Entry in the SJ Business Challenge.
Feel free to use this resource as you wish, in fact I would appreciate notes on how you used it, what you modified, in what campaign, and how useful you thought it was. Of course I would request anyone asks permission before publishing this in any way.
Recently in the spheres, a new trading cartel has appeared. Much akin to the Arcane, they sell spelljamming helms, ships, weapons, and an assortment of other items. Known only as the Gerese, these traders are enormously obese, and do not actually talk to their customers themselves. Each Gerese trader moves through the spheres without any other member of their own kind, but instead travel with strange servants, who are almost akin in appearance to Thri-Kreen.
The Gerese themselves are roughly 20 feet tall, but actually stand at only 16 feet due to the bend in their back from their enormous weight. A typical Gerese will weigh 4,000 pounds. They are almost as wide as they are tall, and completely hairless. They wear next to no garments, only a large loincloth to cover their private parts.. No female Gerese have yet been encountered, and it s unknown why this is. They have relatively small heads for a body their size, but of course their large size is due to body fat, so if they were thin they would appear in proportion. They have very light colored eyebrows, and as stated previously, no hair whatsoever. They have tiny little eyes, usually black in color, though a few have seemed to have dark grayish eyes, and similar size ears. Their skin is pink, the same as any humans..
They do not speak, and only make a noise when a deal is concluded or is going either badly or very well (usually a grunt for satisfaction or very deep rumbling sound for dissatisfaction). It is unknown how, but they have a permanent mind link with their servants, whom seem to have no name at all. Most spacefarers simply call them slavebugs.
The slavebugs stand about six and a half feet tall. They are very similar in appearance to thri-kreen, but look much thinner, and have only two arms and two legs. Nor do they have any antennae, or rear section, looking much more like a humanoid bug. They have concealed wings, which allow them to move with relative quickness in battle de to balance. They are a light green color all over. Most slavebugs carry a strange polearm like weapon, with a large crescent blade on one end, and a spear head on the other. These are the only weapons they know how to use, seemingly, and those who do not have them either don't know how to fight, or are serving otherwise.
There are typically ten to thirty slavebugs serving a Gerese when it is encountered. If it is encountered outside its shop, it will only be when it is either going to it in the first place, or returning to its ship. At these times, the slavebugs form ranks around the Gerese (forming a protective circle of those with weapons) and make sure no one can get near it.
Gerese talk through business deals by somehow telepathically conversing with their slavebugs. Each Gerese seems to have two slavebugs, each with a large blue stripe across its head (from front to back), and these are the beings they speak through. The blue-streak'd slavebugs take 12 hour shifts speaking for their Lord, and one of them spends his off time wandering whatever area they may be in (this is usually the older one). From all observations, neither slavebugs nor Gerese need sleep, food, water, or even use of toilets. From the time a Gerese enters a building to just before he leaves, there are three to four slavebugs standing at each entrance of the building, fully on guard. They never seem to move, except to scan the crowd or area they are in, and that is only head movement.. Some speculate that they actually do sleep and can just awaken very quickly, but this does not seem so.
For these reasons it is speculated, and widely agreed upon, that the slavebugs are a created (or altered) race, set to a life of serving the Gerese. The slavebugs speak perfectly in all languages.
During a meeting, each Gerese has a wall of force surrounding it, and enough magical (or psionic) protection to stop al but demigods from reading/penetrating its mind. It stares impassively into space, seemingly, as it does not even acknowledge those there to trade with it, unless the deal starts going very badly (in which case it will basically growl), or an item of incredible interest to the Gerese cartel pops up (in which case the Gerese grunts). The slavebugs stand on the outside of the wall of force (although there are two standing behind the Gerese at all times, unnoticeable to anyone), four on guard, and the blue streaked one for talking. The blue streaked slavebug is the only one that seems to be like a normal spacefarer at all, and is very well educated at engaging people in conversations.
The blue-streak will not reveal any information about the Gerese, its own "race", or even its own name. It merely states that it speaks for the Gerese Lord behind it, his name, and that all Gerese Lord's represent the Gerese cartel. If the blue-streak ever says anything about the Gerese that those trading with it could use as information, it is only that items that are for sale but currently unavailable must be sent from "Mother". The question remains for non-Gerese as to what "Mother" refers to, but it could either be a ship, or a being. Suffice to say, "Mother" has never been seen by a non Gerese or slavebug.
Each Gerese is referred to as a Lord, with a name usually of two or three letters (i.e. Kai, Ui, Na etc.). They have no last name, and never reply as to why they are called "Lord" (or more to the point, blue-streak doesn't). They all appear to be the same, except for the occasional grey-eyed Gerese, leading to much mystery about their numbers. There have been about 20 different named Gerese as far as tavern tales and rumors go.
The one real oddity about Gerese, is that there is always a cat with them. it is either seeping near them, or cleaning itself, or eating (being fed by the slavebugs). This is just a normal cat, but it seems to be a lot smarter than the average feline. It seems to have an emotional bond with the Gerese, and loves them dearly. anyone stealing the cat is likely to be in trouble, as the cat is the only thing the Gerese will always pay attention to when needed. It is not unknown for a trading agreement to be interrupted by the cat meowing at the Gerese, and the Gerese rumbling back at it and smiling.
The stats for the Gerese, the slavebugs, and blue-streak are as follows.
Gerese, Lord
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any (wildspace)
FREQUENCY: rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary, but with slavebugs
ACTIVITY CYCLE: All*
DIET: none*
INTELLIGENCE: Genius (20)
TREASURE: none*
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 10
MOVEMENT: 2
HIT DICE: 15+20
THAC0: none*
NO. OF ATTACKS: none*
DAMAGE/ATTACK: none*
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Psionics/spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Psionics/Spells
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 100%
SIZE: H (20ft)
MORALE: special*
XP VALUE: 15,000
Description:Gerese are large, obese, humanoids. They are new traders to the spheres. They do not move (except to travel to and from their ships and shops), do not eat, do not talk, and do not sleep, as far as normal concerns go. They have no body hair, excepting lightly blonde eyebrows. They have tiny ears, and incredibly tiny eyes, which are usually black or a dark grey. Each Gerese is male, and wears only a loincloth. A Gerese is never seen wearing any jewelry or other clothes of any sort, regardless of heat, cold, or need. They have rather short, stubby arms, and the same can be said of their legs, hence their movement.
Combat: In combat, Gerese allow their slavebugs to attack. They have a permanent mental link with all slavebugs, and can give orders without any speech. They do not fight themselves, unless under extreme circumstances. Even their own death is not considered extreme enough. They can cast spells, at will, as level 15 wizards, with all casting times irrelevant, as they automatically attack at the start of each round. They also employ psionics as a level 15 psionicist, specialized in telepathy. A common tactic of Gerese is to slay all opponents when they must fight, as none must know their power "in the ring" so to speak.
Habitat/Society: Each Gerese is part of the Gerese cartel. In all, over 100 Gerese are part of the cartel. The cartel has regular meetings, but not all Gerese attend, as there is profit to be made at all times. The Meeting is held in a Gerese controlled sphere, well out of known spacelanes. This meeting is held every 20 years, and there are two thirds of the cartel present at all times. The absent third is rotated every year.
It is unknown by many why the Gerese have only just begun appearing in wildspace, but many attribute it to the upcoming Unhuman War etc. According to blue-streak slavebugs, the Gerese have been traders for over a thousand years. Specifically, the slavebug answers "we have been traders for over a thousand of your years". Reasons for the we are explained in the ecology section.
Gerese do not breathe, eat, drink, or sleep, when they are at their "posts". Instead, they live of the reserves of energy built up in their large bodies. They feed upon plant-like materials grown on their ships, while they are travelling. Gerese do not eat meat of any kind..
Ecology: The ecology of the Gerese is a strange one. For a start, that which is referred to as "Mother", is actually just that. All Gerese are, technically, brothers, though they do not se it as such, as Mother is the only one of her kind, and most of them have been around for a long time. Mother spawns 20 eggs a year, without any outside fertilization. These eggs are cared for by slavebugs, until they reach maturity. At this time, each egg bursts to reveal a miniature slavebug.
These children are reared by slavebug's, and join their ranks when reaching maturity. It is absolutely unknown by anyone but the Gerese and the slavebugs, but these are actually young Gerese. When a slavebug has served as a blue-streak for two hundred and fifty years, it is placed into a coma and sent back to mother. There is a strange ritual performed, and the slavebug cracks open, and a Gerese emerges. For three months it eats virtually nonstop, until it grows into a fully fledged Gerese, at which time it is given a name, its own ship, and 20 slavebugs to serve it.
Mother herself is the only female Gerese, and is atrociously huge and fat. She is well over 100 feet vertically, and 250 feet horizontally. She is utterly disgusting to look upon, but thankfully no one but a slave bug or fledgling Gerese has ever seen her. Mother stays in the same place at all times, back within the Gerese' home sphere. The asteroid and base which she occupies is also called Mother, as she has a permanent effect similar to spelljamming in place, and can move it where it is needed within the sphere. The only time this happens is when supplies need to be picked up (such as the immense amount of food which mother eats), or an incoming Gerese ship wishes to land (it waits at the edge of the sphere for Mother).
Gerese, Slavebug
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any (wildspace)
FREQUENCY: rare
ORGANIZATION: militaristic
ACTIVITY CYCLE: All*
DIET: none*
INTELLIGENCE: Average (12)
TREASURE: none*
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
NO. APPEARING: 10 to 30
ARMOR CLASS: -2
MOVEMENT: 18, Fl 24 (B)
HIT DICE: 10+10
THAC0: 10
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d8+2 (crescent blade) or 1d6+2 (spear end)
SPECIAL ATTACKS: none
SPECIAL DEFENSES: speed and agility
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
SIZE: M (6'6)
MORALE: 20 (fearless)
XP VALUE: 2,500
Description: A Slavebug stands six and a half feet tall, and is very similar in appearance to a thri-kreen. The difference is that it has two arms and two legs, no antennae, and no back section to its body (instead being exactly humanoid, but just insect like). They are very thin, and move fast when needed to (though they are usually moving in the company of a Gerese Lord and must move at the same pace as him). They have concealed wings upon their back (as does a Xixchil), and can use them to fly very quickly. They are also used in combat to provide balance.
Combat: In Combat, slavebugs use polearms, with a large crescent blade upon one end, and a spear head on the other. They never allow these weapons to leave them, and cannot actually drop them (as per a normal person on a natural 1). Strangely, neither can they be disarmed or have the weapons magically removed from them. They attack twice a round, and prefer to use the crescent end of their polearm. Every second round, they may make a free attack with the spear end of the polearm.
Slavebugs sport a 25% magic resistance, and move like lightning. They spread their wings in combat, and use them for an incredible balance. They receive a +4 reaction adjustment due to this, affecting appropriate saving throws, knockdowns (i.e. they get a bonus to not falling over), and weapon speed. The actually weapon speed of their polearm is 8, but is reduced to 4 for them. The weapons are very well crafted, and anyone defeating a slavebug would fetch a nice price for its polearm.
Habitat/Society: The slavebugs are the infant Gerese. They are born from Mother, the obese creature all of their race comes from. They mature within a year, and then serve as labor for the Gerese cartel. This may be as warriors, farmers, crafters, or general servants (Mother herself has 40 slavebugs of +5 hit dice serving her). When a blue-streak Slavebug (see below) is promoted/evolved to a Gerese Lord, a normal slavebug is upped to a blue-streak. This involves a psionic process performed by the Gerese Lord and the remaining blue-streak, which starts a small patch of blue dots growing on the slavebug's head. After a month the dots spread sufficiently to give the slavebug the appearance of a blue-streak, and its mind has been expanded enough to fully be such a being.
Ecology: Slavebugs do not eat, but actually draw power from the Gerese Lord they serve, through the same mental link that allows the being to command them. When a Gerese Lord is unavailable, they can eat any vegetable for sustenance. They do, however, breathe, though only requiring 1/4 the air of a human.
Gerese, Blue-Streak Slavebug
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any (wildspace)
FREQUENCY: rare
ORGANIZATION: subservient
ACTIVITY CYCLE: All*
DIET: none*
INTELLIGENCE: Average (16)
TREASURE: none*
ALIGNMENT: Neutral Good
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 2
MOVEMENT: 12, Fl 18 (C)
HIT DICE: 15+15
THAC0: 15
NO. OF ATTACKS: 2
DAMAGE/ATTACK: by spells
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Spells
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 65%
SIZE: M (6'2)
MORALE: 20 (fearless)
XP VALUE: 7,500
Description: Blue-streaks look roughly like a normal slavebug. They are about half a foot shorter, and slightly heavier in appearance, and with, of course, a blue streak going from the back of their head across the top of it to the front. They do not carry the polearm of their lesser brethren, but instead prefer more subtle methods.
Combat: Blue-streaks can cast spells as lv 10 mages. Unlike the Gerese Lord's, however, they must use spellbooks, have casting times, and do not use any form of psionics. If the DM wishes, he can actually roll 2d6 for a Blue-streaks level, if it might be applicable.
In combat, Blue-streaks prefer to use single target spells such as magic missile, shocking grasp, fire arrow etc. They do not use spells like fireball or ice storm much, as they must be careful not to hit their brethren, who are not used to the areas of spells and could easily be caught within them. Some (20%) blue-streaks carry magical staves, either of thunder and lightning, power, the magi, or striking. They may use any magical item a mage may, but do not typically carry any.
Blue-streaks can speak all the major space-faring languages, and have a ten percent chance base to know a non-major language, with a bonus of 10% for each additional sphere it is spoken in (i.e. if it is spoken in two spheres, 20%, 8 spheres, 80% etc). They may learn the basics of a language by just hearing it spoken for ten rounds. Then, with an hour of talking to someone fluent in the language, they may add the language to their repertoire.
They sport a higher magic resistance, more hit dice, and a greater intelligence than the normal slavebug. Their movement, ac, and thac0 are lower however. They may use any weapon if needed.
Habitat/Society: The blue-streaks are subservient to their Gerese Lord. They are, as are the normal slavebugs, telepathically linked to their Lord, and also have the bonus of knowing where he is at all times. They speak for their Lord, move among the other races for their Lord, and collect information for their Lord. There are always two slavebugs serving a Gerese lord. One of them will spend its "off" time walking the city or area it is in, while the other will either be in the stockroom or upon the ship. The blue-streak who socializes is a more "nice" slavebug, whereas the other is very abrupt and not very polite (it is the younger of the two, and has not learnt who to deal with people very well yet).
Once a blue-streak has served for 250 years, it is sent back to "Mother" to be reborn as a Gerese Lord. For a description of this, read the Gerese Lord entry above.
An interesting note for DM's is that on a few occasions, a blue-streak has not returned to "Mother" upon the completion of its servitude, but has instead gone "rogue". Such a blue-streak is not hunted down by the Gerese, as they know it will not reveal any information to the detriment of its own race. They are, however, incredibly disliked by the slavebugs, who will react badly to a rogue blue-streak. Another blue-streak with act in this way also, if it is the younger kind, but the older ones will react with some sort of understanding and tolerance. The younger blue-streak actually tends to hate the rogue for abandoning its servitude, while inwardly being very jealous. For this reason, the one or two times that a rogue blue-streak ahs approached a Gerese Lord for trade, the younger blue-streak servant has been removed and the older one called in to talk.
Rogue blue-streak do not have any of the telepathic links to their Gerese Lord, but are aware of his presence when he is within 2 kilometers. They feel no animosity towards their old master, and the feeling is mutual, but for some reason both tend to dislike each others company. They advance as mages, starting at the level they left their Lord, and may advance to 17th level (not including bonus's for high intelligence) in this lass. They may not be specialists. For NPC purposes, they have a base intelligence of 15, +1d4. All other stats may either be rolled or set, but if rolled receive a -2 to STR and CON, and +2 to DEX (max 20) and +1 to WIS (max 18). Their appearance may be strange, but they do not receive a penalty to charisma, as they are typically good-natured. They only have 30% magic resistance as well, as most of it is actually bestowed by the Gerese Lord.
Ecology: Blue-streaks typically feed from the telepathic link of their Gerese-Lord they serve. After their 175th year of servitude, however, they begin to eat for themselves, of the same vegetable matter that their Lord finds sustenance. The younger blue-streaks are the ones who grow this food, and elder's obtain this knowledge incase the younger blue-streak is unavailable. They can also broaden their palette to try alien foods (useful for alien customs that need to be observed), but get incredibly drunk upon even the slightest drop of alcohol, and still do not eat meat etc. The few times a blue-streak has got drunk have turned into incredibly hilarious scenes, and DM's are encouraged to use it as an "ice-breaker" if need be.
Rogue blue-streaks can eat whatever they want, as long as it is basically vegetable based. No meat or eggs are acceptable, and alcohol is probably not a good idea (even a waft of it will get a blue-streak slightly giddy).
Blue-streaks do not breathe at all, instead having the lungs replaced by their magic-using organs.
The Gerese Cartel
The Gerese Cartel is spreading like wildfire through the known spheres. It began in very remote spheres, the Gerese only saying they were from far away, but now they are being to be seen all over the place. Recently, a Gerese trader landed at the Rock of Bral, much to the annoyance of the Arcane.
Each Gerese owns a ship, and commands a crew of 10 to 30 slavebugs (not including the blue-streaks). These ships are as follows.
Gerese Tradeship
Built By:Gerese Cartel
Used By:Gerese Cartel
Cost: Not for Sale
Tonnage:70 tons
Hull Points:90*
Crew: 10/35
MC: D
Landing
Land: Yes
Water: Yes
AR: 0
Saves As:Best of All*
Power Type:Gerese Lord
SR: 6
Standard Armament
5 Gerese ballista per side
Crew: 2
Cargo: 45 tons
Keel Length:100'
Beam Width:75'
Description:The Gerese Tradeship is a masterful piece of work, looking like a large bloated fleshlike object, which reminds one of a Gerese to look at. It has retractable legs for landing on land, and miraculously floats upon water. It is made of a fleshlike substance that saves as the best of any type of metal, and is incredibly strong and light. The Gerese will not name the substance, or how it is created.
The actual ship itself is made by Mother, through a psionic and Magical Process. It is powered by the Gerese Lord himself, who sits in a specially designed helm that can be used only by him (or another Gerese Lord). This helm cannot be removed from the ship, save by disintegration—which causes the rest of the ship to begin to crumble and break apart like a dry leaf. Another helm cannot operate upon the ship (unless it is an Ultimate Helm), and thus the Gerese are the only ones who can pilot it.
When in combat, the ship's slavebugs man special Gerese ballistae, which shoot like a medium ballistae but do the damage of a heavy. Only the slavebugs have the dexterity and limbs to use these weapons, anyone else trying has a 25% chance per attempt to make the weapon fall apart, a 70% chance to fail, and a 5% chance to make it fire. However, when one of these is removed, the rest upon the ship crumble to dust like a dry leaf (unless the helm is active, and there are slavebugs at the other weapons), the same as the ship when the helm is removed.
The only reason one can be removed, is that typically the ship and all else is destroyed when a raider successfully defeats the Gerese. The Gerese have a way of tracking the weapons, and can thus find who did it, and exact punishment (that way no one else attacks the Cartel).
The ship has a 40% magic resistance, again due to the strange material it is made of. The other strange property of the ship is that it moves at 1 1/4 normal spelljamming speeds, due to the size of the Gerese Helm and the power channeled constantly through it. A Gerese Lord can power this helm indefinitely, but needs 12 hours rest after stopping, and must be fed by the slavebugs while upon the helm.
The reason the crew compliment is so low is that most of the space on the trader is taken up by cargo space, and the vegetables that the Gerese and Elder Blue-streaks eat. None aboard the ship need sleep or have possessions (except the elder blue-streak who is allowed his own quarters, while the younger must stay by the Gerese), hence the large cargo space. The Gerese itself does not breathe, and the slavebugs breathe only a little, which is refreshed quite easily by all the plant-life onboard.
The only meat kept onboard are small magically preserved containers of food for the Gerese Lord's cat, who's sleeping quarters are usually on the Gerese Lord himself.
As a last note, each Gerese Tradeship has a cloaking device that can be used for 12 hours per day, if need be. It can be dropped earlier than the 12 hours, but cannot be started again until 24 hours have passed since it was first engaged. This cloaking device is similar to the spell Improved Invisibility, in that it allows the Gerese Tradeship to be slightly seen as a large shimmering blob. However, it does drop when the ship attacks. The device also allows the Gerese to see any such cloaked ship within 20 kilometers. the cloak is a psionic device, and true seeing thus does not penetrate it. It does not affect the minds of others like normal psionic invisibility, however, but alters the outside of the ship to allow light to pass around and through it.
Cartel membership
Cartel membership is only available to Gerese Lord's. Anyone who
has ever petitioned to become a member has been outright denied,
politely.
Gerese Lord's serve the majority of their lives in the Cartel as traders, seeming to not be interested by anything else. They each retain a certain amount of their profits, and when they wish may retire. They are not, however, permitted to trade once they have left the Cartel, but seem to live out their lives eating until they die, and pass on to whatever the Gerese believe is heaven. During retirement they are attended by 15 slavebugs, none of which are blue-streaks. Anyone approaching a retired Gerese Lord is simply ignored, unless they become a threat, at which time they are obviously dealt with.
Upon becoming a Gerese Lord, they are presented with a Tradeship, created for them by Mother. Each Tradeship can be tracked at a distance of 2 million miles by another Gerese, with simple telepathic thought. The Tradeship is usable only by a Gerese Lord, as stated above. If the Gerese Lord looses his ship in any way, he is provided another free of charge from Mother, but the Lords remaining at Mother (the asteroid) charge the Gerese for any cargo lost.
Trade Items/Treaties
Gerese trade in most items of spelljamming equipment, made at Mother. They provide helms that are slightly different from the normal, giving a +1 to SR and giving 5% to the spelljamming speed of the ship. These helms can be purchased in the minor or major style, but the minor only powers ships 40 tons and below, and the major powers 90 tons or less. The sacrifice is worth it, most think, but the price is also 25% over a normal arcane helm.
Other items include portal locators and openers, bundled into one item. These cost the price of both items, but with an additional 15% on the current going rate. They also sell maps of most of the known spheres, though most people wonder how they have them when they are so relatively new to the area. This is because the Cartel has actually had blue-streaks polymorphed into humans or elves roaming the spheres, finding the best trade spots and calculating competition before they came into the "playground", so to speak.
Gerese traders also sell ships. They can produce nearly any ship that the arcane can, but it comes with a +1 to the SR, and -1 to its AR. These ships costs 10% over normal, and always look to be in excellent condition (which they are). The only ships they do not sell, are illithid ships, elf ships (including drow), and neogi ships. It is unknown why, but they do not buy these ships either. Speculation exists to alliances to these powers, but it's actually much more simple. The Gerese do not get along with the illithids who share psionic powers, cannot be looked upon by most elves, and find the neogi just downright aggravating.
Gerese are becoming great traders to the beholder nations, making increasingly better ships for them than the arcane can. The fact that the Gerese refer to something called Mother occasionally, and that the Beholders have hive mother's, is speculated to have something to do with this. It is actually more likely that the races see in each other what the others may not due to appearance.
There are some blue-streaks upon Mother (the asteroid) creating new weapons for different beholder nations, and though the Gerese cartel works together quite well, the projects are only known to the Gerese Lord approached by the appropriate beholder nation, so there is no trading off between the buyers etc. Most buyers find this good, as someone commissioning the Arcane for a ship is likely to see if in use by someone else if its a good design, whereas the Gerese don't.
The cloaking device on a Gerese ship can be bought to someone who seems quite trustworthy, and likely to not use it for reasons the cartel disapproves of (see below and above). They are worth 250,000 GP for such a person, but must be activated by a wild talent, psionicist, or a blue-streak (even though they have no psionic ability, the blue-streaks are the ones who develop all these items). When sold they do not detect other ships as the normal device does, however, and can only cloak a ship of up to 75 tons. When placed on a ship with a crew compliment containing more than 10% of evilly aligned beings, the device (which seems to be a rather large trapezoid like object with a hand-print in it) crumbles like dust, as a dry leaf would.
Any general spelljamming item sold by a Gerese is likely to be of good quality in some way, but also of roughly 10% higher price than normal. Suggestions include a non-magical +1 to hit and damage for weapons, a longer range, better sails (i.e. longer life, no SR bonus), more effective smoke powder etc.
One small oddity of the Gerese cartel is that it is increasingly becoming interested in Gnomish inventions, and as such they are likely to have some. They do not actually buy them, but instead buy the plans, and produce them themselves (after working the bugs out of course). Most Gerese smile when a gnome walks in the room, a feat rarely seen unless inspired by their cat. The gnome is given most of the attention by the attending blue-streak, and is given a 10% discount on any item he buys. If a group walks into the room and doesn't act like their gnome is more of a hindrance than an ally, they are also given this discount, and the Gerese will spend more time with them than anyone.
Each time a Gerese sells a Gnomish invented item, the inventor receives a small package upon magical wings, containing a certain percentage of the profit (if the inventions are selling particularly well, these packages will arrive once a week at most, but have a lot of gold in them) as royalties.
Another oddity is that the Gerese will not sell any item with any sort of Necromantic magic upon it. It is believed that this disrupts their magic somehow, and may have a link with why they eat mainly vegetable plant foods.
Any Druid approaching a Gerese for trade will be spoken to quietly by the Gerese itself, in a private session without guards or even the blue-streak. The druids party may not be present, and the Gerese asks it not to speak of anything they talk of to anyone. This private talk is due to the respect the Gerese have for the Druids, and the respect the Druids learn for the Gerese. As traders they do sell weaponry, things made of natural materials etc, but they do not sell anything that would defile nature (i.e. a witchlight marauder likely to destroy a world etc). A Gerese typically asks of a Druid a blessing, that his food may grow plentiful and be tasteful. The Druid, if the blessing is forthcoming, is treated to a 25% discount on any items purchased.
Similarly, any defiling or necromantic priest or mage entering the Gerese's shop is told to leave by the blue-streak. A reason is not given, apart from the fact that it is nothing personal, but a religious prohibition. Any such character is also watched like a hawk at all times by half of the guards in the given area.
Apart from the restriction of defilers or necromancers, a Gerese will sell anything to anyone (unless it is a restricted item), including scro and the violent races, the only race not being allowed in the Gerese's shop being Neogi, as they scare the cat. Arcane are similarly not allowed in.
Shops
When setting up shop, a Gerese Tradeship will land or dock, and the elder blue-streak of the ship will depart to seek the local authorities or major land-owners. He will rent a large warehouse, and the Gerese Lord itself will be walked through town surrounded by half the slavebugs from its ship, while the elder blue-streak opens a portal using a magical process with the younger blue-streak who is back on the ship. By the time the Gerese Lord reaches the ship, the shop has been set up, and the inventory assembled efficiently.
The shop itself contains three rooms. The first is a waiting room, guarded by two to four slavebugs. The entrance from outside is a set of two 10' by 20' doors, which magically open when approached by someone wanting to enter/leave. There are 20 seats in this room, 5 of which are for giant sized begins (7 to 15 foot tall) and 5 of which are gnome-sized (fitting a dwarf with a tight squeeze if necessary). The blue-streak meets potential buyers in order of entrance to the shop, and allows them to come into the traderoom, unless there is a problem, in which case they are asked to leave.
The second is the meeting room, where the Gerese Lord and his cat are protected behind the wall of force, and any potential buyers are met. There are four to six guards here, two at each entrance, and two standing on the outside of the wall of force (i.e. the side the Gerese Lord is no on). There are also two slavebugs concealed behind the Gerese Lord, incase anyone should penetrate the magical protections.
In this room, the only furniture is a table in front of the Gerese Lord, and a table ten feet in front of the door to the storeroom (which is the third room). Any item place upon the table near the store room will be teleported to the other table when a command word is spoken by the blue-streak (and the blue-streak only). Here the Gerese Lord may study it if need be. It is unusual for this to happen, but it ALWAYS happens with Gnomish inventions, and incredibly powerful magic items.
The blue-streak stands on the opposite side of the room to the storeroom, and talks to the buyers from here. Typically he will move to shake hands, and engage in any other customs needed with them, but returns to this place while talking for the Gerese Lord, unless he is counting money or inspecting items.
When an item is to be bought, it is produced from the storeroom by a pair of slavebugs, who wear magical bracers allowing them to lift any item weighing less than 5,000 lbs. of weight, if they both lift at the same time. The door to the store room is large enough to allow the Gerese Lord himself to walk through it, as this is the entrance he uses to enter. The door into this room from the waiting room is the same as the entrance to the building itself.
There are no chairs here, or anything to sit upon, excepting the huge chair the Gerese Lord himself sits upon. Buyers are expected to stand, so they may talk and move if need be, and can leave easily when told. If they do not, the blue-streak warns them they are in violation of Gerese trading protocol, and action will be taken if they do not comply.
The store-room is whatever else is left of the warehouse. It contains ships, items, and the rest of the slavebugs that aren't on the ship, except two who stand outside the warehouse doors. There are curtains ready to be dropped if buyers must come through to inspect a ship, so they don't have to see anything they shouldn't. Anyone attempting anything suspicious in here is immediately told to desist, as there is a wand of disintegration in a turret on the inside of the roof, which can shoot unerringly at any target with a single through from the blue-streak.
The cartel doesn't actually enjoy all these precautions, but once brunt, twice shy as the saying goes. It is believe that the Gerese moved to this area of spheres as wherever they were before was to violent and they began to loose more ships than they could afford.
Other precautions include an effect of true seeing being in constant use for the blue-streak and Gerese Lord, in all rooms of the shop. Another precaution is the Gerese have a permanent effect on them similar to a ring of truth. This isn't as bad as most would think, as the blue-streak can lie for the Gerese Lord if need be. Both effects of the ring of truth dweomer are in effect on the Gerese Lord himself though, and if he has a private meeting with a Druid (or similarly important visitor), he cannot lie. This is to represent the importance of these private meetings, and the trust the cartel puts in anyone who is at them.
Fleets
The Gerese Cartel has over 100 ships to its name, though each is technically owned by a Gerese Lord. They can assemble into a very formidable fleet if need be, due to magical communication from Mother. When in a fleet of ten or more ships, the cloaking devices work in tandem, and can cloak continuously. Gerese ships do not cause each other to fall to tactical speeds, and so may fly closely together in such a fleet.
Homesphere
The Homesphere of the Gerese is far from the known spacelanes, in a very untravelled part of space as far as the normal races are concerned. It is actually near many warring races, which the Gerese used to trade with, until they became increasingly violent and unpredictable. Now, the Gerese Homesphere is guarded by 15 of their tradeships, which have twice the amount of weapons loaded (and crew to fire all of them), with no cargo space.
This sphere is where the asteroid (and being) known as Mother can be found. Mother (the asteroid) cannot cloak, but can be moved by Mother (the being) at half spelljamming speed, and an SR of 15 in tactical combat. It does not, however, have any weapons, instead being covered in large plants and many slavebugs farming food. Deep in the asteroid is Mother herself (the being), and the research vaults of the blue-streaks.
There is a large sun in the sphere, and 5 large plant-covered plants, two of which are "live" planets, as described in the SJ boxed set. Three of the planets are home to the retired Gerese Lords, and two of them are for farming for Mother and ship within the sphere, worked upon by slavebugs.
Entrance to this sphere is only available to the Gerese, due to some strange psionic and magical energy combination within the sphere itself. A portal may be opened, but any ship not appropriately marked by the Gerese cannot enter, simply hitting a rubber like barrier which pushes them back into the phlogistion. Those deemed worthy by the Gerese (i.e. gnomes and some trusted beholder nations) are given tokens allowing their ships to pass through the spheres defense.
Mother (the being) has a permanent dweomer upon her to the effect she can see everything within the sphere. If a ship penetrates it, she sends word magically to the fleet within the system, and they respond with incredible speed. Mother herself will not turn her asteroid towards the battle however, regardless of its ferocity. If somehow the sphere is ever taken over, she will attempt to leave the sphere and find another to populate.
