So I found this mess while digging through my unpublished blog posts. It’s Pernicious Albion circa January 2013, back when it was based directly off of Carcosa, as you can probably tell from the amount of gonzo science fiction elements.
ORBITAL WIZARD
Aurelian is a lich that has blasted himself into space with stolen Moth Elf technology, strapped himself onto an arcane satellite, and parked himself in geosynchronous orbit above Silver Fork Carcosa, observing it with grafted-on telescopic eyes. He projects his magic down to the surface with great metal dishes, and is the terror of several small towns scattered across the Western Hemisphere, though cities generally have enough magicians to keep them safe. He also has a small network of spies, which he maintains through magical communication. He often sells information to various Dark Lords, Fairy Sorcerers, and Lunar Giants, as there is nothing he cannot see. However, his field of view when zoomed in is incredibly narrow (the party doesn’t have to worry about being Fireballed from high orbit), so while he can watch everyone that passes through a town, he can’t find them wandering the countryside. Aurelian covets the space station occupied by the gravity dragon known as Charles V, as it is both secure and filled with texts describing the strange space-warping and cthonic magic of the station’s inhabitant. If the party makes a name for themselves and the lich’s spies find out, he will offer to pay them an outrageous sum of money if they kill Charles V. Aurelian will provide the transportation.
GRAVITY DRAGON
Charles V is neither chromatic nor metallic; the dragons of Carcosa are affiliated with greater powers and stranger frequencies. He has taken up residence in an abandoned Moth Elf space station, which traces a crazed trajectory high above Carcosa’s surface. His size is immaterial; Charles V occupies several planes and can snake his away around obstacles along alien axes. He does not attack with anything so unsubtle as fiery breathe, and favors tearing of chunks of his enemies with small gravity fields. Depleted uranium weapons deal double damage against him. In addition to various magical tracts, Charles V’s hoard contains maps marking the locations of several other dragon lairs. More on this later.
OTHER DRAGONS
Include gamma dragons, are white hot and cause terrible sickness in nearby communities; tidal dragons, which manifest themselves as waves (regardless of the material they travel through, so they are like sentient, mobile Tacoma Narrows Bridge disasters); entropy dragons, which induce catastrophic disorder through their breathe.
ON SORCERERS IN SILVER FORK CARCOSA
- Is bound in an immense brass coffin; carried about on a palanquin by blindfolded and gagged slaves who act in perfect coordination
- Has a furnace for a heart; requires coal to live
- Only has one eye located in the back of their throat; must open mouth wide to see
- Has long, stilt-like legs that terminate in iron spikes
- Has a head is put on upside down
- Has lungs that don’t work; golem servant pumps a set of bellows stuck into abdomen
- Has been embalmed and stuffed with rose petals; perfectly ambulatory
- Exudes a powerful odor of lemons
- Has the voice of a screaming choir
- Has a millipede instead of legs
- Has a face (not a mask) carved from ivory; if removed, you can see their brain
- Is always on fire
- Has elephant tusks growing from their elbows
- Has smoke instead of blood
- Has extra-long, exposed, articulating ribs
- Has small tentacles instead of teeth
- Moves in time with the ticking of the giant clock embedded in chest
- Verbal components of spells manifest themselves as razor blades tumbling from sorcerer’s lips
- Bulging chameleon eyes afford panoramic view
- Nearly limp body carried about on spider-legged apparatus
