Majlis al-Jinn
Staying in the "desert mood", I want to present you the second largest cave on earth, the Majlis al-Jinn.
It means the "gathering place of the Djinns". How could we leave out this place 😊?
This gigantic cave under the plateaus of the Oman desert is a single chamber measuring about 310 metres by 225 metres (over 6 soccer fields of base surface!)
From above
It actually looks like 3 black holes in the ground, nowhere anybody sane would like to get it (unless a loved one was falling down)
The smallest hole is about 2 meters wide, while the biggest (on the middle of the image) could easily swallow 3 cars at the same time...
From the top, it's difficult to make anything out in the cave, 120 m further down
Inside
Once inside, it's another matter completely: The sun comes through the 3 holes, in fierce rays of light...
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| Photo by Yousef Tuqan: DSC_17 |
Lake?
After a heavy storm, some water can be found in the cave... If the climate outside was more temperate (or at least rainy), this cave could be an extremely big water reservoir or underground lake. No hole leads out, but one might exist, caved in under tons of rubble, allowing excess water to seep through.
Djinns?
In most Arabic legends, free Djinns live in this kind of gigantic caverns.
It is easy to imagine that a magic force has created these caves, because of their majesty, eerie size, and awe-inspiring proportions.
Typically, Djinns grant wishes, but for a price, and often interpret the wish in the worst way possible. Only the craziest and most desperate persons would seek their help.
1D12 reasons to seek a Djinn
Desperate times call for desperate measures. If you want your player characters to meet a Djinn, you need to prepare them for the encounter:
- have an NPC tell them where to find a Djinn and how dangerous they are
- Put the characters in a very bad situation (see table)
- Apply pressure until they have no other choice left ("there are times where all choices are bad choices"). Have their allies arrested, or obligated to lay low. Attack their finances (you don't have to take their finances away, just make them temporarily worthless, like coins from an enemy kingdom). Have the authorities and the sultan's men track them. Don't let them sleep or heal their wounds. Let them go to daddy-Djinn...
| D12 | Reasons to seek a Djinn |
|---|---|
| 1 | A character in the group died, and no clergy will or can perform a resurrection |
| 2 | The love of your life has been kidnapped and no one else can find out their location |
| 3 | A curse has been bestowed on a party member and its state is worsening by the hour |
| 4 | A ransom for someone important to the party has been issued, but how should they find that much money? |
| 5 | An important object was lost in Aether by the destruction of a bag of holding. Who else could locate it? |
| 6 | A character caught the Sandplague. Their heart will soon start to turn into sand, if not cured... |
| 7 | A dangerous cult think you are the perfect sacrifice to their dark deity. You need a new identity |
| 8 | A party member killed the beloved Sultan's son by mistake. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide |
| 9 | A caught spy gave your names as its accomplices'. And you thought he was just a resourceful guide |
| 10 | The captain of the ship that brought to the city is accused of piracy. You arrrrr now hunted as pirates |
| 11 | Someone paid a big bounty to have the best assassin in the known world chasing your party |
| 12 | You need passage to the City of Brass, where many Djinns & Efreets live |
What could the Djinn want from you
| D12 | Compensation for a Djinn's service |
|---|---|
| 1 | The fiery part of your soul. You can't be resurrected without it |
| 2 | Your ability to love |
| 3 | Your reputation. You will always get defamed ever after |
| 4 | Your firstborn. Beware of the Djinn's wrath if you made a vow of chastity |
| 5 | All your good memories of your parents. You keep the bad ones, though |
| 6 | Kill someone very near to you in the future, when asked for it |
| 7 | A quest to set free an innocent spirit. But, can an Efreet really be innocent ? |
| 8 | Kill a minor god of a small pantheon and bring back their divine essence |
| 9 | Bring them back the heart of the Emir's young daughter, literally |
| 10 | Give away some of your life experience (yeah, you'll loose levels) |
| 11 | Give away 33 years of your life expectancy (or considerably more for longer living races) |
| 12 | Your ability to read and to ever be able to learn it again (not proposed to barbarians) |
What else could the cave be?
- The mating ground of sandworms / sand dragons
- The pit in which all the dead are thrown - a necromancer's wet dream
- The entrance to the tomb of Pharao-King Psamtik 66th
- The Hall of grievances of the Wraith-King of the desert (only appears when the full moon shines vertically over the main hole)
- A refuge for the sand giants, before they disappeared
- The antechamber to a circle of teleportation, hidden under the rubble
- the brooding ground of a serpentkin race
- A ruined stonelift to the underworld
- The place of worship nearest to the body of a slumbering non-euclidean chtonian entity
- An abandoned Mythril mine. Maybe there's ore left?
- The nearly depleted quarry for the bood-stone pyramid
- The temple where all the known true names of demons where engraved in the walls
Community
From outer space games on Facebook
This is really cool! So many possibilities.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot !
ReplyDeleteThere is still one in the "middle east" mini-series in this section coming, which is always nice for "Dark Sun" or "Al Qadim" kind of games...