Part 1: What has come before
Hello all! After the success and positive response I received for Lionheart, I've decided to continue my quest to add detail to wildspace with Gamero, the base of the scro. With this document I intend to give Gamero the same amount of detail that Lionheart has. However, this is definitely a different sort of project!
Gamero has, unlike Lionheart, been covered extensively in Goblin's Return. While the premise of the adventure was sound, Gamero itself fell short in many regards. The base was woefully inadequate to serve as the base of operations for a 100+ ship fleet; unless the whole base was in some kind of subdimensional space, it doesn't work. Gamero is far too small to support such a massive armada, not to mention the problems with the hanger itself (100 berths my arse). Additionally, there are other minor problems throughout the base itself (given the description, the base supports roughly 20,000 goblin-kin, almost double the size of Bral's population in such a small space). For the most part, it seems as if the author has no concept of the amount of space he's working with.
Thus, I'm trying to rectify some of these problems in addition to giving Gamero a new level of detail and power. So, in some ways, Gamero will lose power (mainly in the form of ships and troops), while on other levels (mainly magical), Gamero will gain power. I've also changed many things on the station to keep from blatantly copying from Goblin's Return. And always remember, this is my rendering of Gamero, and is certainly not official by any means.
I would also like to give thanks to everyone on the Spelljamming Listserve for their support and encouragement. Special Thanks go out to Paul Westermeyer for his help and for his wonderful scro write-up, from which I drew a great deal of information.
Part 2: Ships and races
Of all the ships in Lost Ships, the scorpion ship is perhaps the most annoying. While a mean and awesome-looking ship, it is painfully way undersized for a 60 ton warship. I decided to turn it into a 12 ton fighter, and create a whole new 60 ton scorpion warship that would meet the size requirements. However, Paul suggested that to fix the problem, simply change the scale of the map from 5' per square to 10' per square. This works beautifully, as it jacks the scorpion ship in side up to a 60 ton vessel. I have done so, but I also have included a 12 ton heavy fighter with identical deck plans with the proper scale. Basically, there are two sizes of ships with nearly identical deck plans. I liked the idea of a 12 ton fighter, and included it in the write up.
I've dumped most of the races present on Gamero. For the most part, few served any real purpose other than as leads for the players and opportunities to take advantage of racial hatreds to weaken the base. Other than for that reason, they had little place on the station. So, I've removed them and divided their few duties between the races that remain. Now, the base holds only scro, goblins, ogres, orcs, and a variety of mercenaries. Orcs were included at Paul's suggestion, following the scro policy in the novels to uplift orc tribes and send them against the elves. I've retained the Gamero dislike for orcs, though, and the commander tries to keep them moving and prevent them from permanently setting up shop in the station.
Part 3: History
Finally, I have provided a couple of history options for DMs to use. These options are for both those DMs who have used Gamero before and those who have never used it before. Hopefully, this will give both types of DMs much information and ideas on how to run and use this, the largest and most famous of the scro bases. Good gaming to all!!
Over three centuries ago, the Elvish Imperial Fleet and the Nations of Goblin-kin clashed in a series of small wars that have collectively become known as the First Unhuman War. The elves, with greater organization and a larger space presence, defeated the goblins and their kin, driving them out of Known Space. Some fled to a multitude of worlds, forsaking spelljamming in an effort to escape the elves' wrath. Others were captured and left to die on Armistice. A few, with the foresight to realize that they were doomed, fled Known Space and the reach of the elves. Among those refugees were the followers of Dukagsh, orc warlord and religious leader. He led a small fleet of orc ships to a distant world, where he trained and prepared them for a war of revenge. These orcs became the scro, and after three centuries of preparation, their time has come. The War of Revenge, the Second Unhuman War to those of Known Space, has begun, and again the spheres rock with the battles of scro and elves.
To prepare for their war, the scro have built a number of bases throughout the edge of Known Space. The most famous of these bases, as well as the closest, is Gamero. Built from the shell of a Gammaroid, Gamero is the only scro base that is mobile and thus a greater danger to Known Space than any other. Gamero has served loyally throughout the war, but was severely damaged due to internal conflicts. The base has been rebuilt, and again threatens Known Space.
Gamero, as its name implies, was built from the shell of a Gammaroid. The massive shell, over 50 feet thick in most places, provides an excellent foundation and defense for the base. Space dust has covered the shell to a depth of over 10 feet, allowing all sorts of plant life to grow on it. A thick forest of pine and ash trees covers the topside of the base. The trees average 30 feet tall, and provide excellent camouflage for those hiding below. Thick underbrush also covers the base, tangled with thorn vines such that movement anywhere but designated paths is difficult. Enemy ships passing over the top section will be attacked by the dozens of hidden weapon pits as well as by the nearly 100 goblin blade fighters and a dozen hobgoblin scorpion ships that are based throughout the entire topside.
The underside is likewise overgrown by underbrush and grasses, but large trees are absent. The scro cleared this terrain of all large trees to make room for a training area. Scro, hobgoblin, and allied units are often found here practicing maneuvers. The drills are fairly frequent, and the underside sees some fairly heavy activity.
Gamero itself is a massive place. It is over 2500' from head to tail, slightly less than 2000 across, and roughly 300 in height. It has tremendous cargo and crew capacity, but that capacity is not being used entirely. Large parts of the base are filled with rock and stone, mainly to aid in supporting the interior sections of the base. The base is equipped with two hangers, one in the "head" of the base and the other at the "tail." Massive doors and weapon emplacements defend both of these hangers.
Inside, Gamero is a maze of rooms, corridors, cargo bays, and caverns. The scro locate their quarters at the forward part of the base, holding complete control of almost a fourth of the place. The hobgoblins, their most trusted allies, are quartered closest to them. Other races' quarters are scattered throughout the base in compounds. The borders of these compounds are always guarded, as the various races do not like each other. At the center of Gamero is the Chamber of the Marauder, where the primary witchlight marauder is held. This chamber also provides the power to move the lumbering craft about wildspace, but the scro are reluctant to do so in fear that they might drain or even kill the marauder within.
Gamero's history begins with the conclusion of the First Unhuman War. At the close of that war, the orc's doomsday weapon, the witchlight marauder, escaped an elvish blockade and headed to deep space. This 1000' long monstrous crocodile drifted from sphere to sphere, eventually fleeing to Moragspace after a long hunt by elvish ships. However, within that sphere, it met its match. An even more monstrous space turtle, known as a gammaroid, turned the doomsday weapon into a light snack. Yet, in doing so, the gammaroid sealed its own fate. The witchlight marauder, upon its death, released three massive slugs, called primary marauders, into the gammaroid's stomach, which proceeded to eat the creature from the inside out. The marauders bred even more marauders as they ate, and would eventually turn on each other once the food ran out. As part of their digestive system, the marauders excreted a black paste that was completely inert. This paste would eventually fill the shell of the gammaroid as the marauders destroyed each other, leaking off into space as time passed. The final marauder, one of the original massive slugs, emerged victorious but was forced into hibernation to avoid starvation. The situation would remain the same for the next three and a half centuries.
Fifty years ago, the scro entered Moragspace and began scouting the sphere. The warpriests, guided by their god, Dukagsh, discovered the gammaroid shell with the slumbering marauder. So much of the black paste had leaked off into space that it was but knee deep when the scro discovered it. The warpriests, delighted by their discovery, made preparations to bind and control the beast. To do so, they needed many resources, including sacrifices and powerful magical items.
For the next year and a half, the scro prayed and studied the ancient texts that survived the first Unhuman War. Within those texts, they found rituals that would bind a marauder and bend it to their will. However, the texts were far from complete, and the warpriests feared awakening the beast with only partial knowledge of the rituals they needed. Instead, they researched other methods of binding, particularly those methods used by humans to bind creatures from other planes. While the details of those methods were different than those needed by the scro, the principles were similar. Eventually, the scro discovered a magical item of binding, an Iron Bands of Bilarro. This magical item, thou woefully inadequate in the state they found it, would serve as the bases for their plan.
The second step of the scro plans would involve enchanting their own version of the Iron Bands of Bilarro to near artifact level for their purposes. This would be one of the scro's greatest undertakings as a people and would tax the limits of their resources. The formula, provided to them by their god, was a long and drawn out process. It would take the scro over four years to gather the resources they needed to create their artifact of binding, and would involve hiring many mages from other races to cast spells and journey to places they could not. The process is explained in greater depth below. Needless to say, the creation of the artifact nearly drained the Church of Dukagsh's coffers, but they felt the money was well spent.
With the magical artifact, now known as the Bonds of the Marauder, in hand, the scro warpriests returned to Moragspace. The garrison that they had left was intact, watching the gammaroid shell from a nearby asteroid. Commanding the warpriests was one Rendflesh, a very high ranking member of the Church of Dukagsh with eyes on taking over as the highest rank member of that church with the completion of this delicate assignment. With the Bonds in his possession, the battlewagon carrying him flew straight into the gammaroid shell.
At the shell, Rendflesh joined fellow warpriests in a chant that started hours before his arrival. The chant became louder and faster, building to a climax. Suddenly, the warpriests fell silent, and the marauder began to stir. Rendflesh approached the massive beast, holding the sphere firmly in his outstretched hand. Shouting a prayer to Dukagsh, the hellishly glowing sphere levitated into the air and hurled itself at the marauder, which exploded into dozens of iron bands. The bands enwrapped the creature, binding it to the will of Dukagsh and his warpriests. The bands vanished into the flesh of the creature, eventually enwrapping its heart. The creature was now a tool in the scro war of revenge.
Once the marauder was properly bound, the scro began the long process of turning the Gammaroid shell into a base. Thousands of goblin workers, reassigned from the scro home world, were put to work constructing the interior of the base. The Gammeroid's skeleton, claws, and head had survived the feasts of the marauders, and would be needed to complete the defenses of the base. The head would be converted into a forward hanger and command center for the scro, while the claws would make excellent gun ports. The skeleton made a convenient frame from which to build the rest of their base. Rock imported from nearby asteroids was used in large quantity as building stones to create the interior of the base. Most of the interior sections of the base are stone, but a few sections, particularly the quarters of the scro, are wooden. Wood is fairly rare on Gamero, and in some areas is considered a luxury.
After the interior of the base was completed, the scro again betrayed their goblin laborers. In a massive ceremony, the scro warpriests sacrificed the goblins and thousands of other slaves they had acquired to Dukagsh, calling upon him to transform the chamber of the marauder into one massive lifejammer. Again, Dukagsh answered, causing the goblins to violently explode. Their burning blood flowed from their bodies like fountains, and flew across the room toward the walls of the chamber. The blood streams hit the granite walls and burned cruel runes into the stone. The black granite became veined with blood and pockmarked with hellish runes. The whole chamber became a massive lifejammer, capable of providing flight to the station and to spelljammers with specially rigged lifejammer helms.
Construction of Gamero was completed thirty years ago. At about that time, the scro deemed themselves ready for war, and began the War of Revenge. The War of Revenge has been a long, drawn out affair that did not affect all spheres at once. Indeed, the lynchpin to scro strategy is to hit spheres one at a time, defeat the native fleets and nations of elves, and move on. For this reason the war has lasted so long and shows no sign of letting up soon. So distant are many of the spheres that the scro first hit that the Elvish Fleet itself only became aware of the scro less than a decade ago, following the Battle of Ironpiece in Bralspace. By that time, more than a dozen spheres had been hit by scro aggression. Spheres hit early in the war include Glowrings, Javensphere, Frontier, and Rylespace. Other spheres may have been attacked by scro war fleets, but with so much fighting going on at the edge of Known Space information is sketchy.
During the early phases of the war, Gamero served as an outpost a center for gathering information. Its location deep behind enemy lines made it ideal for this duty, as the elves arrogantly believed that they would detect any such base so close to their centers of power. During this phase, the scro guarded the base with a skeleton defense fleet. The remainder of their fleet was scattered throughout the sphere guarding other holding or was out scouting other spheres.
The situation for Gamero changed roughly ten years ago, when the front lines advanced to near Gamero's position. At that time, it took on different duties. Using the information it had gathered, the commander at Gamero became Marshal of the Front, taking over command of many scro warfleets. The Marshal at the time was Brack Neverfang, a skilled warrior. His strategy called for a four-prong assault on major elvish territories, attacking the spheres of Greyspace, Spiralspace, Realmspace, and a fourth sphere at roughly the same time. He hoped that the weakened elvish nations of those spheres would not be able to repel his attacks, leading to a total collapse of the Elvish Fleet along the entire Front. Unfortunately, the first major assaults, the Battle of Borka and the Battle of Ironpiece, proved to be disasters. Though the elvish world of Spiral fell, it was the only bright hope in a series of total failures. Though no particularly large battles were fought in Realmspace, the highly experienced and wily Admiral Icarus managed to defeat the initial invasion fleet in a long series of hit and run battles. The remaining scro ships where forced to flee to the outer system, where they were captured by illithids and beholders, their fates unknown.
Marshal Neverfang's failures proved to be his undoing. The captains under his command took his failures as a sign of weakness and the displeasure of Dukagsh. He was removed in a popular revolution, slain and mercilessly removed from power. Almighty Leader Voulge rose to become his successor, taking command of the base. Marshal Voulge immediately began restructuring the chain of command and reorganizing the fleets under his command. Diplomatic dialogues were opened with Borka, the orcs in Northern Fearun, Wa, and Iuz. Marshal Voulge's hope is to unite a number of nations against the elves and reverse the near complete disaster of Marshal Neverfang's command.
During the early stages of the War of Revenge, High Warpriest Rendflesh conducted extensive research into the life cycle and reproduction of the marauders. His research yielded startling results when he fed the primary marauder enough food to divide. When the creature divided, a small black sphere was left behind. This sphere was the heart of the first marauder, which gave the warpriest holding it command over both marauders. The new primary marauder was tested on the tiny and remote elvish world of Lar. The planet had been razed, and the marauder was left behind as a secret cache for later use.
This was excellent news for Warpriest Rendflesh. With this power, he could easily rise to total power in the Church, and even ultimately rule the entire scro race. However, it was not to be. During a necromantic experiment aimed at gaining more information, he was coldly murdered by a rival warpriest. The necromantic energies that Warpriest Rendflesh had called forth surged out of control, slaying everyone in attendance and rose them all from the grave as wraiths. Other scro warpriests hurried to seal the shrine and contain the undead. The Heart of the Marauder was stolen by a renegade scro who fled to Shadowspace. With Rendflesh dead, the second marauder was quickly forgotten.
As the war progressed deeper into elvish territories, numerous spies sent by the elves infiltrated Gamero. Some were slain while others escaped with valuable information. Yet it would not be spies that brought about Gamero's downfall. Infighting between the ambassadorial forces ultimately unleashed a deadly plague that wiped everyone out. Elvish agents returned to steal the marauder with the Heart of the Marauder, recovered from Shadowspace.
Gamero's history did not end there, however. A year later, the scro returned to rebuild. They recovered the marauder on Lar, and worked hard at restoring the base. Marshal Voulge, a brilliant leader, has been put in charge of the base and it is again ready to threaten Known Space.
As one of the key offensive points of the scro's war effort, Gamero is heavily defended against attack. The base has three main lines of defense to protect it against attack. The first line of defense is the flotilla of warships that have been assigned to Gamero. In all, this fleet of warships numbers forty craft crewed by a variety of races. The scro employ a number of other races in their war against the elves, some of whom are based at Gamero. The fleet protects Gamero through deep range patrols and intercepting incoming ships before they reach Gamero. If a ship somehow gets through the patrol ships, they are assaulted en-mass by the second line of defense, the atmospheric goblin blades and the orc striker-class scorpion ships. This swarm unleashes a deadly barrage upon any ship that dares to attack Gamero. If this cloud of defenders is defeated, the scro brake out their last line of defense, their marines and the numerous special units found on the base.
A fleet of roughly forty warships defends Gamero. Not all of these warships are owned or operated by the scro; a few are those of allied races or mercenaries hired by the scro in their war effort. Half of these warships are at Gamero at all times, usually patrolling close to the station or docked in one of the hangers. The other half of the fleet is usually within four day's travel of Gamero on patrol duty. All ships must check in at least once every ten days for security reasons. When the check in, ships are re-supplied and given new orders. Usually, this means a new patrol route but sometimes the scro have special assignments for individual ships.
The Gamero Fleet is aimed mainly at the defense of the base and other holdings the scro have in the sphere. Gamero acts as the scro forward command post, where other fleets are sent before setting out to attack other spheres. Likewise, reports from said fleets are sent to Gamero and those fleets receive new orders from the base. For this reason, a number of small ships are kept at Gamero for the express purpose of acting as messenger ships.
The main defense fleet of Gamero is comprised of ships owned and operated by the scro. Only a small handful of these ships are commanded by races other than the scro. A tiny minority of ships are those of human, giff, and lizardmen privateers who have been hired by the scro in their war effort. In all, less than a dozen of such privateers are stationed at Gamero, and less than half will be found in the sphere at any one time. Privateers rarely spend much time at Gamero; they usually stay long enough to make a report and receive a new assignment. A couple of these privateers are kept around the base in case a new assignment comes up and the scro need to send agents as quickly as possible.
The remaining ships are a mix bag of scro warships and ships that were captured during the course of the war and pressed into service. The most powerful ship of this fleet is the battlewagon Conflagrator, which serves as the flagship. An Admiral who is in charge of the fleet commands the Conflagrator. His ship is crewed by the best scro sailors and ogre marines the base has to offer. Gamero has a high concentration of mantis ships, with twelve of the deadly craft stationed at it. An equal number of scorpion warships are also stationed at Gamero, providing support for the mantis ships. The mantis and scorpion warships have seen action during the war, but are in excellent condition and crewed by crack scro sailors and marines. These ships form the core of the defensive fleet.
Supporting these warships are five wasp ships, six viperships, a pair of squidships, and a mammoth ship. Some of these ships were captured from humans and lizardmen during the war, but the viperships and the mammoth ship are rebuilt relics from the First Unhuman War. These are the ships most often on patrol throughout Moragspace, masquerading as human ships. The scro keep only a few sailors on deck, dressed in human clothing but wearing helmets. Standard scro tactics is to close with an unknown ship under a friendly flag, learn their intent, and then attempt to board when within grappling range. Scro marines burst out of the hold, overwhelming the crew of the enemy ship. Only ships friendly to the scro are allowed to leave unmolested. Scro ships always patrol in-groups of two or three.
The remaining ships are not set, as they are constantly in a state of flux. Ships are constantly being reassigned to other posts. The ships listed above are those that are semi-permanent, and have stayed for an extended period of time. Do note that the list may change dramatically over the course of a few years or even a few months. When a fleet is passing through Moragspace, activity is tripled and ships swarm about the base and patrols are extra heavy.
A number of aerial defenses of Gamero are confined to the atmosphere, including several dozen goblin blades, a dozen striker-class scorpion ships, a team of goblin mobat riders, and a large and vicious pack of winged gnashers. All of these forces are confined to the atmosphere of Gamero, but will put up a decent fight if any ship gets close enough.
The most numerous aerial defenders of Gamero are the goblin blades. Roughly one hundred of the two ton fighter craft are based at Gamero, kept in large pits dug on the top shell. Each pit services six blade fighters, while a larger central pit services twelve of the craft. Each blade fighter is armed with a light ballista and a single shot wildfire projector. The blades cannot leave the atmosphere of Gamero; their lifejammers are tied directly to that of the marauder, and draw most of their power from that source instead of the lives of the goblins. The lifejammers have an SR of 1, and draw 1d4 points of damage from their pilots. When a goblin pilot firsts sits in the lifejammer, he must save vs. death magic or fall into a deep slumber for d4 days, from which he cannot awake. The lifejammers have no power outside the atmosphere; the method of their construction was shoddy at best, and are too dependent upon the power of the marauder. As a result of the lifejammers' effects, a number of goblins slumber in their compound. Many goblins consider pilot duty distasteful at best. When attacking enemy ships, the blades swarm over weapon pits, using their ballista and wildfire projectors to cut weapon crews down.
The second group of defenders is a squad of a half dozen striker-classed scorpionships. Each of these heavy fighters are based in an individual pit and manned by 24 scro warriors. The scorpionships are each equipped with a medium ballista, a medium catapult, and a lifejammer rigged like those of the goblin blades. Scro warriors are far less likely to be knocked unconscious by the lifejammers, and thus consider the duty an honor. In battle, each scorpionship acts as a spearhead for a wing of goblin blades, which follow the scorpionships in to finish off any ship that gets too close.
The third and last group of aerial defenders are the Beastriders. Nominally led by Sergeant Kale, this largely unpredictable group is known for dirty tactics and recklessness in combat. The Beastriders are divided into two platoons. Sergeant Kale directly leads a score of winged gnashers from the back of his trained wyvern. This platoon is the more disciplined of the two, a credit to Sergeant Kale's training of the creatures. The second platoon, led by Sergeant Gore, is a wing of goblin-riding mobats. Despite constant drilling, this group of 15 goblins are chaos incarnate. Their complete lack of discipline is the largest reason why the scro have not deployed similar units elsewhere. Despite themselves, the goblins are actually quite skilled and seem to have a tremendous streak of luck.
Two battalions of scro marines and an ogre battalion are stationed at Gamero. They are under the command of General Thork, but have little to do other than drill and keep the peace on the station. All are armored in the standard studded leather armor and armed with halbreds, longswords, and battle axes. Two companies of these marines are specially equipped for long ranged combat. Company C of the Arm Crusher Battalion is armed with cavilers, a lighter and more accurate version of the arquebus. This company is responsible for guarding Almighty Leader Voulge and defending sensitive areas, including the command deck, Dukagsh's Temple, and the Grand Strategy Room. Company B of the Spine Snapper Battalion is equipped with heavy crossbows, and their duties are to guard the two hanger areas. Company B sees more action during battle, and are one of the last lines of defense if the station is boarded.
The Destroyer Battalion is the only ogre battalion stationed at Gamero. Its members are equipped as the scro battalions, but are also armed with massive 2-handed swords which they wield as bastard swords. Members of the Destroyers are stationed throughout the base, particularly to aid in defending sensitive areas. They guard the forward dock area, the command deck, and the Grand Strategy Room.
As described earlier, the top deck of Gamero is covered with a dense forest. The forest is dotted with almost two dozen pits filled with blade and scorpion fighters. Each pit containing goblin blades is normally manned by a scro Corporal in charge of a squad of 8 goblins. Given that each blade, when it lifts off, carries 3 goblins aboard it, this team can keep 2 blades in the sky at any one time. Typically, a dozen or so blades will be flying about at any one time. The scorpion pits area each manned by a full platoon of scro warriors commanded by a Sergeant. During peacetime, only a single scorpion will be flying about at any one time. If battle breaks out, all pits receive double the number of troops and as many ships as possible are launched.
Normally, the trails and forest is patrolled by scro and goblin troops. There is a 10% chance per turn of wandering on the top deck to encounter a patrol of d6 scro or 2d8 goblins (50% chance of either). For the most part, the patrols are bored and don't take their duties too seriously. Adventurers wandering the top deck are likely to be stopped only to exchange small talk, but little else. Only if the scro suspect trouble to they become more active and more suspicious of people wandering the top deck.
There are two main entrances to the top deck, one at the head of Gamero and the other at the tail. Five scro marines guard both at all times.
The bottom deck of Gamero is one large training field. Small shrub bushes were left in place to aid in creating a varied landscape for scro companies to train. Toward the "head" of Gamero is an archery range, and a small hill capped by a shell keep has been constructed near the "tail" of the base. Scro companies practice maneuvers and hone their weapon skills here. Each company drills once a week, which usually involves pitting one company against another. High marks are given to those companies that do well, such as repelling attacks on the shell keep, routing the enemy company, or capturing the enemy banner. Drills occur once every other day, and usually last for 2 or 3 hours. At other times, the area is nearly deserted except for a few scro indulging in private exercises. Few scro are injured on the training field, but warpriests are always nearby in case there is an accident.
Massive corridors, 50 wide and 45' high connect all interior areas of Gamero. The scro have developed a mechanical fan that runs on spell magic. Such fans are scattered throughout the base and are used to circulate the air throughout the whole place. Additionally, all areas that can be opened to the air envelope outside of Gamero are kept open for maximum circulation of air. Still, the biggest problem the scro have is stagnate and fouled air collecting in pockets throughout the base.
The "head" of Gamero serves double duty as a small forward hanger and the command post for the entire station. Ships fly through the mouth of Gamero to land in a large chamber. The dock on the lower portion on the station, and as a result, is reverse gravity from the command deck. Only land-landing craft can dock here, but the scro keep a few large, crescent-shaped blocks on stock to allow ships such as hammerships and squidships to dock here. The hanger is capable of housing four small ships (such as dragonflies), two medium ships (such as hammerships), or a single battleship (a battlewagon or mammoth). Cargo bays line the walls, housing a large variety of equipment. Most of this equipment is used to repair ships, unload cargo, or arm ships for battle. Important ships may dock in this hanger, but lesser ships can dock here if no special ship is due to arrive. The hanger is over 100' high, giving clearance for most ships.
Above the hanger, and reversed gravity from it, is the command deck. This area serves as bridge for Gamero when it is in combat or being moved and as living quarters and office space for the highest ranking scro in Gamero. The bridge is massive, over 200' across and deep, and over 35' high. Messengers are kept on hand to relay orders to various parts of station during battle. When the station is to be moved, whether in battle or for security reasons, a dozen warpriests are needed to control it. The warpriests sit in circle of linked major helms that provide direction to the craft, while the marauder provides the power. Their control is not great, and they can barely keep the craft from spinning out of control. Other important features of the bridge include a massive astrolobe of Moragspace (or the current sphere Gamero is in), a mighty throne for the High Priest, posts for more than twenty scro and ogre guards, and a massive mural depicting the Eyes of Dukagsh. The bridge is considered a holy site, and only guards deemed suitable by the warpriests are allowed to be stationed here. Ordinarily, the warpriests would not stand for any sort of guard, but Almighty Leader Voulge has convinced them that the bridge is too important to be left unguarded. A single surgical strike, he reasoned, could disable the whole station. Only after much grumbling did they comply with his wishes.
Below the bridge is a small maze of offices and quarters for the roughly one hundred officers stationed at Gamero. The bases of the eyes serve as the location of an officer saloon and a small hanger for four blades. The blades are for emergency use only, such as a fire breaking out in the head. All four blades are equipped with minor furnace helms and several minor magical stones for fuel.
During most of the time, Almighty Leader Voulge is found in his office, which is decorated in trophies from his long career. A model of an elvish Man-O-War, 8' long, hangs from his high ceiling. He views the craft as a representation of his enemy and a constant reminder that they are not yet beaten.
Other important offices include those of General Thork, Warpriest Beroul, and Spymaster Zeek'kin'thul. All hold valuable information on the movement of scro forces, the size of their military, and those that have allied with the scro. Some are trapped against intruders, particularly the office of Zeek'kin'thul. The insectare does not trust his scro "allies" and has safeguarded his office from scro intruders. His desk is trapped with poison needles, trapped venomous spiders, and triggered spells such as explosive runes and fire trap.
The largest compound on Gamero is that of the scro. Living quarters, mess halls, storage lockers, and armories are all packed into this area. The scro make maximum use of their space, packing in as much war material as possible. Large areas are dedicated to the two battalions and their barracks, which represents the largest permanent contingent of scro on the station. There is surprisingly few scro laborers on Gamero, as other races fulfill such needs nicely. Only a handful of scro engineers could be counted as laborers, but they are all supervisors for a small party of workers and rarely do much work on their own. Many scro serve as commanders to other races in a variety of roles throughout the station.
By far the largest area is the barracks for sailors and marines serving on scro ships scattered throughout the sphere. Though only a third filled at any one time, the barracks are constantly in flux. Scro come and go with each passing day. Roughly seven hundred scro, some sailors, some marines, occupy the barracks at any given time.
Most important is the warpiests' chambers, where the warpriests dwell. The barracks for the warpirests are laid out much like a fortress, with but a single, heavily guarded entrance. Murder holes dot the ceiling of the only corridor in, and numerous traps are set everywhere. These traps are easily armed with the throwing of a single switch, and can only be disarmed from within. Invaders will find that the scro warpriests will fight to the death from their heavily defended position. Prying them from their fortress would test any army's might. In all, little over one hundred and fifty warpriests are stationed at Gamero.
On the other side of the compound from the warpriest scandium is the Grand Strategy Room and the Fleet Control. The Grand Strategy Room is a vast chamber, 100' across circular room. A crude map of local space is drawn on the floor, depicting the location of the closest dozen or so spheres. Known flow rivers are laid out on the floor in colored tiles. Speed and the force of the river is indicated by the width and color of the river. At the location of each crystal sphere is a large astrolobe that fairly accurately details each sphere. Small stands, capped with tiny model ships, are scattered throughout the room. The stands are all 5' tall and runes are scribed along their shafts. The runes give the name of each fleet, and specific information on each fleet is stored in the rooms surrounding the Grand Strategy Room. All local scro and allied fleets are represented, as is all known elvish fleets. Charts detailing the various ship designs used by the scro hand on the walls. Surrounding the room is a dozen doors, which lead to other rooms which deal with specific areas of scro strategy. Four are dedicated to Fleet Control, where scrolls detailing the status of individual ships and fleets are stored. Scribes work diligently to keep the large amount of paperwork in order and easily accessible. Three are dedicated to the books and information that the scro have on the local spheres. While extensive, this collection has many gaps in intelligence. Of special importance is the little information the scro have on elvish nations scattered throughout local space. Another room is set aside for reports from worlds conquered by the scro, including reports on resistance, occupying forces, and diplomatic responses by other nations. Other rooms are dedicated to other aspects of the scro strategy.
The Grand Strategy sees a great deal of activity when fleets are passing through, when the Admiral of that fleet meets with Almighty Leader Voulge to discuss strategy. Such meetings determine most of the scro strategy against the Elvish Fleet.
Other important sites in the scro compound include a brig, the sealed private quarters of Rendflesh, and numerous cargo holds. In case of infighting or invasion, the scro can seal themselves inside their compound and will be able to hold out for days.
The Temple of Dukagsh is the center of scro religion on Gamero. At least once every five days all scro aboard the station come here to worship. Daily ceremonies are held every morning for the faithful. The Eyes of Dukagsh are painted on the far wall, where Dukagsh watches over his followers. Idols to the other orcish gods are not present. All natives of Dukagsh worship Dukagsh, with only a few cults scattered throughout the world.
The Temple is the center of a focus spell cast at the creation of Gamero. The focus, cast with the power of over two hundred scro warpriests, is unusually large and complex. The power of the focus blocks elvish deities from communicating with any of their priests while on Gamero, who cannot regain spells. The focus provides courage and heart for scro and ogre warriors, boasting their moral by +2 when on the station. Finally, the focus acts as a permanent true sight spell. No illusion or magical disguise will work in the Temple. All scro warpriests inside the temple will see through such deceptions and lies with ease. There are no secrets in the Temple.
The largest single room in Gamero, besides the aft hanger, the chamber of the Marauder houses the primary witchlight marauder in status. The Chamber is over 500 feet in diameter, and is spherical in shape. The chamber sits slightly above the gravity plane, and the ceiling brushes the roof of the gammeroid's shell. A 20' wide balcony has been built around the equator of the room, surrounding the marauder. The marauder is below. Warpriests circle the creature, standing in a rude circle about the creature in constant chant. The chant by the warpriests keep the creature sedated, and requires the services of twenty warpriests at any given time. The whole chamber was constructed of black granite, and is veined with the crimson blood of the goblin laborers who died here. Bloody red runes, burned into the granite during the concentration of the chamber scrawl over the walls. The runes have transformed the chamber into a gigantic lifejammer, drawing from the life force of the marauder to power both the goblin blades and even Gamero itself.
The marauder is a massive, slug-like creature over 200' long. It rests at the bottom of the chamber in slumber, bound by the magic of the scro. The lower half of the chamber is slimy and the marauder rests in a pool of blue-green slime. The marauder's skin pulses with a power and an unnatural life of its own. The marauder is immune to all physical attacks by any man-sized creature. Its skin is simply too thick to be hurt by arrows, sword blades, or spearheads. Only powerful magic (6th level magic or above), giant attacks, or artillery weapons can affect the creature. Scro warpriests can, with the proper chanting, control the great beast. The scro feed the creature once a week to keep it healthy and encourage it to breed secondary marauders. The scro are very careful not to feed the creature enough for it to breed too quickly split into two primary marauders. Doors connect with the Temple of Dukagsh, the Marauder Cells, and the largest connects with the hanger. The last door is to be used as a last resort; in case the base is lost or the scro wish to destroy an elvish world, they open these doors and the marauder crawls out and exits the base through the tail. It destroys everything it encounters, including any ships left in the hanger. Given that this ruins the scro control over the beast, they will use it as a last resort only.
A series of large chambers, the scro keep secondary and tertiary marauders in steel cages. The warpriests keep at least twenty of the creatures locked up for use as weapons against elvish settlements and ships. The scro are extremely cautious with the marauders, and security is extremely tight. Scro and ogre guards stand at every entrance, all of which are double bolted in case a marauder escapes.
Goblins are used for a variety of tasks throughout Gamero. Many serve as pilots for the blade fighters on the top deck, while others are dock workers assigned to clean ships. Goblins serve as the general labor pool for the entire station, assigned to any number of tasks that involve physical labor. All goblins are trained pilots, as when battle breaks out, they abandon their dock duties and swarm to the top deck to fly their blade craft. As a result, the number of goblins aboard the station is fairly low. No more than four hundred goblins are assigned to Gamero, but many more are based throughout Moragspace. Most of the goblins are armed with maces and spears and armored in leather armor.
The goblin compound is a maze of small rooms and corridors. Anyone but the goblins find the compound maddening, and creatures larger than humans cannot fit through most of the doorways and corridors. The goblins use this maze to their advantage, striking from behind and luring invaders into traps. For the most part, goblins are usually elsewhere in the base, and use their compound only as sleeping quarters and the place to spend their off-duty time. The compound has 15 levels, which gives the goblins plenty of space. In general, the place is largely deserted as half the goblins will be on duty at any given time.
There is little of value in this compound. The goblins are poorly paid and usually blow their money at Zarth when they get the chance. Goblin moral is not particularly high, and they are likely to flee if faced with strong opposition. The first order of business for goblins under attack is to warn the scro and seek reinforcements. If invaders continue to press into their compound, the goblins will pull out their "heavy artillery" in the form of numerous caged monsters. Bags of gold, infested with lock lurkers, will be left in the open for the greedy. A pack of four worgs will be set loose to hunt stray adventurers. If it seems likely that the invaders are closing in on the chief's lair, the goblins will unleash their most powerful creatures, including a pair of rust monsters, a swarm of four giant scorpions, and several dozen poisonous snakes. Once these monsters have been unleashed, the goblins will abandon the compound and seal it up, trapping the invaders and the monsters inside to hunt each other. Only when suitable reinforcements arrive will they again open the compound.
Orcs have few duties on Gamero. For the most part, the help out in the hangers and man a weapon pit, but that's the extent of their duties. Simply put, the scro don't trust orcs well enough with anything else. Almighty Leader Voulge particularly dislikes orcs, and fears that if he gives them more duties, the Scro High Command will assign more of the brutes to his base. As it is, he tries to keep the orcs on the move by assigning them front line duty in other spheres. In this way, Almighty Leader Voulge intends to rid himself of the orcs slowly. Unfortunately, more orcs arrive to replace the ones that he gets rid of. He finds the whole situation particularly frustrating.
The orc compound itself is not a large affair. It is a maze of rooms and passages. Whatever orc tribe currently is aboard Gamero spends its time here. With few duties, the orcs spend their time in gambling, brawling, drinking, or making plans to overthrow the scro. Nothing comes of said plans, as the orcs are too lazy and fearful of the scro to do anything.
The number of orcs varies from month to month, but never drops below 300 orcs (much to Voulge's distaste). Sometimes, the number rises to over 500, but this is rare. Even the Scro High Command is leery about concentrating so many orcs in one place.
Dukagsh is haven to a number of goblin races, including orcs (who became the scro), goblins, and ogres. Of these races, the ogres are most favored by the scro. They have trained the ogre clans of Dukagsh with the same strict code of conduct the scro impose upon themselves. As a result, the ogres are nearly as highly trained as the scro. Many of these ogre companies have joined the scro in their War of Revenge against the elves. The ogre compound, because of their high training and discipline, is located nearest to the scro. Ogres are used by the scro as heavy laborers, when the situation warrants it, and as the strong arm of most security patrols. Most commonly, ogres serve as marines on scro ships and as a result, few are actually stationed on Gamero.
The ogre compound is really little more than a gathering place for ogres during their off-duty hours. They spend their time in pit fights with monsters gathered throughout the sphere, resting in large caverns, or any number of other activities. At any given time, the place is crawling with fifty to a hundred ogres. At least a quarter of that number are from docked ships or otherwise in transit.
As a result of the small number of ogres permanently assigned to Gamero, their compound is very small. It is roughly shaped like a great inverted cone, with a massive open space above. The decks ring the central area, forming larger circles at higher decks. Decks are connected via large stone stairwells. The walls of each deck is lined with a number of doors. Half of these doors lead to sleeping quarters and mess halls, while others lead to armories, training halls, taverns, and even an art gallery!
The walls, while crudely cut from stone, are covered with ogre war banners, trophy weapons taken from elves and humans, and even a few ballista bolts, taken from the sides of ships killed by the ogres. The floors are bare stone, but smoother than the walls because of the constant traffic they see. The upper deck is reserved for the office and quarters of high ranking ogres, and sleeping quarters dominate the upper four decks. The remaining six decks are devoted to taverns and mess kitchens. At the very bottom level is a large open commons with a fighting pit in the center of it. Every other week or so the ogres host massive pit fights against captured monsters. These fights are extremely popular, drawing a crowd of ogres goblins, orcs, and even scro. Wages are placed on favored ogre gladiators and monsters. To the often bored soldiers, these events are a welcome diversion to their daily routines.
The smallest of the compounds is that of the mercenaries hired by the scro. Most such mercenaries are sent out on missions as soon as they are hired. Only a few are kept on the station to handle any sort of mission that might come up. The scro dislike to rely upon mercenaries for defense, and consider them unreliable at best. The scro only allow the existence of a compound for their mercenaries because said pirates for hire dislike sleeping and dwelling too close to goblin-kin.
Privateer bands most likely to be at Gamero at any given time are:
Each of the gammeroid's four claws have been converted into weapon pits. They are all nearly identical, with the only difference in weapon crews. Each pit is largely open to wildspace, but large doors have been built here to seal them if the need arises. Weapon decks are located above and below the massive claws of the gammeroid, which hang in wildspace. The claws are immobile, but massive. Ships that come too close risk damage by brushing up against them, inflicting 2d4 hull points of damage. Ships that deliberately ram the claws suffer the effects of crashing into Gameroid.
Each pit deck is armed with a heavy catapult, a heavy ballista, two medium catapults, and two medium ballista. During battle, more than fifty crewmen man each pit deck, ensuring that all of the weapons are kept firing for as long as possible and to protect them from possible boarders. The scro are well aware of the fact that the pits could become entry points for invaders, and have taken precautions. If fighting breaks out, the scro seal each weapon pit. The doors are only unlocked when the battle is won. While this tactic traps a number of troops in the pits, it helps slow down invaders.
The forward two pits are manned by scro and ogre warriors. The aft right pit is manned by goblins, while the aft left pit it manned by orcs. A scro captain is in charge of each pit, and said captain will always be in the pit when fighting breaks out. The forward pits are in excellent condition, with top grade weapons. The aft pits are in far worse shape, with shoddy and poorly maintained weapons.
By far the largest chamber in Gamero, bar none, is the aft hanger. It engulfs nearly half of the station, over 1500' across at its widest. The ceiling is over 150' high, providing more than enough space for ships to maneuver and land at specified docks. Catwalks and high platforms crisscross the hanger at various heights, providing easy access to any ship that docks there. There is room for about forty ships of decent size, but only about three-fourths of the docks are in use at any given time. The area is crawling with goblin and orc laborers and scro overseers. Ogre guards are likewise found roaming around, keeping trespassers away from the scro warships.
The bay doors are protected by a pair of enormous metal doors constructed by a human mage using multiple wall of iron spells. The doors are usually kept open at all times, but can be closed by the effort of fifty orc laborers. Closing the doors takes at least an hour, so the task is not often done.
The underside of the aft hanger is a vast cargo hold. Munitions and food is stored in great quantities in this hold. The cargo hold is capable of housing enough supplies to feed the base through a six month siege. There is also enough ammunition in the hold to fire every artillery weapon on Gamero one hundred times.
LE Scro male F12 Almighty Leader of Gamero & Moragspace, Marshal of the Front
Few scro are as big and powerful as Voulge. Nor are they quite as intelligent. Voulge is an excellent tactician and a master of handling logistics. His 25 year long career with the scro navy is virtually spotless, and he has personally slain over two dozen elves. Voulge has worked hard to bring more goblin nations into the war, particularly the orcs trapped at Borka. His strategies have proven successful, but the actions of his predecessor nearly doomed the entire war effort. He has managed to reverse some of the scro's recent setbacks, but he has had to concede defeat in at least a half dozen spheres.
Voulge is a powerfully built and tall scro, standing almost 7 feet tall. Though he is a scro, he does have ogre blood in his veins, which has blessed him with great strength and height. His fur is a light gray, and his eyes are sickly green. He always wears a suit of leather armor made from the hide of a void scavvar. This armor is studded with many small, common jewels and metal spikes. Though Voulge endorses use of poison, he has none on his armor. His spiked gloves, on the other hand, are routinely tipped with viper poison. In battle, Voulge wields a bastard sword +2, Flame Tongue and a battle axe +3. Typically, Voulge hurls his battle axe at an opponent (treat as hand axe for range), usually a spellcaster if one is obvious, and closes with the largest fighter with his bastard sword. He is no fool, and will retreat if faced with overwhelming odds.
LE Scro male P7/W8 Admiral of Gamero Fleet
Admiral Rylord is a grizzled veteran of more than two score battles. Because of his age, he has lost much muscle tone and weight, and is fairly thin for a scro. However, he is still more than a match, physically, for most humans. His once black fur has grayed and now is almost entirely white. Fortunately, his true strength has always been his great intelligence and his faith in Dukagsh. Admiral Rylord gained his position with a certain degree of help from the Church. To his credit, Admiral Rylord is a brilliant leader and never backs down from a fight. He has held positions that were deemed un-defendable from heavy elvish attacks by his superiors.
Admiral Rylord is none too happy with Almighty Leader Voulge. The two don't particularly care for each other for personal reasons. Almighty Leader Voulge sees Admiral Rylord as an aging Church-appointee with no real leadership ability and a rabble-rouser at best. Admiral Rylord views Almighty Leader Voulge as a commoner with no true vision of the Holy War the scro have embarked upon. At best, the two can barely be kept from killing each other. They communicate through messengers, as neither wishes to speak to the other. As a result, Admiral Rylord is most often on his flagship, the battlewagon Conflagrator, on deep patrol.
As a warpriest, Admiral Rylord has a number of spells always handy. He prefers battle oriented spells such as flaming hands, magic missile, and flaming sphere. Of late, he has taken to praying for healing magic to ease the aching in his bones. He is equipped with a star wheel pistol, several packs of smoke powder, spiked leather armor +2, and an exceptional warhammer (+1 to damage). Admiral Rylord prefers to use his pistol at range and only relays on his warhammer if all else fails.
NE Scro male F10 General of Gamero
General Thork is a well-built but fairly short scro. He is well-pleased with his enormous tusks, which are decorated with carvings and tiny gems. His moss green hide helped him greatly in his early career as a forest warrior and skirmisher. A strong and able commander, General Thork has earned the respect of his troops.
General Thork's duties are not many. For the most part, he runs his troops through drills to keep their skills sharp. He is responsible for all marines in the sphere, but in a sphere conquered by the scro, this job means little more than constant paperwork. Though he has numerous officers under him that could conceivably take his position, none want it. The amount of paperwork and inaction is too much for most of them to consider.
This scro warrior is equipped with a ring of protection +2, an exceptional battle axe (+1 to damage), and studded leather armor. He has not used poison in years, and his current stock has lost its potency from age (+4 bonus to all saves). A trained gnasher is always with him, which serves both as his guard dog and his pet.
LE Scro male P12/W9 Head warpriest
Beroul is an ancient scro priest, losing his posture and muscle with age. He is stooped and leans on a staff. He has lost sight in one eye (which is now milky white), and his face is heavily scarred. Both of his tusks have snapped with age, and he has lost most of his teeth. His tan fur has lost its luster and is graying. However, his power is not in his muscle. He has been chosen by Dukagsh to spiritually lead the scro in their war on the elves. He commands tremendous magical power, nearly unequaled by any scro.
Warpriest Beroul considers himself above the petty arguments of the high ranking scro on Gamero. He has been given the task of inspiring and leading the troops into battle, and he intends to fulfill those duties. His magical arsenal is unequaled by any scro, and includes the following magical items: the staff of Dukagsh (combines the effects of a Rod of Terror and a Staff of Withering), a Ring of Fire Resistance, a Wand of Wonder, a Cloak of Displacement, and a Crystal Ball. He has created other magical items that the Church keep in safekeeping on Dukagsh. Because of his power and his contributions to the Church, he is very likely to take as Head Warpriest for the entire scro race in the coming years.
LN Scro male F7 Kennel Master of Gamero
Sergeant Kale is a large scro with black fur and pale green eyes. Never out of uniform, Kale has been given the unenviable task of keeping control of a pack of trained gnashers stationed at Gamero. This task fell to him two years back when the Scro High Command decided to relocate some gnashers to the base to use as guard dogs. Kale was chosen because of his ease in controlling the creatures and expert skill at training them. To aid him, Voulge has assigned a half dozen goblins under his command.
Kale success is due in part to the fact that he is the closest thing the scro have to a ranger. He has an empathic bond with creatures, particularly monstrous ones, akin to that of rangers. This empathy for monsters has allowed him to control and train hundreds of gnashers now scattered throughout scro-held space. He has also trained a wyvern that he rides into battle. The wyvern has learned to trust Kale, and the two have an odd relationship. Both consider each other partners and warriors in an epic war.
When battle breaks out over Gamero, Kale takes to the sky on his wyvern, leading the pack of 20 winged gnashers to glorious battle. He wears black leather armor and is armed with a horseman mace of exceptional quality (+1 to hit) and a magical heavy lance +2. Kale will use his pack to try and overrun weapon pits of warships one by one, using hit and run tactics to destroy artillery weapons.
CN goblin male F4
A skilled warrior, for a goblin, Sergeant Gore is leader of the Mobat Goblins, a platoon of goblins mounted upon mobats. He is not a large goblin, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in tenacity and unpredictability. In combat, he is wild and lustfully sings, quite badly in fact, goblin war songs. His mount, Nevvenwing, is just as wild as his commander, and barely tolerates the singing goblin.
Sergeant Gore is armed with a suit of leather armor and armed with an exceptional spear (+1 to hit). He is also armed, like everyone in his platoon, with a light crossbow, five hand axes, and a small mace. In battle, Sergeant Gore likes to sneak up on ships and "buzz" the crew while unloading his crossbow into an unsuspecting crewman and fly away singing lustfully. This can be quite unnerving for enemy crewmen.
LE "Goblin" (Baatazu-Cornugon) male F10/M8
A lowly private, Gerson is an average goblin dock worker. There is very little to distinguish him from the thousand or so goblins living and working on the station. Gerson can be found almost anywhere, snooping in areas considered restricted by the scro. If caught, he usually gets shooed out.
The truth to "private" Gerson is that he is, in fact, a Baatazu spy and agent. A powerful agent, at that. He is a Cornugon, one of the most powerful types of Baatazu commonly found. Gerson uses his powers to sneak into important locations and gather information for his superiors. Virtually no part of the station is secure from this spy, and he has almost complete run of the station. No one knows his true identity, but Captain Redfang suspects something when he met the goblin once. The two may end up playing a deadly game of cat-and-mouse eventually in an effort to slaughter each other.
Gerson was equipped with a barbed whip +3 and a shortsword +2. He keeps both hidden and will not reveal them unless in mortal danger. He has the magical abilities of an eighth level mage in addition to his considerable innate magical abilities. His sword and whip double as his spellbook.
NE "human" (Red Dragon) male F15/M12
One of the most deadly mercenaries hired by the scro is, without a doubt, Captain Redfang. This skilled pirate commands the Rampage of Longhaven, a hammership stolen from that distant city. His crew consist of mostly humans and lizardmen, all pirates and privateers. Captain Redfang himself is a tall, handsome warrior armed with a two handed sword and is always clad in blood-red armor. His crimson-red, feathered cloak was crafted from the hides of stirges from the Red Eyes sphere. His charcoal black hair is kept at shoulder length, and he has a long, stringy goatee of like black hair. His eyes are most unusual for a human, as they are a hellishly red hue.
Captain Redfang is not what he appears. He is, in fact, a red dragon masquerading as a human pirate. The disguise is his effort to best make money for his ever growing horde, hidden somewhere in Moragspace. Only a handful of individuals knows his true identity, including Almighty Leader Voulge. The Almighty Leader pays the dragon very well, and keeps him around as a secret weapon in case of revolt or attack. Captain Redfang is often given dangerous, high paying missions because Almighty Leader Voulge knows full well that he will return victorious.
Redfang enjoys personal combat, and nothing pleases him more than tearing a human limb from limb. When in "human form," which he gained from a polymorph ring, he is armed with a flaming two handed sword +3, plate armor +2, and carries 6 potions of healing. He cannot cast spells when in armor. If he feels that his magical abilities are needed, he sheds his armor and reverts to his natural state to unleash a barrage of spells before closing for personal combat. Captain Redfang is a dangerous individual loyal only to those who have the money to pay him well.
LN scro male P7/W7
One of the top warpriests of Gamero, Laakul commands a great deal of respect from his fellow scro. He is a medium sized scro, not overly strong but quite intelligent and wise. He stands 6' 1" tall and has slate gray fur. His large tusks are carved with various religious themes from Dukagsh's history and highlighted with small, semi-precious gems.
Laakul does not like any race but the scro. He has a natural dislike to humans, dwarves, and goblins. He outright hates elves, a result of constant propaganda spread by the Church of Dukagsh. As a result, he will be a constant annoyance to any adventurers visiting the station, and will work to expose and undermine said adventurers. However, Laakul does have the potential to overcome his racial hatreds if the fiendish plot is exposed to him. Laakul could become a savior among his people, helping them overcome their hatred of elves and uniting the two races against the Baatazu and foiling their plans.
Due to his high rank, Laakul gets first pick of many magical items. He wears a suit of studded leather armor +3, wields a battle axe+4, and uses a pair of Starwheel pistols in battle. Other magic items at his disposal include a Ring of Wizardy (doubles 1st and 2nd level spells), a wand of illusion, and a figurine of wonderous power (wolf: AC 5, HD 5, Dmg d8).
The primary witchlight marauder provides power to a lifejammer that is powerful enough to move Gamero. The lifejammer is capable of spelljamming speeds as well as tactical, but there are limitations. The lifejammer does drain the marauder, so the scro cannot fly the station forever. For every three days of flight, the scro must let the marauder rest and feed for two days. Pushing the marauder more than that requires a saving throw vs. death every day or expire. The scro are not willing to take the risk unless hard pressed.
Any mass over 100 tons that comes within five miles will drop Gamero to tactical speeds. When in battle, Gamero has a ship's rating of 2 and a maneuver class of G. It is virtually immune to physical attacks. Ballista bolts and catapult stones bounce off the shell without effect. The only method of truly defeating Gamero is to board it and slay all those aboard.
Frazulm- a cluster of grassy asteroids, vast herds of rothe are raised by human and goblin slaves. In addition to the rothe herds, rice, wheat, and potatoes are also produced in great quantity at Frazulm. Scro overseers watch over the slaves, making sure that the meat is prepared properly before it is transported to Gamero. Lotus ships arrive every few days to transport meat and produce to Gamero. Four scorpion warships defend Frazulm at all times.
Halic- another cluster of asteroids, Halic is a barren place where metal is mined, smelted, and forged into useful war material. Scro and dwarvish smiths work diligently to craft weapons, armor, and similar munitions. Halic also sports a repair bay for scro ships, and is one of the rare ports in wildspace that can easily repair metal ships. The repair facility can handle up to five warships at a time of up to 80 tons each. The scro can repair ships at the rate of 2 hull points per day. Two mantis ships and three viperships protect Halic and are always found docked here.
Gronnid-a small world, Gronnid is heavily forested by oaks and ash trees. It is lightly inhabited by dryads, who have been forced to retreat as scro logging camps cut deeper and deeper into the forests. The scro don't heavily log Gronnid these days, as they have finished construction on Gamero. They only need trees for repair work, and have almost entirely abandoned their camps. The forest is slowly recovering, and the scro have but one camp left. The scro keep a wasp on duty to protect the thirty scro loggers remaining at Gronnid.
Monsters such as owlbears, dire wolves, chimera, bulettes, and giant spiders inhabit this world. None of these monsters will attack a dryad native to Gronnid.
Zarth- a small asteroid, little more than an a twenty mile wide, over-glorified rock, Zarth has been set aside by the scro as entertainment for their troops. It sports an arena for pit fights with monsters, a huge and popular bar, a gambling hall, and a house of pleasure with 75 "comfort girl" hobgoblin females bought from Hyppkkin. Zarth's exterior is covered in a thick forest where many monsters roam. Scro officers sometimes take time off to use the forest as a hunting preserve. The trees to Zarth's forest are thick but tangled, of little use to carpenters. Two viperships protect Zarth.
The magical bonds that bind the witchlight marauder to the will of the scro were created after years of research and manufacture. Creating this magical item drained the coffers of the Church of Dukagsh to a dangerous low, but in the end, it gave them near complete control of the deadly orcish doomsday weapon. They consider it a wise investment.
Much of the magical manufacture was, by necessity, subcontracted to human archmages. The first step was to secure the iron heart from a giant Ironwood tree. The scro, guided by their god, assigned Nylan Zore, a scro wizard thief adventuress. Nylan was sent to the Vicesphere, where she worked for weeks to coax the iron heart from a giant ironwood tree, and returned to Dukagsh with it. The scro warpriests hired a human archmage and plane hopper to complete the next few stages of the creation process. She took the iron heart to the City of Brass, the capital of the Efreet, and sought the aide of a master azer smith. At great personal risk, she convinced the azer smith to smelt the iron and temper it with the breath of an ancient red dragon. While he worked to smelt and temper the heart, Nylan traveled to the plane of ice, where she carved a chisel from the ice of that plane. After securing the chisel, she made a side trip to the positive material plane, where she exposed it to the energies there to charge it with power. With the chisel complete, Nylan returned to the City of Brass to pay the azer and claim the bands. After a short delay to the plane of water to secure the sweat of a marid prince, she returned to Dukagsh to give the components to the warpriests.
Meanwhile, the scro warpriests hired another human archmage to summon a major fiend, a pit fiend. They used magical blades to slay the beast to collect its blood. The scro intended to murder the creature and kill it forever, but the fiend vanished before it expired, leaving an exact replica of its body behind. The baatazu had sent the pit fiend in the first place to provide the scro with the blood they needed, and were ready to snatch their agent away when his task was done. The scro warpriests, oblivious to the fact that the fiend's body was fake, collected the blood on the alter and mixed it with the dust of a ruby chipped from a gem star from Greyspace. The components were ready for the final touches.
The greatest scro artisan was hired to carve runes into the bands, using the ice chisel. Each rune was inlaid with the mixture of ruby dust and fiend blood, causing it to glow with a life of its own. After the runes were finished, the whole was polished in the sweat of the marid prince and cooled in a bath of ice taken from the center of the Firefear Comet. The bands were ready for the final touch, the sacrifice of a thousand souls. Hobgoblins, orcs, humans, dwarves, and even a few elves were gathered in great numbers to be sacrificed to Dukagsh. On the Night of Accession, a thousand prisoners and slaves were brought to the greatest Temple of Dukagsh and their throats were all cut at the same time. Their blood covered the floor of the temple to a depth of two inches, and the bands began pulsing with a life of their own. Finally, the bands were ready for it's destiny.
Striker-Class Scorpionship
Type: Light escort
Built by: Orcs, hobgoblins
Used by: Orcs, hobgoblins
Tonnage: 15 Tons
Hull Points: 15
Crew: 4/24
Maneuverability Class: C
Landing: Land only
Armor Rating: 5
Saves As: Metal
Power Type: Lifejammer or Minor Helm
Ship's Rating: As victim or helmsman
Standard Armament:
1 medium ballista, crew 2
1 medium catapult, crew 3
2 claw rams, crew 1 each
Cargo Capacity: 6 tons
Keel Length:
Beam Width:
A ship from another era, the Scorpion Striker was the mainstay of the orcish navies at the time of the First Unhuman War. Though small, the Striker was powerfully built to withstand a substantial hit and return with interest. The striker would serve the role as a light escort ship and as a mid-range raider ship. These ships appeared by the hundreds shortly before the Unhuman War and represent the pinnicle of orcish advancement into Arcane Space.
The striker lives up to its namesake, very closely resembling a scorpion. At the front of the craft, inside the "head" of the scorpion is the bridge. From here orcish priests pilot the craft, either using a minor helm or controlling the victim of a lifejammer. Behind the bridge is the control room for the two claw rams, usually operated by the captain and the first officer. Behind that room is the commons, where all orcs sleep and store their gear.
The top deck is small, with room only for a medium ballista and a short mustering deck. Curling above the deck is the scorpion's tail, upon which a medium catapult is placed. Because of the tight fit, the catapult is forced to be fired forward only; there is no space to turn it more than a few degrees.
Below the main deck is a small cargo hold, usually filled with food, booty, and spare equipment. Space is tight, though, and everything that isn't vitally important is left behind.
The striker usually carries double the number of crew than a ship its size normally carries. This became its biggest drawback; a larger crew meant that the ship had half the range of other ships. Thus, strikers were mostly used for in-sphere raids between worlds. Encountering strikers in the Flow was extremely rare, and such craft carried less crewmen (and thus less effective in battle).
The striker needs four crewmen to fly her and seven more to fight her. She could effectively be fought with eleven crewmen, but orcs almost always carried more crew to replace the fallen and prepare boarding actions. Likewise, hobgoblins tend to carry larger crews as well, but they have a preference for crossbow-armed archers manning the gunwales.
Escort: The vast majority of strikers served as escort craft for larger orcish ships. As such, strikers were almost never encountered alone. Orcs had a tendency to group their ships into flotillas of no less than three strikers and one larger ship, though larger fleets were common. A lone striker was, unfortunately, easy prey for most moderate sized craft, and a lone elvish cutter could destroy one with ease. As a fleet, several strikers became very dangerous very quickly. Flying in formation and using hit and run tactics, a team of strikers could seriously damage even the largest elvish ships.
Heavy Fighter: A number of strikers saw duty as base defenders, protecting orcish installations against elvish attacks. Such craft are virtually identical to their escort counterparts, except that such craft tended to carry additional crew (up to thirty orcs) and convert their cargo hold into a special "bomb bay." The orcs would load up flying monsters in their cargo hold to be unleashed upon unsuspecting ships as they flew by. Such monsters included gnashers, mortbats, harpies, and even wyverns. Usually, these monsters have been trained to not attack orcs, but more than one striker was lost when its monstrous cargo turned on its "masters."
Tradeship: In the years following the Unhuman War, a few strikers were left abandoned by the orcs. Some were bought up by merchants, who converted them into trade ships.
A tradeship conversion usually calls for the removal of the tail catapult and the tail turned into an observation deck. The removal of the catapult's ammo increases available cargo space by a ton (it does not increase the overall cargo size, however). The ship is sometimes gutted to get an extra ton of cargo space.
The practice was not popular, however. The scorpion, an excellent craft of war, did not make the transition to civilian duty well. After the Elvish Fleet proclaimed all scorpion ships banned, trader ships all but abandoned. A few still operate to this day as smugglers, but such craft are extremely rare.
A new rumor of late claims that hobgoblins use the scorpion extensively as a trader in their homespheres, keeping trade alive between the various goblin nations. Most merchants scoff at such claims, citing that the scorpion is better off as a warship and is just too small to be an effective trader.
Wyvern: Shortly before the Unhuman War started, the orcs developed an improvement upon the scorpion design called the wyvern. The wyvern was a 50 ton warship with improved firepower, armor, and range. Fortunately, the wyverns were few and most did not survive the earliest stages of the war. The orcs were too hard pressed throughout the war to build more than a handful, and the design was nearly lost. A few escaped with the orcs that became the scro, who gave the design to the hobgoblins. As a result, the hobgoblins have built a fair number of wyverns, using them as long range warships and support craft for scro offenses.
Scorpion Warship: Virtually identical to the striker scorpion, the Scorpion Warship is a larger version of the striker. It has a larger ceiling to accommodate ogre marines, but the deck plan is identical. The scale is the only difference, as it is four times bigger. It is armed with a medium ballista and two heavy catapults on the tail.
Scorpion Dreadnought: So impressed with the striker design were the hobgoblins that they decided to again try to improve upon it. After decades of tests, they developed the Dreadnought, a 90 ton ship of the line. The Dreadnought is a massive scorpion with nearly unmatched firepower and armor. The hobgoblins proudly claim that one could easily destroy and elvish armada single handedly, but this is unproven.
Currently, the hobgoblins own but two Dreadnoughts, and work continues on another. Each Dreadnought is escorted by at least a dozen wyverns and twenty-five strikers. A dreadnought is armed with 3 heavy catapults, 2 heavy ballista, 4 medium catapults, 4 medium ballista, and a pair of enormous claw rams.
This plot is deeply involved and extremely complex, and should only be used by experienced DMs. It is an adventure that will take far more than a single night to finish, and requires a great deal of work on the part of the DM. This information is for DM EYES ONLY.
The primary deity worshipped by the scro is Dukagsh, a great orc leader who underwent apotheosis and became a deity. How Dukagsh became a deity is a subject of hot debate by scro scholars. Most assume he achieve deityhood through hard work, while others claim he had a long journey that resulted in his apotheosis. None know for sure.
What the scro don't suspect is that Dukagsh was given his deity status by another divine-like being. Calling himself Cancer, this deity had many followers prior to the Unhuman Wars, but lost most of his followers during that brutal war. In an effort, it seemed, to gain new followers, he elevated Dukagsh to demi-god status in exchange for a piece of the faith energy generated by the scro. Dukagsh readily agreed.
What even Dukagsh doesn't know is that Cancer is but a mask, a lie, of an even more sinister being. Cancer is merely an alias of the master of the Nine Hells himself, the Arch-devil Asmodeous. While on the surface, Asmodeous may be simply trying to spread his cult, the truth is far more diabolic.
Asmodeous intends to use the scro as the next wave of foot soldiers in Blood War. To do so, he plans on dragging the scro homeworld, Dukagsh, into the Nine Hells and stripping them of all scro warriors. Once the scro have been properly introduced into Baatazu society and given even more power, they will become trained warriors on the battlefields of the Outer Planes. After Asmodeous has a few thousand companies of highly trained scro warriors, he intends to return Dukagsh and some of its people to its rightful place. By then, the scro would be fully under his control, and they will begin a new Unhuman War, this time more than ready to finish off the Elvish Fleet. With that done, the scro will rule wildspace, and the Baatazu will rule them. The Baatazu will have unprecedented power over the Prime Material, perhaps giving them the edge needed to finally win the Blood War, once and for all.
To accomplish this task, Asmodeous had enlisted the aid of many races and deployed a vast number of agents. Primary of these agents were the insectare, which he had successfully planted on a distant world centuries ago, and the Dizanter, which were given standing orders to slay any and all arcane they encountered. Slowly, these agents would disrupt wildspace traffic and trade, weakening everyone for his final plans of gaining total control. Secret cults and shrines to Asmodeous dot the scro homeworld, slowly working towards the goal of dragging Dukagsh into the Nine Hells.
The players are sent by the elves to spy on Gamero and gain valuable intelligence on scro activities. After several days of sneaking around, they are approached by Captain Redfang, who gives them a valuable tip: watch the goblins; one is not what he seems. If they follow up, they soon (with some digging) discover that one goblin sneaks about and gets into areas that he shouldn't. Gerson will soon learn of the party's discovery, and will move to deal with them, personally, if need be. Throw all kinds of attacks an encounters at the party, including goblin mobs, a wild gnasher that gets loose, freed marauders, and the like. Eventually, Gerson will tire of the party escaping his traps, and will move to deal with them personally. After Gerson is dead, the party will discover clues on his body that will point to a much larger and grander plot. Perhaps, during the last battle with Gerson, the warpriest Laakul stumbles upon the fight and helps the party. Deeply disturbed by what he has discovered, Laakul will ask the party to return to the elves (if he has figured out their mission by then) and ask for their assistance. He will try to learn what he can on his end.
Ultimately, if the party keeps following clues, the adventure could lead to many exotic locations throughout the Spheres. Possible sites for the party's investigations include the insectare homeworld, the dizanter homeworld (a small moon that far more closely resembles a military base), and finally, the scro homeworld. The party might wind up fighting along side Laakul and his scro warriors against Baatazu agents and spies as they attempt to destroy Asmodeous' places of power before his plan is complete. A final confrontation with a legion of Baatazu warriors, commanded by a Duke of Hell, is likely. The scro, unable to trust their own warriors, might even invite elvish forces to help them battle the fiendish forces, warning them of the dangers of letting such creatures gaining a foothold on a race as powerful as the scro. The consequences of this campaign could change wildspace, nay, the Multiverse, forever!
