Quantification of ergovaline

Making one’s way through the Black Riage can be challenging, to say the least. In the eastern reaches of Thaemor, as the foothills give way to the true mountain peaks, one can find the Aeross Valley. This is a verdant locale, but descent into and ascent out of the valley is difficult. Fortunately, a bridge from a prior age presents a way to cross the valley. Extremely high above the ground, the bridge is often obscured by low-hanging clouds, so locals call it the “Cloudbridge.” The bridge spans an amazing 3,000 feet (914 m). At its widest point, in the middle, it is 300 feet (91 m) across and 500 feet (152 m) high. A large boulder, itself about 500 feet high, floats above the center section of the bridge, seemingly tethered by a long cable as if it might float away (though it has never been known to move, not even in the highest winds).

Using the Cloudbridge presents some challenges. First and foremost are the people of Osmus, on the bridge’s northeastern side.

OSMUS

Osmus is a village on the northeastern ridge high above the Aeross Valley. It is also the name of the settlement’s ruler (or, depending on how you look at it, rulers). The village group of bandits led by a nano, distinctive

for the fact that her head was little more than a seething mass of green fire. Through the use of a potent device, she made Darke and his troops disappear so that her bandits could loot the caravan. It turned out that she didn’t send them to another locale but thirty years into the past.

When the mercenaries returned a few days later, they found that their time in the present was limited. Every once in a while, the entire company shifts back thirty years. The time shifts are consistent on both ends, so that if Darke and the rest shift back in time and stay there for a week, when they return, a week has passed.

Now Darke’s Company serves as a mercenary troop both now and thirty years in the past. While in the past, they operate out of the same keep near a smaller,

rougher, earlier version of Duhane. Although they’ve taken no steps to intentionally change the past to affect the present (and, in fact, they now think of the time periods as two presents rather than a past and a present), Darke is waiting for the Aeon Priest Thunara to develop the stilts that he knows will be used later. So far, she has not. He is considering trying to influence her to do so, but he doesn’t know what effect that might have. To further complicate things, Darke and Thunara have fallen in love.

SAVASHAM WASTES HEARSAY

The Dead Hulk: Not far from Duhane is a craft or machine that seems fused into the rocky slopes around it—or perhaps they have grown around the hulk, as it is extremely old. Oorgolian soldiers periodically come out of the machine and patrol the area, killing any intelligent creature they encounter. The Detector: Ehrth, the Aeon Priest in Duhane, once had a device that would monitor anyone approaching the village from the east. The large, console-like device has broken down, and now he is looking for the spare parts to fix it.

THE WEIRD OF THE SAVASHAM WASTES

The Cube: At the bottom of a clear lake not far from the canyon, one can see a cube of what appears to be solid orange crystal, at least 10 feet (3 m) across. However, the extremely deep lake makes reaching the cube quite problematic. The Dolls: Occasionally, a Duhane family with a child finds a small porcelain doll on their doorstep. Stranger still, the doll is always a perfect replica of the child in the home.

Oorgolian soldier, page 250

The Cloudbridge is located in the kingdom of Thaemor.

Those approaching from the north or west find that the only way forward is an unnatural path cut like a channel through the stone. Smooth, angled sides suggest that perhaps it was once an artificial waterway. At least twice a week, the villagers use the channel in a religious procession, wherein all residents dress in robes and walk the length of the channel and back again, meditating on various topics. The ruler, Osmus, leads the procession, riding in a conveyance that resembles a cross between a throne and a sled. It is guided along the channel by six giant solifugids in harnesses that walk above it along the sides.

Osmus stands about 7 feet (2 m) tall and has a head that looks like a cube of synth with the projected image of a male human inside it. He is not the Osmus of the revered past, for whom the village is named. Rather, he is a flawed copy of that ancient figure. His body is a cloned replicant, and is a place of simple farmers and herders,

about two hundred in all. It consists of a few dozen wooden homes and other buildings that surround a large central temple. A single religion, unique to the village, unites the people of Osmus. This complicated faith reveres a pantheon of individuals from the distant, murky past—in particular, a man named Osmus.

Giant solifugid: level 3; Armor 1; bites for 4 points of damage

Osmus replicant: level 5; each carries a number of useful cyphers

his synth head stores a version of the original man’s personality and memories. However, this Osmus is so degraded and flawed that the original Osmus probably would not even recognize the duplicate. The copy is domineering, controlling, petty, jealous, and selfish.

A master manipulator, the replicated Osmus does not overtly claim to be the original. Instead, he allows his position as a duplicate to engender respect. He doesn’t claim that people should revere him as they would the original Osmus, but he has allowed them to come to that conclusion on their own. The people of the village follow him unquestioningly, though they will not risk their lives for him.

To make things even more confusing, there are, in fact, two beings called Osmus, both replicants of the original. They appear identical. They try never to appear together to maintain the illusion that there is just one ruler, although they occasionally stage events so that it seems as though Osmus can move great distances in the blink of an eye. The only time a person might face both replicants is if she tried to confront Osmus in the secret back room of the temple. This room has a laboratory and workshop where the replicants try to improve their artificial bodies or better restore their artificial personalities. The irony is that if they ever succeed at the latter, they would likely change their entire outlook.

The Real Osmus: The real Osmus was a human who lived in the early days of the Ninth World, many hundreds of years ago. Among the first of humankind to truly understand some of the secrets of the numenera, Osmus led a sweeping empire that ruled much of the northern Black Riage from within the Cloudbridge, the seat of his power. He was a benevolent and enlightened ruler, and his use of the numenera cured sickness and brought advancements that improved the lives of all those around him. Even today, almost a thousand years later, he remains a revered figure.

CROSSING THE CLOUDBRIDGE