Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zulkir 03-01-08, 11:45 PM	Krisheck'ak is a demi-plane ruled by the mighty and terrible Infernal; Krisheck. The entire realm is a sparling metropolis of paranoid and murderous beasts that call themselves tiefling or cambion. The city is separated into cells by high walls segregating each little tyrant's realm from the other. These tyrants hole themselves up into private fortresses to protect themselves from the next petty dictator. Castles standing side by side with siege engines pointed point blank. If one stands on any balcony with a view one can see at least two of these factions putting an end to some private vendetta. The city is a diabolical engine that makes warriors and smashes them against each other like a child playing with toys. The strong survive to fight the next random knife fight in a back alley, the weak do not get that coveted opportunity. This diabolical engine is the result of the intense will of one creature; Krisheck. Krisheck was born from a union of Set an angelic spy who was found where she shouldn't have been. Upon his birth Set ripped from him the shards of divinity that he lost in his moments of lust and ejected the empty, almost empty, shell in the Astral Sea. Here he floated until he gazed upon the Nine Hells. He gazed upon the pathetic suffering masses. He looked at the endless legions. He stared down tyranny incarnate. He spied Asmodeus. He did all this in a moment. He had one thought; to dominate in order to take his vengeance. Krisheck learned of the planes and magic. He wandered all the planes and learned their secrets. He took magic when he saw it and bent to his will, made it his power. He had the consensus of a predator. He made an ally, the Felsage, and learned all he could of all things magical. And then used it to enslave the creature. The Felsage told him of how to make demi-planes and of the Blood War. A plan began to form in that alien intellect. He forced his new slave to create a plane for him. The plane was simple enough; an expansive flat rock island with an ambiguous horizon. He needed a population. He went to the material plane and took entire villages to his own personal Hell. He made progeny. His children bore a vicious mindset that rivaled even their own father's. Soon they were raiding planes for mortals to take and own. Krisheck started to recruit devils from the Baator to join him, promising territory and slaves in exchange for the most meager of tributes. They came in droves. Here an imp was respected, an eryines was nobility, and a horned devil was a god. They had more than they had ever had by simply moving planes. The more devils came the more humans were taken. The more humans taken the more demi-devils born. Soon the plane was a teeming dense city, more compact than the vast majorities of the prime cities. And then Krisheck entered the Blood War. Krisheck began to demand the small tribute that he had orignally agreed upon with his vassals; soldiers. The entire plane was to be one giant mercenary farm. He hired these ruthless warriors to the Dark Eight for their campaigns in the Abyss in exchange for spell components. Spell compentents for the Felsage and his dark cabal to use to expand the plane. And this is the current state of affairs of Krisheck'sane. Masterless devils desperately competing against one another for domination in this savage urban jungle. None truly realize that it is all a game by their liege. He is a great white swimming amongst tad poles. All the exiled devils think they are getting more powerful, stronger, but in the end they will never be a match for the son of Set. All the while he moves towards his goal with ever growing acceleration. His goal is make his plane worthy to be one of the Nine Hells. For it to be the first of the ten. He knows that he can not match Asmodeus, for now...But this is all a tool. A tool to right the wrong of his birth and avenge himself...and his mother... Major People and Factions of Krisheck'ane The Most Dreaded Felsage The Felsage was born a human in a community that worshiped Orcus. When he was old enough to understand the basics of his people's faith he was entranced. The message of power was intoxicating. To point accusingly at all around and say, "This will change". He knew this was his goal. As he got older he began to question what Orcus did with his power though. Why destroy when you can dominate? When he asked the priest he was beaten for his Baatorian thoughts. And then they were assaulted by a Banite summoner who attacked with diabolic host. He crushed his enemies, but kept their slaves and their buildings enact. The future Felsage knew he his destiny. He would become a master of devils as he himself became one. From that point on he devoted himself to studying devils. At 25 years old he transformed himself into a tiefling by replacing his blood with blood from nine different imps. He became an acolyte of the skin. He became a master of fiendish grafts. He devoured the essence of an ice devil and became a cambion. He had bound an eyrines to posses him as a symbiont. He knew the truenames of dozens of devils and even a Duke. He knew Baatorian politics better than anyone outside of the Hells. He knew Dark Speech and even was sought out by devil for instruction in it. When Krisheck met him he had only the tiniest shred of humanity left in him. Even a devil could mistake him for their own. He made the final transition and gave up his mortality, becoming a lich. This is Krisheck's hold over him; he owns his soul. Now he spends his days as Krisheck's viceroy and slave. He collects tribute and expands the plane. He has many apprentices who work under him in his cabal. His personal goal now is to become a demi-lich and be free of his master's influence. Until then he will serve Krisheck for now, but there will be a reckoning...perhaps a second Reckoning. The Dark Harem This faction is a powerful one. It consists of seven eyrines and a pleasure devil. The fact that there is more than one devil in this faction and the number of children they have make them feared. The pleasure devil is their undisputed leader and at all times travels with twenty of her sons, all of who had cambion fathers and are Blood War veterans. They are one of the original factions and occupy a space next to Krisheck's own castle. In total they can field a force of over a thousand tiefling warriors. Their symbol is a black bed with crossed daggers. Vicious the Red An aggressive Blood War general who proved himself by killing a balor in singular combat. One of the only tieflings to control his own enclave. Brightdawn the Unfaithful A solar is a terrible foe. Brightdawn is no exception. Brightdawn is an oddity here because he is not evil, although not good. He is an exiled solar, not a fallen one. He left Celestia because of his growing unease with his superiors pacifist attitude towards the Abyss and the coming demonic dangers. He left with his angelic sympathizers and ended up as another cog in Krisheck's war machine. He is the only creature that comes close to being a match for the mighty infernal. And the fact that he has the most outsiders under his control is not to be ignored either. Nearly all in the Half Hell resent a non evil being having his own enclave, not to mention a former angelic being. Krisheck and Brightdawn have appeared to reach some kind of agreement. Some believe that Krisheck allows it out of love for his mother. The Black Harem desperately wants to make an "alliance" with this exiled solar. It is rumored that he is beginning to "listen" to their late night negotiations. The half fell idea is supposed to serve three purposes, first, to provide a good back story for tieflings, second, a low level version of the Hells, and third, a darker version of Sigil. So what do you think?
GoukaRyuu 03-02-08, 10:21 AM	I like this a lot. It has a good back story and the villain really has excellent goals. I really don't see it needing any expansion but if you use this in a game i would love to hear how it worked out.
illithid_guy 03-07-08, 04:49 PM	I love it! especially as I really like tieflings!
Sorcen_Anenooata 03-08-08, 09:29 AM	Nice job on this. Its a very well thought out backstory and a similar idea to the direction I was thinking of taking my arena in Baator, although I have recently done away with this idea in favor of my arena being on the 6th layer of Baator instead. I believe its the 6th layer, I forget numbers easily. The only thing I can see adding to this would be the addition of more factions, in such a large city I'm fairly certain there are more then three or four factions.
Ikyotojin 03-08-08, 10:01 AM	Not to toss a wet towel on the party, but when this demi-god was taking entire villages from the material plane, how come no good gods sent minions to fight him? That's a plot hole of major proportions. If that was done in a Hollywood movie every one here would be saying "where were the heroes?"
Sorcen_Anenooata 03-08-08, 10:58 AM	Just my thoughts, but perhaps done discreetly enough and quickly enough, there would be no backing for an attack upon the kidnapper.
Zulkir 03-09-08, 10:44 PM	As far how he snatched them up...Why don't the gods of dnd step in when other bad stuff happens? Cause the DM said so! But seriously, he was taking villages, not metropolises. What village heroes can stop a CR 28 Almost-god and his CR 25 lich side kick from snatching a few pretty girls? He could have had mortals conquer the village and then buy the slaves from them. This removes his direct action and makes it "ok" by the rules of the gods (even though he isn't a god). He could have become the ruler of the village and made a lawful movement to his plane which would have negated the attack from the lawful-good deities. At the request of the public, more factions... Cabal of Fel Ascension The Cabal of Fel Ascension is the Most Dreaded Felsage's school of the diabolical arts for mortals and baatezu. Here the Felsage (a name and a title) and his Ascendants (teachers) teach their students in all things magical and the diabolical. Lawful evil mortals and even some fiends from all over the planes flock here to study. These would-be fiends can learn Dark Speech, fiendish grafts, diabolical lore, planar magic, golem craft, the infernal language, trading with devils, conjuration, religion, and necromancy. The school and the Most Dreaded are known for their extraordinary fiendish grafts. The name of the school implies this goal. The goal is for a mortal to become a devil. The Ascendants are mortals whose grafts are so complete and seamless that they are for almost all purposes except history a pure blooded devil. One Ascendant who was pure blooded human before had twin cambion boys by his half-elf love slave. The price of attendance is unusually mundane for such an institution; gold and work created while in attendance. This gold is funneled into expanding the demi-plane, buy mortal slaves, and finally to tend to the needs of the school with any left over money. Carnorus and the Dogs of War Carnorus is a ruthless warlord who as taken all the territories that bordered his own. His first claim to fame is his campaign in the abyss. He saved a detachment of Devils twice the size of his own force from being over run, caused two tanar'ri factions at peace to make war on each other, raised an army of tanar'ri undead from the battle field, quadruplicating the size of his force, and finally killed and skinned an Abyssal lord. He now wheres a full plate made of the grizzly trophy of a demon lords hide. His second claim to fame is being the head of a clan of descendants of Krisheck called the Dogs of War. Krisheck's blood line is incredibly strong. Most of his descendants are Fiendish Half-fiend tiefling werewolves*. The Dogs of War once served as Carnorus's company in the Blood War and now serve as his gang-army in the great chess game (slang for the struggle for dominance in Krisheck'sane). His symbol is three "Set" heads. *The werewolf form is inherited from their more distant relative, Set. When they transform into their hybrid form (and they only have a hybrid form) they appear as a sleek black hunting dog with an aristocratic head, like Set's. This version of the werewolf is only inherited, can't be used to infect, and is lawful-evil. House of Three in One Three in One is a powerful lich made up of three hags who have permanently bonded to each other. These hags were one of the first factions, back when Krisheck had to persuade fiends to inhabit his new plane. At that time they were three hags, each of a different type, who had powerful magical abilities above that of their kin. They had a natural advantage over their neighbors as their offspring were more powerful. Their hag-spawn sons easily overpowered tiefling thugs who that they were special because their 4th great grandmother was some pleasure devil. Over time the hags' giant troops brought from the prime died out and were entirely replaced with hagspawn. By this time the Three had the paradoxical position of being materially rich and militarily overwhelmed. They needed something to give them an edge. They hired the Felsage to permanently link their minds and souls. He did this for them. At first they only had telepathy and knowledge of each others location, but through meditation they realized they could extend this bond. They could access the powers they had in each other's presence even when on different planes and their inner thoughts began to spill into each others minds. Soon they could access the abilities of one of their sisters through this bond. They were no longer three, they were now one. They also paid the Felsage to give them a contingency to make them into liches if they died. This was very wise on their point because shortly after they made the mistake of attacking the Dark Harem. All three hags died...and one lich emerged with a body made up of their inter tangled corpses. With the death of the Hag Countess Three in One has become a celebrity and a guru in the Hells. Many hags come to learn magic and her philosophies of sisterhood and domination. Her following almost rivals the Felsage's.
Sorcen_Anenooata 03-10-08, 07:00 PM	Nice additional factions, I especially like the Dogs of War.
Zulkir 03-12-08, 09:33 PM	Another faction The Sons of Hellfire This faction is headed by the diabolic efreet, Grotazz the Scorcher. This efreet left the City of Brass after a violent falling out and enlisted as a mercenary with a Baatorian legion in the Abyss. After a successful campaign against Demogorgon, Grotazz entered the court of his patron, Mephistopheles. His new patron put his fiery vassal's talents to use and had him help him with developing hellfire. Grotazz was very successful in this, but almost continuous exposure to hellfire has its side effects. Grotazz became more and more diabolic. He was slowly turning into a unique Baatezu (Half-Fiend Efreet). Specifically he was becoming more and more like his patron. He began to resent being forced to serve a being greater than he. When the time was right he fled with those loyal to him to Krisheck'sane where he was awarded a fief and began preparing for assault from his neighbors. Krisheck's protection makes it impossible for Mephistopheles to attack directly, but many of his agents have tried assassinations that have so far been unsuccessful. Krisheck's factions is composed of a few hundred troops equally divided in number between fire genasi and tieflings. His descendants are either fire genasi or tieflings unpredictably. This unpredictability in troops gives him an advantage against his more uniformed enemies. The allies that he brought with him from Baator are several red abishai and one half red dragon eyrines. They serve has his lieutenants and bodyguards.
Zulkir 03-12-08, 09:36 PM	double
Zulkir 03-12-08, 09:45 PM	triple
zacnn 03-13-08, 04:11 PM	Holy Hells, this is great! what would the stats be for Krisheck and the Felsage?
Zulkir 03-14-08, 02:48 AM	Ask and you shall receive Krisheck Krisheck's stats are just the Infernal from the epic level book with a half-celestial template. The entity who stands before you is a black hole against the light coming from behind him. It takes you a second to make out his features, but when you do you realize who you face, Krisheck the Son of Set. He gazes indifferently down at you and you can feel how frail your entire reality is. His eyes are luminescent spheres of white light that shine with a light that is passive and intense at the same time, like a mountain. Is head is like that of his father, an aristocratic black hunting dog. It gives the twin paradoxical impressions of elegance and viscousness. From the center of his forehead a single straight white horn grows. It seems out of place. Your eyes move further down and you see that unlike his father he has a great mane of midnight black hair enveloping his throat. Flanking his torso on either side like a pair of body guards are two great gray bird wings. His torso is also a deep black and is covered from the bottom half of his chest down with utilitarian black plate armor and rich blood red silks all the way down to his feet. Finally you notice his weapon. It is a sword of pure blackness rimmed with a threatening silver lining. He speaks and your eyes go instantly to floor just as your knees do at the power of his voice. His voice is the steady roar of a great river. He says, "You are mine". Krisheck's sword is Tyrant-Maker. It was created by a Pit Fiend in the service of Bane and lost when that god died. The sword was intended to be a gift for Bane's son in order for him to better maintain his rule amongst his devils, but the exchange never took place. Its power is in proportion to who was to wield it. It is an intelligent item and its purpose is to makes it wielder a tyrant above all tyrants. Its first power is to be vampiric. This allows the tyrant to take from those weaker than he. The second is a lawful power. This allows the tyrant to crush chaos. The third power is the bane of lawful and evil outsiders. This allows the tyrant to defeat those who would challenge him for supremacy. The sword has many other lesser powers, but those are two numerous to discuss. At all times Krisheck is escorted by his body guards, four iron golems covered in runes. The runes imbue the golems with spell like abilities. Each one has different powers. The golems are sculpted to appear like stylized horned devils. It is believed by some that in each golem he holds a lich's soul, possibly even the Felsage's. The Felsage Fiendish Half-Fiend Teifling Lich* Diviner 5/Loremaster 10/ Acolyte of the Skin 7/ Archmage 3 Skills of Note: The Felsage has the maximum on Knowledge: Planes, Arcana, and Religion, Heal, and Spellcraft Feats of Note: Dark Speech, Craft Graft, Extra Familiar, Skill Focus (Knowledge(Planes)), Greater Skill Focus (Knowledge(Planes)), Epic Spell Casting, Items of Note: None, except all the wealth for a creature of the Felsage's level is put into grafts This would mean that on any knowledge(planes) check the Felsage gets 28 (skill) + 4 (feats) + 10 (Prc) + 16 (intelligence 18+2(t)+2(L)+4(hf)+5(level) +5(wish)+6(headband) = 42!!) = 58 THAT is why he is the felSAGE *I know it seems redundant but i am really trying to emphasize that he is very nearly a true baatezu. You enter the dark office with a quick stride. You want to get this encounter over with as fast as possible. You see a shadowy form hunched over a bright red tome in the corner of the room. There is no extra light source. That thing can see in the dark. You approach cautiously, but purposefully. As you near its features become apparent. Its head looks human except for the horns. The first pair are an extension of its eye brow ridge and sweep straight back, past the back of the skull, twirling in a spiral as they go back. The second pair are an extension of its jawbone and they go back straight back past the neck and similarly spiral. Its chin comes to a sharp point several inches further out than where a normal chin would, almost like a fifth horn. Its nose is similarly pointed, but quite so dramatically. Its mouth is a thin line of scholarly frustrated skepticism. Its eyes are bloodshot and have red irises, almost human. Its skin is a smooth, granite-like, gray. You wouldn't have known this creature was undead if someone wouldn't have told you, nor would you have known it was born human. Its clothes are dull gray and brown, reminding you that this being is an academic, not a war mage. Its hands the only other visible part of the body from where you are standing. The hands are normal except they too are granite gray, each finger ends in a razor sharp talon, and the knuckles end in sharp cones. Suddenly the Felsage looks at you and seems to blink, even though he has no eyes. He says, "You had a question about Bel...?". The only graft of note that the Felsage has is his twin fiendish familiar grafts. He summoned two imps, trapped their souls in gems, petrified their bodies, powdered both their soul-gems and bodies, then put their dust in tattoo ink, and had their faces tattooed on either shoulder. This is to symbolize that the Felsage has a devil in both ears and no angel. It is believed that Krisheck's hold over the Felsage is first, a geas combined with a wish, second, Krisheck knows the Felsage's truename, and finally Krisheck holds the Felsage's soul in one of his golems. The only known epic spell that the Felsage can cast is an epic version of genesis. This causes castings of the 9th level spell genesis to have an increased caster level and reach their maximum space faster. One fun way to incorporate the Felsage into a campaign is as a source of advice for less-than lawful good PCs about to delve into the Nine Hells. Humans, Tieflings, and Cambions in the Half Hell The Half-Hell is divided into a strict caste system based on one's pedigree. At the very top of social ladder are the true fiends. They make up about five percent of the population. These five percent rule about 20 percent of the territories in the Half Hell. The reason for this is that the demi-devils reproduce much, much faster than devils immigrate to the city. So new territories created by the Felsage goes to the next power in line. More often than not this power will have an incredible amount of diabolical blood fueling his success. At the very top of the human hierarchy is the Grand-Cambions (fiendish half-fiend tieflings). They are instantly given station an respect for bloodline. Merchants give them discounts on items and muggers will let them past. On the prime aristocrats are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, here they are born with a velvet glove on their fist. These mortals are almost devils. They appear more like a devil than a human, live extraordinarily long lives, have great physical powers, and more magical abilities than some sorcerers. The creation of these creatures requires careful planning of breeding and luck. They will usually have up to five different Baatezu ancestors. At minimum both parents must be Arch-Cambions, but usually at least one parent is a true devil. Some grand cambions have additional powers like the Dogs of War. The grand Cambions make up 5 percent of the population of the Half Hell and control about 20 percent of the territories. The next tier is the Arch-Cambions (half-fiend tieflings). They are, like Grand-Cambions are given the utmost respect and difference, but they are much more common. They make up 10 percent of the population and rule 20 percent of the territories. Next is the Cambions. They are still elite and given a wide birth where ever they go, but are not a rare sight to see on the streets. They make up 20 percent of the population and rule 30 percent of the territories. Most people fall in the category of tieflings (this includes fiendish humans). These are the foot soldiers and craftsman of the Half-Hell. They are the strong arm and the sore back. They make up 50 percent of the population and rule 10 percent of the territories. On the bottom of the stack is the humans. At their best, like a successful adventure, they are considered a monkey in a dress; an amusement. At their worst they are a raw material to be transformed into a ghoul for cannon fodder in the Blood War. The majority are slaves who are used to make more demi-devils. This system is generally being phased out as it is now considered to be better to make carefully planned children with strong bloodlines. They make up 10 percent of the population and there is only one human who rules a territory, a powerful Black knight of Bane. Coming up next: religion in the Half Hell
Zulkir 03-15-08, 11:04 PM	Religion in the Half-Hell Fiends usually don't worship, they only respect and serve. The inhabitants of the Krisheck'sane aren't fiends. They aren't mortals either. They are an entire civilization with no precedent to follow from. This is why they are unique. The majority of the citizens of the Half-Hell are very polytheistic. They worship several different deities and devils and give respect to their (very similar) philosophies. Almost all the entities worshiped in the Half-Hell are Lawful Evil, but a few are Lawful Neutral or Neutral Evil. Entities of other alignments are not legally prosecuted (by Krisheck), but usually don't find very many worshipers and are subject to the extremely violent prejudices of the populace. They only deity who is actually banned is Set. Krisheck has a bounty for any being associated with his hated father, even outside the city. The Dogs of War are the ones who usually pursue this bounty. Religion in the daily life of a citizen of Krisheck may be to go see a priest in a small fortified shrine in his district. These small shrines are usually devoted to some minor Duke of the Hells or obscure demigod who can grant only minor spells. Even though they have less than epic power these shrines can full fill the needs of the average peasant. More likely than not such a Duke will have descendants amongst a population where he has a shrine. There is little point for these priests to pursue their priestly duties very far because of their patron's limitations, there fore they often become cleric blackguards. This gives a distinct military flavor to all the religion of the Half-Hell. Unsurprisingly these militant devil-priests are almost in a continuous state of warfare with one another's shrines. There are also a few fortress-cathedrals devoted to the Lawful-Evil powers. These cathedrals are powers in their own right and are usually walled off from the rest of their district. They have orders of monks, black guards, arcane devotees, and priests who are always ready for war. There are only a hand full of these cathedrals. They are devoted to Asmodeus, Gargauth, Bane, Lovitar, Hoar (Brightdawn's Cathedral), Abbathor, Zarus, and Tiamat. These larger temples rarely attack each other directly as they have come to an understanding. The temples of Asmodeus and Garguath do try to harrass each other though. They will harry each other at every turn and often verily challenge each other, but they have signed cease fires and so none of their members has been harmed by the other.