Protodimension: Mercurial

Protodimension: Mercurial

Type: Splinterland

Discontinuity: 2

Assimilation Effect Value: 40

Mercurial is a minor splinterland of desolate beauty.  Upon first glance, it is an endless world of metallic mountains, hills, pools and oceans.  The beauty is mesmerizing to some.  However, it is as beautiful as it is deadly.  Some believe that this world was once a full sized Earth-like world that was consumed by a dimensional being made of metal, while others believe it was a dark lord’s experiment gone wrong.  All theories aside, the truth is probably more complicated than anyone could imagine.

Mercurial is a world of living metal.  This living metal exists in varied states – liquid, semi-solid and solid.  There are several different metallic types in this dimension, dividing the world into four primary factions – Chromes, Coppers, Golds, and Irons.  Each metallic type has a central hive mind and can form various metallic beings to do its bidding.  These metallic factions are far from unified.  They have fought many wars of domination over their world and are currently in a state of cold war.  Only the prospect of new power would spark a new war, like a gateway to another world.

The living metal of this world consumes anything and everything organic.  Upon touch, a being is slowly absorbed and transformed into an infected golem slave, the victim’s mental capacities completely taken over by a new consciousness loyal to one metallic faction or another.  These infected golems then become a carrier for the living metal, which will infect anything organic it touches.  Assimilation in this dimension represents naturally converting to this living metal and is usually very painful as well as mentally terrifying as the hive mind (of the nearest faction) begins to take over.

Each metallic hive mind can also produce its own mercurial golem to serve the same function of an infected golem.  If an infected or mercurial golem were to infect another world, it must stay in contact with the hive mind through an open gate or eventually disintegrate.  The only way to cut that connection is to close whatever gate it came through.  A mercurial golem’s primary goal is to infect enough of the world to allow the central hive mind to transfer from Mercurial to the new world.  How much is enough is not known.

The hive minds can also spawn “pocket minds” to create “metallic mind servants” – fully intelligent beings that serve the hive mind wherever it is needed.  These metallic mind servants along with the infected or mercurial golem drones have been known to venture out into the dimensions for short recon missions.  While on these missions, the metallic mind servants maintain the golems but neither are able to infect the world unless a gate is open to Mercurial.

While in the service to a metallic mind servant, the golems can spawn smaller drone creatures or form into any shape needed.  While alone, the golems remain in a single initial form created by the hive mind.

{Stats for these minions are left to the Game Master}