--thank you for your time and patience NB
To be honest I'm totally burnt out on Tharizdun, but you sure asked in the right place.
--hmmm, perhaps Tharizdun is kept in a demiplane...of dread? ;) NB
Vashnaar wrote an interesting five-part Creation Myth regarding Tharizdun at RPGA Oracle. Check it out HERE.
David Ross also has an interesting page on Tharizdun, which is actually my favorite Tharizdun site. Check it out HERE .
Also check out the WG4 The Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun. For a recent treatment, see Monte Cook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, too. Last, Darrin Drader interpets Thraizdun for WotC in Random Encounters, HERE.
I'll look for the Tarrasque article from Magical Emporium by Rob Kuntz. It's pretty cool.
Good luck. Let us know what you think of Tharizdun.
Originally posted by Nero's Boot
Hmmmmmmmm.......perhaps the gods stripped him of some of his power when they imprisoned him? Or maybe his prison is keeping him from accessing his full magical potency?
--hmmm, perhaps Tharizdun is kept in a demiplane...of dread? ;) NB
Actually, if I remember correctly, his prison is made of his own power. The other gods used it to "weave" the prison around him because that was about the only thing that could work.
He is now rated "Intermediate" rather than "Greater" simply because he has been away for so long. Even confined though, he can reach his worshippers in their dreams.
I doubt Tharizdun is associated with Ravenloft. Too orderly for him. On the other hand, he would perfect for the Far Realms ..
Originally posted by Mortepierre
Actually, if I remember correctly, his prison is made of his own power. The other gods used it to "weave" the prison around him because that was about the only thing that could work.
He is now rated "Intermediate" rather than "Greater" simply because he has been away for so long. Even confined though, he can reach his worshippers in their dreams.
I doubt Tharizdun is associated with Ravenloft. Too orderly for him. On the other hand, he would perfect for the Far Realms ..
Now this is frickin' cool. It kinda reminds me of Malfeas from Exalted: a prison-plane made from the very bodies of the Yozis! Quick question, though: Who is Tsojcanth? Despite my utter lack of knowledge of all things Oerik, the name seems vaguely familiar....
--that name seems awfully familiar to me NB
The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth is where Iggwilv was introduced to Greyhawk. Iggwilv made her lair in the wizard Tsojcanth's former abode. Close to the caverns was the Forgotten Temple of Tharizdun.
Scott
If I had to run my players through it again (last time was more than 10 years ago), that would certainly make me see it in a different light
Click below, and let us know your thoughts.
The Dark God by RJK.
Originally posted by Jag Arin
... using the Ur-Priest PrC as a method of returning Tharizdun to Oerth. The idea of stealing power from other gods to fuel their agenda seems to be too good of a fit to ignore.
I think that is a great idea, Arin. And, I like that idea way better than Drader's Witness of Tharizdun appelation. I'd like to see the Doomdreamer from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil makes its way back into contemporary game play, too.
Anyway, good thinking, mate.
Originally posted by Jag Arin
In addition, I have been toying with the idea of using the Ur-Priest PrC as a method of returning Tharizdun to Oerth. The idea of stealing power from other gods to fuel their agenda seems to be too good of a fit to ignore. I have always used forgotten tomes to corrupt priests of other gods to follow Tharizdun ala the Necronomicon from Derlith and Lovecraft.
this is a good use of the Ur-Priest PrC, but if you stick to the true motif of it, the Ur-Priest was really designed for the Vashar, who despise all gods and have an ultimate plan of complete deicide. They may, however, use Tharizdun's release as a mean justified by the end. An interesting concept I might throw into my own campaign of RttToEE in which I was desperately wanting to drop in an Vasharan Ur-Priest. Perhaps a working plot could be a race between Tharizdun's own Doomdreamers and the Vasharan Ur-Priests to reach the same goal with the Doomdreamers hoping to strengthen Tharizdun's power through increased followers and the Ur-Priests stealing Tharizdun's powers keeping Tharizdun himself relatively weak.
Anyway, I was referring to the adaptation rules in the new Complete Divine when I mentioned using the Ur-Priest in this fashion. However, I like the idea of using the Vashar premise in connection with the ancient Suel...or perhaps the Ur-Flan. Hmm...the possibilities are intriguing.
I think that no matter what flesh you cover it in, the idea of a cult of Ur-Priests syphoning off power from other gods to use to fuel their own desire is a good fit for Tharizdun. Perhaps they do not hate all gods, but rather those that actively interfere with the day to day lives of mortals via clerics and their agendas. A primal force such as Tharizdun is somehow beyond the commonly accepted definition of gods, especially on Oerth. A sort of doomsday cult that revel in the notion of taking all the Flanaess back to primordial chaos...
good stuff!Rob Kuntz
Originally posted by ZayeneII
Another great original Greyhawk concept which should be codified into some form instead of left in the murkiness of conjecture. My reason for the above-related article which Greyson takes minor exception to, though it kills 'two monsters with one fireball!'.
Rob Kuntz
It might be the fact that it's still early in the morning, but I'm not sure I follow you.
The way I saw it, he is Intermediate (rank 15) in his prison because - as alluded by the article in Dragon #294 - he invested a few divine ranks in proxies before being imprisoned, and those proxies were dealt with by the gods. Except for one that is held somewhere, somehow. Given Tharizdun isn't exactly conscious in his prison, he hasn't been able to "reclaim" those ranks yet. If freed, that would certainly be his first action.
Even if we were talking about only one proxy, that would still give him a total divine rank of 16, enough to qualify for Greater Deity status.
Greyhawk: Darkness Ascending is the website it can be found at.
Originally posted by Nero's Boot
After reading the final chapter in the Living Greyhawk Gazeteer, I find myself intrigued by the imprisoned deity Tharizdun. I'm pretty much a total n00b to Greyhawk, so please forgive my utter ignorance as I ask: What is known about this god? What human pantheon was he a part of? How can an intermediate god threaten the world, so much so that all human gods tag-teamed him into a prison? Was he once a greater god? Where is he imprisoned? Is he the one siphoning the magic from Oerth? If he's such a threat, why imprison him at all? Killing him would be much more effecient, and would prevent him from ever being a threat again.
--thank you for your time and patience NB
Thaizdun is the initial void before world creation who search a means to make the world return to his start point.
I stitched together White Plume Mountain and the Gates of Firestorm Peak and decided that the Elder Elves (or Elder Druids, depending on which module background you choose) attracted Tharizdun's attention to Oerth through the Vast Gate and once he was here, he caused so much hassle that the other gods had to take action to imprison him.
The Tharizdun character in the Gord books lacked this other-worldly feel, so this is purely my own interpretation.
Interesting notion that he has a divine proxy out there somewhere... I think I might be able to feel a way to bring the Apocoplypse Stone into play...
Halber