Its short, its silly, its the Dark Mirror!
The Dark Mirror
Somewhere deep within the Ringing Mountains is a small, shaded valley. At the center of the valley is the Dark Mirror. The Mirror takes the form of a natural arch, about 20’ high and 50’ across. Mist hangs in the air, obscuring the valley floor and swirls around the Mirror.
Few have returned after discovering the Dark Mirror. Those that have claim that images can be seen through the archway of a world similar to Athas, but changed somehow. Some speak of a mysterious voice, one without mouth or form, which encourages them to step through the arch. By doing so, so says the voice, they will find another Athas, one where they can change the course of history. Those that step through the arch are never heard from again.
The Mirror’s Origin
The Mirror is a powerful, new artifact that was created when Rkard cast his magic into the Dark Lens. When the Dark Lens lit up like a miniature sun, it destroyed not only Rajaat’s shadow, it shattered the fabric of reality of Athas itself. Reality repaired itself in the blink of an eye, but in that time, dozens of new, parallel worlds were created. Where there was once one Athas, now there were many, all mirror images of one another.
The mirror is a nexus point of all of these parallel worlds. The voice is an echo of Rajaat himself, attempting to lure beings to travel to other versions of Athas. In doing so, he hopes to be released from his prison and restore Athas to the Blue Age. Fortunately, Rajaat’s echo has no control over which version of Athas he sends beings to, nor can he manipulate events beyond tricking people to step through the arch.
Powers
The Dark Mirror has but one power: sending people to parallel versions of Athas. When a being steps through the arch, he is instantly transported to any version of Athas the DM chooses. He will quickly discover his powers might be altered, gaining new or losing old abilities (in many cases, both). He will find himself anywhere on Athas, and sometimes in any time. The Dark Mirror is not bound by time nor space.
In effect, the Dark Mirror can be used by a DM to quickly switch characters from one game system to another (such as 2nd Edition to 3rd Edition), one conversion to another, or simply to a new version of Athas that hasn’t been screwed up by the actions of the characters.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Heh, that's pretty good.
Well, glad you enjoyed it. One of those things that comes late in the day and you just got to say "why not?"
Either that or I just have a few screws loose...:D
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Well, glad you enjoyed it. One of those things that comes late in the day and you just got to say "why not?"
Hell I do that on a daily basis, heh.
Either that or I just have a few screws loose...:D
Nothing wrong with that. You'll fit in just fine here. :D
This could be how, later, Oronis travels through time, rather than make him create the time traveling spell)
When Oronis passes into the gate(he may or may not recognise Rajaat's voice encouraging him to go thrue it) it will aslo trigger an event which will bring it to *something* described in the Dragon mag of this month. (the history is situated 300 years in the futur) The reason to that is because Oronis is a DK.(why not)
The viewer could still see what lye beyond the gate and still hear Rajaat's voice. But what he would see would be somewhere in time between the late Blue age to the new Blue age. All thse timeline would be as Rajaat saw/imagined/speculated/you name it .
The only parallel Athas would be the one where Rajaat was not made prisonner that fatefull day.
In this parallel Athas, Rajaat would be a lesser god. there would be no DKs except Hamanu which would be left alive as a punishment for being the true betrayer( if we consider R & Fall) Hamanu may even have to cleanse all the remaining races as punishement. This also mean that in this timeline there would be no races created by the DK since they are all dead. So, depending on when in the said timeline the players would be, humanity could still BE or not.
Both timeline would eventually have a second Blue Age but depending on which one, the Blue age would be different from the other(except for the watery aspect and the asure sun of course)
Anyway that's my take for the matter. hope you liked it or at least, gave you some tip-ideas.
Originally posted by Jihun-Nish
This could be how, later, Oronis travels through time, rather than make him create the time traveling spell)
My Time-TRavelling Oronis is founded on the information about the final stage of Avangion Metamorphosis as presented in Dragon Kings and Defilers & Preservers!
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Well, glad you enjoyed it. One of those things that comes late in the day and you just got to say "why not?"
Looks great.
Either that or I just have a few screws loose...:D
Look at it this way, you're in good company.
:invasion:
I probably won't use it, but I like it anyhow
Originally posted by Jihun-Nish
Anyway that's my take for the matter. hope you liked it or at least, gave you some tip-ideas.
Interesting food for thought. The basic theme of the Dark Mirror is a huge-arse "campaign reset button." Its purpose is for if a DM is playing with say the dreaded Dungeon conversion, then discovers athas.org's conversion is better (or vice-versa). Or (situation I'm familiar with) a couple of players have ruined things and then left, ala "ok, you manage to flee into the mountains. Behind you, Rajaat (who those idiots freed) is flooding the cities and the sorcerer kings are dead. Ahead, you see a misty valley..." Control, Alt, Delete :D
Originally posted by Mach2.5
I like it.
I probably won't use it, but I like it anyhow
Really wouldn't expect you too, but I'm glad you like it!
Heck, I'd be surprised if anyone used it for real in their games
But it *is* good to know I'm not the only screwball in the world...
Originally posted by Mach2.5
Actually, I change that. I may use it as a one shot, to give the PCs a glimpse of what life would be like if the good guys won in the end. No more SKs, no more Rajaat, no more defilers. Everyone living happy in a virtual paradise . . . a paradise where happiness is mandatory, on pain of death.
You do not seem happy, Friend Citizen. Happiness is mandatory. Unhappiness is treasonous to the Computer. Remember the Computer is your Friend. All hail the Computer!
Still Nightdruid's idea does present a nice little way to tinker with something that you may have wanted to, but not set it as canon in your main game. Want to have space halfings and see how the PCs react, then take a little trip through the gate and go all out. If the PCs like it, stick around there instead, if not, simply have that alternate Athas get wiped out and the PCs make it back home just in time.
Maybe I should clean it up a bit and see if Nytcrawler would want to put it on his website Shoot it to me in email or post here when you feel it's postable.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
By all means, that's the whole point to my website (trying to be a community website).
Shoot it to me in email or post here when you feel it's postable.
Thanks! Should be able to get to it tonight; I want to clean up the wording into a more presentable state (I rushed through too many parts of it) and incorperate the ideas suggested here into the "uses" part :D
Originally posted by xlorepdarkhelm
My Time-TRavelling Oronis is founded on the information about the final stage of Avangion Metamorphosis as presented in Dragon Kings and Defilers & Preservers!
:sad: not my fault my memory played a trick on me.
The Dark Mirror
Somewhere deep within the Ringing Mountains is a small, shaded valley. At the center of the valley is the Dark Mirror. The Mirror takes the form of a natural arch, about 20’ high and 50’ across. Mist hangs in the air, obscuring the valley floor and swirls around the Mirror.
Few have returned after discovering the Dark Mirror. Those that have claim that images can be seen through the archway of a world similar to Athas, but changed somehow. Some speak of a mysterious voice, one without mouth or form, which encourages them to step through the arch. By doing so, so says the voice, they will find another Athas, one where they can change the course of history. Those that step through the arch are never heard from again.
The Mirror’s Origin
The Mirror is a powerful new artifact that was created at the same time Rajaat was banished for a second time from the face of Athas. When Rkard cast his magic into the Dark Lens, it lit up like a miniature sun. Not only did this brilliance destroy Rajaat’s shadow, it shattered the fabric of reality of Athas itself. Reality repaired itself in the blink of an eye, but in that time, dozens of new, parallel worlds were created. Where there was once one Athas, now there were many, all mirror images of one another.
The Dark Mirror is a nexus point for all of these parallel worlds. The voice is an echo of Rajaat himself, attempting to lure anyone who will listen to him to travel to the other versions of Athas. In doing so, he hopes to be released from his prison and to restore Athas to the Blue Age. Fortunately, Rajaat’s echo has no control over where, when, or even which version of Athas the travelers are sent to. It cannot do anything more than to trick people through the archway and in doing so hopes for the one-in-a-million shot that will free his true form from its prison.
Powers
The Dark Mirror has but one power: sending people to parallel versions of Athas. When a person (usually a player character, but may include non-player characters as well) steps through the arch, he is instantly transported to any version of Athas the DM chooses. He will quickly discover his powers might be altered, gaining new or losing old abilities (in many cases, both). The Mirror can deposit the traveler anywhere on Athas, and sometimes in any time. This can mean a character might step out into the Blue Age or into the distant future. The Dark Mirror is not bound by time nor space.
In effect, the Dark Mirror can be used by a DM to quickly switch characters from one game system to another (such as 2nd Edition to 3rd Edition), one conversion to another, or simply to a new version of Athas that hasn’t been screwed up by the actions of the characters.
The DM might want to use the Dark Mirror as a means of experimentation with various “wild” storylines without directly impact his “home campaign”. For example, the DM might want to use the “space halflings” rumor as a storyline. By sending his characters through the Dark Mirror, he can unleash the space halflings on his characters. If things do not work out as desired, the Dark Mirror could be used once more to return the characters to their proper campaign. If things do work out, the characters could stay and enjoy the new twist on Athas.
http://www.crimsonsun.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=200