4.3- LA ESTÉTICA DE BATAILLE

Level: 1d6 + 1

Form: Pseudo-living fishlike suit with inner cavity large enough for a human Effect: The wearer can use the frang

suit as if it was his own body. The frang suit allows him to breathe, to survive hot or cold water without coming to harm, and to swim a long distance each round.

Depletion: 1 in 1d100 (check per day of use)

Although the Inner Sea has a day and night cycle, the days are about twenty-six hours long, and thus slightly confusing to surface dwellers.

The Inner Sea holds many races of intelligent beings. One of the most prolific are the chearrans.

CHEARRANS

Chearrans are an aquatic race that somewhat resemble humans, but who are adapted for underwater life. They are paler than humans and have no body hair except for often-dramatic eyelash fringes around their yellow, pupil-less eyes.

The most significant chearran feature is that most adults visibly display niephris

parasites, which resemble large blue insects that ride chearran heads like living crowns. Without a niephris, a chearran has the intelligence of the average animal. But when bonded to a niephris, the average chearran is articulate, curious, and highly intelligent. This is why niephris are such an integrated part of chearran society. Left to their own devices, the chearrans presume they’d be just another creature of animal intelligence swimming the Inner Sea, hunting, mating, and striving to stay alive for no greater purpose than to beget ever more generations.

But thanks to the mind-expanding niephris influence, chearrans number among the most populous and wide- ranging race in the Inner Sea; most other The Inner Sea boasts a great deal of life just

as the surface ocean does, with as large a variety in form. An extensive ecosystem thrives here, though only because the Towers keep the temperature and pressure in check and provide illumination—visible sun-bright threads glowing through the water about thirteen hours out of every twenty-six.

Kelp, seaweed, seagrass, algae, and other plant varieties that blend the distinction between plants and animals are abundant within the Inner Sea. Most occupy similar niches as those found in the surface ocean, though many are unique. For instance, the miles-long lengths of redweed release a mucous diffusion into the water—red as blood—whenever they are prodded. Those who fail an Intellect defense roll (difficulty 3) suffer 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) and are afflicted with strange visions, usually of a terrifying nature.

Eel-like frang swim everywhere in the Inner Sea, and they are notable for their relatively large girth, their long trailing tails, and the flashing lights of the

bioluminescent spots that dance down their lengths. Most frang are innocuous, but some varieties, like the whisper frang, are deadly poisonous.

Crabs of every size and shell

conformation swim the Inner Sea. One species in particular is well known by natives for its disclike body hiding a nest of claws and a long trailing tail spine. Called the crown crab, these creatures continually grow throughout their lives, often reaching sizes in excess of 10 feet (3 m) in diameter with a tail trailing twice that distance behind them. Their many eyes rim the outer circuit of their shells. Crown crabs are mostly scavengers, but if encountered in a group of five or more, they could attack if they smell unfamiliar prey (like humans).

Swift predators called glare sharks are also plentiful, though usually only within a few miles (4 km) of a Tower or flitting among the tube-trees of the Serpent Forest. Glare sharks are large, quick, and deadly. Unlike their smaller cousins, they do not feel the need to lie in wait in order to ambush prey. When a glare shark senses something that looks like food, it attacks with its massive, tooth-filled mouth.

Whisper frang: level 4, Speed defense as level 2 due to large size; poison inflicts 2 additional points of Speed damage (ignores Armor) if a target fails a Might defense roll Crown crab: level 3; two pincer attacks as a single action or one spine tail attack that inflicts damage and (on a failed Might defense roll) 1 point of Speed damage for three rounds Glare shark: level 6, Speed defense as level 4 due to enormous size, bite as level 7 for targets who can see the shark’s glowing eyes; bite inflicts 8 points of damage Niephris: level 2; when specifically targeting a bonded niephris, attacker must trade 2 points of damage she would otherwise inflict

Trading Damage for Effect, page 113

The Truth, page 133 Lattimor, page 122

Most chearrans live in massive, mobile spherical cities that move about the Inner Sea. These cities have the capacity to burrow above or below the Inner Sea through solid rock—the cities can apparently levitate in open air as easily as they move through liquid and stone. Each city exterior resembles an orb of rough stone gleaming with hot lines of magma. Exits and observation ports are opened as need be. Inside, a hivelike confusion of water-filled tunnels lead to chamber after chamber filled with tech required to keep the cities operational. Many chearrans are employed in clambering across these machines to keep them in peak condition. The rest operate at deeper levels of the city, engaged in all the many duties required to keep a community in food, clothing, entertainment, medicines, and so on, as well as duties like research, leadership, and piloting the city.

Each city has a Custodian, who has absolute power over every other chearran in the city. Custodians are awarded an implement of their office in the form of a psycholon.

Most of the cities cooperate, but a few rebel cities have gone their own way.