Once Again Maruk and the Seven Sevens Quest

Maruk’s adventures were always challenging. You asked for another, so let me tell you about the Five World Ice Walk. Like its name hints at, its path spans five worlds, all connected by nexus, a shared artic clime and a preponderance of shaking, quavering, moving, swaying and trembling landscape. The worlds are Khaas (Arduin), Quine, Khortuus, Vou and Glinterim. Looking back at my notes, Maruk actually finished this quest (one of the Seven Sevens) before he took on the Imp Queens of Hro or Thoughtshear, so I’m a little out of order but I hope you will bear with me.

Maruk had dwellings all over Khaas but he primarily dwelled in either Melkalund (Arduin) or Ilshadmere (Ithalos). The reason I point this out is the events that transpired to bring Maruk to take up the Five World Ice Walk. Maruk had acquired over his life quite a substantial amount of things: from magik to the mundane, he had an interesting and somewhat esoteric collection. Anyway, while away seeking information on his quests, one Huenhwyr the Haeft, a well renown and skilled “purveyor of fine goods” (or thief, if you prefer), paid his home in Ilshadmere a visit. Huenhwyr was rather discerning and selective of the items he pilfered, outwitting and disabling dozens of complex traps, spells and wards; he also only slew Maruk’s pet Wyvergon in sacking the manse.

Needless to say, Maruk was riled and a little judicious tracking brought him to Huenhwyr’s doorstep, armed, pissed and backed by two handfuls of friends! Rather than die, Huenhwyr chose to deal instead. He gave up the majority to Maruk, pointed him to where the rest had went and handed over just about everything else he had. Mollified but still pissed, Maruk cut off both of his hands and then pronounced the greatest curse he could to ensure they would never heal but instead bleed Huenhwyr’s life blood every time he thought with avarice, dwelled on his exploits or dreamed of illicit doings.

In the mess of things he took from Huenhwyr was a journal of one Njouls of Siesierte (which lies on the Talafarian border with Marmachand). In the journal, Njouls spent some time penning his surprising shipwreck and subsequent exile to a forsaken cold sheet of ice. Excited by the lead, Maruk tore into the journal, correlating its information to other tidbits he had gathered from before. Its pages held the key to the location of the Five World Ice Walk on Khaas and his communions with the divine told him where he must lay the mark. Somewhere on the path lay a point where the five worlds all touched as one and the ice fall from the worlds to dance dizzyingly out into an abyss of nothing. The ice makes short lived mazes as it falls as the chill of the abyss is so cold if freezes the air and ice solid for a short time before the weight of the falling ice shatters it and sends it spiraling in to the deep. Here Maruk had to go. Therein also, he had to take his mark and lay it upon the special place where the ice from all five worlds has frozen as one.

Which he did. With near a dozen comrades, he crossed the chilling ocean about Khaora. Several died on the way but found within them the will to carry on when called back. The nexus they found on a small island in the far north looked like a great white hook, curving to pinion the sky. The winds were fierce, but with magik and will they crested its top and entered a billowy gate to another world.

The world Quine resembled the vast endless tundra, the sky constantly shrouded and the skin so cold it flayed the skin away. The land seemed to sway and jiggle, constantly, weeping a dark watery oozes from crevices in the frozen ground. Jubaal was devoured by an inky mass of semi-sentient bacteria (the ooze) and nothing was left of him but his boots (which they kept as a tribute).

The nexus on Quine was a madcap dance of quivering ice shards, perpetually grinding to so unheard beat. The eleven of them made it through to Khortuus, though not without each of them taking some sort of bruising from the nexus (broke both of Maruk’s legs, though he was able to heal them once through).

Khortuus had weak air (bad atmosphere) and at times lances of vacuum would spear down from the void (space) and suck things away. It also consisted of small island of icy stone, rocking and bobbing in an ocean of a liquid helium type substance. A truly terrible place. Five of them permanently lost limbs to the helium ocean and Deug (of the Teal Spear of Uulon) was sucked into the great void of space (turned inside out and frozen). They took the nexus (glimmering mirrors) and ended on Vou.

It was on Vou they found the abyss and the fall of ice from five worlds. At this particular point, no one wanted to brave the short lived ice paths and bickered for a while about how to proceed. Naoun de Lia (and the player) got tired of it all and caught Maruk by surprise and heaved him bodily onto the ice path, crying “you might want to hurry!”

It was, you might say, quite a laugh! (Right from my notes, quote and all.) He succeeded in running like hell and used magik to dimension tunnel rapidly through the ice to where he needed to go and then back out again.

All in all, one of his milder ones.

Seven Warped Sixteens (Seven Sevens Quest)

The second generally accepted group of seven among the Seven Sevens Quest is the Seven Warped Sixteens.

They are, in order, the following:

• Sixteen Steps to Khardtuom
• Jheenakhul
• The Many Horns of Buul
• High Twisted Steps of Heaven
• Worldcrush
• Miengaol Ice shoals
• Trailtien Twist

Like before keep in mind the following:

• One need not complete them in order or in fact, as a group, since any one of the 49 quests can be done first, last or at any particular step, except it cannot be repeated. 
• Each of the sixteens is exceedingly dangerous in its own way and certainly such to be difficult to describe or put into words.  
• As a reminder, the beginning of any quest in the Seven Sevens begins with a cacophony of images that give the location and objective of each quest.  This mental jumble is, itself, the first part of the quest. 

Unlike the previous seven quests, none of these except perhaps Worldcrush are mentioned outside of the worldofkhaas website and my personal notes.  Probably in the future but until then, I'll touch briefly on each.  GMs who contact me can get more data.  

The Sixteen Steps to Khardtuom is a reference to the way to find the mysterious city of Khardtuom.  The city is  thought real but imaginatively hard to reach.  Its a fact that it resides somewhere in the Anvil of the Sun.  Also, that sixteen way stops, oasis and like points must be stopped at on the path to Khardtuom or it can never be reached.  Lastly, that the beginning point can only be found via a riddle and only the riddle given to the person by the shadowless sphinxes that hunt the sands.  Those who do find the way to Khardtuon must mark the grand fountain that adorns the mandala outside the doors of the palace.

Jheenakhul doesn't exist.  Or, perhaps more truthfully, it exists only in the mind of a gestalt of sixteen beings that constitute the door to open the way.  Since the sixteens' identities change frequently, they must be discovered, convinced and then assembled.  However, one of the sixteen will always be the person on this quest and their role will be special.  They are the one destined to die; whose death allows them to enter.  Once within Jheenakhul, they need only to mark the walls of the city.

The Many Horns of Buul are an undersea phenomena.  They lie in the Great Southern Ocean, past the Rainbow Isles and beyond the Cabochon Isles, to a day's travel south and east of the Red Orchon.  The "horns" are the remnants of an undersea antediluvian race or perhaps an alien one that visited Khaas in the deep past.  Either way, some of these strange protuberances are always prominent, jutting out of the Great Kelp Forest.  They are all the same and consist of sixteen chambers.  Among them, one has a strange crystal, cut in an unfathomable number of facets, that must be touched with the mark.

The High Twisted Steps of Heaven.  No quicker way exists to earn heaven's ire than to walk them or hell's attention than to find them.  Two hard facts are known far and wide about the steps.  One, that only a mortal can find them.  Those who do not fear death can never find or know them.  Even if told by a mortal the knowledge is useless.  Only in the presence of them could they be realized.  Secondly, they are what is left of the way carved to the gates of the heavens by those famous and infamous ones, who in the mythic past, challenged the 10,000 gods for their place in the heavens.  In fact, sixteen the original steps exist and should they be trodden, legends say they will lead to the very gates mentioned in the mythic Heaven Siege epic.  Indeed, to finish this quest one must indeed mark the sixteen and highest step.

Worldcrush.  Ah, where the world weeps in endless sorrow from the crushing weight of the machinations of mortals, immortals, gods and demons that tear, rip, destroy and sunder her soil.  Sixteen woes weigh the world down, or, so the tales go.  Regardless, its a place where the pressure and gravity of the world are so powerful that they tear the very fabric of reality: crushing destiny, time, and space.  One must mark the very center of this region.

Miengaol Ice shoals lie in the deep south, near near the southern pole.  They are only above water for sixteen days and must be accessed during those times.  Each of the 22 shoals has one piece of a greater whole, a machine that hearkens back to the Kthoi times.  A forgotten relic of the war, each piece must be taken up and reassembled and the resultant whole marked.  Its advised that the machine then be unassembled before it wakes.  Be warned!

Trailtien Twist lies within the stuff of dreams.  Sort of.  An experiment of sorts, by the Dream Weaver Trailtien, who sought to prove a point within his art to doubting scholars.  He confined a part of reality within a dream and challenged the scholars to disprove it.  Considering that he used their souls as part of the reality they were pretty motivated to challenge it.  How they fared is a matter of record, which can be found at the College of Dreams in Talismonde.

There you go.  The Warped Sixteens.  Challenge them if dare.  If you are lucky.  If you are damned, desperate, and driven...

More Maruk and his Seven Sevens Quest

Saying that Maruk was a cunning tactician sums up the player/character’s ability quite well. Of course, he had his fallacies as well. For instance, the player thought he had a knack for reading me as a GM. =] Now, truly he was pretty good at getting in my brain but as any wily (and evil) GM will tell you: thinking you know what the GM is up to is asking for him to hand you your head! Let me give you an example.

Maruk, in this case, wanted to pursue the Imp Queens of Hro. Now, he had spent several game sessions (and lots of in game time dallying with courtesans and rougher ilk of their work) prepping for this particular mission. Hro was a pretty small island kingdom in the Southern Ocean in the Caincol Island Group. While not particularly thickly populated, the island was divided into nine parts; seven held queens and two were used as neutral/trading areas. Hro’s “queens’ were short aborigines with a build that would put the stoutest dwarf to shame and more homely than the ugliest throon! Maruk knew this and planned accordingly. He needed to get his mark on each of them and conceived a very interesting plan that involved the use of force, some stealthy undertaking at night, a little kidnapping and some really strong rope.

Now, a friend of mine had come into town a week or so earlier and joined in the game. He and I had gamed from way back when and we hatched a little plan together too, so Maruk’s player wasn’t as cunning as he thought he was in reading his ole GM. While we played and Maruk made his way across the ocean with a group of friends and henchmen, my old pal was sneakily shooting me a steady stream of notes. We’d agreed ahead of time that in order to give Maruk’s player a good spin, my pal was actually going to direct the game via notes! Nominally I was the GM but he was calling the shots on all the real sticky parts. It was interesting and tough to keep secret (they caught on about 3 or 4 hours into play…). We kept it under wraps long enough that Maruk’s little nighttime raid was turned into something else entirely!

Maruk ended up in some interesting negotiations, whereupon he found himself pressed to “service” each of Hro’s queens and provide each with an heir (it took some time too…). Only then would they allow him to press his “symbol of power” against them…. Most of the henchmen ended up in the cooking pot (it took the players a little bit to figure out where all the meat was coming from…) but only one of Maruk’s companions died on this venture (torn in half by two jealous island women…go figure).

Maruk took the greatest blunt of it all. He overlooked a couple of interesting things about island culture. Mainly that each of his new “wives” (oops) had a call on him and each demanded it simultaneously. When he couldn’t provide it and tried to run (oops again) and then got caught (oops three), they decided the best compromise was to tear him into equal pieces! With no way to just fight it out (doing so would violate his word given earlier [can you say oops again?] which bound him and his companions), Maruk found himself spread eagle on a big rock with a lot of aborigines dancing about and seven women sharpening cleavers to hack him into pieces.

I said he was smart, didn’t I? He had a friend use magik to render himself undetectable by any senses the aborigines possessed and to hold a certain package. He had several other companions on lookout watching the proceedings and ready to pass the word when the started and when they were reaching the finale. Another stood ready near the massed supplies in the trading region of the island while a last also stood ready to summon. His undetectable friend stayed near him and stood ready, waiting for the signal. Maruk’s plan was as follows: He had their priest cast a time delayed Flaming Fires of Critical Healing on his body and took his ruby of regeneration and kept it in his mouth under this tongue. When the women descended on him at the height of the ceremony and started hacking his body into seven pieces, the lookouts gave the signal for the other near the supplies to light them on fire and the last one to call forth a giant throng of beasts to run through the ceremony. The ruby kept Maruk going when he should have died and the mass of beasts and flames in the distance distracted the aborigines. The queens backed away when Maruk’s body exploded into near flame as the spell went off and his friend swooped in to scoop up what little remained of him while putting a straw figure filled with meat and bone in his place.

All in all a hard adventure on Maruk (he swore off all women for the next three years…) and a great case study of how a beautifully made plan was wrecked and turned into something horrifyingly opposite!

Maruk’s adventures were always challenging. You asked for another, so let me tell you about the Five World Ice Walk. Like its name hints at, its path spans five worlds, all connected by nexus, a shared artic clime and a preponderance of shaking, quavering, moving, swaying and trembling landscape. The worlds are Khaas (Arduin), Quine, Khortuus, Vou and Glinterim. Looking back at my notes, Maruk actually finished this quest of the Seven Sevens before he took on the Imp Queens of Hro or Thoughtshear, so I’m a little out of order but I hope you will bear with me.

Maruk had dwellings all over Khaas but he primarily dwelled in either Melkalund (Arduin) or Ilshadmere (Ithalos). The reason I point this out is the events that transpired to bring Maruk to take up the Five World Ice Walk. Maruk had acquired over his life quite a substantial amount of things: from magik to the mundane, he had an interesting and somewhat esoteric collection. Anyway, while away seeking information on his quests, one Huenhwyr the Haeft, a well renown and skilled “purveyor of fine goods” (or thief, if you prefer), paid his home in Ilshadmere a visit. Huenhwyr was rather discerning and selective of the items he pilfered, outwitting and disabling dozens of complex traps, spells and wards; he also only slew Maruk’s pet Wyvergon in sacking the manse.

Needless to say, Maruk was riled and a little judicious tracking brought him to Huenhwyr’s doorstep, armed, pissed and backed by two handfuls of friends! Rather than die, Huenhwyr chose to deal instead. He gave up the majority to Maruk, pointed him to where the rest had went and handed over just about everything else he had. Mollified but still pissed, Maruk cut off both of his hands and then pronounced the greatest curse he could to ensure they would never heal but instead bleed Huenhwyr’s life blood every time he thought with avarice, dwelled on his exploits or dreamed of illicit doings.

In the mess of things he took from Huenhwyr was a journal of one Njouls of Siesierte (which lies on the Talafarian border with Marmachand). In the journal, Njouls spent some time penning his surprising shipwreck and subsequent exile to a forsaken cold sheet of ice. Excited by the lead, Maruk tore into the journal, correlating its information to other tidbits he had gathered from before. Its pages held the key to the location of the Five World Ice Walk on Khaas and his communions with the divine told him where he must lay the mark. Somewhere on the path lay a point where the five worlds all touched as one and the ice fall from the worlds to dance dizzyingly out into an abyss of nothing. The ice makes short lived mazes as it falls as the chill of the abyss is so cold if freezes the air and ice solid for a short time before the weight of the falling ice shatters it and sends it spiraling in to the deep. Here Maruk had to go. Therein also, he had to take his mark and lay it upon the special place where the ice from all five worlds has frozen as one.

Which he did. With near a dozen comrades, he crossed the chilling ocean about Khaora. Several died on the way but found within them the will to carry on when called back. The nexus they found on a small island in the far north looked like a great white hook, curving to pinion the sky. The winds were fierce, but with magik and will they crested its top and entered a billowy gate to another world. The world Quine resembled the vast endless tundra, the sky constantly shrouded and the skin so cold it flayed the skin away. The land seemed to sway and jiggle, constantly, weeping a dark watery oozes from crevices in the frozen ground. Jubaal was devoured by an inky mass of semi-sentient bacteria (the ooze) and nothing was left of him but his boots (which they kept as a tribute). The nexus on Quine was a madcap dance of quivering ice shards, perpetually grinding to so unheard beat. The eleven of them made it through to Khortuus, though not without each of them taking some sort of bruising from the nexus (broke both of Maruk’s legs, though he was able to heal them once through). Khortuus had weak air (bad atmosphere) and at times lances of vacuum would spear down from the void (space) and suck things away. It also consisted of small island of icy stone, rocking and bobbing in an ocean of a liquid helium type substance. A truly terrible place. Five of them permanently lost limbs to the helium ocean and Deug (of the Teal Spear of Uulon) was sucked into the great void of space (turned inside out and frozen). They took the nexus (glimmering mirrors)

However, on Vou they found the abyss and the fall of ice from five worlds. At this particular point, no one wanted to brave the short lived ice paths and bickered for a while about how to proceed. Naoun de Lia (and the player) got tired of it all and caught Maruk by surprised and heaved him bodily onto the ice path, crying “you might want to hurry!” It was, you might say, quite a laugh! (Right from my notes, quote and all.) He succeeded in running like hell and used magik to dimension tunnel rapidly through the ice to where he needed to go and then back out again.

All in all, one of his milder ones.

Seven Ineffable Beasts (Seven Sevens Quest)

The first generally accepted group of seven among the Seven Sevens Quest is the Seven Ineffable Beasts.

They are, in order, the following:

• Ibathene
• Dark Calynpar
• Silver Slyth
• Hell Star
• Shagrukomaru
• Helltide
• Kthoi

One need not complete them in order or in fact, as a group, since any one of the 49 quests can be done first, last or at any particular step, except it cannot be repeated.  Each of the beasts is terrible in its own way and certainly such to be difficult to describe or put into words.  As a reminder, the beginning of any quest in the Seven Sevens begins with a cacophony of images that give the location and objective of each quest.  This mental jumble is, itself, the first part of the quest.  Still, as the beasts obviously feature powerfully in each, let me touch upon each lightly.

The Ibathene is an Arduin stable horror to challenge powerful characters.  As they tent to hunt (and eat) wyverns, hydra and smaller dragons, they are quite powerful physically. They know no fear but luckily they are easily confused.  They do not, however, seem to know when they should be dead and tend to fight on even after obviously slain.  Something to do with their retarded nervous system.

Calynpar look like feather fin knifefish except on a grand scale and exist only in the western ocean south of Khaora. The Dark Calynpar is deeply ebon in color with a luminescent inner mouth that prey only see right when it swallows them! They exist only in the deep depths of the cold ocean and feast on giant squid and other large beasts below.  They are equivalent to strength to a Ibathene and considered one of the greater hunters of the deeps.

Silver Slyth are worse than the other two combined.  In fact, they hunt both types, considering them challenging but normal prey!  The best description of one is a silver tube, hundreds of feet long, with one hollowed opening full of twisting cilia!  Or, a silver Dune styled worm, if you are familiar with the reference.

The Hell Star is an alien, pure energy creature that ignores the physical and spiritual except to drain the energy out of anything it contacts.  In fact, it pretty much ignores anything that attempts to damage it.  Its a nasty being that is thankfully only rarely met.

The Shagrukomaru is a singular being, that slipped through a nexus into Khaas sometime in the distant past.  It dwells on the Great Wurm Road, feasting on chthonic beings and other horrible things that dwell in the great dark. A truly terrible being fully equivalent in power to a Greater Demon.

The Hell Tide seems weak, a veritable wave of thousands upon thousands of 3-inch to 9-inch bright green soldier ants.  It can pretty much destroy anything physical that it can consume or doesn't get away from it first!  Its greatly feared, especially in the jungle where its most often seen.

Kthoi are the reptilian baddies of the Arduin multiverse and the progenitors of magic, Eldarin and hundreds of others things.  Meeting one is akin to cheerfully committing suicide since they can use pretty much any techno, magic, Eldarin, psychic, ritual or other power they desire.  They are keenly intelligent, irritating and arrogant; plain just smarter, more powerful and capable than you.  Oh, an extinct generally, so its tough to find them except for one or two that are lost in time, trapped in bad, bad places or just too damn smart to be extinct or probably bothered by you!

Maruk and his Seven Sevens Quest (Epic Quest)

A quick bit about Maruk and his famous quest. It was an epic quest and lasted about 16 months of real time and 19 years of game time. It ran primarily while I was away from home and in military service. The player that ran Maruk and two others stayed constant in my gaming group while I had an ever-changing number of one to six that joined at any given time.

Regardless, poor Maruk never did finish his grand quest and was doomed to be forgotten, lost on his journey; changed to a tortured wisp of his previous power. He did, however, manage to seek out and place his mark of blood on several of the seven sevens before meeting a miserly demise on the Star Fang Causeway. Just as a side note, his “mark of blood” was a darkly ruby mace emblazoned with the rune signs of life, death, horror and heaven.

Anyway, you will only find some of the references in the AGs or in the World Book. Probably half or less, I would say. The Dark Calynpar and Shagrukomaru are not in the books for instance as are things like the Blood Trail to Fallen Khourush, Nine Devil Dust Walk, Jiiminkhandel, Beryllium Star Falls, Sun Anvil Shimmying Sands, Gnawmouth Rune Shades and a bunch more.

You would find Star Fang, of course, as well as Dark Vent, Caliban, Ibathene Tower and others. The World Walk is mentioned in the world book, as is Hell Tempo, though I’d have to go back and look to be sure.

Since you asked for some details, here are some snippets.

Calynpar look like feather fin knifefish except on a grand scale and exist only in the western ocean south of Khaora. The Dark Calynpar is deeply ebon in color with a luminescent inner mouth that prey only see right when it swallows them! They exist only in the deep depths of the cold ocean and feast on giant squid and other large beasts below. Maruk and his five shield brothers braved the cold depths of the ocean on Choodak. Now, Chodak are essentially, deep-water eels with a spherical luminescence, fearsome bites but a mild temperament. The Ooush-mueal merfolk south of Chardos use them as mounts. Maruk brought them the one of the Lost Pearls of Yu Oseel, an artifact of their local demigoddess in trade for mounts and a hunter/guide to the Calynpar. He had traded 5 tons of gold bullion for the pearl; pulled up from the Silver Fin, a sunken Chardosian treasure ship lost some years past in the fifth continent’s infamous Bitter Mouth Bay.

Anyway, after a long series of trials and torturous navigation, Maruk succeeded in placing his mark on a Dark Calynpar. Sadly, he lost two companions and his left hand in the progress. While one of his shields mates rose from death to fight again at his side, his other did not. Nor did his hand and he replaced it with a beautifully tooled and worked one of silveel with an orichalcum palm and fingertips that worked as well or perhaps better than his real hand had.

Much worse than the Dark Calynpar was the Shagrukomaru. A singular being, it slipped through a nexus into Khaas some time in the distant past, and dwells on the Great Wurm Road, feasting on chthonic beings and other horrible things that dwell in the great dark. A truly terrible being fully equivalent in power to a Greater Demon.

Maruk joined an expedition from the College of Magik in Melkalund seeking the truth of its existence. He and his companions were some of the primary firepower for the expedition and through a combination of luck, skill and plain old guts managed to find its trail. Maruk used trickery, magic and audacity to land his mark of blood on its oddly geometric body. This success was only bought at a great sacrifice and the Shagrukomaru took all the members of the expedition but Maruk and one other. The two of them managed to escape and then later retrieved the disembodied heads of all their companions from its lair while the Shagrukomaru struggled to swallow a meal of three horragus a short distance away. While he was able to resurrect his shield mates, two went permanently insane, one decapitated himself immediately after realizing he still lived and another lived for a few short hours while he was slowly and torturously devoured by some unseen and undetectable creature.

Hopefully you'll succeed where he failed.  I'll be outlining the bare bones behind each quest and how it relates over the next couple of posts.  I hope you enjoy it.

Seven Sevens (Quest)

Previously I did a short note about Maruk and the Dark Calyndar.  Well, that's but one of the Seven Sevens Quest he undertook.  Its a worlds-spanning quest that only madman and the insane undertake but whose rewards are eternal fame and power to make the gods envy.  Here, in fact, is a list of the Seven Sevens and I'll be covering each of them in the next couple of weeks.


The Seven Ineffable Beasts

The Seven Warped Sixteens

The Seven Impossible Paths

The Seven Dancing Dooms

The Seven Wailing Women

The Seven Darkling Towers

The Seven Mindfilled Torrents


Each the crux of the Seven Sevens is you must leave your "mark of blood" on each being or place mentioned, in a way outlined once a specific one of the 49 quests is undertaken.  This isn't beginner level stuff we are talking about but big league, heavy hitting, quake in your boots style play.  I've only had one player ever get very far on the journey and he didn't finish either (I'll post about him shortly).  His name, obviously, was Maruk, such as I indicated in the beginning sentence.


Anyway, the quest can only be gotten from the shrine of legend, one of the 99 shrines that dot the stretch of the mountain known as the Beryllium Manticore in Chyrsolia.  The shrine in high on the mountain, perhaps the highest one.  Its a simple affair, the changes at a whim, reflecting the minds of the khaasian multitude, their belief in the incredible and mythic.  No reflection is required to enter, only that you have the courage to walk into the unknown.  Inside, you are stripped to the core, everything but your heart, mind and soul within your reach.  Each of these is tested in a way specific to you (insert GM: you know your players and their character.  Test them accordingly) before you are allowed to begin.  Before you go, you must define what item, and yes, it must be "something" that will bear your mark of blood.  This will be the item that you use to mark the object of each quest, whatsoever it may be.


Once completed, you begin the legendary quest.  You may choose from any of the 49 quests but once selected, your mark will not work for any other, even if you should possibly complete it.  Choose carefully, then, which you begin.  Once chose, your mind is filled with a cacophony of images relating to the subject of the quest and what you must do.  The word, cacophony is specific: the first test of the quest is to determine the meaning behind the images and figure out where/when/how to go to do it.


In AE terms, this quest begins a unique, one-time only rite, the Rite of Seven Sevens.  Otherwise, handle it according to whatever mechanics you bless.


Stay tuned as they used to say in the old cartoons.  I'll be rolling details of each and a little of maruk's tale here shortly.

Timat (Goddess)

This dark god is known as "The Destroyer", "Worldsbane", "Sun Eater" and numerous other "end-of-the-world" type sobriquets.  Devotees are known as "little destroyers" (Koetro Nagra in Dwarven) and are of the deepest, darkest evil sort -- the cut your throat, drink your blood, and violate your corpse variety.  She (and yes, it is generally seen as "feminine") is symbolized by six large black diamonds circling about a multicolored globe or central gem.  Each diamond is an aspect of her ability to violate, annihilate, conquer, devastate, despoil and consume.

She has acolytes in almost every race and is one of the divinities requiring the blood sacrifice of a sentient being in her rituals.  Timat’s destiny is to utterly consume or destroy the entire Multiverse and her religion and priests work continually towards this end.  While not overtly active or powerful, adherents often move behind the scenes to manipulate destruction and chaos in many nations.  While despicable in dark and vile ways they are more behind-the-scenes manipulators than dark, in-your-face fanatics.

This religion is banned in most nations, and there are few overt temples or followers to this god.  The three days of end year of the special days of this divinity and they are celebrated in a three-day long orgy of violence, bloodshed, and murder.

Understanding Advancement in AE

I wanted to hammer out a few notes on the Arduin Eternal game system.  Namely, in this beginning style post, about character advancement.  


Unlike Arduin's previous versions, AE has a dual advancement system.  Meaning advancement in AE is gained via experience or EPS and skill development and advancement.  EPS is meant to be employed as a significant advancement or an epiphany of sorts.  Its used to make high gains in skills (equal to your learning rate or LR), to acquire access to a new order of power or OP of magic, or to learn a secret.  Secrets provide new abilities mostly or provide a strong bonus of some sort to a character.


Skill advancement and development is more incremental.  Its small to medium increases in a skill, based on whether you used it where an element of risk was in play.  This provides for non-holistic and uneven advancement.  No guarantee of increase exists here.  No gain is taken where said skill or development item was not in play.  This builds more true characters, instead of even automatons with no shades of difference.


In fact, the advancement is based on exceeding the threshold of your current skill with an advancement roll.  Or, in simpler terms, subtracting out your current skill ranks from your advancement roll.  Anything beyond your skill provides an increase, on  sliding scale.  For example, exceeding the threshold by 1 to 20 points gives you a +1 increase.  21-40 provides a +2 and so forth, to a max of +6.  


This kind of increase moves on a bell curve, making increases at low levels quite large but quite small to zero at middle high to high end of the scale.  As a further illustration, you easily gain +3, +4 or more in skill increases at skill rank 1.  At a skill rank of 70, such increases are much more difficult.  The roll for advancement is made on an open-ended d100.  Open ended in the sense that you can add bonuses to exceed the 100 max.  Thus, the chance for a +1 advancement is 99% at skill rank 1.  At skill rank 70, its 30%.  For a +2 advancement at the same rank is 79% and 10% respectively.


Bonuses, of course play a large factor in maintain increases as your rise in skill.  Having even a +10 bonus to your advancement roll provides a significant increase in odds.  +20, +30 or even higher bonuses make this even more impacting.


The original intent of the system was to provide players with non-holistic, incremental improvement that reflected their style of game play and allowed a sense of success from session to session.  EPS are meant as the rich frosting on a cake: taken in small amounts.  EPS should be given as a small amount, say 1-2 per session and a bonus for ending a plot arc or significant story event.  They are very powerful in use and can change player dynamics rapidly if given out of balance.


A last, but important addition to this type of development system is it underscores the ability to bring in new players without them automatically being so underpowered that they have to be bolstered in artificial ways.  A character with 10 sessions under their belt can be ran quite equitably with one with none and so on.

Mana Tithe (Spell)

MANA TITHE – OP 4

Preq: APT 32, MA 24, Spec Channel, Spell Piercing [Cast]

Mana: see below C: 100 F: 12

Range: 30 M: None Area: see below

TD: 100 Duration: immediate

A risky spell that drains an amount of mana from both the target and the castor. If the castor gives up the declared mana, the target's MD is auto-overridden. If the target of the spell cannot pay the tithe of power then the mana they do have is drained and transfered to the caster, who gains back their tithed mana as well. If the target can pay the mana cost then the caster loses the listed mana but the target loses none. If the target of the spell has no mana pool to drain the spell fizzles, taking with the mana tithed by the caster.

Quality Game Mastering

Being a game master is like trying to orchestrate the construction of a plane while its underway, with a half of dozen first class passengers impatiently demanding their cocktails and amenities.  The weather sucks, the plane is bucking from the turbulence and you are losing and adding parts to the plane while you are playing stewardess, pilot and a dozen other roles all by your lonesome.


It can be a bitch or a pleasure depending on how you look at it.


I'm going to talk about my personal philosophy of game mastering.  Its nothing special or unique and its an amalgam of things I've learned over the years that work for me.  What it won't be is some kind of profound truth but you might find something worth adopting for your own use.  Or, hell, feel free to disagree and launch an mortar round via email to disagree.  It's good either way.


Moving along.


Let's start with getting ready.  Or prepared if you like.  Being ready to run a game is nothing akin to writing or mapping out everything you might need for the game night.  That's helpful, of course.  Its not even plotting out the variations of every encounter and their interests, thoughts and exquisite level of dialogue.  That's wonderful too.  Its more along the lines of figuring out what the hell you are going to do on game night and 10 games in advance.  Well, maybe not literally 10 games out, but far enough in the future that you can plant seeds to develop plots later and foreshadow future events.  You need to know your major plots and have them worked out ahead of time.  Or, you can forget about foreshadowing.  Not to mention plot development.  Its tough to plant that initial seed that grows into a dramatic plot outcome when you have no idea what the major plot is going to be.  The key point to remember is an outline of the major plot is needed.  Shove enough detail into it to know the major movements and parts of your plot without detailing every single variable.  Construct enough detail into your major plot arc so you can insert hints into the game at the right points.  Of course, its easy to say it but how do you do it?  Well, let me introduce a tool I use more often than not.  I call it the chain of circumstance.  I claim nothing new about it other than I find it useful for plotting.  In fact, its really outlining with a different purpose.


Start with a short, though no longer than a one sentence, description that defines a story point you want to occur.  Then, armed with this story point write another that you want to occur.  Feel free to write as many as desired.  Usually I cluster a series through a plot arc.  Let me provide an example.  Let's start with our players in Khurahaen City and the fact that several wagon loads of salt have disappeared.  So, let's write down “Salt”.  Since the salt is needed to a mysterious ritual, let's jot down “Ritual”.  Next, since an underground area is important to the salt and the ritual, let's write down “Underground”.  Next, since the underground will lead to the docks, note down “Docks”.  Lastly, noted down “Ship”, since its the focus for the finale.  To recap:


SALT
RITUAL
UNDERGROUND
DOCKS
SHIP


To add a bit to each of these, let's write down a few details.  “Salt”, equals several wagon loads of salt that have disappeared.  “Ritual” is for a mysterious ritual that requires nearly a ton of salt to perform.  “Underground” is where the ritual takes place and where after its finish the participants depart to the mud flats outside of Khurahaen.  “Docks” is the shoddy, run down warehouse that holds a cargo of undead and a floating ship full of them (roped to the floor) and a second ship at the docks.  “Ship” is a ship battle that constitutes the finale.


Now, with a few major plot points worked out, let's figure out to build the chain of circumstance to get players there.  Just like we noted down our main points, let's build a few minor points to connect the dots.  Given we are in a city, let's jot down a few likely ways to connect our first two plot points, along with some points to tie things together.  So:


SALT


1. Street Encounter (can be anything be provides into about the salt disappearance; leads to #3 or #8)
2. Rumors (provides info about the salt disappearance)
3. Duels aplenty (provides info about the salt disappearance and leads and leads to #10)
4. Barroom Brawl (players observe or participate; either way it leads to #1, #3, or #11)
5. For a price, knowledge (courtesan guild or a connection/contact gives up info on the salt and/or the ritual – for a price)
6. My destiny in a song (a street musician happens to sing the right song about a ceremony using salt to summon a being from afar…)
7. Wagon, wagon, where are thou? (Merchant who owns the wagon seeks out the players to find it for him)
8. A friend who lies in shadows (a concerned illicit contact or connection employs or passes info to the players about the salt or ritual)
9. Unknown assault (can be after #1, #7 or #8 and leaves paperwork talking about the movement of the salt caravan and hints of a plan to take it to the tunnels that are under the Mud Flats outside Khurahaen )
10. A woman’s advice (hires or passes info to the player depending on the chain thus far; she has a dislike for Cortosa, one of the chief ritualists for his treatment of her.  She will try wiles before coin but will see him dead one way or the other; she knows of the ritual but not the salt and can drop hints about the warehouse too if needed)
11. Omens & portents (spirits of the dead show the way)
12. The gods say… (the gods dip their hands in to stir the pot; for or against)


Let’s return to the premise we started with earlier.  This adventure revolves around the mysterious disappearance of a several wagonloads of salt.  This is key to understanding the beginning of the chain and its lead into the next ritual.  You can use any of the chain to lead the players from the Salt to the Ritual and as many of them as you would like.


Let's work out an example:


A player is challenged to a duel (#3).  Before the duel, the players see him speaking to several people, noticeable because of their heated conversation with the duelist and looks of anger towards the players.  Regardless of how the duel pans out the other people will attack (#9) or just get in a brawl with the players (#1).  The fallout could be the players finding out about the missing wagons of salt and an offer to track it down or the authorities pressing the players to do it for good will (or get thrown in jail).  No matter what you can keep piling on #1 – 12 to keep leading the players towards finding out and seeing the Ritual location.


Any where along the way you can drop plot hints.  Maybe you deliver omens and signs from the gods or perhaps tales from travelers or bits of conversation.  Whatever you choose, make it tasty.  Make it crunchy.


Make it something that players will salivate over.


For example, players love props.  Planning on having a duel in the game (#3)?  Find yourself a a glove, any glove, though a leather one would be best.  When it comes time, slap that down on the table with a resounding “Smack!”.   Passing information to the players or them acquiring it (#5/8)?  Make a handout; a scribbled note, jotted down message, a person's diary or something cryptic.  Something they can crinkle, wave about, clip to their character sheet, and manipulate, fold or mutilate.  Players love them.  Plus they do your job for you long after the particular event happens at the table.  They don't need explanation three games later and your players can't stick them with a sword, something I've seen many a player descend to when they are talking to nameless NPC #47 who just happens to have a tidbit of information for them.
Let's build some more on our potential adventure.  Throw in some quick detail and then build our next couple of chains.


RITUAL


No COC is necessary here as once to the ritual the players have little choice.  However, don't present it to them in that fashion.  Its demeaning one, and two, its better to let the players move along on their one impetus with little pushes from you.


UNDERGROUND


Ditto above.


DOCKS
Remember we are in the Mud Flats if the plot has progressed as desired.  If the players took a different route, engage with points from the Salt list of circumstances to re-engage them.


1. In the Mud.  In the underground area is a campsite.  If the players engage the campsite, they'll find one of the people they are after has left to go to his warehouse on the docks.  He is transporting something powerful and dangerous.  They will have to find themselves a way to the docks.
2. The natives are restless.  The muddy flats is a wild place day or night and the Amarydion worshippers sling mud freely and love to wrestle and brawl.  Look around long enough and the players will find several ritualists who got sucked into the free-for-all.
3. Amarydion speaks. The priestesses of the mother ambushed several of the ritualists and while they were hurt they also captured several.


The tale should have its own pacing by now and pull the players along.  If they want to follow they will using one or a different path of the above.  If they falter and lose interest, re-engage with the COC defined in the Salt.  The idea is to get them to the docks.


DOCKS


The warehouse is shoddy and rundown warehouse.  Its dilapidated sides hold something interesting though.  Inside is tons of crates and ropes hanging from the rafters above.  Also inside is 3 dozen skeletons on the floor.  In the rafters is a floating ship roped to the floor.  In the ship is cargo of two dozen more skeletons.  If an melee breaks out below, they will join in the melee, dropping from above on any players.


Another ship also exists.  The cargo would not fit into the flying one (weight issue) so our main NPC shifted to a larger ship that can hold the weight.  If the players trail him to this ship they will find it has just /already left.  Otherwise, navigational maps and data in the warehouse will identify the ship and its destination.  If the players somehow miss this information, #8, 10, 11, or 12 from Salt will assist.


SHIP
It ends with a ship battle between our NPC, his crew and the players.  As long as the players don’t release the Night Demon our NPC has stored in his crate (which he used the ritual to get) everything will be fine.  If, for some reason, it is released, it will kill all the ritualists and then turn on the players if they don’t run fast enough.


Oh, and while I'm thinking about this, if you are going to bring maps into the game, then make one.  It goes back to that idea that people love props and props help them suspend disbelief.  If you are going to give them a map, then by god make sure you actually give them one and don't just say "you've got a map".  As a player, that kind of thing is sure to piss you off if repeated enough.  Once in a while is understandable but continually do so is disappointing if not maddening.


Also, since I'm on the topic, if you make a map, especially a detailed on, even if just for you, do it in advance!  It goes back to preparation.  If you need a map, and you'll want them for some situations, especially if the layout is important or center point to the story plot.  If you are living a cliché and have your players in a dungeon, then you' damn well better have at least mapped it out. And cities.  Oh, cities are lovely if you actually map them out.  You can keep your players there forever if you want to, getting them involved in all the little things you decided to show them on your map.  Tourists.  Bah!  Or, worse, *shiver* they get involved in shopping trips!  As a word to the wise, never bog a game down with shopping unless the entire party is in agreement.


Okay, enough of that.


Huh, well let's poke it one more time.  Actually, we need a recap.  So, let's sum it up our first real point.  Be ready to game master.  Be prepared.  Avoid "winging it" when you can and figure out, even if its in a rough form, what your plots are going to be ahead of time.  It doesn't matter if you do it in 5 minutes while you are in the bathroom as long as you have the story lines roughed out.  Also, use of props.  Some of the best role playing I have seen happened over a taped up box of cigarettes and a draped cloth sewn with random shapes.  The box was the center point of a plot to steal it and changed hands between the players and half a dozen NPCs back and forth.  Hearing everyone ham it up and get into the mood of getting their hands on the  box was the high point of the night.  The cloth was something a friend of mine dreamed up when he rescued a irregular bit of cloth that had been used for sewing practice from a refuse pile.  He draped it over a couple of different things, some of them sharp, damn him, and we came in and wondered what the hell it was all night.  He used it as a story element and had us intrigued the whole time (not to mention trying to sneak a look under it).  At points in the night we slid a hand under it to retrieve something and usually got our fingers pricked by something sharp (he was a bastard.  I mentioned that, right?) or slimed by something disgusting.


Point number...?  Hell, I don't remember and it doesn't matter.  Next point.  Be consistent and even in your game mastering.  Here is where preparation and keeping track of what the players do and what you do in the game world builds the illusion in the players' minds.  If they break down a wall, keep it that way until you send someone in game to build it back.  If Throon are badasses in your game, don't make them pansies the next game.  Equally, don't bounce the superlatives.  Players shouldn't encounter a coterie of Greater Demons one night and then be traipsing with goblins the next.  Use balance in your preparation and even in your implementation.  Be consistent or stand ready to give storyline as to why not.


Equally important in our recitation of points is drive home that you should reward your players.  It should not be a "you versus them" mentality.  They come to the table to blow of steam, hang out with friends or just do something beyond mindlessly watching TV.  Doesn't matter what the motivation is.  If they spend the time, make it worth their while.  I mean this in more than the real world too.  If the players invest a ton of their time in a part of your game world, reward them by putting your time into it as well.  Avoid instilling the feeling that everything is mercurial and transient.  Getting players attached to your games, feeling and thinking about the game world is one of those wonderful GM habits that spawn awesome games.


Okay.  Let's move away from all this work.  Which is what preparation really is.  Preparing well means time, which means effort and work.  Work, work, work.  Who the hell wants more work?  What about the now?  The game...you know, the one we all came to set down and play?


Heh.  Let's talk about it.  But let's talk about some aspects of it that are critical and reactive.


Pacing.  Perhaps the most underused and underestimated implements in your toolbox.  Watch moves much? If you do, you'll notice that some movies seem to drag and others keep you on the edge of your seat?  Part of its story, but not just story content.  You can bore someone to death droning on about a scene if you are not careful.  Directors and their editing teams spend a lot of time providing just the right amount and usually hammer their pacing home with sound and visuals to tie you to it.


So, its like this.  You can spend a couple of minutes hiding behind your shield talking about the slime dripping on the ways until tit falls on the players or you can throw a towel at a random player and yell, "slime drips down on you from above!  What do you do!" instead and scare the wits out of them and shock them into action.  Tense or action scenes should run just like a movie: fast and sharp.  Be loud, abrupt and quick.  Don't give players a lot of time -- keep the pacing moving.  If a player stalls - too bad.  You snooze, you lose.  Keep your scenes moving to the pace of your action scene.  Give description the same way, drawing it back to minimal lines when things move quick and build in deep detail otherwise.


Key point.  Don't bog down.  Control when the game stops and slows.  Use your voice, body, props and god damned everything to enforce it.  Don't do a one-man stand up though.  Bring the players along with you.  Suck them in and make sure everyone is into what's going on and no one is standing alone.  If they are doing nothing, point at 'em, ask them what they are doing and make it affect the situation.  Everyone is at the table to play so make sure you build in the potential if not definite for a scene or cool point where they shine in the game.


Every session my job is to build the potential for one of those games that you'll remember 25 years after the fact like it happened yesterday.  I've a pocketful that I had the honor to be a part of as a player and more as a GM where I set the stage to make them come into being.  They take work though, just like I've mentioned above.  It takes investment in your players, the people, not the characters.  It means remembering.  All their characters, not matter how silly or trivial their life or death in game, should have an impact on the fabric of your game.  What they do, how they do it should send ripples across your world: reward their derring-do and punish their misdeeds.  Don't let them be non-entities; what they do should create consequences that echo past the action done.


Long, long, long but so important.  If you've read this far, keep going.  You'll be rewarded.  In fact that's a key point I want to make.  Everything is worth exploring.  As player to GM, if you are interested in plumbing the depths of the Skull Tower, then by all means.  If, as the GM, I don't happen to have that built up, then its might task to remedy that shortcoming.  Its my shame that I have to admit that I've talked my players out of something because I wasn't ready to run it.  Rarely does it happen these days but from time to time, usually when I'm the most rushed, it walks into the game.  Usually I bash it in the head, bury it in the basement and make it into a murder mystery.  If the players want to make that run then let them.  If they want to go to the Sky Garden instead, get them there.  If they hear the politics in Falohyr near the Oakendark Forest are mighty grand this time of year, then off they should go into the thicket of plots growing there.  Reserve the words "Oh, that'll be boring", or "you can't or shouldn't do that" for some other event.  At the game table, the players should be driving the bus and if they find fancy in fishing for prismatic fish near the Sky Dark Mountains then who are you to dissuade them?


At the same time, you want to keep a measure of control on the game.  You just to hide it behind the thought that its the players' idea.  Let the players go where ever they want to and build your plots into that location.  This goes back to preparation.  If you want the players in Khurahaen next summer for the Salt plot, then drop hints while they are in the Whisper Trees investigating the White Roc Inn and the illegal goods trading going on there.  When they dig into the Misty Mountain politics and the nasty underhand acts of the Black Hydra nobles, slip hooks leading them back to Khurahaen.


Chuckle.  Now to contradict it all.  Nothing the players do matters.  The world was kicking and stomping before they showed up and its going to keep on doing just that.  In a nutshell, the world is in motion just as much as the players are and events are spawned out of the actions of the multitude of NPCs you've created as the GM.  Things happen independent of and unrelated to the players.  Some will affect them and others will pass the right by.  Of course, nothing happens without your say so.  You are the GM after all.  Still, build in the world a sense of time, activity and energy.  Players should hear about other heroes, villains and stories that had nothing to do with them.  They get started and solved all without them.


If you are still here then you've the constitution of a Tara-Khai.  Look, I've saved some of the most crucial nuggets for the latter part of this article.  Like making sure you run a fun game.  You can prepare, be attentive and reactive to players and all the other things, but if the game is boring, who is going to play?  Also, be unique.  As original as you can.  I'll never forget the first time someone snorted at the plot I was rolling out.  It both startled and angered me.  Still, its point was one I never forgot.  I was running something they'd played a million times and my version wasn't much more original than the original idea.  You have got to experiment and strive for originality.  Avoid clichés like the plague.  Stereotypes are the kiss of the death. Don't start your players in a bar or tavern.  Ug.  Or, in a little town with a set of ruins right nearby... Argh.  MMORPGs are full of this crap and it drives me bat shit crazy.


Look, nothing should be as it seems and everything should be plotted at least three levels deep and that should just be scratching the surface.  Spin plots and stories within each other so that they are like the little Russian dolls, one within another, ever smaller but seemingly endless.  Twist motivations, surface perceptions, and the truth.  Everything should be gray and reasons for the players to be, well, playing their characters possible.  Not that I'm telling you to do their work for them - this ain't a plug for the GM to do their back story. Its tough to be the hero, villain or just plain coward when someone else is playing the role.  Of course, that could be your plot.  Why the hell are the players where ever they happen to be in the first place?  Maybe the hero is the villain, though really the hero just cast as the villain; who is really a coward, you see, and the real hero the one who willingly chose to be a villain so the hero-villain-coward, could, well be the damn coward in the first place.  Maybe they did it for love, friendship or misguided loyalty, who knows?  That's your job.


Play the scenes.  I beg you for this one.  If you forget everything else, then do this one.  Everyone has expectations.  Dragons are tough, demons are nasty, elves are stupid and smell funny -- whatever.  Play to it and player expectations.  If they are looking for a fight, give them one.  If they want to eat croissants and sip tea with their little fingers turned just so, make it so, number one.  When Chorazmatt comes crawling out of the storm ripping the skies open over the Misty Seas, make her appearance memorable.  Due it justice.  Build a sense of wonder that lives on after the game ends.  You'll know you did it right if your players are talking about it four months later like it just happened.  I've references to games that I played more than 20 years ago that show up nearly every game. Things like that become part of the fabric of playing and seem to infect ever new player exposed to them.


Oh, another thing I'll beg of you.  Don't over-GM.  Let the players run free in their illusion of control.  You'll be glad you did.


I'll leave with one parting thought.  You can do everything I've mentioned and a hundred things I didn't that are right and good and still fail.   Luck is a fickle bitch and she's got the dice you're rolling in her fat little hands.  She'll bless or curse them at her will and while you can work the odds, she's the house.  In time, she'll win.  Even so, how much you bring back to the table is up to you.  That's something luck cannot control or win.   Cheers and good gaming.

Silveel Objects

SILVEEL OBJECTS

The alloy known as silver steel, forged by the High Elves and is a commonly seen part of their weapons, armor, art, coinage and other every day uses. Its used as frequently as steel is used in everyday and quality products in their society. Its base is very high quality steel mixed with mithril and silver then worked with secretive arcane forging techniques. Silveel is valued at one and one-half times that of gold.

Silveel is very effective against were-creatures and undead. Its touch will cause poisoning in such beings over a long term period (usually 7-12 days). When formed into weapons containing at least 25% or more Silveel, it will reduce the DR benefits of a were-creature or unnatural DR of an undead being by an equal percentage.

Silveel also resists rust and corrosion very well. Consider any object made from at least 25% Silveel to ignore the effects of rust or corrosion by succeeding at TD 100 checks while adding their Silveel percentage as a one-for-one bonus.

When forged into objects at a minimum of 50% Silveel base it adjusts the base values of the weapon or armor as outlined below. Use normal rounding rules to determine full bonuses.

Value	Bonus
ATK	+10%
CF/Dodge	–20%
DEF	+10%
DME	+10%
Crit	+10%
Fumble	–10%
Dur/BODY	+100%*
DR	+20%
Charge	+0%
MOVE/MANEUVER	–20%
Cost/Value	+500%

*to the BODY max of any range as appropriate.