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Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 13 Dec 2018 : 15:06:16

Damn, must have missed that one. I remember the fruit self defence classes.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 14 Dec 2018 : 11:50:31

Found a few extra npcs for mulhorand, most notably vasrass from the elder serpents of set article, he's a large viper that is intelligent and works as an assassin for the cult of set.

The article has him as part of an organisation within the cult like a grand council of serpents and is part of sets take over of sseth, but I haven't worked out how that can even happen in a non god centric model so I'm ignoring that for the moment (infiltrating and usurping another cult is fine and I'm doing that for ishtar and ramman in Unther, but it's sseth being bound that I have trouble with - unless sseth has become a demigod due to declining worship or he just never ascended in the first place and seti actually finds him and binds him on the material plane).

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 16 Dec 2018 : 19:56:09

So, the Alabaster Staff. I'm vaguely aware that the writer came up with the idea using the Ankh of Life / Staff of Ra as inspiration.

I'm wondering if perhaps there isn't more to it than that. What if the creation of the Alabaster Staff is quite literally inspired by the Ankh of Life.

So Ra lays dying in Thay and at the same time a shrine is erected by the high priest of Horus (surely Horus himself was the high priest of his own church at the time), and the Ankh of Life is hidden inside and then quite conveniently its location is forgotten.

Sounds suspicious to me (although I admit I'm taking a more literal interpretation of the Perilous Gateways text

quote:
Ankh of Life: This powerful symbol of divinity and major artifact was believed to have been lost during the Orcgate Wars but was secretly hidden in the Darkcrypt immediately after the death of Re by the command of the high priest of Horus-Re.

The word immediately I'm taking to mean at around the same time rather than after a few days travel that would have taken to get from Delhumide to Thazalhar.

So the one thing that could restore Ra is lost at the moment of his death. Did Horus have a hand in its disappearance or was it Set in disguise. I've actually twisted the story of Set's betrayal so that it could be Set who was evil and scheming or it could have been Horus who lied.

However the Alabaster Staff appears to restore beings to unlife, as some horrible undead monster with the twisted memories it had in life. What if Set copied the Ankh of Life and made an evil version that looked exactly like it, but when somebody used it the person came back as a monster. I bet it fooled a lot of people and gave Set an evil kick out of it, that will teach them to exile him for no good reason.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 16 Dec 2018 : 20:13:08

Ooh, what if the Cult of Set poisoned the first Pharaoh Horusret I, and then to add insult to injury the Ankh of Life was used on him (but it was actually the Alabaster Staff) and he came back as an undead monster and they were forced to slay him again.

That would be a cruel revenge of Set

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 16 Dec 2018 : 21:27:40

Also decided to expand the inquisition of 927 DR.

I figure that the rebellion of the Masters of the Temple in Semkhrun happened in 922 DR.

I also decided to have the Cult of Set involved in it - infiltrate the Masters, turn them towards rebellion against Mulhorand at the same time as Thay rebels.

So what if the Pharaoh discovers the Cult of Set's involvement.

What if his inquisition of wizards finds a few Setites within their ranks. That causes him to suspect the other churches and so they get interrogated, then it expands to regular people.

I've given it the name Eduat, the Death of Truth. That's what the Traitor's Bane swords were created for, to root out Setites and traitors, and behead them when they were discovered.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 17 Dec 2018 : 10:31:04

After looking at the trail of tears perilous gateways article so often I'm wondering about creating my own and incorporating some of the trail of tears within it.

I've been toying with Set spending some of his exile in the Tower of Set and then abandoning it as he tours Faerun searching for great magic and godhood.

Along the way I'm wondering if I he might have created portals that only his followers could use to trace his journey and find his secrets.

I've already had aap nura find a cache of Sets and use that to become an incarnation and write the hate of the Cobra text, so why not expand it and have a whole load of caches, each containing portions of the Book of the Serpent (Sets spellbook and diary) and some of his blood (which is the key to the portal).

So I'm thinking of making the Trail of Serpents Tears, the portal network makes the shape of a coiled snake with head raised.
The head starts in the Sunrise Mountains where Aap Nura discovered his cache. The next portal is in Thaymount where Set discovered sarrukh chambers. The next is in Thazalhar where Set hid the ankh of life (this portal is also part of the Trail of Tears network).
Next is the catacombs beneath the Tower of Set, where Seti discovered a cache and used the blood to become reborn as Seti.
Then maybe another portal in the ruins of War Rukoth, another in the Border Kingdoms, perhaps a few more leading to Chult.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 19 Dec 2018 : 11:49:50

Added a few details to the second location on the Trail of Serpent's Tears.

Its located in the Thaymount and is a former hideout of the Ba'etith. I'm thinking Set killed the guardian and absorbed it's power (gaining his serpentine appearance), and also discovered a huge spell store.

To try and make it a bit unusual I had a thought about how Sarrukh would store spells (as George has hinted that written words are not the most efficient method for other races). So I've got sealed stone jars into which a sponge like mesh is stored. This mesh is impregnated with flavor markers that the sarrukh can identify with his tongue, when held (or coiled around) the mesh heats up in particular patterns that the sarrukh can pick up with its heat sensors.

I'm going off my basic understanding of how some snakes sense their prey and figured I'd use that as a communication method.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 19 Dec 2018 : 11:51:25

Also wondering whether to make Maaril an imaskari artificer. I've got a quote that says he was from Mulhorand way. There is a portal beneath Gheldaneth that leads to Tethyr. Maaril's presence in Waterdeep might be because he recognizes Halaster. The Imaskari were known for controlling dragons (hence his staff).

Just an idea

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 19 Dec 2018 : 14:56:59

Well that's it, I've exhausted all the official sources. Time to start making things up.
I'm going to start with Skuld. If anyone has any npcs or locations they want to offer and don't mind me shamelessly appropriating then please speak up, filling in the small details is hard work and there are a lot more cities and towns to go through before mulhorand is finished.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 20 Dec 2018 : 08:03:26

Found the Skuld map and noticed that the docks district appears to be adjacent to the city of the gods.
The docks is where all the foreigners arrive. I cannot imagine the Pharaoh or vizier being happy at being adjacent to a foreign district.
Also the naval district is way off to the south.
From a settlement evolution point of view I would imagine the city of the gods was built first, then the naval district and then the other districts grew up around it as normal people built houses around it. The docks district would be last as inner sea trade did not begin to flourish until thousands of years after mulhorand was founded.

So I'm switching the naval and docks district so that the naval yards are next to the city of the gods in the north and the docks and warehouses are South of the river and effectively separate from Skuld.
It fits in more thematically if foreigners are separate from the rest of Mulhorand because you need a permit to visit the rest of Mulhorand if you are a foreigner.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 20 Dec 2018 : 10:40:38

Also noticed catacombs on the map of Skuld, there is also a mention of catacombs in the old empires writeup.

So first thing wrong with this is that Mulan bury their dead in pyramids, not underground. Now I've dealt with this a bit by explaining that the pyramid custom is as a result of Ras death and his will stated he was to be buried in the land of the dead in a ziggurat.
So before the death of Ra, people were buried in a small hole in the ground with their personal effects. I'm rationalizing this as being part turami custom and part inherited from imaskari (they would chuck the slaves into a communal grave pit).

This means the catacombs are very very old. I could date them back to the beginning of Skuld founding and they would be used to house the dead children of the godkings as well as normal folk. I could also date the catacombs back even further and have them as turami tombs as well.

Plenty of scope for a hidden subrace of turami who fled enslavement by the imaskari and who only emerge at night to take the gifts placed by grieving relatives.

sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11830 Posts

Posted - 20 Dec 2018 : 14:46:24

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Also noticed catacombs on the map of Skuld, there is also a mention of catacombs in the old empires writeup.

So first thing wrong with this is that Mulan bury their dead in pyramids, not underground. Now I've dealt with this a bit by explaining that the pyramid custom is as a result of Ras death and his will stated he was to be buried in the land of the dead in a ziggurat.
So before the death of Ra, people were buried in a small hole in the ground with their personal effects. I'm rationalizing this as being part turami custom and part inherited from imaskari (they would chuck the slaves into a communal grave pit).

This means the catacombs are very very old. I could date them back to the beginning of Skuld founding and they would be used to house the dead children of the godkings as well as normal folk. I could also date the catacombs back even further and have them as turami tombs as well.

Plenty of scope for a hidden subrace of turami who fled enslavement by the imaskari and who only emerge at night to take the gifts placed by grieving relatives.

They bury the dead of the rich in pyramids. Perhaps they bury the dead of their common Mulans or slaves in catacombs. They may do this as a means to store bodies in preserved form for eventual reanimation in the form of mummies or somesuch to protect the realm. They may not see the animation of skeletons as an evil act. I can see certain Mulhorandi religions viewing the creation of the following corporeal undead as not necessarily a "wrong" act (for instance, Osiris is noted as using zombies, skeletons, and "special" non-evil mummies):

crawling claws (possibly created from hands of thieves?)
crypt thing
Flameskull
Mummy
Skeleton
Skeleton Warriors created from Osirian paladins and monks of the realm
archlich of say priests, bards, or wizards dedicated to the church
salt mummy (MM3)
spellstitched creature template added to mummies, flameskulls, skeleton warriors, archlich, etc...

They may have catacombs beneath the pyramids or temples as well. Also, some gods may favor catacombs (for instance Geb as a god of the earth). Just a thought.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 20 Dec 2018 : 15:08:06

Well I have the turami as still following old customs so it's bury in the ground. Typical society will adapt to follow the king (The king sets the fashion that eventually trickles down through society - ruffs in the Elizabethan era getting larger for instance).

So if Ra dies and gets buried in a pyramid then everyone will try to follow suit. Now a commoner can't afford a pyramid of his own so a communal pyramid makes most sense. If not then a small mound of dirt with a reed basket (a poor man's sarcopjagus).

As for the undead, it states in many places that undead are abhorant and then go on to say how the church of osiris uses undead as guardians. So in an attempt to reconcile that inconsistency I've turned the zombies and fleshy undead into flesh golems of a sort (mulhorand and thay are noted as having different golems that are not as effective as western ones) and skeletons could just be an animated object. Of course there are undead in the tombs but they are not desired by the church who will try nd destroy them but they do prove useful guardians. So any crawling claws or skeletons or zombies will probably be animated objects or golems, while the intelligent evil creatures will be genuine undead that are not affiliated in any way with the church.

Ancient catacombs are an excellent place for adventures though. If it goes down far enough I could put a sarrukh tomb in there. I vaguely recall some caverns beneath sampranasz that are dedicated to Set which could originally be sarrukh related. Perhaps the turami as former slaves of the sarrukh occupied their old haunts and used them as burial chambers. Then when the sarrukh return and try to take over mulhorand they can just use old portals to reappear in the caverns where they used to live and assert control over the Serpent humanoid spies they have among the slaves of Mulhorand.

Edited by - Gary Dallison on 20 Dec 2018 15:09:32

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 21 Dec 2018 : 13:54:35

Detailed a monster I've been mentioning occasionally in the old empires.

The Nefakashar (meaning angry darkness) is the mulhorandi name for the hakeashar which I figure is the untheric evolution of the mulhorandi name.

I've had them investing extra dimensional spaces until now because I figure they live in the ethereal plane. So the Enclave have dealings with them and so does sildeyuir, I figure they even bothered the spellweavers and imaskari who used extra dimensional spaces as well.

They were kept out of Mulhorand by the beacon of light, but when that was stolen they have started appearing in greater numbers.
Because of the timing, the senior figures in mulhorand think the Nefakashar are actually a thayan weapon.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 23 Dec 2018 : 10:41:43

Random thoughts today are about the sarrukh which involves the old empires region a fair bit.

I've never really liked their pantheon story about worshipping a world serpent and he breaks up into many other gods. It's a bit too forced to imagine it happening naturally over time.

However I did note that all the creator races appear to have an original batch of gods who then break apart and new gods appear and the races ultimately suffer some calamity

George's awesome article on Jergal alludes to this being normal operating procedure for the baetith. They infiltrate empires, give them cheap and easy magic then help break those empires up.

I also noted with the sarrukh that super beings keep appearing who are hailed almost as gods themselves or powerful servants of the gods.

So latest thought is this. What if the sarrukh worshipped the world serpent and it was like any other god-parishioner relationship (unrequited). Then the baetith come along and brings the awesomely easy power of the weave and elevates a few select individuals to archangel of Netheril type status as Jergal did in Netheril.

Cue a supermassive ritual to imbue these super beings with divinity and what actually happens is they become linked to the weave (like dragons and elves - it means they get spelllike abilities).
This new amalgamated being is called merrshaulk and look s a bit like a yuanti abomination with many extra heads and limbs and all the personalities of these super beings exist within him.

This monstrous creature is the defector ruler of the sarrukh for a thousand years, but over time his personalities have a falling out and he literally rips himself apart.

Sseth, sshartrisune, mdaess, and the others are the sarrukh who formed merrshaulk and they flee with their clans to different parts of faerun.

So while they were worshipped as gods they were actually real beings (demigods) and some might still survive. Dendar could be one, Sshartrisune could still be alive and slumbering in a demiplane accessed from the forest of wyrms and that's how shar is derived from sshartrisune.

This pattern of imbujng super beings and allowing them to fall out and destroy their own empires is what happened to the aearee and batrachii and dragons and Netheril.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 28 Dec 2018 : 20:49:35

Had a totally mad thought regarding Set and Sseth.

So I've got Set in his later life (post exile) trailing the sarrukh / baetith outposts looking for more magical power. Now I'm theorizing that the gods of the sarrukh are actually demigods in that they were on the material plane (merrshaulk was an abomination that was split/separated into many other beings).

What if Sseth was actually Set. I mean what if Set found one of these sarrukh demigods and killed it before using its power to acquire the worship of an entire snake people (the yuan-ti).

The timings kind of fit as Sseth doesn't appear until -302 DR and Set is outcast -1048 DR so there is plenty of time for Set to go wandering.

Now how does that fit in with Set binding Sseth later on, what if it is actually Seti tracing Set's footsteps who finds the slumbering Set (still not a true god) and preys upon him in the same what that Set preyed upon the other sarrukh.

Of course all of this takes place on the material plain with actual people (or demigods) rather than true gods wandering around which isn't allowed in my version.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 30 Dec 2018 : 21:14:01

Random lore find.

534 DR an adventuring party visits Sphur Upra on the Shadow Plane on a diplomatic mission to open a portal from Mulhorand to Sphur Upra.

So I'm assuming first of all that the adventuring party was sent by Mulhorand or by parties within Mulhorand to open the portal. What I can't figure out is why.

534 DR has absolutely nothing happening in Mulhorand's history.

�348 DR: Year of the Dagger: Outlaws from Mulhorand settle and found Ulgarth.
�643 DR: Year of the Nesting Harpy: Nezram the Transmuter abandons his tower by the shores of Azulduth and enters a portal located in the depths of Azulduth. The plane wandering sarrukh (formerly of Okoth) are alerted to the use of the portal.

While in Unther 534 DR is right around the time that the Wizards' Reach cities begin to secede.

Possibilities are that an enemy wanted a portal opened to disrupt Mulhorand perhaps in some way. Sphur Upra is like a great big adventuring company some 19,000 strong, its easily possible the gloamings could raid nearby caravans.

Another possibility is that Nezram wanted the portal established for his planar wanderings.

Otherwise I'm out of ideas.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 30 Dec 2018 : 21:33:57

Added a potential Eldreth Veluuthra ally in the Ganathwood. It was once a much larger forest covering most of Mulhorand and was home to a nation of wild elves (canon - unapproachable east). The Imaskari destroyed whatever nation the elves had when they established towers and mini artificer dominions amid the forest.

The Mulhorandi finished the job by logging the remainder of the forest and building their empire out of it. The elves who resisted were slaughtered except for a few who transformed into animal form and now protect the Ganathwood.

So these animal elves still survive (although they are totally mad and have probably forgotten they were once elves) and protect the wood from those who would despoil it. They are the cause of the feral animals within the wood, their madness affecting all who live in the wood.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 02 Jan 2019 : 19:37:50

Guardians of the Weave. It establishes a base of operations in Skuld.

I realize this organization is first established in 1373 DR and that is 17 years beyond the current time, but I like to begin setting up lore that is tied in later.

First thing I'm thinking about is the name Guardians of the Weave. It sounds very much like a Ba'etith derived name to me. I wonder if the Ba'etith survived in any form to the present day.

I'm wondering that perhaps the sarrukh of Okoth that fled to the planes included a number of Ba'etith agents in their number and perhaps that organization survived on the outer planes. With the Sarrukh of Okoth's return there is a considerable number to reinvigorate the ancient organization and it begins anew. The Guardians of the Weave are just the latest human incarnation.

Other alternatives are that the Yuan-ti include the last few surviving remnants of the Ba'etith (as the only widespread, numerous, and magically accomplished creator race derivative that I can think of). Their penchant for cabals may include one dedicated to preserving the weave (something Olo for a name).

sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11830 Posts

Posted - 03 Jan 2019 : 13:21:42

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

Guardians of the Weave. It establishes a base of operations in Skuld.

I realize this organization is first established in 1373 DR and that is 17 years beyond the current time, but I like to begin setting up lore that is tied in later.

First thing I'm thinking about is the name Guardians of the Weave. It sounds very much like a Ba'etith derived name to me. I wonder if the Ba'etith survived in any form to the present day.

I'm wondering that perhaps the sarrukh of Okoth that fled to the planes included a number of Ba'etith agents in their number and perhaps that organization survived on the outer planes. With the Sarrukh of Okoth's return there is a considerable number to reinvigorate the ancient organization and it begins anew. The Guardians of the Weave are just the latest human incarnation.

Other alternatives are that the Yuan-ti include the last few surviving remnants of the Ba'etith (as the only widespread, numerous, and magically accomplished creator race derivative that I can think of). Their penchant for cabals may include one dedicated to preserving the weave (something Olo for a name).

What resource is guardians of the weave from. Just because something involves the weave doesn't mean I'd say it involves the ba'etith. It could be followers of Isis and Thoth working together. I can't see that organization being around this many millenia later without some kind of trickery. That being said, the Mulhorandi DO specifically have some kind of item dealing with time travel (was it the font of time?) that let people go into the past.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 03 Jan 2019 : 13:35:00

The guardians of the weave is from champions of valid and it originates in waterdeep before spreading out presumably and having an outpost in Skuld. It's backed by the church of Mystra and seeks to stop organisations and individuals dominating magic like the zhentarim and red wizards do.

That's a bit too top down for me and rather than it be about magic I'd rather it be about the weave and control of the weave anchors.

I'm working on the Cult of Set being infiltrated by the sarrukh of okoth and I'm thinking they use knowledge of the weave anchors to try and gain more power thus if they could get into this organisation they might be able to wrest control of a few weave anchors which are sought after by the church of mystra

sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist

USA
11830 Posts

Posted - 04 Jan 2019 : 00:09:25

quote:
Originally posted by dazzlerdal

The guardians of the weave is from champions of valid and it originates in waterdeep before spreading out presumably and having an outpost in Skuld. It's backed by the church of Mystra and seeks to stop organisations and individuals dominating magic like the zhentarim and red wizards do.

That's a bit too top down for me and rather than it be about magic I'd rather it be about the weave and control of the weave anchors.

I'm working on the Cult of Set being infiltrated by the sarrukh of okoth and I'm thinking they use knowledge of the weave anchors to try and gain more power thus if they could get into this organisation they might be able to wrest control of a few weave anchors which are sought after by the church of mystra

Gotcha, that group that was a prestige class. I knew it sounded very familiar and thought it was that, but you were tying it to the old empires and the ba'etith, so I thought maybe you had some new reference. Some of this stuff, it feels like you're recreating the wheel, just to recreate the wheel.

Alavairthae, may your skill prevail

Phillip aka Sleyvas

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 04 Jan 2019 : 07:35:54

I suppose it's true that I'm putting my spin on everything, after all if I'm going to slightly alter an entire region why not everything in it.

I always ask myself why when looking at the lore, when I get to 3e lore I find that an awful lot of the why's go unanswered because it is very top down centric (whereas in operating bottom up).

So when I read the guardians of the weave I though
1 - why does it have an outpost in Skuld when foreigners are not welcome and you need a licence just to walk around mulhorand.
2 - why would the church of Mystra back an organisation to safeguard the weave when that is their job.
3 - why create the organisation now. There have been Plenty of times in the past when people and organisations were more dominant over the weave than now.

Now I'm working on a war of sorts for control over weave anchors between the church of Mystra and it's allies and shadow weave users. Until recently weave anchors had largely been forgotten about but the red wizards showed what one could accomplish if you controlled one. So these two groups are trying to find the largely lost weave anchors. The baetith are also trying to find them because they understand the anchors far more and these baetith returned with okoth so are more concerned more with preserving their people than it's original goals.

Thus I can twist the guardians of the weave to be outwardly trying to guard the weave while a subtraction within its membership (the rogue baetith) seek to control the weave anchors for themselves. These rogue baetith welcomed the guardians into Skuld and they have agents inside the government so they sorted the paperwork.

It's all factions within factions intrigue which I love and I will write it so that the intrigue is hidden and only hinted at.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 06 Jan 2019 : 19:35:01

Came to Gestaniius again, I'm starting to get a bit more history fleshed out for this dragon.

So she's hyper aggressive, even for a blue dragon. I figure the other dragons of the blue dragon flight (really need a name for this flight of dragons, not sure if I can use a single family name because the Imaskari enslaved many dragons and so this flight might be made of multiple different families banded into a single) might have forced her out because she kept attacking other members and killing them in a temper.

She had a bit of a rivalry with Chathuulandroth, and attacked Skuld to try and better the feats of her green rival (making off with many relics from the Solarium).

I wonder if I could tie the rivalry with Chathuulandroth to the Rings of TiaMa'at. Skuthosin has a Ring of TiaMa'at and claims to be the spawn of Chathuulandroth (although its more likely he plundered the dragons hoard after Chathuulandroth was slain by an adventuring party - perhaps sent by Skuthosin). So perhaps Chathuulandroth possessed a Ring of TiaMa'at before Skuthosin had it.

I've got Alasklerbanbastos as being a former owner of a Ring of TiaMa'at (losing the ring when he became a dracolich), perhaps Gestaniius gets hold of the Ring after Alasklerbanbastos (the Cult of TiaMa'at might have given it to Gestaniius or Gestaniius might have killed the dragon it was given to and was thus exiled to the Dragonsword Mountains).

Anyone ever had a go at fleshing out this important but underdeveloped dragon.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 10 Jan 2019 : 13:39:35

Working on sampranasz at the moment. It's a small settlement that has had good times in the last 30 years and is starting to grow.

It has a network of tunnels that extend all the way to Red Haven in Unther and in those tunnels are stone colossi that have been made to look like jackals (Rather than have the Cult of Set create imitation colossi I've made them the same as the other stone colossi of Mulhorand and the cultists have just added some clay to them since you can't even damage the colossi.)

I'm struggling to come up with a plausible way that Seti controls the town without having a trail lead back to him. At the moment all I have is that he owns the loyalty of every slave in the town so all the rival reed farms and trade companies end up working with him or going bust because the slaves do most of the work in mulhorand.

I need there to be a way that the Cult of Set can hide from such expert and magically aided detectives as the priests of osiris, and so I've chosen the infiltration to be done by people the priests would not consider as a suspect (slaves) because they do not make the decisions.

There of course has to be some ancient spellweaver ruins in sampranasz (to explain the stone colossi prrsence) and these ruins will have become home to the sarrukh for a time. So by 1358 DR, this town will be home to a sarrukh who manipulates all the slaves that have been changed into secret reptilian yuan ti like servitors. These slaves then form part of Mulhorands new bureaucracy and hel0 the sarrukh gain ever greater and secret control of Mulhorand.

Demzer
Senior Scribe

877 Posts

Posted - 02 Jun 2019 : 17:25:34

Minor necromancy here, just poking the thread with a stick should be enough: any idea for a suitable Mulhorandi name for Siamorphe?

Also I can't remember if there is a Mulhorandi Lexicon anywhere, you can point me to it in case you know.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 02 Jun 2019 : 17:51:42

There is a mulhorandi lexicon but it is not mine to share. If you message George I'm sure he will oblige, or if he gives permission then I can hand out the last version he gave.

I cant say I ever thought about siamorphe when doing the mulhorandi pantheon, mostly because he/she has no mention of any connection to the old empires (I did toy a while ago with him being a netherese archmage that took part in jergals ritual to undo the code of reversion).

Thinking off the top of my head here, siamorphe is a name and across almost any language I know of, names remain the same, so siamorphe would still be siamorphe. If however you wanted siamorphe as part of the mulhorandi pantheon originally, and he left for the sword coast region, that seems perfectly doable.

I shall check my lexicon, but if you wanted a name that meant something in mulhorandi I'd go with divine right or divine mandate or divine rule.

I think the mulhorandi word for divine is laren (slightly selfish I know but I like the parallel evolution, it fits my theory of each sphere evolving to the same place). Pharaoh is the word for King or ruler so perhaps Laraoh or Pharalen.

Demzer
Senior Scribe

877 Posts

Posted - 02 Jun 2019 : 18:10:03

I'm still pondering if she'll adopt a new name but in my campaign she is worming herself in the power vacuum of Mulhorand where lot of stuff happened and the local pantheon is basically disappearing after ... lot of stuff happening ... and the pressure of the ever-hungry Faerunian deities.

Oh and about the lexicon it would be very nice to have but I'm not in dire or urgent need so if it's an inconvenience to the interested parties no worries, I can live without it.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 02 Jun 2019 : 18:49:40

I don't think it will be a problem, but I try not to share other peoples stuff without their permission. I'm sure George will be along soon to say yay or any.

I personally decided to reinvigorate the mulhorandi and untheri pantheon, but it is more likely that the faerunian pantheon makes significant inroads and mulhorand and unther become contested regions within a few decades.

Siamorphe would fit quite well within mulhorands society, where those related to the gods are destined to rule.
I do think a more mulhorandi like name would be better though. The mulhorandi believe in their own innate superiority and so would probably not choose a religion they knew to be foreign. Perhaps if their own religions failed to protect them or the churches of anhur and horus squabbled so much during unthers conquest that they lost unther and parts of mulhorand to other powers (thay), then they might embrace churches from places like murghom and semphar (or churches they though came from murghom and semphar).

So come up with a mulhorandi name. The usual thing seems to be to add a retep or ketet onto a name, so perhaps siamatep. It could claim to be from raurin nomads, or semphar. Once it's got a few mulan nobles backing it then the usual political power plays and struggles could see it become a state religion in time. That is the goal in mulhorand, become a state backed religion and your future is guaranteed for ages as you are then propping up the government ministry and have an entire countrys resources at your disposal.

Perhaps siamatet could be part of a ministry of people and keep a registry of births and ancestry to help track those falsely claiming to be of noble birth.

Gary Dallison
Great Reader

United Kingdom
6361 Posts

Posted - 07 Jun 2019 : 13:22:50

I'm getting a lot of traffic from this thread to the site, so some people are interested in the old empires.

If anyone has any thoughts or comments or anything they'd like to see developed more just say so, I'm quite happy to work in other peoples ideas as long as it fits the theme.

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