasts. Hunting and foraging are important sources of food but this is always done as an organised expedition - wandering around alone in the jungles of Davania is extremely dangerous, and even with armed escorts, violent encounters happen - the Thyatians know that they are not the top of the food chain. Fishing in the nearby sea is possible but the seas have their own dangers, so at the first sign of large marine creatures or bad weather the fishermen will head for shore. Food security is a significant concern for the people of Herakanthia. 

Notes on levels: Davania is a dangerous place, and as such I am assuming that adventures set here are either Expert or Companion level (for PCs of levels 5-20). Dinosaurs, dragons, Araneas, Kopru and the like are all threats that novice adventurers are not expected to deal with. 

Non Player Characters of Herakanthia

Keltrakis: human female 15th level magic user, neutral. Keltrakis has been tasked with maintaining Herakanthia by the governor in Cittinova, and she intends to prove her worth. She is competent enough  but she does tend to view every challenge and danger from the point of view of her seniors in the Thyatian administration. Trade, finances, food and security are her main concerns. She is a skilled mage and when the situation calls for it, she can bring her magic to bear on problems and threats - she slew a marauding Dimetrodon with a lightning bolt early in her tenure here, which impressed the residents. 

Escallios Parrottalker: elf male 9th level elf ranger, neutral. Escallios is a resident of Herakanthia after leaving his tribe of jungle elves for unspoken reasons. He has proven to be a very knowledgeable native guide to the jungle, advising human Thyatians about dangers and resources. He is still on talking terms with other jungle elves, though there are obvious tensions and awkwardness when dealing with the Bough-Runner tribe which he left a while ago.

Torgonnus the Myrmidon: human male 12th level fighter, lawful. Torgonnus has had a varied career, from conscripted soldier to deserter to gladiator and now freed to become an adventurer. He has arrived in Davania to find out what happened to his father, who joined a wave of settlers from Thyatis seeking new opportunities in Davania. He believes his father was last known to be in a settlement deeper into the jungle than Herakanthia but which lost contact with Cittinova about 10 years ago. Although Torgonnus does not expect to find his father alive, he still needs to know what happened. 

Talsheridon the Brewer: elf male 7th level spell-sword , neutral. Talsheridon is skilled not only as a spellcasting elf but also as an alchemist . He has set up in Herakanthia to gather ingredients from the nearby jungle, particularly rare herbs, flowers and fruits which possess properties that he wants to investigate, and may offer alternative recipes to well-known potions. He can generally look after himself but even he is cautious about venturing into the jungle alone, and is always looking for bodyguards to keep him safe as he forages for components and ingredients. 

Mektra The Opportune: human female, 7th level thief/4th level darokinian merchant, neutral. Originally from Athenos where Darokin meets the sea, Mektra is always on the lookout for things that could be sold for a profit. She usually travels to Cittinova and back but sometimes she will travel further around the Sea of Dread, including Thyatis City, Specularum, Athenos. Minrothad City and other trading ports. She has set up a temporary shop in Herakanthia and will buy and sell to adventurers. 

Orribos the Seeker: human male, 11th level cleric, chaotic. Orribos claims to be a scholar from Ierendi, and he has actually spent some time there. However, he is actually a cleric of chaos from Hule. He is in the jungles of Davania looking for the lost city of Ervvos, from a mysterious pre-Blackmoor civilisation that was somewhere in northern  Davania. He will claim to be interested in the lost city for scholarly reasons though he believes that several powerful artefacts of chaos might be found there. He may try to form an expedition to search for this lost city, casually mentioning abandoned piles of gold and silver to be claimed by anyone entering the city. 

Dubrovia Stoutshield: human female, 7th level cleric, lawful. Dubrovia has been sent to Herakanthia by her superiors in the Church of Law in Cittinova, with instructions to assist the outpost and its inhabitants. Although she is not happy about her posting, she is obeying her orders. She originally came from Thyatis City and she misses the cosmopolitan hustle and bustle of city streets. And although human criminals can be dangerous, she feels far more danger in Davania than in Thyatis City. Her healing and curing spells are much in demand, and although she treats locals free of charge, she may ask for a donation from visitors requiring her spells. 

Mahallia: female aranea grandmother, 9th level magic user, chaotic. Mahallia always appears as an attractive jungle elf (using her natural aranea shape changing ability) when around humans or elves. She does not live in Herakanthia but has a treetop lair a few miles to the west deeper into the jungle. Other residents of Herakanthia do not suspect her true nature and accept her disguise as a regularly visiting elf.  She is here as a spy for a huge colony of aranea known as the Scuttling City far to the south, and is always asking about people moving in and out of the outpost, particularly those that might prove a problem should the araneas attack. Mahallia has befriended the ruler of the outpost Keltrakis through their common love of magic and new spells. She occasionally lets slip a disdain and contempt for humans but most people put that down to elven snobbery. 

 

Araneas of Northern Davania

 What is officially said about Araneas (from my copy of X1: Isle of Dread)

The Araneas are an intelligent giant spider race. They are as large as small ponies and are greenish-brown in color. An aranea is distinguishable from other giant spiders by the massive oddly shaped lump on its back that houses its large brain. Araneas are web spinners and their bite is poisonous. 

The front limbs of an aranea are divided into flexible digits. The aranea use these to grasp prey and manipulate simple tools. In addition the aranea can cast spells as 3rd level magic user (two 1st level spells and one 2nd level spell). They spend most of their time in magical research. 

Araneas live in dense forests or jungles, spinning their web homes high in the trees. Part of each web is roofed with bark, leaves and vines held together with webbing. In the covered part of their lairs the aranea keep their crude tools, magic research and crude "furniture" of web, bones, bark and wood. 

Araneas are the traditional enemies of the phanaton and attack them on sight. They are friendly with bugbears and often hire them to guard the forest beneath their lairs. 

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	Aranea, Normal	Aranea, Spiderling	Aranea, Mother
Armour Class	7	8	6
Hit Dice (hp)	3** (14 hp)	1* (5hp)	6** (27 hp)
Movement	150', 150' climb	150', 120' in web	150', 120' in web
Attack	1 bite	1 bite	1 bite
THAC0	17	19	14
Damage	1d6+ poison	1d2 + poison	1d6 + poison
Special Abilities	poison, spellcasting	poison causes sickness	poison, spellcasting
No. Appearing	1d6	3d10	1d2
Morale	7	9	7
Save as	MU3	MU1	MU6
Treasure	D	nil	D
Alignment	Chaotic	Chaotic	Chaotic
Intelligence	14 (High)	7 (low)	15 (Exceptional)
Size/Type	large magical beast	small magical beast	large magical beast
XP	65	15	725

	Aranea, Grandmother	Aranea, Matriarch
Armour Class	5	4
Hit Dice (hp)	9** (39 hp)	12** (54 hp)
Movement	150', 120' in web	150', 120' in web
Attack	1 bite	1 bite
THAC0	11	8
Damage	1d8 + poison	1d10 + poison
Special Abilities	see below	see below
No. Appearing	1	1
Morale	8	8
Save as	MU 9	MU 12
Treasure	D	D
Alignment	Chaotic	Chaotic
Intelligence	16 (Exceptional)	18 (Genius)
Size/Type	large magical beast	huge magical beast
XP	2300	2700

Aranea Spiderlings: 1 HD, no spellcasting, bite causes giant centipede like sickness (victim is incapacitated for 1d6+4 days of bed rest).  They can climb up walls and along ceilings faultlessly at normal speed. These are the youngest araneas (less than 10 years old) and are usually about the size of a domestic cat (1' tall and wide, 2' long) 

Normal Aranea: These include all males and the younger females (between 10 and 60 years old). They can cast spells as 3rd level magic users. 

Aranea Mother: Can cast web spell 1/day and use spells as 6th L MU, humanoid form for 1 hour 1/day

Aranea Grandmother: Cast web spell 3/day and use spells as 9th L MU, humanoid form for 3 hours. 1/day  

Aranea Matriarch: cast web spell 3/day and use spells as 12th L MU, humanoid form at will for as long as required. 

All except spiderlings have a lethal venom - anyone bitten by a normal aranea, mother, grandmother or matriarch must save vs poison or die. 

All araneas can spin webs with which to create lairs, block passages and bind helpless victims. Mothers, Grandmothers and Matriarchs can do this fast enough and in sufficient quantity that it is a non-magical equivalent of a Web spell. By pointing their spinnerets (at the rear of their abdomens but they may be stretched and pointed forward under the belly) they can spew forth a mass of sticky strands to entangle foes instantly.

Araneas learn and memorise spells in the same way as magic users, and have their own spell books. Their choice of spells is as varied as any human mage though there does seem to be a tendency to illusion and trickery. They may well use similar spells to those used by Gnome Tricksters. Because of the flammable nature of their lairs they rarely use fire-based spells Araneas are fascinated by magic and see it as being their main path to power, dominating vertebrate races, protecting themselves and acquiring wealth, food and, of course, more magical resources such as magic items and spell books. Although they normally hate humanoids, they will respect and perhaps parlay with someone who shows great magical ability (5th level spells or higher). 

Aranea mothers, grandmothers and matriarchs have all learned the magical ability to transform into a humanoid for a period of time. This is in size and shape only, it does not confer any special racial abilities or knowledge. They do this mainly to infiltrate humanoid settlements and also to trick wandering humanoids into ambushes and traps. The Thyatians have learned to their bitter cost not to rush to the aid of a damsel in distress being attacked by giant spiders - the damsel may well be the leader of the Araneas. Some people have jumped to the incorrect conclusion that araneas are a sort of were-spider, a species of lycanthrope. This is simply not true and nobody bitten by an aranea has been infected by lycanthropy, even if they survive the venom.  

Araneas will sometimes use other spider-like creatures as guards, pets and allies. Rhagodessas are popular guards, as are giant Black Widow spiders. The bugbears mentioned above in the official description are also found in Northern Davania. 

On the Isle of Dread there is a small population with only one known Aranea grandmother. However, in the larger jungles of Davania Aranea society has become more evolved and prolific, with araneas forming colonies similar in ways to wasp or ant swarms. There is only one highest-ranking, largest female as the queen of the colony - a matriarch for the larger ones with more than a hundred normal Aranea, a dozen mothers and maybe 2 or 3 grandmothers as lieutenants. The smaller colonies will be led by a grandmother and have maybe twenty or so normal araneas and two or three mothers. Loyalty to their female leader is strong but not fanatical - unlike ants or bees most araneas can survive without their leader and can even set up their own colonies.  These colonies form towns in the trees made from wood and bones of victims woven together with webbing to form dozens of dwellings. Although spiderlings live and sleep together, once an aranea can study magic they will require their own dwelling so they can study in quiet. As mentioned previously there are male araneas but they never grow in size and power beyond normal araneas.  

According to the araneas themselves they were first born as hybrids when a large number of planar spiders (see the Rules Cyclopedia) were stranded on Mystara in the jungles of northern Davania and the Thanegoth islands. Due to different dietary requirements the male planar spiders starved to death while the females managed to survive. The female planar spiders mated with native giant spiders, using magic and alchemy to ensure that not only were their offspring able to survive (making use of their sires primitive and more rugged digestive system) but were also fertile, unlike other cross-species hybrids such as mules. These new offspring, the first araneas, lost their mothers’ ability to travel the planes but retained the high intelligence and ability to cast spells. Indeed, through selective breeding where the less intelligent, non-spellcasting areneas were destroyed, soon all of the araneas were capable of using magic.      

An alternative story told by Thyatian scholars is that there were no planar spiders, and that when the Alphatians arrived in northern Davania the ancestors of the Araneas were just giant spiders. But the biomancers among the Alphatian mages were the ones who gave the giant spiders intelligence and extra arm-like limbs, apparently in a misguided attempt to create a servitor race to help the arrogant Alphatian mages. The Aranea had become too smart for that. They stole the Alphatians’ spellbooks and in one terrible night killed all their supposed masters, mostly by adding their own venom to meals prepared for the naive mages. Those humans who resisted the poison were slain by other means. The Alphatian colony was wiped out in one night and the Aranea gained their greatest source of power.   

The Emancipators of Thyatis

The Emancipators are a secret society in Thyatis who are opposed to slavery, and seek to free slaves where possible, usually without paying slave owners. This sets them at odds with the Thyatian government and law which accepts slavery, and views freeing slaves without the owner's consent as theft. Thus the Emancipators work in the shadows. They have been doing this for over 200 years, since its founding in AC 788 by Praetorus Validor, a nobleman of Kerendas.

Philosophy and Alignment

If this were AD&D it would be a simple case of neutral good and chaotic good Emancipators against lawful evil and neutral evil slave owners. But with B/X D&D's single-axis approach to alignment being reflected in the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos this has led to heated debate within the Emancipators as to whether slavery is lawful or chaotic and therefore what does that make them? The consensus within the group is that the Emancipators are on the side of Law. Although the law of the land and Thyatian society accepts slavery and what the Emancipators try to do is illegal, the Emancipators believe that the true philosophy of Law requires some respect and dignity for all intelligent beings. Slavery does not allow this respect and dignity and is therefore chaotic, and so by opposing slavery, the Emancipators are on the side of Law. It is worth pointing out that there are quite a few members of the Emancipators who do not care for the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos and who declare themselves neutral in such matters but they still think that slavery is a terrible wrong that they are trying to set right. A few members would admit they have chaotic tendencies (not caring for authority or societal norms, prefering individualism) but then strongly deny that this would make them evil (in AD&D terms chaotic neutral or perhaps chaotic good) and they view slavery as Law but in its worst, most extreme form. 

scene from Spartacus (starring Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis), source

The Structure of the Emancipators

There are perhaps 200 trusted members of the Emancipators, split up into cells of 5 to 10 members. The similarity to how chaos cultists infiltrate society often generates wry amusement, but it still works. If Thyatian authorities arrest and interrogate one cell, other cells should still remain safe and secret.  There are several cells in each of the major cities operating independently of each other. Similarly towns in the Thyatian homeland have a cell each. There are also cells dotted around usually near farming or industrial areas where slaves are used.  Each cell has its codename, usually a colour. There is a manor house outside of Kerendas City, home to a secretive nobleman , Gaius Validor, where cell leaders gather once a year. The manor house is heavily guarded and Gaius is careful not to let his connection to other Emancipators be revealed. Many Emancipators do not know that this is the headquarters of the group - they only refer to the mysterious HQ as "Indigo". 

Emancipators usually try to free one slave at a time. If possible they will assess how eager the slave is to escape - there is nothing more frustrating than trying to free a slave only to find that either they are too scared of retribution to leave or perhaps feel that they are in a good situation with reasonable shelter, food and security compared to the uncertainty of life on the run. Emancipators only rarely engineer mass escapes as this tends to attract attention of the authorities. Losing one slave could be seen as carelessness on the part of the slave owner - a hundred slaves on the loose becomes a problem for every decent Thyatian in the vicinity and raises fears of a slave rebellion which can occasionally become very violent and vengeful. The Emancipators have no intention of harming innocent Thyatians or bringing the army down on them and their newly freed charges.   

Recruitment is extremely careful with many tests and a year long probabtion where the new member is not even aware of everyone in the local cell, least of all members beyond the cell. It is rumoured that Emancipators have a particular handshake and phrase that could seem innocuous to a non-member but members should recognise, thus allowing them to identify each other but without much risk of revealing themselves to non-members. After the simultaneous collapse of the cells in both Argevin ("Saffron") and Torion ("Pearl") in AC 975, when infiltrators loyal to slave-owning businessmen betrayed the local members to the authorities along with over a dozen escaped slaves, the Emancipators take no chances. 

Having said that, individual members can hire people outside the society for one-off jobs, usually involving transport. As long as the hirer is the only one who can be identified to authorities this is considered an acceptable risk. The Emancipators also occasionally hire adventurers for particular tasks, particularly ones that require specialist skills such as thievery, spellcasting or application of sharp steel. Sometimes the same people are hired on a regular basis and they have an idea of who they are dealing with but they don't rat out their employer, either because they like the payment or perhaps they don't like slavery themselves and therefore approve of what the Emancipators are trying to do. 

Selected Cells

The Kerendas Docks Cell ("Scarlet"): This team of 6 members is less involved in freeing slaves from their masters and more with safely smuggling them out of the country. They have several sea captains who they trust, including Mayana Abbrovic, who regularly sails the southern coast from Thyatis to Sind. Mayana hates slavery and as such will help the Emancipators, delivering escapees to Athenos in Darokin, Specularum in Karameikos and the safer parts of Ierendi.  

The Greenheight Cell ("Viridian"): This cell specialises in the overland route into Karameikos. past the Vyallia Elves but carefully avoiding the goblins of the Dymrak forest. The cell owns and runs a farmstead on the border of the forest where horses and cattle are raised. This is used as departure point onto Karameikos. The Vyalia elves have a mixed view - on the one hand they have no love of Thyatian slavery and sympathise with those who love freedom. But on the other hand the elves do not want to be dragged into what they see as a human dispute. 

The Goldleaf Cell ("Beige"): This team of 3 activists is particularly concerned about a brutal mining operation in the nearby hills. The mine owners maintain at least 60 slaves in appalling conditions, guarded by hobgoblin mercenaries. The cell has rescued only four slaves, one at a time, as per normal procedure but they are considering breaking protocol and freeing all the slaves at once. This would require extra muscle and at least one of them is quietly asking around for adventurers willing to participate. Freed slaves are shepherded northeast towards the border with Ylaruam, though the path is fraught with wandering monsters, including other hobgoblins. An armed escort would be appreciated. 

The Argevin Cell (“Azure”): Rebuilding after a disaster two decades ago when the whole cell was arrested, this cell is keeping an especially low profile.  Two of the members are half-Alphatian mages and this has led to complications, namely accusations of bias towards slaves of Alphatian heritage and those who show magic talent. One of the members has even accused another of being an agent of the Alphatian Empire. The accused has admitted to Alphatian sympathies but not loyalty or official connections. He does have a good arrangement with a merchant-trader who can transport passengers to the Isle of Dawn, including Alphatian-controlled ports where slavery is not tolerated.  

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