Lost_in_Smaragdis.pdf

Adventures in the Emerald World

Wealthy American planter and amateur archaeologist Edward Aubrey Jr. is now believed dead,

following the disappearance of his two-seater biplane somewhere over the Peruvian Amazon last

week. Aubrey, who had claimed to have seen the tops of overgrown pyramids rising out of the

jungle, was known to be scouting the area for a planned expedition on foot later in the year.

Aubrey was also aware of some kind of magnetic anomaly affecting the area, for he had already

recorded from previous flights that his compass became erratic and when flying over certain

valleys …

[Translated from an Ecuadorian newspaper, June 1932]

In the Year of Our Lord 1671 there was a revolt among the white slaves in the silver mines at

Arica. The slaves, heretics and pirates all mostly of English and French origin, massacred their

guards and made off with quantities of silver ingots hacked into pieces with axes. Cavalry was

dispatched to head them off from the sea, lest they rejoin their pirate brethren from Tortuga, and so

they fled deeper into the jungle where they must all have perished. Yet the Indians say the slaves

reached what they call the Great Sanctuary and are safe from us whatever we do now … I have

ordered those scoundrels with rebellious tongues quartered and hanged as an example to their

people …

[From the historical archives of Lima, Peru]

In the Year of Our Lord 1539 Governor-General Francisco Pizarro sent forth from Lima a half-

regiment under the command of Nunez de Bazan in search of the fabled Valley of Emeralds.

Nothing was heard of the expedition for two years. In 1541 one of the Indian guides who went out

with Nunez de Bazan was found hiding in an Aymara village, and put to the torture to determine

what had happened. All we could get out from the Indian was a wild tale of a "gate of green light"

through which de Bazan and his men had passed, never to return. We executed the Indian, but had

no men to spare for a search …

Beyond the Pillars of Melkarth [untranslatable] a wide green land like unto Lower Africa

[untranslatable] beyond the River-which-is-like-a-Sea, in the forest-covered mountains

[untranslatable] rich in gold and silver and emeralds, a land pleasing to the gods, and to which the

gods have led their servant Utush-Hadad of Carthage [untranslatable] Utush-Hadad did embark on

his ships the men and servants of his house, and the women of his house, with all his treasure and

stacks of shields and spears [untranslatable] with the blessings of the Council of Suffetes, to

establish a city, a daughter of noble Carthage …

[Translated from a damaged Carthaginian plaque c. 270 BC]

LOST IN SMARAGDIS:

[From the historical archives of Lima, Peru]

Lost in Smaragdis is a pulp-style science fiction adventure RPG inspired by the lost-

race, lost-world type stories of authors like H. Rider Haggard, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A. Merritt

and Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Smaragdis, the Emerald World, is an alien yet earthlike planet inhabited by a collection of lost

tribes and civilizations living in terror of dinosaurs and a tyrannical Conquistador kingdom.

Scattered across Smaragdis are the relics of a vanished alien civilization - mysterious mind-gems

that can grant strange powers but at the risk of madness, gangly robotic Demons, gigantic flying

machines that can rain down lightning on command, and enigmatic monuments of stupendous scale

that may hold the secrets of the cosmos. A portal in the Upper Amazon jungle can transport those

who wander into it to Smaragdis, but if there are any portals leading back to Earth they have yet to

be found.

What is an RPG?

New to the hobby? Then welcome, and here's a short explanation of roleplaying games to help you

get into the fun. Roleplaying games are one of the world's most unique and entertaining social

pastimes. Remember those "let's-pretend" games you had as a kid, when you and your friends

would make up fantastic stories together with yourselves as the heroes? Roleplaying games are the

more "grown-up" version of these games, played with the aid of rules and various resource

materials for greater richness of experience and smoother running; but just like those "pretend"

games you used to play as kids, all the action happens inside your head.

In a roleplaying game (RPG for short), you create a fictional hero character and "play" that

character through all sorts of challenges such as fighting crime, rescuing people in distress, finding

lost treasure, or exploring strange and dangerous places; you "play" your character by deciding

what he or she says and does, occasionally making rolls to see if your hero can succeed at

dangerous or uncertain tasks.

For example, in one adventure your character might need to steal a treasure map back from some

bloodthirsty pirates, a mission that could involve sneaking into the pirates' lair, tricking the pirate

captain into leaving the map, then fighting your way out when the captain discovers the map stolen.

The challenges your character is faced with are "run" by a player with special responsibilities,

called the Game Master (GM for short). The GM is responsible for setting up a game, assisting the

other players in creating their characters, telling the story of the adventure, answering player

questions, and calling for the rolls and judging their results when needed.

What is needed to play?

You will need a copy of these rules, one or more - preferably about half a dozen 20-sided dice, and

writing materials. You will also need a place to play, preferably one with a table that will seat all

the players and where you will not be disturbed, and not disturb anyone too much - trust me, you'll

be making a lot of noise!

The World of Smaragdis

Portals

The way to Smaragdis is through the Emerald Gate, a dimensional portal located somewhere in the

Upper Amazon jungle. Explorers of various sorts - Indian hunters and guides, archaeologists and

other scientists, bush pilots, journalists and other hangers-on to an expedition - might find their way

to it by going over the Andes from Peru or Ecuador, or by coming up the Amazon from Brazil.

Alternate Portals

There is also no reason why Smaragdis can't have portals in other locations; any place that is

associated with major mysteries such as the Bermuda Triangle in the Caribbean, the Devil's

Triangle off Japan, the ruins of Ponape in the South Pacific, even the Pyramids at Giza or

Stonehenge in Britain could have a dormant gate that opens just when the player characters come

visiting. This opens the possibility for many interesting kinds of visitors and artifacts from Earth;

for example, a German U-boat crew for whom the war has never ended, and their submarine.

Working the Portals

How do the portals work? They are matter transporters of some sort, with apparently instantaneous

action. They trigger automatically when something enters the area, and can even snatch a plane

from the air. A portal's opening is marked by a flood of green light, and the mere proximity of a

working portal will cause compasses to become erratic, interferes with radio signals, and can make

electronic devices of all sorts stop functioning.

Physical Paradigms

The Planet

The world of Smaragdis must be about the same size and mass as Earth, for there is no perceptible

gravity difference. Atmospheric composition is also similar enough to Earth that Terran life can

exist very comfortably. A Smaragdine day is 25 hours 8 minutes long, its solar year 369 days 2

hours 15 minutes. There is no axial tilt; climate is apparently driven by the lunar tides, and there

are no clear-cut seasons. Most of the world seems to be tropical, but that may be a mistaken

perception - too little of Smaragdis has been explored to verify any such broad statements.

Smaragdis has four moons, of which there is always at least one in the sky at any time, and solar

eclipses are frequent but briefer than on Earth - the moons orbit faster.

Ancient Civilization

The most unusual feature of Smaragdis is the ubiquitous presence of Ancient civilization and its

relics. Long ago, apparently before humans first arrived here, a highly advanced alien civilization

called Smaragdis home. Why they vanished no one knows, though there are dozens of conflicting

legends and theories. Crystalline mind-gems abound, giving Smaragdis' "sorcerers" many odd

powers of clairvoyance, telepathy, and control over the creatures or constructs that Smaragdine

peoples call Demons. Sleeping Demons seem to be scattered across the world, sometimes in sealed

crypts, sometimes in less formal burials; most will awaken if disturbed, and some seem

programmed to kill. It is generally agreed that the Demons were the Ancients' servants, but of

course none but a modern Earthman would realize that they are actually robots.

Guardians of Smaragdis

Sorcerers claim there is a god - or devil - living beneath the earth, able to see and hear everything

going on above and capable of granting knowledge and power to those who learn to speak with it

through their mind-gems. This being, whatever it is, is jealous of any advanced technology not of

Ancient origin. Activating anything more complex or powerful than a flashlight is sure to trigger

hostile Demon activity sooner or later.

Demons will instinctively attack anything with a functioning internal combustion engine, electric

motor, electric generator, and most specially anything that emits a radio signal; and God help

anyone who gets in their way. However, Demons are unevenly distributed throughout the world so

it may be several days before any arrive. The people of Smaragdis have no idea of this law of their

world, though a modern survivor who has preceded the player characters might have some clue.

Geography

The Emerald Sea Basin

New arrivals usually appear somewhere around the Emerald Sea. The Emerald Sea is an enormous

star-shaped freshwater lake, with an area of about 120,000 square miles. Five great rivers - which

the inhabitants call the Nerostris, the Albarracin, the Halit, the Coatl and the Asante - pour into the

Emerald Sea, their triangular deltas forming the "arms" of the star. The sea and rivers create a

balmily gentle subtropical climate, warm all year round cooled by brief rains in the morning and

evening almost every day.

The lands of the Emerald Sea basin are low, rolling, well-watered and covered in lush jungles

broken here and there by patches of open savanna. There are scattered ranges of low hills like the

backs of whales or flat-topped like tables, and mountains whose shield-like shapes hint at volcanic

origin. Within the river deltas are reedy marshes cut by innumerable narrow channels. Here and

there, half-hidden by the jungle undergrowth, can be found enormous, mysterious monuments of a

bluish metal or perhaps crystal, carved with unreadable inscriptions.

Life Around the Emerald Sea

The whole basin is very rich in life - life that would astound a modern scientist, and send the more

prudent scampering into the trees for safety. There are hulking long-necked sauropods munching

on the tops of trees, hadrosaurs and ceratopsians grazing on ferns and low cycads, terrifying

carnosaurs and raptors stalking behind the brush, and pterosaurs the size of a Cessna patrolling the

clouds. Giant insects abound, some of them dangerous to man; there are carnivorous water beetles

twelve feet long, pack-hunting giant mantises the size of hyenas, and worse.

Mammals from the Amazon jungle have also found their way here, with predators and tree

dwellers like jaguars and monkeys doing best; terrestrial herbivores have fared less well because of

the carnivorous dinosaurs. The waters of the Emerald Sea ripple with the sinuous motions of

swimming phobosuchi forty feet long and even larger paddle-finned mosasaurs. The vegetation is

also unearthly - in fact more unearthly than just being of the same era as the dinosaurs. Amid the

ferns, cycads and rainforest giants are definitely alien trees and bushes, usually identifiable by their

purplish foliage and weird forms; and some of them are carnivorous.

Peoples of the Emerald Sea Basin

In this savage paradise it seems almost impossible that men would survive, but in fact mankind is

thriving on the Emerald World. Most live scattered in ingeniously hidden or defended villages, but

in the north and west, and in the arid far south there are walled cities that would rival any of ancient

Earth. The northern coast of the Emerald Sea is dominated by the Hispano-Punic kingdom of

Tartescia, created when Spanish conquistadors from the army of Pizarro seized power over the

Punic city-state of Tarshish.

Tartescia is the prime mover and shaker of the Emerald World, possessing as it does the largest

armies entire battalions of which are armed with matchlock guns, cavalry mounted on chimeras -

dwarf hadrosaurs bled for courage and speed - and a powerful fleet of galleys and triremes.

Tartescian slave raids and conquests have altered the distribution of the tribes and destroyed the

Murian empire of Kampila in the south.

The west is divided between the warring Punic city-states of the Ishtarite and Melekhite Leagues,

the former a matriarchy advocating the worship of Ishtar and the universal rule of its serially

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