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Lirdolin
Learned Scribe
Germany
198 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Mar 2012 : 19:12:28
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"The aboleths of Xxiphu rejoiced as they had finally archived their ultimate goal and the unreal form of their 'god', the Eldest, pushed through the gate they had created. Soon all of Realmspace would bow to the allpowerful ruling entity of the Far Realm , changing to it's whims and they would be masters of all other races. Then the first commands of the Eldest started to flood their minds and they were sure of their destiny. But in that instant the night sky itself seemd to take on form and a shape, dwarfing even the gigantic proportions of the Eldest stepped from the heavens. With one swift blow it crushed the Eldest transforming the undiscribable into unidentifiable. With a second move the nightsky taken form banished the pulp the eldest had become back through the gate, which exploded an instant later. As if in answer to the panicing thoughts of Xxiphus residents how this could be possible, the nightsky-being spoke with a voice of exploding suns inside the aboleths heads:
"Because I'm Ao - the Alpha and the Omega of Realmspace!"
Many aboleths heads exploded under the strain or lost their formidable intellects and as the powers that kept Xxiphu afloat diminished it sloly dropped into the sea, sinking into a dark watery abyss, draging the main force of the Abolethic Sovereignity with it.
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Edited by - Lirdolin on 10 Mar 2012 19:15:06 |
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Erik Scott de Bie
Forgotten Realms Author
USA
4598 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2012 : 05:53:28
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I think the fact that Ao hasn't intervened to crush the Abolethic Sovereignty means he doesn't perceive them as an actual threat to him. He exists far beyond the power of anything in Realmspace.
Cheers |
Erik Scott de Bie
'Tis easier to destroy than to create.
Author of a number of Realms novels (GHOSTWALKER, DEPTHS OF MADNESS, and the SHADOWBANE series), contributor to the NEVERWINTER CAMPAIGN GUIDE and SHADOWFELL: GLOOMWROUGHT AND BEYOND, Twitch DM of the Dungeon Scrawlers, currently playing "The Westgate Irregulars" |
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Lirdolin
Learned Scribe
Germany
198 Posts |
Posted - 11 Mar 2012 : 08:48:44
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Yes, I agree. Just because a 'being' or it's followers think it is as powerful as Ao, that doesn't mean it actually is (or at least not in Realmspace).
On a smaller scale you might take the example of Karsus, who thought himself to be as powerful as the gods and look how well that turned out for him: Mystryl reloaded herself as Mystra, Netheril was crushed and Karsus turned into a thinking rock 
And information on Far Realm entities from Bruce Cordell? I believe he is (unknowingly?) an agent of the Abolethic Sovereignity at least since Gates of Firestorm Peak |
Edited by - Lirdolin on 11 Mar 2012 11:26:55 |
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Lirdolin
Learned Scribe
Germany
198 Posts |
Posted - 20 Mar 2012 : 09:27:42
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Bring back ‚the Names’ III
Zallanora Argentresses / Shoon VII
Shoon VII, the most evil wizard-dictator from human history and former demilich still inhabits the young body of the elf woman Zallanora Argentresses. Before the Spellplague ‘she’ had already succsessfully infiltrated the Cowled Wizards of Amn and nearly was ready to take over when the Spellplague struck and whipped her memories clean. She wandered aimlessly until an elftribe from Tethyr took her in. She lived some decades with the elves and even bore a daughter, but in the end unrest took her over and she became an adventuress who as it turned out was magically drawn to the ruined imperial city of Shoonach. There she almost knowingly made it through the defenses and gained access to the lower dungeons, where she found her old lair and regained her memories. Zallanora/Shoon then returned to the Cowled Wizards telling them the partial truth about the memory loss, claiming to wish to restart her studies and having lost almost all knowledge of magic.
Today ‘she’ again acts the part of the flirtous elf with a dry sense of humor, hidding her vast knowledge of ancient history and her magical powers of a 36th lvl. mage. Her curly silver hair has grown long and the copper skinned body of the short elf temptress haunts the dreams of many of the Cowled Wizard’s appreantices and masters alike.
In this way she gains power over her fellow students and her ‘tutors’, gathering lore, new magic and influence on the way, until she can take over the Cowled Wizards of Amn and make them her enforcers in rebuilding the Shoon-Empire.
Bhaal
After his last offspring rejected to become the new Lord of Murder and dispersed the divine energies into the astral sea, it took Bhaal decades to pull himself together as a vestige. During the chaos of the Spellplague he was finally able to possess one of his last followers, an assasin from the city of Triel near the Boareskyr Bridge. There he fathered a child, transfering his spirit into the unborn and absorbing the lingering energies of his avatar that was killed on the bridge by Cyric. His first victim was his mother who did not survive the rebirth of Bhaal. The god-child grew extremly fast and had killed his next victim by the age of two, becomeing stronger with every kill and reaching adulthood by the age of five. He left Elturgard and it’s paladins behind and took over an assasin-guild in Baldur’s Gate, where he had located an abandonded underground tempel dedicated to his former self. Bhaal has already ascended to the status of a demigod, never suspecting that some of his streaks of luck are actually the work of his former ally Bane, who seeks to bring back the Dark Three.
Myrkul / Crown of Horns
The Crown of Horns, bearing the essence of Myrkul, finally ended up in the hands of a Horned Harbringer, one of the dead god’s remaining desciples. The Harbringer willingly surrendered his body to Myrkul and was transformed into a lich. Myrkul, who had enyoed being free of Ao’s dictates and rules for a while, came to realize that he missed true divine power. But instead of aspiring to regain his former portfolio as Lord of the Dead, a divine mandate that would again bother him with managing the souls of the departed, he now plans to gain the portfolio of fallen Velsharon, Lord of the Necromancy. More powerful than the average lich, Myrkul has the powers of a demigod. He gathered his harbringer followers for the sole purpose of gaining access to the corpse of the dead god, which he suspects to be hidden in Aglarond. Myrkul being way smarter than Bhaal already sees the hand of Bane behind some of his past successes.
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EytanBernstein
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 04 Apr 2012 : 18:08:50
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quote:
Originally posted by Lirdolin
Save some of the spirit of the Old Empires:
Shadows of the Old Empires
The Citadell of Ash
Located in the Smoking Mountains, the Citadell of Ash, formerly a fortress-temple of the now dead god Gilgeam, is now the domain of Gilgeam’s exarch Shuruppak the Reaper, Lord of the Plain of Black Ash. Having absorbed some of Gilgeams scattered divine strength through artifacts and the leftovers from a failed god-golem experiment, Shuruppak is now a demigod himself, who hopes, that from him Gilgeam will one day be reborn. He gained the loyalty of the Citadell’s huecuvas and a huge following of descendants of untherite Mulan. Shuruppak hates the dragonborn and kills everybody who calls the land by any other name than Unther. Presently he rules supreme in the Smoking Mountains and on the Plain of Black Ash. The raids of his followers strike deeper into Tymanther every year, with the dragonborn unable to bring down the well fortified Citadell of Ash, only adding to it’s defenses as slain dragonborn are revieved as undead soldiers of Shuruppak.
Under-Unthalass
The tunnels and warrens below ruined Unthalass are the realm of Erishkigal, Queen of Tortures, a fiendish lamia born of marilith blood claiming to be scion of the all but forgotten goddess of the unteric underworld, whose name she bears. She is served by tribes of wererats, lamias, lizardfolk and remaining Untherites, whose society worked out a semblence of a city-state of old Unther. Erishkigal sees herself as Queen of Unther now and views Tymanthers dragonborn as invaders. Her closest allies are the ‘Spawn of the Dark Queen’, the cult of Tiamat. The cult is headed by Braeden a female half-brown dragon and cleric of Tiamat. Together with her mother Slavin’krath’magaal, a female fiendish brown dragon, she is
building a force of dragonborn and dragonspawn creatures of Tiamat, to back Erishkigal’s warriors when the time for war against Tymanther is right.
Children of the Gods
The tieflings and devas of Geldaneth claim divine descent and although not a few are children of slaves and fiends, many are in fact descendants of the manifestations of Mulhorand’s (and to a lesser extent Unther’s) old Gods. Well know ‘divine’ offspring are:
Derlaunt a deva formerly serving Thoth, but who now is in the service of Oghma.
‘Inanna’, deva of the dead godddess Inanna and now serving Sune.
Qebehsenuef and Hapi, devas in servive to the banished god Horus-Re, waiting in their ‘father’s’ tempel in Geldaneth to return to the world.
Umara Ankh-Hathor is revered as a descendant of the vanished Mulhorandi goddess Hathor, and heads a secret circel of believers, which actually is only a glorified cover for a high-class brothel and a ring of thieves. Umara uses the religious facade to gain loyalty from many citizens, who want to protect the ‘old ways’ from the ‘Imaskari oppressors’.
The Wizards of Messemprar
The wizards sealed of their tower and protected themselves with ancient wards similar to the spells the imaskari used to keep out the old gods of the mulan in ancient times. In time their bodies began to fail and they helped each other to turn themselves into archliches. Now the deem the time is right to revisit the world, seek new students and rebuild the city of Messempar if possible.
The Holy Order of Assuran’s Revenge
“Transgressor…Betrayer… Defiler…I’m Assurael, the Avenging Angel! I shall punish you!!!”
‘The Holy Order of Assuran’s Revenge’ or ‘Order of Assuran’ for short is a secret circle of holy warriors mainly devas of mulan/untheric descent, who serve the ancient untheric god Assuran (who became Hoar). In their angelic guise they revere to themselves as Assurael, the Avenging Angel. They are mortal foes of the clergy of Shar and Cyric, the gods they hold responsible for the destruction of Unther and hate the dragonborn of Thymanter for taking Unther’s place in the world. As they do believe that the worship of Assuran or Hoar as Bane’s exarch is heresy they do not bow to the church of Bane. But as the Assurans do not act against Baneites without a cause for revenge, Bane doesn’t seem to mind. The order is active as far north as Waterdeep.
Fangs of Seth
The Fangs are a group of sethite cultists and are lead by the lich Hodkamseth of Skuld, the Lord of Seth. The group is sponsored out of the hidden realm of Okoth, and Hodkamseth hopes to rebuilt the mulhorandi empire in the south, above Okoth, so the mulan will be serving it’s secret masters. Currently the Fangs are aktive in High Imaskar and among their number are yuan’ti and mummies who all serve the god of serpents.
Vault of the Scorpion King
In Tymanther’s Underdark there is a large cavern, where untherite miners sought refuge when Unther was smashed by parts of Abeir. The chaotic energies of the Spellplague warped the miners and created Scorpionmen (Stingers), who organized themselves in the image of Unther’s lost society and built a city-state complete with a ziggurat where they honor the semi-divine Scorpion King as their leader and god.
I'm glad someone got some use out of the Unthalass adventure in DoF. |
http://eytanbernstein.com - the official website of Eytan Bernstein |
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Lirdolin
Learned Scribe
Germany
198 Posts |
Posted - 06 Apr 2012 : 18:38:00
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quote:
Originally posted by EytanBernstein
I'm glad someone got some use out of the Unthalass adventure in DoF.
Among other sources, yes :) |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2012 : 04:41:50
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I like Egyptian knock-offs (like Stygia), but Mulhorand went too far with the derivation. Now, if some other race 'returned' in the region of the northern Shar - like the civilized gnolls - and we had a neo-egyptian culture of those, that would be pretty sweet.
Derivation is only derivative when you see more commonalities with the original then you do differences. If you change just one or two major things - like race, or major deity - then it falls under the purview of "inspired by", rather xerox-copy.
The Disney game Wizards 101 uses a race of crocodile folk for its Egypt wanna-be, and it was cute. They also went for an elemental theme in each different area. Its the little things that set it apart (and thats a pretty fun game BTW - I used to play it with my two younger boys).
So, I would bring back something with a bit of 'pharonic' flare, and also bring back some of Maztice (not all of it, at least not like it was). With the spellplague doing the mish-mosh of worlds thing, this is a prefect opportunity to fix Maztica - don't throw the baby out with the bath-water. Merge the lore (locales and all) with Returned Abeir, and its a win-win. You spice-up an otherwise flat RW derivation, and turn the RA lore into something more useable (because then it would be truly different then just another continent of medieval fantasy kingdoms - all of which we have on the main continent, making the entire thing horribly redundant).
Also, either bring back a fully functional portal-network (turn it into a guild-run thing), or do something else with travel (blimps, trains, magical sailing ships, Faerie-paths, etc). Thats the only way places like the shining South, Maztica, the Utter and far East, Zakahara, Chult, and all those other DM-only (OH NO! here comes Bob!!!  ) continent/islands all over the place - into useable adventure areas for DMs. No one wants to bother with a sessions-long trek across the globe anymore - folks today need instant gratification. Whats the point of taking away the portals - that was THE most useful tool Ed ever came up with for running D&D games (and we are talking about a man with a toolbox that would make Sears jealous). Put 'em back, and emphasize them. People need to get from point 'A' to point 'B' in a hurry when the "fate of the world hangs in the balance" (doesn't it always?) |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 07 Apr 2012 04:47:52 |
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Lirdolin
Learned Scribe
Germany
198 Posts |
Posted - 07 Apr 2012 : 18:38:23
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quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
I like Egyptian knock-offs (like Stygia), but Mulhorand went too far with the derivation.
I also thought of Stygia when i wrote above , that the Fangs of Seth want to establish a new mulhorandi dynastic-kingdom south of mulhorand, above Okoth and it's hidden rulers.  |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 30 Apr 2012 : 17:59:07
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Not sure if this is really OT, but it is created lore, and ties-into the Forgotten Realms theme:
Last night I watched Once Upon a Time, which isn't normally a show I watch, despite its subject-matter. Its actually one of my sister's shows, and I was waiting for The Killing and Madmen to come on, which she also watches (and I like to see them on 'the big TV').
Anyhow...
Geppetto (don't ask) was tasked to take some wood from an enchanted tree (the last in the enchanted forest) and build a wardrobe. Apparently, when you build a wardrobe from an enchanted tree, it creates a door to another world (geee... wonder where they stole that one from).
Here's my thought: If you take a seed/nut from one world, and plant it in another, the wood retains a two-way connection between both worlds, and this can be utilized in the fashioning of magical devices (such as a wardrobe-portal). This would be a natural ability within the material, so the normally difficult processes of creating such permanent gates would be circumvented. A mage stumbling upon this secret could profit from this... if he had the time, power, and inclination to do so.
I definitely think this is something the Imaskari would have stumbled upon - that something 'born' of one world, but from material brought from another, would retain that connection. I realize this isn't precisely how it worked in OUaT (or Narnia), but I wanted it to work within the D&D rules structure, without being overly powerful.
Anyone who watches Fringe will also see how this applies to Peter Bishop, although in his case it was more a matter of becoming attuned to the new plane over time (something very important in planer mechanics, especially when you are trying to Banish stuff). It also helps us with the greater FR phenomena - that other worlds/spheres are encoded in certain races' DNA, so that these people create a sort-of 'racial portal', allowing deities and other things to slip-through more easily (it thins the hypothetical 'veil' between the worlds).
Anyhow, just thought I'd stick this nugget somewhere, and I didn't want to start a new thread over it. Besides, this thread needed a good kick-start again.  |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 30 Apr 2012 18:00:08 |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36835 Posts |
Posted - 30 Apr 2012 : 18:58:07
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With Narnia, though, it wasn't just any regular tree... The apple that the seeds came from was a special one; the kid had to basically go on a quest just to get this magical apple that healed his mom. And then those apple seeds were planted on Earth.
Considering that Aslan was involved each time, even with a magical apple, this might still have only been a one-time thing.
So I'd not let any old item from anywhere act as a sort of portal or connection to its source... Otherwise, every spelljammer would be linked to its home sphere, and opening a door in that 'jammer may take you home, instead of into the galley. And a plane-hopping mage might reach into his belt pouch and reach somewhere back into the prime.
And so on, into ridiculousness. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen!  |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31797 Posts |
Posted - 01 May 2012 : 01:34:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
So I'd not let any old item from anywhere act as a sort of portal or connection to its source... Otherwise, every spelljammer would be linked to its home sphere, and opening a door in that 'jammer may take you home, instead of into the galley. And a plane-hopping mage might reach into his belt pouch and reach somewhere back into the prime.
And so on, into ridiculousness.
So long as "any old item" maintained some level of connection to the planar energies making the connections between places, I don't see the issue.
Look at the portal keys of PLANESCAPE. Consider how strange some of those could be...
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Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
http://www.candlekeep.com -- Candlekeep Forum Code of Conduct
Scribe for the Candlekeep Compendium -- Volume IX now available (Oct 2007)
"So Saith Ed" -- the collected Candlekeep replies of Ed Greenwood
Zhoth'ilam Folio -- The Electronic Misadventures of a Rambling Sage |
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Ayrik
Great Reader
Canada
7989 Posts |
Posted - 01 May 2012 : 02:18:28
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| Basic D&D had "portal" items which could go Boot Hill, Gamma World, Star Frontiers, and other bizarre non-D&D worlds. |
[/Ayrik] |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36835 Posts |
Posted - 01 May 2012 : 04:35:07
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quote:
Originally posted by The Sage
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
So I'd not let any old item from anywhere act as a sort of portal or connection to its source... Otherwise, every spelljammer would be linked to its home sphere, and opening a door in that 'jammer may take you home, instead of into the galley. And a plane-hopping mage might reach into his belt pouch and reach somewhere back into the prime.
And so on, into ridiculousness.
So long as "any old item" maintained some level of connection to the planar energies making the connections between places, I don't see the issue.
Look at the portal keys of PLANESCAPE. Consider how strange some of those could be...
I'm not talking about what the object is -- I'm talking about the idea that I pick up an ordinary rock in Arborea, and it can somehow serve as a connection back to Arborea. With a mechanism like that, a planehopper could have objects keyed to 20 different planes tucked into his sock, and a few hundred more stuffed into his backpack.
What I'm saying is that it doesn't matter what the object is, I think it needs something more than just having been someplace to make a connection to there.
Going back to the Narnia example... The wardrobe connected back to Narnia because it was made from wood grown from the seeds of a magical apple from Narnia. It wasn't some random apple plucked off a tree, it was an extraordinary apple that even in Narnia was remarkable. The streetlight growing in the woods didn't have any connection to London, even though it was from there, because it came from a regular streetlight.
So in my mind, something that's keyed to a specific plane doesn't have to be any specific kind of object, but there does have to be something about the object that makes it different from identical ones.
With the fact that portal keys are keyed to portals, and not to planes, I don't think those are a valid comparison. A chicken feather might activate this portal to Arborea, but that one over there might require a golden tuning fork. Portal are like real-world doors: it doesn't matter how you unlock the door, that door is always opening to the same place. |
Candlekeep Forums Moderator
Candlekeep - The Library of Forgotten Realms Lore
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I am the Giant Space Hamster of Ill Omen! |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 01 May 2012 : 04:58:39
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Well, the point was it has to be a wardrobe, and the seeds had to come from one world, and then grown on another (which is not how it worked in OUaT, and not precisely how it worked in Narnia).
I guess you could possibly build more then a wardrobe, but it would have to be a completely enclosed space, not just a doorway - the door has to close behind you, before the portal opens in the back.
In the case of a Spelljamming ship or what-not, the material would have grown (fully formed) on the world the seed/nut was from, ergo the magic would not work. It has ti e something 'born of two worlds'.
In the case of Peter Bishop (Fringe)I mentioned above, he had been born on alternate Earth , but was raised on our Earth, so his 'frequency' had become re-attuned to our Earth (presumably every seven years every cell in your body gets replaced, and the new material would have come from the new world - at least thats my theory). However, he had a child with a woman from Earth-2, and even though he was born of Earth-2, he had become part of Earth-1's universe, so the child was of both, and acted as key between worlds.
So he didn't need a wardrobe.
Applying this further to FR's mega-setting, that means Fey probably discovered this, and that is how they build their feygates - they grow plants from Faerie in the Prime material (and vice-versa), and use the link to power the gates (along with their own innate ability to detect these weak spots in 'the veil').
Thought might have the same mechanic, but is much weaker then a physical connection. Knowledge of another plane/world would make it easier for you to 'find' the path to it, but over time many have forgotten these paths, hence the name of our favorite setting. The paths are all still there, they are just MUCH harder to find now. This seems to be in-line with how teleportation works as well (the better you know the other end, the more likely you are to get there okay).
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"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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Edited by - Markustay on 01 May 2012 04:59:27 |
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