The City of Glasstower [Archive] - Wizards Community

The City of Glasstower [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
GoriceXII
04-28-07, 02:59 PM This is for another city in my New Edom campaign and I am trying to develop it to have a certain uniqueness. Its main feature is a mysterious crystaline tower which has been known to have opened only once to enable settlers to seek refuge against a marauding army of hobgoblins. Psionics, wizards, clerics have all tried to get into it only to fail. It appears as a great round spire of smooth appearance with regular patterns of geometric shapes upon it, roughly sixty feet high.

(background country notes here: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252)

Glasstower is at the center of the country and of three major agricultural fairs of the year. It has a large animal market which booms on a seasonal basis.

What I'd like to come up with is a sense of local religion (New Edom is settled by a variety of peoples and includes Norse, Babylonian and Greek deities but others could certainly exist there) political leadership and the like. Right now the city is occupied by an enemy force consisting mostly of Celtic warriors and knights. The city surrendered following a breach of the walls and realization that it could not hold out without being overrun completely so that it was not plundered or sacked.
LostMage
04-28-07, 03:34 PM Well, I believe that ancient religions had a habbit of borrowing deities or festivals from one another, so the city, depending on it's age, may have developed a unique, hodge-podge pantheon that sees itself as it's own religion, even though it grew out of a mix of many others.
taradusis
04-28-07, 06:25 PM Some ideas.A god/dess of the mind,somewhat secretive and cult-like,sort of matched pairs of student/master like the jedi?The organised worhip of famous ancestors,popular amongst upper/middle class.a cult or cults that promises to teach lost secrets of the Ancients,requires a crystal like new age religion.Multi-class wizards/clerics who protect the site.
GoriceXII
04-29-07, 06:21 AM I'm considering exploring the idea of the tower being like a goddess...like the computer perhaps in Resident Evil maybe? I like the idea of a cult in some way involved with the tower. A secretive one.

What I'm thinking about is the idea that the faith involving the tower is perhaps a mystery cult that involves belief that the tower will provide other things if only (whatever) is done. Perhaps that is what most of the faithful believe. Whereas perhaps the leaders believe that they can gain whatever secrets lie within or commune with whatever being is therein if only they can achieve (whatever).
Mazaron
04-29-07, 09:12 AM This is for another city in my New Edom campaign and I am trying to develop it to have a certain uniqueness. Its main feature is a mysterious crystaline tower which has been known to have opened only once to enable settlers to seek refuge against a marauding army of hobgoblins. Psionics, wizards, clerics have all tried to get into it only to fail. It appears as a great round spire of smooth appearance with regular patterns of geometric shapes upon it, roughly sixty feet high.

(background country notes here: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252)

Glasstower is at the center of the country and of three major agricultural fairs of the year. It has a large animal market which booms on a seasonal basis.

What I'd like to come up with is a sense of local religion (New Edom is settled by a variety of peoples and includes Norse, Babylonian and Greek deities but others could certainly exist there) political leadership and the like. Right now the city is occupied by an enemy force consisting mostly of Celtic warriors and knights. The city surrendered following a breach of the walls and realization that it could not hold out without being overrun completely so that it was not plundered or sacked.

Sorry, is the tower sentient? Does it respond to commands? If obviously does, it might be seen as a deity. Even if it doesn't and "priests" can make others think that it does, it still might be seen a deity (in Planescape at least a true beliver can get up to 2nd level spells by faith alone, without any deity being able or choosing to grant spells).
Maybe the tower creates crystaline entities or detaches parts of itself to perform functions? Maybe the humans inside have to fight off creatures that might try to eat or infest or warp the crystal?
What is the terrain type and climate outside the tower?
Another post had it right, I think the area inside would be an electic mix of cultures and relilgion. You would have districts to be sure, but each group would influence the other to some degree, particularly if they have difficulty leaving and/or have been there a long time.
GoriceXII
04-29-07, 09:23 AM Glasstower is in an area of rolling fertile hills and valleys. The area is lightly wooded. In the region surrounding are many farmsteads and small villages.

Unlike other parts of the republic Glasstower is removed enough from neighboring lands to have few resident nonhumans; most of those who travel there are traders and the like.

I'm not sure about whether or not I want to make the tower sentient.
Mazaron
04-30-07, 12:42 AM Glasstower is in an area of rolling fertile hills and valleys. The area is lightly wooded. In the region surrounding are many farmsteads and small villages.

Unlike other parts of the republic Glasstower is removed enough from neighboring lands to have few resident nonhumans; most of those who travel there are traders and the like.

I'm not sure about whether or not I want to make the tower sentient.

What sort of nonhumans?
I would create some sort of cult at the least about the tower.Even if the tower is not sentient, they could still worship it and be rumored to have secrets about it.
Does the tower defend itself at all, and if so how? I still like the idea of roaming tower guardings, maybe crystalline golems of some sort. Perhaps only vaguely humanoid in shape, or even decidely nonhuman in appearence.
Maybe strange lights in the tower at times and rumors of glowing energy balls or what not...tower guardians? Power sources? The builders of the tower?
How deep underground does the tower go, how does one go up and down it, does it have hidden passageways, does it provide water, do people bury or entomb their dead there...developing these ideas might help you flesh out its cultures, culture, history, and role in religion.
GoriceXII
04-30-07, 01:15 AM The nonhumans who trade in Glasstower would include:
Dwarves
Gnomes
Wood Elves
Rarely but possibly lizardfolk
Werecreatures but usually in disguise (wererats most likely but also the occasional werebear)

I really am not sure about how the tower would be structured yet--that's part of what I'm trying to brainstorm. However I'm intrigued by the possibility of it going underground, for the tower just being part of a larger (though not ridiculously huge and labyrinthine) complex.

I like the idea of crystal golems as well. I picture them seeming at a glance to merely be etched friezes in the crystal walls but then somehow emerging when the tower needs protection within.

The tower appears to be very solid--the goblinoid army was unable to damage it either with sorcery or with siege engines.

It may have a number of hidden passageways and I'm picturing it being almost like a big puzzle--the crystal panels and bricks shift and move when stimulated correctly, revealing hidden rooms.
Mazaron
04-30-07, 01:28 AM The nonhumans who trade in Glasstower would include:
Dwarves
Gnomes
Wood Elves
Rarely but possibly lizardfolk
Werecreatures but usually in disguise (wererats most likely but also the occasional werebear)

***Do the dwarves ever try to "mine" the tower itself? Wood elves and lizard folk, glass tower...I am thinking greenhouse! Parts of the tower might be quite verdant, even jungle like.

I really am not sure about how the tower would be structured yet--that's part of what I'm trying to brainstorm. However I'm intrigued by the possibility of it going underground, for the tower just being part of a larger (though not ridiculously huge and labyrinthine) complex.

****Do people only live on the lower level and the tower above is unknown or unknowable? Or do different levels host different races?

I like the idea of crystal golems as well. I picture them seeming at a glance to merely be etched friezes in the crystal walls but then somehow emerging when the tower needs protection within.

****For some reason I imagine some spider like in form, scuttling over the walls and the ceilng as needed. Some might be a crystalline goo or ooze, freezing or crystaling when defeated, dead, or required to. Maybe the appear to fill in gaps in the crystal should a break ever occur.

It may have a number of hidden passageways and I'm picturing it being almost like a big puzzle--the crystal panels and bricks shift and move when stimulated correctly, revealing hidden rooms.

***Maybe given the right conditions, the tower can divide and multiply, creating more towers? Or move about somehow? Or there are hidden abilities like shields and the like?
taradusis
05-01-07, 06:23 PM There was a Dnd novel called the crystal shard that featured a shard that could create a tower that struck me as being similar to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.There used to be stained glass golems in one of the MM's.RANDOM THOUGHTS
turalisj
05-01-07, 06:42 PM Perhaps there is an ancient psion bound deep within the tower? He can't move his body, but he can stil reach out with his mind.

If he is good, then he is trying to reach out and warn those within the tower to leave, but some ancient force (perhaps the same one that bound him) is preventing him from reaching out.

If he is evil, then he is trying to control the minds of the tower dwellers. However, his mind has become warped and he can no longer form coherent thoughts, let alone reach out and control others.
Mazaron
05-01-07, 07:59 PM There was a Dnd novel called the crystal shard that featured a shard that could create a tower that struck me as being similar to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.There used to be stained glass golems in one of the MM's.RANDOM THOUGHTS

Yes, either the 3E Fiend Folio or MM2 or MM3. Sorry, can't remember specifically which one!
Old Dragon magazine issue, back when they had the Creature Catalogs, we are talking 1E here in the 1980s, had something called a Glasspane Horror if memory serves. There is a glass mephit in the Sandstorm book but I just saw it flipping through the book at the store, I didn't read the entry. The facet, a creature of salt in the third Planescape monstrous compedium, could be tweaked to as to be made of glass. They also had a crystalline sentient bipedal humanoid type race called the pssnng or some such (same book).
GoriceXII
05-04-07, 09:32 AM I believe the MM2 has glass golems in it. I do like the idea.

I've also thought of a crystal dragon as a long sleeping guardian inside it too.
taradusis
05-04-07, 06:37 PM Suppose you could adapt the ETOILE from the D20 Future game.They look like christmas tree ornaments,but you could change that to crystal shards.Suppose the shards still could create Sand slaves ,this would allow the glasstower to infiltrate the town?This is an interesting plot twist,wonder what sort of plot-driver you could ascribe to the tower?Study of the human mind and prepare for alien takeover?RANDOM THOUGHT
Mazaron
05-05-07, 05:15 PM I believe the MM2 has glass golems in it. I do like the idea.

I've also thought of a crystal dragon as a long sleeping guardian inside it too.

Here they are, from Planescape Monstrous Compendium III. 2E of course, but here are some highlights:
Tsnng
Native to the Quasiplane of Mineral
Intelligence 18-20
Alignment: Neutral
Size: 5-6 feet tall

Basically, tsnng are a race of anthromorphic gemstones. Most folks'd describe them as extraordinarily thin and spindly. Their multifaceted bodies shine and sparkle with a plethora of color, never the same pattern twice.
Really summarizing here...
Two types, warriors and wizards. Warriors are fond of javelins of ruby and long diamond knives.
Their main enemy is other tsnng, as they often clash and skirmish with other groups known as cabals.
They eat virtually anything, consuming the matter within their furnacelike guts.

They might make a warrior race that defends the tower, natives of some as yet undiscovered layer or level of the tower, Outsider invaders who want to claim the tower one day, what someone get turned into if they move gemstones on some panel in an order that they shouldn't have, or guardians granted to those who do the tower some great service.

Also, did the crysmal make it into 3E? That might be a creature you would want to include.
Finally, in the wildlife section of the obvious MC:
"Chant is a bizarre beast made of mercury flows through the tiny cracks and crevices of the Quasielemental Plane of Mineral. This unnamed creature supposedly avoids all other life, though, so it's difficult to prove its existence."

A mercury blob or amorphous creature of some sort lurking in the tower sounds bizarre and for several reasons quite dangerous. I don't know how you would handle mercury poisonous in D&D. Does the new Draconominum have the Mercury Dragon, I thought it did. It might help with that.

If you need additional info let me know!

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
GoriceXII 04-28-07, 02:59 PM	This is for another city in my New Edom campaign and I am trying to develop it to have a certain uniqueness. Its main feature is a mysterious crystaline tower which has been known to have opened only once to enable settlers to seek refuge against a marauding army of hobgoblins. Psionics, wizards, clerics have all tried to get into it only to fail. It appears as a great round spire of smooth appearance with regular patterns of geometric shapes upon it, roughly sixty feet high. (background country notes here: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252) Glasstower is at the center of the country and of three major agricultural fairs of the year. It has a large animal market which booms on a seasonal basis. What I'd like to come up with is a sense of local religion (New Edom is settled by a variety of peoples and includes Norse, Babylonian and Greek deities but others could certainly exist there) political leadership and the like. Right now the city is occupied by an enemy force consisting mostly of Celtic warriors and knights. The city surrendered following a breach of the walls and realization that it could not hold out without being overrun completely so that it was not plundered or sacked.
LostMage 04-28-07, 03:34 PM	Well, I believe that ancient religions had a habbit of borrowing deities or festivals from one another, so the city, depending on it's age, may have developed a unique, hodge-podge pantheon that sees itself as it's own religion, even though it grew out of a mix of many others.
taradusis 04-28-07, 06:25 PM	Some ideas.A god/dess of the mind,somewhat secretive and cult-like,sort of matched pairs of student/master like the jedi?The organised worhip of famous ancestors,popular amongst upper/middle class.a cult or cults that promises to teach lost secrets of the Ancients,requires a crystal like new age religion.Multi-class wizards/clerics who protect the site.
GoriceXII 04-29-07, 06:21 AM	I'm considering exploring the idea of the tower being like a goddess...like the computer perhaps in Resident Evil maybe? I like the idea of a cult in some way involved with the tower. A secretive one. What I'm thinking about is the idea that the faith involving the tower is perhaps a mystery cult that involves belief that the tower will provide other things if only (whatever) is done. Perhaps that is what most of the faithful believe. Whereas perhaps the leaders believe that they can gain whatever secrets lie within or commune with whatever being is therein if only they can achieve (whatever).
Mazaron 04-29-07, 09:12 AM	This is for another city in my New Edom campaign and I am trying to develop it to have a certain uniqueness. Its main feature is a mysterious crystaline tower which has been known to have opened only once to enable settlers to seek refuge against a marauding army of hobgoblins. Psionics, wizards, clerics have all tried to get into it only to fail. It appears as a great round spire of smooth appearance with regular patterns of geometric shapes upon it, roughly sixty feet high. (background country notes here: http://www.thecbg.org/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?24252) Glasstower is at the center of the country and of three major agricultural fairs of the year. It has a large animal market which booms on a seasonal basis. What I'd like to come up with is a sense of local religion (New Edom is settled by a variety of peoples and includes Norse, Babylonian and Greek deities but others could certainly exist there) political leadership and the like. Right now the city is occupied by an enemy force consisting mostly of Celtic warriors and knights. The city surrendered following a breach of the walls and realization that it could not hold out without being overrun completely so that it was not plundered or sacked. Sorry, is the tower sentient? Does it respond to commands? If obviously does, it might be seen as a deity. Even if it doesn't and "priests" can make others think that it does, it still might be seen a deity (in Planescape at least a true beliver can get up to 2nd level spells by faith alone, without any deity being able or choosing to grant spells). Maybe the tower creates crystaline entities or detaches parts of itself to perform functions? Maybe the humans inside have to fight off creatures that might try to eat or infest or warp the crystal? What is the terrain type and climate outside the tower? Another post had it right, I think the area inside would be an electic mix of cultures and relilgion. You would have districts to be sure, but each group would influence the other to some degree, particularly if they have difficulty leaving and/or have been there a long time.
GoriceXII 04-29-07, 09:23 AM	Glasstower is in an area of rolling fertile hills and valleys. The area is lightly wooded. In the region surrounding are many farmsteads and small villages. Unlike other parts of the republic Glasstower is removed enough from neighboring lands to have few resident nonhumans; most of those who travel there are traders and the like. I'm not sure about whether or not I want to make the tower sentient.
Mazaron 04-30-07, 12:42 AM	Glasstower is in an area of rolling fertile hills and valleys. The area is lightly wooded. In the region surrounding are many farmsteads and small villages. Unlike other parts of the republic Glasstower is removed enough from neighboring lands to have few resident nonhumans; most of those who travel there are traders and the like. I'm not sure about whether or not I want to make the tower sentient. What sort of nonhumans? I would create some sort of cult at the least about the tower.Even if the tower is not sentient, they could still worship it and be rumored to have secrets about it. Does the tower defend itself at all, and if so how? I still like the idea of roaming tower guardings, maybe crystalline golems of some sort. Perhaps only vaguely humanoid in shape, or even decidely nonhuman in appearence. Maybe strange lights in the tower at times and rumors of glowing energy balls or what not...tower guardians? Power sources? The builders of the tower? How deep underground does the tower go, how does one go up and down it, does it have hidden passageways, does it provide water, do people bury or entomb their dead there...developing these ideas might help you flesh out its cultures, culture, history, and role in religion.
GoriceXII 04-30-07, 01:15 AM	The nonhumans who trade in Glasstower would include: Dwarves Gnomes Wood Elves Rarely but possibly lizardfolk Werecreatures but usually in disguise (wererats most likely but also the occasional werebear) I really am not sure about how the tower would be structured yet--that's part of what I'm trying to brainstorm. However I'm intrigued by the possibility of it going underground, for the tower just being part of a larger (though not ridiculously huge and labyrinthine) complex. I like the idea of crystal golems as well. I picture them seeming at a glance to merely be etched friezes in the crystal walls but then somehow emerging when the tower needs protection within. The tower appears to be very solid--the goblinoid army was unable to damage it either with sorcery or with siege engines. It may have a number of hidden passageways and I'm picturing it being almost like a big puzzle--the crystal panels and bricks shift and move when stimulated correctly, revealing hidden rooms.
Mazaron 04-30-07, 01:28 AM	The nonhumans who trade in Glasstower would include: Dwarves Gnomes Wood Elves Rarely but possibly lizardfolk Werecreatures but usually in disguise (wererats most likely but also the occasional werebear) *Do the dwarves ever try to "mine" the tower itself? Wood elves and lizard folk, glass tower...I am thinking greenhouse! Parts of the tower might be quite verdant, even jungle like. I really am not sure about how the tower would be structured yet--that's part of what I'm trying to brainstorm. However I'm intrigued by the possibility of it going underground, for the tower just being part of a larger (though not ridiculously huge and labyrinthine) complex. Do people only live on the lower level and the tower above is unknown or unknowable? Or do different levels host different races? I like the idea of crystal golems as well. I picture them seeming at a glance to merely be etched friezes in the crystal walls but then somehow emerging when the tower needs protection within. For some reason I imagine some spider like in form, scuttling over the walls and the ceilng as needed. Some might be a crystalline goo or ooze, freezing or crystaling when defeated, dead, or required to. Maybe the appear to fill in gaps in the crystal should a break ever occur. It may have a number of hidden passageways and I'm picturing it being almost like a big puzzle--the crystal panels and bricks shift and move when stimulated correctly, revealing hidden rooms. *Maybe given the right conditions, the tower can divide and multiply, creating more towers? Or move about somehow? Or there are hidden abilities like shields and the like?
taradusis 05-01-07, 06:23 PM	There was a Dnd novel called the crystal shard that featured a shard that could create a tower that struck me as being similar to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.There used to be stained glass golems in one of the MM's.RANDOM THOUGHTS
turalisj 05-01-07, 06:42 PM	Perhaps there is an ancient psion bound deep within the tower? He can't move his body, but he can stil reach out with his mind. If he is good, then he is trying to reach out and warn those within the tower to leave, but some ancient force (perhaps the same one that bound him) is preventing him from reaching out. If he is evil, then he is trying to control the minds of the tower dwellers. However, his mind has become warped and he can no longer form coherent thoughts, let alone reach out and control others.
Mazaron 05-01-07, 07:59 PM	There was a Dnd novel called the crystal shard that featured a shard that could create a tower that struck me as being similar to Superman's Fortress of Solitude.There used to be stained glass golems in one of the MM's.RANDOM THOUGHTS Yes, either the 3E Fiend Folio or MM2 or MM3. Sorry, can't remember specifically which one! Old Dragon magazine issue, back when they had the Creature Catalogs, we are talking 1E here in the 1980s, had something called a Glasspane Horror if memory serves. There is a glass mephit in the Sandstorm book but I just saw it flipping through the book at the store, I didn't read the entry. The facet, a creature of salt in the third Planescape monstrous compedium, could be tweaked to as to be made of glass. They also had a crystalline sentient bipedal humanoid type race called the pssnng or some such (same book).
GoriceXII 05-04-07, 09:32 AM	I believe the MM2 has glass golems in it. I do like the idea. I've also thought of a crystal dragon as a long sleeping guardian inside it too.
taradusis 05-04-07, 06:37 PM	Suppose you could adapt the ETOILE from the D20 Future game.They look like christmas tree ornaments,but you could change that to crystal shards.Suppose the shards still could create Sand slaves ,this would allow the glasstower to infiltrate the town?This is an interesting plot twist,wonder what sort of plot-driver you could ascribe to the tower?Study of the human mind and prepare for alien takeover?RANDOM THOUGHT
Mazaron 05-05-07, 05:15 PM	I believe the MM2 has glass golems in it. I do like the idea. I've also thought of a crystal dragon as a long sleeping guardian inside it too. Here they are, from Planescape Monstrous Compendium III. 2E of course, but here are some highlights: Tsnng Native to the Quasiplane of Mineral Intelligence 18-20 Alignment: Neutral Size: 5-6 feet tall Basically, tsnng are a race of anthromorphic gemstones. Most folks'd describe them as extraordinarily thin and spindly. Their multifaceted bodies shine and sparkle with a plethora of color, never the same pattern twice. Really summarizing here... Two types, warriors and wizards. Warriors are fond of javelins of ruby and long diamond knives. Their main enemy is other tsnng, as they often clash and skirmish with other groups known as cabals. They eat virtually anything, consuming the matter within their furnacelike guts. They might make a warrior race that defends the tower, natives of some as yet undiscovered layer or level of the tower, Outsider invaders who want to claim the tower one day, what someone get turned into if they move gemstones on some panel in an order that they shouldn't have, or guardians granted to those who do the tower some great service. Also, did the crysmal make it into 3E? That might be a creature you would want to include. Finally, in the wildlife section of the obvious MC: "Chant is a bizarre beast made of mercury flows through the tiny cracks and crevices of the Quasielemental Plane of Mineral. This unnamed creature supposedly avoids all other life, though, so it's difficult to prove its existence." A mercury blob or amorphous creature of some sort lurking in the tower sounds bizarre and for several reasons quite dangerous. I don't know how you would handle mercury poisonous in D&D. Does the new Draconominum have the Mercury Dragon, I thought it did. It might help with that. If you need additional info let me know!