TEXT: Lords of Gossamer & Shadow 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  by Matt Banach
  
   
   
   
  Rite Publishing Presents: 
   
  Gossamer Worlds:
  Gossamer Worlds:
  Gossamer Worlds:
  Gossamer Worlds:    
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire 
      
  Explorer
  Explorer
  Explorer
  Explorer (Author): Matt Banach 
  Seeker
  Seeker
  Seeker
  Seeker    (Editor): Steven D. Russell 
  Searcher
  Searcher
  Searcher
  Searcher (Cover Artist): Vincent Ptitvinc 
  Trailbl
  Trailbl
  Trailbl
  Trailblaaaazzzzer
  er
  er
  er    (Interior Artist): Vincent Ptitvinc,  
  Tobias R. Gazze, Thanathorn Yantaporn,  
  Henry Toogood, Richard Zommer 
  Pioneer
  Pioneer
  Pioneer
  Pioneer (Trade Dress): James “Devin Knight” Hazelett  
  Lost Boy
  Lost Boy
  Lost Boy
  Lost Boy (Layout and Publisher): Steven D. Russell 
   
   
  Special Thanks to Jason Durall for his help in developing this.  
   
   
  Based on Lords of Gossamer & Shadow by Jason Durall 
   
   
   
  Gossamer Worlds: Ossuary Empire Copyright © 2014 Steven D. Russell All rights reserved. Lords of Gossamer and Shadow Copyright © 2012-2013 Steven D. Russell All rights 
  reserved. Erick Wujcik’s Diceless Role-Playing and associated marks and logos are trademarks of Diceless by Design Publishing, LLC, and are used under license.  
  See http://Rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=1447 for more information on Erick Wujcik’s Diceless Role-Playing. Some images are are licensed under 
  a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/ 
  
   
   
   
  1 
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire 
   
   
  “The 
  broken 
  hallway 
  twisted 
  through the darkness like a shattered 
  bone set badly. The dirty concrete of the 
  Stair before had faded into memory with 
  the shadows, replaced in this expanse 
  with lush burgundy carpets and walls of 
  pale, dry limestone, which gave a sense 
  of ancient luxury and eternal power. 
  Flickering candles set in brass alcoves 
  illuminated the hallway, leading to a 
  smooth, clean stretch with one wall 
  higher 
  than 
  the 
  other. 
  The 
  Door 
  thereupon 
  was 
  made 
  of 
  ruddy 
  sandalwood, inlaid with gold and ivory 
  in an intricate pattern, which made me 
  think of dying in the desert. It was 
  beautiful, 
  but 
  hardly 
  welcoming. 
  Recalling what lay beyond, I clutched 
  my reliquary and hoped the beast might 
  still be sleeping. - Yaeger's Travelogue 
   
  Descript
  Descript
  Descript
  Description
  ion
  ion
  ion    
   
  'The Ossuary Empire' is a rough but 
  apt translation of Sahr Astudan, which 
  means more literally 'the kingdom of the 
  places where the bones of the dead are 
  kept' in this realm's native tongue, which 
  is akin to the ancient Persian dialects of 
  other Earth-like gossamer worlds. It is a 
  land of winding caravans and ancient 
  monuments, its cities of sun-bleached 
  stone holding beggar-prince thieves, 
  mysterious merchants, and auspicious 
  kings. Here, the gods are dead, but their 
  bones remain the ultimate power. 
   
  As usual, to understand what is now, 
  it is essential to understand what came 
  before. This realm was once ruled by a 
  pantheon of powerful beings called the 
  dîv. The dîv were paragons of the Eidolon 
  – their forms perfect, their ability to 
  impose order supreme – but they became 
  an example of what can happen when the 
  Eidolon overtakes a reality, crystalizing 
  power perhaps a little bit too much. Since 
  the dawn of their time, the power-hungry 
  dîv conquered all, consumed all, and 
  became the source of all, concentrating 
  mystical energy in themselves – in their 
  very bodies – to such a degree that magic 
  drained and faded from the mortal world 
  entirely. With the rest of the realm 
  starving 
  for 
  power, 
  the 
  miserly, 
  controlling dîv dispensed their embarr-
  assment of riches in exchange for 
  exorbitant obeisances – granting wishes 
  like genies, bestowing miracles upon the 
  faithful, and threatening humanity with 
  plagues and doom whenever they got 
  cross. There was order, sure, but that 
  didn't make it right. 
   
  Then, suddenly, it all went sideways. 
  The dîv turned on each other, their 
  ancient rivalries and petty bickering 
  suddenly 
  transformed 
  into 
  lethal 
  vendettas. 
  The 
  precipitating 
  event 
  might've been many things: a tricksy 
  Umbra-inspired 
  usurper-figure 
  with 
  daddy issues, a final critical failure of 
  mortal faith, or the radically disruptive 
  revelation of the Grand Stair to an 
  established cosmology... the theories are 
  many, but the result is the same. The dîv 
  fell into an unrelenting civil war, and in 
  
   
   
   
  2 
  so doing slaughtered each other to the 
  very last. 
    
  The 
  War 
  of 
  Deicide 
  raged 
  for 
  centuries, claiming the lives of millions of 
  mortals and hundreds of immortals. 
  Pawn armies clashed on the terrestrial 
  battlefield while divine duels spilt holy 
  blood from the heavens. The pantheon 
  shrank and those dîv who had survived 
  the initial hostilities grew desperate, 
  wielding 
  forbidden 
  artifacts 
  and 
  unleashing 
  long-imprisoned 
  demons. 
  The most desperate dîv discovered (or 
  perhaps remembered) the curiosity of the 
  Grand Stair and sought reinforcements 
  from beyond their Gossamer World, 
  hiring contract killers from distant 
  realms and equipping their armies with 
  whatever otherworldly weapons could be 
  smuggled in through the Doors. The war 
  escalated as caliphs fell under the 
  plasma-knives of cybernetic assassins 
  and 
  scimitar-wielding 
  dervishes 
  got 
  mowed down by foot-soldiers with AK-
  47s. More dîv perished, and the pantheon 
  dwindled. In the end, at the culmination 
  and ultimate tipping point of it all, the 
  final two dîv – a pair of feuding brothers, 
  one light, one dark – met in the great 
  eastern desert. The two did battle for a 
  year and a day, cracking open mountains 
  and boiling the clouds, fighting over who 
  would rule the world and form a new 
  pantheon for the age to come. 
   
  Then somebody nuked 'em.  
   
  We don't know who detonated the 
  neutron bomb, or who smuggled it in, or 
  which Gossamer World it came from. It 
  might've been one of the dîv resolving to 
  end the war via fratricide-suicide, one of 
  their foolhardy lieutenants grasping for 
  an ace in the hole, or perhaps a cadre of 
  mortals saw their best chance for 
  freedom and took it. The point is, the dîv 
  are dead – every last one. 
   
  The final death knell of the dîv, 
  referred to as 'the Blinding Sunset', did 
  many things, but one thing it didn't do 
  was release magic back into the world. 
  Turns out the dîv were such gluttons for 
  power that, even in death, their stubborn, 
  selfish bodies refused to give up the 
  energy crystalized within their bones. 
  However, just because that energy could 
  no longer be transferred didn't mean that 
  it couldn't be used. Priests and zealots 
  weeping over their fallen deities sensed 
  the power locked within the gigantic 
  corpses and noted they could still 
  perform minor miracles whilst in contact 
  with the remains of the dîv's corporeal 
  form. Now that the gods were dead, 
  their bones were the ultimate power. 
  This revelation triggered a morbid yet 
  undeniably pragmatic frenzy of deific 
  disinterment and grave-robbing. If that 
  seems base or barbaric to you, let me put 
  it this way: imagine a technologically 
  well-to-do world full of computers and 
  electric light plunged into blackout, then 
  consider the astronomical value of the 
  last fully-charged batteries left on the 
  planet. Such is as it was and as it is now 
  in Sahr Astudan, a land now defined by 
  the ossified power of dîvnbone. 
   
  Dîvnbone has many properties that 
  make it supremely useful and infinitely  
  
   
   
   
  3 
   
  
   
   
   
  4 
  valuable. Steeped in the static perfection 
  of the Eidolon, dîvnbone artifacts resist 
  change, 
  remaining 
  unsusceptible 
  to 
  “editing” by the Eidolon and immune to 
  the corruption of the Umbra.  
  Weapons made from it tend to be 
  simply formed – clubs, spears, swords, 
  knives, and stakes – because shaping the 
  stuff is insanely difficult, requiring 
  dîvnbone tools as well as a fair amount of 
  dark 
  mystic 
  know-how. 
  Physically, 
  dîvnbone is harder than diamonds and 
  sharper than steel. In terms of magical 
  energy, it acts like a mystic battery, not 
  only storing the energy it absorbed when 
  the dîv were alive but also continually 
  sucking in ambient mystical mojo. This 
  draining effect perpetually replenishes 
  the dîvnbone as it is used, but also gives 
  objects crafted from it the potential to act 
  as foils to magical effects – dîvnbone 
  weapons can pierce magical protections, 
  dîvnbone shields can resist sorcerous 
  blasts, and dîvnbone helms can block 
  psychic attacks (in addition to looking 
  totally badass).  
   
  Drawing mystic energy out of stingy, 
  thirsty dîvnbone for use in spells or 
  whatnot usually requires the possessor of 
  an artifact to 'warm it up' in a ritual 
  process which varies from item to item 
  depending on the dîv from whence it 
  came; submerging it in the waters of an 
  oasis, basking it in noonday sunlight, or 
  coating it in blood fresh from a kill – that 
  kind of thing. Even dead, the dîv are 
  finicky and demand tribute, which is 
  more than a little creepy. 
   
  To say that dîvnbone is sought-after 
  in the Ossuary Empire is a woeful  
  D
  D
  D
  Dîvnbone Artifacts
  îvnbone Artifacts
  îvnbone Artifacts
  îvnbone Artifacts    
   
  Dîvnbone artifacts have the following 
  qualities:  
  • Mold Gossamer Reality [4 Points] 
  (Enables use of magical Powers 
  within the Ossuary Empire when 
  ritually appeased; drains and absorbs 
  magical energy) 
  • Capable of Hanging a Spell [1 Point] 
  -and- 
  • Deadly Damage [4 Points] (if a 
  weapon) 
  -or- 
  • Invulnerable 
  to 
  Conventional 
  Weapons [4 Points] (if shield or 
  armor) 
   
   
  understatement. 
  Holding 
  even 
  the 
  smallest dîvnbone weapon or reliquary is 
  enough to become a target for warlords, 
  thieves, or assassins, all of which are 
  plentiful in Sahr Astudan. While the 
  black market for artifacts, weapons, and 
  reliquaries remains robust, powerful 
  sorts tend to hoard the stuff, creating a 
  new class of overlords seeking to fashion 
  themselves the new demi-gods. 
   
  The Ossuary Empire runs on classical 
  and medieval technology – aqueducts 
  and alchemy, wagons and windmills – 
  but aberrantly advanced gizmos pop up 
  here and there. The War of Deicide ended 
  with the Blinding Sunset a hundred years 
  ago, ceasing the haphazard importation 
  of extra-dimensional weaponry via the 
  Grand Stair. Most items have long since 
  crumbled into useless disrepair, but the 
  
   
   
   
  5 
  more durable goods persist, reminding us 
  that this is a reality forever tainted by 
  overexposure to the worlds beyond – 
  tribal warriors brandish weathered rifles, 
  palace guards cling to extant suits of bio-
  armor, and the Diamond Padishah makes 
  a regular show of touring his empire in 
  an immaculately-maintained post-fusion 
  ornithopter. While widely acknowledged 
  as expedient by the militant elite, the 
  continued use of these foreign devices is 
  taboo to most Astudani, who (rightly) 
  blame these alien influences for the 
  eradication 
  of 
  their 
  gods 
  and 
  the 
  ruination of their world.   
   
  'Post-apocalyptic' is an apt term for 
  the Ossuary Empire overall, though said 
  ruination is extensive in some places and 
  more mitigated in others. While there are 
  plenty of different types of terrain across 
  this otherwise Earth-like world – sandy 
  deserts, 
  craggy 
  mountains, 
  grassy 
  steppes – most environs tend to be harsh 
  and arid on account of the ecological 
  damage and permanent climate changes 
  brought on by the War of Deicide. 
  Though the war has been over for a 
  hundred years, nature still hasn't fully 
  recovered 
  and 
  areas 
  once 
  thought 
  temperate suffer punishing droughts, 
  epic dust storms, and sudden snap-
  freezes. Even the distant seas are in 
  turmoil, over-salinated from the tears of 
  the dîv and risen high above historical 
  levels due to the melting of the polar ice 
  caps. The realms' beautiful coastal cities 
  simply don't exist anymore, eradicated by 
  storms, flooding, and constant tidal 
  waves, leaving only the high inland 
  expanses for mankind to tread. 
   
   
  Diamond Padisha 
   
   
  Typical Deniz
  Typical Deniz
  Typical Deniz
  Typical Denizens
  ens
  ens
  ens    
   
  Humans 
  populate 
  the 
  Ossuary 
  Empire in the typical vast variety, 
  running the gamut from simple nomadic 
  herdsmen and common street-beggars to 
  extravagant 
  sultans 
  and 
  worldly 
  merchant-kings. Now, I'll be honest, the 
  last time I visited this realm my focus 
  was less on demographics and more on 
  not getting shivved in the neck with a 
  pointy deific metacarpal, so please 
  forgive my coarse understanding of these 
  fine people. 
   
  The “city folk” of Sahr Astudan 
  congregate in the remaining great urban 
  centers, drawn to the rekindled fires of 
  the grand bazaars which maintain the 
  hope that civilization in this punished 
  land is not lost. Trading goods out in the 
  bandit-riddled countryside is dangerous, 
  so farmers and craftsmen depend on 
  
   
   
   
  6 
  these sprawling marketplaces (packed 
  with guards and thief-takers) to vend 
  their goods – everything from goats-meat 
  kabobs to war-elephants, and even hand-
  made bullets for strange guns that aren't 
  even supposed to exist in this world. The 
  bazaars are noisy, smelly, and chaotic, 
  not to mention lousy with beggars, 
  pickpockets, and cut-purses, but there's 
  no better symbol of the vibrancy and 
  tenacity of human existence. At least, I 
  thought so the last time I had to chase a 
  street urchin across the rooftops to 
  retrieve my pilfered sidearm. 
   
  “Desert folk” as I use the term applies 
  to anyone living in the hardscrabble 
  wilds of Sahr Astudan, though the 
  terrains vary far beyond mere dunes of 
  sand. There are the proud horse-lords of 
  the Sizdah Steppe, whose favorite sport is 
  a mix of polo and rugby, using the 
  severed head of an outlander for a ball. 
  There are the secretive mountain tribes, 
  generous with their hospitality (and 
  potent psyche-expanding drugs) if you 
  can ever enter their nigh-impenetrable 
  highland strongholds. Most notable are 
  the enigmatic desert striders, prophetic 
  nomads galvanized by their belief that 
  the murder-suicide of the dîv was their 
  final blessing to mankind, their chosen 
  successors – and any beings threatening 
  to eclipse humanity ever again must be 
  eradicated accordingly. 
   
   
  Th
  Th
  Th
  Threats
  reats
  reats
  reats    
   
  The Diamond Padishah rules the 
  Ossuary Empire from the ancient throne-
  city of Parsa, commanding the obedience 
  and loyalty of millions of citizens spread 
  across thousands of leagues of the 
  remaining civilized world. The story goes 
  that he began as a minor noble and 
  alchemist but was the first to snatch up 
  dîvnbone in large quantities, gaining a 
  staggering advantage in power before the 
  rest of the world caught on.  
   
  Decked out from head to toe in a full 
  suit of glittering dîvnbone armor and 
  equipped with an impressive arsenal of 
  weapons 
  (both 
  dîvnbone 
  and 
  otherworldly ordnance from War of 
  Deicide), the Padishah is without a doubt 
  the most powerful single person on the 
  planet. He typically cloisters himself 
  behind 
  legions 
  of 
  guards, 
  but 
  occasionally demonstrates his power with 
  public stunts like pulverizing stone 
  pillars with his fists or conjuring fire-
  cyclones out of thin air.  
   
  He's not terrible, as far as super-
  powered dictators go, considering that he 
  has brought civilization back from the 
  brink of total collapse; but he's shrewd, 
  suspicious, and dangerously unforgiving 
  when it comes to anything threatening 
  his grasp on power. If you must deal with 
  him, bring a gift, and make it good. 
   
  The hashashin – yup, the legendary 
  league of assassins – were deeply 
  enriched by the War of Deicide, gaining 
  vast wealth in blood money while 
  simultaneously augmenting their ancient 
  killing 
  arts 
  with 
  equipment 
  and 
  techniques brought in from strange 
  worlds beyond the Grand Stair.Hundreds 
  of extra-dimensional assassins  
  
   
   
   
  7 
   
   
  Shah-ghul the Emperor Worm 
   
  joined ranks with the local hashashin 
  over the wartime years as a cover for 
  their activities, and dozens of these 
  hardened killers remain on-world to this 
  day. These are the people you really have 
  to watch out for. The secret masters of 
  Alamut have an arrangement-of-sorts 
  with the Diamond Padishah, their best 
  customer: the Padishah hires assassins to 
  kill rival wielders of dîvnbone and 
  harvest their stuff; the assassins do so, 
  skimming dîvnbone relics from each haul 
  in addition to their steep fees; and both 
  parties smile and pretend they don't 
  know what the other is doing. This 
  arrangement is expedient at the present, 
  until the inevitable day when it isn't. 
  The Nephilim proclaim themselves 
  the 'children of the gods', though it isn't 
  true; if anything, they were pets. When 
  the dîv perished, these monsters slipped 
  their ancient bonds and gnawed at the 
  corpses of their former masters, seizing 
  the 
  power 
  they'd 
  always 
  coveted. 
  Nephilim aren't just users of dîvnbone, 
  they've bonded themselves with it, fusing 
  themselves with dîv skeletons or parts 
  thereof 
  in 
  gruesome 
  but 
  powerful 
  amalgamations. There's Shah-ghul the 
  Emperor Worm, an enormous serpentine 
  larva grafted into an entire spinal 
  column; Gug the Horned, a giant who 
  fancies itself some sort of genie; and 'the 
  Child', a bobble-headed psychic phenom 
  
   
   
   
  8 
   
   
  Gog The Horned 
   
  who's grown its dangerous brain to fill 
  a dîv skull twice its size. The Nephilim 
  are disorganized and usually pursue their 
  own monstrous agendas, but they all 
  blame extradimensional “poison” for the 
  destruction of their beloved masters and 
  harbor a deep hatred for off-worlders. 
  Aware of the existence of the Grand Stair 
  but unable to venture out upon it, several 
  Nephilim guard the known Doors to the 
  Ossuary Empire with the goal of keeping 
  outsiders 
  out 
  and 
  every 
  precious 
  fragment of dîvnbone in. 
   
  Setare is an ultra-potent cocktail of 
  exotic drugs and pulverized dîvnbone 
  which grants those who ingest it freakish 
  psychic powers, disturbing messianic 
  psychoses, and glowing white eyes that 
  glitter like stars. I might've seen such a  
  
   
   
   
  9 
   
   
  Parsa 
   
  thing, once upon a moonlit desert night, 
  but the nice big truck that hit me 
  suggested I'd be better off forgetting the 
  whole incident, and I'm inclined to agree.  
   
   
  Notable L
  Notable L
  Notable L
  Notable Locations
  ocations
  ocations
  ocations    
   
  Parsa is the capital city of Sahr 
  Astudan, a stone-hewn metropolis of 
  ancient beauty teetering on the verge of 
  either crumbling to sand or rising as a 
  beacon of civilization in a world pulling 
  itself back from the brink of apocalypse. 
  The Grand Bazaar of Parsa is, without a 
  doubt, the center of this world in terms of 
  trade, power, and secrets, ceaselessly 
  bustling in the long shadow of the 
  Padishah's palace, which dominates the 
  city skyline with its hundreds of minarets 
  and dozens of golden domes. The current 
  Door to the Ossuary Empire is hidden in 
  booby-trapped catacombs deep below the 
  city, opening from a small limestone 
  crypt into an immense cavern inhabited 
  by that smug bastard Gug the Horned. 
  Gug has taken to demanding a toll of one 
  life for every life he lets through – and 
  no, he doesn't accept animals any more... 
  sorry, I used that one and ruined it for 
  everybody. 
   
  Alamut Castle has been the mountain 
  fortress of the hashashin for a thousand 
  years and remains the most closely 
  guarded and staggeringly deadly enclave 
  in this entire world. The assassins' 
  headquarters is full of zealous initiates, 
  
   
   
   
  10 
  hardened killers, wizened masters, and 
  more than a few thinly veiled aliens. Off-
  world technology abounds there, as the 
  death-dealers supplement their training 
  in the usual knife-work and poisoning 
  with grenades and sniper rifles. While the 
  secret masters of the hashashin once 
  enjoyed the convenience of a Door 
  occurring within the confines of their 
  keep, a recent Gossamer Lord-related 
  debacle severed said connection, and 
  they're looking for someone to blame. 
   
  The Sea of Black Glass is a wasteland, 
  all that remains of the great eastern 
  desert after the neutron bomb of the 
  Blinding Sunset irradiated every oasis 
  and baked the sands into a mirror of 
  cracked obsidian. It looks desolate, but it 
  isn't. The desert striders step lightly 
  across its shattered surface, searching for 
  fragments of the last two dîv as they 
  chase a prophecy which portends the 
  ascension – and transformation – of all 
  mankind. 
   
   
  Final Thoughts 
  Final Thoughts 
  Final Thoughts 
  Final Thoughts     
   
  The 
  Ossuary 
  Empire 
  is 
  grand, 
  adventurous, and tantalizingly forbidden, 
  but I won't be going back there. The 
  entire realm smells like a tomb to me, no 
  matter strong the desert wind or how 
  thick the smoke of ruin, and the rasp of 
  its sand underfoot fills me with a dread 
  that I can feel in my bones. 
   
  ~ Yaeger Zane
      
      
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire
  Ossuary Empire    Domain Table
  Domain Table
  Domain Table
  Domain Table    
  Technology 
  Level: 
  Medieval / Other (leftover tech from the Wars of Deicide) 
  Magic 
  Level: 
  Magic is Rare (and requires dîvnbone, see Special) 
  Security: 
  Guarded [4 Points] (by the Nephilim) 
  Type: 
  Personal Domain [1 Point] (current owner: The Diamond Padishah) 
  Control: 
  Control of Contents [1 Point] 
  Influence 
  on the 
  Powers: 
  Eidolon – Weak  
  Umbra – Weak  
  Wrighting – Average 
  Special: 
  Supernatural power in this realm is highly concentrated in the remnants 
  of the dîv, and thoroughly depleted elsewhere. Effective use of any Power 
  requires possession of a dîvnbone weapon or reliquary. 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Amber/Lords Of Gossamer And Shadow/Gossamer Worlds/Ossuary Empire.pdf