"The Skin" refers to all of the exterior surface of the dead god. As part of the astral plane, it is a timeless place --- no natural healing, no aging, no poisoning/disease, no birth, etc. Magic works normally (not enhanced as in the rest of the astral plane). Gravity is towards the skin, but an act of will can fling you into the regular astral plane.
Total population: about 10,000 (including Face)
Size: about 13 miles from top of head to toe.
The exiles tend to follow whatever gods they did before they arrived. Clerics are relatively uncommon, except among Wakeners and Dark Wakeners. The Sworn are encouraged to worship the Ancient as a god. The dead of the Sworn are usually buried in crypts on the back of Armaz-Daka, perhaps to be raised later as undead to swell the Ancient's armies. The greater of the Sworn get raised if possible. Since they do not die of old age, the truly dead are the ones who perished far from the astral plane, whose bodies and souls are lost to the Ancient. Cremation is also popular, among those who do not wish to be revived as undead creatures. Others commission a dark cleric to raise them as undead after their deaths. There are few children and no births in the astral plane, so many of the functions of the clergy are lost.
This is the main city on the Skin. Technology/style is generally late medieval, western European, but very cosmopolitan. People end up in Face from all over the planes, from all sorts of races. People tend to be superficially tolerant. Due to the timeless nature of the Astral Plane, people don't need to worry about physical sustenance or aging. This means they tend to be patient, averse to risk-taking, and often lazy --- no need to take up a trade when you don't have to worry about mouths to feed, etc. However, many exiles are driven by a need for revenge, wealth, power, etc. The Ancient is not the only one with a plan to return triumphant to a home plane that rejected them.
In Face, everyone is hiding something.
In Face, everyone is plotting something.
Population: about 5000
Size: about two miles from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin.
This is the main keep, where the Sworn hang out, and the Ancient holds court. The Ancient's public library is in the Nose. Open for free to all the Sworn, for a fee to everyone else. A small army of scribes in here.
The only place on the Skin you can get decently drunk. It's really part of the border area, so it's not as timeless as the rest of the Skin. People who spend too much time in the tavern age noticeably faster.
A soft boundary between the Skin (which is part of the astral plane) and Akadazia (which is a demi-plane). You go into the mouth and enter a dark stone tunnel...which comes out as a hole in the ground on the other end.
The god's arm is outflung, the fingers pointing the way towards some invisible enlightenment...the monastery is built on the hand. The monks strive for self-perfection through discipline. It is a way to survive in this desolate, lonely environment.
Located in the genitals of the dead god. Ahem. People make fun of those who live there and call them by vulgar names, but rogues have no shame! They take it as a badge of honor. Astral pirates have a harbor in a hollowed-out once-divine testicle.
This is the back of the dead god (though "down" is still towards the body). This is used as a cemetary. Bodies are entombed here. There is an area for the slain warriors of the Ancient, and monuments, and so on. But it's been getting overrun with monsters and undead.
Copyright © December 2001, Celeste Chang --- Revised ---
December 2, 2001
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