"Everything must go somewhere."

​

 

 

Geoccultism is an intricate art that involves thaumaturgically aligning the essence of a place to a particular orientation through a combination of manipulating ley lines and magnetic fields. Through the use of a ruling pole, a skilled geoccultist can create a variety of weather conditions and terrains, suitable for everything from ideal agriculture climates to advanced meteomantic warfare. To truly master geoccultism, one must know the land like they know themself, and often better.

Geoccultism is aided with enchanted compasses and ancient atlases, to locate and track ley lines across the surface of the earth. Dowsing rods are also commonly employed to pinpoint the location and orientation of geoccult poles. An aid like this counts as a masterwork piece of equipment and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Survival check made to prepare a geoccult principle. The Imago Mundi is perhaps the most famous arcane atlas ever compiled, and always shows the exact alignment of seven 'ley plates', islands of geolomantic power which move inexorably below the surface of the earth.

Key Skill: Survival


GEOC 101: Intro to Geoccultism
Grade: Baccalaureate
Prerequisite: None
Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle transforms a continuous mass of metal into a geoccult pole, which emits a field geomagnetically attuned to a specific biome. The metal transformed emits a bubble-shaped field, except that it has a different size than normal. The field begins at a radius of 500ft., and every additional preparation of this principle adds an additional 100ft. of radius to it. The particular biome created depends on the planetary metal used to create the pole. A geoccult pole is immobile once created; it is fixed in the geography of the land. It can be broken out of geomagnetic alignment with a DC 30 Strength check (+5 for every GEOC principle you know), but this ruins the principle and returns the pole to its original state. Molten metal can be transformed into a geoccult pole, but enough mass must remain in the fluid body to maintain the required amount; otherwise the effect is similarly broken. A biome condition spreads slowly, at a rate of 5ft. per round out from the pole, until it reaches its ultimate radius.

Geoccult poles slowly consume themselves to provide the fuel for their biome. Every day they consume 5 lb for every 100ft. of radius. If this consumption reduces the mass of the pole below the critical mass, the pole collapses. The critical mass is defined as 100 lb multiplied by 1 + the number of times the radius has been increased (that is, the required mass to use the principle itself). Additional mass can be added to a geoccult pole by placing appropriate metal so that it touches the main body. The mass is slowly subsumed into the body of the pole over the following ten minutes. If a geoccult pole is hooked up to a heuristical circuit, puissance can be used to pay for mass which would otherwise be consumed, at a rate of 1 ebb for every 10 lb of metal that would be needed.

If a feature requires upkeep, that is, additional expenditure of metal or puissance to maintain itself, this can happen over time. An appropriate amount of puissance must be supplied to the pole to pay for the feature's upkeep; the full amount of puissance must be provided in 10 rounds. That is, at least one-tenth of the puissance must be supplied once a round for ten rounds, or until the full cost is paid. Payment is due at either midnight or midday, as chosen when the pole is established. If on a Plane without such times, payment is still due every 24 hours, starting from the establishment of the pole.

If there are multiple features which need to be supplied puissance to maintain, they can be paid one after the other, with no round in-between when no puissance is being transferred. If there is such a break, all of the necessary metal for remaining features is drawn from the body of the pole. If there is ever not enough mass in the pole to keep it above the critical limit, the pole collapses.

A geoccult field does not overwrite everything in the area, only natural elements. Trees, rocks, leaves, grass, dirt, and so on, are subsumed into the pole; if the field is broken later on, the old terrain elements reassert themselves as if nothing had happened. Animals and artificial elements such as houses, are not subsumed like this; instead, the landscape changes around them. Things that a geoccult pole creates are real and tangible, and last if taken out of the area. Once removed, they don't disappear if the pole collapses.

As part of this principle, you make a Survival check. This check determines the potency of the biome. You must make a certain DC in order to create the pole in the first place, or the principle is wasted to no effect; this critical DC is shown in the condition entry. For every 5 points you beat the critical DC of the check, any effects caused by the biome have their saving throw DC increased by 1, the skill check they require increased by +3, and any damage dice increased by 1 die. As the biome spreads, the baseline terrain of the area changes to that of the biome. This is essentially the foundation of the land.

If two biomes come into contact, one of them overwrites the other; whichever has a higher Survival check is dominant.

The poles that you can use include:

{table=head]Planetary Metal|Critical DC|Biome|Baseline Terrain
Copper|20|Forest|Rich soil
Gold|25|Arctic|Permafrost
Iron|25|Desert|Sand
Lead|20|Swamp|Peat
Platinum|20|City|Basalt
Tin|15|Grasslands|Dirt[/table]

• Arctic (Permafrost): Permafrost is essentially frozen soil. The ground in this biome remains frozen year round, and the air temperature also grows fairly chilly thanks to convection. The ground is inhospitable to plants; only the hardiest arctic plants can grow roots deep enough to penetrate the frozen topsoil. In practice, this biome typically ends up creating a cold desert. An arctic biome has an average temperature of 0 Centigrade during the day to -40 Centigrade at night. Arctic biomes receive 50% less precipitation than most biomes, and what they do receive is typically in the form of blinding snowstorms.

• City (Basalt): Basalt is pretty much just simple cobblestone. Nothing grows on it, although it's nice for walking along and riding horses on. A platinum pole doesn't have much effect on the local climate, although wind patterns tend to be broken up by large structures and sharp corners.

• Desert (Sand): Speaking of which, a desert is primarily filled with sand. This is a wasteland that has little nutritional value stored in the ground, which leads to a vicious cycle where plants can't grow in the area to provide nutrients for other plants. Sand is incredibly inhospitable, and also hard to travel on, since it's loose. You cannot run on sand, and horses only cover half their regular distance in a day. A desert biome has an average temperature of up to 40 Centigrade in the day, and as low as freezing (0 Centigrade) at night. A desert biome receives 50% less precipitation than normal biomes.

• Forests (Rich Soil): This is a dark carbon-rich soil perfect for trees and general agriculture. Profession (farmer) and similar checks made to grow things in the soil gain a +2 bonus, and annual yield using this soil (assuming it's used over the entire growing season) is increased by 25%. Rich soil depletes quickly, and consecutive yields after a boom year yield only 75% of their normal potential. Forests have a temperate climate, ranging from 5 to 25 Centigrade.

• Grasslands (Dirt): The dirt created here is very sturdy and enduring. Although not as rich in nutrients as the dark soil of the forest, grasslands dirt perseveres. This is the baseline soil which is assumed in general. Grasslands typically have a pleasant climate, with similar temperatures to a forest.

• Swamp (Peat): Peat is very wet, very mucky soil. It's filthy to move around in, and requires a DC 10 Balance check every round you move through it to avoid getting really muddy. It's got a huge moisture content, and is very well-suited to some kinds of plants. Traditional crops like grain can't grow here at all, but any species of plant which can cope with the extremely wet conditions can do quite well; oak trees, tea trees, and other plants with shallow roots find themselves at home. Any plant well suited to the terrain grows 50% faster than it would elsewhere. Swamps often have very humid and muggy climates; 10 to 25 Centigrade is common, with a consistent relative humidity of up to 70%.

GEOC 235: Bizarre Biomes
Grade: Magisterial
Prerequisites: GEOC 101, Survival 8 ranks
Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like GEOC 101, except that you can place features into the biomes that you are creating. By maintaining contact with the pole during the spread of a biome, you can place terrain features, such as trees or mineral deposits, inside of the area as it grows. Alternatively, these can be changed as a logical decision or by preparing the principle again. Changes introduced like this after the fact also spread from the pole at a rate of 5ft. per round, overwriting previous features (you must still remain in contact with the pole during the spreading effect to place terrain features). If a pole's effect is broken, the old terrain reasserts itself at the same rate. Every biome has a baseline feature, which is a characteristic of the land itself which is intrinsic to the biome's nature. The baseline terrain of the biome is free; additional terrain features require the immediate consumption of metal from the mass of the pole, as described in the feature entry.

Some features require upkeep; features which need to replenish themselves (such as a tree which has been cut down) do so over a period of one day, consuming again as much material as was required to station them in the first place. Features can be placed on top of things that already exist, such as manmade structures in the area. However, the primary owner of a structure is allowed a Will saving throw (DC 10 + 5 for every GEOC principle you know) to resist the encroachment of the geoccult field. Success indicates that that pole cannot place any features inside, on, or in the structure in question. This spread also does not grant you any special insight into what is inside such as structure; if you don't know what it looks like inside, you're essentially just placing features randomly in the dark.

Many of the features described here are fairly rudimentary. If you have access to additional supplementary material, such as the supplements Frostburn: Mastering the Perils of Ice and Snow (for a gold pole) or Sandstorm: Mastering the Perils of Fire and Sand (for an iron pole), feel free to make use of their more extensive geography choices. Work with your DM to determine what would be a reasonable price for various natural terrain features from these supplements. Note that supernatural terrain elements are not appropriate for this principle.

The features you can place are:

Arctic [Gold]: A gold pole allows you to spread an arctic biome. An arctic area has permafrost as its baseline, and additional terrain features include black ice, ice, rock, scrub, snowdrifts, and trees. The arctic is a cold, inhosbitable place, filled with many frozen dangers.

• Black Ice: Black ice is exceptionaly dangerous ice, in that it's very unreflective and also very slippery. This makes it hard to notice until you're actually on it. To even notice black ice, someone needs to succeed on a DC 20 Spot check. This works like ice (see below), except that a DC 10 Balance check is required even to move normally on it. If someone on black ice fails to notice that it's there, the Balance check DC to move across it doubles, and failure indicates that they fall prone. Black ice costs 25 lb for every 5ft. sheet.

• Ice: Ice is frozen water, and this describes an ice sheet on the ground. it could cover up a frozen body of water, or just packed smooth snow. It costs 2 squares of movement to enter a square covered in ice, and the DC of Balance and Tumble checks there increases by 5. A DC 10 Balance check is required to run or charge across ice. Ice costs 5 lb for every 5ft. sheet.

• Rubble: This is either light or dense rubble strewn across the ground by avalanches in the past. Light rubble increases the DC of Balance and Tumble checks by 2. Dense rubble costs 2 squares of movement to enter into, and increases the DC of Balance and Tumble checks by 5, and of Move Silently checks by 2. Light rubble costs 5 lb for every 20ft. patches, while dense rubble costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.

• Scrub: Scrub is hardy, reasonably nutritious plantlife which can survive the harsh conditions of the tundra. One 5ft. patch of scrub will sustain a herbivorous Medium-sized creature (including omnivorous humanoids, although not for prolonged periods of time) for a day, but they'll be unsatiated until they get more filling food. Scrub costs 2 squares of movement to enter into, and it provides concealment. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Hide checks. Scrub costs 5lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Snowdrifts: Snowdrifts are large shifting bodies of snow. This snow is typically lighter and more powder than normal, and is very difficult to move in. When moving in a snowdrift, one is treated as if it's 20 degrees Centigrade colder than it actually is. It costs double movement to travel through a snowdrift, and Balance, Hide, Survival, and Tumble checks all take a -5 penalty. Snowdrifts are mobile terrain features which blow with the wind, and can cover other terrain elements. Snowdrifts cost 25 lb for every 10ft. drift.

• Trees: These are nearly always coniferous trees which thrive at high latitudes. Trees tend to be fairly sparse in a tundra environment, but it's not uncommon to see lone trees eking out their survival. These work like the light trees described in the SRD. Light arctic trees cost 5 lb, and occupy a negligible space; they cannot be placed any closer than 10ft. separation.

City [Platinum]: A platinum pole allows you to spread a city biome. A city has cobblestone as its baseline, and additional terrain features include bridges, buildings, fountains, roads, sewers, and walls. A city is a generally hospitable place, designed to be inhabited by humanoid creatures.

• Bridges: Bridges are roadways that extend over chasms, bodies of water, and other otherwise dangerous terrain. A bridge extends the cobblestone basis of the biome out into a gentle arch, which can hold 200 lb for every 5 ft. of width at once. A bridge costs 5lb for every 5ft. section.

• Building: Buildings are where people tend to live. A single application of this particular terrain feature is called a storey. A single storey is a 20ft. by 20ft. by 10ft. room, with doors and windows arranged to taste on the walls, floor, and ceiling. If multiple stories are stacked on top of each other, a staircase can be installed which connects the two, positioned either along one of the outer walls or in the center of the storey. If two stories are placed immediately adjacent to each other, the two rooms can be merged into a single larger room. Each storey, upon creation, generates a deed, which allows the holder to create or remove subdividing walls, windows, doors, staircases, and balconies inside that storey. This task requires 10 minutes for each feature to be added or removed, and can only be done by the legal owner of the deed. In fact, a deed may only be transferred via legal means, such as inheritance, sale, dowry, and so on, unless the original creator of the deed decides otherwise at the time of placement. A single storey costs 50 lb.

• Fountain: A fountain is a pleasant landmark that allows free access to clean, drinkable water. A fountain constantly emits a stream of fresh water, flowing out at a rate of 5 gallons every round. A fountain that isn't connected to a source of water consumes 10 lb of metal each round to produce the necessary liquid. A fountain costs 60 lb of metal to produce; in addition, if there is any statuary that the creator of the fountain wishes to incorporate, the fountain costs an additional 30 lb. Intricate ornamentation may require an appropriate Craft check, as decided by the circumstances.

• Road: A road is a surface intended to be easy to walk along. Creatures following a road can travel overland 20% faster than they otherwise would be able to. In addition, if a stretch of road has a width of 20ft. or more, this feature can also produce bullseye lanterns that hang 7ft. above the ground every 60ft. along the road, supplying constant light. Four 5ft. sections of road costs 10 lb to produce.

• Sewer: A good sewer allows you to pipe water (or other liquids) to a fountain, or take wastewater away from a road. Sewers are usually created 10ft. below ground, and cost 10 lb for each 125 cubic foot block of ground altered. In addition, by spending an additional 10 lb on a section of sewer, a pipe is created that connects it to either a fountain or a road; this is either a release or a drain, respectively. If a sewer connects to a body of liquid, it consumes it at a rate of 10 gallons per round. Furthermore, a pipe can fuel two fountains for every body of liquid it taps into. If a fountain is fueled by a pipe connected to a body of liquid that isn't fresh water, it produces that liquid instead. Liquid waste has to go somewhere, which means that it doesn't just disappear when it goes into the sewer. Every sewer needs to end somewhere, and for an initial cost of 20 lb plus an additional 5 lb for daily operation, you can install a water purification system in your sewer line. This is a 5ft. block (125 cubic foot) which is placed at some point along your sewer; liquid which goes in is purified, as if with a purify food and drink effect. A single water purification system can handle 7.5 gallons of liquid every round.

• Wall: A good wall keeps the city safe! Each of the costs on the table below are for a single 10ft. section; each section has an AC of 3 and a Hardness of 8. A gate can be added to a wall for no additional cost.
  
  {table=head]Wall Dimensions|Hit Points per Section|Cost
  20ft. tall, 5ft. thick|450 hp|20 lb
  30ft. tall, 10ft. thick|720 hp|60 lb
  40ft. tall, 15ft. thick|1170 hp|120 lb[/table]

Desert [Iron]: An iron pole allows you to spread a desert biome. A desert has sand as its baseline, and additional terrain features include cacti, packed earth, quicksand, rubble, sand dunes, and undergrowth. Deserts are dangerous wastelands, unsuited to normal life. Only the hardiest survive their brutal conditions.

• Cacti: A cactus is a desert plant typically spiny and sharp to the touch. Cacti provide concealment, and a +1 bonus to AC and Reflex saves to anyone in the same square. However, one can only make use of these bonuses by moving in close quarters around the cactus, dealing 2d3 piercing damage every round. You cannot climb a cactus, but it is filled with liquid that can be harvested with a DC 15 Survival check. Cactus juice will hydrate people, but those who drink it report hallucinations and fevers (-4 penalty to mental ability scores until they get eight hours of rest out of the sun). Cacti otherwise work like light trees, as described in the gold (arctic) pole section. A cactus costs 15 lb and cannot be closer than 10ft. to another cactus.

• Packed Earth: Packed earth is useful for desert trails, and for leading pack animals. It's solid enough to walk on easily, but it's impossible to grow anything in it. Pack earth costs 5lb for every 5ft. square.

• Quicksand: Quicksand is an imfamous desert danger. This is ground that appears solid until any weight is put on it, at which point it begins to suck the mass inside of it. Quicksand costs 25 lb for every 5ft. patch of it.

• Rubble: Desert rubble works like the rubble described in the gold (arctic) pole section. Desert rubble is cheaper, however, being a more common sight without snow everywhere. Desert rubble costs 5 lb for every 40ft. patch, and dense rubble costs 5lb for every 20ft. patch.

• Sand Dunes: Sand dunes are huge moving swathes of sand which envelop the landscape. They arrange themselves with a gentle slope facing into the wind, and a steep slope on the opposite side. Sand dunes are loose terrain, and maneuvering in them costs twice as much movement as normal. Sand also gets everywhere, which you'll be noticing for weeks afterwards. Balance and Tumble checks have their DC's increased by 5 in a sand dune, and standing up from prone is a challenge as it's nearly impossible to get a good hold on anything to stand up; standing from prone is a full-round action unless you have a special ability to speed this up (such as kip up, in which case it's unchanged). Sand dunes are mobile features which move with the wind, and can cover other terrain elements. Sand dunes cost 5 lb for every 50ft. patch.

• Undergrowth: Undergrowth is mostly composed of vines, roots, and bushes, and it restricts movement. Undergrowth created with an iron pole is the light type descibed. Undergrowth costs 5 lb for every 5ft. patch.

Forest [Copper]: A copper pole allows you to spread a forest biome. A forest has rich soil as its baseline, and additional terrain features include fungus, logs, moss, streams, trees, and undergrowth. Forests are ideal for providing natural resources such as wood and to scavenge for food. Forest soil is exceedingly fertile, and can be very useful for agriculture.

• Fungus: Fungus is reasonably nutritious and can grow in the absence of light as long as it has a decent supply of nutrients and peace and quiet; however, anyone untrained in Survival (0 ranks) has a 5% chance of picking a poisonous mushroom when gathering food from a fungus patch (Fortitude DC 15, initial and secondary damage 1d4 Con). Someone trained in Survival can make a DC 25 Survival check to gather up to three such poisonous mushrooms from any given 5ft. patch. Fungus patches are softer than the ground; falls onto them count as being 20ft. shorter than they actually are. Mushrooms, once picked, take a day to grow back. Fungus patches cost 50 lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Logs: Logs are a common sight in a forest. They provide cover like small walls, and typically stand from 1ft. to 3ft. high. They can be placed to run over streams, although travelling longitudinally on a log requires a DC 10 Balance check and twice as much movement as normal. A log takes up a space of 5ft. by 10 to 200ft., decided at placement. Logs cost 5 lb for every 10ft. in length.

• Moss: Moss is a light covering of greenery on the ground. It is very soft, and aside from being pleasant to the touch, it is very easy to move quietly on. All Move Silently checks made on moss gain a +4 circumstance bonus. If moss is placed on a log, the Balance check to move on it is doubled. Moss is reasonably nutritious, and some species can survive on it. It also grows ridiculously fast, and replenishes itself every six hours instead of every day. Moss costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.

• Streams: A stream is no wider than 5 to 10ft. wide, and no more than 5ft. deep. These are freshwater streams, but unless connected to an outside water supply the water will quickly grow stagnant and gross. Streams cost 5 lb for every 10ft. in length.

• Trees: Trees are of course the most important feature of any forest, useful for hiding, climbing, tactical positioning, wood, and so on. The trees created with a copper pole can be light or massive. Light trees require negligible space, while massive trees require a 5ft. square. Light trees cost 5 lb, and massive trees cost 20 lb. Trees can be placed at a discount when grouping them together in a forest; up to four light trees can be placed in a single 5ft. square, and the third and fourth are free. Similarly, up to two light trees can occupy the same square as a heavy tree, and they are also free.

• Undergrowth: This works like the undergrowth described in the iron (desert) pole section. Undergrowth created with a copper pole is the light type descibed. Undergrowth costs 5 lb for every 5ft. patch.

Grasslands [Tin]: A tin pole allows you to spread a grasslands biome. Grasslands have a baseline terrain of dirt, and additional terrain features includes clay, grass, shale, streams, tall grass, and trees. Grasslands are fairly straightforward terrain with not too many surprises. It's excellent terrain to settle on, and the ground is very reliable for agriculture. Grass is a perfect foodstock for domesticated animals, and in general grasslands are ideal for developing some measure of civilization.

• Clay: Clay is a useful material which exhibits plastic behavious when it's mixed with water. This makes it very important for artisans and craftsmen to use for their work. The clay this pole creates is a solid deposit near the surface, which is rocky and solid, which acts like light rubble. Balance and Tumble checks made on clay have their DC increased by 2, and a failed check smashes the clay, destroying 25% of it every time. A single clay feature contains 2d6 lb of clay and takes up a 5ft. square. Every 5ft. square of clay deposit costs 25 lb.

• Grass: This is the main reason you'd be using this biome. Grass is a very hardy, useful plant that can be created in large quantities. It is ideal as a feedstock, and livestock raised on this grass grows 10% larger than normal livestock of their kind. The grass created is still growing, and thus has an 80% moisture content; it must typically be dried out before being used as feed. Grass costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.

• Shale: If clay is hard to balance on, shale is even worse. Ride, Balance, and Tumble checks across shale have their DC increased by 5. A failure causes the person attempting the action (including the mount, if applicable) to fall prone on the shale, taking damage as if from a 20ft. fall. Running and charging across shale is impossible on foot. Shale costs 5lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Streams: These are the same kinds of streams described in the copper (forest) pole section.

• Tall Grass: Tall grass is especially dangerous and easy to hide in. Hide and Move Silently checks gain a +4 circumstance bonus in it. Beyond that, this grass provides twice as much grass material as the grass baseline terrain, and is dry to start off with. This feature is placed in 5ft. squares. Tall grass costs 15 lb for every 10ft. patch.

• Trees: These are the light trees described in the copper (forest) pole section, although they tend to be deciduous instead of coniferous.

Swamp [Lead]: A lead pole allows you to spread a swamp biome. A swamp has peat as its baseline, and additional terrain features include acid bog, mucky ground, quicksand, standing water, sulphur jets, and trees. Swamps are generally not very nice places to be, but there are some hard to come by materials that often show up in them. Swamps can be dangerous, and tend to attract the worst sorts of black magic. Most people stay no longer than strictly necessary.

• Acid Bog: Acid bog has a faint green hue, making it difficult to notice except in good light. Spotting an acid bog bog before entering it requires a DC 20 Survival check. If the moving creature succeeds on a DC 10 Survival check but not a DC 20 check, he notices that the square is with bog but does not identify it as acid bog. Acid bog deals 1d6 points of acid damage per round of exposure, or 6d6 points of acid damage with total immersion. Most acid bog is only about 1 foot in depth, making total immersion unlikely (although prone creatures count as fully immersed). It costs 2 squares of movement to move into a square with acid bog, and the DC of Balance and Tumble checks in such a square increase by 2. Acid bog imposes a –4 penalty on Move Silently checks. Acid bog costs 10 lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Mucky Ground: This is ground that is half water and half dirt, resulting in a sticky, sloshy ground that is difficult to move in. As a result, characters traveling in mucky ground must move at half speed and make DC 10 Balance checks every 60ft. If a character fails that check, they fall prone and get mucky. Alternatively, a character may attempt to move at standard speed through the ground, but must make a DC 15 check every 60 ft. A character that is running or charging through murky ground must make DC 20 Balance checks every 30 ft., making it nigh-impossible to move quickly on the mucky ground. Mucky ground costs 5 lb for every 10ft. patch.

• Quicksand: This is the quicksand described in the iron (desert) pole section, except with mud instead of sand. Anyone who gets stuck in a swamp quicksand pit gets unavoidable filthy from head to toe. Swamp quicksand is more common than desert quicksand, and thus is cheaper: it costs 20 lb for every 5ft. patch of it.

• Standing Water: Standing water is a common occurence in swampy areas, and is super gross. It's not at all useable for cooking or cleaning, and usually has lots of nasty stuff living in it. It is, technically, water, so it could be purified with magic to be useable. Any standing water which is left on its own (typically for at least a week) tends to attract mosquitoes and especially stirges. Every 5ft. square of standing water can sustain a flock of stirges, who lay their eggs in the filthy water. Standing water costs 10 lb for every 5ft. square.

• Sulphur Jets: These are jets emerging from the moist ground or standing water bodies which give off a mixture of sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulphide gas (known as swamp gas). They're not really very pleasant, and actually very dangerous to people not equipped to breathe them. Anyone that breathes in swamp gas must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or become nauseated. Swamp gas is super-flammable, and the tiniest flame or spark inside of a sulphur jet can cause a fireball effect (effective caster level equal to the number of adjacent sulphur jets inside the radius, to a maximum of 10) centered on the source of the flame. Detecting swamp gas is kind of hard, and usually done by scent. Anyone with the scent special ability just knows when they're in an area filled with swamp gas. Everyone else needs to succeed on a DC 15 Survival check first. Sulphur jets cost 25 lb each, and occupy a 5ft. square. They can be placed in standing water as well as peat.

• Trees: These are the light or massive trees described in the copper (forest) pole section. Trees in a swamp are placed at the same discount as in a forest, and get vines besides. Vines allow easy climbing and swimming; anyone can climb a swamp tree with a DC 5 Climb check, and can move at double speed through a swamp without touching the ground if they succeed at a DC 15 Climb and Jump check every round (they don't have to touch the ground, either, which is pretty awesome when you think about how much horrible stuff there is on the ground in a swamp). To use this movement, they must move only through squares containing trees. Light trees require negligible space, while massive trees require a 5ft. square. Light trees cost 5 lb, and massive trees cost 20 lb.

GEOC 291: Unknown Oceans [Specialist]
Grade: Magisterial
Prerequisites: GEOC 101, Survival 8 ranks
Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like GEOC 101, except that it allows you to use the final two planetary metals in your geoccultism: mercury and silver.

In addition, you can now change the topology inside any biome that you create; this is called (appropriately) a topology feature. This works like a terrain feature, but can be placed concurrently with pretty much any other terrain feature. A topology feature can be placed concurrently with basically any normal feature, but there are limits to how it can be set up. You cannot have two adjacent 5ft. squares with a difference in slope between them of more than 10 degrees. Every 5ft. you want to raise or lower a 5ft. square relative to its original height costs 5 lb of metal.

Note that this is actually pretty much useless for silver and mercury biomes, since the actual topology of the area is far below the surface of the water. However, it can technically still be used if you really want to dig an underwater trench or something.

{table=head]Planetary Metal|Critical DC|Biome|Baseline Terrain
Mercury|35|Wetland|Freshwater
Silver|40|Ocean|Saltwater[/table]

• Wetland (Freshwater): This creates essentially a freestanding body of freshwater, sometimes known as sweetwater. Essentially a lake, although the exact term would describe on the geography and placement. Freshwater bodies are typically several hundred feet deep in the middle, tapering up sharply at the edges. When you spread this terrain, you can decide the exact depth, although it cannot be more than 450ft. deep at any point. Freshwater is amazing for any kind of life, and is very important for settlements and civilization. This freshwater is created pure and free of contaminants.

• Ocean (Saltwater): This creates a freestanding body of saltwater; essentially a salt lake, although it could also be connected to an outside ocean. This works basically the same as the wetland, except that it can be much, much, much deeper. It can be as deep as six miles down in the middle. Saltwater can't be drunk by most humanoids, although sahuagin and many other aquatic races find it prime habitat.

There are also a few features you can place around these bodies. These terrain features can be places around the edge of your body of water, and are at ground level instead of below the earth. Wetland can have mudflats and reeds around it, and ocean can have sandbars and tidepools around it.

• Mudflats (Wetland): Mudflats are, appropriately enough, flat planes of mud which are really easy to get stuck in. It's basically normal dirt and soil which is so wet from the nearby body of water that it's become a huge mass of mud. It's impossible to move in, like at all. Someone would have to make a superhuman (DC 25) Balance check to move freely across the surface of it, and they still couldn't run or charge. Anyone who gets stuck in it is moving at 5ft. per round, if that (DC 10 Balance to move at all). Seriously, this stuff is just not fun. Mudflats cost 50 lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Reeds (Wetland): Reeds are a little more pleasant. These are big cattails, rice paddies, and similar. They can be used to make really cool wind instruments, and also are great to hide in. They grant a +8 circumstance bonus on Hide checks made in them. Unfortunately, they grow in ankle-deep water, which is kind of gross. Rice is also an amazing crop, and the same amount of land used growing rice instead of wheat can feed twice as many people. Reeds cost 10 lb for every 5ft. patch.

• Sandbars (Ocean): Sandbars are the shorelines that people normally associate with oceans. This works like the sand described in the desert section, except that there's a hell of a lot more water in it. In general, you can find water just by digging down a little bit. Sandbars are free.

• Tidepools (Ocean): Tidepools are a clever way to trap fish without line or net. Tide comes in, deposits fish, and backs out. Tidepools are really cool tiny little ecosystems, and you find all sorts of neat edible stuff in them. A 5ft. patch of tidepools delivers enough food for four people every day assuming there are edible fish in the saltwater body, and that the tidepools are close enough to the shore to catch the tide. Tidepools cost 30 lb for every 5ft. patch.

GEOC 323: Curious Climates
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisites: Any two GEOC principles, Survival 15 ranks
Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like GEOC 101, except that it allows you to spread an additional kind of feature from your geoccult poles: a climate condition. This principle allows you to connect your geoccult poles to fundamental meteorological gradients, producing appropriate climate change inside of the biome. Whenever you set up a geoccult pole, you can choose to introduce a climate to the area as well as more tangible environmental features. Similarly, you can update a previously constructed geoccult pole to contain a climate element by preparing this principle on it once (no matter the size) and matching or exceeding the Survival check made to construct it. The climate change introduced can be turned on or off, or set to a specific level, as a logical decision. Alternatively, the climate feature can be modulated as a standard action when touching the pole by making a matching Survival check.

Climate conditions are tied to a particular metal, but thanks to your new mixing ability (see below) you can have interesting weathers in strange biomes. Climate changes can be implemented either globally (in the entire field of the pole's effect) or locally (in circles of 100ft. radius). Every hour that a climate change is in effect, it consumes metal as described in its description. Note that metal is consumed for each separate weather change, so if you decide to split up the area and have different climate conditions in different parts of it, you pay for all of them. They also have more extreme forms; A geoccult pole can be manipulated either physically or through a heuristical citcuit to trigger an extreme weather condition with additional instantaneous metal consumption. Controlling a climate condition, either standard or extreme, is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

In addition, you can now mix your biomes slightly. By incorporating a second metal into the body of a pole, you can make use of a single terrain feature off of that biome's list, or even that biome's climate condition (although you can only have one climate condition at a time). However, metal consumed to place and sustain the feature is drawn from this secondary reserve, and additional masses of the second metal must be added to replenish it. Once you pick the specific terrain feature for the pole to have access to, it cannot be changd. It can be placed as many times as you like inside the biome within these constraints. If the smaller pole falls below its critical mass, the parent pole starts to burn itself to pay for the feature instead, at a ratio of 10:1 (and not in your favour, either).

{table=head]Planetary Metal|Terrain|Climate Condition|Extreme Weather Condition
Copper|Forest|Heat Wave|Wildfire
Gold|Arctic|Snow|Hailstorm
Iron|Desert|Sandstorm|Earthquake
Lead|Swamp|Fog|Flood
Mercury|Wetlands|Cold Wave|Cold Snap
Platinum|City|Smog|Acid Rain
Silver |Ocean|Rain|Thunderstorm
Tin|Grasslands|Wind|Tornado[/table]

Note that you must know GEOC 291 to use mercury or silver poles.

• Copper (Heat Wave): An iron pole allows you to cause heavy heat waves, which can be big risks of sunstroke in places that are already hot. A heat wave raises the ambient temperature by up to 20 degrees Centigrade. This might be balmy in the arctic, but deadly in a desert. Every hour that a heat wave is in effect it consumes 5 lb for every 5 degree temperature increase from the pole.

• Gold (Snow): Snow is basically the king of nasty weather conditions. If you don't live in Canada or somewhere else northern (or really far southern, I guess), you probably think snow is kind of cute and fluffy. I just want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that I hate you. Falling snow has the same effects on visibility, ranged weapon attacks, and skill checks as rain (see the ocean section below), and it costs 2 squares of movement to enter a snow-covered square. A day of snowfall leaves 1d6 inches of snow on the ground. You can also choose heavy snow, which has the same effects as normal snowfall, but also restricts visibility as fog does (see the swamp section below). A day of heavy snow leaves 1d4 feet of snow on the ground, and it costs 4 squares of movement to enter a square covered with heavy snow. Heavy snow accompanied by strong or severe winds may result in snowdrifts 1d4×5 feet deep, especially in and around objects big enough to deflect the wind—a cabin or a large tent, for instance. Snow has the same effect on flames as moderate wind. Light snowfall costs 15 lb of metal for every hour of effect, and heavy snowfall costs a whopping 40 lb of metal every hour.

• Iron (Sandstorm): Technically sandstorms are really just strong wind in the desert, but we treat them like they're their own separate thing (so that you can enjoy having sandstorms in a swamp). A sandstorm reduces visibility to 1d10×5 feet and provides a -4 penalty on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. A sandstorm deals 1d3 points of nonlethal damage per hour to any creatures caught in the open, and leaves a thin coating of sand in its wake. Driving sand creeps in through all but the most secure seals and seams, to chafe skin and contaminate carried gear. Every hour that a sandstorm is in effect it consumes 15 lb of metal.

• Lead (Fog): Fog can be pretty dangerous in a fight, since you can't really see anything. A lead pole produces fog, mist, whatever you want to call it (okay, technically it has to do with the visibility from the air between 3/8 and 5/8 of a statute mile). Fog obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5ft. Creatures 5ft. away have concealment (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance). Fog consumes 10 lb of metal for every hour that it's in effect.

• Mercury (Cold Wave): A cold wave, as you'd expect, is the opposite of a heat wave. It lowers the temperature by up to 15 degrees Centigrade. Every hour that a cold wave is in effect, it consumes 5 lb for every 5 degree temperature decrease from the pole.

• Platinum (Smog): Smog is a huge breathing hazard associated with urban areas. Though the danger is not immediately apparent, smog obscures all sight beyond 10ft., including darkvision. Creatures 10ft. away or further have concealment in smog (attacks by or against them have a 20% miss chance). In addition, creatures with the scent special ability cannot detect creatures beyond 20ft. due to the sharp, acrid scent of the smog. Finally, every hour a creature spends inside smog inflicts 1 nonlethal damage to them, which cannot be healed naturally while they remain in the cloud. Smog consumes 10 lb of metal for every hour that it's in effect.

• Silver (Rain): Rain makes things wet, and in general is not very pleasant. It reduces visibility ranges by half, resulting in a -4 penalty on Spot and Search checks. It has the same effect on flames, ranged weapon attacks, and Listen checks as severe wind. It also gets things wet after three full rounds of exposure. You can also choose heavy rain as an option, which doubles the normal penalties and gets anything exposed for even a single full round soaking wet. Normal rain costs 5 lb per hour, and heavy rain costs 10 lb per hour.

• Tin (Wind): A tin pole allows you to cause windstorms, inciting winds of up to 70 mph as a regular thing. The pole can be controlled to produce wind between 0 and 70 mph. Strong winds consume metal every hour they're in effect equal to 5 lb per wind category.

The extreme weather conditions include:

• Copper (Wildfire): Okay, maybe it's not a weather condition per se, but it's still pretty awesome. This is a huge brush fire that engulfs everything flammable in its path. It burns through the area, leaving ash behind. Basically, all of the flammable features will have to replenish themselves the next day. Natural wildfires are unpredictable, but a geoccult wildfire is controlled from the pole. A wildfire can be between 50ft. wide and however wide you want (out to the limits of the zone). A wildfire can advance at up to 120ft. per round, scorching the land behind it. A wildfire has three main dangers: heat damage, catching on fire, and smoke inhalation.
  Breathing the air in a wildfire causes a character to take 1d6 points of damage per round (no save). In addition, a character must make a Fortitude save every 5 rounds (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or take 1d4 points of nonlethal damage. A character who holds his breath can avoid the lethal damage, but not the nonlethal damage. Those wearing heavy clothing or any sort of armor take a -4 penalty on this save. In addition, those wearing metal armor or coming into contact with very hot metal are affected as if by a heat metal spell. Additionally, characters engulfed in a wildfire are at risk of catching on fire when the leading edge of the fire overtakes them, and are then at risk once per minute thereafter. Finally, wildfires naturally produce a great deal of smoke. A character who breathes heavy smoke must make a Fortitude save each round (DC 15, +1 per previous check) or spend that round choking and coughing. A character who chokes for 2 consecutive rounds takes 1d6 points of nonlethal damage. Also, smoke obscures vision, providing concealment to characters within it. A wildfire is very destructive, but potentially also very useful. It only costs 50 lb to get it started, and every round spent controlling it costs 10 lb of metal.

• Gold (Hailstorm): Hail is not pleasant. This works like a sleet storm effect, with an effective caster level equal to half of the Survival skill check of the pole. Additionally, creatures out in the open take 2d6 bludgeoning damage every round (Reflex DC 15 for half damage) from the massive hailstones, far larger than what nature normally spits out. A hailstorm can effect an area of any size, up to the full pole area, costs 75 lb to get started, and lasts for 1 round per effective caster level.

• Iron (Earthquake): Earthquakes technically also aren't weather, but they are really cool. This works basically like a earthquake effect, with an effective caster level of half of the Suvival skill check of the pole and an effective spell level of 7. The earthquake starts with an 80ft. radius, but can be expanded over subsequent turns to target adjacent areas inside of the geoccult zone. An earthquake costs 200 lb to begin, and 175 lb every subsequent round that it's maintained (hitting additional area sections). You cannot target the same area twice with the same earthquake.

• Lead (Flood): A flood is a lot of water that comes out of nowhere. I mean, in real life it comes from lots of rain or something, but this actually just appears out of thin air. It's a wave of water from 10 to 12ft. high which just starts somewhere in the zone, up to 80ft. in length. It travels in a direction you choose, and basically just wipes out everything along the way. Anything loose is swept up and carried with it. A flood wave travels at up to 100ft. per round, and does everything you would expect. It's basically treated as a Colossal creature with a Strength score of 40 bull rushing everything that it touches. Everything it strikes takes 5d6 points of bludgeoning damage (Fortitude DC 20 for half damage). The flood causes massive infrastructure damage to any structure in strikes, if it doesn't destroy it completely. The flood travels for 5 rounds, at which point it dies down. You can control the exact speed of the wave, as well as making small adjustments to its trajectory of up to 10 degrees per round. A flood costs 200 lb to kick off, but only needs 25 lb of metal to control every round.

• Mercury (Cold Snap): A cold snap is a super brutal wave of cold. It drops temperatures by 40 degrees Centigrade, which is a hell of a lot. This is just brutal, antarctic style cold. Exposed vegetation just dies. Non-salinated water snap-freezes to 50ft. down, killing aquatic wildlife. Creatures exposed take 4d6 points of cold damage every round (Fortitude DC 25 for half damage). Flames are extinguished, and any character touching or holding metal is affected as if with a chill metal effect. A cold snap thankfully doesn't last for long. It costs 150 lb to start, and costs 100 lb every round to maintain.

• Platinum (Acid Rain): This is not weather that you want to be caught in; acid rain is identical to heavy rain, except that every round that a creature spends exposed causes it to take 2d6 acid damage. Even when an exposed creature gets out of the rain, they take 1 acid damage until they dry off. Acid rain costs 100 lb to kick off, and lasts for an hour.

• Silver (Thunderstorm): A thunderstorm is devastating. It includes winds of up to 50 mph, as well as heavy rain. Every round that it's active, you can call down a lightning bolt that deals 1d10 d8's of electricity damage in a 5ft. radius to a specific point in the affected area. These bolts offer a Reflex save (DC 20) for half damage. A thunderstorm costs only 50 lb to get started, and every bolt costs an extra 25 lb. A storm lasts for an hour before petering out.

• Tin (Tornado): This is strong wind. Like, really really strong wind. All flames are extinguished. All ranged attacks are impossible (even with siege weapons), as are Listen checks. Instead of being blown away, characters in close proximity to a tornado who fail a DC 30 Fortitude save are sucked toward the tornado. Those who come in contact with the actual funnel cloud are picked up and whirled around for 1d10 rounds, taking 6d6 points of damage per round, before being violently expelled (falling damage may apply). While a tornado’s rotational speed can be as great as 300 mph, the funnel itself moves at up to 250ft. per round at your discretion. A tornado uproots trees, destroys buildings, and causes other similar forms of major destruction. A tornado is 75ft. in radius, and can be controlled from the geoccult pole. Tornados cost 175 lb to start, and an additional 125 lb every round that it's maintained and controlled.

GEOC 374: Supernal Ecologies [Specialist]
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisites: Any three GEOC principles, Survival 15 ranks
Target: At least 100 lb of planetary metal
Preparation Time: 1 hour

You've reached the pinnacle of geoccult knowledge, and have discovered secrets of ecology that nature itself hasn't found yet. You've discovered supernatural terrain features that you can place in your biomes just like normal features.

Arctic [Gold]: Arctic supernatural terrain features include deadsnow, living glacier, and mirror ice.

• Deadsnow: Deadsnow is like regular snow, but those who pass beyond the mortal coil in it find their souls frozen in the shell of their bodies. At the following midnight, the body is reanimated as a zombie. The zombie is controlled by the geoccult pole as a logical decision; the pole can have a number of Hit Dice of deadsnow zombies under its thrall at a time equal to twice the Survival check made to prepare it. Deadsnow costs 100 lb for every 5ft. patch; it only snares the soul if the victim's body lies in the patch of snow at midnight.

• Living Glacier: Living glacier is like a sheet of fluid ice which is a living thing unto itself. It's essentially a guardian of the area, but more than that it works like a body for the pole. The glacier itself is an elder ice elemental, but its senses can all relay information to the pole. Anyone controlling the pole can take over the body of the living glacier and control it as if it were them, although this leaves their body helpless for the duration of the control. A living glacier costs 300 lb to place, and there can only be one of them for every 500ft. of radius of the zone.

• Mirror Ice: This is basically like a regular sheet of ice, except it refracts and bends light in amazing and interesting ways. Anybody standing on a sheet of mirror ice projects four mirror images. However, the image of anyone who stands on the ice is stored in the pole's memory; it stores the information to later make a clone of the creature, and anyone who can cast the spell can use the pole's memory as the piece of the creature required for the casting. The clone later created will be able to communicate telepathically with the geoccult pole, no matter where it is (even on other Planes). Mirror ice becomes inert and dull if removed from the geoccult zone. Mirror ice costs 400 lb to place a 5ft. patch.

City [Platinum]: City supernatural terrain features include bizarchitecture, power ribbons, and zeitgeists.

• Bizarchitecture: Sometimes you just have to have a pair of roads in the same place; that's where bizarchitecture comes in. Unlike a normal feature, bizarchitecture is applied to a group of features, hereafter referred to as a set. When designing the features for an area, up to two sets can be placed in the same location; a single set is designated the default set, and the other set is designated as the secondary set. Once the sets have been placed, the secondary set cannot be accessed or observed by any means except under conditions designated when the sets were originally created; these conditions can be restricted to any conditions that would be able to trigger a magic mouth spell. When the conditions for accessing a secondary set are met, any creature that meets the criteria treats the secondary set as if it were the default set, and vice-versa. Creatures who are inside a set of features always treat that set as the default set, regardless of whether or not they still meet the conditions. This means that, for example, if a pair of buildings are in different sets and are in the same location, creatures in one building cannot interact with or observe creatures or objects in the other building by any means. A true seeing effect allows simultaneous observation of both sets of features, but the observer can still only interact with the set that is currently real for them. Creating bizarchitecture multiplies the cost of each component feature for a set by 10.

• Power Ribbons: Power ribbons carry puissance inside of a biome; this allows for an even spread of ebbs throughout the biome's features. A single gramaric component or heuristical citcuit can be attached to a given end of a power ribbon. Thereafter, every heuristical circuit that contains a section of that power ribbon is treated as if it were overlapping every other heuristic net that the power ribbon runs through. Power ribbon costs 100 lb for every 50ft. extent.

• Zeitgeists: A zeitgeist is a spirit that instinctively derives demographic information from a biome. More simply, a zeitgeist is an exotic intelligence whose heuristical bubble includes only the pole of the biome, but whose telepathy covers the entirety of the biome zone. In addition, its Mindsight allows it to automatically know the age, race, gender, and legal and marital status of every creature that it can sense. If a zeitgeist is present in the pole, a bizarchitectural set's condition in order to be accessed can make use any information which the zeitgeist is able to automatically derive. A zeitgeist cannot be fooled with conventional methods, but a misdirection effect causes the zeitgeist to read the demographic information of the misdirected proxy instead. A zeitgeist costs only 100 lb to create, but multiplies the rate at which the pole consumes itself every day by 10.

Desert [Iron]: Desert supernatural terrain features include brassbrush, firesand, and mirage oases.

• Brassbrush: This is living brass which grows from the ground. It can be harvested as brass, but more importantly as it grows it reproduces gramaric modifications, and it counts as copper for all gramaric purposes; it does not count as metal for any other purpose. That is, it's plant matter which you can prepare gramaric principles on as if it were copper. Any gramaric principle which is prepared on the brassbrush remains stored in the plant. If it is cut and regrows, it regrows with the principle prepared on it. This includes all sorts of things, including ELDK principles, ALCH principles, and even further GEOC principles. Brassbrush retains its metallic memory outside of the zone, but it only grows in hot, dry, desert conditions. If it regrows in the pole's zone, this costs new metal like normal. However, if it's taken outside it takes a week to grow to its full size, but requires no input aside from nutrients. Brassbrush costs 500 lb for a single 5ft. patch, and a single 5ft. patch of it itself weighs 25 lb.

• Firesand: Firesand is exactly like regular sand, except that it burns on contact with water. This makes the rare rainfalls in the desert quite spectacular, but more importantly it's very useful for gramarie. One tablespoon of firesand when mixed with sufficient water will produce flame even hotter than phlogiston (2000 degrees Centigrade) for five minutes before burning out. It also produces 50 cubic feet of superheated dry steam at 500 degrees Centigrade from this reaction. Firesand costs 250 lb for a single 5ft. patch.

• Mirage Oases: A mirage oasis is somewhere between a trick of the light and a true illusion. It's a part of the terrain of the desert where the particular combination of arcane resonance and heat patterns create some a very convincing illusion. Any IMCH illusion which is placed in this illusion finds that a visual component creates itself to fit the illusion perfectly, no matter what the rest of the illusion does. This essentially means that it's impossible for the visual component to cause a sensory mismatch. Thanks to the connection to the pole's knowledge of the area, the mirage uses this knowledge to create as convincing an illusion as possible, making fundamental disconnects based on sight almost impossible to occur as well. A mirage oasis is actually a very pleasant locale beneath the illusion, and is always both fertile and a pleasant climate no matter what weather condition is going on in the rest of the desert. A mirage oasis costs 200 lb for a single 5ft. square.

Forest [Copper]: Forest supernatural terrain features include ancient oaks, heartwood, and nymph pools.

• Ancient Oaks: Ancient oaks are semi-intelligent trees which can read the memory of the ground beneath them. You can communicate with them through the pole telepathically, and they can answer any question about the land or the history of it back several hundred years (treat it as having a +20 modifier for all Knowledge checks related to its field of expertise). An ancient oak is also a sentinel (it has the same senses as a treant) and alerts the pole when anything unusual happens in the geoccult zone. Ancient oaks are otherwise not intelligent; they serve their puspose, but nothing more. They are merely spirits of history that have a mandate to protect their forest. An ancient oak costs 500 lb, and is otherwise the same as a massive tree. It needs to grow for a month before it can communicate with the pole.

• Heartwood: Heartwood is a living deciduous wood which has intriguing properties when it comes to gramarie. It can be directed to grow in any shape that the pole dictates, as if with wood shape, except that much finer detail than normal is possible. Anyone directing the pole or making logical decisions for it can use their own Craft ranks to form the heartwood into the shape of something that requires a Craft check. Heartwood physically works like darkwood but also has the interesting property of connection. If a heartwood tree is taken from a geoccult zone and planted in another geoccult zone where it can grow, the two poles can communicate telepathically with each other. Someone controlling one pole can also impose their will over the other; if this is resisted by someone controlling the second, resolve it as an opposed Will save. The victor can make logical decisions for the other pole (and, if it's connected to one, its circuit) for the following round. Heartwood otherwise works like a light tree, and costs 400 lb to place. The second pole takes over the upkeep on it if a tree of it is planted in its zone.

• Nymph Pools: A nymph pool is a special place to the fae. It's one of the few mystical secluded places of nature left to them, and they treasure it. After a month undisturbed, a nymph pool attracts a nymph who acts as an emissary between the one who controls the zone and her court. More tangibly, she can sanction a faerie wish once a month as long as the pool is undisturbed (although subject to the standard sidhe word games). A nymph pool is a standing body of water that must be at least 100ft. away from all other bodies of water, trails, and paths. If anyone comes within 100ft. of it except for the one who controls the geoccult pole, the nymph flees from them. A nymph pool costs only 100 lb, but the water in it needs to be replaced daily at a cost of 50 lb per day to maintain its purity.

Grasslands [Tin]: Grasslands supernatural terrain features include ghostgrass, lightning pools, and standing stones.

• Ghostgrass: Ghostgrass is prized mostly for its ability to interact with the incorporeal. It is tangible to both the Material Plane and the Ethereal Plane, and is often used to send signals back and forth between them. Anyone who eats ghostgrass straight from the ground becomes incorporeal for the following five minutes. This has been exploited to great effect in the past to lead spectral charges against fortifications. Ghostgrass grown outside of the zone loses this special property, but still interacts with both material and incorporeal creatures. Ghostgrass costs 250 lb per 5ft. patch, and is otherwise like normal grass.

• Lightning Pools: Lightning pools are perhaps some of the most interesting terrain features available. These work like batteries for puissance, but with a key difference. A single 5ft. pool can store up to 100 ebbs, but if the water is taken from the pool then the communal store of puissance can be accessed by tying the water sample into a circuit. Each pool can potentially split into 100 separate reservoirs of water, each of which can access the shared bank of puissance and make deposits or withdrawals. Lightning pools charged with puissance hold an arcane potential, and crackle the occasional static discharge, which is what led to their fanciful name. If the lightning water is diluted with other fluids later on, the effect is lost, but the bank of puissance is not adversely affected unless all of the lightning water is destroyed like this. A single lightning pool costs 5,000 lb and does not replenish itself until all of the water has been drawn from it and destroyed. The geoccult pole can also be used as a way to tap into the bank of puissance stored in a pool.

• Standing Stones: This is a mysterious set of standing stones arranged in a circle, which are commonly used to chart astronomical events. Any kind of predictions, divinations, foretellings, prophecies, or fortune telling effects all gain a +2 bonus to their caster level for being made inside of a set of standing stones. Standing stones also offer refuge from the ravages of the outside world. Creatures within the citcle find that transient effects on them, such as spells with set durations, do not wane as long as they remain in the circle. For good or ill, time spent in the circle of standing stones is apart from outside of them, and does not count against the duration of any transient effect (up to a maximum of five transient effects on any given creature inside of the circle). A set of standing stones takes up a 20ft. radius circle and costs 800 lb of metal to erect.

Ocean [Silver]: Ocean supernatural terrain features include krakenhaunts, truewater crevices, and prismatic reefs.

• Krakenhaunts: Krakenhaunts are whirlpools on the surface of the ocean which draw guardians from the deep to protect the zone. As a standard action, puissance can be channelled through the geoccult pole into the krakenhaunt to conjure up a guardian as if with a summon nature's ally effect, but only for saltwater aquatic animals. This costs a number of ebbs of puissance equal to 1 + the spell level being imitated. The caster level (and thus duration) of the effect is equal to half the Survival check of the pole. The conjured guardian is under the control of whoever is making logical decisions for the geoccult pole. A krakenhaunt costs 500 lb, and though it otherwise is a dramatic piece of the ocean, it has no effect on swimmers.

• Truewater Crevices: This crevice must be placed on the ocean floor, a full four miles down. It is a portal to any other ocean on another Plane, and the exact location is set when it is placed with the pole. Once opened, the portal cannot truly be shut again, only blocked off or sealed with mundane means. The portal can be any size so long as it is at an appropriate depth. A truewater crevice costs 1,000 lb per 5ft. square of the portal.

• Prismatic Reefs: A prismatic reef is a coral structure found built up from the ocean floor, even above the sea level.. It has the intriguing property that it can be grown in specific shapes (as if with a stone shape effect), and it absorbs pigmentation in a unique way. As long as it is still alive (hasn't been cut), if a kaleidomantic filter touches it, the entire reef assumes the colour and properties of the filter, as if it were just a very complicated 3D structure built out of the filter and fixed in space. If the filter is later removed, the reef returns to its normal solid state. Prismatic reef costs 250 lb for every 125 cubic feet of it, and it must be affixed on the ocean floor. It cannot grow more than 30ft. above the free surface.

Swamp [Lead]: Swamp supernatural terrain features include black lagoons, haunted bogs, and ignes fatui.

• Black Lagoons: A black lagoon is a frightening locale filled wih spooky voodoo power. Necromancy spells cast from a black lagoon add +2 to their caster level and DC in a black lagoon, and it's also inextricably linked to the haunted bogs feature. Anyone who dies while in a black lagoon has their soul stolen as if with trap the soul and stored in the geoccult pole. A black lagoon costs 500 lb per 5ft. patch.

• Haunted Bogs: Souls which have been stolen in a black lagoon find use in a haunted bog. These are basically factories which transform souls into one of several forms. Souls can be transferred into a haunted bog from the geoccult pole as a logical decision, and then the bog can be directed how to use them. It takes two hours to process a soul, and a single patch of bog can only be working on one of them at a time. A soul can be transformed into 10 ebbs of puissance to be put into a circuit, a tablespoon of anitu dust (a drug popular among fiends), 100 XP for an Exotic Intelligence controlling the circuit (although it can't gain XP from creatures with an ECL more than 10 below its own) or for use in crafting, or, interestingly, memories: all of the knowledge and memories the soul had accumulated in its life is transferred to the geoccult pole, where it can be accessed later. Whatever use the soul is put to, it's utterly destroyed. Whatever was left of the creature becomes a wraith, which haunts the haunted bog. Haunted bogs cost 250 lb per 5ft. patch.

• Ignes Fatui: Ignes fatui, or wil 'o' the wisps, are a common sight in swamps meant to lead astray the unwary. When you place an ignus fatuum in the zone, it is visible from anywhere in the zone, no matter where you are, glowing faintly and dancing to an unheard tune. Normal measurements and directions don't work out correctly within 500ft. of the ignus. Any measurement or calculation made from a compass, map, astrolable, or other such instrument is off by up somwhere between -50% and +50% of the true value. Particular instruments or objects can be made immune to this effect by linking them with the geoccult pole as a standard action. An ignus fatuum costs 400 lb of metal, and every time it falsifies a measurement it draws an additional 50 lb of fuel.

Wetlands [Mercury]: Wetlands supernatural terrain features include cryptid caverns, healing springs, and whisperreeds.

• Cryptid Caverns: These are an actual change to the geography of the lakebed, cutting out caverns below the surface of the water in the side of the shoreline. Things can hide in these caverns and never be discovered, no matter how closely people might look. The caverns are blocked as if by a nondetection effect and a screen to resemble the regular lakebed wall (both effects have a caster level equal to half the Survival check, and a save DC of 10 + 5 per GEOC principle you know). However, things in the caverns can still communicate normally to the pole. Cryptid caverns cost 300 lb for every 5ft. square to be cut out and blocked. The exact image of the screen can be changed as a logical decision through the pole.

• Healing Springs: Healing springs are basically just what they sound like. This is a fountain of healing water that perpetually flows up through the lake in a particular spot. Water taken from the fountain cures any disease, including magical diseases. They also heal 2d8 hit points and restore 2d6 points of ability damage. If someone drinks it while suffering from a negative level (but before making the saving throw to turn it permanent), the negative level is removed. Healing spring water taken outside of the geoccult zone transmutes into mud. A single healing spring costs 1,000 lb, and needs to be replenished every day.

• Whisperreeds: Whisperreeds are just like normal cat-tail reeds, except that they transmit sound across huge distances. When two whisperreeds are cut from the same stalk (after it grows back the following day, obviously) any sound or vibration which affects one of them will instantaneously affect the other, as well. This allows the transmission of area effects that deal only sonic damage; if one reed is inside of the area, the effect spreads out from the second reed as if it were the originator of the effect. Sonic damage can only be channeled once like this before it degrades to harmlessness. This is a form of quantum entangling, and thus is not limited by the speed of light. Multiple reeds cut work in the same way, transmitting an equal amount of sound from all of them. However, the total sound level is distributed between all of the extra receptors, dividing it up accordingly. For example, one reed being used to talk to three others would have its transmitted sound level reduced to one third of its original intensity. Whisperreed costs 200 lb per 5ft. patch, and otherwise works like normal cat-tail reeds.