Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Delvesdeep 06-01-05, 01:58 AM	I am currently using the Shackled City Adventure Path but intend to have a renegade, disguised Lord Of The Dust hiding within the city, posing as a reclusive noble/wizard. Backstory Centuries ago the 'Lord' discovered the secret of drawing power from the 'Fallen'. Rather than using this secret ritual upon an entrapped Rajah the Lord travelled to the Astral Battlefields where thousands of petrified remains of fallen gods floated and attempted to use the power on a fallen diety. The 'Lord' began the ritual atop the god and began to siphon the divine spark that still flickered in its stony remains. The Lord could feels the incredible power begin to pour into him and into his very soul but also found that as the ritual progressed his hatred, evil resolve and dark lust began to dissolve with it. He felt his soul screaming out in pain and conflict before, in a wave of white light and energy, he was sent hurtling into the Silvery Astral Wastelands, unconscious and near death. Unbeknowst to the 'Lord' the fallen Uber diety he had attempted to steal power from was once a god championing the laws of good and as Lord drew the divine power into himself he also drew with it the echo of its holy will. The ultimate result was that one the Lord awoke he found himself forever changed. Intentions In any event as I begin the adventure I am going to use this 'Lord' in hiding as a mentor for the wizard of the party. The 'Fallen Lord' has hidden for centires from his past allies and as the campain progresses finds that the other Lords have found him and send powerful assasins to hunt him down. The 'Lord' (for those who have read through the Shackled City' AP) seeks to use the party to find out the secrets of the Spell Weavers so he can complete his goal within the Astral Plane and use this power to ultimately destroy the organisation that he once helped rule - The Lords of the Dust. Now to my questions - What is the symbol for the Lords of the Dust? Does the above background story seem believable considering the new alignment of the 'Lord'? How many Lords do you think their are? What sort of followers, underlings, allies do you think they have? What is their base (besides being somewhere in the Demonwastes)? Sorry about the length of the background story. Delvesdeep:b:
Setherial 06-01-05, 02:52 AM	Does the above background story seem believable considering the new alignment of the 'Lord'? I like it, it is certainly believable where I'm concerned. I mean a foul evil arrogant creature like a Lord of Dust will be greedy and arrogant enough to risk draining a God of its power. The resulting change within him does make an interesting story. I'm currently reading Magician written by Feist and one of the most memorable parts of the book so far I found to be the encounter with the Dragon. The Dragons are enemies of the Dwarfs and are concidered evil. Now this particular Dragon used to kill or banish by use of great magic anyone comming near its lair until the day a mighty human wizard came. He could not kill this wizard nor could he teleport him away by use of his magic. For 3 days they battled and ultimatly the wizard bested the Dragon. The wizard did not come to slay the dragon but came to learn from it and ordered it to teach him about its knowledge of magic. In the years that followed not only the wizard learned from the dragon but the Dragon also learned, he learned the value of life, all life and the wisdom of the wizard turned the Dragon to good. It's a beatifull and powerful story and although it's not quite the same as yours it is simular. For this reason I certainly like an evil creature turned to good by whatever means. What sort of followers, underlings, allies do you think they have? The lords have many allies and many of them don't even know who they are working for. So on one side you could send some lower deamons now and again but mainly I would use humans. The Lords have infiltrated many organizations and they will use this power to track down the renegate lord and have him destroyed. The trackers will most likely beleive they are hunting down the an evil creature unknowing the evil creature is actually their employer. What can also be quite cool is sending in a young dragon of the Chamber. The LOD have manipulated this dragon into thinking he will prevent a great catastrophy that will break the prophecy if he doesn't act. The Dragon is young and foolish and will try to destroy the renegate Lord. cheers S
polt 06-01-05, 07:28 AM	What is the symbol for the Lords of the Dust? It's in the ECS. "The cabal uses a stylized silhouette of a broken tower to identify its members" I would say there were between 10-50 LoD members. Although I think a lot of people would say more :)
Isran_Imrador 06-01-05, 09:37 AM	You should check out the Rajahs 1 and 2 Threads over in the eberron magic and cosmology board rajah 2 thread is on page 2 or 3... There is a good rajah there... Short hierarcy of the children of Khyber.. Khyber (bound to Eberron..) His First born..25 off them 12 of them Rajahs a 13 one is there leader but his is dissapered.. Tiamat could be this individual. the 12 other firstborn served the leader and ploted agains the rajahs.. some off this 12 and there first born again are now the lords of dust...they all have the own base (anywere you want..x Flamekeep, Sharn) but meets in the capital of the Demon wastes to meet and plot... Well just a theory Isran.
chimpman 06-01-05, 11:53 AM	Heh, I like this plot as well. Perhaps some of the Good Lord's most vocal enemies are the very lieutenants that used to work for him when he was evil. The chiefest oamong them might even know about the ceremony he performed and why it changed him to good. It doesn't want to share this information with the other LoDs because it plans to use the ceremony on itself (using a more evil god) just as soon as its former master is taken care of. As for minions I think the most common would be mortals duped, bribed, or blackmailed into service. Above those might be (as some have mentioned in other threads) lesser rakshashas, barghests, and perhaps a night hag or two.
Gurv 06-01-05, 12:40 PM	Now to my questions - 1. What is the symbol for the Lords of the Dust? 2. Does the above background story seem believable considering the new alignment of the 'Lord'? 3. How many Lords do you think their are? 4. What sort of followers, underlings, allies do you think they have? 5. What is their base (besides being somewhere in the Demonwastes)? The only thing I don't like about the backstory is that there are unexplained god corpses floating around in the Astral. I know that in the Planescape setting this is the cannon, but in Eberron no one knows whether the gods even exist...so how are there "thousands of petrified remains of fallen gods"? I mean, it might make an interesting plot just to discover the meaning of that! But other than the need to know more about what caused that, I like the backstory. 1. As polt said: "The cabal uses a stylized silhouette of a broken tower to identify its members" 2. Yes. Whatever the source of the "deity" he attempted to drain power from, I like the idea that an evil being could be "corrupted" by good. It is a nice role reversal, and it would leave the Lord pretty much on his own as he sought to bring down his former allies. The Lord, regardless of what kind of power he has now, would need someone to be on his side. He'll have to devote a lot of his energy into concealing himself and watching the schemes of the other Lords...having PCs to send places where he would draw a lot of attention is a must. 3. Exactly as many as you want there to be. The ECS describes them as "few in number". I imagine that the number also changes over the centuries as lesser rakshasa earn the right to call themselves members and others lose it. I would say that 12-15 individuals form the center of the cabal, with perhaps twice that number in "lesser lords" who are powerful enough to act independantly but who might nevertheless still serve one of the greater Lords. 4. Well, aside from normal rakshasa (I assume that the Lords of Dust are often rakshasa with class levels) of the various castes, I would think that pretty much anything might be a minion. Devils, demons, night hag are all obvious choices. The Lords have the time and knowledge to bring almost any creature under their control. Remember that many servants of the Lords of Dust have no idea who they serve. 5. I think each Lord would have his own base, lair, or whatnot. As an organization, they are more of an ancient, evil gentleman's club. They meet in special places in the Demon Wastes, where they don't need to worry too much about their secrecy and safety (except against the other Lords, of course). But I don't think the organization as whole has a base of operations where they could all be attacked at once. They don't really work together...more like they communicate so that they don't frequently find themselves works against each other.
Delvesdeep 06-01-05, 09:33 PM	Thankyou everyone for your praise and comments. I was actually expecting the opposite along the lines of 'The Lords of Dust' can't be good. They are the most evil thing in Eberron!' Questions A stylized silhouette of a broken tower. I like that but excuse my ignorance - what do they mean by stylized? Assuming he achieves his goal how could the 'Good' Lord of the Lust achieve his goal of destroying the Lords of the Dust outright? Would it mean destroying all the rajahs? Perhaps he would have to release them all first? What sort of minor tasks would he have the party do while they are in their infancy in terms of power? The only thing I don't like about the backstory is that there are unexplained god corpses floating around in the Astral. I know that in the Planescape setting this is the cannon, but in Eberron no one knows whether the gods even exist...so how are there "thousands of petrified remains of fallen gods"? I mean, it might make an interesting plot just to discover the meaning of that! But other than the need to know more about what caused that, I like the backstory. I am adapting Eberron ideas into my own pre-existing world so I have an explanation of the fallen gods for it. Feel free to skip over the explanation/creation story if you are not interested :) Creation of the Planes In the age of dreams an epic war occurred between the Uber deities of the slivery expanse of the Astral wasteland. In the end only one god stood triumphant, allies and enemy bodies strewn about her. Ebea gazed over the silent battlefield and felt a great mix of relief and sadness wash over her. She chose at that moment to leave what was once her home and try and find peace in herself. Ebea travelled from the silver realm, through the Eternal planes of the elements and into the great darkness of the shadow realm, where she hoped to hide and forget the haunting atrocities of the war. For what seemed like an endless age she mourned her past and lamented her future, alone. For that was the one truth that gave her the most sorrow - she was utterly alone. It was with the fear of isolation, loneliness and endless sorrow, that Ebea made a choice. A choice to create life. Ebea first sort to create lands & worlds from her divine will alone, but these eventually faded into nothingness. She next tried to create worlds, which she moulded from the raw elements she drew from the eternal planes. These held for a brief time but then crumbled and drifted off into the darkness. Dismayed and feeling defeated, she drew great layers of elements about herself, cocooning herself and cutting herself off from everything. Years past and Ebea projected her consciousness out into the darkness and the eternal planes and finally into the Astral plane. When she arrived she looked upon the floating remains of the gods. Almost all of their remains had become petrified, great stone statues of their past self. But around some of the gods bodies, the most powerful of the fallen deities, a strange wonder was occurring. Worlds were growing up around and from them. Power and magic rippled over their bodies and land expanded out over them. In fact, some of the deceased gods were completely obscured from view. And then within the expanding worlds she witnessed something occurring which amazed, fascinated and astonished her. Ebea almost missed it at first. Life. She witnessed life growing out from the lands themselves. The one thing she had invested so much of her thought, hopes and desires in creating herself was occurring before her eyes from the lifeless bodies of these fallen gods. How could this be? These gods had died by her own hand or she had watched them fall by her side. How could life, and whole worlds, be forming from things that were dead? And then she knew. They were not dead. Well not completely. The strongest of her number may have been slain on the battlefield but some small semblances of their soul still flickered deep within them, refusing to go out. It was from their very souls that life began and spread. Their souls fuelled the life, and directed and guided its form. Ebea knew then that if she were to create life of her own, she would have to give it her soul. Delvesdeep:b:
Gurv 06-01-05, 10:46 PM	Thankyou everyone for your praise and comments. I was actually expecting the opposite along the lines of 'The Lords of Dust' can't be good. They are the most evil thing in Eberron!'I think that is what makes it the most interesting. No, there shouldn't be good members of the Lords of Dust. Not without an amazingly good reason! We would have been all over you if you had just been suggesting a LoD who had "changed his mind". But you came up with a way to make it happen. Questions A stylized silhouette of a broken tower. I like that but excuse my ignorance - what do they mean by stylized? It literally means that it is done in a certain style. It doesn't say what that style is, but likely means that it is always the same, or similar style. It is also likely to mean that the style is an abstract one: it looks like a tower, but only vaguely.
Edymnion 06-01-05, 11:00 PM	Questions A stylized silhouette of a broken tower. I like that but excuse my ignorance - what do they mean by stylized?Basically, it means it isn't photo-realistic. A skull and crossbones are stylized bones, because real bones don't actually look like that. Drawing a heart that looks like <3 is stylized, because a real heart doesn't look like a valentine's day symbol. The easiest way to think of it would be to say "cartoony". Homer Simpson is recognizable as being human, but humans obviously don't have yellow skin, big round bulging eyes, or zig zag hair. He's a stylized rendition of a balding fat man.
talion09 06-01-05, 11:05 PM	... the 'Good' Lord of the Lust... I'm going to assume that "Lord of Lust" was a typo, but it was still pretty damm funny :D On topic, I like the idea alot. Afterall, we certainly have examples of good individuals that become corrupted after being exposed to evil, so why not the reverse.