MotM: Monolythe

That time of the Month again...:)

This time out, we explore Monolythe, a world of undead
(right in time for Halloween! :).  In this
installment, I tackle an alternate history to one of
D&D's most beloved (demi) liches, Acererak.  This
alternate history is hardly canon in any way, but an
interesting "what if".  What if Acererak were a
spelljamming ole lich?  Well, here's the result. 
There may be a monster entry later, but I wanted to
get the moon itself out before I tried tackling that,
as I fear it might get bogged down (I have an idea of
what to do, but the numbers game might get me). 
Anyways, without further delay, I present Monolythe!

Monolythe
Tiny (C) Irregular Earth
Climate: Cold
Orbital Position: Outer Lunar
Day Length: 66 hours
Year Length: 66 standard days
Native Races: Undead, extraplanar creatures

The squat, ugly slab of a moon before you almost glows
with ghost-like light.  It is a shade of gray that
reminds of bone.  A thin dark gash runs the length of
the moon, perhaps a river of sorts.

Hovering high over a distant, dead world is Monolythe,
a haven for things that by all rights should be dead
and in the grave.  The moon has an overall shape of a
flattened potato.  Along its major axis, it is 650
miles and perhaps 450 miles along its minor axis.  At
its thickest, the moon is perhaps 150 miles.  Upon
each side is a shallow river valley, originating in
highlands at one end, and drain into dismal swamps at
the other.  

Monolythe is an isolated, barren moon.  The air is
bitterly cold, such that the howling wind cuts
straight to the bone.  The moon is a very dry place,
where rain and snow are unknown strangers.  The sun,
even at the height of noon, is distant and weak, no
more powerful than bright star.  So weak, in fact, is
the sun that undead and creatures weakened by sunlight
are unaffected.

The moon lacks any manner of season, as it is
eternally cold and dark.  Undead are strengthened when
within Monolythe’s borders, gaining the ability to
regenerate 1 hit point per round.  Undead that already
regenerate gain this hit point in addition to their
natural regeneration.  In addition, undead turn as if
they had an additional 2 hit dice.

Landmarks
Obsidian Pyramids: Built by the powerful undead
inhabitants, the Obsidian Pyramids are a series of
black-stoned monoliths scattered across the moon. 
Their interiors hide enormous labyrinths where
powerful undead sorcerers sulk and lord over hordes of
minions.  Like any pyramid-crypts, the Obsidian
Pyramids are loaded with all manner of deadly traps
and magical hazards.  The Pyramids are unique in that
because of the infernal magic involved, they “bleed”
into the lower planes.  In the Pyramids, the Prime
overlap with one or more lower plane, making it
possible that every doorway might lead to another
plane and that whole dungeon levels might exist in two
planes at once.

Ghost Marshes: The Ghost Marshes are the name given to
the pair of muddy marshlands found at opposite ends of
the moon.  There are nearly identical in terms of size
and character.  Enormous pools of stagnant water, deep
mud, and quicksand all are commonplace.  Forests of
carnivorous trees, most appearing quite dead, grow
from the slimy mud.  Some trees give off a pale,
ghost-like light which illuminate the whole Marshes to
the equivalent of a full moon.  Dense fog blanket the
Marshes at all times.  Ghouls, ghasts, wights, and
vampiric mists all prowl the Marshes in search of
victims.

Daughters of Styx: Black, brackish water flows through
these twin rivers which originate in the highlands of
the respective side of the gravity plane they are on. 
The water is poisonous (AD&D: Save v. Poison or die;
d20: Fort Save DC 15) to drink.  Within the waters
float bodies and souls, those who have perished in the
various tombs built by the inhabitants.  They float
slowly down the river, to be harvested by the natives
downriver for use in unspeakable purposes.

Native Creatures
Few living creatures can survive on this world of
undeath.  Even if it were not so infested with undead,
any life at all would struggle in the barren landscape
and the cold, lightless surface.  Many of the
creatures that do survive are supernatural in nature,
and exist outside a normal system of flora and fauna.

What passes for flora on Monolythe consists of
pitiful-looking, often dead-looking trees, various
fungus, and slime lichens.  Dangerous, monstrous
varieties are common, while harmless varieties are
unknown.  Many plants are in fact undead, much like
the other creatures of Monolythe.

The most common creatures are the various types of
undead.  Skeletons and zombines are most common,
particularly those of animals that accidentally
blundered into one of the tombs.  They are reanimated
as mindless undead for use as guards or beasts of
burden.  A carriage might be drawn by zombie axbeaks,
while skeletal apes carry scrolls in their ribcages. 
Particularly large and powerful skeletons, such as
T-Rexes, gargantuan gorillas, and triceratops are
favorite mounts when strapped with luxurious howdahs.

A number of undead have been set “loose” in the wilds
in packs of 4-24 creatures.  These packs prowl the
wild lands in search of trespassers.  They are
uncontrollable and dangerous, sometimes having unusual
powers or abilities thanks to experiments.  They
ignore other undead creatures and remain away from the
cities, thanks to special magical instructions infused
in them when they were created.  

Of creatures not undead, most come from the lower
planes, typically summoned here and remained for any
number of reasons.  Literally any creature from the
lower planes, particularly demons, devils, yugoloths,
hordlings, and ghereals, have been summoned here, as
well as elementals, elemental-kin, mehpits, and genii
in lesser numbers.  Creatures from the upper planes
are typically prisoners or escaped prisoners without
means of returning home.  

Guide to Groundlings
Monolythe is a world of the dead.  The lowest forms of
undead, such as ghouls, ghasts, wraights, and wights
all make up the “common citizenry”.  Barely conscious
of their actions, they are assigned simple, laborious
tasks.  In times of war, they can be mustered into
vast, fearsome hordes of the dead.  Otherwise they
sulk and scamper to fulfill their assigned tasks. 
They will not hesitate to attack any living creatures
that get in their way.

Non-corporeal undead such as ghosts, specters, and
banshee are quite likewise common.  They command packs
of lesser undead.  They are the captains of the armies
and navies, as well as elite companies.  Many more are
free-willed, who answer to no master but remain bound
to Monolythe.  They follow their own agendas.

The “nobility” of Monolythe are a higher form of
undead that is not unlike a cross between a lich and a
stone golem known as the Sons of Acererak.  A Son’s
(or Daughter) has a marble body roughly 7’ tall, of
perfect athletic figure and handsome features.  Their
stone body has great strength and endurance,
complimented by their strong wizardly abilities and
talents.  The Sons are extremely vain and hedonistic,
surrounding themselves with beautiful things.

Each Son retains a large household within their
Obsidian Pyramid.  At his side will be a consort,
usually a succubus, a maralith, or a Daughter of
Acererak, and will be protected by 1-4 golem
champions.  They keep a swarm of mephits serve as
their messengers, a pack of yeth or hell hounds for
hunting, and ride powerful mounts, such as nightmares
or skeletal T-rexes.  At their command are hordes of
undead that act as servants and warriors in their
armies.

At the top of Monolythe’s society is the Royal House
of Acererak.  Acererak himself is rarely seen, and in
fact has not been publicly seen in well over a
century.  As he is known to involve himself in planar
affairs, few think much of his absence.  His consort
is Queen Casenna who is said to have such unearthly
beauty that none but Acererak himself may lay eyes on
her least they desire her for themselves.   This
leaves Acererak’s son, Prince Aramtep as the ruler of
the moon, but even he is rarely seen.  He is known to
possess a body of solid gold that is more powerful,
both physically and magically, than any Son of
Acererak.  His will is expressed more through his
hawk-headed steal servants and bodyguards.  

Resources and Trade
Monolythe deals in a very unique trade: that of souls.
 The inhabitants have developed a means of trapping
souls across a hundred worlds and bring them to this
moon, to be bartered and traded to demons and devils. 
There is also a healthy magic items, components, and
spells that involve necromancy, although the soul
trade is more important.

The manner in which souls are harvested is quite
ingenious.  A group of necromancers, architects, and
laborers will journey to a large world and seek out a
desolate, remote place to construct a tomb.  The tomb
is filled with clever traps and deadly monsters, as
well as a goodly amount of treasure.  Demons are bound
to the tombs, to make repairs and restock the tomb
when necessary.  Their tombs are always found in
hillsides, under a hill marked by black rock which
resembles a skull when viewed from a great height
above.  Once complete, agents spread rumors of the
tomb’s location, to lure adventurers to their doom. 
When a being dies in one of these tombs, his soul
journeys not to an Outer Plane, but is instead sent to
Monolythe, flowing from one of the springs that feed
the Daughters of Styx.  Souls are pulled from the
river; much like a fisherman might pull a fish from a
river.

Hundreds of these tombs dot almost as many worlds,
providing a continuous stream of souls.  Rarely, a
tomb is destroyed and a new one must be built in its
stead, a task the natives relish.  Their scouts have
found dozens of potential sites for new tombs.  At all
times, at least one new tomb is under construction.

Ports of Call
Eternity’s End (metropolis, 113,000): Eternity’s End
is the largest city on the moon.  It is located in a
quarry from which the stone for no less than thirteen
nearby Obsidian Pyramids.  The city operates somewhat
like a normal city, complete with docks for
spelljammers, markets, and even taverns and inns for
visitors who are not undead.  The city is a trade
haven for necromancers, undead pirates, neogi, and
other races not normally accepted in more civilized
ports.  The majority of the population is undead, but
even the most powerful XXX know the value of having an
open port of trade, where they can buy that which they
cannot gain through violence alone.

Necromancer’s Rest (large city, 18,000): This city of
necromancers, both living and undead, was built around
a vast library devoted to the black arts.  The city
became a magnet for budding necromancers.  Two
universities, the Academy of the Black Arts and the
Undying University are located at opposite ends of the
city.  Due to the constant experimenting of the
students and faculty, the city and surrounding land
is, if such a thing were possible, more twisted and
bizarre than the rest of the moon.  A pall green aura
rises from a land infested with all manner of undead. 
In some parts, the land itself moves as if it too,
were an undead creature.  

Reaper’s Cove (large town, 4,000): Reaper’s Cove is a
fortified town on a floating platform in low orbit. 
It serves as a naval base for a “navy” of ships crewed
by the dead.  No less than twenty ships, ranging in
size from squidships all the way up to greathawks, lay
anchorage at Reaper’s Cove.  Crews of skeletons,
zombies, and wights are captained by specters and
ghosts.

History
Long ago on a backwater world, a wizard-priest rose to
rule a minor kingdom with a brutal, iron fist. 
Acererak the Devourer was his name.  He was a cold,
callus ruler, whispered to have been sired by a
terrible demon.  In time even his great power began to
wane, and he sought immortality in lichdom.  Even
before Acererak took his throne, his realm had
spelljamming ports and its own navy of ships.  He
financed many expeditions into wildspace to bring back
curiosities and treasures from distant worlds.  All of
these would pale when a ship brought back an alien of
such beauty that Acererak immediately made her his
queen.  When Acererak took the path to become a lich,
she followed suit.

For as long as Acererak was king, enemies always
gnawed at the borders.  When he became a lich, things
only worsened.  So he ordered his captains to find a
suitable world, one that could be conquered and to
which his whole kingdom relocated.  After decades of
searching, they found that world, Monolythe.  Though
hardly suitable for the living, it was a haven for the
undead.  Indeed, by then many of Acererak’s loyal
followers had embraced undeath in one form or another,
and were not hampered by the moon’s harsh environment.
 So the exodus of Acererak’s people began.

Before departing for one final time, Acererak directed
his living followers to build not one, but six tombs
of unspeakable horror across the continent as a
parting “gift”.  He wove powerful magic into the
construction of each tomb, so that demons were bound
to them to keep the tombs in excellent shape and to
bind the souls of any killed within the tombs to his
service.  The tombs would provide a steady stream of
souls for his personal use.

So successful was Acererak’s tombs that his noblemen
petitioned him to build more similar tombs on other
worlds.  From a hundred worlds, they reasoned, would
bestow an unending harvest of souls.  So over the next
several centuries, these so-called tombs of horror
appeared all across the Known Spheres, tempting
countless mortals to their doom.

Once the relocation effort completed, Acererak’s
people settled into a life of undead hedonism.  In
quite isolation, they could indulge their every whim. 
They discarded their rotting, failing bodies in
exchange for perfect, charismatic forms made of
enduring stone.  Nobles assembled vast households of
servants and consorts and retreated into their
pyramids.  

Satellites
Shattered Lords: Long ago, a cabal of liches conspired
to seize power.  With their pyramids pulsing with
demonic energies, the liches made an assault on
Acererak’s personal pyramid.  The battle was fearsome
indeed, shaking Monolythe to its core, but in the end,
Acererak emerged victorious.  The liches had greatly
underestimated his power.  In a display of raw power,
Acererak willed the rebellious liches’ pyramids into
the sky, and crushed them with their own magic.  The
rubble became a cluster hovering low over Monolythe
where strange magic lingers.

Reaper’s Cove: This disc-shaped moon is about 1000
yards in diameter.  It is covered by a ramshackle
collection of structure built one atop the other.  The
interior is a maze of crypts and catacombs infested
with undead, traps, and fell magic.  

Other Considerations
Decay is held at bay on Monolythe.  It takes ten times
longer for a body to decay on this moon than
elsewhere.  This same effect bolsters the undead,
granting them regeneration and increased resistance to
turn as described above.  Finally, all spells of the
necromancy school are enhanced as if they were cast by
a caster two levels higher.

Bibliography
Spelljammer: Dungeons & Dragons in Space
S1 Tomb of Horrors
Return to the Tomb of Horrors
Hackjammer



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