MotM: Clutch of Vanm

Another MotM!  Hope you don't mind it being at least
partially inspired by some recent discussions (it
reminded me that I had a diagram a while ago about
involving the shipbuilding of the neogi).  I drew
inspiration from the Soviet-era gulags...seemed an
appropriate source material :D

Adam

Clutch of Vanm
Tiny (C) Spherical Earth
Climate: Cold
Orbital Position: Lunar Track #10
Day Length:  26 hours
Year Length: 150 standard days
Native Races: Neogi, umber hulks, slave races

Gleaming rings the color of blood encircle this moon
like a gruesome halo.  The moon beyond the rings is a
patchwork of ugly greens, reds, and muddy browns.  In
the northern hemisphere is what appears to be a
blood-red black widow with an hourglass of the
blackest black.

The Clutch of Vanm is a spherical earthen world. 
Water is found in only large lakes.  Vanm is mostly
flat, with only a few mountainous areas and low
valleys.  The moon has an overall diameter of just
over 700 miles.  Its poles are cold enough to be
snow-covered year-round.  Long, cold rivers wind from
melting polar glaciers to icy lakes along the equator.

A set of rings surround Vanm, starting at an altitude
of 70 miles and end about 700 miles from the surface. 
There are nine, ten-mile wide gaps in the rings,
creating a set of ten rings of varying width.  The
rings are no more than 500’ thick.  They are composed
of countless small, almost valueless crystals.

An extremely powerful clan of neogi rule Vanm with an
iron fist.  The moon’s resources are exploited for one
purpose: to build the distinctive, spider-shaped neogi
ships.  This clan, who are known as the Deathdealers
in the common tongue, are ruthless slavers and sellers
of warships.  Neogi overlords from across the Known
Spheres and beyond make regular trips to Vanm to
purchase ships.  For all other races in wildspace,
Vanm is a hellish slave world where only death awaits.

Vanm is a cold, chilly moon.  The days are short and
the nights long and cold.  Summers offer brief
respites of warm, dry weather between long winter
months.  During the winter, snowfall is plentiful,
often accumulating to as much as 30’ in depth in some
rare places.  

Just as neogi tattoo themselves, so have they tattooed
their property.  The spider-like emblem in the
northern hemisphere is the mark of the Deathdealer
clan, and like markings are tattooed on each and every
neogi, umber hulk, and slave on the moon.

Landmarks
Bloodiron Hills: This long range of much weathered
mountains and high hills is laced with rich deposits
of iron, nickel, copper, and other useful metals. 
Hundreds of forced labor camps dot the length of the
range, where countless slaves toil in the mines. 
Conditions are brutal at best, with death a frequent
visitor.  Bodies are carted off to be dined upon by
neogi overmasters and their umber hulk lord-servants. 
The mountains teem with monsters, making escape a
suicidal affair.

The Hungry Lands: Golden fields of wheat, corn, rye,
barley, and other staples define this region.  By all
rights, it should be a breadbasket enough to feed a
planet thrice Vanm’s size.  Yet the people here are
starving, thanks to neogi mismanagement and abuse. 
Crop failures and famine are widespread; what food is
produced is shipped to other parts of Vanm, leaving
the people of the Hungry Lands the scraps and
leftovers to survive on.  

The Web: In low orbit around Vanm is a wide ring of
largely ordinary crystals, which has been
affectionately named the Web.  The neogi harvest the
crystals, which can process and use to craft their
spider-shaped ships.  Neogi harvests have yet to make
a real dent in the Web, meaning there is more than
enough crystal to build thousands more deathspiders. 
Neogi ships prowl the Web in search of trespassers. 
Those caught in the grasp of the Web find themselves
slaves at one of the many forced labor camps
throughout Vanm.

The Deathdealer Mark: This enormous landmass marks
this moon as property of the Deathdealer clan of
neogi.  The clan used imported red and black rock to
create this mark in the earth.  It is so vast it can
be viewed fully from orbit.  On the surface, it is
made up of a very thin layer of rubble stones, the
largest no bigger than a foot across.  This mark took
slightly more than two centuries to complete, and
survives as a testament to neogi engineering skill.

Native Creatures 
Vanm is an interesting contrast between creatures
familiar and strange.  Many of its native animals are
unusual in form, but serve the same functions as more
familiar animals.  A common example of this is the
Roocow, which has a large bulbous body supported by
eight spindly legs not unlike a crab of spider, but is
a grazer not unlike a cow and lays eggs like a
chicken.  The spinner beetle, which spins silken webs
that can be woven into clothing, is another such
creature.  Colorful, honey-producing spiders pollinate
twisted flowers.  And so forth.  A common theme seems
to be along insect-like and arachnid-like animals.

Sages believe that much of Vanm’s wildlife was
imported by the neogi over the years, and that Vanm’s
true native wildlife is all but gone.  The neogi
certainly aren’t saying for certain one way or the
other, but gladly invite sages to come and
investigate.  Of course, as those sages foolish enough
to take up the neogi on their offer tend to end up as
dinner, there has not been much investigation into the
matter.

Guide to Groundlings
The Clutch of Vanm is a rare neogi stronghold.  The
moon is completely dominated by the neogi of the
Deathdealer clan and their umber hulk lord-servants. 
There are hundreds if not thousands of neogi dwelling
on Vanm, making the Deathdealers one of the largest
neogi clans in all of the Known Spheres.

The Deathdealers have been lead by a succession of
powerful neogi overmasters.  The most recent coup was
lead by a trio of clutch-mates, Arakni Hish (LE neogi
Sor21), Arakni Slith (LE neogi Rog20), and Arakni
Psy’sh (LE neogi soulknife22).  These neogi are quite
unusual in that they share a sibling connection that
binds them together.  This coordination gave these
“brothers” a decisive edge in their rise to power.

The brothers Arakni took over ownership of the
Deathdealers six years ago, and have been
consolidating their power.  Each has no less than two
score umber hulks at their command, including personal
champions with triple standard hit dice.  Each also
commands a network of neogi sorcerers, assassins, and
psionists of varying power.  The networks are kept
busy constantly feuding with one another, trying to
gain the upper hand over one another.  There is little
actual strife between the brothers; the feuding serves
only to keep their minions at each others’ throats and
too busy to plot their own revolutions.

Below the multitude of neogi slaves are umber hulks
and other favored, powerful slaves.  Each neogi has at
least one personal slave, although not always one as
powerful as an umber hulk.  A personal slave may be as
mundane as a human or ogre, or as alien as a chuul or
cloaker.  Due to various poisons concocted by neogi
alchemists, these slaves have been brainwashed into
fanatical servants and guardians.

At the lowest end of the slave chain are slaves taken
from hundreds of worlds.  Most of these are common
humanoids, from humans, elves, and dwarves to orcs,
lizardmen, and gnolls.  These poor souls lead
miserable lives, forced to work in unbearable
conditions.  Most die within a few years of arriving,
taken by famine, accident, or just a broken spirit. 
Those that survive tend to be some of the meanest,
nastiest individuals of their respective races.  They
care nothing for others, their hearts hardened by
years of hardship and toil.

Vanm has one additional society that exists beyond
that of the living: that of the undead old masters.  A
cabal of these undead neogi sorcerers have risen a
fortress in the exact center of the hourglass of the
Deathdealer Mark.  This obsidian citadel is haunted by
innumerable undead slaves.  The undead old masters
serve Skorpo Sryke (LE neogi Sor25), the legendary
founder of the Deathdealer clan.  Every decade or so,
Sryke seeks out an accomplished neogi sorcerer and
turns him into an undead old master, further
increasing his own power.  The citadel crawls with his
undead minions.  Sryke has some manner of deal with
the rest of the clan, giving him special autonomy from
the clan’s hierarchy in exchange for providing magical
support to the current leadership.  Would-be overlords
sometimes need to be reminded of Sryke’s power, and he
will not hesitate to slaughter any neogi that
interferes with his plans.

Resources and Trade
This moon is moderately rich in metal ores, gemstones,
good timerlands, and arable land.  The neogi have but
one interest: to exploit the resources to build new
ships.  Vast multitudes of slaves are brought to any
one of the multitude of labor camps to be worked to
death by neogi masters.  Iron is smelted on the
surface, and crystals are harvested from the Web, all
to be transported to the Deathdock.  There, they are
used to build the neogi trademark deathspider and
mindspider ships.  Neogi clans from across the Known
Spheres are the primary clients, buying as many ships
as they can afford.  The waiting list is more than a
decade long.

In recent years, neogi shipwrights have been
experimenting with new neogi ships.  A promising new
design, the Deathscorpion, is a variation of the more
common orcish scorpionship.  This design is made of
crystal, with large, covered top deck.  The early
designs retain the ram claws and topside medium
ballista, but add a crawlway through the tail only
large enough for small creatures such as neogi and
halflings.  The end of the tail is thicker and covered
by an opaque, retractable dome over a medium catapult.
 Thin silken sails are strung from the tail to the
legs.  A typical crew is four neogi and their umber
hulks, along with 12 to 24 slaves.

The neogi do not have trade relations with anyone
else.  While the Deathdealers will deal with slavers
of all races, they make use of transfer stations far
from Vanm.  Any ship of non-neogi origin that blunders
into Vanm’s vicinity risks being boarded and its crew
enslaved.  Even neogi ships of weaker clans face this
risk as well, unless they have established firm
trading relations with the clan.  The neogi have a
distinct dislike of anyone, be it non-neogi or neogi
of other clans, snooping around.  The penalty is, of
course, enslavement and ultimately, death.

Ports of Call
Ashk (small city, 8,100): Ashk is a small, walled city
where neogi sorcerers perfect their magical talents. 
Many slaves sent here become victims of neogi
experiments.  All are guinea pigs to the neogi.  As
there is a constant supply of fresh slaves, many
perish by spells cast by gleeful neogi.  Neogi
alchemists work to create all manner of new poisons
and potions to keep their slaves in line.  The goal is
to develop the perfect means of mind control, of
course, so that the Deathdealers can enslave the minds
of every sentient being in the Known Spheres.

Ushka (large town, 3,300): Better known as the
Slaughterhouse, Ushka is the place where used-up
slaves are sent to die.  They are butchered like
common animals, the meat served to hungry neogi and
umber hulks.  Just outside the city is a mass grave
and dump, where bones are discarded.  The city reeks
of death and decay, a scent the neogi find most
pleasant.  Humans and demi-humans who come within five
miles of the city must make a fortitude save (DC 20)
or become nauseated and sick.  

History
Not much is known about Vanm before the neogi arrived,
as it was both small and remote.  Whatever
civilization that existed was swept away by the swift
neogi invasion several generations ago.  The
Deathdealer clan, even then a powerful clan of more
than a score of deathspiders, turned Vanm into their
stronghold.  The Deathdock shipyard was constructed in
orbit for the sole purpose of further increasing the
size of their impressive fleet.  The shipyard took
four decades to complete, and has been fully
operational for over three centuries.  

Once the shipyard was completed, the neogi soon built
far more ships than they could possibly handle.  The
clan elders began selling their surplus ships, a most
profitable venture.  The clan was renamed during this
time to Deathdealer, in reference to their status as
the primer dealer in neogi Deathspider ships.  

Such an important shipyard has, over the centuries,
been the target of both the neogi and their foes. 
Rival neogi clans have tried to take the port no less
than nine times, all resulting in failure.  Likewise,
twenty or more attempts by various adventurers and
privateers have failed as well, accomplishing little
more than to swell the ranks of the Deathdealers’
slaves.  The Elven Fleet has learned the location of
Vanm in recent decades, though they have not yet
mustered the forces necessary to mount a serious
attack.

Satellites
The Deathdock: No point in all of Vanm is more heavily
guarded than the Deathdock.  It is a large asteroid
topped by a trio of 1000’ tall pyramids.  Natural
caverns have been expanded into a vast, underground
dock, with as many as 10 dry docks where neogi
deathspiders are constructed.  Resources gleaned from
the nearby moon and rings are brought to the Deathdock
and, over the course of several months, crafted into
the spider-like ships of the neogi.  It takes a full
three years for the neogi shipwrights to finish a
ship.  Two years of this time is spent in the dry
docks.  During the final year, the half-finished ship
is moved outside, where finishing touches are made. 
Thus five ships are launched every standard year. 
Nineteen piers jut into wildspace.  The 1st
Deathdealer Flotilla, no less than 12 deathspiders and
4 mindspiders, prowl the space near the Deathdock.

Bibliography
Spelljammer: Dungeons & Dragons in Space



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