Nowhere Land is not just a collection of dungeons and monsters—it's a living world. Domains have ecosystems that sustain (or devour) their inhabitants. Settlements rise where people find safety, trade, and community. Understanding these systems helps Tricksters create believable worlds and gives players meaningful ways to interact with them.
Unlike the waking world, domain ecology doesn't always follow natural laws. A domain's ecosystem reflects its Partisan's nature, its philosophical core, and the strange logic that governs it. Yet patterns emerge—energy flows, creatures compete, and balance (however strange) is maintained.
Why Ecology Matters
Understanding domain ecology helps answer key questions:
- What do creatures eat? And what eats them?
- Where do resources come from? And who controls them?
- Why do settlements exist here? What sustains them?
- What happens if balance is disrupted? Consequences of player actions.
Each domain has an ecological signature—a pattern of life, energy, and consumption that defines how creatures and resources interact within it.
Ecological Types
Generative Ecology
The domain produces more than it consumes. Resources regenerate, creatures multiply, plants grow abundantly. Often found in domains of creation, growth, or abundance. Examples: The Verdant Tangle, domains of fertility deities.
Balanced Ecology
Input roughly equals output. Sustainable but static. Change is slow, and disruption has lasting consequences. Examples: The Clockwork Citadel, domains with established order.
Consumptive Ecology
The domain consumes more than it produces. Resources deplete, creatures compete fiercely, everything is scarce. Often dying or parasitic.Examples: The Bone Gardens, domains of entropy.
Paradox Ecology
Normal ecological rules don't apply. Creatures may not need food, resources may be concepts, energy may flow backwards.Examples: The Mirror Labyrinth, domains of abstraction.
Ecological Health
Track a domain's ecological health from 1-10:
- 1-2 (Dying): Barren, hostile, resources nearly gone. Survival checks +4 TN.
- 3-4 (Stressed): Scarce resources, aggressive creatures. Survival +2 TN.
- 5-6 (Stable): Normal conditions. Standard Survival TNs.
- 7-8 (Thriving): Abundant resources, diverse life. Survival -2 TN.
- 9-10 (Overgrown): Explosive growth, may be overwhelming. Unique hazards.
Even in magical domains, something has to eat. Understanding food chains helps predict creature behavior and create realistic encounters.
Domain Food Chain Layers
Producers (Base Layer)
What generates energy? Plants, crystals, ambient magic, domain emanations, or the Partisan's will itself. Without producers, the domain starves.
Primary Consumers
What feeds on producers? Herbivores, scavengers, energy-feeders, creatures that harvest the domain's baseline resources.
Secondary Consumers
Predators that hunt primary consumers. Often the "common enemy" tier—dangerous but manageable with preparation.
Apex Predators
Top of the chain. May be unique creatures, domain champions, or the Partisan's direct servants. Few in number but extremely dangerous.
Decomposers
What recycles death? Fungi, spirits, void entities, or scavenger creatures. Essential for domain renewal.
Example: Bone Gardens Ecology
| Producers | Bone-coral that absorbs ambient death energy; memory-moss that feeds on echoes of the dead |
| Primary Consumers | Grave beetles, marrow worms, echo-moths that consume memory-moss |
| Secondary Consumers | Bone hounds, corpse birds, lesser revenants |
| Apex Predators | Ossuary Golems, the Grave Gardener's Champions |
| Decomposers | Void slugs that dissolve remains back into energy; silence-fungus |
Example: Egregore Ecology
Egregore-dominated domains are uniquely self-sustaining. The collective psychic organism is the ecosystem—belief flows upward through the chain just as nutrients flow in biological ecologies.
| Producers | Belief-spores: ambient psychic particles shed by dreamers, worshippers, and the recently deceased. Ideation moss grows on surfaces where strong convictions were expressed. |
| Primary Consumers | Thought-mites: tiny Tulpa that feed on stray ideas. Whisper-moths that pollinate between belief clusters. Echo-lichen that absorbs residual prayer. |
| Secondary Consumers | Lesser Egregores (household gods, brand mascots, urban legends). They feed on the psychic throughput of primary consumers and redirect belief toward dominant narratives. |
| Apex Predators | Greater Egregores (religions, ideologies, movements). They consume lesser Egregores or co-opt their worship. The Blob occupies this tier—a grief-Egregore that absorbs all emotional throughput in its vicinity. |
| Decomposers | Doubt-worms: they eat dead ideologies and forgotten faiths, breaking crystallized belief back into raw psychic particles. Cynicism-fungus accelerates the process. |
Domains produce resources that settlements need to survive. Controlling resources means controlling power.
Resource Categories
Sustenance
Food, water, and breathable atmosphere. Without these, settlements die. Most domains provide these naturally; hostile domains may not.
Materials
Wood, stone, metal, cloth. Building and crafting materials. Availability determines what can be constructed.
Energy
Fuel, magic, domain essence. Powers industry, Potentials, and supernatural effects. May be ambient or require harvesting.
Exotics
Domain-specific materials, rare ingredients, unique substances. Trade goods, crafting components, quest objectives.
Psychic Residue
Crystallised emotion, belief-matter, dream-sediment. Found in domains with high Egregore or Echolalia populations. Can be refined into Anima-enhancing elixirs, Tulpa-binding ink, or emotional wards. Harvesting is ethically fraught—the residue often belongs to someone's grief, joy, or faith.
Psychic Residue Grades:
- • Raw: Unrefined emotional discharge. Unstable. May cause mood swings if handled barehanded.
- • Distilled: Processed through an Egregore filter. Stable, tradeable. 1 unit = 10 Ledger credits.
- • Crystalline: Rare. Pure belief solidified into gemstone. Permanent +1 Anima if consumed (one-time use). Side effect: the consumer dreams the original emotion's context for 1d6 nights.
Resource Availability by Terrain
| Terrain | Food | Water | Materials | Exotics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forest | High | Medium | High (wood) | Medium |
| Plains | Medium | Low | Low | Low |
| Mountains | Low | Medium | High (stone/ore) | High |
| Coast | High | Low (fresh) | Medium | Medium |
| Desert | Very Low | Very Low | Low | High |
| Ruins | Low | Variable | High (salvage) | High |
Where resources exist, people gather. Settlements in Nowhere Land range from desperate camps to thriving cities, each shaped by its domain and its people.
Settlement Scale
Camp (5-20 people)
Temporary gathering. No permanent structures. May be refugees, travelers, or nomads. Minimal services.
Outpost (20-100 people)
Small permanent settlement. Basic shelter, one specialty (trading post, guard station, shrine). Limited services.
Village (100-500 people)
Established community. Multiple professions, local leadership, basic infrastructure. Most common settlement type.
Town (500-2,000 people)
Regional center. Walls or defenses, market, multiple services, organized governance. May control surrounding territory.
City (2,000+ people)
Major power center. Complex infrastructure, multiple districts, significant military/economic/political power. Domain capitals.
Hosmmes Enclave (50-300 Hosmmes)
A bone-folk settlement built from and within the remains of larger creatures or collapsed structures. Hosmmes Enclaves are non-human settlements with alien social structures—leadership determined by which Hosmme has the most intact skeleton, disputes resolved by bone-wrestling, and architecture that is literally alive (walls rearrange as inhabitants shift their bones).
Enclave Features:
- • Bone Market: Trade in bones, marrow, and calcium-rich materials. Hosmmes value completeness—a full skeleton is worth more than gold.
- • The Ossuary: Central structure where the collective bones of the dead are stored. Functions as temple, library, and government building.
- • Marrow Forge: Crafting station where Hosmmes create tools, weapons, and art from bone. Produces unique items unavailable elsewhere.
- • Le Grand Hosmme's Throne: If a Grand Hosmme rules the Enclave, its throne room is the ribcage of a Colostles, still faintly warm.
Hosmmes Enclaves are not hostile by default—many welcome trade with "fleshed ones." But they are deeply territorial about their dead. Disturbing the Ossuary is the gravest offence.
Use these guidelines to quickly generate settlements for your domain.
Settlement Generation Steps
- Determine Scale: How big is the settlement?
- Identify Foundation: Why does this settlement exist here? (resources, defense, trade, religion, domain feature)
- Define Character: What makes this place distinctive? (culture, architecture, specialty, problem)
- Establish Leadership: Who's in charge? (individual, council, factions, external power)
- Create Tension: What conflict simmers beneath the surface?
- Add Details: Notable locations, NPCs, current events.
Settlement Foundation (d12)
| 1 | Resource Extraction: Mining, logging, harvesting domain materials |
| 2 | Trade Crossroads: Junction of routes, neutral ground, market |
| 3 | Defensive Position: Natural fortress, chokepoint, refuge |
| 4 | Religious Site: Shrine, pilgrimage destination, sacred ground |
| 5 | Portal Proximity: Near a portal, gateway to other domains |
| 6 | Partisan Favor: Protected by or serving a Partisan |
| 7 | Refugee Gathering: Survivors of collapse, exiles, outcasts |
| 8 | Agricultural Bounty: Fertile land, reliable water, farming |
| 9 | Craft Specialty: Unique product, master artisans, monopoly |
| 10 | Knowledge Repository: Library, archive, academy |
| 11 | Ancient Ruins: Built on/in older structures, salvage economy |
| 12 | Domain Anomaly: Unique phenomenon attracts settlers |
What a settlement offers depends on its size and prosperity.
Services by Settlement Size
| Service | Camp | Outpost | Village | Town | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lodging | — | Basic | Inn | Multiple | Many |
| Supplies | Trade | Basic | General | Specialty | Extensive |
| Healing | — | Herbalist | Healer | Hospital | Advanced |
| Crafting | — | Repair | Smithy | Multiple | Guilds |
| Information | Gossip | Rumors | Local | Regional | Archives |
| Training | — | — | Basic | Good | Masters |
| Banking | — | — | — | Money Changers | Banks |
Notable Locations
Most settlements have these, scaled to size:
- Gathering Place: Tavern, square, well—where news spreads
- Authority Center: Chief's hall, mayor's office, garrison
- Trade Area: Market, trading post, merchant quarter
- Spiritual Site: Shrine, church, sacred grove
- Dangerous District: Slums, thieves' quarter, abandoned section
Every settlement has power dynamics. Understanding them helps players navigate social situations and find allies (or make enemies).
Power Structures
Autocracy
Single ruler (chief, lord, partisan-appointed). Fast decisions, clear authority, but depends on ruler's wisdom.
Council
Group leadership (elders, guild masters, faction heads). Slower decisions, broader representation, compromise-driven.
Theocracy
Religious authority (priests, oracles, partisan servants). Decisions based on doctrine or revelation.
Anarchy/Consensus
No formal government (common in camps, some outposts). Decisions made by group agreement or not at all.
External Rule
Governed from outside (garrison, colonial outpost, tributary). Local needs often secondary to external demands.
Settlement Tensions (d10)
| 1 | Resource scarcity—competition for limited supplies |
| 2 | Leadership dispute—multiple claimants to power |
| 3 | External threat—monsters, rivals, domain instability |
| 4 | Cultural clash—newcomers vs. established, old vs. young |
| 5 | Hidden corruption—secret faction, infiltrators, parasites |
| 6 | Economic strain—debt, trade collapse, exploitation |
| 7 | Religious conflict—rival faiths, heresy, lost faith |
| 8 | Past trauma—massacre survivors, plague recovery, betrayal |
| 9 | Partisan attention—domain ruler making demands or threats |
| 10 | Mysterious phenomenon—strange events, unexplained changes |
Settlements don't exist in isolation—they're part of a domain's ecosystem. The domain affects them, and they affect the domain.
Settlement-Domain Relationship
Consider how the settlement and domain interact:
Harmony: Settlement aligns with domain nature. Partisan approves or ignores them. Stability, but limited independence.
Exploitation: Settlement extracts domain resources. May anger the domain/Partisan. Risk of retaliation or resource depletion.
Resistance: Settlement actively opposes domain nature. Constant struggle, but maintains distinct identity.
Symbiosis: Settlement and domain benefit each other. Rare, valuable, and worth protecting.
Settlement Fate Clock
For settlements under threat, use a 6-segment clock to track their fate:
- 0-1 Segments: Normal operations, minor concerns
- 2-3 Segments: Visible stress, people leaving, services declining
- 4-5 Segments: Crisis mode, desperate measures, major disruption
- 6 Segments: Collapse, evacuation, transformation, or destruction
Player actions can add or remove segments. Ignoring problems adds segments over time.
Populate Your Ecology: Functional Niches & Flora
The Ecological Web system extends basic ecology into five functional niches — Keystone, Predator, Scavenger, Symbiont, and Opportunist — each with specific ecological roles, zone affinities, and story hooks.
Also includes a Flora Catalog system for designing domain-specific plants with ecological functions, symbolic meanings, and mechanical effects.