Quest for the Well of Souls

Appendix I: Races of the Southern Hemisphere

Only those hexes that have people or geography in this second half of the book are listed. Those from Exiles of the Well of Souls are listed only if they and/or theirs actually also appears in Volume II. Names are as one would hear them. Pronunciation is left up to the reader; if you want a rule, treat it as you would Polish—pronounce every letter and syllable.

H = High-tech hex. All technology works here if you invent it and can develop it.

S = Semitech hex. Steam and internal combustion work, but not electrical, atomic, or more sophisticated systems.

N = Nontech hex. No machine not directly or indirectly powered by muscle works here. Oil and gas still burn and can be used directly for light and heat, but they won’t move a piston.

A parenthesis around the tech designation—e.g., (S)—indicates that it is a water hex.

The letter M following a tech designation—e.g., NM—means the hex has what would be regarded as magical capabilities by those who don’t have them.

Atmospheric composition and pressure vary widely, but there is no hex listed here in which others could not live without artificial aids.

AGITAR H Diurnal Males satyrlike; females reverse animalism of males but are smarter. Males can store and discharge high electrical voltages without harm. The pegasus is native to Agitar.

ALESTOL N Diurnal Moving, barrel-shaped plants; carnivores that shoot a variety of noxious gasses.

AMBREZA H Diurnal Resemble giant beavers. Used to be N until they beat the Glathriel in a war and forced them to swap hexes.

CZLAPLON H Diurnal Look like a giant ball of tangled nylon cord with a little head and internal brain case. The captain of the Toorine rader is a Czlaplon.

DAHIR N Diurnal Huge lizardlike creatures who can change color to blend almost invisibly with any background. The Parmiter’s henchmen are Dahir.

DASHEEN N Diurnal Basically minotaurs. Females are much larger and dumber than males, which they outnumber 100 to 1, but males are dependent on female’s milk for calcium and lactose.

DILLIA S Diurnal True, classical centaurs. Peaceful folk who hunt, trap, farm. Can eat anything organic but are basically vegetarians.

ECUNDO S Diurnal Creatures of rubbery texture but much like giant scorpions. Carnivores who live in the ground and eat giant guinea piglike bundas fresh and raw. Nasty, vile tempers.

EVEROD (N) Giant clamlike creatures with hundreds of long tentacles. Deep water, nobody knows much about them, but they have trade through Zone.

GEDEMONDAS N Diurnal Large, thin, hirsute apelike creatures with round feet and hairy snouts, they live in volcanic caverns under cold, high mountains and think a lot.

GLATHRIEL N Diurnal The ancestors of humanity, more Oriental in stature and Negroid in features. Very primitive since the Ambreza gassed them back to the stone age.

HOOKL (N) Off-camera in the book, they are giant sea-snakes who can combine into squidlike amalgums.

JOL (N) Off-camera in the book, they are water-breathing relatives of the sea lion.

KYRBIZMYTH N Diurnal Plants, each with a brain, who move by mindswapping. They sleep nights, but better hadn’t touch if you don’t want to join them. Even so, they trade much in something.

LATA H Nocturnal Very small hermaphroditic humanoid pixies who can fly like a bee, have nasty stingers, and can glow by chemical secretions on the skin. Mentally as well as outwardly akin to humans, internally they tend more to resemble the cockroach.

MAKIEM N Diurnal Large reptiles resembling giant toads, they need some water daily though land-dwellers. Cold-blooded and can climb walls and leap like mad.

MUCROL S Diurnal Doglike carnivores who live in packs around desert waterholes protected by steam-powered tanks. Lack political cohesion.

NOCHA (S) Off-camera in the book, they resemble starfish and live in cities composed of shells.

OOLAGASH (H) Tentacled sea-horses restricted to great depths; managed to get to atomic stage without some obviously impossible intermediary stages.

ORARC S Diurnal Weasellike, these are the signalmen of the Toorine Trader and good cannoneers as well.

PARMITER H Diurnal Tiny monkeys with owllike faces and beaks. What they lack in stature they make up in nastiness; a race of wild and crooked freebooters.

TWOSH S Diurnal Large pink bowling pins with big brown eyes. Only two limbs, which double as arms and legs. Highly resourceful due to their physical-limitations.

ULIK H Diurnal Six-armed creatures, humanoid above the waist but with walruslike faces, big moustaches, and six arms. Below the waist are five to ten meters of very large colorful snake.

USURK (H) Off-camera in the book. Can be sociable, but can you imagine a tentacled piranha with a jet assist?

WUCKL H Diurnal Legs like an emu’s, body a hairy oblong, long arms that bend every which way, long soft hands, a tremendously high, infinitely movable neck, and a birdlike head with a four-way beak. Peaceful vegetarians who are incredibly good psychic surgeons.

WYGON S Diurnal Six-stemmed creatures seemingly made of pipe cleaners, they are fast and bright Tbisi, First Mate of the Toorine Trader, is Wygonian.

XYRICIS N Nocturnal Giant armadillos, they trade with many hexes. The Tindler was a far-traveling Xyricis.

YIMSK (N) Off-camera in the book. Plankton-eaters mostly of deep water, who somewhat resemble the nautilus.

ZANTI (H) Off-camera in the book. These shocking relatives of the electric eel have managed to build quite an effective and modern culture on the sea floor; their coop trade with Wuckl gives the latter fishing rights in exchange for some goods not possible to manufacture under water.