TABLE OF CONTENTS

Table of Contents................................................................... 1
Crakateg ................................................................................ 2
A City of Metal ............................................................................... 2
The Ghost in the Machine .......................................................... 2
The Listing ..................................................................................... 2
People of Crakateg.........................................................................3
Morters.......................................................................................3
Harvesters .................................................................................3
Gear Priests .............................................................................. 4
Deniers ...................................................................................... 4

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1
CRAKATEG
The Lost Arc, the Listing Place
Mired in ennui, travelers to Crakateg face not death but
spiritual decay. Their missions forgotten, hope abandoned,
they become part of the machine of the forlorn city,
spinning their gears for no discernable purpose. A few
know the truth—that the wreckage of this master-crafted
city houses the spirit of an eldritch being—but soon
enough, all who come to Crakateg find that the worst kind
of madness is seeing unfathomable truth, then giving up.
Crakateg, the Listing Place, is all that remains of a ring-
shaped city that held open a portal to the Astral Plane.
When the portal collapsed, so too did the city; violent
astral winds hurtled its remnants to the farthest reaches of
Wildspace. The Gear Quarter (Crakateg in Gnomish)
survived the destruction thanks to the quarter’s renowned
artificers, though most abandoned the doomed city before
it faded further into the Black. Those who remained,
however, embraced their isolation to tirelessly tinker and
toil, and one day their greatest creation—a grand machine
at the heart of the broken city—was given life by an entity
from the darkest depths of Wildspace. Now, none leave the
Lost Arc—or want to.
A CITY OF METAL
Visitors of Crakateg are immediately struck by the twisted,
jagged metal form of this listing city. About a mile wide
and several long, it bends in a slight arc, an architectural
vestige of the ring city it once belonged to. Other hints of
Crakateg’s past life as the Gear Quarter remain—towering
wizard towers, clockwork fountains, hollowed-out
magical foundries—but a great shadow (literal and
figurative) hangs over this previous hub of genius and
invention.
Not only marred by the catastrophe that blasted
Crakateg through Wildspace, the city has also become a
place of harvest. Its denizens, who once scrounged
through the wreckage for survival, now do so at the
bidding of an unseen force—the eldritch power they call
2
the Great Machine. Reconfiguring the city’s ancient
structures into geometrically perverse spires and
sculptures, the enthralled inhabitants have made an
unearthly monument of Crakateg.
THE GHOST IN THE MACHINE
The artificers who remained on the Lost Arc repaired their
damaged arcane devices as best they could, but few
resources were spared in the reconstruction and
innovation of the Twilit Spyglass, a telescope that could
peer through the Astral Sea to adjacent pockets of
Wildspace. When the artificers used the improved Twilit
Spyglass, however, they saw nothing—no stars, nor the
colorific radiance that beckons adventurers to Wildspace.
So they further improved upon the telescope, dismantling
other precious creations in the process, and when they
looked through once more, they saw a single distant star.
They iterated on the telescope, diverting all other arcane to
the task, even those to contact whatever fragments
remained of the lost ring-shaped city. All that mattered
was seeing the star clearer. When their obsession with
perfecting their machine could seemingly go no further,
they peered through one final time, and the viridian sun
stared back. Its leer infected the Twilit Spyglass, tethering
a portion of its consciousness to it. Those who spied the
eldritch sun through the telescope could then see its
emerald light in the glowing indicators of their grand
device, flooding their minds with a relentless truth: to
build is to see and know the star in the void. And so they
build, not a telescope, but a home for the mind of the sun.
With each bit of scrap erected as a monument or
semifunctional affectation upon the machine, the mind in
the machine grows, influencing those on Crakateg to
abandon all pursuits except expanding and revering it.
This effect, known as the Listing, bypasses immunity to
charm and threatens all who come to Crakateg.
The Twilit Spyglass, the lens of truth, no longer points
into the void, having become enclosed by the ever-
expanding Great Machine. If one were to let it gaze among
the stars again and peer through it, however, they would
see the sun is not some distant light. It is blazing across
the void and will soon arrive, possessing the stats of a
cosmic horror with the following ability in place of the
poison jet legendary action:
Cosmic Radiance (Costs 2 Actions). Brilliant light emits
from the horror. Each creature within 20 feet of it
succeed on a DC 21 Constitution saving throw or take 14
(4d6) radiant damage and become blinded for 1 round.
THE LISTING
The cosmic consciousness residing in the Great Machine
exerts its influence on all creatures within 1 mile of
Crakateg. Every 12 hours a creature remains in that area, it
must make a DC 10 Wisdom saving throw. The DC of this
saving throw increases by 1 for every 12 hours they spend
in the affected area. (Clever characters may attempt to use
their spelljammer as a base of operations outside of this
area to mitigate the risk of being affected by the Listing.)
On a success, a creature is merely filled with a sense of
unease. On a failure, they gain one level of Listing, the
effects of which are described in the table below. Creatures
with resistance or immunity to charm gain advantage on
these saving throws.
 The pull of the Great Machine is strong; even a slight tug
on the mind is enough to ensure coax an unknowable
loyalty. Those in the early stages of Listing maintain an
element of their will and personality, but they nonetheless
find themselves drawn to take inexplicable actions, from
scraping unknown shapes and glyphs on walls to stacking
objects in ways that seem to defy gravity. Once a creature
reaches the fourth level of Listing, they consciously know
their purpose is to support the creation of the Great
Machine. Those who maintain their wits call these poor
souls Listers.
L ISTING E FFECTS
Level Effect
1 Advantage on ability checks related to building or
creating art. Disadvantage on all other ability checks.
2 Speed halved except when defending the Great
Machine.
3 Disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws except
against enemies of the Great Machine.
4 Charmed by the Great Machine, regardless of immunity
to being charmed.
5 Charmed (regardless of immunity to being charmed) by
the cosmic horror sun approaching Crakateg and
inhabiting the Great Machine.
6 Gain an indefinite madness: “I am a cog in the Great
Machine, and I would die to further its expansion.”
Visitors of Crakateg, whether by choice or circumstance,
must act quickly to not become Listers themselves. Calm
emotions can suppress the effects of the Listing, while
greater restoration reduces a creature’s Listing level by 1.
Ending the Listing is a major task and likely will require
the PCs to ally with those yet unaffected by the Listing.
Defeating the eldritch horror ends the Listing, but such a
confrontation is beyond most characters. Delving into the
Great Machine and destroying the Twilit Spyglass is
another option, and doing so is sure to involve facing a
slew of enemies and traps. Foes within the machine might
include clockwork horrors, crazed Listers (cultists), rogue
STORY OPPORTUNITY
An entire party affected by the Listing does not mean game
over for your campaign. Use this as an opportunity to run a
rescue one-shot where your players play NPCs or temporary
characters to liberate their Listing heroes.
3
modrons, clockwork oaken bolters, clockwork iron
cobras, and other constructs. Once the Twilit Spyglass is
destroyed, the fragment of the cosmic horror’s
consciousness within is freed and attempts to those who
helped destroy the Spyglass. It has the statistics of an allip
but is an abberation (not undead) and has 72 hit points.
(For higher-level parties, use the statistics of a star spawn
seer with an allip’s incorporeal movement trait.) Once the
consciousness is destroyed, the cosmic horror’s psychic
link to Crakateg is severed, ending the Listing. The cosmic
horror, however, may still seek out Crakateg and attempt
to regain its psychic grasp on its inhabitants.
PEOPLE OF CRAKATEG
The majority of Crakateg’s people belong to the Great
Machine, and their society, if it can be called that, reflects
this fact. All that matters is the ceaseless construction of
the Great Machine, and the castes of Crakateg enable this
in their own ways.
MORTERS
These nutrition technicians operate the Great Machine’s
nourishment contraptions, turning organic waste into a
potable if unappetizing slurry called mort. If a character
studies the complex mort-making machinery for more
than 1 hour, a successful DC 17 Intelligence (Arcana) check
reveals that “organic waste” includes the bodies of the
dead. Anyone who arrives at this revelation must succeed
on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be afflicted by a
random short-term madness.
Per the Great Machine’s command, the Morters
confiscate unsanctioned food sources. Creatures that
consume mort have disadvantage on their next saving
throw against the Listing.
A group of modrons arrived in Crakateg many years ago
and have since gone rogue. They are the most passionate
of all the Morters.
HARVESTERS
Building requires materials, and the old Gear Quarter
provides plenty. Harvesters work to dismantle various
pieces of the old city so they can be repurposed by the Gear
Priests and subsumed into the Great Machine. Visitors who
know of Crakateg’s past might assume the piles of debris
throughout the city stem the magical catastrophe that
rocketed Crakateg through Wildspace, when in fact such
refuse is the result of the Harvester’s constant
deconstruction efforts. The largest of the Harvesters is a
cadaver collector that does not hesitate to destroy anyone
it perceives as disrupting the harvest.
GEAR PRIESTS
All others in Crakateg spend their time building in service
of the Great Machine, and the greatest among them—the
Gear Priests—recognize this work as a religious enterprise.
This caste, made up primarily of the Gear Quarter’s
original artificers, leads major building projects that
require arcane skill to complete. Anyone who threatens the
important work of the Great Machine draws the ire of the
Gear Priests, who do not hesitate to send inquisitors
(mages) to root out the threat.
The Gear Priests regularly commune with the
consciousness in the Great Machine to learn its will. They
rightly believe that their building efforts strengthen it, and
the Gear Priest and artificer Gobidivir believes that in
giving his life for the betterment of the Great Machine, he
might allow its spirit to inhabit him. Nearly all the pieces
of the ritual are in place, and should it succeed, Gobidivir’s
body will become an in-the-flesh extension of the cosmic
horror’s mind, gaining the statistics of a star spawn seer.
DENIERS
This is not an official caste in Crakateg but a catchall term
for those who have not succumbed to the Listing.
LOST PRIEST
Isabella Clarion, a knight from the Order of the Divine
Chalice, received a prophetic message about an evil at the
farthest edges of Wildspace. To fulfill the prophecy, she
rallied Clarion’s Call, a zealous coterie of Order members
and enthusiastic clergy from the Rock of Bral’s temple
district. Shivoshim Cirillioc, a priest of the pacifist god
Ilmater, joined the Call.
Far from her god’s domain, Isabella and two of her
knights became Listers. Her remaining knights entered the
depths of the Great Machine in an attempt to stop the
Listing and save their companions, only to fall to
clockwork horrors. Shivoshim escaped the onslaught and
has so far avoided the effects of the Listing, but Isabella
and mage inquisitors hunt him. He refuses to fight Isabella
or any Lister, and he will not return home until the Listing
is lifted.
BAT OUT OF HELL
Reavers blitz about this part of Wildspace, and the
Crakateg’s defense system—an enormous arcane
cannon—frequently mistakes incoming spelljammers for
the asteroids it was designed to destroy. One well-placed
shot can unattune spelljammer pilots from their helms.
This is what happened to cambion pirate Narliki Sateer,
who lost all but four of her crew (bandit captains) to the
Listing soon after they crash-landed on Crakateg. Her ring
of protection has shielded her mind for the most part (she
has only two levels of Listing), but she feels the clock
ticking. She eagerly accepts help to take out the defense
system, which is guarded buy an artificer’s snake
construct (a spirit naga that lacks rejuvenation and is a
construct, not a monstrosity). As long as the cannon is
operational, no one is leaving Crakateg.
HUNGRY MIND
Knowledge is power, and Crakateg has it in spades. The
trick is getting it. Adventurer Eloise Pomadoro recently
acquired a treasure hoard, including a key wrapped in a
complex star chart and navigational equations. According
to a note on the back of the map, the key unlocks a
storeroom where a once-forgotten artifact can be found.
Pomadoro solved the equations and learned the location of
Crakateg but has hit a dead end. The storeroom is now
surrounded by the edifice of the Great Machine.