Nothing is here

This is a discussion of the themes and tropes of the setting The Judges of Tehom. The world of Tehom is full of many threats that require the attention of Archons. It is worth identifying some of the more obvious threats.

The Other Archons

Cosmopoli rarely go to war in a conventional sense. The expenditure of resources is too great, and the memory of the Waste Rebellion is deep. Instead, disputes are handled by Archons, diplomatically at first, and then in personal combat. While the collateral damage of two sets of Archons fighting can be dramatic, it pales to what a modern military could do.

Of course, not all conflicts between Archons are affairs of state. Some conflicts between Archons are at their core personal matters. When one has developed a celebrity-aristrocracy around the lifestyles of the superhumanly powerful, many things can become the cause of conflicts. Romantic entanglements and personal insults have lead to more than one popular Archon match vidcast.

Finally, Some Archons only have the name because they have power. These villains (sometimes called Petalans or the Banned) either sell their services as mercenaries, or commit piracy and banditry on outlying areas.

The Duidainian Anarchy

The single largest landmass on Tehom is the island of Dundain. It was large enough to sustain three independent and very powerful cosmopoli. Eventually, these three polities went to war, destroying their economies and the island in the process. In an act that shocked the rest of Tehom, the citizens of Dundain rose up and overthrew the Archons, creating the Dundainian Anarchy (literally “Rule of no Anarchs”). Other Archons would have moved in to reestablish order if it wasn’t for the Anarchists acquiring control of a cosmopoli’s nuclear arsenal very quickly and publicly. Now , the Anarchy (they refer to themselves as the Duidainian Collective) is officially cutoff from the rest of the world, with few cosmopoli willing to recognize it as a sovereign state. It has rebuilt itself without the help of the Set, and one only wonders what they plan next.

The world lives in fear that Anarchist cells will begin to form in the Set, undermining the kleocracies of various cosmopoli. Player Characters may very well be the people to search out such cells. Alternatively, perhaps they will help the exiled Archons retake Dundain in the name of Highspire, Tenax, and Stoutfort.

Hadalians and the Monster Tide

When humanity came to Tehom, it was a frozen world and humanity was unaware what slept beneath the ice. As the terraforming proceeded, a dormant ecosystem came to life, and generally the indigenous life was actively hostile to humanity and its ecosystem. Today, most surface life is terrestrial (or at least compatible with terrestrial life). This is especially true within the environs of the Set. As one moves toward the poles, or into open waters, or goes toward the abyssal plains under water however, life becomes alien very quickly. Many of these lifeforms are antithetical to terrestrial life. Many are dangerous and hostile. This other, pre-human ecosystem has become known as “Hadalian”.

A “monster tide” is when Hadalian organisms attack a human outpost, such as a mining rig. Sometimes, like the Urchin Tide, Hadalians attack a cosmopolis. The word “attack” is used because while some incidents appear random, others are very much planned. On occasion, a monster tide will take the form of a Leviathan, a gigantic creature, often a unique mutation, going on a rampage. Many Archons watch the sea, waiting for the next monster tide.

The Mad Legion

The Mad Legion are boogeymen that keep many a citizen and Archon awake at night. Some of the Few are driven insane with their power. Sometimes they would immediately begin to rampage through an area, other times they would lurk and slowly terrorize the population.

The Mad Legion is worse than the Banished, because at least with the Banished there are goals that make sense (make money, kill a particular Archon, etc.). The Mad Legion has goals, but they make no sense. Most worrying, however, is that members of the Mad Legion seem to act separately yet their actions build on one another. More than one person has wondered if there is a relationship between the gray plague of old and the Mad Legion, but no link has been substantively identified.