A Vodoni breeder is a humanoid warrior-mage who serves as a high official or some other leadership role in the Vodoni Empire in the Spelljammer campaign setting.[1]
Overview[]
Vodoni breeders are the twisted nobility of the Vodoni Empire and are also responsible for the creation and handling of the Vodoni enforcers. Powerful warrior-mages one and all, the general populace know to keep their distance.[1]
Description[]
Vodoni breeders resemble normal human beings, except they keep their heads shaved. They wear great flowing silver robes with deep purple satin rivulets stitched throughout.[1]
Behavior[]
Breeders serve as high officials, bureaucrats and leaders throughout the Empire. They are the brightest and best educated among the Vodoni, and are familiar with spelljamming technology. All Vodoni breeders are trained warriors, as well as highly skilled Transmuters.[1]
Combat[]
All Vodoni breeders carry a staff of power with a gnarled wolf's head, and wield a defender longsword with a magical enhancement bonus from +1 to +4. They are also equipped with bracers of defense and a cloak of protection.
All breeders are highly trained Transmuters, and always prepare spells that function within wildspace as well as their home sphere. All breeders have eagle vision as an innate ability, which aids them immensely in navigating their ships through the broad asteroid field called "the Web" which surrounds the inner worlds of the Vodoni home sphere.[1]
Society[]
Under their mistress, the High Breeder Mongrelle, the Vodoni breeders are the twisted nobility of Emperor Vulkaran's totalitarian regime. They serve as high officials and are also responsible for maintaining control over the Vodoni military, as well as creating the lycanthropic Vodoni enforcers (hence the term "breeders"). They are constantly tampering, either magically or genetically, with their were-warriors. In most cases these experiments are unreproducible or result in horrific mutations; as a result there have been no real progress in the evolution of the enforcer strain as a whole.
The breeders are organized into a strict hierarchy, with twelve of the most powerful breeders designated as "high breeders". Each high breeder is responsible for one of the subjugated Twelve Spheres, and are accorded ambassador status within the Imperial City. Vulkaran carefully manipulates the breeders to his own advantage, and has made sure that all of the high breeders have estates that face away from the Imperial Palace, and that each ambassador's residence is flanked by two devoutly loyal breeders.[2] Vulkaran is always watching for signs of treachery, weakness, or betrayal.[1]
Creating a Vodoni breeder[]
Vodoni citizens who are powerful and intelligent enough to challenge the least of Vulkaran's policies and survive are "recruited" and their memories magically erased by Mongrelle, the Emperor's high councilor. They then enter training as warriors until they are judged to be suitably competent. They are then forced to drink a powerful potion that renders them immune to the Vodoni strain of lycanthropy, and begin their schooling in the twisted dark arts under the tutelage of Mongrelle herself. After many years, the survivors emerge to serve as the masters of the Vodoni enforcers and conquerors throughout the Vodoni Empire.[1]
Notable Vodoni breeders[]
- Mongrelle was the Master Breeder, Court Sorceress and High Councilor to Emperor Vulkaran of the Vodoni Empire.[3]
Signature Spelljammers[]
Vodoni breeders serve as captains and helmsmen onboard most Vodoni warships, including Vodoni Hunter-killers, Werewolves and Nightwolves.
Appendix[]
External Links[]
- Vodoni breeder article at the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition Wiki, a wiki for official Dungeons & Dragons content from 2nd edition AD&D.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Grant S. Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Vodoni, Breeder entry, page 61
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), The Imperial City entry, page 64
- ↑ Grant S. Boucher, SJA4 Under The Dark Fist, 1991, (TSR Inc.), Appendix B: Non-Player Characters, page 55