davidrpaige wrote:
One thing I was thinking, would Treel be the first Immortal that has completely switched Spheres? He starts out as Energy but then is turned to Entrophy because of the NoS change. I'm trying to think of another Immortal that has done this. Some Immortals have switched motives, but not entire Spheres.
Back at the ship, the captain and surviving crew went into suspended animation, leaving behind automated defenses (electronic traps and killer robots) to prevent either the mutineers or the planet's natives from gaining access to the ship. Nevertheless, it was only a matter of time before King Uther of Blackmoor learned of the ship's existence and heard rumors of the strange treasures inside. He dispatched adventurers to explore the ship and bring back whatever marvels they could. Eventually the sages and mages of Blakmoor learned enough about the items recovered from the Beagle to create a technological culture of their own.
Many years - perhaps centuries - later, Ogdoban Treel, one of the ship's crewmen in suspended animation, awoke as part of a routine maintenance schedule. He discovered that some of the crew had disappeared, including the captain, and noted the continued intrusion by men of Blackmoor despite the dogged defense of the ship's robots - and decided to sell out. He greeted the next group of adventurers to enter the ship and offered them a bargain; in return for a life of luxury and wealth, he would voluntarily hand over the greatest technological secrets of the ship to the men of Blackmoor, secrets they would never be able to unravel without his help. Since he knew the other men and women of the crew would stop him if they ever became aware of his actions, he sabotaged all the other life-support modules to kill them while they slept.
At first the plan worked well, and under Treel's direction the systematic looting the ship's core began. Then something Treel hadn't counted on happened; one of the other crew members interfered. Unknown to Treel, First Assistant Engineer Rheddrian Benekander, a compulsive tinkerer, had make modifications to his own life-support capsule. When power was cut to the capsule, his modifications switched it to backup power and initiated its thawing procedure. Rheddrian awoke to find his fellows murdered and a traitor handing over to natives technology which would catastrophically alter their culture.
Unsure what one person alone could do to stop Treel and his allies, Rheddrian used his familiarity with the ship's maintenance ducts to spy out the situation thoroughly before acting. He then improvised a plan to put a halt to Treel's activities and undo as much of the damage as possible. First he reprogrammed the defense robots to attack and repel the intruders, defeating them handily, then he planned to assess the damage to the ship itself - but it was already too late.
Treel was a linguist and diplomat, not a physicist, and he had unwittingly allowed the men of Blackmoor to detach crucial elements that stabilized the core of the ship's power system. Rheddrian was horrified to find that a chain reaction capable of setting off an explosion big enough to vaporize the entire planet was already underway. It was too late to stop the core from going critical, so he focused all the escaping energy inward, turning the explosion into an implosion.
The resulting energy pulses vaporized all of the star-ship except the engine core itself, which melted through the very rock it rested on and sank hundreds of feet into the earth. Rheddrian, working to the last minute in a final effort to stave off as much of the disaster as possible, was utterly disintegrated. What little energy did escape warped reality in all directions, causing animals, people, and plants exposed to it to mutate into strange monster races. By the time investigators from Blackmoor came to investigate, all that was left was a smoking crater with a smooth, glassy bottom; they could only conclude that somehow the ship had taken off, never to return.
Now you know the background of Treel
There's a tough competition between these two uh? :P
The only other Immortal which I remember switched spheres at the end is (oddly enough) Loki, who started out with Rathanos in the SoE and ended up betraying him and becoming an Entropic.
There's a tough competition between these two uh? :P
I thought Loki switched paths to become an Immortal, not switched spheres AFTER he became an Immortal. Do you think, according to my story and "fantasy logic", that Treel can switch spheres the way he has? If he is tied to the NoS the way he is, I think he can. But I wonder if there is any subtel concequence to the other Radiance Immortals? I wonder if Rafiel is being affected by the NoS switch to Entropy? Do all the Radiance Immortals still have a tie, maybe not as strong as Treel, back to the NoS? It might be interesting for a camp to have guys like Rafiel and Rad (if he becomes an Immortal again) and any other Rad Immortal, to start "turning to the Dark Side."
Yeah, there does seem to be a bit of a competitive parallel between Treel and Loki. After all these years, I never noticed how deep it was. Huh, learn something new every day.
let see if you guys can guess what Treel's new name is from this visual clue.
oh yeah, very important: Art by Kevin Maguire
Anyway, I won't be so worried if I were him: I dare say Benekander won't be able to tell his true identity (unless his old comrade Treel looked like a fiery laughing monster) ;)
I don't know if Loki switched from Paragon to Entropy during the path OR if he switched spheres after attaining immortality, it is not clear. I would say it's more LIKELY he did change path while mortal, but you never know.. ;)
As for changing spheres after being an immortal for quite some time, I would certainly deem it possible, BUT I also would think that the "traitor" could be severly punished by the Council of Hierarchs and probably stripped of some of his power by the transition.
In the case of an "automatic" switch like that which affects Treel IYC, the Hierarchs would not be informed, but I feel that Treel would be anyway deprived of a good deal of his Power Point by the change. ;)
As for changing spheres after being an immortal for quite some time, I would certainly deem it possible, BUT I also would think that the "traitor" could be severly punished by the Council of Hierarchs and probably stripped of some of his power by the transition.
In the case of an "automatic" switch like that which affects Treel IYC, the Hierarchs would not be informed, but I feel that Treel would be anyway deprived of a good deal of his Power Point by the change. ;)
That makes sense, the loss of Power Points from the switch. It would give Treel even more reason to be ticked-off at the change in his nature. Something that he would definately hold the PCs responsible for. As if the PCs don't have enough to worry about with Treel's schemes, now it becomes personal. I think I like it.
Treel may not have liked the effect of the Sphere change, but you can bet he is starting to realize the power he has access to.
Before he supplanted of the Master of Hule, he was forming his plan to protect the NoS. He knew that he needed allies (pawns really) to accomplish his goals. He sought powerful mortals and items that might be suitable for his goals. During his journeys, Treel discovers a large ruby with many dark creatures gathered to it. Treel also notes the large number of orcs that seem to be drawn to the area. Vanquishing the creatures and claiming the ruby, Treel discovers the malevolent spirit within the ruby. An ancient evil communicating through the ruby from somewhere beyond this plane of existence. When the ruby fails to dominate the will of Treel, Treel turns the tables. He learns of the dark force's history and desire to escape his prison. The creature was Arik, a banished dark Immortal from ancient times.
Treel found a useful tool in both the ruby and an imprisoned Immortal. Treel learns that Arik has only been successful in getting a small number of his "eyes" into this world. Treel recognizes the strange properties of the ruby, or Eyes of Arik, to attract "dark" creatures to the Eye, especially Orc and Goblins. Perfect. Treel sets about collecting the other Eyes. He will use them for creating and controlling armies of Orc.
During one of his quests for an Eye, Treel confronts a small group of Wizards that was protecting a rather large Eye of Arik (and turns out to be the largest one on Mystara). Still not wanting to attract Immortal attention, Treel had to confront these wizards in Mortal form. Treel was defeated, but not without killing some of these meddling wizards. The strongest of the wizards, Agamotto, a great Diviner, learned that Treel was beyond mortal stature, but not learning his true Immortal nature. Agamotto thought, incorrectly, that Treel was some demon from the Lower Planes. Agamotto joined forces with two other of the greatest wizards of that time, Hoggoth and Oshtur, to stop Treel from gaining the Eye of Arik that they possessed and protected. In response to the many attempts by Treel, Agamotto created two artifacts dedicated to the combat of Treel: The Eye of Agamotto and the Orb of Agamotto. The Eye acts as a powerful Gem of True Sight (with other powers), but most importantly, the eye emits a light that drives(Turns?) Treel away. The Orb on the other hand has vast powers of detection, particularly detecting great Mystical sources and gateways to other planes. Also, the three wizards combined efforts to create a tome of great Lawful magic, the Tome of the Vashanti. The three wizards were then known as the Vashanti, almost completely losing their individual identities.
Despite the great power that the Vashanti possessed, Treel was eventually successful in gaining the Eye of Arik that the Vashanti possessed. With time, these three mortals succumbed to death, but not without leaving a legacy. These great devices compelled it's owner to seek and confront Chaotic Mystical Imbalances. Even worse, these mortals had a nasty habit of finding Treel. The Eye of Agamotto was particularly hounding Treel and his plans. These items, especially the Eye, always seemed to find it's way into the hands of the most powerful Lawful wizard on Mystara. Soon, the Eye of Agamotto became a badge, marking that individual as the most powerful wizard in Mystara. This mark of Sorcerer Supreme was not a well known title, only very powerful wizards and kings knew of the Eye and the special status that it meant.
Despite the continuous threat of the Vashanti, Treel's plans were going forward. Also, the Immortals were still not aware of Treel. The Immortals thought, if they even gave it a second thought, that the Vashanti was just a group of Lawfuls that were dedicated to combating Chaos. And now the "protégé of the Vashanti" were continuing their work. There were certainly other Fiends that confronted the Vashanti besides Treel, Treel just became "lost in the crowd."
So now Treel had most of the Eyes of Arik, at least enough to accomplish his goals. As an experiment and a means of eliminating a potential threat, Treel guides a group of dwarfs to find a small Eye of Arik. This Eye of Arik is what is the focus on the adventure (B3) Palace of the Silver Princes. One important aspect of the B3 adventure and should be noted: Arik wants to be free and Treel is not doing as he has promised. Arik is working very hard to have his clerics find his other Eyes and find a way for his release.
Treel has gathered a few mortal wizard agents. One of his most loyal is Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo of Blackhill in Glantri (obviously pre-WotI). Baron Mordo keeps Treel informed about the goings on in Glantri and will act as an insider for when things start going into full swing. One of Baron Mordo's important tasks is to communicate and deal with the humanoids of the Broken Lands. Mordo has a small Eye of Arik, but is still finding difficulty with his tasks. Treel is growing impatient with Baron Mordo. Mordo also runs missions to defeat whomever is the current Vashanti thrall(s).
Treel has also bound another agent into his service. After the events of (X11) Saga of the Shadow Lord, Treel has empowered the Shadow Lord into his bidding (depending on the outcome of X11, Treel either resuces/heals/resurrects the Shadow Lord). The Shadow Lord's main task is to build a vast army to march south and crush Wendar and Heldann. Treel wants these countries occupied with the Shadow Lord's armies so that they can not help Glantri against Hule's forces. The Shadow Lord was given a very large Eye of Arik to aid him in his task.
One thing that the Shadow Lord discovers through research into the Eye of Arik, is one of Arik's legacy. With all of the crimes that Arik committed, the one act that prompted his banishment was an act against dragons. Arik created a means to corrupt good dragon eggs to create evil dragon humanoids. These Draconians were part of a great army that marched against men and elves long ago, in histories forgotten, even by most of the elves. Arik was defeated and banished for his foul deeds and the remaining Draconians were placed into a mystic stasis, never to be woken again. But the Eye of Arik, their creators, could possibly reverse the stasis. Now the Shadow Lord can have a greater army than just mere orcs. He would have the power to crush Wendar beneath his heel.
By this time, Treel has taken control of Hule. To build a greater army, his priests are "breeding" Thoul to bolster their strength. Soon he will make his move to wipe out Glantri and secure the Nucleus of the Spheres.
Scene: The Private Inner chamber of the Master of Hule. Sitting in a throne, a being dressed in dark cloak and robes. A curious hood that resembles an open, fanged mouth, cradles a head wreathed in mystical flame. The face, no longer human, is fiery mass of pure mystical energy. He contemplates dark deeds and plots that are moving forward with frightening speed. The being turns to another, the only other, in the room. A man, looking old and withered, suspended from the floor by dark, shadowy tendrils that reach form the darkness of the room itself. The man is not aware of his surroundings, lost in an apparent, painful dream. With a voice that rumbles from the pits of the Abyss, the fiery being speaks to the dreaming man, "Soon, soon we shall have action to plans long planted in the ground. Soon will be the harvest of the Orc, my faithful companion."
The man jerks and twitches, quite unaware of what the Being is saying.
"After Glantri, my armies will continue on it's march until crops grow tall from the human blood soaked ground. Soon all of Mystara will learn to fear the Orc. Soon, all will learn to fear Treel, even the Immortals themselves."
Anyway, I love the idea of the Shadow Lord possibly getting his hands on an ancient race of Draconians.
Once he has Glantri secure, Treel will have an impressive front to march east. His next step is to march through Ethengar and make his way into the Northern Lands. From there Treel will march south into Ylaruam. When his forces march south from the Northern Lands, Treel also plans to march West from Drokin to push through the Shires and Karameikos. Treel wants to have all of the other contries in control before he attempts to attack Thyatis. Treel is also going to ignore Rockhome. He knows that the Dwarves are too well armed and the terrain is in the Dwarves favor. As long as Treel does not attack Rockhome he is hoping the Dwarves will keep to themselves.
So that is Treel's plans, but what about his pawns? What are their motivations and goals during all of this? Treel's major servants are The Shadow Lord, The imprisoned Immortal Arik, a powerful Glantri Wizard Baron Karl Amadeus Mordo. There are a few more, but these are Treel's "inner circle". Lets start with Treel's most powerful lieutenant, The Shadow Lord.
Treel has been recruiting Landryn Teriak before the events of X11 (Saga of the Shadow Lord). It was actually Treel that was the "dark power" that gave Teriak the WISH that ultimately corrupted Teriak into the Wraith Lord. Teriak enjoys his new power, but despises Treel for the manipulation. Teriak also does not want to be a mere pawn, he wants to be the boss. Treel as promised The Shadow Lord complete dominion over all land except Glantri City, which only makes The Shadow Lord want the city even more. He will really covet it once he discovers the Radiance. The ironic part is that Treel is sincere about giving the world to the Shadow Lord. Treel is not interested in control of the world, he just wants to secure the NoS from being used. If the Shadow Lord will play along, he will truly rule the world. Of course, Teriak's ego will not let him play along with Treel's plans.
Currently the Shadow Lord is gathering his forces strengths. The Shadow Lord is searching for a few things before he can launch a full scale attack. First he is looking for the Blackstick (the artifact in X11) so that he can control his Undead forces into Heldann.
Teriak is also looking for his Master Ring so that he can control all of the people that have Rings of Servitude (another magic item(s) found in X11). With Treel's manipulation, the Rings now can dominate people from 10th level and under. Any character or NPC above 10th level can still have their minds read, but can not be controled. But this can only happen with the Master Ring in his possession. Many Rings of Servitude have made their way into the hands of kings, generals, and other powerful people across the Known World because they are disguised as other types of magical rings. Some rings are also signet rings that are passed from King to King. The Shadow Lord really covets his Master Ring.
The last thing the Shadow Lord is seeking is the prison for the Draconians that Arik created before the Great Rain of Fire. According to the memory of Arik, there are legions of Draconians. This would give him an instant army that the forces of Wendar are not prepared for. Ironically, the prison is within the borders of Denagoth. This is the evil presence that has permeated the land for so long. The Shadow Lord is going to search all over the Known World before he finds out that his goal has been in his backyard the entire time. One interesting note is that Treel does not know about the Draconians. The Shadow Lord has kept this a secret and is key to his plots.
The Shadow Lord's ultimate plan is to have his forces to march into Glantri and Heldann, just as Treel plans. But once he secures Wendar, the Shadow Lord plans to turn his forces against the Hule forces in Darokin. The Shadow Lord is hoping that the forces of Hule will be weakened against the formidable Darokin and should be easily beaten with the Draconians and Undead.
The Shadow Lord has a temporary alliance with Arik. They both share the hatred of Treel for their positions in this scheme. Arik is hoping that the Shadow Lord will find a way to free him. The Shadow Lord has no real intentions of doing this, but he is researching how to do it. This is the Shadow Lord's "doomsday" plan. If Treel attacks him, he plans on releasing Arik so that the two Immortals will attack each other, allowing The Shadow Lord to escape.
Arik is an ancient, evil being of great power. He is also known as Arik of the Hundred Eyes, and is sometimes worshipped as a god. For his many crimes, Arik was banished to a special dimension centuries ago to be imprisoned there for all eternity.
Arik has been seeking to escape from the prison dimension through the ages. And he desires to hake over Haven and enslave all its people. He has at last managed to send one of his eyes across the dimensional barriers into the heart of the mountains. There, the dwarves found Arik's ruby eye and brought it to the palace, not knowing the evil they were bringing to their beloved valley. The ruby, though larger than most gems, looks like any other ruby and through the Protector would have sensed the evil, by the time they ruby's influence was felt, it was too late. Arik has already struck.
The ruby is linked to Arik. It has allowed him to channel some of his evil magical power past the dimensional barriers into Haven and the power of the ruby attracts evil, chaotic monsters. Arik hopes to use the ruby "eye" when the time is right, to open the way and cross the dimensional border.
The power of the ruby has killed the crops and brought disease to the animals. It has drawn orc, goblin, and hobgoblin hordes into Haven to fight fro its master. It has even brought the evil cleric, Catharandamus into the palace, to prepare the ceremony that will allow Arik to cross the dimensional barriers. The ruby has turned many of the palace inhabitants to stone and trapped the princess and the mysterious stranger inside itself. Finally, the ruby has created a magical field around the palace to prevent help from arriving and stopping Catharandamus.
Also, stats given in the WotI, book One.
Arik; Celestial, Sphere of Entropy; AL C. A violent, evil Immortal banished to a prison dimension for his crimes; he seeks ways to return to the multiverse. (B3, page 4 and B1-9, page 47)
There was a few other references, some found in the Vaults, that gave Arik a portfolio of madness, chaos, nightmares, massacres, beholders
Those are the only sources found on Arik, so I fleshed him out a bit for my campaign world. As stated before, I had Arik banished because he was the creator of the Draconians of Mystara. He had racked up many other crimes that deserved banishment, but this was the straw that broke the camel's back. The dragons were absolutely outraged, even Red Dragons were appalled, at these corrupt mockeries. This creation also violated the Immortal rule: On the Prime Plane, Direct Action Against Mortals is Forbidden. Well, Arik's direct creation of the Draconians violated this law without question. As a result, he was banished to the Prison Dimension. His creations were placed into stasis and hidden somewhere in the Known World. The only reason the Draconians were not destroyed was because the Dragons wanted to find a way to revert the Draconians back into health eggs or dragon off-spring, basically undo Arik's evil.
So, Arik waited in the Prison Dimension for centuries. Over time, Arik was able to send a handful of his Eyes into the Prime, I'm saying 8 of them. Treel discovered one such eye and learned the properties of the Eye and looked for more. Treel was able to gather 5 of them, one which was used and destroyed in B3, leaving him 4. That means 3 Eyes are unaccounted for, which Arik is hoping that one of his servants will find and free him from not only the Prison Dimension, but of Treel's service too.
Arik's Eyes are acting as the main power source for Treel's plans. The Eyes are gathering and controlling humanoid armies for Treel and his servants. The Eyes are also able to communicate with each other, acting as communication network for Treel. Treel is also using the Eyes as other power sources for other mystical plans that are currently unknown. One plan that Treel has for the Eyes is to find a way to expand the corrupting power on the land, as it did in Haven. Treel plans on blighting the land before an invasion, destroying the food reserves of the enemy, thereby making it weaker and more vulnerable.
Arik hates that he is being used like some kind of magic item. He feels that this is not the proper way to treat an Immortal. Of course, what is really bothering Arik is that he is seeing his powers being utilized much more effectively than he has. Arik privately admits that he is not smart or subtle enough to implement the plans that he is being used in. This only drives the already mad Immortal into a frenzy.
He wants to be free, but now he especially wants to be free so that he can get away from the knowledge that he has been an ineffective schemer. He has threatened, demanded, petitioned, and even pleaded with Treel to set him free, but nothing so far. Arik has recently struck a deal with the Shadow Lord, whom also shares a hatred of Treel, to set him free. Arik has promised the Shadow Lord vast powers and secrets upon his release. Of course, Arik will only drive him insane because Arik believes that Ultimate Power can only be found outside normal perceptions (ie stark raving mad).
An interesting note, Treel does plan on setting Arik free. Treel is basically setting up Arik to take the fall for all of his schemes. Whether his current plans fail or succeed, Arik will be "reveled" to be the power behind this. The Immortals will then pursuit and punish Arik for once again violating the Prime Immortal rule. Arik will of course try and tell the other Immortals about Treel, but who is going to believe Arik? Also, the idea that an Immortal can stay hidden for so long is preposterous in their views. Also, the evidence points to Arik's guilt: it was the Eyes that were the Power source for just about all of the Plots that the Immortals may discover. As Arik is blamed and punished, Treel will slip away undetected. Treel still desires the anonymity of his Immortal stature and Arik is the key to this. This is probably the most important aspect of Arik's use to Treel. Treel also suspects the allegiance between Arik and the Shadow Lord, which is what he planed. The Shadow Lord is a part of Treel's plan to release Arik. How is the Shadow Lord going to learn to free Arik? With the information that Treel will secretly provide the Shadow Lord of course.
Now that Treel is a real baddy. I love the twist you have. You must read comics a bit. This is the kind of ploting I used to read in Marvel Comics.
Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying Treel and his style. Yes, I did read comics, I was even a writer for a short time, but my books never made it to the shelves. I was working on a few characters that were "embarrassing" characters and revamping them into serious stories. My big one was Captain Ultra (does anyone know this very, very, minor character from FF?) Well, I had him revamped and had about 75 issues outlined and planed, with even the first 12 fully written out, when it got the plug pulled. They felt it was too risky to try and revamp such minor "joke" characters. It is too bad, my Cap Ultra would have sold, the story line was rock solid. I left, barely getting there, do to the politics and a little bitterness over the whole Cap Ultra thing. One day I need to find a penciler and colorist and finish the books. God, that was over 10 years ago! I still can't believe they killed my Cap Ultra and let the Spider Clone story go through. Ugh! Talk about bad decision making.
Yeah, so I have a bit of a comic flare with my plot lines. I hope my Treel story is not too "comic" like! That is not my intention. I just want to give a lot of depth to the motivations and reasoning behind plots and adventures. It annoys me when you adventure, make your way to the main enemy, only to find him sitting in his throne room. What the hell! Were you just sitting around waiting for someone to come and defeat you? I think the enemies wanted to be defeated because they were so bored waiting for your adventures to come along. :D I always felt, if you give your villains a lot of depth and REALLY understand their motivations, the better it will be for the rest of the RPG group you play with. Even if that depth is an Orc who is motivated to "raid your village because he wants his tribe to get off his back" is better than "an Orc attacks your village because, well, that is what Orcs do!" Even the dumbest animal has some kind of motivation beyond "attack for attacking-sake." You role-play better and your decisions are based on the characters' needs and not the PC's need for "that would be cool" factor.
Maybe that is a little too deep for a game? I guess that is why I stopped playing.
Anyways, keep following this story thread, because there is going to be another twist (actually not a twist, but an angle) coming up that will really make your PCs think and become paranoid. And remember, this is all of the events that was pre- and during WotI, I have not even touched on Treel AFTER the NoS changed power sources! If you think Treel is bad now, well...
Regarding the storyline: I like it, except for the Dread D. and Draconians (not a fan of crossovers in medival fantasy, but I loved the spiderman/transformers/GIJOE crossovers). None of the current(ly free) Immortals might suspect him, but my guess is that once benekander's free, he might figure out a thing or two. Rad might know something too, after MoA.
If you're willing to frustrate your players, you can run several little mini-adventures across the globe featuring the eyes. And make the players create new characters for each adventure. Silver Princess is an obvious module. Maybe run both versions. Also, Savage Al's idea for El Corozon sounds too close to an Eye to be coincidence. Especially since it's found just before a huge number of Yazak goblinoids gather together to raid the Baronies. Imagine your players _knowing_ that El Corozon is an Eye of Arik, but the characters think it's a blessing to remove Red Curse Afflictions.
Don't tell me you're the mastermind behind "Not Brand Ecch" and the emergance of Forbush Man... Oh wait you said "serious" stories. It would have been nice to see a serious comic about Irving Forbush though.
Sorry, I am not the man on that one. Like I said, most of my story lines were killed in the pipeline during my short tenure.
Regarding the storyline: I like it, except for the Dread D. and Draconians (not a fan of crossovers in medival fantasy, but I loved the spiderman/transformers/GIJOE crossovers).
I did drop the D's name from the story, as this was an aspect that the PC did not discover at the time. The more I used Treel's name, the more it grew on me. But D was certainly the key inspiration for my Treel. I also do like the look, a flame headed robed figure. That is just too classic, it gives me chills. But I have certainly moved away from D and made Treel his own character, or at least I hope I am.
As for the Draconians, I never felt that it was fair to have monsters be the sole possession of one game world. I personally think that Draconians are a waste in the DragonLance world. I never liked DragonLance, not even the books. I think for me, Kender were the Jar-Jar of the 80s gaming world. But that is just my two cents. Dracs are a little hard to just throw into the world because of their origins, but I think I made a decent stab at justifying a Mystara version. But to each their own, if you do not want Dracs, then there are no Dracs. Originally I had the Shadow Lord commanding legions of Thoul, but I shifted a bit and gave the Thouls to Hule. I wanted the Shadow Lord something that would tip the scales in his favor in an unexpected way, something that was never seen in the Known World. Drac armies were the ticket for me. It gave him a level of power that was not insurmountable, and a bit of terror as he has armies of monsters that the Known World was not prepared for. I don't know, what would you suggest for a replacement of Drac?
None of the current(ly free) Immortals might suspect him, but my guess is that once benekander's free, he might figure out a thing or two. Rad might know something too, after MoA.
That is true, but that is where the PC come in. It's Treel's plan to stay anonymous, but the PC can certainly ruin those plans! There are a lot of points and places that the PCs can throw a monkey wrench into the works. That is what adventuring is all about. That is why I've fleshed out a detailed past and a complicated Plot, because at any point a PC will do something to wreck those plans. How Treel will counter/salvage/run away depends on what the PCs do.
Benekander will certainly be a natural enemy of Treel if Treel is revealed (hey, that rhymes!). As it was pointed out, Loki is turning out to be a rival of Treel. Loki will certainly have a grudge after he gets a major stroke against him for losing his control over Hule and not even knowing about it. Nothing like lying and fooling the Master of Lies! There is one other Immortal that is going to be an interesting rival and one that is aware-ish of Treel. This Immortal is the angle that I was talking about earlier. Here is a hint, this Immortal was strangely quiet throughout the whole WotI and now you will know why. But patients on that story angle, we still have Mordo to get through...
If you're willing to frustrate your players, you can run several little mini-adventures across the globe featuring the eyes. And make the players create new characters for each adventure. Silver Princess is an obvious module. Maybe run both versions. Also, Savage Al's idea for El Corozon sounds too close to an Eye to be coincidence. Especially since it's found just before a huge number of Yazak goblinoids gather together to raid the Baronies. Imagine your players _knowing_ that El Corozon is an Eye of Arik, but the characters think it's a blessing to remove Red Curse Afflictions.
You know, I have to plead complete ignorance about the Red Steel world. I have material on it and know that it is a more Spanish style culture, but that is about it. If you could elaborate a bit more about El Corozon, that would be great. But, yeah, I have these other Eyes out there so that the PC have a choice to go after one, or all of them, if they wanted. Who knows, maybe the PC can think of a use for the Eyes. I certainly wanted to give that option for creative PC thinking. I think originally, I had the extra eyes out there for after all of these events, so that Arik could threaten to return again one day (dramatic music)!
And this way, we get our special creature type, add in some Mystara history and flavor, and dodge the accusations of having 'stolen' from DL. (Ravenloft's still trying to live that down... ;) )
Actually, I suspect that any sort of Mystaran 'draconian' creature would start as a humanoid, and then get changed towards the draconic by some mad experimenter playing around with adding wings, claws, every resistance et cetera. Glantri and its Secret Crafts are right next door, after all - it's not hard to see the Shadow Lord bribing away a few Dracomancers and sundry, funding an R&D program to build special shock troopers, and ending up with either several magical enhancements/creature templates or else a complete new race as the result. Call them 'Dracomorphs'.
And this way, we get our special creature type, add in some Mystara history and flavor, and dodge the accusations of having 'stolen' from DL. (Ravenloft's still trying to live that down... ;) )
you know, that might be a good angle. Maybe that is why Treel has a Glantri wizard (Mordo) as part of his inner circle: To recreate the spell ceremony that was done long ago by Glantri Dracomancers. And what would the main component of the spell be? (cue Creepy Dramatic Music) An Eye of Arik. Arik still provided the basic knowledge and information for the Dracomancers to use, thus assuring Arik's banishment for this crime long ago, but many of the details were lost with the deaths of the original Dracomancers, thus it needs to be researched again. And there still could be the legions hidden in Mystara somewhere.
Of corse, if we did go with the Eye of Arik able to corrupt more than just land, but being able to corrupt races too, this could open a can of worms.
How does that work for you guys? I think it is interesting and still keeps to my story line. Now we would have to flesh out the details on Mystara Dracs. How about [b]Wyrmen[/b] for a name? Or [b]Drakids[/b]
If you could elaborate a bit more about El Corozon, that would be great.
It's described not unlike the "heart" found in Haven... http://pandius.com/lcorozon.html
Oh, and the Goblinoid Hoard I refered to is in an adventure that comes in the online SC manuals. They're not after El Corozon according to the adventure, since that's fan fiction, but it's unlikely that three great Yazak tribes started working together just because of some ugly misshapen Yazi Orge from the coast.
As for Draconians: Savage Coast to the rescue again! The Wizards of Herath used Wallara (chameleon-men; relatives of dragons) as a base to create several lizard folk, one of them the winged Krolli. It's not unthinkable that Arik did something similar (perhaps back when the Wallara had a thriving culture).
Hmm.. Chromatic Drac powers? Death throws are always the easiest to think up, and they could be based on the breath weapons of the dragons:
Sheevar (White): Upon death, they turn into a statue of ice, entraping any weapons, just like Baaz dracs. The enemy must wait until the ice melts for the weapons to be retrieved. A white dragon egg yields many dracs.
Hisss (Black): They turn into a pool of acid, just like Kapak dracs.
Wheeyez (Green): Their lungs expand and cause the Wheeyez to pop, causing 1d4 points of physical damage to anyone within 5 feet, and having the effect of a stinking cloud.
Chrakoom (Blue): A shocking grasp spell is cast upon anyone touching a Chrakoom upon it's death. Additionally, anyone within 10 feet and wearing metalic armor or using a metalic weapon must make some form of strength check to not be drawn to the Chrakoom's electromagnetic field. If they touch the Chrakoom (or someone in a chain of people touching the Chrakoom), they are subject to the same shocking grasp effect. In the end, the Chrakoom's body turns into sand.
Fowsh (Red): Upon death, they explode in a 5d6 fireball. These powerfull draconians are never found in close proximity to each other, partly because they attack each other, but also as protection against the death throws of their brethren. A red dragon egg yields only one red drac (well, it yields more, but the dracs fight to the death as embryos).
Edit: Huh; it turns out someone already thought of chromatic dracs for dragonlance: http://www.dl3e.com/reference/11739.aspx
Fairly unimaginative names though.
Do we just use the DL's Aurak for the Mystara Gold Dragon? I guess so, it would be a little silly to reinvent the wheel.
Do we even bother with the Crystalline Dragons? I wouldn't waste the time personally. They were even more unimaginative than that DL article. They were cheap copies of the Chromatic with different alignments. Ugh! What would have been better were the Gemstone Dragons that Dragon Magazine published: Topaz, Sapphire, Amethyst, Jade, Crystal, and Ruby. They were physically weaker, but their breath weapons were down right scary. They also had Psionic powers. They were the Neutral branch of the Dragon species.
Anyways, kudos to you Culture20 on the Mystara Dracs so far.
IDo we just use the DL's Aurak for the Mystara Gold Dragon? I guess so, it would be a little silly to reinvent the wheel.
Perhaps Arik's _real_ crime wasn't the Dracs per se, but instead the means by which he learned to create them (consorting with a being from beyond the Votex, and refusing to divulge the identity of this being. She told him how to make the Auraks, and he figured out the chromatics on his own). That assumes you stick with the Auraks, though. I'd suggest skipping them, and just pretend Arik only used the procedure on the chaotic/neutral eggs since it was easier than converting the Golds.