Difference between revisions of "Planescape (Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition)"

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= Planescape - Sigil - City of Doors - The Cage =
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== Locations ==
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[[File:Map - The Outlands (Hi-Res).jpg|400px|right|thumb|Map of the Outlands and the Outer Planes]]
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* [[Automata_(Planescape)|Automata]]
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* [[Excelsior_(Planescape)|Excelsior]]
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* [[Ecstasy_(Planescape)|Ecstasy]]
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* [[Gates_of_the_Moon_(Planescape)|Gates of The Moon]]
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* [[Heart's_Faith_(Planescape)|Heart's Faith]]
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* [[The_Infinite_Staircase_(Planescape)|Infinite Staircase, The]]
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** Elemental Plane of Air, City of Blurophil
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** The Astral Plane, a Githyanki outpost. Door defunct?
 +
** Limbo, The Temple of Change and Slaadi spawning stone
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* [[Sigil_(Planescape)|Sigil, City of Doors]]
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** [[Civic_Festhall_(Planescape)|Civic Festhall, Society of Sensation headquarters]]
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** [[Great_Foundry_(Planescape)|Great Foundry, Believers of the Source headquarters]]
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** [[Great_Gymnasium_(Planescape)|Great Gymnasium, Transcendent Order headquarters]]
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** [[Hall_of_Speakers_(Planescape)|Hall of Speakers, Sign of One headquarters]]
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** [[Harbinger_House_(Planescape)|Harbinger House]]
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* [[Sum_of_All_(Planescape)|Sum of All]]
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** [[Mirrored_Library_(Planescape)|Mirrored library, Timaresh]]
  
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Sigil is located inside of the Outlands, a plane at equal distance from each of the Outer Planes, hovering above an immensely tall landmark known as the Spire that sits at the plane's center.
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== Organizations or concepts ==
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* [[Blood_war_(Planescape)|Blood war]]
  
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Sigil has the shape of a torus and the city is located along the inner surface of the ring. It is generally agreed by knowledgeable people that this should be impossible, since the center of the Outlands is void of any and all magic, and yet it apparently is. Theories to explain Sigil's location and existence vary wildly, though one of the more popular is that the Lady of Pain either created it or keeps it intact — or both.
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== Characters ==
  
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There is no sky, simply an all-pervasive light that waxes and wanes to create day and night. The city cannot be entered or exited save via portals; although this makes it quite safe from any would-be invader, it also makes it a prison of sorts for those not possessing a portal key, giving Sigil its nickname "the Bird Cage" (or simply "the Cage").
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* [[Orsik_Dankil_(Planescape)|Orsik Dankil]] a tall dwarf far from home
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* [[Drummer_(Planescape)|Drummer]] warforged bard
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* [[Aldier_Covingstar_(Planescape)|Aldier Covingstar]] a devoted cleric of Sune
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* [[Garumgar_(Planescape)|Garumgar]] a half-orc cavalier far from her horse
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* [[Holg_(Planescape)|Holg 'Inchice']] man with strange interest in sewers
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* [[Larhs_Saithroses_(Planescape)|Larhs Saithroses]] a half-elf who played dice in Hell
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* [[Hizzkizz_(Planescape)|Hizzkizz]] a dragonborn ranger seeking new horizons
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* [[Gundal_(Planescape)|Gundal 'Ratspawn']] a thief on the road to redemption
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* [[Valeria_(Planescape)|Valeria]] a paladin of Torm seeking redemption for Carissa
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* [[Riadon_Hanali_(Planescape)|Riadon 'Gold-teeth' Hanali]] a pirate you might have heard of
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* [[Stormy_Mountainpeak_(Planescape)|Stormy Mountainpeak]] a cat torn between impulses and dicipline
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* [[Leaf_(Planescape)|Leaves in the river]] a cat who found something familiar so far from home
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* [[Kegbeard_(Planescape)|Gamnak Kegbeard]] dwarven hermit cleric of Tyr
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* [[Raven_(Planescape)|Raven]] a half-elf warlock who listens to the shadows
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* [[Hjalmar_(Planescape)|Hjalmar]] a human druid
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* [[Albricht_(Planescape)|Albricht Hammerstone]] a dwarven smith priest of Moraddin
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* [[Garemar_(Planescape)|Garemar the Horrible]] a half-orc cavalry mercenary
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* [[Raen_(Planescape)|Raen Farrow]] a half-elf rebel noble
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* [[Kahjo-Olavi_(Planescape)|Kahjo-Olavi aka. Bullswrath]] was a male Goliat who is never wrong, now a female halfling who thinks they may have erred
  
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Sigil contains innumerable portals: any bounded opening (a doorway, an arch, a barrel hoop, a picture frame) could possibly be a portal to another plane, or to another point in Sigil itself. Thus, the city is a paradox: it touches all planes at once, yet ultimately belongs to none; from these characteristics it draws its other name: "the City of Doors." This feature make Sigil a prime destination for travelers as well as a center of trade throughout the multiverse.
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== Adventure log ==
  
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== Wards of Sigil ==
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# To baator and back; Or how to lose a small child in hell
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# The March begins; Or how to return a talking book to Automate because a cat asked nicely
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# Planewalkers; Or never skip leg day
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# Hard Time; Or when a dead dwarf ends up in the wrong place
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# Silver War; Or Dreaming your way home
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# Unswerving Path; Or causing panic and setting a city on fire to save it
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# Ambushed; Or Modronpunk 2020
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# In Disarray; Or there's too little chaos in Limbo
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# Reflections; Or smoke and mirros
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# Harbinger House chapter 1; or CSI Sigil
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# Harbinger House chapter 2; or Philosophers philosophy of Philosophers
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# Harbinger House chapter 3; or Hatching Gods
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# Queens Domain; or How to get Had
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# Devils Dream; or Chains, lots of chains
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# Modron Madness; or Taking back that which was ours
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# The Field of Nettles; or Death means Death
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# Law in Chaos; or The Slaadi send their regards
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# Circean Embers; or The Most Beatiful Things
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# Crux; or the mysteries of the Squirrels
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# Masks; or Dead worlds and undead fiends
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# The Eternal Boundary; or mind the Mindflayers
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# Love Letter; or A Long Family Feud
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# Strange bedfellows; or extra hot Mount Celestian peppers
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# Eponia's daughter; or a prime-material fairytale
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# Messenger; or one really scary dust mephit
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# Bottom of the multiverse; or looters ransacking Tcian Sumere
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# In the Abyss: or getting fooled by a ship
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# Vault of the Drow; or Hired by Lolth
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# Kobold Cauldron; or a warm welcome
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# The Last Spire; or finally getting paid
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# Deepest Pandemonium; or good deeds carry no rewards
  
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Sigil is divided into six districts, called wards, listed below:
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== Factions in detail ==
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* [[Believers_of_the_Source_(Planescape)|Believers of the Source]]
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* [[Sign_Of_One_(Planescape)|Sign of One]]
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* [[Society_of_Sensation_(Planescape)|Society of Sensation]]
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* [[Transcendent_Order_(Planescape)|Trancendent Order]]
  
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* The Clerk's Ward, an affluent district, home to most of the city's lower-rung bureaucrats and middlemen.
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== Known portals ==
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* The Hive Ward, the slum and the ghetto, home to the poor, the rogues, and the unwanted dregs of the city.
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{| class="wikitable"
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* The Lady's Ward, the richest and most exclusive section of the city, is home to the elites of society and of its government.
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|-
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* The Lower Ward, an industrial district, clogged up with the smoke from the foundries and from the portals to the Lower Planes.
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! From !! To !! Bidirectional? !! Key
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* The Market and Guildhall Wards are the home to the traders, craftsmen, artisans, guild members and other members of the middle class.
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|-
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| Avernus || Sigil || Yes || Brick from the road to Hell
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|-
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| Sigil || Automata || Yes || Page torn in half with letter E written on each part
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|-
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| Sigil || Gates of the Moon || Yes || Ounce of silver
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|-
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| Gates of the Moon || Infinite Staircase || Yes || Full moon
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|-
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| Infinite Staircase || Sigil (Civic festhall) || Yes || None
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|-
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| Sigil (Lower ward) || Dwarven mountain || Yes || Dwarf forged hammer
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|-
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| Sigil (Park) || Arcadia || Yes || Flower wreath
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|-
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| Sigil (Great Gymnasium) || Ecstasy (Outlands) || Yes || a copper penny
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|-
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| Sigil, (Near Bloodgem park) || Ecstasy? || ? || ?
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|}
  
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== Lady of Pain ==
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== NPCs ==
  
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The high-up man in Sigil, the one who ultimately watches over the Cage, is the Lady of Pain. She's not a woman and she's not human – nobody's quite sure what she is. The best guess is she's a power, probably a great power, but there's also a theory that she's a reformed tanar'ri lorf, if such a thing's possible. Whatever else she is, she's the Lady of Pain, and given that, most other facts are extraneous.
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* Oriam Trascalia, human wizard, Planewalkers guild, The Infinite Staircase
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* Heiron Lifegiver, half-elf wizard, Automata(?)
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* Carissa, human child, Avernus?
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* Halitsu, spinagon, Avernus
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* Zeracuk, former dwarven sage, Dwarven Mountain
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* Sir Vaimish, Paladin lord of a picket keep in Excelsior
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* Crius, Titan of weight and density
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* X, a githzerai trader, Great Bazaar of Sigil
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* Torpelin, Githzerai researcher
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* Sunferrin, Githzerai hermit priest
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* Mulk, stone folk slaver
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* Ghuntomas of Thorn, male elf, a former Fraternity of Order scholar that has fallen on some hard times.
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* Terrmanath, [[Rilmani]] Argenach alchemist, Sum of All
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* Narcovi, female dwarf, Harmonium investigator
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* Factol Haskar, male dwarf, Factol (leader) of the Fraternity of Order
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* Factol Ambar, male human, Factol of the Believers of the Source
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* <s>Sougad Lawshredder, male human, power-to-be of murder and madness</s>
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* Trolan the Mad, male tiefling, power-to-be of love and kindess
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* Valran, a wizard making modron hybrids
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* Spiral Hal'oight, a Celestial high-up of Sigil
  
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For the most part the Lady (as she's called) keeps distant from the squalid hurly-burly of the Cage. She doesn't have a house, a palace, or a temple. Nobody worships her, and with good reason: Those that say prayers to her name get found with their skins flayed off – a big discouragement to others.
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== Crux and a murderous God ==
  
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Sometimes she's seen drifting through the streets, the edge of her gown just brushing over the cobblestones. She never speaks. Those who try interfering with her erupt in horrid gashes at the touch of her gaze. Wise bloods find business elsewhere on those rare times she passes down the way. Eventually her image fades and she vanishes into nothingness. Natives of Sigil view her with fearful awe, as she's the uncaring protector of their home.
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=== Gods ===
  
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Although the Lady of Pain rarely takes action directly, she does act through a number of servants known as dabus, who simultaneously serve as the Lady's eyes and ears as well as maintaining the structure of Sigil. Like the Lady, the dabus do not interact with Sigil's inhabitants or travelers much and it is best to leave them be, since antagonizing them can bring down the infrequent but harsh wrath of their mistress.
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==== Orcus aka Tenebrous aka The Unamed God ====
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Orcus is a very old demon. Like many of the most powerful demon lords who struggle for power in the Abyss, Orcus started his existence as a mortal on the Prime Plane. He was apparently a wicked spellcaster of some sort, most probably a priest to some dark deity. After his death, his soul, like the souls of all Chaotic Evil mortals, went to the Abyss and Orcus began his afterlife as a lowly larva.
  
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=== The Lady's Laws ===
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Orcus proceeded to climb through the demonic ranks in the next several thousand years, going from larva to mane, from mane to dretch, from dretch to rutterkin, from rutterkin to vrock, from vrock to glabrezu, from glabrezu to nalfeshnee and eventually a balor. From there, he ascended to the rank of demon lord, becoming the Prince of the Undead and ruling the layer of Thanatos, the Belly of Death. Even though there are other demon lords aspiring to the title of "Prince of the Undead", Orcus' claim to the title has gone unchallenged for the most part. Ever hungry for more power, Orcus wanted to be recognzied as "Prince of Demons", a title held by Demogorgon and coveted also by Graz'zt. As a result, he became the arch-enemy of both demon lords. In time, Orcus also achieved true godhood.
  
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* Worship of the Lady is prohibited.
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However, shortly after his divine ascension, Orcus was slain by the drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee, who took over rulership of Orcus' layer of the Abyss and locked his wand away in the last layer of Pandemonium. Kiaransalee decreed that Orcus's name be erased from all existence.
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* No harm may come to any dabus.
 
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* There are to be no challenges to the Lady's ultimate rule or authority within Sigil.
 
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* Any action which harms the city of Sigil either directly or indirectly will be considered as a direct attack against the Lady herself, and punished appropriately.
 
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* No divine entity may enter Sigil.
 
  
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=== Dabus ===
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A peculiar combination of events thwarted Kiaransalee's plans. Acererak's tampering with the nature of the Negative Energy Plane, the last prayers of Quah-Nomag, and the unexpected awakening of some of the sleepers of the demiplane of Moil combined to cause the spirit of Orcus to be reanimated as an undead god. Renaming himself Tenebrous in order to help obscure himself from his enemies, Orcus traveled to ruins buried in the sands of Pelion. There, he discovered the Last Word, an utterance so powerful that it can destroy deities. The Last Word will also eventually kill those who know it unless the being is a true deity. Thus, to restore his lost divinity, Orcus went in search of his wand. During his search, Orcus killed several gods and other powerful entities, including Bwimb, and Maanzecorian. Orcus' efforts were stymied by a group of adventurers
  
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The dabus are servant of our Dread Lady, Her Serenity the Lady of Pain. Her will is their will. There are no records, no tales, not even rumors of a time in Sigil when the dabus were not present, silently watching over the City. Dabus seem to consider Sigil their master as much as the Lady, for they are forever patching and fixing it, laying cobbles, digging for pipes, trimming back razorvine, roofing city buildings and sweeping the streets.
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==== Kiaransalee ====
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* Alignment: chaotic evil
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* Category: The Dark Seldarine
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* Domains: Arcana, Death
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* Pantheon: Drow
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* Province: Necromancy
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* Symbol: Drow hand wearing many silver rings
  
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Though possessing the ability of speech, dabus almost always communicate only through visual rebuses they create, filling the air near them with golden shining lines (from which the name Dabus originates). Physically, a Dabus resembles a humanoid with yellow-tan skin, goatlike horns, and a shock of white hair. Dabus float off the ground, their feet never touching the earth.
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The drow god of vengeance and undeath, called the Revenancer, is portrayed in some legends as a fierce female clad in silver and translucent veils, and in others as a banshee. In either version, her hands bear many glittering silver rings, and this image is recognized as her symbol.
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Certain sources suggest that Dabus can in fact speak, but fear that if they were to do so "their thoughts would be overheard." Another, more cynical source suggests that they simply enjoy frustrating others with their puzzles, though communication with a Dabus proves them to be extremely patient, if rather aloof and alien.  
 
  
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== Factions of Sigil ==
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Drow see Kiaransalee as the patron of vengeance because she is said to have died and returned from death to get her revenge, bringing an army of the dead back with her. Various communities of her worshipers have differing ideas about who killed her and why, but typically the murderer is portrayed as having the features of some kind of creature the drow have great hatred for. Followers of Kiaransalee don't trouble themselves greatly over these details, because all the stories could be true: the Revenancer is believed to have returned from death over and over again.
  
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While the Lady of Pain is considered the ultimate ruler of the planar metropolis called Sigil, "the City of Doors", the Factions perform virtually all the actual administrative and practical functions of the city. They are the ones the people look to for authority; the Lady only gives edicts or appears personally under rare circumstances. Each of the Factions is based around one particular belief system; many of the Factions' beliefs make them enemies where their other goals and actions might have made them allies. All Factions hold many secrets from non-members and even their own members, for the fewer who know a secret, the more secret it is (and these are secrets of power, either wielded or potentially gained by the Faction's adversaries).  
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Vengeance is the aspect of Kiaransalee that appeals to most drow, because it becomes a necessity in every ambitious drow's life-usually more than once. The state of undeath is of less concern to them, but those who practice necromancy turn to Kiaransalee for guidance and for protection from undead.
  
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=== Athar ===
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Some of her most fervent followers seek out the secret of attaining undeath for themselves. Kiaransalee favors them by bringing them back as undead, but unlike other gods of similar sort, Kiaransalee doesn't offer the undeath of lichdom but a lowly existence as a banshee, a revenant, or a wight.
  
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Also known as "the Defiers" or "the Lost", they deny not only the gods' right to pass judgment over mortals, but their very divinity. They claim that the gods (whom they call "powers") are powerful but have limits and do not deserve worship. Instead, Athar priests channel divine power from what they call the "Great Unknown", or what they believe to be the true divine force behind everything. Their headquarters in Sigil is the Shattered Temple, the former temple of the dead god Aoskar. The Athar are broadly derived from real-world atheists, agnostics, and Deists.
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Drow believe that Kiaransalee was driven mad by returning from death as a god so many times, but her followers aren't discouraged by this assessment. Despite her madness, her actions are guided by a deep and devious cunning - a trait that drow attach more importance to than they do to sanity.
  
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=== Believers of the Source ===
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==== Maanzecorian (presumed dead) ====
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Maanzecorian (meaning "creed leader" or "creed liaison" in Undercommon), also known as the Philosoflayer, was an entity that embodied mind flayer ideals of complete knowledge and comprehension. The illithids' reverence and meditation on the ideals represented by Maanzecorian could be considered a form of worship.
  
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Known as "Godsmen" they believe that each life is a test, and that every person has the potential to become a god. Their headquarters is the Great Foundry, symbolizing their belief that the multiverse constantly forges and refines all beings. Shares many parallels with Hindu, Buddhism, and most sects of Mormonism. However, the ultimate goal is not Nirvana but apotheosis.
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==== Description ====
  
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=== Bleak Cabal ===
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Maanzecorian was as much a divine entity as a collection of concepts and ideals. He embodied what mind flayers understood as a state of perfect comprehension of knowledge, a simultaneous recall of memory, thought, and aptitude. Maanzecorian was also considered a keeper of secrets.
  
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"Bleakers" or "Madmen" deny that any belief system has any merit; as they see it, the universe has physical rules, but no metaphysical or philosophical ones, therefore any meaning in life must come from within. Their headquarters is the insane asylum of Sigil, called the Gatehouse. They are derived from real-life existentialists and the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
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The deity was considered narrower in scope than Ilsensine, but followers of Maanzecorian also believed that illithids were the naturally appointed rulers of all races, planes, and worlds.
  
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=== Doomguard ===
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Some of the ideals of perfect recollection of memory embodied by Maanzecorian were observed in aboleths, who possessed a type of racial memory that passed from one generation to the next and could always be perfectly remembered. This led to frequent conflicts between aboleths and mind flayers.
  
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The "Sinkers" believe in the sanctity and inevitability of entropy, particularly the inevitable destruction of all things. The core of their belief is that everything ends. Their headquarters is Sigil's Armory, where they forge weapons as tools of destruction.
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==== History ====
  
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=== Dustmen ===
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Sometime in the mid-14th century DR, Maanzecorian was believed to have been killed.
  
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Also known as "the Dead", they believe that both life and death are false states of existence, that there is a state of True Death which can only be accomplished by denying one's emotions and physical wants and needs (a conception similar to eternal oblivion, but also conceivably to Nirvana). Their headquarters is the Mortuary, where Sigil's dead are interred or cremated. Their philosophy is closely related to that of Arthur Schopenhauer, along with some shared similarities with Buddhism, Stoicism and acosmism.
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At this time, illithids who were granted divine spells from Maanzecorian woke up to discover that the deity no longer granted them power or signs. They found out about the deity's demise through divination magic.
  
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=== Fated ===
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=== Messages ===
  
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"Takers" or "The Heartless" believe that those with power and ability have the right to own what they control and to take what they can from those who are unable to keep it, and that it is their right to exploit any situation to their advantage, regardless of how it affects anyone else (a position akin to "might makes right"). Their headquarters is the Hall of Records, where they serve as the tax collectors of Sigil. They are derived from real-life Social Darwinists and the philosophies of Max Stirner and Ayn Rand.
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==== Ghosts of Ranais ====
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We are the Forsaken. When this world died, we were forced to live on, without home, without family, without love. Even when we died, we lived on ... and on. And the one who did this to us was he whom we had worshiped. He whom we had held above all others.
  
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=== Fraternity of Order ===
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We heard that, in time, even he had entered the halls of death, and this gave us joyless satisfaction. But now even that has been taken from us, for he lives again. His servants roam not only this world but those nearby from his former temple. He seeks knowledge of that which he has lost. He seeks revenge.
  
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These "Guvners" believe that knowledge is power; they learn and exploit both the natural laws of the universe and the laws of society. Their headquarters is the City Court, where they serve as judges and legal advocates. They recall the Sophists of Classical Athens.
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Yet, as a speck can irritate the eye of a man, a man can thwart the plans of an immortal - at least for a time. For can a man not eventually remove the speck?
 +
Pass through this city now, and taste the fruit of his works. Choose your path afterward as you will. We will plague you no further.
  
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=== Free League ===
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==== Mephit's message ====
  
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As "Indeps", they reject the other factions and their bureaucratic, hierarchical dogmatism and do not consider themselves a faction at all. For this reason, they don't have a factol or an official headquarters, though Sigil's Great Bazaar serves as an unofficial one. They believe in individual freedom as the highest good and are analogous to libertarians.
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Your master commands you to remain near the tree-city. Very shortly, he shall remove the insect that thwarted your previous efforts and shall recover the bloom himself. For at long last, one of the perpetrators has been located and is now securely held within Tcian Sumere.
 +
None shall rest until my vengeance is complete. All who stand in my way shall face the wrath of that which was wrought in the ancient halls of the realm now reduced to only dust.
  
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=== Harmonium ===
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==== Last words of a dying drow vampire ====
  
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"Hardheads" believe that peace and stability can only be established under one rule — theirs. The planar faction known as the Harmonium is actually just a small part of a much larger political entity which rules over the entirety of the Prime Material world of Ortho. In Sigil, they serve as the city's police force, and their headquarters is the City Barracks. They are related to present day authoritarianism, particularly religious evangelicalism and fundamentalism. They take offense to the term "Hardhead".
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The other... Erehe. Vault of the Drow... on Toril. Destroy him, too. He must not remember what he's forgotten... these fiends need the location. Don't let the murderous god win
  
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=== Mercykillers ===
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=== Pelion, the 3rd layer of Arborea (Outer plane, chaotic-good) ===
  
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"The Red Death" believe in justice and retribution at the expense of all else. Their name does not come from "killing out of mercy," but rather "killing mercy." Their credo that mercy is for the weak, and the merciful should be punished. Their headquarters is Sigil's Prison, where they carry out the sentences of convicted criminals.
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Pelion, or Mithardir ("white dust") by the Seldarine, is the third and lowest layer of Arborea. In vast contrast to the vibrant lands of Olympus and Ossa, Pelion is nothing more than an endless desert of pure white sand, dotted with ancient ruins dating back to the earliest days of the planes. Travelers beware in Pelion just as much as above, though, for this desert is cruel and unyielding. This land is not merely subject to the normal risks of desert landscapes, of heat and dehydration, for despite the emptiness, the weather here can be just as vicious as the rest of the plane; here, the huge, sudden thunderstorms known across Arborea strike same as they do above. Of course, here they bring not just lighting and rain, but tremendous dust storms driven in front of them, enough to easily bury an unsuspecting berk before they can blink.
  
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=== Revolutionary League ===
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But for Amun-thys, the realm of the goddess Nephythys, Pelion is entirely without civilization, with no settlements, no colonies, no natives. Nothing more complex than simple desert flora and fauna lives in Pelion, and any attempts at building here are doomed to failure. The desert seems to hate all encroachment, and it isn't long before any construction on Pelion is buried beneath the shifting sands. However, both the Olympians and the Seldarine have legends of the ancient past of Pelion.
  
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"Anarchists" who believe that social order and man-made laws are inherently corrupt and must be destroyed—though none of their members can agree on what, if anything, should replace them. Like the Indeps, they have no headquarters and gather in many safe houses and secret meeting places.
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According to the Olympians, Pelion was long ago the realm of the Ennead, in the days when Ptah led the pantheon. As his worship declined, though, his realm shrank, taken by the white sands. The pantheon dispersed across the planes, and Ra took control, while Ptah just managed to cling to divinity. The followers of the Ennead are fairly mum on the issue, saying nothing either way as to the accuracy of this tale.
 +
The Seldarine, however, have a different story regarding Pelion's ancient past. As they tell it, the Animal Lords of the Beastlands once took Pelion as their home. But as the most important parts of their realms drifted to the Beastlands, the Animal Lords went with them, until there was nothing left but the sand. Again, the Animal Lords themselves seem not to care enough to bother clearing up the issue.
  
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=== Sign of One ===
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==== Inscription in the Last Spire in Pelion ====
  
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"Signers" believe that everyone is the center of their own reality and that reality can be reshaped by the power of imagination. Their headquarters is the Hall of Speakers, which houses Sigil's legislature. Some of them are solipsists, though most are not so extreme.
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Here in this Bright World shall trod the feet of ineffable Darkness. A great lord of the infinite pit, once brought low, shall find his way here, having pulled himself from death's cold embrace. Beyond, he will find the means for his goal, but the price of vengeance is death again - unless he can find that which was his, now lost.
  
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=== Society of Sensation ===
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=== Other clues ===
  
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Sensates believe that accumulating experiential knowledge through the senses is the only way to achieve enlightenment. Their headquarters is the Civic Festhall, which features an endless series of entertainments and a library of magically stored experiences. They are reminiscent of ancient Epicurianism (if not hedonism more generally), as well as the more modern empiricism.
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* Dream vision of Kiaransalee fortifying her realm in fear
 +
* Rumors in sigil:
 +
** The gods are dying, according to the Ather. 'Course you've got to expect anything they say about the powers to contain at least a little screed.
 +
** Those addle-coves have it all wrong. The powers ain't dying - the dead ones're coming back to life! Truth is, the Signers're behind the whole thing!
 +
** Nothing can kill a power, berk. Don't listen to idle rumors
 +
** I hear that some letherhead's planning on putting the high-up proxies of Set in the dead-book. Let me tell you, I sure wouldn't want to make that blood mad.
 +
** Bwimb, the Baron of the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, is lost
 +
** Bwimb? Who cares?
 +
** I heard that Apollo was put in the dead-book right in his home on Olympus!
 +
** The latest chant is that Tomeri is lost, too
 +
** Tomeri? Who's that? Or should I say, who was that?
 +
** The Astral's not going to be big enough to hold 'em all, I tell you!
 +
** The holy men of Camaxtli can't muster any power behind their prayers, seems like Fate catched up on em'
 +
** I have heard that some experienced planewalkers recently felt strange pull on themselves in the Astral towards unknown places.
 +
** They say that the Athar and the Signers are about to start a full on war over the lost powers
 +
* Flowers of Remembrance at Set's home on the 5th plane of '''Baator''' Stygia
 +
* Drow elves Kestod and Ehere
 +
** Trusted champions of Kiaransalee
 +
** Both have had their memories erased by the water of Styx
 +
** Vampire Kestod commited suicide in Tcian Sumere
 +
** Ehere is alive and in the Vault of the Drow
 +
* The Drow in the Vault of the Drow felt that Kiaransalee has abandoned them
 +
* Drows Kestod and Ehere hid something in deepest Pandemonium on orders from Kiaransalee after her ascent to godhood
 +
* Little over a year ago a great undead darkness took the Last Word from the Chamber of Secrets in the Last Spire
  
−
=== Transcendent Order ===
 
  
−
The Cipher believe that by tapping into the 'cadence' of the planes and acting through pure instinct they can achieve a higher state of being. Their headquarters is the Great Gymnasium, where members can train to improve their bodies and minds. Their philosophy could be considered similar to Taoism and Zen Buddhism.
+
== Maeldur Et Kavurik ==
  
−
=== Xaositects ===
 
  
−
"Chaosmen" who believe that the only truth is revealed in chaos. The Xaositects have been quite accurately described as being "totally off their rockers, every one of 'em." Their headquarters is the Hive, the most disorganized part of the Sigil ward of the same name. Compare with real life discordianism.
+
"Young men shall see visions, and old men shall dream dreams." So state the holy texts of Yirratama. Indeed, great things have come upon me recently in dreams. But I'm obviously too old to receive the visions - visions regarding you, my friends.
  
−
= Magic on the Planes =
+
Only recently did the great warrior Sir Praetol wage a war of his own with the fiends of the dark planes. My world, Qua-Nosham - as some name it - has long been plagued by fiends: tanar'ri, baatezu and yugoloths. Sir Praetol sought to take the fight to the enemy. Though the brave hero fell to a terrible disease soon after returning, he brought with him a secret known to few.
 +
 
 +
The fiends have the ability to come and go as they please to any plane, any world - this we already know. Sir praetol discovered how they do it. A foul creature of great size - Maeldur Et Kavurik - gives them the power.
 +
 
 +
This bloated abomination carves temporary paths to make their way to any destination they choose. But without the Maeldur, this ability is stripped away. The fiends will be limited just as you and I, with no power to simply appear and disappear at wil.
 +
 
 +
That's where my dream comes in. In this dream one celestial stewards known as a deva came to me. She spoke of a wonderous and strange things, and spoke of dealing a mighty blow to the fiends.
 +
 
 +
The deva told me that it is possible to protect my world from their horrors for good. To see it accomplished, she guide me here, told me that you were heroes who could do something with Sir Praetol's secrets. You could be the champions who tear this power from the fiends, making them weaker and easier to overcome forevermore. The only question is ... will you?
 +
 
 +
- Father Irynimas Sanuire, a priest of Ukko from the prime material world known as Qua-Nosham
 +
 
 +
=== Legend of the Maeldur Et Kavurik ===
 +
 
 +
And in those dim days before the War of Blood, when Good was Evil's central foe and fiend, a celestial named Maeldur was ripped from the heavens by a fiend named Daru Ib Shamiq. Maeldur was a native of the Celestial Mount, with shining emerald flesh and a dove's wings of purest white, like the snows of Pelion. Shamiq was of the clan of Baern, first among the fiends of the Three Glooms and sires of the General of Gehenna.
 +
 
 +
Shamiq, in motives twisting and tangled, took the noble Maeldur and told him of things no creature of purity should know. The words of the Baern had power - at least in those days - and when shaped into the form of dark secrets, they wrought terrible consequences. Maeldur was changed.
 +
 
 +
The celestial was a creature of light no longer. And though much of its essence was stripped away, it was given great powers of a different kind. Daru Ib Shamiq then hid the Maeldur away, fashioning a talisman that let others speak to it in the words of the Baern - the only words it could now hear.
 +
 
 +
Even today, creature torn from the Mount serves some central, fiendish purpose. Shamiq, however, disappeared into the First Gloom, at a place once called Daubei's Obscure Woe
 +
 
 +
== Disturbances in The Infinite Staircase ==
 +
 
 +
After dealing with the demon infestation in the blue mushroom area of The Infinite Staircase the Lillendi informed that something was affecting the creativity of the natives in some realms touched by the staircase:
 +
 
 +
* Queen's Domain - Arcadia, the flooded formian ciry missing it's queen
 +
* Swirling Realm - Limbo, The Temple of Change and Slaadi spawning stone. Visited
 +
* Place of Wind - Elemental plane of Air, Artisan city of Blurophil. Visited
 +
* Silver War - Astral plane, a destoryed githyanki outpost with a well filled by dreams. Visited
 +
* Unclimbable Mountain - Outlands, The Rilmani city of Sum of All and the Mirrored Library
 +
* Jingling City - Baator - City of the Chain Fiends
 +
 
 +
=== Oracle of Forgotten Night ===
 +
 
 +
In a vast, open plain near a very tall and narrow mountain, there is a library filled with mirrors. Within the library is a book which tells of a cure for the disease that you´ve seen threaten so much.
 +
 
 +
Beyond the swirling mists of matter and energy lies a temple with only one priest. The priest holds the secret to curing the ills of not only his own plane, but that which threathens them all, eventually.
 +
 
 +
In a jingling, rainswept city, a ruler, not a ruler, broods in his citadel of chain. He rejoices in the death of invention, and strives to find the library and the temple to seize the knowledge you seek.
 +
 
 +
=== Ever-Changing Order ===
 +
 
 +
It is a obtusely written text on the nature of law and chaos and how the two can paradoxically work together. Written by Ghuntomas of Thorn, a Fraternity of Order sage about a century ago. It is a complicated tome for even the best scholars to understand without extensive experience of the metaphysics of the planes. Manuscript of the tome is stored at the archives at the City Court in Sigil.
 +
 
 +
== Magic on the Planes ==
  
 
"Only a clueless prime or a leatherheaded wizard would ever believe his magic is always going to work the same on every plane. It just ain't so, berk — not when the multiverse has got planes whose very essences are living fire, absolute perfection, howling despair, complete decay, or things even worse. Some of it should be obvious — using a holy word against a pit fiend on its home plane just won't work, as many a sodding basher has learned too late. Some of it ain't so clear, either, like can a cutter summon a djinni to Ysgard?"
 
"Only a clueless prime or a leatherheaded wizard would ever believe his magic is always going to work the same on every plane. It just ain't so, berk — not when the multiverse has got planes whose very essences are living fire, absolute perfection, howling despair, complete decay, or things even worse. Some of it should be obvious — using a holy word against a pit fiend on its home plane just won't work, as many a sodding basher has learned too late. Some of it ain't so clear, either, like can a cutter summon a djinni to Ysgard?"
  
−
Most abjurations protect against creatures from another plane, and a few (like holy word) can drive a creature back to its home plane. In either case, an abjuration can't affect a creature on its home plane. For example, some primes might try to use protection from evil to protect themselves from efreet while they're in the City of Brass. They figure the spell works at home, so it should work on the plane of Fire, too, but it doesn't. The City of Brass is on the efreet's home plane, so the genies aren't an extraplanar there and the protection spell won't work. If anybody was summoned, it was the fool prime .
+
Most abjurations protect against creatures from another plane, and a few (like holy word) can drive a creature back to its home plane. In either case, an abjuration can't affect a creature on its home plane. For example, some primes might try to use protection from evil to protect themselves from efreet while they're in the City of Brass. They figure the spell works at home, so it should work on the plane of Fire, too, but it doesn't. The City of Brass is on the efreet's home plane, so the genies aren't an extraplanar there and the protection spell won't work. If anybody was summoned, it was the fool prime.
  
 
The home plane has the reverse effect on summoning spells. Specifically, unless it's a spell that summons creatures from another plane (such as conjure elemental or gate), a summoning's got to draw on something close at hand. A monster summoning I can only summon up monsters from the same plane. For instance, casting a monster summoning won't cause a succubus to appear on Ysgard; it's not the fiend's home plane, and not even a plane where it can normally be found.
 
The home plane has the reverse effect on summoning spells. Specifically, unless it's a spell that summons creatures from another plane (such as conjure elemental or gate), a summoning's got to draw on something close at hand. A monster summoning I can only summon up monsters from the same plane. For instance, casting a monster summoning won't cause a succubus to appear on Ysgard; it's not the fiend's home plane, and not even a plane where it can normally be found.
  
−
== Spell keys ==
+
=== Spell keys ===
  
 
With all these alterations and restrictions, a spellcaster's life on the planes could be nigh impossible. Imagine
 
With all these alterations and restrictions, a spellcaster's life on the planes could be nigh impossible. Imagine

Latest revision as of 12:27, 7 March 2021

Locations

Map of the Outlands and the Outer Planes

Organizations or concepts

Characters

Adventure log

  1. To baator and back; Or how to lose a small child in hell
  2. The March begins; Or how to return a talking book to Automate because a cat asked nicely
  3. Planewalkers; Or never skip leg day
  4. Hard Time; Or when a dead dwarf ends up in the wrong place
  5. Silver War; Or Dreaming your way home
  6. Unswerving Path; Or causing panic and setting a city on fire to save it
  7. Ambushed; Or Modronpunk 2020
  8. In Disarray; Or there's too little chaos in Limbo
  9. Reflections; Or smoke and mirros
  10. Harbinger House chapter 1; or CSI Sigil
  11. Harbinger House chapter 2; or Philosophers philosophy of Philosophers
  12. Harbinger House chapter 3; or Hatching Gods
  13. Queens Domain; or How to get Had
  14. Devils Dream; or Chains, lots of chains
  15. Modron Madness; or Taking back that which was ours
  16. The Field of Nettles; or Death means Death
  17. Law in Chaos; or The Slaadi send their regards
  18. Circean Embers; or The Most Beatiful Things
  19. Crux; or the mysteries of the Squirrels
  20. Masks; or Dead worlds and undead fiends
  21. The Eternal Boundary; or mind the Mindflayers
  22. Love Letter; or A Long Family Feud
  23. Strange bedfellows; or extra hot Mount Celestian peppers
  24. Eponia's daughter; or a prime-material fairytale
  25. Messenger; or one really scary dust mephit
  26. Bottom of the multiverse; or looters ransacking Tcian Sumere
  27. In the Abyss: or getting fooled by a ship
  28. Vault of the Drow; or Hired by Lolth
  29. Kobold Cauldron; or a warm welcome
  30. The Last Spire; or finally getting paid
  31. Deepest Pandemonium; or good deeds carry no rewards

Factions in detail

Known portals

From To Bidirectional? Key
Avernus Sigil Yes Brick from the road to Hell
Sigil Automata Yes Page torn in half with letter E written on each part
Sigil Gates of the Moon Yes Ounce of silver
Gates of the Moon Infinite Staircase Yes Full moon
Infinite Staircase Sigil (Civic festhall) Yes None
Sigil (Lower ward) Dwarven mountain Yes Dwarf forged hammer
Sigil (Park) Arcadia Yes Flower wreath
Sigil (Great Gymnasium) Ecstasy (Outlands) Yes a copper penny
Sigil, (Near Bloodgem park) Ecstasy? ? ?

NPCs

  • Oriam Trascalia, human wizard, Planewalkers guild, The Infinite Staircase
  • Heiron Lifegiver, half-elf wizard, Automata(?)
  • Carissa, human child, Avernus?
  • Halitsu, spinagon, Avernus
  • Zeracuk, former dwarven sage, Dwarven Mountain
  • Sir Vaimish, Paladin lord of a picket keep in Excelsior
  • Crius, Titan of weight and density
  • X, a githzerai trader, Great Bazaar of Sigil
  • Torpelin, Githzerai researcher
  • Sunferrin, Githzerai hermit priest
  • Mulk, stone folk slaver
  • Ghuntomas of Thorn, male elf, a former Fraternity of Order scholar that has fallen on some hard times.
  • Terrmanath, Rilmani Argenach alchemist, Sum of All
  • Narcovi, female dwarf, Harmonium investigator
  • Factol Haskar, male dwarf, Factol (leader) of the Fraternity of Order
  • Factol Ambar, male human, Factol of the Believers of the Source
  • Sougad Lawshredder, male human, power-to-be of murder and madness
  • Trolan the Mad, male tiefling, power-to-be of love and kindess
  • Valran, a wizard making modron hybrids
  • Spiral Hal'oight, a Celestial high-up of Sigil

Crux and a murderous God

Gods

Orcus aka Tenebrous aka The Unamed God

Orcus is a very old demon. Like many of the most powerful demon lords who struggle for power in the Abyss, Orcus started his existence as a mortal on the Prime Plane. He was apparently a wicked spellcaster of some sort, most probably a priest to some dark deity. After his death, his soul, like the souls of all Chaotic Evil mortals, went to the Abyss and Orcus began his afterlife as a lowly larva.

Orcus proceeded to climb through the demonic ranks in the next several thousand years, going from larva to mane, from mane to dretch, from dretch to rutterkin, from rutterkin to vrock, from vrock to glabrezu, from glabrezu to nalfeshnee and eventually a balor. From there, he ascended to the rank of demon lord, becoming the Prince of the Undead and ruling the layer of Thanatos, the Belly of Death. Even though there are other demon lords aspiring to the title of "Prince of the Undead", Orcus' claim to the title has gone unchallenged for the most part. Ever hungry for more power, Orcus wanted to be recognzied as "Prince of Demons", a title held by Demogorgon and coveted also by Graz'zt. As a result, he became the arch-enemy of both demon lords. In time, Orcus also achieved true godhood.

However, shortly after his divine ascension, Orcus was slain by the drow demi-goddess Kiaransalee, who took over rulership of Orcus' layer of the Abyss and locked his wand away in the last layer of Pandemonium. Kiaransalee decreed that Orcus's name be erased from all existence.

A peculiar combination of events thwarted Kiaransalee's plans. Acererak's tampering with the nature of the Negative Energy Plane, the last prayers of Quah-Nomag, and the unexpected awakening of some of the sleepers of the demiplane of Moil combined to cause the spirit of Orcus to be reanimated as an undead god. Renaming himself Tenebrous in order to help obscure himself from his enemies, Orcus traveled to ruins buried in the sands of Pelion. There, he discovered the Last Word, an utterance so powerful that it can destroy deities. The Last Word will also eventually kill those who know it unless the being is a true deity. Thus, to restore his lost divinity, Orcus went in search of his wand. During his search, Orcus killed several gods and other powerful entities, including Bwimb, and Maanzecorian. Orcus' efforts were stymied by a group of adventurers

Kiaransalee

  • Alignment: chaotic evil
  • Category: The Dark Seldarine
  • Domains: Arcana, Death
  • Pantheon: Drow
  • Province: Necromancy
  • Symbol: Drow hand wearing many silver rings

The drow god of vengeance and undeath, called the Revenancer, is portrayed in some legends as a fierce female clad in silver and translucent veils, and in others as a banshee. In either version, her hands bear many glittering silver rings, and this image is recognized as her symbol.

Drow see Kiaransalee as the patron of vengeance because she is said to have died and returned from death to get her revenge, bringing an army of the dead back with her. Various communities of her worshipers have differing ideas about who killed her and why, but typically the murderer is portrayed as having the features of some kind of creature the drow have great hatred for. Followers of Kiaransalee don't trouble themselves greatly over these details, because all the stories could be true: the Revenancer is believed to have returned from death over and over again.

Vengeance is the aspect of Kiaransalee that appeals to most drow, because it becomes a necessity in every ambitious drow's life-usually more than once. The state of undeath is of less concern to them, but those who practice necromancy turn to Kiaransalee for guidance and for protection from undead.

Some of her most fervent followers seek out the secret of attaining undeath for themselves. Kiaransalee favors them by bringing them back as undead, but unlike other gods of similar sort, Kiaransalee doesn't offer the undeath of lichdom but a lowly existence as a banshee, a revenant, or a wight.

Drow believe that Kiaransalee was driven mad by returning from death as a god so many times, but her followers aren't discouraged by this assessment. Despite her madness, her actions are guided by a deep and devious cunning - a trait that drow attach more importance to than they do to sanity.

Maanzecorian (presumed dead)

Maanzecorian (meaning "creed leader" or "creed liaison" in Undercommon), also known as the Philosoflayer, was an entity that embodied mind flayer ideals of complete knowledge and comprehension. The illithids' reverence and meditation on the ideals represented by Maanzecorian could be considered a form of worship.

Description

Maanzecorian was as much a divine entity as a collection of concepts and ideals. He embodied what mind flayers understood as a state of perfect comprehension of knowledge, a simultaneous recall of memory, thought, and aptitude. Maanzecorian was also considered a keeper of secrets.

The deity was considered narrower in scope than Ilsensine, but followers of Maanzecorian also believed that illithids were the naturally appointed rulers of all races, planes, and worlds.

Some of the ideals of perfect recollection of memory embodied by Maanzecorian were observed in aboleths, who possessed a type of racial memory that passed from one generation to the next and could always be perfectly remembered. This led to frequent conflicts between aboleths and mind flayers.

History

Sometime in the mid-14th century DR, Maanzecorian was believed to have been killed.

At this time, illithids who were granted divine spells from Maanzecorian woke up to discover that the deity no longer granted them power or signs. They found out about the deity's demise through divination magic.

Messages

Ghosts of Ranais

We are the Forsaken. When this world died, we were forced to live on, without home, without family, without love. Even when we died, we lived on ... and on. And the one who did this to us was he whom we had worshiped. He whom we had held above all others.

We heard that, in time, even he had entered the halls of death, and this gave us joyless satisfaction. But now even that has been taken from us, for he lives again. His servants roam not only this world but those nearby from his former temple. He seeks knowledge of that which he has lost. He seeks revenge.

Yet, as a speck can irritate the eye of a man, a man can thwart the plans of an immortal - at least for a time. For can a man not eventually remove the speck? Pass through this city now, and taste the fruit of his works. Choose your path afterward as you will. We will plague you no further.

Mephit's message

Your master commands you to remain near the tree-city. Very shortly, he shall remove the insect that thwarted your previous efforts and shall recover the bloom himself. For at long last, one of the perpetrators has been located and is now securely held within Tcian Sumere. None shall rest until my vengeance is complete. All who stand in my way shall face the wrath of that which was wrought in the ancient halls of the realm now reduced to only dust.

Last words of a dying drow vampire

The other... Erehe. Vault of the Drow... on Toril. Destroy him, too. He must not remember what he's forgotten... these fiends need the location. Don't let the murderous god win

Pelion, the 3rd layer of Arborea (Outer plane, chaotic-good)

Pelion, or Mithardir ("white dust") by the Seldarine, is the third and lowest layer of Arborea. In vast contrast to the vibrant lands of Olympus and Ossa, Pelion is nothing more than an endless desert of pure white sand, dotted with ancient ruins dating back to the earliest days of the planes. Travelers beware in Pelion just as much as above, though, for this desert is cruel and unyielding. This land is not merely subject to the normal risks of desert landscapes, of heat and dehydration, for despite the emptiness, the weather here can be just as vicious as the rest of the plane; here, the huge, sudden thunderstorms known across Arborea strike same as they do above. Of course, here they bring not just lighting and rain, but tremendous dust storms driven in front of them, enough to easily bury an unsuspecting berk before they can blink.

But for Amun-thys, the realm of the goddess Nephythys, Pelion is entirely without civilization, with no settlements, no colonies, no natives. Nothing more complex than simple desert flora and fauna lives in Pelion, and any attempts at building here are doomed to failure. The desert seems to hate all encroachment, and it isn't long before any construction on Pelion is buried beneath the shifting sands. However, both the Olympians and the Seldarine have legends of the ancient past of Pelion.

According to the Olympians, Pelion was long ago the realm of the Ennead, in the days when Ptah led the pantheon. As his worship declined, though, his realm shrank, taken by the white sands. The pantheon dispersed across the planes, and Ra took control, while Ptah just managed to cling to divinity. The followers of the Ennead are fairly mum on the issue, saying nothing either way as to the accuracy of this tale. The Seldarine, however, have a different story regarding Pelion's ancient past. As they tell it, the Animal Lords of the Beastlands once took Pelion as their home. But as the most important parts of their realms drifted to the Beastlands, the Animal Lords went with them, until there was nothing left but the sand. Again, the Animal Lords themselves seem not to care enough to bother clearing up the issue.

Inscription in the Last Spire in Pelion

Here in this Bright World shall trod the feet of ineffable Darkness. A great lord of the infinite pit, once brought low, shall find his way here, having pulled himself from death's cold embrace. Beyond, he will find the means for his goal, but the price of vengeance is death again - unless he can find that which was his, now lost.

Other clues

  • Dream vision of Kiaransalee fortifying her realm in fear
  • Rumors in sigil:
    • The gods are dying, according to the Ather. 'Course you've got to expect anything they say about the powers to contain at least a little screed.
    • Those addle-coves have it all wrong. The powers ain't dying - the dead ones're coming back to life! Truth is, the Signers're behind the whole thing!
    • Nothing can kill a power, berk. Don't listen to idle rumors
    • I hear that some letherhead's planning on putting the high-up proxies of Set in the dead-book. Let me tell you, I sure wouldn't want to make that blood mad.
    • Bwimb, the Baron of the Paraelemental Plane of Ooze, is lost
    • Bwimb? Who cares?
    • I heard that Apollo was put in the dead-book right in his home on Olympus!
    • The latest chant is that Tomeri is lost, too
    • Tomeri? Who's that? Or should I say, who was that?
    • The Astral's not going to be big enough to hold 'em all, I tell you!
    • The holy men of Camaxtli can't muster any power behind their prayers, seems like Fate catched up on em'
    • I have heard that some experienced planewalkers recently felt strange pull on themselves in the Astral towards unknown places.
    • They say that the Athar and the Signers are about to start a full on war over the lost powers
  • Flowers of Remembrance at Set's home on the 5th plane of Baator Stygia
  • Drow elves Kestod and Ehere
    • Trusted champions of Kiaransalee
    • Both have had their memories erased by the water of Styx
    • Vampire Kestod commited suicide in Tcian Sumere
    • Ehere is alive and in the Vault of the Drow
  • The Drow in the Vault of the Drow felt that Kiaransalee has abandoned them
  • Drows Kestod and Ehere hid something in deepest Pandemonium on orders from Kiaransalee after her ascent to godhood
  • Little over a year ago a great undead darkness took the Last Word from the Chamber of Secrets in the Last Spire


Maeldur Et Kavurik

"Young men shall see visions, and old men shall dream dreams." So state the holy texts of Yirratama. Indeed, great things have come upon me recently in dreams. But I'm obviously too old to receive the visions - visions regarding you, my friends.

Only recently did the great warrior Sir Praetol wage a war of his own with the fiends of the dark planes. My world, Qua-Nosham - as some name it - has long been plagued by fiends: tanar'ri, baatezu and yugoloths. Sir Praetol sought to take the fight to the enemy. Though the brave hero fell to a terrible disease soon after returning, he brought with him a secret known to few.

The fiends have the ability to come and go as they please to any plane, any world - this we already know. Sir praetol discovered how they do it. A foul creature of great size - Maeldur Et Kavurik - gives them the power.

This bloated abomination carves temporary paths to make their way to any destination they choose. But without the Maeldur, this ability is stripped away. The fiends will be limited just as you and I, with no power to simply appear and disappear at wil.

That's where my dream comes in. In this dream one celestial stewards known as a deva came to me. She spoke of a wonderous and strange things, and spoke of dealing a mighty blow to the fiends.

The deva told me that it is possible to protect my world from their horrors for good. To see it accomplished, she guide me here, told me that you were heroes who could do something with Sir Praetol's secrets. You could be the champions who tear this power from the fiends, making them weaker and easier to overcome forevermore. The only question is ... will you?

- Father Irynimas Sanuire, a priest of Ukko from the prime material world known as Qua-Nosham

Legend of the Maeldur Et Kavurik

And in those dim days before the War of Blood, when Good was Evil's central foe and fiend, a celestial named Maeldur was ripped from the heavens by a fiend named Daru Ib Shamiq. Maeldur was a native of the Celestial Mount, with shining emerald flesh and a dove's wings of purest white, like the snows of Pelion. Shamiq was of the clan of Baern, first among the fiends of the Three Glooms and sires of the General of Gehenna.

Shamiq, in motives twisting and tangled, took the noble Maeldur and told him of things no creature of purity should know. The words of the Baern had power - at least in those days - and when shaped into the form of dark secrets, they wrought terrible consequences. Maeldur was changed.

The celestial was a creature of light no longer. And though much of its essence was stripped away, it was given great powers of a different kind. Daru Ib Shamiq then hid the Maeldur away, fashioning a talisman that let others speak to it in the words of the Baern - the only words it could now hear.

Even today, creature torn from the Mount serves some central, fiendish purpose. Shamiq, however, disappeared into the First Gloom, at a place once called Daubei's Obscure Woe

Disturbances in The Infinite Staircase

After dealing with the demon infestation in the blue mushroom area of The Infinite Staircase the Lillendi informed that something was affecting the creativity of the natives in some realms touched by the staircase:

  • Queen's Domain - Arcadia, the flooded formian ciry missing it's queen
  • Swirling Realm - Limbo, The Temple of Change and Slaadi spawning stone. Visited
  • Place of Wind - Elemental plane of Air, Artisan city of Blurophil. Visited
  • Silver War - Astral plane, a destoryed githyanki outpost with a well filled by dreams. Visited
  • Unclimbable Mountain - Outlands, The Rilmani city of Sum of All and the Mirrored Library
  • Jingling City - Baator - City of the Chain Fiends

Oracle of Forgotten Night

In a vast, open plain near a very tall and narrow mountain, there is a library filled with mirrors. Within the library is a book which tells of a cure for the disease that you´ve seen threaten so much.

Beyond the swirling mists of matter and energy lies a temple with only one priest. The priest holds the secret to curing the ills of not only his own plane, but that which threathens them all, eventually.

In a jingling, rainswept city, a ruler, not a ruler, broods in his citadel of chain. He rejoices in the death of invention, and strives to find the library and the temple to seize the knowledge you seek.

Ever-Changing Order

It is a obtusely written text on the nature of law and chaos and how the two can paradoxically work together. Written by Ghuntomas of Thorn, a Fraternity of Order sage about a century ago. It is a complicated tome for even the best scholars to understand without extensive experience of the metaphysics of the planes. Manuscript of the tome is stored at the archives at the City Court in Sigil.

Magic on the Planes

"Only a clueless prime or a leatherheaded wizard would ever believe his magic is always going to work the same on every plane. It just ain't so, berk — not when the multiverse has got planes whose very essences are living fire, absolute perfection, howling despair, complete decay, or things even worse. Some of it should be obvious — using a holy word against a pit fiend on its home plane just won't work, as many a sodding basher has learned too late. Some of it ain't so clear, either, like can a cutter summon a djinni to Ysgard?"

Most abjurations protect against creatures from another plane, and a few (like holy word) can drive a creature back to its home plane. In either case, an abjuration can't affect a creature on its home plane. For example, some primes might try to use protection from evil to protect themselves from efreet while they're in the City of Brass. They figure the spell works at home, so it should work on the plane of Fire, too, but it doesn't. The City of Brass is on the efreet's home plane, so the genies aren't an extraplanar there and the protection spell won't work. If anybody was summoned, it was the fool prime.

The home plane has the reverse effect on summoning spells. Specifically, unless it's a spell that summons creatures from another plane (such as conjure elemental or gate), a summoning's got to draw on something close at hand. A monster summoning I can only summon up monsters from the same plane. For instance, casting a monster summoning won't cause a succubus to appear on Ysgard; it's not the fiend's home plane, and not even a plane where it can normally be found.

Spell keys

With all these alterations and restrictions, a spellcaster's life on the planes could be nigh impossible. Imagine some poor sod of an elementalist wizard out there on Gehenna, cut off from the Ethereal and unable to cast the most powerful of his spells. Kind of makes a wizard just want to stay home, eh?

Good thing, then, that there's a way around it: For each plane, there are secret spell keys that attune a wizard to the magical vibrations of that plane. Once the spellcaster's in harmony with the plane's essence, some or all of his spells may behave normally again. It's really not much of a dark, since most planar mages know the keys exist, even if they don't know the keys for every plane. It's the spellcasters from the Prime Material who tend to be most clueless about such things, much to the general amusement of their planar counterparts.

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