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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11857 Posts |
 Posted - 18 Jul 2007 : 22:09:30
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Something just came to mind, and I figured I'd just throw all this out there in a quick spilling and see what takes. I was considering where Illumians might fit into Faerun. The illumians are a "created" race which was created through the "Ritual of the Word Made Flesh". They are rooted in human stock, however.
This "Ritual of the Word Made Flesh", could it be a form of Truename Magic that altered their essential character. It would seem that Tarmuid (the illumian who is stated to have been a wizard/monk who created the Ritual and ascended to immortality through "words of transfiguring power") might have actually been a truenamer.
Interestingly enough, Tarmuid uses Zelekhuts and Maruts as servants. These being a form of free willed construct brings to mind some of the master construct makers of the realms.
Just a note, several times its mentioned that Githyanki destroyed the Library of the Sublime on the Astral. So, there was some conflict between the Githyanki and Illumians. Aulasha the demi-god who protected the library was forced to flee by the Githyanki. This happened about 100 years ago.
Could some of the illumians have been involved in studying the far realm and alienist magic, along with establishing ties to the illithids, and thus provoked githyanki into assaulting the Library of the Sublime?
Illumians societies have left the realms primarily and are focused in the Astral and the Shadow Plane. What interactions might they have had with the Malaugrym and the city of Shade.
Illumians are beings of glyphs and words.... is there a sect of Illumians who have sought the power of sigils and stumbled upon binding magic
Deneir is the god of glyphs and images... is he an arisen Illumian?
As always, speculation is its own reward <g>. Figured I'd throw this out and see if any seeds take.
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Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36812 Posts |
Posted - 18 Jul 2007 : 22:56:56
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
Just a note, several times its mentioned that Githyanki destroyed the Library of the Sublime on the Astral. So, there was some conflict between the Githyanki and Illumians.
Okay, so I'm not familiar with the source material... But just because the githyanki destroyed that library, it doesn't mean there was a conflict. They could have destroyed it for at least a couple of other reasons... It could have been a territorial thing. It could have been that the library sat on something that was of strategic importance, or some bit of land the githyanki wanted for some other reason. Or it could have been that the githyanki saw the Illumians as a rising potential threat, and decided to squash it before it got to be too problematic. Or maybe the githyanki thought the Illumians had some connection to the githzerai... |
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The Sage
Procrastinator Most High
Australia
31792 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2007 : 00:29:08
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I've weaved the Illumians into part of my Realmslore, but it mainly relates, mostly, to my PLANESCAPE campaigns.
According to the Planes of Law boxed set, Jazirian's realm is where words become flesh. The vocal components of spells become living creatures there; as an aside, I always thought that'd be a great basis for a character.
Now, Serpent Kingdoms claimed that Jazirian had been killed by Merrshaulk (his worshippers going to the Maztican god Qotal). Of course, even in 2e a statement like that would likely only apply to the Realms, but I always like to blend the settings if it helps upset apple carts. The only problem with assuming that Jazirian is in fact dead on all planes is that Jazirian's realm is a particularly neat region in the cosmology; it would be a shame to see it evaporate like Maanzecorian's realm did.
Enter Tarmuid and the Illumian pantheon. Problem solved! Illumians could also be required to travel to Jazirian's former realm (also, coincidentally, the only portal to the Sixth Heaven) in order to be complete the ritual that creates them.
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MerrikCale
Senior Scribe
USA
947 Posts |
Posted - 19 Jul 2007 : 03:33:20
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| Out of the three races created for the Races series, I found the Illumians the least interesting of the three. |
When hinges creak in doorless chambers and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight. |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11857 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2007 : 16:19:24
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Hmmm, of all the things I threw out, the ones that really stick in my mind are illumian binders. The practice of enhancing themselves by embracing the power of using sigils just fits them well. Similarly, I can see them being master runecasters (perhaps having stolen this knowledge from dwarves and giants) and geometers (from complete arcane). Also, they might be one of the few societies in the realms to have any strong knowledge of truename magic (though before including such, I'd recommend some ground rules like no ability to make magic items that give bonus to the skills of truespeaking, etc...).
Throw in the fact that they are mostly extraplanar and not IN the realms so much, and it becomes easier to include their societies. Then, since they can hide their sigils, some may be amongst normal society and it not be known.
I hadn't originally intended for it to catch me so much, but I'm also intrigued by the idea that Deneir is/was an illumian. Since I don't see there necessarily being all the illumian gods in the realms pantheon, it would be interesting to me to have Tarmuid actually replaced by Deneir. He may have even been called Tarmuid originally and Deneir is his more commonly known name. Thus, we would have the explanation for how Deneir became a deity, and have an obvious link for the Illumians to the realms. You could still have the demi-goddess who serves him who protects libraries, who stayed manifested in the Library of the Sublime.
The only question becomes where did this race of Illumians come from, and actually you've given me a good idea sage. Perhaps they were extraplanar from the start (maybe even an offshoot of the gith... another offshoot of humanity). Maybe they were humans who lived in the planes of law (allied to the Inevitables), and Deneir/Tarmuid stole/was rewarded with some power by Jazirian that enabled him to create the ritual of word made flesh. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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EytanBernstein
Forgotten Realms Designer
USA
704 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2007 : 18:25:28
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| There was a brief entry on adapting illumians to the Realms on page 17 in Champions of Valor. |
http://eytanbernstein.com - the official website of Eytan Bernstein |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11857 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jul 2007 : 18:52:38
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<<There was a brief entry on adapting illumians to the Realms on page 17 in Champions of <<Valor.
Hmmm, Nimbral... that would fit quite well actually. The illusory sigils that float around them and the Nimbraii obsession with illusion would go hand in hand. Plus their natural tendency towards subterfuge and information gathering would fit in well. They'd make a great secondary race amongst the Nimbraii. I can definitely see portals to the plane of shadow on Nimbral as well, so perhaps they maintain contact with the shadow city (and possibly help defend Nimbral from shadow invasions). |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
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Illumians, Imaskar, Truenames, Binding, Constructs
