Within the savage jungles of Xenthropa in the Ninth World of Numenera lies a clearing where rivers of clear blue water rush between lands filled with giant vines holding up several  planetoids of varying sizes.

The vast majority of the planets are the size of large homes, while few others are colossal spheres oozing large amounts of smoke.

The land is called New Ascentia and is protected by the Dominion of Gallateya, a race of humanoid women known as Kamminas, who fiercely guard the rivers and ground to which the planets and they themselves are born from, or so they say.

The guardians look upon all outsiders, especially those of the male persuasion, with suspicion and have an aversion with anything mechanical. The Kamminas will not allow anyone wearing such devices into the waters of New Ascentia.

A Kammina appears to be a human adult female, albeit with a slightly lighter skin tone than normal, with green or blue eyes and dark brown hair. All look to be perfectly formed with little to no imperfections, some appear to be almost identical. Their clothing is made up of the battered armor or fatigues of various explorers or would be conquerors who sought to either claim the land or solve the mysteries of the life giving forces of New Ascentia.

Scholars could only fathom how this land of genesis came to be, with one of several popular beliefs being that the land was created by the nearby Twisted Emperors of the Savage Steel, but abandoned after the planetoids failed to evolve into independent life sustaining systems.

The oldest and largest of the planetoids is 1,000 feet in diameter and is nothing more than rock held in the air by countless immense vines.

The emperors vehemently deny any type of involvement in the creation of the land and the “cursed beings” who reside there. Most beings in Xenthropa also view the Kamminas as cursed due to the nature of their claimed origins.

The Kamminas say they are born of the land, but refuse any scientific study of them, and withhold information on their reproductive cycles.

New Ascentia was a creation that I was planning to introduce into my Numenera campaign, The Paranoid Automaton, in an underground setting in the Ninth World. But it seemed more appropriate in the jungles of Xenthropa, where it fit the the themes and ideas of strange, wild and inexplicable environments and creatures.

As it stands, the writing for the Xenthropa part of the campaign is made up of basic ideas like the one above. I’m hoping to fully flesh it out next after completing the current chapter of the campaign, Zelectran’s Spectral Festival of Sound, which is nearing 15,000 words in length. It’s almost finished, and I expect it to be near 20,000 at the end.

Below is an artifact which plays a small role in one of the optional adventures found in Zelectran’s Spectral Festival of Sound.

The Life Capture Brush – Artifact

Level: 1D6+4

Form: A slightly larger than normal paint brush composed of shiny silver bristles, a blue and silver synth made handle with several small metal containers and antennas attached.

Effect: Whatever is painted with the brush is erased from existence, with its essence captured in the brush. The artifact can be used to harmlessly erase sections of an organism’s body. However, the artifact has mostly been used to capture whole creatures.

The painter then can activate the release setting which allows the user to paint the subject into a canvas. The subject returns to consciousness once he is fully painted on the canvas, but cannot move or speak.

The Life Capture Brush cannot undo its effects.

Depletion: 1 in 1D100