Kul-Tha: A Xoroa Colony

Kul-Tha, A Xoroa Colony (#23/30; #113/365)

Out on the sandy floor of the desert, some distance north-east from Dust Town, and equidistant from several raid-able trade routes, a sun-dried dome of clay rises to dominate the surrounding dunes. This is Kul-Tha, a XOROA colony, home to some 500 of the ant-like centaurs, with worker drones milling about performing a multitude of manual tasks, while spear-wielding warrior castes stand vigilantly on guard. In the depths of the colony, according to local adventurers bragging about being there, are fungus farms, subterranean wells, vaults full of plundered loot from lost caravans, and a central chamber harbouring the Xoroa Queen, Al-Tunus the Strong (good hearing, scheming), a dedicated high priestess of the Ant Goddess Xoromik, and a keen strategist looking to advance Xoroa primacy within this trouble-torn region.

Kul-Tha has thus become a sort of rival Dust Town for the insectoid, arachnid and crustacean peoples that lurk in these sand-blown fringe lands. One may wander down the underworld colonades of Kul-Tha, and rub shoulders or chitin with a myriad of people, including Drougs, Weevil-Men, Exo-beasts and others, while in dark temples weird priests summon up demonic servitors in the form of ISHKARIM and the ACCURSED! On the fringes of Kul-Tha lurk the scavengers and parasites, Ant Symbiotes, Aardwolves, Giant Antlions, Sand Squid, and so on. Some brave souls, such as Black Elves, entrepreneurial Orcs, Desert Elves and the odd human, trade with Kul-Tha, but the click-based language of the Xoroa must be learned with great care and dedication, for the slightest mispronunciation can result in instant carnage.