(The Breakers, the Low Men)
Sect Symbol: A burning red eye.
Sect Philosophy: The Great Wheel is an abomination. It holds the planes captive in a neatly balanced ring. It imprisons planewalkers that travel the Hinterlands. It hides the true infinity, offering us a false one. Free yourself! Shatter the wheel! Sunder the spire that holds it in place and the Beams that support it! Cut the planes loose into the swirling mass of overlapping realities, unshackle sentient beings to explore and inhabit them, herald the age of truly endless possibilities for all!
"The Spire is strong, friends. It was built in ages past by the ancestors of the pretentious race of fools that defend it today. It is cleverly designed to nullify all magic, but it is not invulnerable. It chains the sixteen planes, holding them in place by invisible and heavily guarded Beams, but it is also supported by those Beams. And therein lies its weakness, friends. For whenever we defeat a Guardian and break a Beam that connects a plane to the Spire, its defenses crumble a little more. The rilmani of this age are weak and ignorant, friends. Their mighty forefathers were so cagey that much of their lore lies forgotten, and thus they are unable to repair the Beams we break. All they can do is sit around their accursed Spire, trembling in fear, waiting to hear the sound of the last Beam breaking. And that sound will be heard soon, friends. Several Beams have already been crushed by our efforts, their Guardians slain. Others we are working on at this very moment, and yet others are still hidden from us. But when they are found, they will fall friends, there is no doubt. The unsupported Spire will sway, defenseless, and we will be there to tip it over. And then what, I hear you ask? Anything, my friends. Anything you can imagine, and more..."
Primary Plane of Influence: Outlands, more specifically Hinterlands. The sect also has relatively strong support in Limbo, Pandemonium, and Hades.
History: The Spire-Breakers appear to be a newly founded sect, and are often disregarded as yet another barmy bunch with a conspiracy theory and ideals of liberation through cataclysm. However, a closer look at some historical records shows that surprisingly similar movements have risen in the past, every several centuries or so. Each time their voice has been silenced by a strategically appointed cuprilach or two, but apparently the rilmani have been unable to permanently silence the Breakers.
Allies and Enemies: Breaker ideals are fairly popular among Anarchist and Sinkers, to a certain extent. Usually, Xaositects might also be considered allies, for what it's worth... The Hardheads have little knowledge of the sect, but enough to oppose them vehemently. Rilmani strive to root out Breaker beliefs without mercy, whether by word or by blade. Yugoloths deny all involvement in their recognizable “wink-wink, nudge-nudge” manner that implies that they want to leave the impression that they are, as usual, behind it all.
Members: Visionaries become Spire-Breakers. Those who feel that there is more to the planes then what is commonly known, or that there should be. Those who have seen the Far Realm and came back to tell about it. Those ex-Anarchists that have become too cosmologically-bent to focus on their political agenda. Those ex-Sinkers that strive to promote Entropy more effectively than by setting fires and starting wars.
Movers & Shakers:
- Randal Flagg: A tall, dark tiefling or cambion, his age impossible to ascertain. Dressed in simple black clothes, wearing an old, battered backpack stuffed with fifty different types of conflicting literature-pamphlets, he walks the Great Road, humming some cheerful melody to himself. His expression is that of a hatefully happy man, radiating a horrible handsome warmth.
Randal Flagg is the de facto sectol of the Spire-Breakers. He appears at practically all sect meetings, even though nobody knows who invited him. His charisma overwhelms new members, and scares away the weak. He is often accompanied by several fiercely loyal bodyguards ("My life for you!" ), although he seems to be able to handle any threat personally, usually with a quiet word and a frightening smile. He has never been seen in the presence of a rilmani.
Who and what Randal Flagg really is, nobody knows for sure.
- Merwin "Trash" Elbert: A ruin of a man, obviously mad, dressed in tattered rags. He spends most of his time on Thuldanin, scavenging for the sect. Trash apparently has an uncanny ability to locate tools of destruction in the refuse layer of Acheron that can still be put to use. He marks the spot, and the sect sends in retrieval teams.
Trash is obviously unable to protect himself from the hazards of the Lower Planes, but he seems to manage somehow. The chant among his fellow Breakers is that Flagg had placed his sigil upon Trash, and no fiend will harm him.
Have you seen my Unequaleviants? They have a hatred of the Rilmani as well, but for a different reason
Um, no I haven't. Are they in the Factions & Sects section of the PW site? Under what name?
Any anti-rilmani attitude is a step in the right direction.
Sect Philosophy: The Great Wheel is an abomination.
Sounds like the game designers who came with up the FR Great Tree cosmology. :D
Oh, the Unequaleviants have yet to be submitted, but if you browse back on this board far enough, look for a thread called "Two new sects for you leatherheads"....they are one of two in their(the other being the Discovers which are already on Planeswalker)
Oh, Discordia!
Oh, Discordia!
I was beginning to think noone would recognize the not-so-subtle Dark Tower referrences. ;)
BTW, IMHO Song of Susannah sucked slightly less than Wolves of the Calla, but still more than the already sucktastic Wizard and Glass.
But why Psions?
Roland Deschain
A gaunt blue eyed human, dressed in a long coat and a wide-brimmed hat. His clothing is dusty and torn. His startlingly blue eyes have an otherworldly look about them, as if they have seen more years than he could possibly have. He looks to be between fourty and fifty years old. He is terse and to the point, his speech however is inflected with the tones of an elegant language long dead. Roland was taught an ancient, powerful and now lost, save for himself, combat style. He uses finely crafted weapons that propel projectiles by means of small explosions, the like of which are not commonly seen on the planes (though some examples have been found preserved on Thuldanin). No emotion is seen in his face when he enters battle. He moves like a cold storm, tearing apart everything in his path. Using the strange weapons at his sides, seemingly the creation of some mad alchemist.
Roland is the last of a noble line. His prime world was devastated by the influence of the Spire Breakers, leaving behind a rotten shell. He is after Randall Flagg, the dark man, for he was the agent of destruction on his world. Inspiring terrible rebellions that crushed the hopes of all people. Randall seduced his mother away from his father and tricked Roland into (SPOILERS) killing his mother.(END SPOILERS) Roland believes there is some rot affecting the Spire, and the goal of the Spire breakers is to set it free. He sees the effects of it everywhere; wars and strife tearing apart thousands, millions, infinities of prime worlds. He has wandered through several realities and has gathered followers, others who have the spirit of his noble line. Roland has taught them the secrets of his deadly combat style and told them of the his ideas. They stick with him for some inexplicable reason (Roland puts it up to fate), and he has found in them the first friends he has had in perhaps thousands of years.
Now he travels to the Spire, to challenge Randall and find the truth of this tower that binds all realities.
Eddie Dean. Human from a low Magic Prime Parallel. Former addict of an interveinous drug.
Sussanah Detta Holmes Dean. Human from a parallel near Eddie's own in regard to causality and history but dated 20 + years previous. Crippled( lost legs in a childhood assault) and afflicted with Multiple Personality Disorder. Eddie's wife.
Jake Chambers. A human boy from a parallel near Eddie's set near 9 years previous. Also a reincarnation of a previous incarnation of Jake Chambers from a near identical parallel who died during an earlier adventue with Roland.
Oy. A Billy Bumbler. A sentient magical beast that has the physical characteristics of both canine and raccon. Capable of limited speech though prefers to mimic the last syllable of words spoken to him. Highly protective of Jake.
All trained as Knights of Eld. ave developed a near telepathic sense of each others wellbeing and desires. Capable also of sensing portal near them and have to date successful deduced the needed keys quite easily.
We could also choose different individuals from more mystical realms and races.
So shall we cast the Ka-Tet differently now?
Sure, although this is taking things further than I had originally planned. BTW, Susannah didn't lose her legs in a childhood assault, she got the schizofrenia thing then, but lost legs later to the Pusher.
- Father Callahan. Priest of a monotheistic religion. Used to drink heavily. Fell from grace by being somehow marked by a powerful vampire. Formerly in possession of a tainted item known as the Black Thirteen, sort of a sentient amulet of the planes. Has paranoid delusions about being a character in some prime writer's book.
Anyone interested in making up some bad guys? I mean original NPCs, members of the sect? A little creativity couldn't hurt...
I was beginning to think noone would recognize the not-so-subtle Dark Tower referrences. ;)
BTW, IMHO Song of Susannah sucked slightly less than Wolves of the Calla, but still more than the already sucktastic Wizard and Glass.
But why Psions?
I liked all of them pretty well, but I thought The Dark Tower was a little too mystical and weird. I liked the end though, which a lot of people didn't.
By psions I was refering to the Breakers (i.e. Ted Brautigan, Sheemy, etc.). I won't say more to prevent spoilers.
When an angel falls, it comes down from a great height. So it was with Lamech, a mighty Solar. He walked among the mortals, he fought the lying fiends on the fields of the waste long ago, he saw the faces of one thousand gods. And from this came the knowledge of more. He yearned for it and sought it, he wandered through the many infinities of the Wheel and still nothing was to be found. Finally, in desperation he commited heresy to his kind and turned to any source that could help him, even the fiends. Those who had once been his sworn enemies welcomed him with open arms and greedy eyes. They, of course, underestimated his tenacity, his resistance to corruption. His task was one and one alone, to find the true dark of the multiverse. To find the beginning and the end. The mysteries promised by his holy kind, but not found with them, he knew. He knew they lied as much and as well as the devils. He knew they all lied. He knew why now. The world had not always been as it was now. He saw the patterns; the Blood War, Good and Evil themselves were mere ruses. Deceptions meant to hide the truth of power. So he departed in a bloody storm from the tower of these treacherous fiends.
Now he has found Randall, and one last chance at truth.
(Lamech/30 HD Solar/CN)
Probably needs editing/expanding but I think it's a start. I need to go over more of his actual deeds, but I know hubris is going to feature strongly in it.
And then it came to him, as he meditated; lying prostate amongst the sleeping dead of the atral plane. "It is a lie, the Spire is False. A dagger in the very heart of allthings. The wound must bleed for it to heal." At that Moment Watcher of The Self knew what he must do, somehow he must destroy the spire. allow what evil inflicted its presence represents die and all shall heal across the known worlds.
That has been his mission for the last decade. Wandering the outer planes he has collected a small band of 'prophets' and now he heads to the spire. It Must Fall.
ah nothing like fanatics to stir up a few excellent sessions.
I liked all of them pretty well, but I thought The Dark Tower was a little too mystical and weird. I liked the end though, which a lot of people didn't.
So the last part is published? Already? That's it, I'm off to IRC...
Tell me, how do the Breakers feel about the kameral?