Acheron: a possible past [Archive] - Wizards Community

Acheron: a possible past [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Bootchie!
04-19-08, 07:42 PM It always bugged me that Acheron got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization. It's basically treated like a big war zone with very few secrets or mysteries for players to encounter (though perhaps not sluice out). So here's some idears:

A Brief History of Acheron:

When the planes were young, war between Law and Chaos raged throughout existence. The war spanned the Multiverse, penetrating the inner and outer planes as well as the Prime Material. In the midst of the war, the Lawful Archons and Vaati harnessed even the least creatures available to them in Mechanus. These primitive creatures were the earliest of the lesser Modrons, though at this point they were little more than perfectly Platonic forms shaped from pure metal, used by Primus in the earliest times to represent perfection on the outer planes for forming crystalline structures and the shape of planets and stars in three-dimensions. The spheres were harnessed as rolling swarms, masses that crushed the Qlippothic forces arrayed against the forces of law. Other solids were granted the capability to fly, and were used as transport for landbound Vaati castes. The cubic forms were harnessed for dozens of tasks, but vast numbers were used to build prisons for Obyirths that were considered too powerful to kill, who could recorporate themselves from the raw matter of the Abyss. Vast numbers of the cubics built themselves into huge cubic prisons built around the Obyiriths, and sealed into a single mass through complex moigno strings designed by the Archons.

Eventually, it became apparent that not only intelligent creatures were being affected by the war. Even after hostilities had ceased, some of the primitive Modrons continued to make war upon the lands, believing them to be infected with Chaos. The worst offenders in this regard were the countless enormous cubic prisons. In the final days of the war, following the defeat of the Queen of Chaos by the Vaati's sacrifice in creating the Rod of Seven Parts, the One and Prime swept up the war-scarred modrons, tainted thim black to note their fall, and cast them out into the void. This cubic border beyond Mechanus became to be known as Acheron, or, in the language of the Vaati, the Iron Prison. And this was also the realm where law did undertake justice upon itself, hence the reason why the Mercykillers have based themselves here. But for the Great Cubes, the war never ended, and so they made war upon each other.

Adventure Idea: -Renegade modrons in Acheron realize the cubes are made of their brethren and make efforts to awaken the sleeping creatures.
- One of the few remaining Obyirth's of any power remaining in his vast prison-cube bursts out.

Of Hassitoriums and Witchlight Marauders:

On Avalas walk the Hassitoriums, enormous walking keeps made from a mixture of organic material (dead and living) and the iron of the plane on great undead legs. Tales say the Hassitoriums were created by a lost race of exemplars for the plane of Acheron known as the Hassitors.

As with the early modrons, the Archons fared little better in the war against the Obyirths. The horrors of the Great War made the vast majority of the Archons realize that their purpose in existence was not merely to align creation, but to provide protection from the evils espoused by creatures like the Obyirths. So they left the realm of Mechanus, placing themselves in direct opposition to the Abyss, and in moral opposition to their fallen brethren in the Baatorian Hells. Some few Archons did not Fall, per se, but instead with their beatific perfection marred by war scars, their psyches shattered by post-traumatic stress distorder, they could not leave the war behind. It followed them. These war-scarred Archons focused their attention beyond the outer planes, making war upon even benign chaos in the Prime Material. The highest of the Celestial Archons censured the war-scarred, relieving them of their capability to reach beyond the Outer Planes short of being summoned for such purpose. The war-scarred then made war upon the nascent Eladrin, newly released from their servitude to the Obyirths. Again, the Celestial Archons did make judgement upon their brethren, but this time they punished them with exile in Acheron.

Here in Acheron the war-scarred settled in, giving themselves the name "Hassitor," an accursed word meaning "To Battle Endlessly Against Chaos." Here in Acheron, the Hassitors set up shop breaking into the great cubic prisons to battle against their eternal enemies. Time passed and the Hassitors found themselves beset by new armies, other exiles from the mortal pantheons. Damaged by centuries of war, stripped of their glory, the Hassitors began to patch themselves with found objects and bodies of fallen enemies, ruining their lawful symmetry. In the midst of their actions, they began stripping their conquested lands to create the vile Hassitorium, their keeps a symbol of the very darkness they detested within themselves. The ongoing war continued its toll, until nothing was left of the original Hassitors but their hatred for chaos, and they were naught but creatures patched together with the raw materials of Acheron. At some point, the Hassitors realized they had lost any shred of celestial character they had once possessed and turned upon each other, destroying each other in their self-loathing. Except for one, a Hassitor who barely survived deep within a Cube. This one was known to his brethren as "Witchlight" for the limpid glow coming from his eyes was the only shred of humanity left. And within the cube he waited for many a milenia, consuming the bodies of his brethren, until the orc god Gruumsh found him and set him loose upon the material plane. And there amongst the stars goes a creature of thankless conquest, a single intelligence capable of spreading throughout the universes, the Witchlight Marauder, who consumes all in his path in ceaseless war.
jareddm
04-20-08, 01:18 AM Very cool history!

I especially enjoy the idea that the cubes are actually modron prisons. Acheron has always been one of my favorite planes, despite what little there was on it. Thankyou for adding a whole new dimension to the plane of conflict.
ripvanwormer
04-20-08, 05:06 PM That's very nice, Bootchie! I like the idea of tying Acheron's wars to the ancient war between Law and Chaos, "Law punishing itself." That works, as you said, very well with the Mercykillers. The fact that those modrons tainted by Tenebrous's influence have exiled themselves to Acheron also lends support to your story.

One thing I'd note is that an underlooked theme in Acheron is six-limbed avians. There are the achaierai, of course, with their four legs and tiny wings, and also the chronotyryns with their wings, legs, and arms. I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well.
Taeldrin Laesrash
04-20-08, 07:45 PM One thing I'd note is that an underlooked theme in Acheron is six-limbed avians. There are the achaierai, of course, with their four legs and tiny wings, and also the chronotyryns with their wings, legs, and arms. I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well.

Given that the plane was once lawful and supposedly under control of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, the birds might have been species introduced from the Plane of Air, and a few might have stayed with the first Hassitors, who might have modified them. A reason for all the sixes, though, escapes me at the moment.
Aryxbez
04-20-08, 07:46 PM I don't know, I don't really understand the story so much, I don't really know what vaati is, nor do I know what an Obyrith be (I might know though).

I otherwise too favor the Plane Acheron as one of my favorite planes. As it is the local of my favorite D&D adventure booklet, Lord of the Iron Fortress.

This thread made me wonder, that the "war of the cubes on kolyoral", could make for a more exotic alternative in a war setting, or adventures otherwise. What with making alliances with Formians, perhaps uniting Formian queens hives under one bannar of sorts.

As ye can tell, most of my knowledge on this plane comes from said adventure, and DMG of course.
Shemeska the Marauder
04-21-08, 09:40 PM I don't know, I don't really understand the story so much, I don't really know what vaati is, nor do I know what an Obyrith be (I might know though).

Vaati = ancient race from the elemental plane of air. Strongly lawful. At its height, their civilization controlled Elemental Air and had strong sway within some of the other elemental planes as well. Their wars with the Obyrith decimated them, and now -very- few of them remain in existance.

Obyrith = the first demons to dominate the Abyss (though they were themselves first created outside of the Abyss by an earlier/first race of fiends). They created the tanar'ri as servitors and later after a catastrophic defeat by the Vaati, those same servitors rose up and replaced them as lords of the Abyss (aided by an assault by the Eladrin on the first layer of the Abyss that laid waste to the citadels of many powerful obyrith lords).

I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well.

I've held the hassitor to be a race of giant metallic, negative energy suffused spider-like creatures in my campaign. Different castes for different roles in their society, with limb number being one way of seperating themselves from their creations. I also use the bladelings as what amounts to a tiefling-like servitor race who have long since (mostly) forgotten their own origins and their old masters, while simultaneously worshipping Hriste the Grey Whisperer who might very well be an embryonic hassitor godling (or more than one merged together) who survived the eradication of its/their species with the intention of using their creation's worship to one day return to power in Acheron.
Bootchie!
05-11-08, 03:59 PM I've held the hassitor to be a race of giant metallic, negative energy suffused spider-like creatures in my campaign. Different castes for different roles in their society, with limb number being one way of seperating themselves from their creations. I also use the bladelings as what amounts to a tiefling-like servitor race who have long since (mostly) forgotten their own origins and their old masters, while simultaneously worshipping Hriste the Grey Whisperer who might very well be an embryonic hassitor godling (or more than one merged together) who survived the eradication of its/their species with the intention of using their creation's worship to one day return to power in Acheron.

So, if we incorporate our two ideas: the Hassitors became both the Witchlight Marauders and the Clockwork Terrors, where they war continuously amongst the stars to eradicate chaos in the name of the Order only they can define.
Bootchie!
05-11-08, 04:07 PM One more idea: Acheron is where Primus disposes of ideas that he has utilized to their utmost. Thus, the PTSD modrons. Or, on Ocanthus, the icy shards which float through the darkness were the earliest attempt at defining the two-dimensional forms. They aren't violence personified, they are purely unthinking planar forms (this mindlessness actually absorbs memories as it travels through the planes as the Styx). There are scholars who claim that a heretofore undiscovered layer holds the single-dimensional defining rays - rays that stretch out to infinity and are every bit as deadly as their two-dimensional brethren.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Bootchie! 04-19-08, 07:42 PM	It always bugged me that Acheron got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization. It's basically treated like a big war zone with very few secrets or mysteries for players to encounter (though perhaps not sluice out). So here's some idears: A Brief History of Acheron: When the planes were young, war between Law and Chaos raged throughout existence. The war spanned the Multiverse, penetrating the inner and outer planes as well as the Prime Material. In the midst of the war, the Lawful Archons and Vaati harnessed even the least creatures available to them in Mechanus. These primitive creatures were the earliest of the lesser Modrons, though at this point they were little more than perfectly Platonic forms shaped from pure metal, used by Primus in the earliest times to represent perfection on the outer planes for forming crystalline structures and the shape of planets and stars in three-dimensions. The spheres were harnessed as rolling swarms, masses that crushed the Qlippothic forces arrayed against the forces of law. Other solids were granted the capability to fly, and were used as transport for landbound Vaati castes. The cubic forms were harnessed for dozens of tasks, but vast numbers were used to build prisons for Obyirths that were considered too powerful to kill, who could recorporate themselves from the raw matter of the Abyss. Vast numbers of the cubics built themselves into huge cubic prisons built around the Obyiriths, and sealed into a single mass through complex moigno strings designed by the Archons. Eventually, it became apparent that not only intelligent creatures were being affected by the war. Even after hostilities had ceased, some of the primitive Modrons continued to make war upon the lands, believing them to be infected with Chaos. The worst offenders in this regard were the countless enormous cubic prisons. In the final days of the war, following the defeat of the Queen of Chaos by the Vaati's sacrifice in creating the Rod of Seven Parts, the One and Prime swept up the war-scarred modrons, tainted thim black to note their fall, and cast them out into the void. This cubic border beyond Mechanus became to be known as Acheron, or, in the language of the Vaati, the Iron Prison. And this was also the realm where law did undertake justice upon itself, hence the reason why the Mercykillers have based themselves here. But for the Great Cubes, the war never ended, and so they made war upon each other. Adventure Idea: -Renegade modrons in Acheron realize the cubes are made of their brethren and make efforts to awaken the sleeping creatures. - One of the few remaining Obyirth's of any power remaining in his vast prison-cube bursts out. Of Hassitoriums and Witchlight Marauders: On Avalas walk the Hassitoriums, enormous walking keeps made from a mixture of organic material (dead and living) and the iron of the plane on great undead legs. Tales say the Hassitoriums were created by a lost race of exemplars for the plane of Acheron known as the Hassitors. As with the early modrons, the Archons fared little better in the war against the Obyirths. The horrors of the Great War made the vast majority of the Archons realize that their purpose in existence was not merely to align creation, but to provide protection from the evils espoused by creatures like the Obyirths. So they left the realm of Mechanus, placing themselves in direct opposition to the Abyss, and in moral opposition to their fallen brethren in the Baatorian Hells. Some few Archons did not Fall, per se, but instead with their beatific perfection marred by war scars, their psyches shattered by post-traumatic stress distorder, they could not leave the war behind. It followed them. These war-scarred Archons focused their attention beyond the outer planes, making war upon even benign chaos in the Prime Material. The highest of the Celestial Archons censured the war-scarred, relieving them of their capability to reach beyond the Outer Planes short of being summoned for such purpose. The war-scarred then made war upon the nascent Eladrin, newly released from their servitude to the Obyirths. Again, the Celestial Archons did make judgement upon their brethren, but this time they punished them with exile in Acheron. Here in Acheron the war-scarred settled in, giving themselves the name "Hassitor," an accursed word meaning "To Battle Endlessly Against Chaos." Here in Acheron, the Hassitors set up shop breaking into the great cubic prisons to battle against their eternal enemies. Time passed and the Hassitors found themselves beset by new armies, other exiles from the mortal pantheons. Damaged by centuries of war, stripped of their glory, the Hassitors began to patch themselves with found objects and bodies of fallen enemies, ruining their lawful symmetry. In the midst of their actions, they began stripping their conquested lands to create the vile Hassitorium, their keeps a symbol of the very darkness they detested within themselves. The ongoing war continued its toll, until nothing was left of the original Hassitors but their hatred for chaos, and they were naught but creatures patched together with the raw materials of Acheron. At some point, the Hassitors realized they had lost any shred of celestial character they had once possessed and turned upon each other, destroying each other in their self-loathing. Except for one, a Hassitor who barely survived deep within a Cube. This one was known to his brethren as "Witchlight" for the limpid glow coming from his eyes was the only shred of humanity left. And within the cube he waited for many a milenia, consuming the bodies of his brethren, until the orc god Gruumsh found him and set him loose upon the material plane. And there amongst the stars goes a creature of thankless conquest, a single intelligence capable of spreading throughout the universes, the Witchlight Marauder, who consumes all in his path in ceaseless war.
jareddm 04-20-08, 01:18 AM	Very cool history! I especially enjoy the idea that the cubes are actually modron prisons. Acheron has always been one of my favorite planes, despite what little there was on it. Thankyou for adding a whole new dimension to the plane of conflict.
ripvanwormer 04-20-08, 05:06 PM	That's very nice, Bootchie! I like the idea of tying Acheron's wars to the ancient war between Law and Chaos, "Law punishing itself." That works, as you said, very well with the Mercykillers. The fact that those modrons tainted by Tenebrous's influence have exiled themselves to Acheron also lends support to your story. One thing I'd note is that an underlooked theme in Acheron is six-limbed avians. There are the achaierai, of course, with their four legs and tiny wings, and also the chronotyryns with their wings, legs, and arms. I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well.
Taeldrin Laesrash 04-20-08, 07:45 PM	One thing I'd note is that an underlooked theme in Acheron is six-limbed avians. There are the achaierai, of course, with their four legs and tiny wings, and also the chronotyryns with their wings, legs, and arms. I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well. Given that the plane was once lawful and supposedly under control of the Wind Dukes of Aaqa, the birds might have been species introduced from the Plane of Air, and a few might have stayed with the first Hassitors, who might have modified them. A reason for all the sixes, though, escapes me at the moment.
Aryxbez 04-20-08, 07:46 PM	I don't know, I don't really understand the story so much, I don't really know what vaati is, nor do I know what an Obyrith be (I might know though). I otherwise too favor the Plane Acheron as one of my favorite planes. As it is the local of my favorite D&D adventure booklet, Lord of the Iron Fortress. This thread made me wonder, that the "war of the cubes on kolyoral", could make for a more exotic alternative in a war setting, or adventures otherwise. What with making alliances with Formians, perhaps uniting Formian queens hives under one bannar of sorts. As ye can tell, most of my knowledge on this plane comes from said adventure, and DMG of course.
Shemeska the Marauder 04-21-08, 09:40 PM	I don't know, I don't really understand the story so much, I don't really know what vaati is, nor do I know what an Obyrith be (I might know though). Vaati = ancient race from the elemental plane of air. Strongly lawful. At its height, their civilization controlled Elemental Air and had strong sway within some of the other elemental planes as well. Their wars with the Obyrith decimated them, and now -very- few of them remain in existance. Obyrith = the first demons to dominate the Abyss (though they were themselves first created outside of the Abyss by an earlier/first race of fiends). They created the tanar'ri as servitors and later after a catastrophic defeat by the Vaati, those same servitors rose up and replaced them as lords of the Abyss (aided by an assault by the Eladrin on the first layer of the Abyss that laid waste to the citadels of many powerful obyrith lords). I think there must be some kind of common origin for both species, and I'm inclined to link the many-legged hassitoriums to them as well. I've held the hassitor to be a race of giant metallic, negative energy suffused spider-like creatures in my campaign. Different castes for different roles in their society, with limb number being one way of seperating themselves from their creations. I also use the bladelings as what amounts to a tiefling-like servitor race who have long since (mostly) forgotten their own origins and their old masters, while simultaneously worshipping Hriste the Grey Whisperer who might very well be an embryonic hassitor godling (or more than one merged together) who survived the eradication of its/their species with the intention of using their creation's worship to one day return to power in Acheron.
Bootchie! 05-11-08, 03:59 PM	I've held the hassitor to be a race of giant metallic, negative energy suffused spider-like creatures in my campaign. Different castes for different roles in their society, with limb number being one way of seperating themselves from their creations. I also use the bladelings as what amounts to a tiefling-like servitor race who have long since (mostly) forgotten their own origins and their old masters, while simultaneously worshipping Hriste the Grey Whisperer who might very well be an embryonic hassitor godling (or more than one merged together) who survived the eradication of its/their species with the intention of using their creation's worship to one day return to power in Acheron. So, if we incorporate our two ideas: the Hassitors became both the Witchlight Marauders and the Clockwork Terrors, where they war continuously amongst the stars to eradicate chaos in the name of the Order only they can define.
Bootchie! 05-11-08, 04:07 PM	One more idea: Acheron is where Primus disposes of ideas that he has utilized to their utmost. Thus, the PTSD modrons. Or, on Ocanthus, the icy shards which float through the darkness were the earliest attempt at defining the two-dimensional forms. They aren't violence personified, they are purely unthinking planar forms (this mindlessness actually absorbs memories as it travels through the planes as the Styx). There are scholars who claim that a heretofore undiscovered layer holds the single-dimensional defining rays - rays that stretch out to infinity and are every bit as deadly as their two-dimensional brethren.