Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not exactly PS)

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Hyena of Ice's picture
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Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not exactly PS)

You can find a fan map of Anchrome on Google (type "Anchorome Map"). The area that pertains to the Pacific Northwest is the wetlands area between two mountain ranges.

My only problem is that I'm not good with names. Other than that, this is looking pretty good. I'm concentrating specifically on a Chinook tribe facsimile (the Chinook were the tribe that Lewis & Clark encountered on the Columbia River).

I would have preferred to post this on the Spelljammer forums, but that place is dead as a doornail.

First, a couple terms:
Blood Feud: A term referring to enmity and vendetta between two or more clans. As wikipedia says: "Feuds begin because one party (correctly or incorrectly) perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another." Blood feuds usually arise because one member of one clan is killed by a member of another, be it accidentally or intentionally. In a blood feud, this results in an endless cycle of retaliatory violence. Many of the harsh laws in Leviticus, for instance, were aimed at stemming blood feuds, which was a huge problem among the ancient Israelites.

Cascadia: An ecological and subcultural region (cultural in reference to the Amerindians) stretching from the SE coastal tip of Alaska, down across the coast of British Columbia, all of Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Islands, across the western 1/4th of Washington, Oregon, and northern California (or only down to mid Oregon in some versions). The term is used primarily by BC Canadians and is synonamous with "NW coast region". I prefer the term "Cascadia" because "NW Coast" is a misnomer-- the region stretches inland to the foot hills of the western slopes of the Cascade mountain range (which is sure as hell not the coast)

First Nations: Canadian term for "Amerindian". Same meaning.

Unlike with most Amerindian groups, the Northwest peoples do have thieves and are much more materialistic. Some of the Chinook merchants (according to Lewis & Clark) were also thieves, but adhered to a strict honor system when stealing (could only steal right under the person's nose, had to stick around for some time after the theft, couldn't conceal the stolen item, and if caught, had to give up a cherished possession in exchange for the object they stole. Also, they couldnt' steal something that wasn't under the victim's control-- such as a runaway canoe or something from sleeping victims).

Other available classes include fighter, spirit shaman, druid (druids and spirit shamans use western red cedar and devil's club sprigs for a divine focus instead of mistletoe and holly), OA shaman, ranger, scout, marshal, factotum (Dungeonscape class), and bard. I will look into it more, but I do not believe the barbarian class would be available.
I do not know if the NW Anchrome groups will have their own specialized arcane casters, or not, but sorcerors and warlocks will exist as VERY RARE encounters, mostly as villains living in seclusion (usually in the mountains).

The NW groups also weren't nearly as "savage" as many of the Plains and mountain groups. In fact, the white settlers and traders very rarely got into violent conflict with the natives; while relationships between the two races were always tense, disputes were almost always resolved diplomatically. That is not to say that the NW peoples were somehow less violent than other groups-- they were plenty violent towards neighboring tribes, though wars were almost always the result of blood feuds or the seeking of slaves (huge slave trade among the NW peoples). (there are only about one or two actual indian wars recorded between the NW coast peoples and the white settlers. This is in stark contrast to the Rocky Mountain and Plains groups. This was partly because the NW coast peoples had always associated the white man with trade, and also because, even when the white settlers did displace them and take their best lands, they provided jobs/employment.) The NW lands were lush and bountiful, so the native peoples had little reason to go to war over resources for survival. They also had no reason to practice agriculture, though a sort of proto-agriculture was practiced (e.g. wild food plants were divided, burned, and transplanted for maximum harvest, but actual plantations did not exist here as they did in the Northeast and many other areas). Also unlike most cultural groups, the NW coastal peoples had a concept of private property ownership. The culture here is also vastly different from that of the rest of the First Nations of the time. With the introduction of the horse, most groups adopted a plains culture.
The NW coastal peoples were an exception and retained their traditional culture which was based around canoeing, fishing, and traversing the river systems. You see, the forests of Cascadia are very thick and lush; so much so that horses are useless there. They wouldn't have been of much use in the wetland prarie, either (ground isn't stable enough) (the wetland prarie was a man-made ecological region covering 1/3rd of the Wilamette Valley due to the First Nations practicing annual burns for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and many of our state animals are wetland prarie creatures. Today the wetland prarie has been almost entirely replaced by thick woodland and manmade settlements.) Due to the wetness of the region, the NW coastal peoples also had a different style of architecture than what we are used to in Amerindians. They used "long houses", which were basically very long, communal western-style plank houses. Teepees were not used.
Corn and beans were never cultivated here because it would be useless to do so. The climate is marine-- that is, warm winters and cool summers. Not exactly the best place to grow beans. Likewise, the corn wouldn't have liked the cool, wet climate.
The NW Coastal peoples' form of government was also a bit different from most groups. It was a bit less collectivist and tribal, and more clan-based (such as what you would have seen in Scotland and ancient rural Levant). Many but not all tribes had a chieftain, and the tribes usually consisted of alliances and communities of extended families/clans, each one having varying levels of political power. There were also rival clans-- the Chinook proper and the Clatsop are the best known real-life examples. Though both were Chinook tribes and closely related, they were bitter enemies-- opposing collectives of clans. The reason for their enmity, from what I can gather, was primarily blood feud, and any time one tribe intentionally or accidentally killed a member of the other, this usually resulted in a war.

The First Nations/Amerindian peoples all the way up and down the Pacific mainland coast had a standardized form of money known as Dentalium or tooth shell. The one primarily used is Dentalium pretiosum, known by various names (loqua, indian money shell, indian money tusk, etc.). In game terms, this includes the Azuposi (I will have to find out what Amerindian group they are a facsimile of).

I'm also working on a specific deity list for the region and a bestiary using existing creatures.

The following is a guide in general for creating Anchorome encounter charts and bestiaries using 3x rules:
The types of monsters encountered in an Amerindian setting will vary somewhat depending on the real-life ecology and legends, but in general will consist primarily of the following monster types: Animal (normal, giant, dire), Incorporeal Undead, Humanoid, Monstrous Humanoid, Magical Beast, Elemental, Fey. Certain types of outsider will also be present in some regions.
The exact ecology should mirror the natural dangers of the real-life region.
For instance, vine-type plant monsters would not be present in a Pacific Northwest analogue because there are no large or aggressive vine species native to this region (other than the wild cucumber, that is. This thing is huge, climbs, and spreads like crazy-- getting quite huge, but does not have the reputation of "smothering" or "blanketing" an area-- in many cases breaks will exist between the stalks in which other plants can grow, particularly on a slope.) OTOH, plant monsters such as treants and needlefolk would be present.
In general, the more dangerous the wildlife of the real-life region, the more sub-intelligent and non-intelligent monstrous humanoids, monstrous vermin, magical beasts, and lycanthropes you can drop into the habitat.
On the other hand, safer regions such as the Pacific Northwest (where the only hazards *for adult humans* were bears and the occasional shark-- actually, I think most animal inflicted injuries came in the form of mid-air collisions and strikes from fish.), and in which the primary danger to humans was overwhelmingly other humans, should contain a wide diversity of intelligent monstrous humanoids and humanoids.
Most nature and elemental fey of the trickster and malicious genres can be dropped into an Amerindian setting. Urban, household, mining, and otherworldly fey generally are not appropriate for an Amerindian setting. The fey that can be incorporated will need to fit the description of "embodiment of elemental, plant, or animal spirits".
Corporeal undead save skeletons are generally not appropriate for an Amerindian setting. An exception could possibly be made for vampires as specimens of failed ressurection/raise dead spells, that instead returned the subject to a state of 'false life'.
Bear in mind that the incorporeal spirits and skeletons are not always malicious in Amerindian folktales. There are several stories of characters encountering villages or cities of the dead, which ended up being like something more out of a Twilight Zone or Tales of the Darkside episode than something out of a horror movie (I'm not joking about the twilight zone thing, folks!)

Also, an imortant tip, as a Northwesterner myself, about forest ecology for the NW region: giant forms of monsters don't work well here. They're fine for the wetland prarie and big river systems, and ocean, but the forest is too thick for large creatures. Hell, even the NW Coastal people were rather short/petite compared to some of the other Amerindian groups.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

I don't know about further down the coast, but the Tlingit (Southeast Alaska) and the Haida (Queen Charlottes - Prince of Wales, Alaska) certainly went to war with each other and were also known to make battle with the white settlers and explorers. See Katlian's massacre of Sitka or the reason why Escape Pt. is so named. They could probably be lumped in with your analysis. In fact, a campaign set during a "Haida" (or however you name the group) or "Tlingit" incursion could be very intense. Magical items could include Warmasks, Shields, and Breastplates. Totems could become golems of their constituent figures (Devilfish, attack!). Just some ideas.

Treants could look really cool. Obliviax would certainly work ("Memory Moss"? Whole areas around here are covered in moss!), Myconids and other fungi-based creatures, Devils Club is certainly evocatively named and always right where your parties would need to grab it. You got wolves in the forests and mountains and all that goes with that (Werewolves or wolfweres), bears (ibid), and deer (Actaeons). Kushtakas, which were kind of like beaver-otter dopplegangers. With the mountains so close, any rock based life form might work. Galeb Duhrs or Goliaths. Raven based monsters. Almost anything based off of a real animal (Raven, wolverine, wolf, bear, squid, fish, whales of any sort, skunk, etc.) could work in this setting.

And giant monsters could most certainly live inland: in the mountains. At least in the islands, the natives did not do a whole lot of venturing inland, probably due to the thickness of the forests and the extreme topography. This resulted in sacred sites atop remote mountains. At those elevations, the areas open up and provide for areas that could be inhabited by giant monsters. However, these would be of the "magical ecosystem" variety, like an aurumvorax, rather than one that would consume mass quantities (that just aren't present in those areas).

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

""You got wolves in the forests and mountains""

Maybe up there in BC and the northernmost points of Washington, but there were no wolves in the lower half of Cascadia when the first British traders reached the lower Columbia. I have no idea why this was.

""And giant monsters could most certainly live inland: in the mountains. At least in the islands, the natives did not do a whole lot of venturing inland, probably due to the thickness of the forests and the extreme topography. This resulted in sacred sites atop remote mountains. At those elevations, the areas open up and provide for areas that could be inhabited by giant monsters. However, these would be of the "magical ecosystem" variety, like an aurumvorax, rather than one that would consume mass quantities (that just aren't present in those areas).""
Yeah. OTOH, it seems there are folktales of man-eating giants living in the mountains, along with hags/witches/warlocks and wendigo facsimiles. Though most of it is on the border of or a bit east of Cascadia, the Northwest (and California) are also volcanically active regions. Our volcanoes have been pretty quiet for the past 125 years, but there were a ton of eruptions in the mid to late 19th century. The volcanoes of BC have not been very active for some time, though (IIRC most of them haven't erupted for 500 years or more) The natives even had some mythology/legends about Mt. Hood, Ranier, and St. Helens.
(In the legend, Helens is a female volcano while Ranier and Hood are male. The eruptions between the three were said to be the result of a love triangle. Hood or Ranier would start the fight over Helens, who would remain silent until she couldn't tolerate the fighting anymore, at which point she would become so angry that she would "turn into an ugly hag". The magma in the Northwest however (and I think Southwest as well) is extremely thick and viscous however, so lava flows are not a general feature of these eruptions. Mudflows and pyroclastic flows are. The volcanoes are also known to "spew cinders" (basically, half-solidified, red-hot rocks of cool lava), but these are limited to the subalpine and alpine zones, which tend not to be heavily populated.

This shows an example of some differences in political climate; note this only takes place between the 1860's-1890 in the western half of the USA.
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/photos-nativeamerican/Indian%20War%20Map...

Obviously this doesn't include all of them. In Oregon and Washington Cascadia, were the following wars:

--Tonquin Incident/Battle of Woody Point (1811)
--Battle of Seattle (1856)
--Puget Sound War (1855-56)
--Yakima Wars (1855-58) (technically not in part of Cascadia, but the Yakima were a NW Coastal tribe)
--Act for the Government and Protection of Indians/California Gold Rush (1850~70's) (white settlers performed raids to take natives as slave laborers, a continuation of Spanish California's policies. This soon led to a large scale blood feud between the white settlers and the natives.)
The endless instances of wars and skirmishes between the settlers and natives in the Rockies, Dakotas, and SW appear to be primarily due to gold rushes. Luckily for the natives of Cascadia, their region was rather lacking in precious mineral resources (our primary minerals are iron and gravel)

Also, reading info on the Indian Wars on Wikipedia (as well from what I recall of the early wars in the NE), most of the conflicts resulted when colonialists took sides in wars between warring tribes (something the traders and settlers in the Pacific states were careful NOT to do.) In the NE, this often took the form of the British and/or French allying with and convincing the natives to fight the white settlers (convincing them that if they aid the British in helping them with the Revolutionary War, that the settler expansion will be stopped or even reversed), but in reality the British were simply tricking the natives into doing their dirty work for them (a tactic we see used repeatedly to the very last days of the British Empire's existence-- the destruction of the Ottoman Empire is probably the best known example)
I'm having trouble finding much on Indian wars in coastal BC. (Cascadian mainland BC only involves the actual SE coast to about 5-20 miles inland, BTW.)

One problem I can think of D&D-wise however is a severe lack of dungeons-- this region's geology simply isn't designed for natural caves beyond the coast and mountain lavatubes. Mainly because any natural caves will have long ago been filled with silt and mud.
It's not like the Southwest or the Great Plains where you have these vast networks of subterranean limestone caverns carved out by subterranean rivers and streams.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

As for monsters, there would be the thunderbird which is at the top of many totem poles. But I can't remember if their ever were D&D stats for it. If there aren't any, than it's use the Phoenix stats but substitute fire with lightning.

As for vine species, I've seen ivy around BC, though it makes me wonder if that was something that was imported.

As for other monsters, well I certainly see there being Werecougars and Werebears and there's the Sasquatch.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Kobold Avenger wrote:
As for vine species, I've seen ivy around BC, though it makes me wonder if that was something that was imported.

It was, yes. Ivy's only native to the Eurasian continent, it's an invasive plant in North America.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

^^The ivy you saw was most likely English Ivy, a highly invasive species here in the Pacific Northwest (it is not invasive in the Midwest, and won't even climb there unless trained. Apparently it doesn't like continental weather-- that is, hot summers and cold winters.)

The Thunderbird is found in Sandstorm, and a more Amerindian-true one is found in the D20Modern Menace Manual along with the Sasquatch (another NW monster, and originally based on Amerindian folklore, though I'm guessing that the Amerindian version was probably more manbear-like than simian)

*Wikis*
Ah, so the Sasquatch was originally those cannibalistic mountain giants. Which is way different than how it's depicted today.

This is a list of NW bestiary I have thus far:

ANIMALS
--Anemone, Giant (EN World Creature Catalogue Converted, Tome of Horrors 3, Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Badger (MM)
--Bear, Black (MM)
--Bear, Brown (MM)
--Bear, Short Faced (EN World Converted, Skeleton Key- Animal Archives I- North American Prehistoric Animals) *north Pchughstick & mountains, only*
--Beaver (EN World converted)
--Beaver, Dire/Castoroides (EN World converted)
--Beetle, Giant Diving (En World Converted)
--Beetle, Giant Water (Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Coyote (Sandstorm)
--Crayfish, Giant (Dragon 321)
--Deer (Silver Marches, Tome of Horrors Revised)
--Dire Badger (MM)
--Dire Puma (Sandstorm) (the puma is called "cougar" on the Pacific coast; it's found all the way up to British Columbia)
--Dog (MM)
--Dragonfly, Giant (Dragon 355)
--Eagle, Dire (Races of Stone)
--Eel (Stormwrack) (I know what the rules say, but IRL eels are also temperate)
--Elk (Silver Marches)
--Elk, Dire (MM2)
--Fish, Giant Sturgeon (Vaults of Pandius)
--Fox (Kalamar Dangerous Denizens, Mythioc Vistas: Spirosblaak)
--Hawk (MM)
--Hawk, Dire (MM2, RotW)
--Lamprey, Burrowing (Dead Man's Chest)
--Lamprey, Dire (EN World Converted)
--Leech, Giant (Stormwrack)
--Lynx (Races of Faerun, Tome of Horrors II) (only found in the more northerly parts)
--Monstrous Spider (MM)
--Mosquito, Giant (En World Converted, Dreadmire)
--Octopus (MM) (IRL they are found all the way up to subarctic waters)
--Octopus, Giant (MM) (despite what the rules state, the real life giant octopus is found in cold and cool tremperate waters, but only in the northern half of Cascadia)
--Otter (Stormwrack)
--Owl (MM)
--Puma (Sandstorm, Tome of Horrors II) (known as "Cougar" in the NW and SW USA, but the remainder of Americans and Canadians call them "Mountain Lions")
--Raccoon (Tome of Horrors III)
--Raven (MM)
--Raven, Dire (Mythic Vistas: Spirosblaak)
--Seal (Stormwrack)
--Sea Lion (Stormwrack)
--Shark (MM)
--Skunk (Vaults of Pandius, Tome of Horrors Revised)
--Slug, Giant (Drsagon 355, Tome of Horrors Revised, Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Slug, Giant Sea (Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Slug, Mammoth (Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Slug, Monstrous (Green Ronin: Plot and Poison Guidebook to Drow)
--Snake, Viper-- tiny and small (MM) (these are actually rattlesnakes, meaning that they will almost always give a warning rattle before attacking. Only found in southern Cascadia. Larger ones of mythical proportions *medium and large* may exist in the mountain areas.)
--Squid (MM)
--Squirrel, Flying (Dragon 327)
--Swarm, Bat (MM)
--Swarm, Leech (Stormwrack) (our leech species here are associated with heavily polluted rivers and brackish waters. I have no idea why they are so common in polluted rivers like the Willamette. ....Come to think of it though, I've only ever heard of leech attacks on humans east of the Cascades, which is not part of Cascadia, e.g. the region inhabited by the NW Coast groups.)
--Swarm, Murder of Crows (Tome of Magic)
--Toad (MM)
--Toebiter, Monstrous/Monstrous Waterbug (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20030822a)
--Vulture (Sandstorm) (turkey vultures are native throughout North America)
--Wasp Swarm (FF)
--Whale, Orca (MM)

MONSTERS AND RACES
--Algoid (En World Converted, Tome of Horrors Revised)
--Bramble (EN World converted)
--Briarvex (MM4)
--Catfolk (Races of the Wild)
--Dryad (MM)
--Elemental, Any (MM)
--Elf, Wild (Races of Faerun)
--Elf, Wood (Races of Faerun, PHB)
--Fire Nymph (City of Brass)
--Forest Haunt (MM5)
--Ghost (MM)
--Hag, Sea (MM)
--Halfling, Lightfoot (Races of Faerun, PHB)
--Halfling, Wild (EN World converted)
--Hamadryad (EN World converted)
--Hawk, Blood (MM2)
--Hound, Elven (RotW)
--Kelp Angler (Fiend Folio)
--Kenku (MM3)
--Lavabriar (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031123a)
--Lava Child (City of Brass)
--Leechwalker (MM2)
--Moss, Memory (Glades of Death, Tome of Horrors Revised, Monster Geographica: Marsh & Aquatic)
--Moss, Vampire (EN World Converted)
--Needlefolk (MM2)
--Obliviax Mossling/Memory Moss (Dragon 355)
--Ooze, Obsidian (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fw/20031123a)
--Owlbear (MM)
--Paraelemental, Any (MotP)
--Quasielemental, Lightning (Denizens of the Inner Planes)
--Quasielemental, Radiance (Denizens of the Inner Planes)
--Quasielemental, Steam (Denizens of the Inner Planes)
--Raptorian, River (to be written; base creature in Races of the Wild)
--Raptorian, Seacliff (to be written; base creature in Races of the Wild)
--Red Sundew (MM2)
--Rose Bush, Vampiric (Dungeon 84)
--Rose, Vampire (EN World Converted)
--Sasquatch (Menace Manual)
--Shadow (MM)
--Shadow, Greater (MM)
--Sisiutl (Stormwrack)
--Skeleton (MM)
--Spider, Phase (MM)
--Spirit Animal (Frostburn)
--Swamplight Lynx (MM2) (northern Cascadia, only)
--Thunderbird (Menace Manual) (This version is preferred)
--Thunderbird (Sandstorm) (this one does not well reflect Native American legends)
--Treant (MM)
--Urchin, Greater Black (EN World converted)
--Urchin, Greater Red (EN World converted)
--Urchin, Greater Silver (EN World converted)
--Usunang (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psb/20070711a)
--Verdant Reaver (MM5)
--Wasp, Phase (MM2)
--Werebear (MM)
--Wraith? (MM)
--Xtabay (Dragon 317)

TEMPLATES
Elemental Creature (MotP)
Ghost (MM)
Ghost Brute (Libris Mortis)
Ghost, Haunting (Libris Mortis)
Half Elemental (MotP)
Monster of Legend (MM3)
Paraelemental Creature (Dragon 347)
Skeleton (MM)
Skeleton, Soldier (Libris Mortis)
Spirit Animal (Frostburn)
Umbral (Libris Mortis)
Wendigo (FF) (note: in various Native American folktales, one who resorts to cannibalism becomes a blood/flesh-thirsty, savage serial killer. In traditional Inuit legends, one who resorts to cannibalism in order to survive becomes a wendigo. In other Native American legends, characters become wendigo-like creatures after sucking on their own blood, which causes a madness. Wendigo possession/attack was also used by the Inuit to explain the mind-affecting symptoms of hypothermia. The ghoulish and ghastly templates from Dragon 307 also fit this theme, as does the ghoul monster in general, even though most Native American legends and folklores lack corporeal undead)

A very good 3rd party supplement for the Pchughstick region is "Dreadmire" by Spellbinder games. For an obscure company, they made a pretty damn excellent and extensive supplement (aside form the fact that all the art is in black and white-- still, most of the art that is there is 3x D&D quality), and fits right up there with Frostburn and Sandstorm as far as quality and completeness (and even includes subraces to most of the main races, such as Mud Gnomes) The setting given in the book pertains to a Louisiana-type setting, but plenty of the stuff works just as well for a Pacific Northwest campaign. One key difference of course is that we tend to have wetland praries and cool coastal bogs as opposed to stinky, menthane-belching swamps. Essentially, that means that waterlogged ground here doesn't have that swampy/green manure tea smell rampant in the SE United States (you know, the smell that permeates the lawns in Orlando) Another interesting thing about this book is that recorded history in the Dreadmire setting preceeds that of the lizardfolk, going all the way back to sentient arthropods. Also, this book has an appendix which includes several written language alphabets-- the elven and dwarven ones are alternate ones, but I kinda like their Draconic to the one in 4E, because theirs actually looks like various arcane alchemy-like symbols.

On a similar note, a very good non-gaming book (and in fact, THE must-have book for botanists here in the Pacific Northwest) is Lone Pine's revised "Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast". This nifty book not only covers botanical info on the plants (though Americans beware-- it was written in Canada and thus uses the metric system, only), but many also include a blurb or two about what the First Nations used them for. Unfortunately, it primarly covers the First Nations of BC, with very few entries on what the Washingtonian and Oregonian tribes of Cascadia used it for (please note, if I did not mention it earlier, that "Cascadia" is primarily a Canadian term for the ecoregion-- The only American companies or groups I am aware of who use it are a small company that sells butterfly host plants and plastic field guide cards-- though for all I know that company may be Canadian as well.)

I might also work a bit on the SE region, but not very much (and I am not well versed with it).
One interesting idea however would be stinging coral. Oh, no, we're not talking about the creatures known as "fire coral". I'm talking about corals actually stinging people. Obviously, this would only occur at night and, there would be no real-life examples to go by (since scuba divers generally do not go swimming among the reefs at night) We can assume, of course, that their venom would be more or less like that of jellyfish-- a (potentially) potent neurotoxin (e.g. Dex damage. Obviously, most mundane species would not be overly toxic and would mostly just cause pain, like that of a Portugese man-o-war, but it's still a neurotoxin and thus Dex damage *which is the type of ability damage that sharp pain would cause anyway, I know from experience-- if pain gets strong enough, it interferes with tactile sensation no matter how strong your willpower is*)

Back to the NW Anchorome setting, the classes will definitely be slightly different. I think this is best accomplished with a regional feat that gives everyone the Survival and Swimming skills, as these are prettymuch everyman skills for the region.

Wars in the Lower Columbia (river) area were usually caused by one of two things: blood feud, and aquisition of slaves (which played a major role in the culture of all Northwest Coastal groups). Beyond this, the tribes of the Lower Columbia preferred negotiation to war. Blood feuds could be averted or even quelled (provided the offense is not too dire-- a massive war between the Multnomah and Clatsop that resulted when the Clatsop chieftain murdered his Multnomah wife who had been given to him as a peace offering, and ultimately alienated the white settlers, splitting the joint white settler/native communities is a good example of one that probably couldn't be prevented through negotiation) through reparations of goods, slaves, or land, and Chinook folktales even include one such moral tale stressing the importance of such. Of course, another major factor behind the lack of wars by the time the white settlers started their forceful landgrabs is that, due to their (up until around that point) closer integration (as opposed to separatism) with the white settlers, the NW tribes were devastated far worse by Old World diseases than those of other regions. Which of course would mean that war simply wasn't an option for them by a certain point. They most definitely suffered far, far less harsh treatment by the white settlers compared to their Southwestern, Rocky Mountain, and North/South Dakota cousins, however (who were unfortunate enough to live in regions rich in minerals-- including, most unfortunately, gold. It was the gold rush that would determine whether or not an area became part of the "Wild West", and where both the natives and the white settlers would degenerate into little more than savages.)

Predators were not a major concern among the NW Coast peoples, mainly because the worst and most dangerous predator (which I think was more common in Northern Cascadia, while rarer and merely sporadic south of the Puget Sound region) was the grizzly bear. Several other potential human predators exist as well-- namely the black bear, cougar (also known as 'mountain lion' and 'puma' in some regions-- in the Pacific States we call them cougars, and I assume they are called this in coastal BC and Vancouver Island as well), and even the coyote (wolves for some reason did not exist in Southern Cascadia-- that is, the region south of the Puget Sound area). Aside from grizzly bears (which could be a hazard regardless of how big your group is if you get too close to their young), none of these animals were dangerous to anyone who traveled in groups (these predators, when they do attack humans, prefer to attack solitary ones, and tend to hold an aversion to humans appearing in groups or assemblies) The NW Coastal groups were far more afraid of the western black rattlesnake, which had a slightly larger territory than it does today (today it's found primarily on the eastern slope of the Cascade mountains eastward, as well as in the southern 1/6th or so of Cascadia-- generally in the southern tip of the Willamette Valley and the Klamath Basin. Originally its range extended up the southern 2/3rds of the Willamette Valley.)

APPROPRIATE MONSTERS NOT YET CREATED
(These are creatures and monsters I have yet to see created anywhere)
--Barnacle, Giant (might be able to create one by modifying certain plant monsters)
--Hag, Mountain (man-eating hags who give birth to skookums; basically a modified Xtabay)
--Salmon (larger species can deliver a nasty tail slap and bite if handled or approached by a dumbass-- an adult sockeye salmon of spawning age for instance can have teeth up to 1 inch long. The indigenous peoples generally respected these animals' might and attacked them within fish traps with harpoons. A hauled-in salmon that was still moving could be finished off with a blunt object, such as a club. Sturgeons were likewise harpooned, though they lack teeth and can only deliver a very nasty tail slap.)
--Salmon, Dire (extinct species of 9 ft long salmon)
--Sturgeon, Giant/Dire (I could probably modify some other aquatic monster with an enhanced swallow-whole ability)
--Salmon, King (aka Chinook salmon-- 6 ft long species-- largest extant salmon/trout in the world)
--Skookum (man-eating sasquatch)
--Isopod, Giant (I think this might be an unconverted 1 or 2E monster-- isopods aren't really all that frightening since they're merely scavengers, but you wouldn't want one around if you're trying to drag a dead body somewhere.)

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Hyena of Ice wrote:
cougar (also known as 'mountain lion' and 'puma' in some regions-- in the Pacific States we call them cougars, and I assume they are called this in coastal BC and Vancouver Island as well)

Just to be a tiny bit pedantic here; I lived most my life in La Grande (Eastern Oregon), and we called them either cougars or mountain lions. Usually cougars, but it was honestly pretty interchangeable. Not that it makes a huge difference to your list, but just to give another Pacific NW perspective.

Otherwise, yeah, most of your stuff is pretty spot on for that part of the state too. We did have some wolves around the area, to the point that farmers were constantly pushing to make the state ease up on hunting restrictions, but I'm pretty sure they were an invasive species too. I don't think we had a lot of black bear there, I think it was mostly grizzly over in the east. But I could be wrong on that, or remembering incorrectly.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

In BC I just hear about Cougars. Allegedly BC was also where the slang term Cougar came from too, but that's another topic.

Black Bears often get shot at by conservation officers in BC, whether by tranquilizers for relocation or by real bullets because human development often encroaches on their territory. Everyone is warned to keep their garbage sealed in places near the forests because of this. Also Raccoons which live in suburban and urban environments also tend to scavenge through Human garbage.

I'm not sure if Coyotes originally came to BC, but they seem to be a growing problem here, not because they're dangerous to Humans. But because they're dangerous to cats and dogs.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

^^That's how they are in Portland, too. I've gotta say though that they're veiwed way differently in the midwest-- they're essentially viewed as criminals/outlaws there, even though it's mostly the peoples' faults that live there for destroying their native habitats, that they're now going into suburbs and cities to eat pets. The rabbit and tuleremia problems are really bad in Missouri as well, and Missouri has nearly as many reported cases of tularemia each year as the entire friggin' state of California. Thing is, those wild hares are absolutely EVERYWHERE, and it doesn't help that the people there try to kill all the coyotes, which are their main predator.
Though people are somewhat afraid of coyotes, I've never heard of adult humans being attacked by them, only pets.
Cougars are a huge problem here as well, and once in a blue moon you'll hear of a cougar attack in one of the three Pacific mainland states, but because of their secrecy you very rarely see them. I've read that it's common along nature trails to find cougar tracks along with one's own if one backtracks.
It's generally just one of those dangers that's always there, but that few people think about. I mean, you're several times more likely to be struck by lightning in Cascadia than attacked by a cougar, and that's really saying something since normally we only have about 2-5 lightning storms per year.
In all the rare cougar attacks I've ever heard of, they've only ever attacked people travelling alone, though once they do attack, the presence and posturing by up to even a dozen other humans isn't enough to stop them from attacking their victim.

Blackbears here in Oregon are only a problem in the mountains and East of the Cascades, though I think they do exist in some of the low-mid elevation mountains towards the center of the state. Once in awhile they'll attack humans, viewing them as food, but the victims are usually hikers who know how to scare blackbears off.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

It's a bigger problem than that in the eastern half of the state, cougars. Portland I could believe that since it's nowhere near the mountains, but back in La Grande (which is literally right up against Mt. Emily, right in the middle of the Grande Ronde Valley), at least once every year or two we'd have a cougar wander into town and walk around downtown until Animal Control could take care of them and corral them back outside the city limits. Never an attack, true, but the presence of humans definitely wasn't enough of a deterrent to keep them out of town there.

And 2-5 lightning storms a year? That sounds a little low to me, are you sure about that? Though maybe it's just a difference between the eastern and western halves of the state.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

^^It is. In the eastern half, lightning storms are a regular weather phenomena.
On the western half here, it's rare enough to captivate the average person here, and on the news and elsewhere we often refer to them as 'the lightshow'.
Fires caused by dry lightning are practically unheard of west of the E. slope of the Cascades. While forestfire is a very natural and essential part of the landscape here (or at least was back when the aboriginal peoples were plentiful), it is always limited to man-originating ones.
I know this sounds contradictory, but it's not. Cascadia (w. Oregon, Washington *particularly the coasts, Wilamette Valley, and Puget Sound) have been inhabited by humans for around 10 thousand years, and for much of that time, up until 150 years ago, said humans have burned vast areas of land to maximize hunting and camas/wapato harvests.
Most of the Willamette Valley, for instance, was originally wetland prarie because the Multnomah Chinook, the Clackamas, etc. burned the valley every year with fire.
Apparently, back then we had a whopping 160x more beavers than we do now, and meadowlarks were everywhere.
I do not know what the tribes in Washington did, however, though I would not be surprised if they did something similar with the Puget Sound region.
In Cascadia we have a dryseason that stretches from late June to the end of September. During that time, the vegetation is extremely dry and fire prone, but the lack of dry lightning or temperatures hot enough (or humid enough) to turn dewdrops into magnifying glasses capable of starting fires leaves the fire-starting up to man.
In '03 we had an intermediate wildfire in Cascade Locks caused when a douglas fir fell across and severed some power lines.
The landscape sadly has degraded to introduced weeds and such (e.g. scotch broom and himalayan blackberry) since then, but at the same time the fire was really needed because the forests were so thick that they were literally unpassable, and there was about 3 feet worth of this like-- 'woven' mat of dead needles and twigs at the forest floor (this was a layer that sat ABOVE the duff layer). Thankfully the firefighters managed to stop the blaze just feet from peoples' houses, and also thankfully the blaze stayed on the ground.
Cascade Locks and the Historic Highway (the federally protected areas along the Columbia between Corbett and Cascade Locks-- Corbett is a tiny berry and tree farm community east of Wilsonville, which is east of Troutdale, which is east of Gresham, which is adjacent to Portland.
An area 2 miles east of Cascade Locks, near Herman Creek is the wilderness area I am by far the most familiar with as that is where my aunt lived up until last year, and since my last grandparent died when I was only 8, she took the function and relationship of a grandparent to me, so I was fairly close to her.) I myself live in a really old suburb in SE Portland at the border with Gresham, and have lived in this same location my entire life. So I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the wilderness stuff around here.
I've also spent brief vacations in St. Louis Missouri, Kansas City Missouri, Bentonville, Arkansas, and Orlando, Florida, so I know some of the differences between Cascadia and other areas (I've also spent a few days in E. Oregon in the summer-- I spent the majority of my time outside in all those areas listed, though I've only been to Florida in the fall and winter.)
Speaking of, if I remember correctly, the native tribes that originally lived in the St. Louis area terraformed the terrain via fire as well. I know that the area is SUPPOSED to have originally been mostly wildflower prarie, though today prettymuch any area that is not cleared will become broadleaf woodland.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Though probably more technical than needs be for D&D, I've also looked into the geological specimens of NW Oregon.
...It's a tad difficult, really, as the book "Roadside Geology of Oregon" isn't all that great and mostly covers the more specimen-rich interior areas (Cascadia is not a good environment for finding minerals-- too wet) I did determine that when we (from the Oregon Coast to Cascade Locks, at least) say "rock", we're usually referring to siltstone and mudstone. Those are your 'nilla "rock" here, as opposed to say-- Bentonville, Arkansas and SW Missouri, where "rock" means chert and flintstone.
Natural caves, as mentioned before, are practically unheard of outside of the coast because our soils are limestone/calcite poor. (natural caves are almost exclusively made from limestones and other calcium-based minerals, as these are water-soluble).
That is not to say that we don't have subterranean streams, because we do, but they tend to be high in the mountains and are very fragile (in the mountains, sinkholes are a far more significant hazard than they are on the lowlands, though they're a huge hazard of lowland slopes as well because our soils are rich in clays and silts. For instance, the walking trails on the Historic Highway are very prone to landslides.)
I do not know the specifics of what all minerals are available here, except that flints are extremely rare, while basalts and pyroxenes are incredibly common. Our primary ore is magnetite, and in fact, if you comb the beaches from the mouth of the Columbia to Newport at least, you'll notice that the little streams are full of black sand-- magnetite. The mouth of the Columbia's sands have a glittery appearance from all the magnetite, and there are layers of black sand. In general, the sands of our beaches are gray with a mixture of siltstone, mudstone, agate (I do not know what kind), and magnetite. (as opposed to Florida's sands, which are snow white).
Obsidian does occur in places, though I don't know how much of it is natural and how much of it was transported from other areas by previous landowners. It's not something that's incredibly common here, but it does occur. I have no idea if the Chinook and other NW coast groups used it or not. As far as I know, there isn't a lot of nephrite around here like there is in BC.

Here are the new tools I've devised thus far. Most of these refer to Chinook versions, or Makah or Nootka where info on Chinook-specific versions could not be found. These are all native-made items. As an alternative to trade, a character with the appropriate craft skill (and in some cases survival skill) can use a Diplomacy check to convince one or more natives to teach them how to make the tool, though in most circumstances, if the native is a Chinook analogue, the character will have to offer something as payment.
Normal steel/iron equipment can be bought from the natives as well, but because of scarcity and high demand, they cost double the normal price.
The following equipment however can be purchased from the natives at regular price, as they make their own versions of these.
Note that some equipment below is strictly racial (e.g. the lynxpaw is a catfolk weapon)

WEAPONS
Club
Dagger
Dart
Double Bow, Elven (A&E, Dragon 349)
Greatclub
Harpoon (Frostburn, Stormwrack)
Javelin
Longbow
Longspear
Lynxpaw (RotW)
Net
Quarterstaff
Shortbow
Shortspear
Spear

STONE AND BONE
Dagger: Atk -2, 1d2 (bone daggers weigh only 1/2 lb) Hardness/HP: 8/2 (stone) 6/1 (bone)
Shortspear: Atk -2 1d4
Spear: Atk -2 1d6
Longspear: Atk -2, 1d6
Harpoon: Atk -2, 1d8 (these harpoons weigh only 6 lbs since they are instead made from wood, plant fiber/sinew, and sharpened bone or stone fragments)
Javelin: Atk -2, 1d4
Longbow: Atk -2, 1d6
Shortbow: Atk -2, 1d4
Greatbow: Atk -2, 1d8

ARMOR
Bark (A&E)
Bone (Dragon 319, A&E)
Cord (A&E)
Hide
Leather (this is the standard armor of the Chinook, made from buckskin

EQUIPMENT, PROVISIONS
--Basket (empty) (these are watertight/waterproof, and cost 1 gp due to their fine quality.)
--Candle (candles are made from the euchalon/oolich fish, also known as 'candlefish'.)
--Firewood
--Fishhook (this is a narrow, U-shaped shaft of wood that has been bent and hardened in a fire. It's used primarily for ocean fish such as halibut/flounder and cod. Especially halibut. It costs 5 cp.)
--Fishing Net
--Floatation Bags (Arms & Equipment)
--Float Bladders (Stormwrack)
--Fowler's Snare (Arms & Equipment)
--Hammock (Arms & Equipment)
--Pole, 10 ft.
--Rations, trail (these consist of pemmican, dried berries, and dried fish)
--Rope, Hempen (however, this rope is instead made of local plant fibers, such as willow)
--Sack (empty)
--Sealing Wax (this is actually conifer pitch, usually Douglas Fir. It costs 5 sp.)
--Snorkel
--Snowshoes (not available in many areas)
--Torch
--Tree Stand (Arms & Equipment item)
--Waterskin
--Whetstone

--Balance Pole (Complete Adventurer)
--Camouflage Kit (Complete Adventurer)
--Healer's Kit
--Hunter's Kit
--Musical Instrument (only drums, rattles and clappers)
--Spell component pouch

Western druids will have difficulty finding their needed holy symbols. While mistletoe does exist, it's extremely rare in Cascadia (it's more common in the mountains, in the drier interior, and in the Sierra mountains to the far south). There are no hollies here.
Indigenous druids use Western Red Cedar and Devil's Club (a relative of ginseng, and used extensively in NW Coast ethnomedicine and ceremony) as holy symbols. Holly may be grown however at settler outposts, and it's an invasive weed here.

VEHICLES
--Dugout (Stormwrack)
--Oar
--War Canoe (Stormwrack)

AVAILABLE SPECIAL MATERIALS
Bone (DMG non SRD)
Darkwood (DMG)
Obsidian (OA, my Inner Planes topic)
Stone (DMG non SRD)
Wood (DMG)

Bark Beater: This tool consists of a handle with a broad, rectangular-shaped head. It was used to beat cear bark until it was soft like hemp. They were generally made from wood or bone.

Canoe Bailer: This is essentially a water-tight bentwood box with a handle at the top, with a crescent rather than a rectangular shape... That HAS to be complicated.
Canoe bailers come standard with war canoes (see Stormwrack), which are used for ocean travel (as opposed to the dugout in Stormwrack, which would be used chiefly as a river canoe as well as a spirit canoe)
Here is a picture in case you're having difficulty with the mental image:
http://www.americanindian.si.edu/searchcollections/multimedia/4132/467/5...

D Adze: This is a tool, usually made from wood, that looks like the handle of a tea kettle or clothing iron, except that there is a crescent-shaped protrusion in the lower front area for chipping. To describe it another way, it looks like a Russian "D", except that the right vertical stroke does not extend below the bottom horizontal stroke. The area that protrudes below the bottom horizontal stroke (talking about the Russian "D" again) is usually made from some type of stone. It is used for carving of wooden items, particularly of dugout canoes. It costs 3 gp and weighs 2 lbs.
For those having difficulty with the visualization, here is a picture of one.
http://kristownsend.com/ghp/cathlapotle/images/dadze1.GIF
and another:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9459/9459-h/images/ilvi06.png

Digging Stick: This consists of a 2 to 3 ft. long sharp, slightly crescent-shaped shaft of very durable hardwood topped with a horizontal softwood handle. These tools are used as combination spades/picks used primarily for digging up various roots. (improvised weapon for 1d4 piercing dmg) It costs 1 gp and weighs 2 lb.

Knife: this consists of a rectangular sheet of stone topped lengthwise with a wooden handle. It costs 5 sp and can be used as an improvised weapon for 1d2 slashing damage.

Rainproof Clothing: This consists of three pieces of woven, watertight bark or plant fiber. It includes a heavy cloak that comes just short of reaching the knees, a knee-length bulky tunic, and a conical or upside-down funnel-shaped hat (known as a 'rain hat' or 'basket hat'). This outfit protects the wearer from head to knee from the rain. Because of its thickness and bulk, it provides an AC of 1, -1 armor check penalty, +6 maximum Dex bonus, an Arcane Spell failure chance of 10%, and functions as light armor. It weighs 10 lbs. and costs 5gp to purchase.

Spawn Catcher: I honestly don't know what this looks like.

Warclub: This appears as a long-handled stick with a carved (often ornamental), bulbous rectangular head. It functions the same as a regular club, and can be bought for 5sp.

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Settler Deities in an Anchorome Settler Campaign

Here is a list of Faerunian deities that would be active in a settler campaign (that is, if Faerunians manage to cross the seas and settle) This pertains to all of Anchorome, and not just the Cascadian part.

Abbathor- A popular deity of the goldrush regions for obvious reasons.

Baervan Wildwanderer- A popular choice for gnome explorers and native forest gnomes.

Cyric- Like Garagos, he encourages the settlers to plunder the lands and resources of the natives. He also encourages religious intolerance towards their faiths, and is EXTREMELY popular among evil-aligned outlaws.

Dumathoin- A popular deity of the goldrush regions, and likely to be invoked even by human miners to some degree (there just isn't really a human-equivalent deity who fills the role of protecting miners.)

Eldath- Eldath's church would be quite active, with the role of trying to mediate peace, not only between the settlers and nature, but also the settlers and the natives.

Flandal Steelskin- Popular gnomish deity in the goldrush regions.

Garagos- Garagos's church/cult would also be quite active here. The church sees the natives as weak and unfit to live unless they can repel the settlers' attacks.

Garl Glittergold- Popular gnomish deity in the goldrush regions.

Helm- Helm's church will be fairly popular, especially among law enforcement. The church members must play the precarious role of protecting both settlers and natives from outlaws and plunderers.

Mielikki- An obvious choice for frontiersmen, especially those on excursions of the Davy Crockett and Lewis&Clark persuasion.

Shaundakul- An obvious choice for explorers and frontiersmen.

Talona (optional)- If you choose to encorporate the real life disease epidemic, the church of Talona should be behind it. They have deemed the natives weak and unfit to live (unless they can survive the plagues). If you choose to encorporate this, then the churches of either Ilmater or Lathander should also be present to oppose her. This could easily turn into a long campaign where the players must defeat the church and/or find an artifact that can protect the natives from the diseases.

Ulutiu- Active in the arctic regions.

Umberlee and Valkur- Well, duh.

Waukeen is likely to be worshipped to some degree as well, since trade (including barter) will be particularly important to the settlers.

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Name of regions developed from Chinook Jargon.

Finally developed the name for the Cascadia-analogue using the Chinook Jargon lexicons for "Green Forest Land/Country/Kingdom" (as far as I can tell, the syntax is correct).

There are two regions:

North P'chughstick Illahee and South P'chughstick Illahee. (pronounced, as far as I can tell, Peh ' choo-g" "stick" ee-lah-hee. That apostrophe signifies what I believe is a Japanese-style double-consonant rest.)

North P'chughstick Illahee is much larger, and in real-life analogue refers to Cascadia from Prince William Sound to the northern tip of Washington State in line with Vancouver Island.

South P'chughstick Illahee in real-life analogue refers to the rest of Washington State down to mid-southern Oregon (down to Eugene, approximately.)

I split the two regions among this line specifically since it represents a floral and fauna divergence in most of the animal and plant field guides that I own. Although many plant and animal species are also split between the southern border of the Puget Sound...

I should mention that the version of "Cascadia" I'm using is that found in Lone Pine's Pacific Northwest Native Plants book which essentially defines its eastern borders as situated at the peaks of the western slopes of the Cascade mountain range. This is different from what you'll get hits for in Google, as those maps cover most of Idaho as well. I've chosen those specifics as the borders as they represent a cultural and taxonomical divide (On the east slope of the Cascades and eastwards you get into the Sagebrush Steppe Plateau groups that were the biscuitroot-eaters and could actually make use of horses)

A bit off subject, I can't remember if I mentioned this before, but the Maztica and nother canonical books are not entirely accurate in their portrayal of the North American Amerindians. Most of them were not initially 'savage' and xenophobic and the books describe (at least, not the NE coast and NW coast ones, anyhow-- I cannot vouch for the other groups as I have not looked into it) towards travelers (towards neighboring tribes, sure, but not towards the white explorers). Of course, this was probably at least in part due to a lack of intimidating factor from the white explorers. Sure, they had frighteningly superior weaponry, but there were only a few to few dozen of them, and they didn't have a clue (that is to say, their unfamiliarity with the ecoregion left them entirely at the mercy and hospitality of the natives)
Most of the stories I've seen involving first contact depict the natives as extremely cautious and often timid. In many cases (such as on the NE coast), native hunters stalked the settlers for some time before finally revealing themselves. Among the Chinook the situation was quite different and atypical, as according to the legend, the first contact resulted in an attack due to a misunderstanding (the natives thought that the British explorers were monsters and set their ship on fire)

This is a text of the infamous legend here:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/nam/nw/chinook/cht36.htm

The syntax makes it difficult to understand, and I've also seen a minor variation where the woman proclaims (along with what she says in the text in the link) that she saw "bears with the faces of men". (The Clatsop were one of the two most powerful clans of the Chinook Tribe, the other being the Multnomah, with the Clackamas coming third. The Clatsop were the dominant of the Lower Chinook *Chinook tribes along the mouth of the Columbia River* while the Multnomah were by far the most powerful of the Upper Chinook tribes *tribes who spanned from W. Portland to Hood River, and south to the Willamette and Hood Rivers. At the time that First Contact was made, there was an ongoing blood feud between the Upper and Lower Chinook tribes.*)

To summarize the 2nd half of the story, the reaction among the Chinook was that most (upon seeing the ship) ran and hid. One particular extended family decided to approach the ship. Among them was one brave dude who actually boarded the ship, whereupon he realized that the "bears with faces of men" were actually men, and where he gazed upon great wonders-- many tools and cooking utensils made from brass and copper. Just as he attempts to communicate and establish a haggle with the explorers, his relatives light the ship on fire, so he and the explorers are forced to abandon ship. After that, word quickly spreads to neighboring tribes, and fear becomes replaced with curiosity, and the chieftain of the Clatsop tribe immediately wants to meet this guy (in the preserved older versions of the story, his wording suggests that he wants the captain as a slave.)
A similar but more vague story is recorded by British explorers, in which a particular ship was shot at with arrows and eventually lit on fire, and the captain (and surviving crew) stranded for a short time.

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More Random Stuff

One of the things I've also thought about is breaking down certain... flagship flora/fauna by species. For instance, there might be a separate Anchoromean and Faerunian Darkwood.

ABORIGINAL P'CHUGHSTICK ILLAHEE POWERS
--The four elemental lords
--The archomentals
--Coyote
--Fenmarel Mestarine (Wild Elves)
--Great Spirit
--Sisiutl (new power to be detailed later)
--Thunderbird

Coyote, Thunderbird, Raven, and Sisiutl are not merely human deities; they would be worshipped by other races as well. Including:

Coyote: lycanthropes (werewolf, were coyote)
Raven: Kenku, Lycanthrope Wereraven (Ravenloft Gazeteer IV I think), Raptorian (Races of the Wild)
Sisiutl: Darfellian (Stormwrack)
Thunderbird: Arrowhawk, Giant Eagle, Raptorian (Races of the Wild)

The Hishnaweaver and Plumaweaver would actually work quite well as arcane casters for P'chughstick, as well-- the NW coast peoples held prettymuch the same view about birds and snakes (birds being associated with heaven, rulership, and divinity, while snakes are associated with death, danger, and evil wizards)

The Amerindian heaven would obviously be on the Beastlands, since it was originally called the Happy Hunting Grounds (which is the Amerindian version of heaven). Not sure where the Amerindian hell would be, however, especially since the different groups are going to have differing conceptions of what hell would be. For instance, the NW coast peoples viewed the east as embodying Hell, because it is in the mountains, is cold, desolate *esp. compared to the lush Cascadian forests and wetland praries that the NW coast groups are accustomed to, where agriculture was never fully developed due to being unnecessary*, and there are more snakes there. The mountains were the NW Coast peoples' concept of the Next Frontier, and as such that's where all their dangerous folkloric creatures (such as the Skookum and cannibalistic hags) dwelled. (the skookum was a sasquatch that devoured human flesh, which the Multnomah tribe of the Chinook Indians believed lived on Mt. St. Helens)

I will probably give the Pchughstick powers dual divine realms-- one on the Beastlands and one on an elemental plane.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Okay, I need help brainstorming something. I want to encorporate the Chinookan and Klickitat legend of the three mountains (the creation story of Mt Hood, Helens, and Adams), but I am unsure how to translate it into D&D (Obviously I'd be using different names, but my problem is explaining the whole supernatural-ness D&D style).
The story goes like this (if you live in the Pacific states, or even British Columbia, then you've probably heard this story before).

The chief of the gods had two sons: Wy'east and Pahto. They travelled to the Dalles (or the Gorge, depending on who is telling the story) and essentially found a quintessential "promised land". Their father divided the land between them by shooting two arrows-- one to the south and one to the north. He created the Bridge of the Gods (land bridge near modern-day Bonneville dam connecting Washington to Oregon via the Columbia River) so that they could meet yearly. (Wy'east got Oregon while Pahto got Washington)
However, the two sons soon made war with one another over a fair maiden named Loo Wit-- who herself was unable to choose between the two brothers. Their war laid waste to the land, and destroyed one another's, as well as their own tribespeople. Their father, weary of the tirade of destruction, therefore placed a curse on all three-- transforming them into mountains. Wy'east became the majestic Mt. Hood, while Pahto became the humbled Mt. Adams, and the fair Loo Wit became Mt. St. Helens. This limited the destruction they could wreak henceforth, but still was not enough to stop them, and from time to time the quarreling between the two brothers would begin again. This was the Chinookan and Klickitat peoples' explanation for why an eruption from one mountain would seem to set off the other.
Though most of the online sources I encounter do not speak of it, the version I always heard as a child also explained why Mt. St. Helens would also erupt following the other two or vice-versa:
Loo Wit would eventually become so fed up with the vicious fighting between both prospective lovers, that she would become royally pissed off, transforming into a hideous hag, more merciless than the two brothers combined (well, I don't think the stories I was told said this outright, but it was implied that her wrath exceeded the other two-- Mt. St. Helens erupts about 5-10x more often than the other two volcanoes, and its eruptions have historically been far more destructive, even though Mt. Hood is the one with the reputation for friggin' plugging up the entire Columbia river.) Eventually she'd cool off and turn back into a beautiful maiden.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

While I like the story and I DEFINITELY want to encourage the inclusion of non-traditional (i.e. non-Greco-Roman or Norse) myths, I'm not sure what you are asking.

Are you asking where on the planes you would place these mountains/gods? Are you asking for stats on this gods?

If you want to place them on the planes, then culturally, the Beastlands are probably the best choice. You might place one mountian on each of the three layers. Then the Bridge of the Gods could be some natural formation that has one base on one layer and the terminus on another.

Then there could be copies or manifestations of these mountains on any Prime world where that pantheon is worshipped.

If you are asking where in Anchorome to place the mountains, I'm afraid I'm no help as I'm not familiar with its geography

I'm interested to hear more.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Hmm, I actually didn't consider a planar take on the story... I was talking more rules/fluff-wise-- turning gods into mountains isn't something you usually read about in D&D (closest I know of is Ulutiu, but my understanding is that he is encased inside the glacier rather than BEING the glacier. Plus his physical body is actually on the Astral...)

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Just brainstorming here: I've always kept the deities associated with natural forms (ie. the Earth, the moon, the sun, etc.) in two (or more) separate manifestations: one the physical object that one would encounter on the Prime and one a spiritual (usually anthropomorphic) form one would encounter on the planes. So personally, I would place these three as beings on the planes.

But to keep the sense of punishment or confinement, I'd have these beings limited in their power in some way. Perhaps they aren't allowed to leave their layer or their personal domains.
The two warring brothers might send storms or followers against one another. (I like the idea of mortai in the Beastlands being sent by one god to rain thunder down on a rival mountain. This probably wouldn't hurt him but it might be annoying, disrupt his planning, and/or drive away petitioners loyal to that mountain-god.)

With regards to their presence in the Prime, I personally don't like actual deities showing up physically. But if you do, I guess you could take my ideas above and move them to the mortal realm. Perhaps in this case, the god can manifest as a man but he is limited to how far he can travel from his confining mountain (his "real body" so to say).

Is that more in line with your desire for feedback?

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

On a more practical level, I guess one should ask what the ramification would be of a mountian suddenly appearing. Rivers would be diverted, settlements might have to move (and conflicts might result - imagine if the poorest tribe in the most desolate area suddenly had the most lush and fertile ground).
Would a group that lived in the now mountain-occupied area feel displaced? Or would they consider themselves protectors of the god?

On a separate note, I treked up to Wyoming a few years ago (living in Denver) and went to see the Devil's Tower (famous from the "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind" movie). I know this is more of a Plains myth instead of Northwestern; but I enjoyed it.
One (of several) native legends states that two girls were being chased by a gigantic bear. The girls climbed a small rock to escape but they knew they wouldn't be safe for long so they prayed to the Great Spirit to save them. The Great Spirit caused the rock to start growing upwards, carrying the girls to safety. The bear jumped and clawed furiously at the rock in an attmpt to reach the girls (the explanation for the distinctive grooves in the rock); but he couldn't reach them. The girls either still live atop the rock or became stars in the sky.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

I know I can use the Multnomah Falls myth, too in some way. This was a myth of the Multnomah clan of the Chinook tribe. Basically, there was a famine or something like that, and the shaman determined that the only way to end the famine was by sacrificing a virgin (I can't remember if it required the chieftain's daughter or not). The chieftain's daughter reluctantly but valliantly agreed. She lept off the cliff and into the ravine below. Her sacrifice created the Multnomah Falls, and it's said that you can sometimes see her behind the falls, smiling back upon you.
Interesting note: It actually was possible to climb behind the falls up until arounf '98-99 when access to the rivine was shut down for two reasons (one, for conservation reasons, as a lot of water fowl including American Dippers *awesome little gray bird that literally swims underwater to catch bugs and baby fish-- it looks like it's flying in the water, though* like to nest in the ravine, and conservationists had been pressing for that for some time. The other and official/final reason was that too many teens were walking behind the falls and then getting hurt/killed. Some were even dumb enough to leap off the rockface and into the water below. IIRC the rockface is a good 10-12 feet above the water, which is only about 3-5 feet deep. Sometimes stupid teens would get stuck on the rockface and have to be rescued.)

I don't think I'll be using the menstruation flowers story, though. That's the one you've probably heard before-- a wife-beater chases his wife into a tree (the type of tree varies of course). She begins menstruating while in the tree, which drips all over the ground beneath it (the southern half of the NW coast peoples-- those in the southern half of Puget Sound and below, only wore clothing during the rainy season. Seems like a bad idea to me, though, I mean, do you really want to be smoking fish while naked if you're a guy?) eventually, the woman dies of exposure. Where her menstruation had fallen becomes the first specimens of a species of reddish flower (which flower varies by tribe). The story actually does not end there-- in many versions it continues with her brother seeking vengeance against his in-law, but failing, because he had planned to disguise himself as a woman and assassinate him, but a duck saw through his disguise because "he did not dig roots like a woman". (in the NW coast tribes, root digging was almost exclusively the domain of the womenfolk while the men hunted, trapped, fished, and traded. Though I THINK the men also divided some of the roots/bulbs.)

Fleshing out NW Anchorome will be lots of fun-- esp. S. Anchorome since the NW coast peoples below the Puget Sound were much more gypsy-like than the north-- esp. those along the lower Columbia river, and I've mentioned many of their characteristics before (many of the men were expert traders, gamblers, and thieves, though the thiefdom was a cultural things and there were some strict rules-- mainly, the thief had to hang around the victim for an hour or two after the pilfer and could only take minimal acts to conceal the stolen item. Also, if caught, they could still keep the pilfered item, but would have to give up something of great value to themselves. Also, it was incredibly dishonorable if they stole from someone unable to catch them-- such as stealing from sleeping people. The NW Coast peoples in general were very materialistic, much unlike the Interior and Great Plains peoples. They were also initially quite friendly to the explorers, much more so than the E. Coast groups, which were also friendly though much more cautious. This is not surprising however-- a small band of people who don't know basic stuff that the natives take for granted aren't very threatening, no matter how impressive their weapons are. Besides that, the NW Coast peoples saw the explorers as a trading goldmine. They also didn't participate much in the Indian Wars later down the line, but I think this is mainly because their numbers were so decimated by disease at that point-- from the point of first contact, the NW coast tribes had far more contact with the explorers and settlers than other groups, and their numbers plummetted as more groups came into frequent contact with them. The ones most prosperous today-- such as the Haida and Tlingit-- are the ones that had the least amount of contact back in those days. The Chinookan tribes, OTOH, were the very first to fall, even though they were originally one of the most prosperous and powerful groups in the region. Therefore, they never fought the settlers partly because their numbers were too small. Another reason I think is that the NW Coast settlers-- the original ones that is, possessed a different subculture than many other American subgroups and for some reason were far more anti-war and anti-death. While certainly the NW coast groups were treated poorly and given false promises-- and forced off their land just like all the other groups, unlike in many regions, they were not murdered on a regular basis. Of course, one of the main reasons for this is because the NW coast areas are so deficient in valuable minerals, one of the main catalysts behind the Indian Wars in many areas-- esp. the southwest and rockies. The Northwest was also not an area embroiled in war, unlike many regions-- esp. the Southeast, Middle south, Southwest, and E. Coast. Sadly, the settlers (and the British and French) and later white Americans tried to pull the Amerindians into their wars, esp. during the Revolutionary War. This is also an area where the sub-culture can be seen as I mentioned earlier-- for some reason, the NW settlers simply didn't go around killing the Indians in the NW lawless areas like their bretheren in other regions-- including the NE did, as well as the NW interior. I do not know why this is beyond the SW, NW interior, and Rockies *where the killings were often over minerals, and at the time mineral trafficking was the equivalent to today's drug smuggling, so you know that all sorts of unsavory characters were drawn to those regions...*)

And yes, I know where North and South Pchughstick Allele will be on the Toril map, as I've identified the area that appears to be its facsimile (it's a swamp and river-laden area in the NW sandwiched between two mountain ranges, one of which is on the coast. Yup, that's the Pacific Northwest, alright.) Just in case you didn't know, Anchorome is the North American facsimile continent on Abeir Toril, the prime world of the Forgotten Realms/Kara-Tur/Al Qadim/Horde/Maztica campaign settings.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Also, thinking about it, the arcane casters would likely have very similar magic (if not the same) to hishna and pluma magic. Among the NW Coast groups, birds were the most sacred animals, while snakes were associated with death, peril, and spirits of the dead (except for the rubber boa). So I think I'll look around the interwebz for 3x *most likely 3.0* conversions of the pluma and hishna weavers and expand their spell repritoire.

As for dentalia, I'd probably place their value as about the same or somewhat above cocoa pods. I'm also working on figuring out how to handle Anchoromean versions of the rogue, fighter, and divine bard (also, I plan to make a divine version of the Sublime Chord)

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Barter System

I've worked out the barter system for Pchughstick Allele and neighboring (as of yet nameless) areas, and the name of the Columbia River analogue (which should be added to the official Anchorome/Toril map-- it should split off from the river/marsh network at the mid-way point and head into the ocean, with a large bay at the mouth.) The explorer name for the river is the "Great Salmon River". The native name will be the Chinook Jargon for "Great River" (which incidentally was also the Chinook Jargon name for the Columbia) Another major difference is that the Columbia river analogue runs into the Colorado river analogue. This will mean that traders from both groups can be found up and down the river system, and trade goods from NW Coast and California Coast tribes will be more common in the hands of the other. (Another big difference is that there is no island chain off the coast of Pchughstick-- not even a Vancouver Island analogue.)

The geography of Anchorome is similar to North America but also vastly different because there is no Rocky Mountain range analogue that runs all the way down to the desert-- these mountains greatly inhibited travel and trade between the groups to the west and east of the peaks IRL. This means that unlike in reality, you're going to see a lot more non-perishable trade items from the opposite coast on each side.
At any rate, the barter system, using the "Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico". Bear in mind that in extreme frontier regions, all settler goods are sold at highly inflated prices due to scarcity, and there is little to no coinage in the settler forts. Furs make up the standard currency, and the prices given below are mostly taken from various 2E and 3E books. (An exception to this rule are native vehicles and slaves, which sell for standard price, and tents, which sell for half price as they are useless for most of the year)
Aside from furs, the primary currency is the "hinqua", a 6-foot long string or necklace of tusk shells (Antalis pretiosum), equivalent to 50gp. For appearance, just go to Google with the aforementioned scientific name. Good specimens reach 3 inches in length, and only these are used in hinqua. Small and broken specimens are used to make a 6-foot long strong called a "kopskops", which is worth the same amount but requires around 40 shells to a string as opposed to 25 for a hinqua. If you're wondering how the natives got the animal meat out of such a fine shell, the answer I have learned, is quite simple: ants. "Primitive" peoples around the world left their non-edible shell specimens next to ant mounds to remove the meat and any odor. On the W. and E. coasts of North America, the raspberry ant would be preferred for fine shells (raspberry ants are only around 2 mm long, compared to 5-8 mm in imported Argentine ants, known to most layfolk as 'sugar ants', which also would not have existed in the United States during that period.) A standard currency used by the Californian coast groups was the Ul-lo, a string of oblong strips (1-2 in long to 1/2 in wide) of red abalone shell, strung in groups of 10. Each string was worth 10 gp, and ul-los did make their way up to the Chinookan tribes, who used them primary for adornments, such as the tips of an elbow-length tusk shell poncho.

Wapato bulb: 1 cp
Obsidian, 1 lb block: 10 gp *must be taken from the northern mountains, close to that omnious ring valley*
Crow Feather, Single: 5 cp
Raven Feather, Single: 1 sp
Eagle Feather, Single: 1 gp
Bearskin: 5 gp
Bearskin, Dire: 200 gp
Beaver Pelt: 2 gp
Buckskin Pelt: 5 sp (cured and treated, but not made into clothing yet)
Otter Pelt: 3 gp
Sealskin, Whole: 25 sp
Sea Lion or Elephant Seal Skin, Whole: 5 gp
Sharkskin, Whole: 75 sp
Woodchuck Pelt: 1 gp
Squirrel, Raccoon, or Hare Pelt: 5 sp
Hinqua: 50 gp
Kopskops: 50 gp
Ul-lo: 10 gp
Canoe, Dugout: 50 gp
Canoe, Lg: 100 gp
Canoe, War: 160 gp
Blanket, Winter: 2~5 gp
Blanket, Summer: 1 gp
Hardwood Reinforcement Panels: 10 gp (war canoe, only) *+2 to AC, +20 lbs*
Darkwood Reinforcement Panels: 100 gp (war canoe only) *+4 to AC, +20 lbs*
I have yet to work in the prices for oolich grease and salmon specimens.
One more note about metal items: precious metals are very valuable to the Pchughstickians, even copper, brass, and bronze. However, items of copper and iron are extremely perishable in this wet environment. Thus you should only treat iron tools as worth 3x the listed price-- it will only work for a few months at best-- a few days if it contains moving parts (such as a pair of shears or a folding knife). Any iron or steel item one desires to serve them for a long time must be coated in tin or aluminum. It is these items which cost 5x market price. A masterwork tool should always be assumed to have a rust-proof coating.

All mundane non-vehicle items in Pchughstick cost 2x their listed price in the DMG and other places. Metal items cost 5x their listed price. For slaves, consult Kalamar's "Goods and Gear" book (as a general rule, the average unskilled slave costs 25 to 50 gp)

Canoes in Pchughstick should be considered of masterwork quality. They cost twice the price given in Kalamar Goods & Gear, and should be given an extra 1 HP and movement increased by 1, and the weight decreased by 5 lbs. For consistency with historic prices and simple ease, consider the average canoe to cost 50 gp instead of 60.
For the war and large canoes, give the same treatment, but increase the seaworthiness by 1 as well. For the war canoe, increase the AC by 1. As for weight, a masterwork lg canoe weighs only 70 lbs, while the war canoe weighs only 180 instead of 220.
The natives of Pchughstick only make masterwork canoes, and as such, non-masterwork versions made by inland tribes or settlers are considered worthless.
War canoes are always painted and designed with symbols and colors of the gods of war and trickery, as well as symbols of the Thunderbird and its prey (whales)

Hinquas and Ul-los do reach Maztica, and cost the same amount due to their rarity.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

You know, this reminds me of something interesting I read recently, that I think would be something good for anyone working in this sort of thing to keep in mind. It actually seems that the barter system never really existed pre-currency; here's the article I read on the fact: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/08/what-is-debt-%E2%80%93-an-interview-with-economic-anthropologist-david-graeber.html. (This doesn't apply to your situation, since you're talking about a barter system arising post-currency due to a lack of currency, which is certainly a known phenomenon.)

But anyway, the barter system is entirely a claim of economists, there's never been even the slightest anthropological evidence that there was any such thing before the creation of currency. Rather, what the evidence does say is that pre-currency trade seems to have functioned on the idea of generalized reciprocity instead. One guy says he wants something, the other guy gives it to him with the implicit but unstated understanding that the first guy owes him something else down the line. But there was no sense that items X had the same value as items Y, that trade functioned solely on-the-spot as a direct transaction in the way people usually conceive of barter.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

No offense, but I'm rather skeptical of that (beyond that barter wasn't in fixed amounts that is-- that's where haggling comes into play). Is that economist's document peer-reviewed? Because you always want to bear that in mind with any scientific document you find on a website or in some book. The NW Coast groups cannot be lumped in with other 'primitive' cultures anyway, esp. the Chinookan tribes, as the NW Coast groups were very materialistic (compared to more inland groups) and the Chinookans in particular were shrewd traders every bit as much as they were fishermen. (In the real life oral story of first contact between the Brits and the Coos Chinookan clan, one of the natives who investigated the claims about a "wooden whale" with "bears with the faces of men and branchless spruces" on its back managed to board the ship before his peers burned it down. The story states that immediately upon seeing the brass and copper kettles and other skiny metallic objects, he immediately attempted to haggle with the explorers. This reaction is markedly different from that of the Iroquois who made first contact with the pilgrims, who were much more cautious and stalked the exploration party for a couple weeks before revealing themselves. )
Certainly, I should have mentioned haggling in my previous post-- I think I had planned to, but forgot (I have to look up which D&D and Kalamar books have rules on haggling, which uses the Diplomacy skill)

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

It was an interview for one, not a paper. And the thing that was never peer-reviewed was Adam Smith's original contention that barter systems predated money. It hasn't been peer reviewed in the sense that there doesn't exist any evidence to the contrary in any anthropological or archaeological study; are you asking if the statement that no anthropological evidence has been published in any journal was peer reviewed? Do you have an example of anthropological evidence predating currency of a barter system in play?

It doesn't apply to your example you just posted there, because that's an example of a post-currency culture. First Nation tribes across the region known today as the US hadn't been pre-currency since between 400 and 1000 years before Columbus, depending on the region you're looking at. And that includes the Northwest tribes. Possibly even earlier than that.

And I wouldn't say any civilization that isn't pre-Minoan or pre-Egyptian is "primitive"; unless it predates the very concept of city, that doesn't seem a fair description for any culture. Certainly not any First Nation tribe by the time of Columbus, Northwest or not. I mean heck, Cahokia was bigger than London by 1000 AD.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Oh, my mistake, then. Also, when I placed primitive in quotations, it wasn't directed at you or anyone in particular, but at western and Far Eastern society's concept in general.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

Hyena of Ice wrote:
Oh, my mistake, then. Also, when I placed primitive in quotations, it wasn't directed at you or anyone in particular, but at western and Far Eastern society's concept in general.

Aha. Fair enough, then; wasn't intending an attack on you either, it's just something I see often enough completely sincerely that I kind of have a kneejerk reaction to the description.

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

delete

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Re: Working on Fleshing out NW Anchorome/Anchrome (not ...

making my way through this little by little, but wanted to say this is incredible stuff. always wanted more First People rpg stuff.

thanks for doing this,

Sci

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