I'll be running my first 3e Planescape campaign and I could use some help storywise. First of all I need to gather as much information as possible about Orcus and the Last Word. I might be inclined to go after the official material with the information I need as well.
I also have plans to use the plane of mirrors from MotP 3e. Does anyone here have any suggestions on how to tie it in with the rest of the Planescape cosmology?
I'm sure my campaign can benefit from any kind of help.
p.s. english is not my native language, some of the names may have been translated in a different way.
As for the plane of mirrors, mirror walk is the same level as plane shift, so you don't need to worry too much. High-ups will, of course, make sure they don't buy any mirrors that would provide unintended access points for would-be thieves. There's also the question of what happens if someone outside Sigil tries to get in using mirror walk, and vica versa. I doubt the Lady would allow that.
This is all detailed in the Planescape module, 'Tales of the Infinite Staircase'. That realm fits very well with any plane of mirrors, and the Kameral briefly escaped and invaded the Rilmani regions around the city when the Iron Shadow spread its influence and began to literally erase the Rilmani from existance. So they're very much still around, lurking behind reflections.
Orcus found the Last Word in the Lost/Last(?) Tower in Pelion (renamed to Mirhowyouspellit in 3E), 3rd layer of Arborea. He used it to kill a few gods (it's essentially a super power word kill). And at the end of it, Orcus was consumed by the power of the word. But his priest revived him, so now he's back but without the Last Word (it's never stated why not officially AFAIK). Now, this raise the question of whole pantheons seeking vengeance for the death of its members... What is Orcus, now just an abyssal lord, going to do about it?
There are other words besides the Last Word. But Orcus did a hell of grafitti in the tower, so nobody can reads them now. And besides, a mortal cannot contain the power of any of these words.
The Last Word's magic was used by Tenebrious(AKA Orcus) to kill Primus(Who has since been replaced by a Secendus) Illesune(Of the Mind Flayers) and Gods known how many others.
The Last Word is Diety Magic, and therefore can only be used by Full-Blooded Gods, but there may be other magics out there that can be used by mortals to simaliar effect( See the website known as the Tiefling's Exultation, in the section about the Hinterlands for details on this)
Nevertheless, the death of all those Gods would differenitely prove to be cataclysmic to the entire multiverse, as fellow Pantheon members look for vengence, other gods rush in to fill the gaps left by the dead gods, and those nasty Godslayers on the Astral Plane , lets not forget them!
Since their was only one module after Dead Gods(Faction War) to continue the story of Planescape, we may never know what became of things after what should have been a massive upheaval.
Shemeska, any plans on where the multiverse went after Dead Gods and before 3rd edition Planescape? I mean, other than Faction War?
Originally posted by Sword_Of_Geddon
So, the Rilmani are not the original natives of the Outlands, but conquerors who threw the original natives out? How absolutely fascinating..
The Last Word's magic was used by Tenebrious(AKA Orcus) to kill Primus(Who has since been replaced by a Secendus) Illesune(Of the Mind Flayers) and Gods known how many others.
I was Manziicorian, not Illuseine. Or how ever you spell the Gods-cursed names.
Damn illithids, can't they use English like every other race?
Originally posted by Sword_Of_Geddon
So, the Rilmani are not the original natives of the Outlands, but conquerors who threw the original natives out? How absolutely fascinating..
Off topic, but the way I understand it (and I don't have Tales of the Infinite Staircase...yet), but the Rilmani weren't conquerors. They are more like "heirs" to the Outlands. Shemeska made mention that the Kamerel came out of their hiding to fight agains this Iron Shadow in the defense of the Rilmani. I doubt they'd do that for their conquerors.
"Whose winning?"
"Who cares?"
Kameral General: The sides are not even. The rilmani have one less than us. Robson, go secure the balance.
Halfway through battle:
Kameral General: Robson! Get back here! Jameson has died, we need you to restore bala... no bother, a rilmani has just died.
You think the Kameral are just like the Rilmani in that they'd always want the battle to be even and balanced?
And the Iron Shadow... imagine a soft of virus based on belief that spreads like a plague across the planes, infecting and insinuating itself onto those it touches. It represented an extreme version of law that held that change and innovation were inherantly chaotic, and pushed those infected with it to reflect that viewpoint. The LE races rather thrived under it, the Rilmani began to vanish, and the Slaadi grew sick and began to die as an entire race before a remedy to the spread of the Iron Shadow was created.
You see, I wanted to try and cook up a plot that hints at vague connections between the Last Word, the Dark Speech and the Alef as ancient forms of drawing power out of words or languages. Does anyone have anything else that could fit into that idea?
As for Pelion, I understand the Titans used to live there in times long forgotten? Anything of relevance about them I could use as background fluff?
Recently(In Planar terms) they all(all but one that is) packed up and left for some reason.
My theory is that Pelion was once a "nice" desert layer, with sand dunes, pyramids, palm trees, and a nice big section of the River Oceanus flowing down the center. Kind of like one big Ancient Egyptian Paradise. The Egyptians probably left because the Oceanus left, turning the climate of Pelion into its current, unpleasant form, why the Oceanus left, is anyones guess, the Last Word maybe?
That same race of Titans may or may not have been associated with the ruins in Pendemonium that make up Howler's Crag, or the Harmonica on the same plane. More speculation. But fun speculation. In my own campaign I've played around with both locations alot. Dark, howling winds, never sure whats quite lurking out there beyond the range of the light, and of course the frightening age and unknowns surrounding both structures...
You see, I wanted to try and cook up a plot that hints at vague connections between the Last Word, the Dark Speech and the Alef as ancient forms of drawing power out of words or languages. Does anyone have anything else that could fit into that idea?
True Names, for starters. While I'm at it, let's not forget that when put into writing, words are made of letters, or pictures, essentially some sort of sign or symbol, or more appropriately, given that these are words that draw, create, or contain power, the transliterations of these words would best be called "sigils".
Don't you think its strange that the River Styx flows threw every Lower Plane, while the Oceanus flows threw only a few Upper Planes? And why isn't there a neutral River(The Rule of Threes baby)
Basically, as I think this out, they are all the One True Language, sort of the "He Spoke And It Was" bit.
Alef are the words of good, Dark Speech are the words of evil, and the Language of Primeival(again, sp) is the verbs, the words of action. The Last Word? The Word of Creation "unspoken". Reversed. True Names? The nouns.
The kind of language where you say...
"I hate this world. Die."
And Dark Speech rolls around the Last Word, and out comes the nastiest epic spell ever. Everyone dies.
Something to think about.
Originally posted by Sword_Of_Geddon
Don't you think its strange that the River Styx flows threw every Lower Plane, while the Oceanus flows threw only a few Upper Planes? And why isn't there a neutral River(The Rule of Threes baby)
There is a neutral river. The river Ma'at in the Outlands (from Bablyonian myth). It typically induced visions, wisdom, or hallucinations in people who exposed themselves to its waters from long periods. Sages would sometimes tether themselves to the banks and wait for visions to come upon them in the hopes of recieving knowledge and inspiration from the river's waters.
Don't forget the Language Primeival(sp), the words in which epic spells are crafted. The very tones and syllables of which make up magic itself... ANd since I've only scanned BOED, I'm thinking Alef was the Celestial version of the Dark Speech?
Actually the Alef and the Language Primeval are one and the same. It's detailed in College of Wizardry 2e, altough I think there are references to it in various other supplements. From College of Wizardry:
Perhaps it is true that those peoples who flourished when the World was still young had a greater affinity with the powers of creatio and magic. Possibly, excess energies of origination were still available to those with the proper sensitivity and skill; they reputedly captured and infused this primal power in feats of skill and power unthinkable in the present day.
In 2e Alef was a skill that had similar effects to 3e metamagic(sp?) feats.