On Ku, supernatural beings are called Tupua. The word is derived from the various languages of the Pacific Islander (e.g. Polynesian) meaning Spirit or supernatural being (source). The vast majority of them use this word.
The only exception are the Kupua (from Hawaiian). These are the greatest or most important of deities. They are represented by the twin suns and the four moons. All Tupua are subordinates, willingly or unwillingly to this celestial family.
On each island in the Great Archipelago resides one or more Tupua. The reasons for this are mysterious, although many peoples have their own mythical explanations. As an aside, the final Island World book will include a list of popular rumors about this topic, and it will be up to each reader (GM or player) to pick the ones that they like best.
In the book, I’ll also include an extensive list of pre-made Tupua for those who want to just wing it. But for those who wish to make up their own, I will be including the following tables for inspiration or for randomly generating new ones.
I will add more subtables to flesh out the Domains and Appearance column items. 🙂
Tupua Generation : Table 1
You can roll once for each column, or multiple times. Or just choose the ones that you want. I definitely recommend rolling at least twice in the Appearance table (for fiery humans, floating trees, electrical, three eyed sharks etc...).1D10 | Type | Element | Domain | Appearance |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Elemental | Fire | Nature | Humanoid |
2 | Mythical Flora | Water | Human Endeavor | Land Fauna |
3 | Mythical Fauna | Earth | Personal | Aquatic Fauna |
4 | Undead | Air | Celestial | Flying Fauna |
5 | Demon | Light | Magic | Land Flora |
6 | Ancient Mortal | Darkness | Weather | Aquatic Flora |
7 | Mythical Mortal | Sound | Time | Formless |
8 | Demi-Deity | Thought | Creation | Bizarre |
9 | Deity | Life | Destruction | Energy |
10 | Cosmic Entity | Death | Senses | Matter |
Tupua Generation : Table 2, Domain Sub-Table A
This table includes more specific examples of the Domains listed in Table 1. A Domain is what the Tupua represents and over that which they have mastery. Most of their abilities and magic relate to their Domain. The items seperated by a slash ("/") mean chose one or the other, or both (they are not always mutually exclusive: many Tupua have a special duality to their Domain).1D10 | Nature | Human Endeavour | Personal | Celestial |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Land fauna | Wealth / Power | Love / Lust | Sun (one or both) |
2 | Aquatic fauna | Knowledge / Wisdom | Courage / Fear | Moon (one or all) |
3 | Flying fauna | Travel / Exploration | Generosity / Greed | Ku (the world) |
4 | Land flora | Craft / Artistry | Loyalty / Betrayal | Star (one or a constellation) |
5 | Aquatic flora | War / Combat | Empathy / Apathy | Comet / Asteroid |
6 | The Sea | Leadership / Order | Pride / Envy | The Void / Emptyness |
7 | The Sky | Tyranny / Chaos | Fidelity / Adultery | Another planet |
8 | The Land | Athleticism / Expertise | Abstinence / Indulgence | The Solar System |
9 | The Wastes | Justice / Vengeance | Friendship / Hatred | The Galaxy |
10 | The Abyss | Peace / Prosperity | Hope / Despair | The Cosmos |
Source of featured image: http://drawsigner.com/2013/10/28/tiki-designs/ . Island World will not use any work by other artist but myself and material that is Open License or Public Domain.