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Mayas, the Terrible Grandfather of the Forest
The Abawi feel a close relationship to the "people of the forest", the orangutan man-apes, and hold them to be their spiritual cousins. They have a legend concerning their origin, it is a local variation of a tale told across several parts of Indonesia:
Once there was a family who lived in the middle of a great jungle. There were no floods or forest fires there, the animals were all living in harmony, and the people never had to starve because the forest provided fruits and vegetables aplenty. But then one day, the only son of the family, called Mayas, contracted the "good people's sickness" (local name for smallpox). His parents tried out many drugs from different shamans, but to no avail. In the end, they decided to send Mayas to the deepest part of the jungle. They intended his isolation in the forest as a wish that he would be healed. After some time, Mayas had learned to live alone in the jungle, and hair had slowly grown all over his body. He was no longer able to speak. One day he met a woman who was also isolated because of [smallpox] and had also grown a fine orange fur. Thus, the gods had destined Mayas and the girl to survive and multiply.
They gave birth to the first orang-utans, and later other types of monkeys and apes. Because the girl changed ever more, the longer she stayed in the jungle, all her children turned out a bit differently. She became more primal and animalistic over time, and so all the other apes are less intelligent and further removed from humans than the orang-utans. Mayas also changed. His disease was never cured, in fact it became worse, and the jungle gave him a number of new sicknesses on top of it. But his body transformed in reaction to the diseases, to become stronger in fighting them off. He became very large, and survived carrying the many plagues. He grew four more arms, to climb in the trees even better, and defend his wife and the children with. His teeth grew long and sharp from eating a lot of meat. One day, he found five dead crocodiles near a pond, and ate them all. Then he lost the fur on some places of his body, since his skin there had become like scales. He also developed a liking for sweet fruits and honey, and a taste for eating bees and ants.
There are numerous stories about his capers, exploits, and tribulations, such as the ones where he takes a liking to some new sort of food and gets into trouble (usually with humans, sometimes dangerous animals such as leopards or wild boars) over it. Other tales describe how one or another of his diseases got worse, and gave him a hole in his back, or made him go blind for some time.
To the Abawi, Mayas is a god and a cultural hero. They project much of themselves onto him by way of their myths. Perhaps it is this unconscious channeling of their dormant human divinity that has pulled the creature closer to the borderlands of Elysium.
The Abawi claim that Mayas would be enraged if he knew that his grandchildren (the orang-utans of Babingepa) are being tortured and killed for sport by the cruel adherents of the Vile Boar, or alternately, that he already knows and is indeed already enraged about it.
They are planning to do a great tribal ritual, an Invitation Dance to call the Terrible Ape God to the island.
(Or might they already have summoned him by the time the PCs arrive there?)
Encountering Mayas
The PCs might come face to face with the monstrous creature in several ways:
- when travelling the Gaia-infested part of the jungle, he might be freshly summoned there by the Abawi. He might attack them, or simply rummage around for food, or be seen conferring with orang-utans and/or Abawi tribesmen.
- when visiting the Abawi village, the PCs might witness their Invitation Dance ritual, and perhaps the subsequent arrival of Mayas to the village.
- when roaming the forest east of the mountains, Mayas (and the Abawi) might be heading for Harkness' wild boar cultists and cross the PCs' path.
- when fighting against (or captured by) natives of the Yori or Baluwa tribes, the monstrous ape god might indirectly come to their rescue as he attacks the Golab-worshippers seeking to enact revenge for the torment and killing of his grandchildren.
- the same also works if the PCs are captured by the sailor cultists, for example while they drag them off to their mountain stronghold.
- during a showdown fight in the City of Ruins or at the Mountain Temple of Babi Ngepet, the Terrible Grandfather Ape might suddenly appear, possibly with a dozen Abawi warriors in tow, to tip the scales of the conflict - possibly making a previously extremely foreseeable battle into a much more unpredictable affair. He might afford the PCs new opportunities (but also new challenges), for example by drawing attention away from them, smashing the prisoners' cages, destroying the sailors' weapon storage, scaring off (or killing) a critical cultist or three... or alternately by attacking the PCs, blocking their path, or destroying something important or valuable to them.
Appearance
Mayas looks like a shockingly large (easily upwards of 3m) ape with six arms, covered in patches of long fur and sickly-colored scales. He moves through the forest by climbing and swinging between the trees or hopping leaps on the ground. His gaping maw is studded with teeth that are longer and sharper than a normal ape's should be, and he has too many eyes that glitter darkly like those of a gigantic insect. Boils and pustules from unknown diseases can be seen dotting his flesh, and disgusting liquids seep from his orifices and encrust his fur.
Mayas
Home: Sweltering jungles and plague-riddled swamps in Gaia.
Creature Type: Unknown. Could be an Enwildened God, or a distorted human.
Attributes
Combat 4 [move between two range increments in swift leaps],
[attack multiple victims at once], [throw someone], [large and massive]
Influence 2 [consort with and command orang-utans],
[demand worship, sacrifices, and protection from the Abawi tribe]
Magic 1 [transfer a supernatural disease]
Abilities
Monstrous Form: PCs must Keep it Together upon first seeing the distorted
giant ape.
Huge: Cannot be thrown, pushed, knocked over, or grappled and held.
Multi-limbed: All combat actions against Mayas are at -1 to the roll. He can grab
and pick up up to two victims before he loses this abilty.
Thick fur and scales: His unholy anatomy grants him 1 armor.
Sharp senses: Very acute senses of smell and hearing. Any attempts at hiding
from or sneaking up on him are at -2 to the roll, unless other loud noises or
strong scents are around to distract him.
Attacks
(all at Distance: Room unless otherwise noted)
Pummel and smash [3] [any armor is reduced by -1 against this attack]
Grab and pick up [1] [victim is grabbed, must Act under Pressure to escape]
Throw [2] [must be grabbed first, Avoid Harm at -2 to the roll upon impact]
Bite [4] [must be grabbed first]
Transmit disease [*] [Distance: Field. Bellowing a single word, Mayas gives a name to one of his many diseases and thereby magically transmits it to someone he is touching or has touched earlier in this scene. Use one of the example diseases below or make up your own.]
Wound Rot: One of the victim's Serious Wounds is infected with a necrotic disease that rots away the flesh. This wound cannot be stabilized or naturally healed. In the future, any time the victim's immune system is weakened or strained (e.g. from getting another Wound, or failing a Fortitude roll against starvation, poison, disease, or intoxication, there is a 50% chance that the rot gets rapidly worse. Within the day, the victim gets another Serious Wound (equally incurable as the original one) and effectively loses all use of the affected limb or body area.
Haunting Fever: The victim starts running a high fever that brings terrible headaches, joint pains, and nerve-wracking hallucinations. Every morning the victim must roll +Willpower or +Fortitude, whichever is lower.
On (10-14) the GM takes 1 Hold, on (-9) it's 3 Hold. This can be used during the day to do one of the following:
- force the player to reroll the higher dice of a roll they just made.
- reduce the victim's Stability by -2.
Once the victim's Stability drops to Critical Stress from this, they turn into a constantly nervous wreck. Their Stability can not increase above Anxious (4) anymore, until the Haunting Fever is cured. This requires magical healing or otherworldly medicine, as no known cure exists in Elysium.
Wounds O O O O O O O O O X
Harm Moves
- The attack bounces harmlessly off his scaly hide.
- He bleeds a little but ignores the wound.
- Painful hit to the face [loses his Multi-limbed Ability for a few moments].
- Injured leg [he can now be pushed and knocked over].
- Injured arm [no immediate effects (he has enough arms to spare one or two), but if this is done to him thrice he loses his Multi-limbed Ability].
- His agonized howls attract a small gang of orang-utans that come to his aid.
- A large boil or pustule bursts open and sprays foul liquid at someone nearby [makes a Transmit disease attack].
- Deep bleeding wound, he tries to escape into the trees or flees between some large nearby rocks.
- The huge monstrous ape falls over and stops moving. Is it truly dead?
Strange Plant Life
Even while still firmly within the Illusion, the tropical rainforests of Indonesia are home to many plants that are deeply unfamiliar and sometimes disturbingly alien-looking to visitors from other climates. Some of them are hauntingly beautiful, others may look and smell disgusting to us. A quick google search or three will provide the enterprising GM with ample source material to draw on when describing the plant life on Babingepa. For example, this region is home to the world's tallest, biggest, and most colourful flowers - and that's only the ones we know about. Tens of thousands of plant species exist here that have never been catalogued yet. One of them is the Kaligera Flower.
The Kaligera Flower
This strange plant is originally native in the deep jungles of Gaia, but has spread to also occasionally grow in the tropical borderlands of Elysium. The PCs could randomly come across a patch of them growing in a valley or clearing (in or near the Gaia-infested patch of Babingepa), or they might happen to observe a small group of natives carrying off a severely injured tribe member to such a place. If they manage to follow them while staying hidden, they might witness the effects of the plant on the wounded warrior.
Or perhaps they see some Abawi gatherers picking some of the flowers and preparing them with great care and reverence - as if for a ritual offering or sacrifice... maybe the PCs might even become witnesses as the Abawi shaman offers them to Mayas himself. (Who gladly takes and ingests them, knowing they'll soothe his ailments at least temporarily)
Appearance
This alien plant is like nothing the player characters have seen before. Looking like a faintly purplish, semi-translucent mixture between a fern and an orchid of some kind, fine veins and capillaries are visible inside its soft, squishy stems and meaty leaves. The only part of the plant that isn't half transparent are the blossoms, vividly orange in color and branching into rounded tentacly ends that sway softly in a non-existent wind like a sea anemone. The flower exudes a sweetly enticing smell that is noticable from several meters away.
Use
Anyone who comes across this flower when it's in bloom can immediately attempt to See Through the Illusion. On a result of (15+), you clearly realize the plant's healing potential (and its drawbacks), to the degree that the GM might read you the options listed below (at least the in-fiction info, if not the mechanics). On (10-14), you get a vague but convincing sense that eating this plant will not be bad for you, or at least not entirely bad. On (-9), you still sense that there is no immediate danger from the strange flower, but you also behold disturbing visions from beyond the Veil, attract the attention of the island's dead souls, or might get noticed by something that lives deeper in Gaia... [The GM makes a move]
When you eat the blossom of a Kaligera flower in bloom, you may choose one of the options below:
- a gruesome injury scabs over and starts to close, unnaturally fast
[reduce a Critical Wound to a Serious Wound]. - your flesh knits itself together to mend a cut, stab wound or broken bone
[heal a Serious Wound, and stabilize any other Wounds you may have]. - it strenghtens and revitalizes your metabolism [cure an infection or disease].
- it purifies your bloodstream [cancel the effects of a poison or drug].
However, you must also roll +Willpower or +Soul (whichever is lower) to withstand the Influence of Gaia deteriorating your mind to a more primal state.
On (10-14), reduce one Attribute that is not Fortitude, Reflexes, Perception, or Violence, by -1.
On (-9), reduce two Attributes, but also regain 1 Stability.
"He who makes a beast of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man", indeed.
Live is, in its own way, truly much simpler when embracing - or embraced by - the primordial wilderness. At the very least it is devoid of many of the anxieties and fears that a more cultured or civilized mind must endure.
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Once again this has gotten rather long already, so another split is in order.
Read more about the exciting horrors that Gaia has to offer for your game of Island of the Dead in Part 3 of this series!
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