Nugatha

Nugatha is a massive, flying sphere constructed by ancient necromancers. It appears as a pale orb of white that can shift its colouring to blend in with the sky or cloud cover. While the secrets to creating such a structure are lost, the Plague Hunters who command Nugatha are well aware of how to control it. It moves across the world, descending on villages and cities to examine populations for the sick. The white clad wizards who command the sphere draw the sickly up into the chambers within the core of their flying lair. Within sterile, pale halls, the necromancers work their biological magic, cleansing sicknesses and diseases from all they bring aboard. Their patients are then returned to their homes, and the Plague Hunters then depart once their work is done. Though Nugatha has become increasingly rare in recent millennia, there are still whispered stories in population centers about the pale sun that descends from the sky to purify all beneath it of whatever ails them. The Plague Hunters aboard use Nugatha not only to heal the sick, but to search for the most virulent of diseases. They believe that one of life's greatest challenges are the practically invisible threats that attack the flesh of mortals. Thus they heal the sick to practice their craft, but hope to find a grand plague that they can combat. To them, any form of sickness are dragons that must be slain. They work towards creating the panacea, the perfect cure that will forever protect all races from even the slimmest chance of infection, much less debilitating sicknesses. Thus Nugatha flies far and wide, at times withdrawing itself to isolated pockets to either hunt for obscure plagues or allow nature to take its course while it still can. The structure is large enough to be considered a flying mountain, albeit a small one. On the surface, Nugatha appears to be a smooth orb of well shaped marble with some gashes and scars along its surface. Closer inspection would reveal countless layers of shining blue runes that run rings around the surface. Though knowledge of exactly what these sigils do has been forgotten, the Plague Hunters theorize that they grant Nugatha many of its flight and stealth capabilities. To enter Nugatha, one must have knowledge of specific teleportation spells or rituals. These magics allow for, at most, ten people to be transported within the perfectly straight and pale halls of the orb. Despite its size, most of the chambers within are rather small, as the original designer wanted as much space as possible for the many purposes Nugatha would serve. Those being study, sleeping, experimentation, storage, and of course, healing. Though patients almost always depart the orb unharmed, many are unnerved by the almost oppressive silence and cleanliness enforced upon the structure's interior. No life forms that the Plague Hunters do not allow within Nugatha are permitted to exist, not even insects. They will not accept a danger to their patients, themselves, or the many diseases that they keep locked away within their vaults.

Purpose / Function

Nugatha is meant to act as both a base of operations and a hospital. Over half of the sphere is composed of living quarters, rooms for the sick, laboratories to study diseases, and libraries containing tomes and scrolls on how best to combat nearly every known form of illness. Yet it also contains armouries, a war room, and chambers housing golems that the Plague Hunters will unleash if the need arises. Safety is necessary when pursuing the goal of Pathogen's Bane, and Nugatha has seen battle against vile yet extremely dangerous foes.

Design

Though the exterior and much of the interior is made of stone, many of the chambers meant to house the sick are layered in a fine, colourless filament. This weave, known as Blood Catcher to the Plague Hunters, helps contain each individual room. More than that, the Catcher will shift colour to indicate what it has caught. Dark green for an unknown substance, light green for a known substance, red for bodily fluids, and yellow if it makes contact with an invisible creature. Patients and apprentices who have come to reside within Nugath remark, often nervously, that it feels like they're living or operating within some sort of strange cocoon. The Catcher threads will undulate, flow and weave off the walls, ceiling, and floor in an effort to actively search for materials if a Hunter within the chamber demands it so.

Denizens

The Plague Hunters are the most well known occupants of Nugath. Yet they cannot possibly hope to fulfill their mission on their own. To help facilitate their efforts, they often recruit worthy individuals from the places they visit. The most prestigious and desired position is that of an apprentice to a Hunter. They will act as assistants and students, aiding their masters when they are not being instructed in the ways of restorative biomancy. In time, should the apprentice prove worthy, they will rise to become a Hunter themselves, joining the ranks of this driven order. Of course wizards are not enough to keep their structure afloat, nor everyone alive. Artisans of all sorts are brought aboard for a variety of purposes. Creating and maintaining the equipment, cooking meals, seeing to the stability of the structure, as well as countless other purposes that are required. Mostly they draw these recruits from the grateful families of individuals they saved, or even patients who possess a useful skill. They even bring aboard healers from the settlements they visit, educating them and learning from them in turn, and allowing them to either stay or return to the world with new knowledge. Because of this, the Ill Bane has become a settlement unto its self, with each successive addition to the population adding to or changing the culture of Nugath.

Valuables

Many settlements that Nugath has visited have offered up treasures and valuables as a reward for their service. The Plague Hunters turn away all monetary offerings, though they do accept any magical artifacts that they come across. Their main purpose in accepting such items is to see if they bear any enchantments that can be repurposed for their efforts. One example would be a hammer enchanted with flame runes, which the Plague Hunters learned from in order to create knives and scalpels capable of altering their temperature. Another purpose is to have an armoury of weapons should the need arise for Nugath to defend itself. While admittedly acquiring a trove of arcane wealth over time would only incentivize possible attackers, the Plague Hunters remain wizards at heart, and cannot turn away interesting objects to place on their shelves.

Hazards & Traps

In the most well guarded vaults of Nugath rests the Affliction Cage. Here, in seven layers of dark iron, enchanted stone, adamantine gates and under near constant magical surveillance rests the diseases that have been cured by the Nugathians in the past. Whether it be corpses, body parts or liquid samples, the Plague Hunters maintain a secretive but fiercely protective guard over the strains that they have defeated in the past. The purpose in keeping them in existence at all is to allow for their highest ranking members to study them and perhaps learn something that can help cure a currently uncontained strain. That, and there is a hidden vanity for maintaining them. Some among the Plague Hunters view these as their most dangerous trophies, to show that they will make progress to achieving their ultimate goal. The inherent risk in keeping them around is not lost on most of them however, and so they make certain that few know about the Affliction Cage.

History

Though the exact origins of Nugatha are lost within the mists of time, a legend has been passed down by the Plague Hunters. There was a woman, remembered only Pathogen's Bane, studying within the holy orders in hopes of curing the sick. But she stumbled upon the writings of an impossibly ancient necromancer, Reyzuul Arnon, and lost herself in the anatomical and arcane texts. She immediately abandoned her faithful vocation, apprenticed herself to a wizard, and set out to pursue what she called "Biological Necromancy". In time, she either found or created Nugatha with the help of her cabal that became known as the Plague Hunters, and took to the skies. The Bane died of old age, for it is a tenant of the Plague Hunters to extend one's own natural life. They believe that to do so while their flesh is still flawed and vulnerable would be to perpetuate the weaknesses within their bodies. Nugatha then wandered the skies of the world, but its good intentions would not go unchallenged. Many demons, warlords and even other necromancers saw the Restoring Sun either as a threat or a potential treasure trove of valuable knowledge. Many times the Plague Hunters have had to take up their war scythes and fight to preserve both Nugatha and the dream it represents. While the Ill Hunter remains to this day, it bears the scars of these conflicts upon its hull. One series of engagement was so disastrous that Nugatha was nearly claimed by a court of wizards. The resulting battles to free the orb saw many wounds inflicted upon its surface, and invaluable tomes of history and biomancy lost. Some theorize that the reason Nugatha has not been seen in the greater world is because that it may still be recovering from this ancient conflict.

Alternative Names

The Cure Sphere, The Restoring Sun, The Ill Hunter