| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| The Sage |
Posted - 27 May 2003 : 07:59:28
Well, after a lot of hard work and study, I am finally putting the finishing touches to the first book of my 'Travelogue' for the Realms. It's official title is The Sage's Travelogue - Book I - Being a scholarly study of the lesser known areas of the Realms, unusual creatures, bizarre customs, rare magical items, and other things.
The first book details lesser known realms, hamlets, towns, and waystops that are usually not marked on the many maps that proliferate the Realms.
Over the coming months I have decided to post several small previews of what will be contained within the Travelogue's three main books - the first preview being a hamlet from the first book.
Please be aware that the preview presented here is draft in format, and details may change prior to formal release. And also, due to it's length, I have decided to post it in the next post below so you don't get overwhelmed.
Enjoy
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| 30 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Asgetrion |
Posted - 23 May 2005 : 18:19:15
Well met, Sage!
Is there any compilation of your travelogue? I read the entry on Meldengard and would gladly see more of this stuff  |
| Bendal |
Posted - 14 May 2005 : 14:52:07
I too like your entries in your travelogue, most learned Sage.
If you have anything in the area bounded by Yartar-High Forest-Silverymoon-Nesme', I would be greatly interested in reading about it! |
| Elfinblade |
Posted - 15 Feb 2005 : 09:17:41
Oh yes, please do that sir :) |
| The Sage |
Posted - 15 Feb 2005 : 04:23:51
I do.
I'm slowly converting some future submissions for posting. If you want, I can send you some listing privately about what I've got available to post. Maybe something in there will pique your interest.
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| Elfinblade |
Posted - 10 Feb 2005 : 23:11:44
Greetings to thee, Great Sage.
I have been reading these entries of yours since you started this post, and i may have neglected you in not speaking my opinion;
This is tremendously valuable information for me! And for other DM`s too i wager. It is really great to pick up one of yer scrolls and have a peek, if just to get an idea, and work on it in my own campaign! For DM`s like meself, when cooking up good small communities, folklore and such, its nice to have such quality items just sitting here waiting :)
I hope to see more of yer scrolls O Sage.
By the way, You dont have any tidbits of folklore, or even communities or towns in the reaches between north eastern anarouch and vaasa? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 18 Jan 2005 : 13:27:04
Ah!... So there is still some lingering interest. Thanks Wooly... Big Al  .
I'll start dusting off a few pieces and posting them here on a semi (very semi) -regular basis .
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| Alaundo |
Posted - 18 Jan 2005 : 09:00:34
quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
Would there be any general interest here at Candlekeep if I began adding new entries to the Travelogue?
I'm just curious really, because I have a significant backlog here of places, peoples, and other things that might be useful for some DMs. Most are just sitting here collecting dust, as they either weren't used in campaigns, or were simply discarded because the campaigns went in a different direction.
Well met
Oh most certainly Sage, this particular area is of great interest to me and i'm sure our fellow scribes are always on the lookout for lore such as this |
| Wooly Rupert |
Posted - 18 Jan 2005 : 03:40:00
Go for it! I, for one, would like to read up on what you've got... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 18 Jan 2005 : 01:36:42
Would there be any general interest here at Candlekeep if I began adding new entries to the Travelogue?
I'm just curious really, because I have a significant backlog here of places, peoples, and other things that might be useful for some DMs. Most are just sitting here collecting dust, as they either weren't used in campaigns, or were simply discarded because the campaigns went in a different direction.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 10 May 2004 : 06:36:11
That's okay Wood Elf . If and when I post portions of the campaign here, they'll be clearly marked as potential SPOILERS.
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| Wood Elf Ranger |
Posted - 09 May 2004 : 17:33:47
*peeks through his fingers to reply* May I read here or is this one spoilers as well? |
| The Sage |
Posted - 09 May 2004 : 14:57:43
Another new entry -
Bel's Library
Site - Avernus, Bel's Fortress
Character. Once you begin to truly understand power, you realize how small you are. When you see the fate of countless beings bound to scrolls, skins, and sheets of paper, mutable, sellable, readable, you realize how weak, how vulnerable you are. But at the same time, you see that you don't have to succumb to that power. Your own fate, too, is mutable, but if you're strong enough, it will be you to write your tale.
Description. Even among the baatezu, few know what really happens with a contract once it's signed. Fact is, the answer's not that easy. The fiends know many different categories of contracts, and some contracts are hidden from the officials by ambitious fiends having some plans of their own. It also depends on the superiors of the fiend who made the contract, and the superior's superiors.
Fact is, too, that many contracts end up in Bel's fortress. There, they are categorized (again, usually), copied, copied again, possibly further manipulated, and finally, stored. The library is part of the Bronze Citadel, the gargantuan fortress within which Bel himself, Lord of the First, resides. While the fortress is already protected extremely well, the library is one of the best-protected places around. There's practically no way of getting in without the fiends knowing it, and if they didn't like you in there, you won't get out for sure.
The library is a reverse tower, meaning that the entrance is a stairway down into the ground. It's unknown how deep the tower reaches into the ground, but chant has it it's really infinite, just as the number of contracts stored here. The hole in the ground that's the "doorway" to the stairs is not only guarded by ninety-nine gelugons led by three pit fiends. It's also enchanted to magically block the way for anyone who didn't come here following a certain path - a path beginning right at the front door to Bel's fortress. In other words, no sneaking in, berk.
The place is pretty well visited, mostly by fiends coming here to bring new contracts or care about old ones. But the guards don't just let people walk in and out as they like. Three "groups of interest" at a time may enter the library, followed by three groups who want to leave again, and so on. No group may consist of more than nine beings at a time, and no being may be of greater size than a pit fiend (unless it's a baatezu noble). Those wanting to leave have to stop right before the exit until it's their turn. No matter if you leave or enter, you have to state your business, and show all permissions and anything else the baatezu bureaucracy needs.
Once you're in, things start getting really complicated - unless you know where to go and what to do. No light of any kind is allowed in here, and osyluth guards eagerly "help" any visitor to understand the local rules. The only light sources around are the natural stone walls being so hot that they gleam.
The entrance hall, roughly a mile in diameter, is almost empty safe for (usually very busy) visitors. There are only three doorways leading to stairs that go farther down the tower. In front of each doorway is an erinyes official, sitting at a bone-desk filled with books, papers, mimirs, and other things with stored information. Each doorway leads to certain areas, categorized by the contracts found within. But the system is so complex that even the common pit fiend needs the erinyes' help to find his way around.
Unfortunately, each erinyes is only knowledgeable about "her" part of the library. At worst, you have an hours-long discussion with the fiend, only to find out you need to approach one of the other two. This gets somewhat worse when you got a pit fiend or other baatezu high-up waiting behind you.
Of course, if you know where you have to go, you get along quicker. You just have to state your identity and business to the erinyes, show all permissions and so on (yes, again), and you're in. Naturally, unless you're a baatezu yourself, chances are you have no idea where to start. Once you've found your way to the right area, there's finally no other chance but to get a guide.
For the contracts aren't just put into cupboards with little letters on them - that's a stupidity left for mortals. Each contract is stored in a floating globe - floating, and moving. The guides, all of them spinagons, know exactly how the globes in their little part of the library move. And the area masters, all of them erinyes, know exactly which spinagon can help you find what you're looking for. Better make sure both of them are interested in helping you. But don't try bribing or threatening them, or the osyluth police will be at your side in the blink of an eye (literally - they like to teleport in groups of nine).
Still, finding the right contract is only the first step. Unless you have very precise proofs that you definitely have the right to access a given contract, the fiends won't let you (not even if you're a baatezu noble, though they will tell you that a bit more friendly, at least). Copying a contract, or even taking it with you, is even harder - even if you have all the permissions, the fiends will first ask their high-ups about the request, and those high-ups will probably ask their high-ups first.
Special Conditions. Bel's library is protected in countless ways, and anyone trying to sneak in, or start a fight here, should expect to meet great defense, and quickly end up in an
"investigation cell" somewhere else in the fortress. There's probably few fates worse than that.
Principal Non Player Characters. Sirrthirrin [Pl/neuter fiend (cornugon)/LE] is the secret "master of manipulation" in the library. His role is official, but even among the baatezu nobles, few know about him. He has got the right to manipulate any contract in any way if ordered by a high-up of the fiends. It's the one giving the orders that has to deal with any trouble coming from that.
The Chant. This place wouldn't be in the heart of Bel's realm if the above was all to know about it. The number of secrets, of hidden schemes and subtle backstabbing is, most probably, higher than any mortal can count. Only one example is the presence of the female pit fiend Ryandulaxx.
She's been sent here by the baatezu noble she serves, who himself got the command from the Lord of the Second, Dispater. Her task is to find all weaknesses in the library's protection (for what reasons, only Dispater himself knows).
She's constantly trying to get visitors - especially the non-baatezu type - interested in something they aren't allowed to access, and gives them hints at where to start. For her, these are experiments at testing whether something really is a weakness. For the visitor, it's usually the greatest mistake of his existence, ending in eternal damnation.
The Contracts. There's a few things to say about the contracts themselves that are stored here. While most contracts are written on skin, scrolls, paper, or stone tablets, there are also more... unusual ones. Often enough, contracts are made only by speaking a vow or making a promise. While many such contracts are written down later, there are also those which are stored in their original "shape". Some of the globes in the library appear to be empty, while truly containing captured sounds, or even thoughts.
There's a variety of other ways contracts are stored. Written on the skin of a living being (with the living being "stored" in a globe along with the contract), magically "inscribed" into the memory of a creature, which then has its brain removed and stored here (there's even chant of an ultroloth brain hidden here, which is still alive and thinking), and so on.
Almost every contract also has a few additional "security traps", put here by the fiend who stored the contract. This may be almost anything: a simple magical spell, a nasty disease, transformation of the being who touches the contract into a larva, incarnate madness stored together with the contract, ...
Put short, even when everything seems to go right, you should be perfectly informed about every detail of how the contract's been stored before attempting to put your hands on it. Or, if you can't assure that, send a minion.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 16 Feb 2004 : 12:11:45
This next entry was (pretty blatantly) 'borrowed' from a theme of some of the stranger things I've heard about the French Revolution, and kind of liked, if it produced the kind of utopia it was supposedly going for where everyone is equal and happy, with the Reign of Terror under Robespierre still happening.
Partis, Layer the 472nd (Terror's Rain, the Great Revolution)
This layer seems to be a near-infinite city, though a far cry from Dis or any other planar metropolis. Arrival on the layer is always in a park in the center of the city, a lovely place of lush green grass, beautiful tall trees, and even a crystal-clear stream. Outside of the park, the city is like an idyllic Prime metropolis, somehow transplanted in the Abyss. The only thing ruining the pleasant first impression is the storm that always seems to be brewing overhead, dark clouds that stretch from horizon to horizon and are fat with rain... And a massive guillotine in the absolute center of the park, big enough to decapitate a goristro.
The city itself is beautiful, with wide avenues and streets, traffic always flowing smoothly and never jamming no matter how many carts and wagons and pedestrians there are. Everyone is happy and productive, every job done by somebody who chose it and enjoys it. The plaster on the walls is always fresh and spotless white. One can wander the streets out from the center of the city for almost a lifetime, and never find the city's end, but turn back towards the center and be back at the park within a few minutes' walk.
The streets teem not with happy and productive humans, though, but with tanar'ri of all sorts... A glabrezu might be leading a cart of bags of flour to a bakery, while a balor happily pounds away at an anvil in the open front of a smithy. Everyone addresses everyone else as "Brother" or "Sister," titles not born of blood but of cameraderie. Anyone asked about this will go on about the ideals of "liberty, equality, fraternity" and that nobody is more or less than any other -- instead they are all siblings, brothers and sisters, in their society.
The city-layer of Partis is led by a great Abyssal Lord (or "First Demon Among Equals", as he prefers to be called) known as Rosipeer. His image is well-known, and he always comes off as a jovial being looking out for the protection and good of the common demon. He is the one that introduced the concept of "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity" while rebelling against the previous Lord of the layer, and enforced it until the demons obeyed -- and then believed. What far fewer know is that Rosipeer has powerful shapeshifting abilities, and can take on the form of any tanar'ri. He often does this to walk the streets as a commoner, eavesdropping on the people. While out, he notes to himself those who grumble at all about his own rule, but does nothing about it. He just watches and makes mental lists of the people who oppose the Great Revolution, as he still calls it, but does nothing. Until the rains fall, that is...
Every month or so, the great storm above the city finally breaks, and rain drenches Partis. It is a metaphorical storm as well as a literal one, however, as all the restrained rage and violence of the tanar'ri breaks with it. Rosipeer himself is driven mad with the rain, and he steers the great mob to find any of the dissenters he took note of in the past month and bring them to the center of the park. There, those who oppose the Great Revolution are taken up in front of the bloodthirsty mob, rotten food and stones and insults thrown all along the way, and brought to the guillotine. The victims, bound with "rope" made from the intestines of last month's dissenters, are forced to kneel beneath the great magical blade of the killing machine, and decapitated. Dozens of demons are mercilessly slaughtered in this way, along with any outsiders -- be they mortal or planeborn -- and their remains spiked on the outer walls of the city. Eventually, the rain finally ceases, having bathed the city in blood and then washed it clean again, and business as usual resumes. Nobody knows what happens to the heads of the dissenters, except maybe Rosipeer himself.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 16 Feb 2004 : 12:07:42
Here's an entry that was recorded during one of my frequent forays into the Abyss...
Fantasia, the 678th layer of the Abyss (the Mockery, the Thinly Coated Layer)
The Fraternity of Order ran into endless problems in their quest to document the layers of the Abyss. Besides mental and bodily harm, there was the matter of accessing the layers (specialized spells that brought the caster to the 'walls' of the next layer were frequently used, but failed as often as not)...not to mention escaping them. Months of research could be lost when an experienced field operative got written into the dead-book in an obscure layer in this armpit of the multiverse.
A few layers posed even further difficulties because they weren't readily recognized as layers of the Abyss to casual observers. Fantasia was one of them, although in hindsight, it should have been fairly obvious to all.
The layer is isolated. Only a few known portals exist that can take you to it, and even fewer that help you escape it. Worse still, all supernatural abilites, spells or psionics that allow one to shift from one plane to another fail here. If you enter, you are most likely stuck until you can find one of the rare portals.
Perhaps you wouldn't even want to leave at first. Newly arrived visitors are greeted with fresh air, blue skies and rolling green hills of a pastoral paradise. The countryside is littered with neat little farms, which coalesce into a city if you travel down one of the beautiful and organized roads that criss-cross the landscape. The city is called "Deocide", but the tanar'ric inhabitants will refer to it only as "the city".
Not that you will notice the tanar'ri. Nearly all of them wear human or angelic forms, such as you might expect to see on Mt. Celestia - if you've never been there. Everything is beautiful and ordered and good....on the surface.
In fact, the whole thing is a mockery. Tanar'ri that have suffered defeat at the hands of the archons flock to this place to make fun of the holy mount, to take part in the great parody that the whole layer is dedicated to. The differences are unusually subtle for tanar'ri, but even the most thick-skulled observer starts to notice them before too long.
The happy workers on the fields are actually slaves. The fact that they smile and ask for more when their taskmaster whips them (all the while speaking in a positive and motivational manner) starkly contrasts the utopia. A man who falls down in the street is quickly surrounded by schoolchildren and kicked in the guts, while upstanding citizens cheer ("Ah, to be young again! The joys of childhood."). Everywhere, there is crime, torture and horrible evil - hidden under a skin of beauty (which is overdone...sugary sweetness that would make even a guardinal, fluffy teddybears that they are, wrinkle his nose).
The petitioners of Fantasia are people who deluded themselves in life, fooling themselves into thinking that they always had the best interest of others in mind when they only really served themselves. People whose shallow evil was always masked by a faquade of goodness. And in death, they keep on deluding themselves. Asked about the "strangeness", they will only find something strange with the person who asks. Nothing is out of place in this fantastic land of happiness, in their mind.
It makes the tanar'ri laugh. Oh, how they enjoy this layer. The ruler of Deocide (known as the "Marketing supervisor"), a glabrezu named Propagandos, does his very best to help the petitioners fall deeper and deeper into denial. His messages are everywhere in the city ("The Marketing Supervisor knows what is best for *you*!" "Kick a puppy today - for the sake of the children!"). It is a grand joke, which the tanar'ri love to inflict upon visitors. After all, the petitioners can't appreciate it properly.
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| William of Waterdeep |
Posted - 19 Sep 2003 : 08:32:15
Thanks Sage,I can't wait but then I guess i'll have too.I know it will be worth the wait. |
| The Sage |
Posted - 19 Sep 2003 : 08:22:09
Thanks William. I am working on more entries to the Travelogue...or at least I was. On a completely un-Realms related topic, the painting of my new Warhammer Beasts of Chaos army has simply been taking up alot of my free time. Between that, my studies and work (and the three novels I am trying to finish at the moment) I really don't have time for anything else at the moment.
I will see about posting some new entries sometime next month.
How's that?.
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| William of Waterdeep |
Posted - 19 Sep 2003 : 07:44:55
Sage,you are truly a man of many talents.Impressive my friend but now
we need more.Always more.... |
| The Sage |
Posted - 08 Sep 2003 : 07:32:11
You should note however that the village of Braszov was mainly used as a plot device for my campaign. I think I had already stated that somewhere... . What this means is, at the time, a Zhentarim influenced village was of prime importance for the campaign.
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| Vallandar |
Posted - 06 Sep 2003 : 22:03:46
With regards to your earlier comments on the village of Braszov I am both surprised and disappointed that a sage of your good standing should participate in the outrageous and appauling slander to which the Zhentarim are being subjected. I am truly amazed that the gossip and propoganda of their main trading rivals should have spread so far or become so widely accepted. There must be a more rational explanation for the events in Braszov, which should surely be investigated before any blamed is attributed.
[By the way if anyone should need any goblinoids, slaves or 'duty-free' items you can find me at the Candlekeep Inn.] |
| The Sage |
Posted - 09 Aug 2003 : 07:14:01
I have a little more history to add to this, particularly concerning how the modron ship first became stranded on (or rather in... ) Coliar. There is also a small amount of role-playing notes that I made while using this city in my campaign, that others may find useful. I will see about posting that as well.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 09 Aug 2003 : 06:13:40
Regulia - The Steam-Powered City
Character of the city:
Clink, clank. Whooosh. Busy, busy, busy...musn't stop going. If you stop going, we'll run out of steam. And then we'll all fall. Forever.
But if we keep going, we eventually might arrive at our destination.
Oh, joyous day. Oh, happy day.
Description of the city:
Located in the vast and swirling cloud-chaos that is Coliar, this armada of hundred of ships - which are plodding noisily on in an ordered formation, driven purely by steam-driven propellers that provide the thrust for them to move in the desired direction - seems to be drifting aimlessly around in ever-increasing circles through the atmosphere of Realmspace's second planet.
The individual ships of this city look like vast beehives, with dozens, maybe even hundreds of workers constantly oiling, fixing and generally maintaining the ships. Every now and then though, a small division of air-boats will float between the larger ships of the armada, hurrying and carrying passengers, cargo or both.
At the center of this wide formation is a huge platform, held up by massive 'Jangling-Hiter' -type chains which are linked to the four biggest ships in the armada. On this platform resides the Prophet-Engineer, the visionary who dictates the direction in which these ships will move.
A brief history of the city:
It isn't exactly quite clear about how it all started, but at first the steam-powered floating city of Regulia was only a single ship, crewed by stranded modrons. Mostly, they were monodrones through to quadrones, but they were commanded by a Tertian. They were trying to find their way home when the Tertian went rogue.
Suddenly, this Tertian didn't want to go home. He then dictated a course that would take the ship in endless circles through the atmosphere of Coliar, thus keeping his subordinates busy, and himself free from the now oppressive (to him at least) plane of Mechanus.
In time, the drones built more ships and eventually these attracted non-modron settlers, all believing that the Tertian would bring them to a land of plenty. When the Tertian died (it is not exactly known how), one of the settlers took over his post, guiding the city with his visions.
The current ruler of the city:
The current Prophet-Engineer is named Vantalos (male/human/expert 5/LN), a insane genius who, like the other previous rulers of the city, is subjected to frequent visions. Apart from being insane, he is also a good ruler, and (of course) a brilliant engineer (the second of the two requirements for the leader of Regulia). Under his rule, the city has been very energy-efficient, only needing to fill their fuel-stores three times in the last five years.
However - unfortunately for the stability of the city - Vantalos' directions for the city have been more and more obviously making them go in big and more wider orbits/circles. The group of dissidents against such actions grows larger every day.
More interesting information on the city:
Why are all the rulers insane, you are no doubt asking? Actually, it's because they feed on engine oil while they are being reared for the job. It's such a simple thing...the Tertian used to do it all the time (quadrones that remember him confirm this), and he claimed it was the oil that gave him his visions. Of course, engine oil isn't exactly healthy for non-mechanical humanoids, and a steady supplementary diet of it results in most of the prospective Prophet-Engineers dying long before their time, and the rest of them being insane.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 09 Aug 2003 : 05:53:32
Well, I know it has been a long time coming, but I know have some new material that I have just recently finished using in my latest PS/FR campaign. Please be aware that this particular entry relies on elements of the Spelljammer setting, Planescape setting and the Forgotten Realms setting.
I should have it up in a few minutes.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 21 Jul 2003 : 14:02:15
Just in case anybody still has some interest in this scroll, I will soon be updating it with several interesting towns and hamlets, and even a small country. I should have most of the material finished post exams.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 16 Jun 2003 : 13:53:46
I know I promised a new entry last Saturday or Sunday, but I have been so busy that I didn't get to cleaning the text of the entry up. I still have some research to do in the FRCS to incorporate some background into the text, so it may be a few more days yet.
May all your learning be free and unfettered
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| The Sage |
Posted - 13 Jun 2003 : 08:30:18
Brynweir, the original Temple I designed was for my PS campaign. It was originally located in the Outlands, but was transported to Faerun, in Kara-Tur thousands of years ago by the Dragon God of Fate, Chronepsis. Chronepsis is the dragon in the valley the monk encountered, with all the hourglasses. The hourglasses signify the measuring of every dragons life across the mutliverse, however I changed this for my campaign and made it so that the hourglasses represented every sentient being's life across Faerun. The portion of the tale detailing this event still has to be posted.
Anyway the Kar'a'yatar is actually Chronepsis in human form today. Without detailing too much, since this is an ongoing campaign, and I don't want my players to learn too much from these forums, I think you can see where I am going with all this talk about fate, the balance between order and chaos. If you can't I guess you'll just have to wait until the next portion of the adventure is posted. That shouldn't be much longer though.
Anyway, since the Temple originally existed in the Outlands, it allowed for all alignments to visit, and this continued in the Realms as well. However due to the preservation of the balance, only an equal number of each alignment may visit the temple at any one time. Alignments are normally determined by the Buy'up'yatar upon entering the temple-city. He would normally cast a know alignment spell to determine the basics, or more powerful magic, should the visitor be masking his alignment somehow.
May all your learning be free and unfettered
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| Brynweir |
Posted - 12 Jun 2003 : 18:08:02
I like it. I have been developing an interest in various monastic orders in FR, and this is very creative. It allows for several orders to come together. Are there particular alignments associated with the monks? I mean do they have to have a certain amount Lawful, Chaotic, and Evil for the sake of balance?
Another question. You said In the center of the focus of the temple, resides the Altar of Singular Thought. It is here that the High Monk of the Temple, called the Kar'a'yatar, kneels before the altar in complete silence and eternal vigil. From this point the Kar'a'yatar can hear all the chanting from all four sects of the Temple. It is the Kar'a'yatars task to hear these chants and give them form within his mind, combining the rhythms of the chanting into a singular song of silent thought. It is told by the Monks that the Kar'a'yatar's thoughts are what keeps the balance in synch. Does he continue to give them form in his sleep, or does another monk cover for him?
Also, what happened to the dragon? And I'd like to know what the purpose the hourglasses served.
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| The Sage |
Posted - 12 Jun 2003 : 08:40:48
 Doesn't anyone have any comments to make about my last entry to my 'Travelogue'?. I am curious as to everyone's thoughts.
Anyway, I should have a new entry by either Saturday night (since my gaming session has been cancelled), or early Sunday.
Watch for it .
May your learning be free and unfettered
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| The Sage |
Posted - 08 Jun 2003 : 09:01:55
Temple of Serene Enlightenment
Located deep in the heart of the Wu Pi Te Shao Mountains range, south of the Empire of Shou Lung, the isolated Temple of Serene Enlightenment is actually a very unique place among the lands of the exotic east. It is only one of a few places in the East that actually has regular contact with the Realms of the West, to as far as Waterdeep on the Sword Coast. The sole reason for this is due to the presence of the Temple of Serene Enlightenment based in the heart of the great mountainous Temple-city holding. It functions as a hermitage for Monks from many different Orders from across the Realms, both West and East. It is said that the Temple-city is so peaceful and serene that the only sounds that can be heard are the calls of the birds who inhabit the mountain range, and the soft unbroken chants of the monks within the Temple.
The structure of the Temple-city is based upon the supreme order of the Heavens, in that, every single place and locale within the Temple-city has it's defined place where it should be located and nowhere else. To upset this order is to invite Chaos into the world corrupting the hearts and minds of all those of pure spirit. The hierarchy of the Temple-city is based along exactly the same methods of Order and Structure. Each Monk, or member of the Orders has a unique place within the overall structure of the Temple-city, and a specifically defined task that must be performed at the exact same time, every time, every day. The reason for the Monk's complete dedication to ultimate Order and Structure is twofold. The first, the sense of structure that all this order creates helps define every monks place in the celestial order of things, and also keeps the minds of the monks so intuned with the cosmic forces of Order and Chaos within the multiverse, that the very fabric of the multiverse seems to respond to the whims of the Monks. The second, due to the deep connection the Monks have with the cosmos, the forces of Order and Chaos are actually believed to be held in place by the chants and prayers of these monks alone.
It is written within the ancient texts of the temple, that should for any reason at all, the chanting of the Monks stop, the forces of the cosmos will fall out of synch, disrupting the delicate balance of Order and Chaos, which will in turn allow either of the two forces to gain too much presence within the multiverse throwing everything within the material planes into confusion. The monks sternly believe that everything within the multiverse exists due to the presence of Order and Chaos, but the balance between these two cosmic forces gives everything the form that it has. To disrupt that balance would encourage all reality to collapse into a cold shapeless void of formlessness. The balance between Order and Chaos is what allows both to exist without dominating the multiverse.
The Temple-city is dominated mostly by the Temple of Serene Enightenment, a vast star-shaped complex consisting of four points each facing the cardinal points of the compass - North, East, West, and South. The complex consists of only one level and each of the four sections facing the cardinal directions contains one sect of monks responsible for keeping their portion of the cosmos in balance with their ceaseless chanting. In the center of the focus of the temple, resides the Altar of Singular Thought. It is here that the High Monk of the Temple, called the Kar'a'yatar, kneels before the altar in complete silence and eternal vigil. From this point the Kar'a'yatar can hear all the chanting from all four sects of the Temple. It is the Kar'a'yatars task to hear these chants and give them form within his mind, combining the rhythms of the chanting into a singular song of silent thought. It is told by the Monks that the Kar'a'yatar's thoughts are what keeps the balance in synch.
Outside the temple, very little exists within this moutainous region, a few house-constructs built at the time of foundation have been given over to the duty of temple maintainence. Monk amenities are housed within the Temple sects. Other than these buildings, and the Temple, the only other place the city holds is a small dome-shaped holding located past the city entrance. Called, The Dome of Supreme Patience, it is here that visiting Monks, sages, and scholars are held in company - by the Monks responsible for the day-to-day operations of the city - until such time as they have been given a blessing by the Buy'up'yatar, or Holy Administrator. Once the Buy'up'yatar has deemed those he sees as blessed, they can pass freely into the rest of the city. They are told however not to interupt the workings of the main Temple itself. If anyone who visits the city has any questions or queries they are told by the Holy Administrator to direct all their inquiries to the Mal'yatar'betu, or Monks of the Divine Sevice. These monks perform all the duties consigned to them by the Holy Administrator, and their duties range from, Temple maintainence, food service, acting as guides to visitors, and perhaps, the most important duty of all, temporary points in the sects should one monk be unable to fufill his chanting.
The main reason, monks, sages and scribes will visit the Temple is to experience the chanting and works of the monks of the main Temple first hand. It is said by some of the visitors, that once they left the Temple, they had a greater understanding of the multiverse, and had shared a measure of enlightenment about the greater essence of cosmic forces within the cosmos.
The written history of the Temple-city dates back at least 5,000 years, but the Holy Administrator has claimed at times to have knowledge of the founding of the city long before the Empires of the East rose to dominance. Reference has been given to the time period by a certain portion of his lectures that states, that he had visited the lands to the West but retreated back to the East because the West was infested with large brutish creatures and flying wyrms representative of the Celestial Dragons of Legend. It is believed by Western sages and scholars that this was during the time, the Troll, and Giant Empires were at their peak within Faerun, and the Dragons ruled the skies.
The foundation of the Temple itself is said to have occurred when a lone Monk from the lands of the South wandered north into the vast mountain ranges in search of Enlightenment. What he found was a great Dragon of immense proporations sleeping deep within a vast vale in the heart of the mountains. The monk approached the great Wyrm wearily, anxious to cross the range at this low point. As the monk made his way slowly down the slopes and into the vale, he noticed a near infinite number of hourglasses surrounding the sleeping dragon, each recording a different amount of time. Intrigued, the Monk slowed to a halt near a collection of the hourglasses. He bent to retrieve one from the sandy ground. As soon as his hand closed around the glass of the recorder, the Great dragons eyes flew open. The Monk completely stunned by Dragon-fear dropped the Hourglass and watched as the Dragon rose to sitting position, stretching out it's broad wings. A deep booming voice resounded around the vale, shattering the Monk's iron revolve, causing him to cower into a crouched position, hugging his legs to his chest.
"So...,you have came seeking answers to your Questions on Fate", echoed the voice of the Great Wyrm.
The monk completely stunned, did not answer. So surprised was he that the dragon understood the real reason for his journey.
Be sure to check out the regional feat tied to this tale, located in the Skills and Feats of the Realms scroll, on Page 2.
May your learning be free and unfettered
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| The Sage |
Posted - 08 Jun 2003 : 08:52:38
This entry is part of my ongoing Kara-Tur 3e campaign, currently running this month. More will be added when the rest of the adventure unfolds.
Due to the entry's length, it will begin in the next post -
Enjoy,
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| The Sage |
Posted - 07 Jun 2003 : 07:47:07
Now that you ask, the Sage of Perth is actually a Arch-Psion multiclassed with a Wizard/Archmage/Cleric . So in answer to your question, it seems like the answer would be, YES.
Anyway thanks for the comments. I've got some new stuff coming, especially detailing the area that will hopefully be portrayed in the upcoming 'Epic FR Adventure' scroll that is currently running. I intend to incorporate some of this new background material into the campaign, once the fundamentals are out of the way.
May your learning be free and unfettered
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