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Hand_of_Kain 09-30-07, 04:33 AM

The Twin Worlds This is the story of my campaign worlds, a duel system. The Arcane world of Bremen and the Technological world of Mechanis (Please not that this plane is not the Mechanus from the DMG, I just couldn't think of a name yet so) First, the creation of the gods and planes: I use the standard D&D pantheon plus a few extra that I have made. Most notable difference is the inclusion of the All-Father, the Over-Deity named AO. AO is a benevolent god and creates the gods, none more evil or good than the next. He gave them restrictions telling them they could not create beings until he determined they were ready. Some follow him along the path of benevolence and goodness, some follow their own path of neutrality, while others are more craven and given to evil. Inevitably, the good and evil gods begin to fight amongst each other, competing for the Over-Deity's favor. The evil deities begin to turn to the creation of beings to give them an edge in the War of the Gods though only one is willing to risk using them openly. An evil god (so far unnamed, sorry) creates five great warriors and uses them against the forces of good on the fields of Tartarus. The Over-Deity (not omniscient) is stunned at the gall of one of his children but to keep the balance and order, he must act. He slays the impertinent deity for his transgressions and orders his spawn hunted down and destroyed. The divine essence of the god filtered down to his creations when he was killed, each getting an equal portion. Four skulls are brought back to AO (leaving one who now has all the divine essence of his creator), two by the evil gods and two by the good ones, both looking for his favor. He realizes that he cannot continue allowing his children to fight for his favor, as he cannot choose amongst them, and creates his own champion, Malvekion, the first Archangel and Solar. To give Malvekion the power to slay all but the greatest of his creations, the Over-Deity forges a sword in the Star of Ahges. The blade is made from unbreakable glass from Tartarus, from the very field where the first transgression occurred; the hilt is made from the skulls of the four warriors and the fangs of the Tarasque; the handle is made of unmelting ice from the Elemental Plane of Water; and the pommel is topped with the skull of the offending god. Malvekion, the first of all solars, the champion of the Over-Deity, the Slayer of gods. (slayer of gods is what his name means) Many other gods are exposed to have created creatures and Malvekion is sent forth to bring about the retribution of the All-Father. Such was his reputation that many deities shudder whenever he enters the courts of the Over-Deity. All this death and slaughter, all these souls lost in the void. The last remaining warrior of an already forgotten god, now a god himself, hides himself away on a plane of his creation. Hades. He takes the role of the god of the dead and welcomes all the wandering souls lost to the void. His name was Nerull. As he gains in power and his plane expands, it draws the attention of the All-Father. When AO sees that one of the abominations has escaped and is thriving, he sends his champion down to deal with the upstart. With that taken care of, he can turn his attention to his favorite dream, his pet project that has been eons in the making, waiting for his children to mature enough for it, The Material Plane. A place where they may create things in their own likeness, to be worshiped by. Only they evil deities will be denied this plane for they have broken his commands and have not shown they are ready. When the time comes that they are ready for such things, the All-Father will create them their own plane, separate from his, for their creations are given to war and slaughter. He calls all the good and neutral gods together to discuss and create this plane. He also creates the second Solar, a friend for Malvekion and the guardian of the Material Plane. Azriel. Under him, the All-Father creates a host of angels to serve the Azriel and watch over his creations on the new world. Malvekion flew through the planes and arrived in Hades to find Nerull, god of death, busy making an army of the undead. He turn to see the Solar and smiled. (this is just a quick draft of the one-sided conversation between these two) Nerull: So, I am discovered. I suppose you are here to kill me and take my head back to your "impartial" god. Well, before you do, I should warn you that your place as the champion of the All-Father is in danger of being usurped while you are busy doing his will. Malvekion:.............................. .......................... Nerull: What? He didn't tell you what he would doing while you were away?? Strange, well, no not really. It is so like him to use someone till something else catches his interest. Like a small child, always moving on to the next thing and forgetting what brought him such joy and satisfaction before. Well, since no one else thought it important to tell you, I may as well do you a favor and tell you what is going on. You see, your "All-Father" is as we speak making his "greatest" creation and has already created ANOTHER solar to take charge of it. You, after all the hard work and blood shed for him, are being put second, if that. It is a shame really. He has already forgotten you and is making others he holds higher though they have done nothing to earn such favor, unlike you. Malvekion steps forward rather menacingly. Nerull: If you don't believe me, go look for yourself. I will stay right here. If I am lying to you, you can return and finish what you were commissioned to do. But if I am telling the truth....... And so the seed of doubt and mistrust was sown in Malvekion's mind. He returned to AO's courts to find all the good and neutral deities surrounding the plans for the Material Plane. And just as the god of death had said, at the right hand of AO stood another Solar, carefully watching and learning of the place of which he was to be given charge. Rage and jealousy boiled in Malvekion's soul and he turned and left the court, no one even noticed that he was there at all. Malvekion raced through the planes once more, direction less and wandering, blinded by the pain and rage, when a sickly familiar voice brought him from his self-pity. Nerull: See, I told you. I am sorry to have had to be the one to tell you but I could not, in good conscience, let you go one in ignorance. No one should be spurned so. I am sure that had your roles been switched, you would have acted with more nobility and fairness. He claims to love us all and to be impartial but look at what he does. Throws you to the wayside and tries to kill me. Or perhaps he intended me to kill you so he wouldn't have to. From this point, it was easy for Nerull to convince Malvekion that he could do better as the All-Father then AO. Not long after, Malvekion led an army out of Hades towards Celestia and the Throne of the Over-Deity. AO finished the Material Plane and created humans in his image. All the good and neutral gods made what they wanted and they hung the material plane in the heavens. Under Azriel, the angelic host left Celestia to guard the new world and foster it in the ways of AO. Once AO was finished, his mind turned back to his champion and wondered where he was, what was taking him so long in the task set forth, and wished for him to return soon so that he might see his father's newest marvel. Return he did, but not in the manner in which the All-Father had thought. Malvekion at the head of an undead army. The worlds were torn apart in the cataclysmic battle that ensued. Malvekion and the army of the dead, the evil gods at his back, against the All-Father, the host of heaven, and the good deities. AO recalled all of his angelic host back to fight and the two Solars met on the field of battle, their first meeting ever. As the battle drug on, the evil gods saw that they were losing many of their forces to the angelic host so they with drew to cut their losses. Malvekion and Nerull stayed, refusing to give up so quickly. Malvekion fought Azriel in personal combat and they were evenly matched. Malvekion with his god-slaying sword and Azriel with the favor of AO. Slowly, Malvekion was turned to the defensive and eventually disarmed by Azriel. In one final, swift move Azriel disarmed Malvekion and slew him with his own sword. As Malvekion's life ebbed away, his soul and essence were absorbed by the sword and trapped there, causing the sword to gain sentience. Now implacably evil, the sword could not be held by Azriel and he dropped it. It tumbled through the planes until it came to a earth shuddering stop on the Material Plane. Nerull saw the end of Malvekion and fled, much more powerful now than ever before thanks to all the freshly slain souls waiting for him below in Hades. Scholars debate the story of how evil found it's way to the Material Plane. Here are the two most popular opinions: 1) The sword brought evil to the Material Plane. Before the sword landed, the Material Plane was untainted, untouched by evil. With the sword's presence, evil was now allowed on the world and the evil gods had a foothold on which to create whatever they desired. And they created with a vengeance, angry that they were not allowed to do so before. With the kingdoms there divided by the Collapse (more on that later), evil could thrive and not be at risk of all the kingdoms uniting to destroy them. 2) During the battle, the evil gods saw the Material Plane was now unguarded and they took that opportunity to leave the battle and create things there while AO's attention was elsewhere. They created their creatures underground, in the underdark, so that they would be hidden from the kingdoms of the surface lest they unite and destroy them. During the Collapse, the evil creations pour forth from the underdark and cause even more havoc then there was already. Either way, evil finds its way to the material plane. The Collapse After the Kingslayer (the name of the sword) landed on the world, it was found by a 15 year old farmer's son. He picked it up (it had changed it's size so he could, it is normally 12' long) and immediately was dominated by Malvekion, trapped within the sword. Malvekion did not take the boy's body or destroy the boys soul because he was still a young lad and not a suitable carrier for the soul of the first Solar. Instead, Malvekion made the boy wander from royal court to royal court, slaying all he saw, especially kings. This caused the Collapse and all the kingdoms were torn asunder and lay to ruin. Alliances between the kingdoms crumbled and war began. AO, emotionally torn apart as he watched his favorite creation ripped apart by something else that he had made, broke his own law and intervened. He stole the sword away and buried it in a glacier, deep under the ice, a frozen tomb for his once favored one. He hazed the memory of sword in the minds of the people so that it would remain hidden forever. Time continued, as did war, until Boccob disobeyed AO and gave knowledge of magic to the races of the Material Plane. With magic, new kingdoms were forged and the world set at a semblance of peace. Wars are still fought but it is no longer a world wide event. Boccob was only slightly punished because his disobedience brought peace and happiness to a region of the planes that needed it most. And the sword lay hidden for 300 years. Until magic found it again.......... Along with the Kingslayer, the army that followed the boy from kingdom to kingdom, reeking havoc, is buried there too. Quite dead. Their bodies can be seen suspended in the ice all around the ice cavern that houses the Kingslayer. Malvekion waits in the ice for several centuries, drawing all kinds of evil to him. White dragons, a ton of ice undead, and a frost giant citadel guard his icy tomb. With magic inevitably came a guild for it. Here is its history. Mages Guild History 874 - Present Day Started in the 9th century, the Guild of Mages has been a prominent political figure. Spanning across almost every known country, it does not recognize borders. Prior to its creation, there were many wizards’ cabals, witches covens and the like, but none as organized or long lasting as the present day Mages Guild. Since its creation, there has always been an Archmage. Like a Pope, the Archmage's word is law in the guild. The First Age of Magic The first Archmage and leading founder of the Guild was the Archmage Malchavious. Malchavious ruled the Guild from 874 to 962, 2nd age. A bold and audacious leader, Malchavious used his magical knowledge and skill to gather the best and brightest mages in the known world. He traded his knowledge of protective auras to the emperor of Lower Athlea, Emperor Habuto Tsushima III, for the right to build his Grand Mage Hall on Athlean land. Having established a guildhall, he set to creating offices to oversee the various areas of the magical arts. They were called Grand Mages, the best and most adept at their specialty school of magic. Another deciding factor was their loyalty to him and his vision of one united magocracy. The meek, but fiery Maria Therris was elected Grand Evoker. The Wizard of Thyrmul, Malsithious, was given the school of transmutation. Lord Korvin, with his calm, cool exterior, was given the office of Grand Abjurer. Given her talent for forecasting future events, Detera Yhisero was elected as Grand Diviner. Grand Conjurer was Kyrim Istor, for his sympathy with the other planes. Archmage Malchavious' area of expertise was the art of illusion, and finding no other suitable candidate, he took temporary charge of that school. Having set in his base for the tutoring of worthy students, Malchavious opened the guildhall in the year 874, 2nd age. His criterion for potential students was high to ensure that only the brightest would sit at the feet of his Grand Mages. The Second Age of Magic When Archmage Malchavious died in the year 962, he had no proclaimed heir. With no true leadership, the guild splintered, each following their chosen leaders. The most prominent of the elects was the Grand Transmuter Malsithious and the Grand Diviner Detera. The dispute between these two grew until there could be no reconciliation. The first war of the mages began in the spring of 964. This dark period in the Guild's history lasted for 43 years. During the war, the dark art of necromancy was born. Discovered by mishaps in magical experiments conducted by Malsithious, he quickly turned to using them to further his rise to power. Stopped at every turn by the forces of Detera, Malsithious soon grew impatient and unleashed his necrotic legions. Such a perverse and cold use of magic turned many supporters of his cause to forsake him and join Detera. Scorning his former allies, Malsithious vowed vengeance for the betrayal. The war ground into a stale mate and loses were heavy on both sides. Seeing no quick way out of the gridlock, Detera challenged Malsithious to a Battle of Mages in the year 1006, 2nd age. Overly confident in his abilities and new power, Malsithious accepted. The duel took place in the summoning chamber of the Guild of Mages. Evenly matched, neither seemed able to turn the duel in their favor. In an outburst of rage, Malsithious over-extended his power, momentarily weakening him. Detera reacted in an instant, mortally wounding her opponent. Seeing his eminent defeat, Malsithious tore open a portal to the shadow realm, destroying the Grand Hall of Mages. Fleeing to his tower hidden away in the shadow realm, in a final effort to save his own life, he used his necromancy to complete a ritual to turn him into a powerful lich. The Third Age of Magic After her victory, Archmage Detera began to rebuild the splintered guild. She ushered in the age many called the Golden Age of Magic or the Artifact Age. To strengthen the guild, she fostered relationships with many clerics devoted to a wide variety of gods. Using these good relations, the clergy and the Guild created many powerful artifacts, items of immense power, the likes of which had never been seen before or ever will again. The Guild prospered under her guidance and spread across the known world. She also established the Blood Mages, a group of mages devoted to the search for necromancers and their progeny. Most importantly, they were tasked to ascertain the location of Malsithious and finish what Detera had begun. One most promising artificer was the mage Drakus. Drakus constructed many wondrous relics for the church of Hieroneous and St. Cuthbert. Known all over as the Hand of the Gods, Drakus grew in wealth and reputation. He began a secret, mysterious project that captured the curiosity of the entire arcane community. The god of the undead himself, Nerull, inspired this project, little known to anyone, including Drakus. Drakus secluded himself away in his tower of the guildhall and began to work on his masterpiece. Blinded by the dark god's influence, Drakus crafted the abyssal relic in complete seclusion and secrecy. Unknowing hands did piece by piece, the work of Nerull. Once the relic was complete, an orb called the Globe of Eternal Darkness; the spell fell from Drakus' eyes, allowing him to see the monstrosity that his hands had painstakingly crafted. Appalled by his blindness, he knew that this abomination must never find its way into the hands for which it was designed. Praying to all the benevolent gods that it would remain a secret, Drakus hid it away as best he could. He set fire to his notes and research, hoping to insure no one else could follow where his misguided steps had taken him. As a final step to hide the orb, Drakus killed himself in the hope that the secret of the orb and its hiding place would perish with him. (The Globe of Eternal Darkness is a relic that has been tainted by Nerull. Its sole purpose is to darken the sun, no more day, only night, the time of the undead. With the sun out of the way, and undead army can move anytime it likes and doesn't have to fear destruction by the sun if they stay out too long. It also bolsters the undead of the world during the "day" when the orb is the most active.) The Fourth Age of Magic In the year 1217, 2nd age, Malsithious made his return. Assassinating the Archmage in her sleep, Malsithious followed the dark guidance of Nerull and began his search for the Globe of Eternal Darkness. Making no attempt to hide his presence now, Malsithious waged war on the living with his malevolent magic and undead fiends. He swept through the lands like a brushfire, killing all in his path to fuel his army from the afterlife. The clergy of Hieroneous gathered to oppose him, backed by the Light of Pelor and the Sun Swords, the militant arms of the churches of Pelor. One knight stood above all others on the battlefields. The illegitimate son of a peasant, Endrin stood when all the nobility had fled and fought off the lifeless hordes from devouring countless villages. Knighted by King Tirian II of Dular, he quickly gained acclaim and renown among every tier of society. Though despised by the nobility, none dared to challenge him for fear of his reputation and blade. It was Endrin that stood on the fields at Los Gorath and defied Malsithious himself. Battling towards each other, the two finally met at the height of the battle. Sword clashing with magic, fire on steel, Endrin slowly beat back the evil lich. Not wishing to try his hand with fate once again, Malsithious fled the battle with Endrin in hot pursuit, hoping to end this nightmare for the last time. Before stepping into the shadow, Malsithious turned and cast a final spell to keep this bloodhound from hounding his heels to the ends of the earth. Caught up in the malicious conjuration, Endrin was caught off guard and it rendered him unconscious. Trapped in an endless nightmare, unable to awaken, Endrin lay on the field of battle, helpless. His body was recovered by members of the Light and taken to the Citadel of the Sun to rest until a cure could be found. The disciples of Pelor routed Malsithious’ undead army with ease now that their fiendish commander was no longer there to bolster their numbers. Thus ended the fourth age of magic in the year 1221, 2nd age. To back up a bit, my campaign begins at the closing of the 3rd Age of Magic. After Drakus has made the orb and hidden it. The PC's would hear about Drakus' suicide and might investigate. Then the Lich would show up and begin to reek havoc through the known world. Perhaps as a precursor to his arrival, the PCs can investigate a rash of undead clawing their way to the surface in several cemeteries nearby. The PCs will be sent to see an Oracle to find out how they can defeat the seemingly unstoppable undead horde. She will tell them of "The Sword of Scions", a great and powerful sword that has the power to defeat the Lich and his army. The "Sword of Scions" is the Kingslayer and the PCs will be give the task of finding it and wielding it against the Lich. What she really meant was the newly knight Sir Endrin, one of the titles recently given to him was "The Sword of the Scion". Her prophesy was twisted by the Kingslayer in an attempt to break free of its frozen prison. The PCs will go to the frozen south to find it and when they recover it, one of them will take it. They will bring the Kingslayer back to the royal court and the king's memory will be sparked by AO in the hope that a second collapse can be prevented. When the king recognizes the sword and says its name, Malvekion wakes up fully and assaults the character holding the sword. Malvekion's soul invades the unsuspecting characters body and begins to crush their soul. The only thing that holds Malvekion off for as long as he will be is that the mind of the victim breaks and becomes erratic, hard to pin down and destroy. Everyone in the court will then die at the hands of this character, only the PCs will escape for Malvekion cannot force his host to attack his friends.............yet. The insane character will wander from court to court in an insane stupor, only becoming fully under Malvekion's control when about to slay a king. The character's soul can't handle what it is about to be forced to do and shuts off allowing Malvekion full reign till the deed is done. Unable to speak rationally, the character tries to warn all around him by singing the only thing he can remember, twisted slightly to warn others of their impending doom. "Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb. Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was soaked in blood" "Every where that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went. Everywhere that Mary went, death followed like a flood" He is the little lamb that is forced to follow Mary (Malvekion) around and has been soaked in blood by his involvement. He walks with a stiff, uneven gait of a zombie and lashes out at anyone within reach, almost as if the sword is jerking him into action, causing the attack, not him. Only when about to slay someone of royal blood, the purpose for its travels, does Malvekion take over fully and then he asks one, simple question almost mocking the weak and pathetic attempt by his carrier to warn others. "So are you the innocent little lamb being led to the slaughter.................or the butcher holding the bloodied ax?" The answer matters not for the royal is soon after dead. This entire time the Malvekion is slowly hunting down the soul of his host and changing the physical form to be like his original one. Malsithious can feel the incredible evil aura no matter how far away he is and begins to call to it, summoning it to him in the hopes that he can bargain it into servitude. Once Malvekion has fully destroyed his host's soul, he answers the call and serves as a general for Malsithious like he did for Nerull eons before. This campaign will culminate in a giant battle between the undead hordes and Endrin's forces with the PCs as an elite strike force tasked with the destruction of Malvekion. If the PCs win, Malvekion escapes badly wounded and dying. He makes a pact with Nerull to serve him and his right hand, Malsithious, if Nerull will save him. He is turned to a vampire and is told that to regain his true form, he must die in the service of Nerull. Then he will be sent to the Nine Hells and refined into a Prince of Hell itself. The Twin Worlds In the year 1221 of Bremen, after being punished by AO for his interference, and seeing what his magic wrought in the hands of evil, Boccob decided to never again mess in the affairs of mortals and to leave the Material Plane alone entirely. He petitioned AO to give him a Plane of his own with AO's marvelous humans to foster with knowledge. A place where arcane magic does not work so that his gift of invention and technology might be given a chance to grow and mature. AO acquiesced to his petition and created a new Plane (we will call it Mechanis for now) and set it in the heavens. When Boccob was given Mechanis, none of the evil deities noticed. They were busy reeking chaos down upon Bremen. A few of their lieutenants, however, did notice and thought that by polluting this new world or even destroying it, they might gain the favor of their god and rise in the ranks of his service. Unable to affect Mechanis directly, they resorted to inspiration like Boccob was doing only their inspiration was of the twisted, evil, depraved variety. War and conquest came to Mechanis and soon after the invention of space travel, the idea of Interstellar Conquest. Once the inhabitants of Mechanis left the plane and ventured into the Astral Plane, the demigods could effect them and they opened wormholes to Bremen that sucked in the fledgling space craft. This happens around the year 1500 of Bremen, 300 for Mechanis. The spaceships could not land and crashed into Bremen, stranding the crew there. Enter gunpowder and engine technology to an arcane world. There is no way to traverse the Space Between by magic that has been discovered so far. Mechanis is almost literally a copy of our world. Different geography but same cultures and societies. In the year 300 of Mechanis, it is they equivalent of modern day technology. By the year 500 of Mechanis, they have conquered their galaxy and have a global government (aka. The Empire.) and have perfected space travel, especially the whole landing bit. This explains why Bremen is still in the medieval setting and allows players to choose to be in a modern setting as well. Plus, it gives me a reason to add in flintlocks and steam engines to Bremen later because of travelers between worlds. Interesting bit, magic cannot find Mechanis. You cannot plane shift there or teleport there. The way things have traversed the Space Between is worm holes created by evil demi-gods.