Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 rikutatis Jul 17, 2004 0:27:55	OOC: These are glimpses of my own campaign and a small contribution to the Planescape universe. I hope someone can make some use out of it. [i] The Outer Planes [/i] Word runs through the Planes, leaving most settlements in turmoil. The Devourer of Worlds runs amok. A creature most ancient, it puzzles and frightens exemplars and powers alike. The Devourer appears to be immune to any kind of divination and scrying attempts. Wherever it goes time and space suffer terrible distortions that could send the unawary berk tumbling through different planes and eras. It appears to have no definite form, but changes constantly, emanating primal wild magic. Graybeards affirm that the creature known as the Devourer of Worlds appears every sixty seven years, remaining active for a period that can vary between a few days and several years, before vanishing for another sixty seven years. When active, it goes on a wild rampage, phasing in and out of random Outer and Prime Material Planes, laying waste to entire civilizations that may be in its path. In Sigil, a bizarre prophet announces the end of times. He would be but one among crowds of new era prophets if it weren’t for a few peculiar traits. First of all, his appearance can easily make him stand out. Extremely pale, he has slightly pointed ears and his head is bald. He doesn’t wear any type of clothing and his whole body is covered with strange alien symbols, painted in red. But his most striking feature are his eyes, or the lack of them. His eyebrows are sewed, leaving his eyes forever closed and apparently useless. The nameless prophet has been been appearing from time to time, for the last sixty years or so. His predictions always hit the mark and his cunning always kept him out of the Harmonium reach. He has been quite active lately, speaking about the end of time as we know it. A shadow stirs in Khin-Oin the Wasting Tower. Considered mad and unpredictable even by yugoloth standards, the ultroloth Shodree is feared by his kind. Some whisper that even Mydianchlarus prefers to avoid dealing with him. Little is known about him. Traffic of information is his business and black magic and bribery are his tools. Every now and again he vanishes from Khin-Oin, sometimes for decades. He is often seen with Xilandra the night hag and Motur, his euphoric imp familiar, renowned as a chess master and hopelessly addicted to hallucinogenic substances. Shodree was last seen dealing with an undead entity that calls itself Death. While most sages in the know consider the undead being more than slightly insane, no one is brave enough to contest the creature’s claim to be death itself. One can’t deny that Death is an immensily powerful necromancer. The limits of its might are yet to be tested. No one knows where it dwells, but sometimes it can be seen in the Lower Planes or the Prime Material. Death is served by an even stranger entity, the Phantom Train. Some speculate whether the Phantom Train is sentient or not, but few doubt that it is alive , whether that concept is fit for an undead being or not. It travels through Prime Material Worlds, emerging from its ehtereal borders to snatch the souls of the dead before they travel to their resting place and depart with them. The train is managed by ghosts and fueled with the rotting corpses of zombies. A band of melancholic spectres can always be seen playing funeral melodies within the carriages of the train. The fiends that witnessed Shodree’s encounter with Death claim that they were in the middle of a blasted plain in Oinos. Shodree watched as Motur and Death played a bizarre chess game, using real creatures in a giant board. The dark of it- Sixty seven years ago the Devourer of Worlds attacked two places of importance. First, it ravaged petitioner settlements in Ysgard. The Norse Pantheon united its most powerful proxies to deal with the threat. In Thor’s halls they prepared for the impending conflict. Their leader, his original name long forgotten, prepared a powerful spell that he hoped would seal the creature in a magical prison. The details of that epic battle are lost to most records, but only the leader of the team of proxies survived. The Devourer of Worlds vanished for sixty seven years after that and the proxy turned stag on his patrons, fleeing to Xaos in the Outlands, where he became known as the bitter and excentric Sculptor of Golems. The real dark of it is that the Sculptor saw a most mysterious and disturbing being that day. A lithe figure of undefined gender clad in seamless black leather with both its eyes and mouth sewed and forever closed. It never spoke or moved, it merely stood there, its body twisted in an awkward angle. And the Devourer of Worlds was no more. Shodree receives advice and information from a foul and disease-stricken fiend, most ancient than all others. A demented Baernoloth? They are in search of the lost fragments of the Alef, also known as the Language Primeval. In the last few centuries Shodree visited lost old ruins in the second layer of Pandemonium, long forgotten dead god isles in the Astral and a colossal creature known as the Embryonite in the Ethereal, among other places. Events that could shake the Outer Planes in their entirety would soon begin to unfold if Shodree’s patron had access to the Language Primeval. Unknown to Shodree, the Prophet of Sigil has access to one of the fragments of the lost Alef. Parts of it are inscribed on his own skin. The prophet actually dwells in a demiplane known as the Forbidden Citadel, one of the greatest focus of magic in the entire multiverse. The Citadel was raised by the Ancient Brethren, the ones who first mastered the Language Primeval. They left the demiplane soon after, leaving their descendants in charge. Sixty seven years ago the Citadel was entirely destroyed by the Devourer of Worlds, the only structure that survived the assault without any harm was the central tower, that goes up into the sky as far as the eye can see. The prophet was the only survivor. He believes that his life was spared by a strange being clad in black leather with both eyes and mouth sewed close. The being didn’t move or talk, but with its appearance the Devourer of Worlds left. After that the prophet sewed his own eyebrows, permanently rendering his eyes useless. Ever since, he began to have visions about the past, the present and the future. The Forbidden Citadel lies in ruins, surrounded by a strange forest, haunted by spirits and ancient illusions. Its central tower, a great focus of arcane magic, has its inner walls inscribed with alien symbols, the same that mark the prophet’s body. Its colossal stairway shoots up into infinity. Three different forces are aware of the Citadel’s existence and crave its powers. Graz’zt often sends his thralls to discover the location of the site. The Planar Inquisition serves as a facade for a cabal of dark wizards that act as witch hunters but are actually after arcane power for themselves. Alandelon is a golden lord of Sigil, clad in purple and gold. He is an exile of the Forbidden Citadel, he was banned before the arrival of the Devourer of Worlds for killing a couple of lovers out of jealously in the forest surrouding the citadel. He struck a pact with dark powers of Baator and now wants to conquer the Forbidden Citadel and its secrets.
#2 rikutatis Jul 17, 2004 0:38:43	[i] The Prime Material [/i] Terra. A Prime Material World ravaged by a forgotten event of cataclismic proportions. The ancient ruins of the long gone Elders still stand here and there, their lasting legacy. The most impressive of those is Mathghamhna the College of Wizardry. Run by Japheth and the Arcane Order of Enchantment & Exposition, the college is the greatest authority in Terra when it comes to the arcane arts. Mathghamhna is composed of three gigantic and massive towers that are interconnected and appear to have been built out of entire mountains. The Arcane Order maintains friendly relations with its neighbors, a mine of dwarves and a village of tinker gnomes. In a distant corner of Terra exists a strange land, the Island of the Serpent. A highly magical wooded area, it is the home of a primitive culture of humans that worship an entity known as the Serpent. They are ruled by a cloaked figure that they revere, known to them as Diabolique the Daughter of the Serpent. Diabolique’s face is never seen, covered by a silvered glass mask. It is unknown whether she is actually a female, but it’s a known fact that she works powerful magic, being an expert in divination, illusion and mirror magic. The dark of it- The Elders of Terra and the Ancient Brethren are one and the same. They once used the full power of the Language Primeval against a fallen power that threatened their land, calling forth the Dragon of Shades against their foe. The Dragon defeated their enemy, but also turned against them. The few survivors fled to the Outer Planes, leaving behind one of the fragments of the Language Primeval in the forgotten catacombs of Mathghamhna. Japheth found that fragment and now hunts the rest of the lore that can give him full access to the Alef. His emissaries in the Planes are three witch sisters collectively known as the Triad. Nahemah, a linguist, is the eldest. Her sisters are Luana and Cinelli. They have been on the track of the second fragment of Alef ever since they met Veric, a bleaker historian that was fleeing Sigil, chased by an ultroloth known as Shodree. Veric died soon after, in deep fits of melancholy, but not before she told them about Sigil and the Planes, as well as her own studies about a race of beings she called the Ancient Brethren, that built many wonderful sites such as the Forbidden Citadel in the Ethereal and the Observatorium in the Astral. Nahemah believes these Ancient are actually the Elders that managed to escape Terra and settle in the Planes beyond. The witch sisters have been watched by dark fiends ever since their arrival in Sigil. The real dark of Diabolique is that she descends from a long line of extremely powerful arcane conjurers that colonized the Island of the Serpent, demanding worship from the locals. The natives didn’t abandon their ancestral worship of the Serpent, but saw the new arrivals as the sons and daughters of their patron. Diabolique’s ancestors captured the Great Unicorn of the Isle, binding him magically and drawing power from his very existence ever since. At some point in her life Diabolique was kidnapped by the Nerra, the mirror people. In a complex plot she managed to turn the Nerra against her fellow sorcerers in the Isle, only to backstab them later. When all was done, she was the sole survivor and undisputable ruler of the Isle of the Serpent. Diabolique’s stay in the Plane of Mirrors is unrecorded, but it is known that she returned as an Incantifier, avid to drink all the magic in the entire multiverse. [i] The Inner Planes [/i] Somewhere in the Deep Ethereal they sleep and dream. The entire race of the Terithran, strange humanoid creatures that only wake up when strong magic is cast somewhere close to them. They appear to hate magic and its users, attacking them when they are awoken. Recently more and more Terithran are seen awake. Mysterious robed figures travel between the Inner Planes and the Ethereal, while a disturbing being was seen watching it all from afar. The being, that appears to be a naked five years old girl with green hair and eyes devoid of pupils, doesn’t speak nor move. Those who have tried contact with her were utterly obliterated by primal energy. In the Paraelemental Plane of Magma it rests. The greatest of all mysteries. The Monolith. It sits there and it waits. It waits for the End of Time. The dark of it- The mysterious robed figures travelling between the Inner Planes and the Ethereal are the members of an obscure sect of excentric wizards known as the Primals. They have discovered an unsettling dark about the Terithran and now they want to awaken the entire race by casting a single epic spell in their domain. They have been on the edge because of the strange girl that watches them from afar and more than a little paranoid. Soon they will have the power to put their plans into motion. Meanwhile, a lonely and ill Terithran shifts uncomfortably in his sleep, troubled by his nightmares. He dreams about a creature most frightening, made of raw chaos and wild magic. He calls it the Devourer of Worlds. [i] The End of Time [/i] This is it. The Great Unknown. It shouldn’t be called the End of Time though, for it is both the Beginning and the End. The beginning of time and space, as well as their end. A creature used to rustic concepts such as sight, smell and form would be at a loss here. Here is Nothing at its very core, shrouded by blackness and silence. Every possible configuration of time and space come together here to begin a new multiverse, that will eventually collapse into itself and return here when it ends. One with enough willpower could, in theory, forge his own multiverse from this place. From here one can access different realities. Imagination is the only limit. Do all these multiverses and realities exist beforehand or do they just spring to life fully formed when one enters them? This question is devoid of meaning, as are all questions in this place. But behold. Alien entities lurk just around the corner. The first is a lithe figure of undefined gender, clad in a suit of seamless black leather, with slightly pointed ears and pale skin. Its eyes and mouth are sewed close, rendered forever useless. It doesn’t move nor speak. The second has the form of a very young girl, undressed and with tangled green hair. Her eyes have no pupils. She doesn’t move nor speak. The third is composed of two humanoid torsos that connect with each other just below the waist to form a grotesque creature. One torso is completely black, the other completely white. And it moves , propelled by its four black and white arms. Does it speak though? The Monolith is believed to exist here, for those who can find it. Or perhaps this is the Monolith. Maybe the Monolith exists in all multiverses and all realities, the point that connects them all to the Beginning and the End. But since questions and theories have no meaning here, speculation is useless. Besides, our primitive comprehension of the cosmos is too limited by the concepts of time and space to be able to grasp the true secrets of this place, known simply as the End of Time.
#3 j-pop_jedi Jul 17, 2004 15:48:18	Good read:D I'd just like to add something i picked up from the monsterous mythology from 2nd edition. There is a lost god in there called "The Dark God" who's whole purpose is to bear witness to the end of existance. I think you should throw this god in the mix, or maybe the monolith is the god?
#4 rikutatis Jul 24, 2004 23:30:55	There is a lost god in there called "The Dark God" who's whole purpose is to bear witness to the end of existance. I think you should throw this god in the mix, or maybe the monolith is the god? The Dark God...that sounds familiar. Isn't that Tharizdun or the Elder Elemental God (I guess they became the same entity in 3e)? In any case I really like the idea of a power whose purpose is to bear witness to the end of existence. Thanks for bringing it up. And now for some more planar characters... --- [i] Ur'rdrasul the Black Manor [/i] Risen from the chaotic ranks of the tanar'ri, Druedadon is a minor demon lord in ascension. Unlike most others of his kind, he is not so prone to fits of rage, just barely concealing his hatred in a facade of refined malice. Druedadon has evolved into a rather unique type of demon. He looks like a very tall wavy humanoid, vaguely male and with marble white glistening skin. He dresses himself in richly decorated female clothes, despite the fact that he is considered a male demon by those who care to make such a distinction. Ur'rdrasul the Black Manor is his fortress in the Plain of Infinite Portals, guarded by squadrons of glabrezu and marilith. Black velvet and silver are dominant within the halls of Ur'rdrasul. The manor is a place of depravity and lethal pleasures, corruption and creative torture. It is known that deep inside Ur'rdrasul there is a chamber that serves as some kind of shrine to Graz'zt, filled with paintings and other symbols depicting the Dark Prince. The real nature of Druedadon's relationship with Graz'zt is unknown, but the minor demon lord often sends menssengers to Azzagrat with prized souls, slaves and other tokens of good will. Greatest among the mariliths of the Black Manor is Phersil, a cunning and powerhungry fiend that is trying to sway as many mariliths to her side as possible to put in motion her plans for a coup. The only thing that keeps her from turning stag just yet is Druedadon's own might, which is considerable. That and the fact that the petty demon lord always carries Minerva, an enormous vorpal scimitar. But the single most important servant of Druedadon is definately Lara the succubus, a cold and stern sorceress that works mirror magic and collects souls for her lord in the Prime Material Plane. When she is in the Abyss, Lara haunts the Labyrinth of Mirrors, her domain within Ur'rdrasul. Her companion and confident is Udrulu the quasit, that comes as close to a friend as a demon can be. Despite her succubus nature, Lara is not so bent in tempting mortals through her sexuality. Some lower planar denizens even claim that Lara is a virgin, but that must be barmy talk. The fact is that Lara prefers other more efficient methods to corrupt mortals and steal their souls. Her plans usually consist of elaborate webs of treachery and lies that result in the corruption of an entire community. Lara's main contact in Sigil is Niadri the Grim. He is a member of the Club of Demonologists, a bunch of upstart sorcerers that deal with demons and dabble in forbidden lore. Niadri is often found at the Styx Oarsman, in the Lower Ward. [b]The dark of it-[/b] Druedadon followed a long and dark path before ascending as a minor demon lord. It is believed that his last form was that of a fell marilith. All through the way, he was helped by a mad and sinister ultroloth known as Shodree. Druedadon now owes him more than he is willing to pay. But the yugoloth will soon come knocking on his door. And when that happens, the petty lord better be ready.
#5 ripvanwormer Jul 25, 2004 17:29:32	This is all brilliant. You've created a huge cast of characters, each with radically different styles and agendas but somehow intertwined. Very Faces of Sigil, if you've read that, only on a much larger scale. Anyway, extremely powerful stuff, throbbing with Jungian potency.
#6 rikutatis Jul 27, 2004 19:47:07	Thanks a lot rip, I certainly appreciate your comments. As for Faces of Sigil, it’s one of my favorite PS books. I usually like to run my own NPCs, but when I read that book I wanted to use each and every character in it. Ok, here’s some more stuff. This time it’s in a slightly different format, focusing on a single character and following him through his history. Just out of curiosity, what alignment would you give to Ravel? --- [i]Ravel’s Last Dance[/i] Born in the Great Swamp, in an obscure Prime Material World known as Terra, Ravel has gone through a life of hardships. The Sacred Swamp is the home of a hardy and religious people. The life is harsh, natural resources are scarce and valuable. Their only source of entertainment is the underground arena. Of his childhood, Ravel only has hazy memories. He worked with his mother and only sister collecting frogs from the mud and selling them to poison dealers. A life of suffering made his mother cold and reserved and his sister was his best and only friend. It doesn’t come as a surprise that he was heart broken when she got married and moved away. Her husband was a good man and they invited Ravel to move in with them, to start a new life. He accepted, but to this day Ravel still feels fleeting moments of remorse for leaving his mother alone in that broken hut. Both Ravel’s sister and her husband became warriors in the underground arena, and despite his desire to follow that path, his sister forbid him to risk his life in combat. At that same time Ravel met a striking man named Kento, a man who would change his life. Kento was the captain of Kento’s Lament, an infamous planar slaver ship. Self confident to the extreme, the slaver lord was a charismatic and wise man, the kind of person that tends to attract the attention of a crowd upon himself. He often enchanted his slaves instead of capturing them by force, giving them the false impression that they’re just going on a cruise before selling them to the highest bid. Ravel and Kento soon became really close, weaving a deep and meaningful relationship. Ravel eagerly absorbed the stories about the wonders of the planes, the mysteries of the arcane arts and the secrets of the cosmos. Eventually Kento had to leave and move his business elsewhere. But Ravel would no longer be the same man he used to be. He loved Kento and all he represented and that marked his life forever. Upon Kento’s departure, Ravel decided to follow his dreams and become an arena fighter. To cause an uproar with his every move and send the entire arena bursting in shouts of excitement. The thrill and the glory of being a gladiator is not something that can be easily described in words. And Ravel revelled in that life. But the day came in which Ravel was forced to face his own sister in combat. The whole thing was a cruel set up to boost publicity. Everyone wanted to watch brother and sister in a deadly match. Ravel and his sister were caught by surprise when they saw each other in the arena. If one of them refused to fight, both would be executed. They had no choice. But in the last moment his sister hesitated. Ravel did not. In one fell swing of his halberd she was no more. Ravel turned to the wild crowd, his eyes wet with tears. And he saw a dark cloaked woman, quietly appraising him from afar. Through the gates he ran, to never return. His life as a gladiator was over. Midnight came as shadows cloaked the Great Swamp. Ravel knew what he had to do as he stood in the gloomy graveyard. And at last it came, just as he knew it would. The Phantom Train, off of the Ethereal Plane to snatch the souls of the dead and depart with them to the dark beyond. The ominous train flashed past him, leaving a trail of darkness and decay, taking his sister as well as many other helpless souls in its wake. Ravel ran with all the speed that his legs could carry him, but that wasn’t enough. His sister was gone. Ravel howled to the skies above and cursed the gods with all his soul for the pain and suffering they make his people go through. To this day Ravel still searches for the whereabouts of the Phantom Train and its mysterious owner, an undead entity that calls itself Death. Some days later Ravel was summoned by a wealthy woman, the same woman that watched him from afar in the day he killed his sister in the arena. Elessena she was called, a woman at least twenty years older than Ravel. She was a known merchant, somewhat lonely and definately excentric. Rumor has it that one time she spent a vast amount of money in a sumptuous dinner, bought herself the most expensive gown she could find, and then dined all alone. Most of the food was left untouched and she gave the leftovers to the poor. Ravel began to frequent Elessena’s house and eventually he moved in with her. He didn’t love her or anything of that sort, but he craved the power and the wealth that se could offer him. She, in turn, desired him. His youth and his intensity were irresistible to her. After some months they got married. Elessena was in fact an Ur-priest, an atheist that learns how to steal the power that the gods usually channel to their clerics and followers. She fought a non declared war with the local priests and temples for power and prestige. And Ravel was turned into her hunting dog, doing all her dirty work. With patience Ravel played Elessena’s game. Slowly he gained her full trust and convinced her to share her secrets with him. He wanted to become an ur-priest like her. Nothing more fair than stripping the gods of their powers after they made him and his family go through such a horrible life. The idea that men’s fate was in the hands of the gods was a strong one in the Great Swamp. Elessena granted Ravel’s wish, but something went wrong in the forbidden ritual that would turn him into an ur-priest. Ravel was supposed to tap small amounts of divine power from several different deities, to avoid detection. But he ended up drawing too much from a single power, an entity composed of multiple beings and known as the Xammux, a dark god of wicked knowledge. A small essence of the evil power would forever be trapped within Ravel, giving him dark powers and troubled nightmares. It would be a matter of time before Xammux’ wrath washed over him, and he knew that. In a devious scheme, Ravel turned stag on Elessena and exposed her to the local priests, giving them the opportunity for revenge. He led her to a trap and had her killed there by the high priest’s assassins. Gathering all he could carry, Ravel fled to Sigil, the only place that could protect him from the wrath of Xammux. It was only a matter of time before Ravel joined the Athar and gave his life a new meaning. He now sells his services to the highest bid and is known as a top notch mercenary in the Cage. The money he earns is used to support his underground terrorist crusade against organized religions and temples. At times he goes into fits of melancholy and launches himself in deep investigations to locate the Phantom Train and his sister’s soul. Thus far he hasn’t had any success. Ravel has made some friends in Sigil. The closest one is Lenora, a blind eleven years old girl from the Athar. Despite her age she is a reserved and mature girl, respected as an oracle for her divination magic. Ravel is never seen without Lenora, she is his best friend and confident. She is also the only person that helps him in his war against the powers. Another friend is Dan, a charismatic giant sized incarnate construct with a good heart and a lot of curiosity. Dan was once a stone golem, but somehow he was given sentience and turned into a living being. He awoke in an old abandoned tower, full of bizarre things such as sentient pieces of furniture. After a nice chat with Mrs. Cup Dan walked right into Sigil, ready to discover the meaning of his existence and to find out who was his creator. When he is not debating and studying philosophy, he occupies himself with his woodwork as a carpenter. Dan met Ravel while visiting the Shattered Temple to learn more about Athar philosophy. And then we have Silonassy, ooze mephit by birth and scholar by choice. Unlike most of his kind, Sil, as he’s called by his friends, is interested in books and knowledge. He is known across the Cage for his crazy theories about the multiverse as well as his exuberant and fluid behavior. One week he may claim that the multiverse emerged from a puddle of ooze only to contest that idea the next day with his newest “discovery”. His skills as an illusionist as well as Harys Hatchis’ advertising have turned his weekly lecture into quite a public show. Ravel was introduced to Silonassy by Dan. It turns out that the carpenter adores the mephit’s lectures. Sil’s current research project involves ancient languages of power. He is currently reading ancient tomes about the Alef. The dark of it- Dan was actually created by the Golem Sculptor, a renegade proxy of the Norse Pantheon. The Sculptor decided to give his creation life and soon after that Dan was travelling the planes to find a meaning for his existence. After many adventures Dan arrived in the Castle at the Edge of Time, a structure in the Deep Ethereal that floats near the Demiplane of Time. After a huge misunderstanding with Montgomery the Sapphire Mage, Keeper of the Castle, Dan was cursed and trapped in an endless time loop. He would settle down in Sigil and live there for nine years searching a meaning for his existence. After that he’d retreat to an abandoned tower and begin his studies in the arcane arts until he was powerful enough to create a stone golem. By killing himself in the process Dan would give sentience and life to the new golem, which would then become the new Dan, with no memories of his previous life. The spell works in such a way that when Dan transfers his essence to his new incarnation, the entire multiverse forgets about his former self. His timeline in the Demiplane of Time is simply rebuilt. Is there a way to rescue Dan from this time loop? Only the Sapphire Mage would know.