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A new "project log" is soon made freely available to those within Nec'perya.

If there is a resource we have in abundance, it is the Skum.

As the greatest race to ever exist, it is our right to find a use for these lesser creatures. Thus I am making it a city project for any to join in to find 101 Uses for Skum!

The criteria to finding a use for skum is fairly simple, it has to be of benefit to Nec'perya, you need to present proof of it and you must present the means to make it a sustainable use.

Success in finding a use for skum comes with a reward in gold coins, the amount varying on how useful it is to the city.

Attached is a list of uses for skum we've found so far, also attached is a list of potential uses but not yet proven or sustainable (as well as the gold reward for proving them).

Naltyrr d'Lolarox
Sut'rinos of the Vanguard

Project: Skum wrote:

101 Uses for Skum

Project: Skum wrote:

Potential Uses for Skum

Ulviir rubs his hands together in anticipation of the mini contest; He reasons that his bright intellect and inventive nature easily will win the match. He just needs to focus, something he is notoriously bad at.

Victyr posts on the 'potential uses' section.

Skum Steeds.

Skum steeds is allowed to stand on the potential list, whether it is from a perverse curiosity if such a thing could be done or a desperate ploy to fatten the list of potentials is unknown...

Another addition is made.

Skum Satire (See Naltyrr accepting Skum Steeds as viable option)
Skum Sails (To be used to propel small boats, much the same way horses do with carts)
Skum Samples (To be used for experimenation in various fields of study)

Quote:

Problemsolving: How to rid us of the skum

The problem and difficulties regarding the infestation of the native inhabitants around nec'pereya, also named the 'Skum' by the common drow does not pose an immediate threat other then them being a nuisance to the daily life of the inhabitants of the settlement.
Though when viewed in light of past history the dangers become more apparent. The native fish-people form a circle, a ring around nec'pereya, and we are in essence in cold-war: Besieged if you will by the skum.
While no outright confrontation has been seen in the past months since the first settlements of Edonil arrived we can and must not become lax in believing we have the upper hand.
Whilst we are a superior race with all the wonders of the weave at our disposal, alongside our natural resistance to Mystras magic, the aquatic natives residing around our island count in the millions while we count some two-hundred souls (Two-hundred and seventy considering the labour force).
Would the Skum launch a full scale assault upon us we would face inevitable doom even if so one tenth of the native population would throw themselves upon us.

Lords and ladies, Noble matrons and common man.
We sit on a bomb and the countdown has been set: In a distant future or perhaps even next month the native population of skum could overthrow us. The land we have claimed is only temporarily borrowed unless we rid the skum from our location once and for all.

There are certain High magic which i have taken the liberty of researching and delve deeper into, while resorting to the weave can look like cheating to some i believe it could be a prudent solution to our predicament.
Theoretically, Once we get the Ships running we could launch an expedition further down the Black waterway and hopefully with the right set-up of skilled Arcanists and their apprentices preform such mighty magic and lure the creatures away from the surrounding regions around nec'pereya.

The magic in itself is labelled Sympathy and was designed aeons ago by Druidic circles and then mimicked by arcanists and scholars to fit their grim repertoire of arcane spells.

Lolth tu malla.
Ulviir'aufein d'Lolarox

While it seems the conversation has revolved around expelling the skum from our new home, I feel this is incredibly short sighted. What we have below us is not a problem, but an opportunity. There may well be millions of potential slaves beneath our feet, slaves that can do things even we can naut. Their natural state is in the water, while ours is upon the land. This means that they can do for us things we would rather naut do, serve as scouts and perimeter guards, as well as man the more dangerous tasks once we have developed our navy. To do this, however, we need to have them subjugated, or at the very least pacified, naut driven from our shores.

If memory serves me, the skum are vast in number but have no overarching authority, being divided into clans of a sort. If we could create a dialogue with one or two of their leaders, it may be possible to ally them to us, and use this new influence to reign underwater though our skum chiefs.

-Isendu't'tar

Quote:

Isen. Do try that and return when you have made progress. Im not one to condemn a fellow drow and his ideas but we have tried this in the past: It did not work.

The Skum lack the understanding of language necessary to communicate in even Undercommon. Worse yet, when given tools, the vast majority try to use them as weapons against those watching them.

Ulviir

//Reference

I am well aware of the halfmeasures attempted in the past. They have language, just naut a civilized tongue. If proper efforts are made, there may very well be progress.

We can't hand tools to the skum and expect them to work for us, we need to groom a new generation of leaders loyal to us.

If the surfacers can tame beasts to follow orders, we can tame the skum.

Thus far I am in agreement with Isendu't'tar, Ulviir's plan could be useful in lessening the number of skum but I have considerable doubts it will be enough to get rid of them entirely.

The Skum speak Aquan, a language I have no knowledge of. Were we to obtain artifacts to enable us to speak this language, we could certainly manipulate a number of these skum to our own ends.

Naltyrr d'Lolarox
Sut'rinos of the Vanguard

Quote:

Commander.

For the next session, can we not all prepare the tongues spell? It's both a divine, arcane and druidic spell as far as i know

-Ulviir'aufein Lolarox

Quote:

To those involved

Shall we schedule a attack and capture session to acquire a set of Skum prisoneers and ask them what the unknown terror of the black waterways is? Last session the vanguard drilled the creatures below came pouring up on land trying to seek refuge in the fresh-water cavern, They were either chased and/or terrified by something in the waters.

We must be better to document things like this.

Ulviir'Aufein d'Lolarox
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/5527/ei0u.jpg

Quote:

Problemsolving: How to rid us of the skum part 1

The problem and difficulties regarding the infestation of the native inhabitants around nec'pereya, also named the 'Skum' by the common drow does not pose an immediate threat other then them being a nuisance to the daily life of the inhabitants of the settlement.
Though when viewed in light of past history the dangers become more apparent. The native fish-people form a circle, a ring around nec'pereya, and we are in essence in cold-war: Besieged if you will by the skum.
While no outright confrontation has been seen in the past months since the first settlements of Edonil arrived we can and must not become lax in believing we have the upper hand.
Whilst we are a superior race with all the wonders of the weave at our disposal, alongside our natural resistance to Mystras magic, the aquatic natives residing around our island count in the millions while we count some two-hundred souls (Two-hundred and seventy considering the labour force).
Would the Skum launch a full scale assault upon us we would face inevitable doom even if so one tenth of the native population would throw themselves upon us.

Lords and ladies, Noble matrons and common man.
We sit on a bomb and the countdown has been set: In a distant future or perhaps even next month the native population of skum could overthrow us. The land we have claimed is only temporarily borrowed unless we rid the skum from our location once and for all.

There are certain High magic which i have taken the liberty of researching and delve deeper into, while resorting to the weave can look like cheating to some i believe it could be a prudent solution to our predicament.
Theoretically, Once we get the Ships running we could launch an expedition further down the Black waterway and hopefully with the right set-up of skilled Arcanists and their apprentices preform such mighty magic and lure the creatures away from the surrounding regions around nec'pereya.

The magic in itself is labelled Sympathy and was designed aeons ago by Druidic circles and then mimicked by arcanists and scholars to fit their grim repertoire of arcane spells.

Lolth tu malla.
Ulviir'aufein d'Lolarox

Quote:

Problemsolving: How to rid us of the skum part 2

Beside the Sympathy spell there are many other ways of clearing the native skum population infesting the waters around nec'pereya.

Please see Document G.11 regarding construction of golems for the next written session.
The other idea is to counter the established natives with a small battalion or even sizeable army of either mechanical or organic golems to counter the growing problem.
Please see Document G.11 for further details.

Ulviir'aufein d'lolarox

The Zanjur of War leaves a note in this particular file.

Sut'rinos,

I have procured a peculiar cloak of Skum craftmanship, one that appears as though it has been
fashioned out of their very own hides. It has a displeasing odor about it, but it seems to provide
decent amounts of protection against cutting injuries.

I experimented on it myself, slicing it with a selection of knives, and whatever material it is made
of seems to recompose itself around the cut every time.

Any citizen who wishes to take a look at it, feel free to seek me out. I would happily relinquish
the wretched thing and its redolence even for a minute.

― Filraen

I would like to examine this cloak myself. Assuming the creation process is not too expensive, the Vanguard rank and file ought to be equipped with cloaks of this quality.

Naltyrr

Ulviir, the self appointed scribe of the Vanguard and house mage of Lolarox, goes over the ledger and it's documentation in search for updated entries or other additions.
He also makes sure the poster is placed on top of the boards as to get it some more attention again.

Last edited by RaveN on Thu, May 08 2014, 18:16 PM, edited 1 time in total.

Miz'ri finally finds herself in the vanguard sharing information that she might've been investigating for several months. She posts several copies of documents.

Missive to Ussen d'Vhid wrote:

Handling skum:

It's my prerogative to gather as many skum as we can, and entrap them all so they will be fit for export. I am looking for ideas on how to best accomplish this. Underport may not have gotten back to me, but that doesn't mean they can elect not to trade with me.

The spiderbearer has routes established currently, but the next shipment could be to Underport if a good idea is on the table.

Some thoughts that surfaced before were:
- Mind Control
- Nets
- Cutting a deal with them
- Having an illithid gather them.

though given recent events, I'd rather not be responsible for introducing new illithid interest to our city just yet. I'm counting on all of dos for ideas.

More Information about Skum... wrote:

My understanding into the Skum is as follows

Socially, they are organized into many tribes, much like the barbaric humans on the surface. These tribes seem to be in constant conflict or uneasy peace, keeping them weak as a whole. If they were to unify, their numbers would be overwhelming, despite their weaknesses.

Religiously, they worship the water elementals which are present in our cave. In my letter concerning that, I brought up the connection to the elemental plane of water being their home. This belief will be problematic for short term subjugation of the skum as they have had personal contact with their 'gods', however through time we can quash this belief. I might suggest a show of force, perhaps executing some of those they believe to be divine, we don't even need one from the cave if we summon one. I have oft suggested that we convert the skum to follow the queen.

The skum speak in the Aquan tongue, quite vile if I do say so, but it seems to be all they have the ability to converse in. I have seen no signs of reading or writing, understandable as their old abeolith masters would have communicated through telepathy.

My knowledge might be somewhat lacking, however, as I have not been party to the long term studies being carried out by the more.. arcane oriented members of the vanguard.

Quote:

Ust'Il'haress,

I tracked down the mystery jaluk who visited Nec'perya during our last conversation. He turned out to be a Druid of the Underdark, loyal to the Spider Queen but also paying (much less) homage to a minor rivvil goddess of disease. I presented him with various questions regarding his abilities, until the topic of Skum was brought up. He claimed being able to produce a contagion that targeted the bothersome slimeskins alone, leaving other creatures of our waters untouched. They mass and huddle together, enabling any plague we induce to spread like wildfire amongst the primitive nuisances.

The druid is called Yaz'gos. I have made him aware of the price of failure, but also the reward of success. His preliminary work has begun, but no irreversible action will be taken without your blessing. With your leave, I would also make the rest of the Vanguard aware of this new prospect. A quick and effective solution, if you will, although it would yield us little in the ways of profit.

Quote:

"The matter of the skum has lingered in my mind a while, and the more I think about the deal the water elementals gave us, the more I think they were just messing with us. These sapphires of water are near impossible to find, as far as I know, seeing as how I have never found one, and I collect more gems than anyone I know. Due to the discovery of the rarity and difficulty of the water elemental's tribute, I concur, that we must find alternative methods. This one is not a bad route.

However, I am not familiar with Yaz'gos, and I do not know what to think of one jaluk who worships a rivvil deity as well as the Dread Queen. I see nothing wrong with letting him continue his work, and wander the city, but I do suggest we keep close watch on this one. If he can be rid of the problem without causing our city to be attacked, then by all means, this is his chance to prove his worth to Nec'perya. You're free to make this initiative known to the Vanguard, though it would be wise if the skum didn't know more than they needed to; infact it would be good if they didn't suspect anything at all.

As an aside, I have gathered nearly 6000 pounds of silk that can be used to create web golems, or used for trade. In the event that the skum attack us, if we have these web golems, I am certain that they will all die horribly and have a scarce chance at breaching anything. Perhaps I should just convert my efforts into fabricating these golems, and then induce a large scale attack and we can fight them all, and finish this problem once and for all, one way or anything.

"

Quote:

Malla Il'haress,

While I'm certain that not only such golems, but the combined powers of the Vanguard and houses could easily deflect Skum attacks of any magnitude, the notion of allowing them all to die a painful death of plague without excessive effort on our part is appealing in strategic side of things. There is in excess of a million Skum, and while eradicating them all through good old massacre is an entertaining notion, the time and effort investment would be extreme. I'm certain that once the first thousand of them fall helplessly to our might, the rest will surely scatter like round marbles falling unto cavern floor. The next year or two would be spent in hunting them up and down the Black Waterway― if we could kill them faster than they bred at all.

A subtle, poisonous approach should produce more effective results. Let the Skum spread their own doom and drown in their bile as a tribute to the Dread Queen!

Under the documents Miz'ri wrote her own letter.

"If anyone truly wants to make their mark, they will find a way to make a massive trap that is formed of adequate roping to contain the skum and prepare them for travel. I have discovered a magic rod that will put them to sleep for the voyage... Any other ideas to pacify them are welcome, but for now, the cargo net trap is of utmost priority. We have not heard a response from Underport yet, and instead of sending another letter and looking desperate, we will send them an entire ship full of skum.

Once we can finish the cargo net trap, we can tend to the damage they've done to the seawater, and start making fish colonies. We are currently building a tank to test fish to see which types can survive in our water. Let Alakaun know if you're interested in assisting him. We will fish both the skum and the fish!

Lloth tlu malla!"

Another note finds its way there.

As per our discussion the other cycle, my jaluk informed me of a small amount of skum that end up near Underport Upon further observation, the illithids do actually collect these skum to eat as expected. Our quantity is far more sustainable, and thus, beneficial to them.

Those interested in benefiting the greater interests of Nec'perya are invited to work with others to load the spiderbearer with skum from the waterway from between Nec'perya to Edonil. Nothing long term is set in stone, but we have to put our feet in the water to see how they react. A mage should be on board to put them to sleep. The cargo nets should be made already, and they will be delivered to the captain of the ship.

Regardless, we are in need of a large quantity of slaves, and there is nau better source. If you're so concerned about the navy for defense, then so too, should you be interested in acquiring these slaves, as the sea wall is the best improvement we can make in that regard. And slaves are what we need to complete such a task. That is the true way to guard our glorious cavern.

Lloth tlu malla!

Project: 101 Uses for Skum

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