I Want The Rebirth of a God! [Archive] - Wizards Community

I Want The Rebirth of a God! [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Smilin_Bandit
07-25-07, 11:11 AM Since I started playing Dungeons and Dragons I've been working on a campaign dealing with the rebirth of a long dead diety, in particular, Amaunator. He sort of got a bum rap and died a very slow death by losing all of his worshippers.

I was thinking that he's a god and a part of his portfolio is that of the keeper of time. This portion of his portfolio actually belongs to Mystra, or at the time, Mystryl, but because of a poorly punctuated document between himself and another undisclosed diety, he believed himself to be the keeper of all time. Regardless of whether he actually took the portfolio from Mystryl or not, he did consider it a part of his duties and therefore might have spent a great deal of time sending one of his Aspects back and forth through time ensuring that things were as they should be. If this were the case, it only makes sense that he might have foreseen his fate and being a god of law and contracts and beaurocracy he would be beholdened to refrain from changing this future.

It seems to me though, that being omnipotent, he would consider a way to change his circumstances without altering the future, and at the same time possibly alter his portfolio in such a way as to keep such an occurance from happening again.

It also occurred to me that the Bedine people living on the great desert of Anauroch follow a goddess by the name of At'ar who they fear and rarely pray to. She is the sun and considered to be hateful and although her husband is Kozah, the lawful god of tempests, she sleeps with N' asr, the god of the dead.

At'ar is what the bedine have transformed Amaunator into, and due to his absence this mantle has been maintained by Horus-re, one of the Mulorandi God Kings.

Now what were to happen if Amaunator, knowing his fate and of the belief of the future residents of Anauroch, were to set into motion a plan to return himself to life through reincarnation where he would take on the new portfolios of At'ar? Yes, he would be weaker, starting as a demigod, but he would be alive and he would be a diety again. It's a start.

What if this plan involved the use of an adventuring group that would be led along through millennia old prophecies and the help of a Solar Deva that was the commander of all of Amaunator's immortal servants? What if they are required to obtain four enchanted stones, each empowered with one of the four primary elements to sustain life, and an ancient tome, long guarded by a sisterhood of witches? I decided on witches because in second edition the witches learned magic from some outsider. It was often a denizen of the lower planes, but it could just as easily be a sentience from the upper planes.

In my campaign I have the band of adventurers encounter a witch, the last of her order. In her possession is a great golden tome with the emblazoned holy symbol of Amaunator on the cover. Its contents are the prophecies and clues that lead the adventurers on the quest to regain the enchanted stones. Not even the witch knows what happens when all the stones are brought together, but in truth when all of the stones are obtained and the encantations within the tome spoken, the stones become a single translucent orb that melds with the reader of the tome. If all goes well that will be the witch. Through the enchantments of the stones and the encantation the witch becomes impregnated with the divine essence of Amaunator. Its then the adventurers duties to protect the witch until she conceives, and then the child afterward until At'ar grows to become a young adult.

This is a very brief idea of what I had planned. Now the reason for this post actually has two purposes. One, it gets the idea out there in case some other inventive DM decides to use it, and two, so that I might possibly gain some ideas from other members to continue to build on this epic campaign.

If there are any readers that see any problems with my plot, please speak up. I do like some realism with my fantasy stories. Even with magic and monsters there needs to be some believeability or the story just doesn't work. Please feel free to comment one way or the other.

Finally, I need antagonists for the storyline along with rational reasoning behind why they want the witch and her tome. I looked at possibly using all of the major antagonists within the realms (Zhents, Cult of the Dragon), as each and every one of them are war mongering, power hungry, degenerates, but I wonder if there might be a better one. I also thought it might be a good idea for the clergy for Shar to step up and create some chaos for my adventurers. Let's see what others might come up with, if anything.

~ Smilin_Bandit ~ :D
Asgetrion
07-25-07, 08:54 PM If it works for you, why not do it? It is all plausible and possible - Amaunator was the Keeper of Time, so he could have had some insight into Netheril's (and his own) future. Remember that Jergal had a "contingecy plan", too, as Eric Boyd demonstrated in his conversion notes of the Age of Worms -adventure path.

In one of the campaigns in my gaming group, Amaunator (post-Fall) was abandoned by his last worshippers, and became the twisted and hateful At'ar (by his own accord or that of the bitter Netherese survivors). He was then (at some point in time) imprisoned by the Netherese (or their descendants) within a lost city in the depths of the Rift of Stars (this is all 'non-canon' lore). Our PCs freed him, and At'ar rose again as a Demigod, which caused new heresies to be born within Lathander's church (it remains to be seen whether At'ar will eventually transform into Amaunator in that campaign).

Otherwise your campaign sounds very good, but if I were you, I'd drop the 'Quest for the Enchanted Stones' and the 'literal' rebirth altogether. Rather, I'd use some other types of artifacts (e.g. the Tome of Amaunator, Disc of the Sun, etc.) if you want to run a "gather all the pieces of this artifact" -type of campaign.

You know, it might work if Amaunator had knowingly transformed into At'ar, since he knew that he'd survive through the hate and curses of Netheril's descendants. Perhaps he even used the souls of his worshippers (IIRC the city of Sunrest fell before the other cities did?) to 'power' a ritual that'd help his essence survive - or to 'store' some of his powers into a certain location (or locations - which would be my choice) or an artifact? Your PCs could then 'trigger' the stored power, which would restore the remains of At'ar as Amaunator. Or, perhaps, this would release the souls of the ancient worshippers of Amaunator (those killed when Sunrest fell) that would haunt the dreams of Lathander's worshippers, in the same fashion that Halaster's 'soul shards' caused people to dream of Undermountain?

I would also be tempted to use some kind of ancient alliance or agreement with Jergal (N'asr), since the tale hints at this (and Kozah may be an allegory to air and flying, maybe even the flying cities of Netheril and how Amaunator would have betrayed Netheril?).

These are all some really quick ideas, but hopefully they are of help (even a bit). :)
Ramenth
07-27-07, 10:25 PM It's been hinted a few times that Lathander will be the next god to get focus (the way Shar and Mask are these days), which will most likley involve the Heresy of the Risen Dawn.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Smilin_Bandit 07-25-07, 11:11 AM	Since I started playing Dungeons and Dragons I've been working on a campaign dealing with the rebirth of a long dead diety, in particular, Amaunator. He sort of got a bum rap and died a very slow death by losing all of his worshippers. I was thinking that he's a god and a part of his portfolio is that of the keeper of time. This portion of his portfolio actually belongs to Mystra, or at the time, Mystryl, but because of a poorly punctuated document between himself and another undisclosed diety, he believed himself to be the keeper of all time. Regardless of whether he actually took the portfolio from Mystryl or not, he did consider it a part of his duties and therefore might have spent a great deal of time sending one of his Aspects back and forth through time ensuring that things were as they should be. If this were the case, it only makes sense that he might have foreseen his fate and being a god of law and contracts and beaurocracy he would be beholdened to refrain from changing this future. It seems to me though, that being omnipotent, he would consider a way to change his circumstances without altering the future, and at the same time possibly alter his portfolio in such a way as to keep such an occurance from happening again. It also occurred to me that the Bedine people living on the great desert of Anauroch follow a goddess by the name of At'ar who they fear and rarely pray to. She is the sun and considered to be hateful and although her husband is Kozah, the lawful god of tempests, she sleeps with N' asr, the god of the dead. At'ar is what the bedine have transformed Amaunator into, and due to his absence this mantle has been maintained by Horus-re, one of the Mulorandi God Kings. Now what were to happen if Amaunator, knowing his fate and of the belief of the future residents of Anauroch, were to set into motion a plan to return himself to life through reincarnation where he would take on the new portfolios of At'ar? Yes, he would be weaker, starting as a demigod, but he would be alive and he would be a diety again. It's a start. What if this plan involved the use of an adventuring group that would be led along through millennia old prophecies and the help of a Solar Deva that was the commander of all of Amaunator's immortal servants? What if they are required to obtain four enchanted stones, each empowered with one of the four primary elements to sustain life, and an ancient tome, long guarded by a sisterhood of witches? I decided on witches because in second edition the witches learned magic from some outsider. It was often a denizen of the lower planes, but it could just as easily be a sentience from the upper planes. In my campaign I have the band of adventurers encounter a witch, the last of her order. In her possession is a great golden tome with the emblazoned holy symbol of Amaunator on the cover. Its contents are the prophecies and clues that lead the adventurers on the quest to regain the enchanted stones. Not even the witch knows what happens when all the stones are brought together, but in truth when all of the stones are obtained and the encantations within the tome spoken, the stones become a single translucent orb that melds with the reader of the tome. If all goes well that will be the witch. Through the enchantments of the stones and the encantation the witch becomes impregnated with the divine essence of Amaunator. Its then the adventurers duties to protect the witch until she conceives, and then the child afterward until At'ar grows to become a young adult. This is a very brief idea of what I had planned. Now the reason for this post actually has two purposes. One, it gets the idea out there in case some other inventive DM decides to use it, and two, so that I might possibly gain some ideas from other members to continue to build on this epic campaign. If there are any readers that see any problems with my plot, please speak up. I do like some realism with my fantasy stories. Even with magic and monsters there needs to be some believeability or the story just doesn't work. Please feel free to comment one way or the other. Finally, I need antagonists for the storyline along with rational reasoning behind why they want the witch and her tome. I looked at possibly using all of the major antagonists within the realms (Zhents, Cult of the Dragon), as each and every one of them are war mongering, power hungry, degenerates, but I wonder if there might be a better one. I also thought it might be a good idea for the clergy for Shar to step up and create some chaos for my adventurers. Let's see what others might come up with, if anything. ~ Smilin_Bandit ~ :D
Asgetrion 07-25-07, 08:54 PM	If it works for you, why not do it? It is all plausible and possible - Amaunator was the Keeper of Time, so he could have had some insight into Netheril's (and his own) future. Remember that Jergal had a "contingecy plan", too, as Eric Boyd demonstrated in his conversion notes of the Age of Worms -adventure path. In one of the campaigns in my gaming group, Amaunator (post-Fall) was abandoned by his last worshippers, and became the twisted and hateful At'ar (by his own accord or that of the bitter Netherese survivors). He was then (at some point in time) imprisoned by the Netherese (or their descendants) within a lost city in the depths of the Rift of Stars (this is all 'non-canon' lore). Our PCs freed him, and At'ar rose again as a Demigod, which caused new heresies to be born within Lathander's church (it remains to be seen whether At'ar will eventually transform into Amaunator in that campaign). Otherwise your campaign sounds very good, but if I were you, I'd drop the 'Quest for the Enchanted Stones' and the 'literal' rebirth altogether. Rather, I'd use some other types of artifacts (e.g. the Tome of Amaunator, Disc of the Sun, etc.) if you want to run a "gather all the pieces of this artifact" -type of campaign. You know, it might work if Amaunator had knowingly transformed into At'ar, since he knew that he'd survive through the hate and curses of Netheril's descendants. Perhaps he even used the souls of his worshippers (IIRC the city of Sunrest fell before the other cities did?) to 'power' a ritual that'd help his essence survive - or to 'store' some of his powers into a certain location (or locations - which would be my choice) or an artifact? Your PCs could then 'trigger' the stored power, which would restore the remains of At'ar as Amaunator. Or, perhaps, this would release the souls of the ancient worshippers of Amaunator (those killed when Sunrest fell) that would haunt the dreams of Lathander's worshippers, in the same fashion that Halaster's 'soul shards' caused people to dream of Undermountain? I would also be tempted to use some kind of ancient alliance or agreement with Jergal (N'asr), since the tale hints at this (and Kozah may be an allegory to air and flying, maybe even the flying cities of Netheril and how Amaunator would have betrayed Netheril?). These are all some really quick ideas, but hopefully they are of help (even a bit). :)
Ramenth 07-27-07, 10:25 PM	It's been hinted a few times that Lathander will be the next god to get focus (the way Shar and Mask are these days), which will most likley involve the Heresy of the Risen Dawn.