Nevernever Locale: The Blossom Of Flame

[Sanctaphrax]

The border between the lands of Summer and Muspelheim contains many interesting areas. Perhaps the most hospitable of these lands is The Blossom Of Flame.

The Blossom Of Flame resembles an enormous garden of extraordinary beauty. The ground is covered with colourful flowers and lush grass, while trees bursting with fruit dot the gentle hillsides. Blooming lillypads coat the surface of every pond and river. Iridescent butterflies flutter through the air. Grapevines run up and down artfully-placed trellises. Altogether, the land looks like a work of art.

There's only one thing that makes The Blossom Of Flame different from the stereotypical Faerie paradise.

Everything is on fire.

Seriously, everything. The trees are on fire, the grass is on fire, the lillypads are on fire, the grapevines are on fire, the flowers are on fire, and so on. Even the fruit and grapes from the trees and vines burn when you bite into them. The fires burn in every colour of the rainbow, enhancing the beauty of The Blossom's display rather than detracting from it. The world seems to be made out of flames, which is actually a lot more pleasant than it sounds. If you are fireproof, this is a great place to be.

It should be noted that the fires of The Blossom seem to do no damage to the native flora and fauna.

The Blossom Of Flame is ruled by The Eight Gardeners. The Eight Gardeners are powerful Summer fey who hold dominion over forest fires. They've spent the past millenium making The Blossom as beautiful as possible. This has brought them a great deal of respect from others in the Summer Court who appreciate their work, and that in turn gives them a decent bit of political pull.

Portals open between The Blossom Of Fire and Earth when a truly beautiful plant burns. Fey come through these portals to collect materials for the expansion of The Eight Gardeners' work, which sometimes causes mortals to follow them and end up in The Blossom. Few of those mortals live long.

Most of the beings that visit The Blossom are Summer fey who want to see the sights. However, some brave souls travel through these lands in order to get to Muspelheim.

[Sanctaphrax]

Game Information:

The Blossom is a dangerous place for the non-fireproof. The environment makes a fire-based attack of Good intensity against your Endurance (modified by Survival) every few minutes. There are many areas in The Blossom that are more dangerous than that, but that's the baseline.

The Blossom is a work of art. Most parts of it are at approximately Epic quality. Aspects like BEAUTIFUL and AWE-INSPIRING are common.

As you may have gathered, fire works differently in The Blossom. It burns hotter, longer, and more colourfully. This imposes an aspect of ENHANCED BURNING on all firearms, all vehicles with combustion engines, and all other things that involve the use of fire. If discovered with an appropriate roll, this aspect can be tagged to boost performace. It can also be compelled to make things malfunction or explode.

Fire evocations, flamethrowers and other flame-based weapons add 2 to their weapon ratings in The Blossom. Attacks with such weapons also sometimes linger after use to create zone-wide environmental hazards.

[Sanctaphrax]

Flame Butterflies were created by The Eight Gardeners as living ornaments for The Blossom. They're quite good at their job, but being surrounded by others who are equally good at it has given them an unhealthy need for admiration. Flame Butterflies will do their utmost to impress visitors, and woe betide he who puts them down. Such a person will likely find that Flame Butterflies are military of The Blossom as well as its decorations.

Flame Butterfly (On The Beach)

High Concept: Firey Faerie Butterfly
Other Aspects: Living Ornament, I'm The Prettiest!, Sapient But Dumb, Wings Of Flame
Skills:
Good: Performance, Weapons
Fair: Alertness, Athletics, Deceit
Average: Rapport, Empathy, Presence
Stunts:
Such Beauty! (Performance): May use Performance to make first impressions.
Such Grace! (Performance): +2 to Performance for first impressions.
Such Glory! (Performance): May attempt to make a good first impression in combat and other normally inappropriate situations.
Powers:
Breath Weapon [-2]
Wings [-1]
Diminutive Size [-1]
Light Source [-0]
Dangerous Mutual Damage Shield [-3] (See custom power thread)
Physical Immunity [-8]
The Catch (Fire only) [+6]
Total Refresh Cost:
-12
Refresh Total:
-8

[Sanctaphrax]

Waldbrand Walkers are the personal servants and pets of The Eight Gardeners. They are the ones sent out to gather material for The Blossom, and they are the most powerful weapons that The Eight Gardeners can bring to bear if worst comes to worst. They're reluctant to do so, though, because these creatures are not easy to replace.

A Waldbrand Walker resembles a walking tree that just so happens to be constantly on fire.

Waldbrand Walker (Feet In The Water)

High Concept: Faerie Of Forest Fires
Other Aspects: Do Not Touch, Heavy Lifter, Made Of Burning Wood, Gardener's Pet
Skills:
Great: Might
Good: Fists, Endurance
Fair: Survival, Intimidation, Alertness
Average: Athletics, Investigation, Lore, Presence
Stunts:
Burning Grasp (Might): Inflict +1 stress in a grapple.
Take The Hit (Endurance): Defend against attacks with Endurance.
Powers:
Hulking Size [-2]
Fire Consumes All [-1] (Reflavoured Blood Drinker)
Lethal Conductive Mutual Damage Shield [-5]
Supernatural Strength [-4]
Inhuman Toughness [-2]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
The Catch (Cold iron, fire extinguishers) [+3]
Physical Immunity [-8]
The Catch (Fire only) [+6]
Total Refresh Cost:
-20
Refresh Total:
-14

[Sanctaphrax]

And here's the big boss. Gardeners normally carry sickles or scythes that act as weapons and as foci.

If these guys seem overpowered, then it's not just you. 12 refresh is a lot for a mook, and a ruling council of eight 23-refresh 40-skill point beings is pretty impressive for a not-especially important area of the Nevernever.

The thing is, I need to threaten my ludicrously overpowered group. It's either this or serious min-maxing if I want to do that in a straight fight.

Gardener (Snorkelling)

High Concept: Master Of The Blossom Of Flame
Other Aspects: Glass Cannon, Great Artist, Faerie Friends, Dominion Over Forest Fires, I Can Burn Like The Sun If I So Choose
Skills:
Superb: Performance, Conviction
Great: Discipline, Presence, Contacts
Good: Lore, Weapons, Endurance
Fair: Athletics, Alertness, Intimidation
Average: Survival, Craftsmanship, Empathy
Stunts:
Gardening Is An Art (Performance): Use Performance to garden.
Green Thumb (Performance): +2 to Performance when gardening.
Summer Sidhe (Contacts): +2 to Contacts among Summer faeries.
Lord Of The Blossom (Contacts): May use Contacts to hire beings.
Loyal Minions (Contacts): May use Contacts to declare presence of Flame Butterflies and Waldbrand Walkers.
Leadership (Presence): +1 to lead, leading is one time increment faster.
Powers:
Summer Magic [-4]
Refinement [-2]
Inhuman Strength [-2]
Inhuman Speed [-2]
Inhuman Toughness [-2]
Inhuman Recovery [-2]
The Catch (Cold iron, fire extinguishers) [+3]
Physical Immunity [-8]
The Catch (Fire only) [+6]
Human Form [+1] affecting:
Lethal Conductive Mutual Damage Shield [-5]
Total Refresh Cost:
-23
Refresh Total:
-10

[Blackblade]

Oh, boy. 

[Belial666]

I wonder if we can get Newtex 3000 fire-entry suits. They protect from high radiant heat of up to 1650°C, total flame up to 1093°C and ambient heat up to 815°C. Wearing one of these, you could sit inside a major forest fire, sit around rivers of magma for some time and put your hand in molten iron (or aforementioned rivers of magma) for a few moments and still have a hand afterwards.

[Sanctaphrax]

Fire-resistant suits are going to be available. I'm thinking armour 3 for them. Wearing them over normal clothing (see: Robes Of The Dark Path) will likely create a compellable aspect that reflects the awkwardness of that situation.

So does anyone who doesn't have to escort a caravan of diplomats through this place have anything to say?

[Sanctaphrax]

This location has been added to the wiki.

Link: http://dfrpg-resources.wikispaces.com/Nevernever+Location+The+Blossom+Of+Flame