So I'll post what I have, and you can correct me with the right levels.
Tyr- Kalak level 21 defiler dragon
Nibenary- Nibenay the shadow king level 24 defiler dragon
Gulg- Lalali-Puy (Oba) level 23 defiler dragon
Urik- Hamanu the lion king level 24 defiler dragon
Balic- Andropinis level 22 defiler dragon
Draj- Tectuktitlay level 23 defiler dragon
Raam- Abalach-Re level 22 defiler dragon
Ur Draxa- Borys level 30 defiler dragon (Dragon of tyr)
New Guistenal- Dregoth level 29 defiler dragon
Eldaarich - Daskinor level ?? defiler dragon
Kurn- Oronis level ?? avangion
Thanks for any and all replies. (when my game starts, kalak will still be alive, so hes important.)
Tyr- Kalak level 21 defiler dragon
Nibenary- Nibenay the shadow king level 24 defiler dragon
Gulg- Lalali-Puy (Oba) level 23 defiler dragon
Urik- Hamanu the lion king level 24 defiler dragon
Balic- Andropinis level 22 defiler dragon
Draj- Tectuktitlay level 23 defiler dragon
Raam- Abalach-Re level 22 defiler dragon
Ur Draxa- Borys level 30 defiler dragon (Dragon of tyr)
New Guistenal- Dregoth level 29 defiler undead-dragon
Eldaarich - Daskinor level ?? defiler dragon
Kurn- Oronis level 25th avangion
also yes, I am looking for the 3e levels, not the 4e. thanks!
4e or 3e?
Tyr- Kalak level 21 defiler dragon
Nibenary- Nibenay the shadow king level 24 defiler dragon
Gulg- Lalali-Puy (Oba) level 23 defiler dragon
Urik- Hamanu the lion king level 24 defiler dragon
Balic- Andropinis level 22 defiler dragon
Draj- Tectuktitlay level 23 defiler dragon
Raam- Abalach-Re level 22 defiler dragon
Ur Draxa- Borys level 30 defiler dragon (Dragon of tyr)
New Guistenal- Dregoth level 29 defiler undead-dragon
Eldaarich - Daskinor level ?? defiler dragon
Kurn- Oronis level 25th avangion
So I was correct on the tableland SK's levels? Thanks for Oronis's levels btw! and yes, I'm looking for the 3e levels, not 4e.
Hey kam, what released pdf are those two levels in for the 3e stats?
also yes, I am looking for the 3e levels, not the 4e. thanks!
Here's the link for the PDF
http://www.athas.org/products/ds3/documents/81
Question. How do you figure out what stage a dragon is when compared to its level? Can a level 1 dragon be a stage 10 dragon, a level 10 dragon can be a stage 1 dragon? I dont understand how it works.
Also thank you for the 3e levels, I had forgotten the difference. Any chance anyone has premade stats for the other SK's for 3e from athas.org?
I need levels for Andropinis ,Tectuktitlay ,Abalach-Re ,Kalak and Borys.
Thanks for any and all replies.
[edit] Holy crap! Talk about higher level npcs! Hamanu is a 35th level npc now and nibenay is level 32. Thats awesome! And of course Dregoth's levels are very impressive at 38. (one of the first real offical npc's I'v ever seen at such a high level.)
Cool thanks, never saw that download before. I thought I had all the pdf releases from athas.org....
Question. How do you figure out what stage a dragon is when compared to its level? Can a level 1 dragon be a stage 10 dragon, a level 10 dragon can be a stage 1 dragon? I dont understand how it works.
Dragon "level" describes what level the character has in the Athasian Dragon prestige class. Dragon "stage" describes how many defiler metamorphosis spells the character has cast. You have to be at least a stage I dragon to take a level in the prestige class. The prestige class develops certain dragon abilities and spell-casting, while the defiler metamorphosis spells advance the physical transformation of the character into a fully-fledged dragon. See Legends of Athas from athas.org for full details on the class and the spells.
Also thank you for the 3e levels, I had forgotten the difference. Any chance anyone has premade stats for the other SK's for 3e from athas.org?
I need levels for Andropinis ,Tectuktitlay ,Abalach-Re ,Kalak and Borys.
Thanks for any and all replies.
Here is the full list of 2e levels for the Sorcerer-Kings (taken from Dragon Kings and Beyond the Prism Pentad:
Abalach-Re - 21st level dragon
Andropinis - 21st level dragon
Borys - 30th level dragon
Daskinor - 22nd level dragon
Dregoth - 29th level dragon
Hamanu - 23rd level dragon (increased from 21st level over time)
Kalak - 21st level dragon
Lalali-Puy - 23rd level dragon (increased from 21st over time)
Oronis - 24th level avangion
Nibenay - 24th level dragon (increased from 23rd over time)
Tectuktitlay - 22nd level dragon
In 3e "stages", every level above 20th translates to one stage, so Nibenay is therefore a stage IV dragon in addition to his 3e class levels.
As for 3e levels for the other sorcerer-kings, there were a few versions floating around the DS boards - I'm not sure where they are now, since the merge and unmerge of the forums, though. We did some early versions of the sorcerer-kings' levels a while back - most of these have been revised in the recent releases, but the proposed levels for Andropinis were: wizard 9 / psion (nomad) 10 / arch defiler 5 / cerebremancer 5 / athasian dragon 3 / shadow wizard 2. As Andropinis was a 21st level dragon in 2e, he would be stage I in 3e, but you might want to advance that or give him levels in shadow shifter to reflect his time in the Black. I don't have 3e levels for the others handy, though - sorry.
Dragon "level" describes what level the character has in the Athasian Dragon prestige class. Dragon "stage" describes how many defiler metamorphosis spells the character has cast. You have to be at least a stage I dragon to take a level in the prestige class. The prestige class develops certain dragon abilities and spell-casting, while the defiler metamorphosis spells advance the physical transformation of the character into a fully-fledged dragon. See Legends of Athas from athas.org for full details on the class and the spells.
Here is the full list of 2e levels for the Sorcerer-Kings (taken from Dragon Kings and Beyond the Prism Pentad:
Abalach-Re - 21st level dragon
Andropinis - 21st level dragon
Borys - 30th level dragon
Daskinor - 22nd level dragon
Dregoth - 29th level dragon
Hamanu - 23rd level dragon (increased from 21st level over time)
Kalak - 21st level dragon
Lalali-Puy - 23rd level dragon (increased from 21st over time)
Oronis - 24th level avangion
Nibenay - 24th level dragon (increased from 23rd over time)
Tectuktitlay - 22nd level dragon
In 3e "stages", every level above 20th translates to one stage, so Nibenay is therefore a stage IV dragon in addition to his 3e class levels.
As for 3e levels for the other sorcerer-kings, there were a few versions floating around the DS boards - I'm not sure where they are now, since the merge and unmerge of the forums, though. We did some early versions of the sorcerer-kings' levels a while back - most of these have been revised in the recent releases, but the proposed levels for Andropinis were: wizard 9 / psion (nomad) 10 / arch defiler 5 / cerebremancer 5 / athasian dragon 3 / shadow wizard 2. As Andropinis was a 21st level dragon in 2e, he would be stage I in 3e, but you might want to advance that or give him levels in shadow shifter to reflect his time in the Black. I don't have 3e levels for the others handy, though - sorry.
Awesome, thank you very much, that helps tons!
My questions are below.
It states King Kalak was Not a champion forged by dark lens. It also states he was immortal, and Dregoth was immortal before he even became a champion.
Whats the common reasoning behind this and ideas on why Dregoth and kalak were immortal Before becoming a champion (or in kalaks case, gaining immortality without being a champion)
Another question. Is the guardian of urik a spirit of the land manifested in the Lion king (avatar) image to easily take over and protect urik with less adjustment pains for the people? (easy to trust and believe in if they think its the same old hamanu)
PS: After re reading the novel after all these years I still really enjoyed it. Finished the Cerulean storm last night. And of course loved it all over again. Especially when tectuktitlay got smashed like a roach. LOL@ the draj king.
Ok, I just finished Rise and Fall of a Dragon King, decided to re read the few ds novels after years of them making sure my book shelf doesn't blow away in the wind.
My questions are below.
It states King Kalak was Not a champion forged by dark lens. It also states he was immortal, and Dregoth was immortal before he even became a champion.
Whats the common reasoning behind this and ideas on why Dregoth and kalak were immortal Before becoming a champion (or in kalaks case, gaining immortality without being a champion)
Another question. Is the guardian of urik a spirit of the land manifested in the Lion king (avatar) image to easily take over and protect urik with less adjustment pains for the people? (easy to trust and believe in if they think its the same old hamanu)
PS: After re reading the novel after all these years I still really enjoyed it. Finished the Cerulean storm last night. And of course loved it all over again. Especially when tectuktitlay got smashed like a roach. LOL@ the draj king.
Can of worms, there, Duke
Rise and Fall of a Dragon King occupies an interesting place in DS canon. It was written at a time when TSR's books department and gaming department weren't communicating very well with each other, so its author Lynn Abbey had to devise certain elements herself, with the result that certain parts of the book don't strictly match previously established material. However, her books are also very well written and capture the DS feel better than many other DS novels, despite the alterations they make to the setting. So the willingness of fans to accept her changes is more divided than you might otherwise expect.If you look at Part X of this post you'll see a list of "Dark Sun contradictions" - there is some discussion of the above in there.
The short answer is that Lynn Abbey thought it would be cool and so changed the backstory.
A few years ago, one of our members (the inestimable Nytcrawlr) got in touch with Lynn Abbey and she graciously gave him her notes on the DS novels she wrote, along with permission to pass them on to the larger DS community. They're a 45-page pdf, but if you drop me an email through my profile, I'll send you a copy. Fascinating read, and you can see first-hand where her lines of reasoning came from for making these changes. Some you'll agree with, some you'll disagree with, but whatever the case it makes for a great insight into her writing and the various layers of the setting.
Another question. Is the guardian of urik a spirit of the land manifested in the Lion king (avatar) image to easily take over and protect urik with less adjustment pains for the people? (easy to trust and believe in if they think its the same old hamanu)
Yes, that's how I read it.
Whats the common reasoning behind this and ideas on why Dregoth and kalak were immortal Before becoming a champion (or in kalaks case, gaining immortality without being a champion)
Dregoth is also described as previously immortal, IIRC, also in the City by the Silt Sea supplement. Rajaat made him even more powerful by rewarding him with Championhood.
Kalak's immortality, and his lack of the Champion template, is all Abbey's idea, to explain why so many SKs despise Kalak. They were forced to work with him by Rajaat. You'll notice he never appears in Rise and Fall as a character...the other Champions don't involve him.
Another question. Is the guardian of urik a spirit of the land manifested in the Lion king (avatar) image to easily take over and protect urik with less adjustment pains for the people? (easy to trust and believe in if they think its the same old hamanu)
Yes.
I also read on the contridiction link under the dark lens being destroyed or not. I understand that in the cerulean storm, tithian requests to be freed before they "destroy" the lens by throwing it in the lava. That is just Tithian's own worry and not really fact as he probably doesn't know how to destroy he lens.
But in Rise and fall of a DK they talk about "shards" these shards may or may not hold a remnant of the dead or trapped SK's life force or memory. The SK of raam is presented as giving Hamanu a message, and he makes meantion of another two possible shards from draj and balic.
But I believe at the end of the novel when the dragon of urik dives down he buries the bones of rajaat within the stone but leaves the lens above in the higher layer of lava. And I believe it does make meantion of the lens. So that would mean its not destroyed.
Are the shards NOT a part of the dark lens? The lens still remains intact as I suspect deep within the lava? Or am I wrong and the lens shattered?
Thanks and sorry for such a long winded question.
Thanks for the answers folks. One other question.
I also read on the contridiction link under the dark lens being destroyed or not. I understand that in the cerulean storm, tithian requests to be freed before they "destroy" the lens by throwing it in the lava. That is just Tithian's own worry and not really fact as he probably doesn't know how to destroy he lens.
But in Rise and fall of a DK they talk about "shards" these shards may or may not hold a remnant of the dead or trapped SK's life force or memory. The SK of raam is presented as giving Hamanu a message, and he makes meantion of another two possible shards from draj and balic.
But I believe at the end of the novel when the dragon of urik dives down he buries the bones of rajaat within the stone but leaves the lens above in the higher layer of lava. And I believe it does make meantion of the lens. So that would mean its not destroyed.
Are the shards NOT a part of the dark lens? The lens still remains intact as I suspect deep within the lava? Or am I wrong and the lens shattered?
Thanks and sorry for such a long winded question.
I haven't readt RaFoaDK in a few years, and I'm afraid I don't remember the shards you're referring to. Sorry! As for the Lens, though, I always understood that it was not destroyed, but merely buried in the lava and warded by Sadira (and inadvertently protected by Tithian and the Storm). This is supported by game material that describes the Lens as being intact but buried.
In the novel fall of a dragon king, hamanu says (in his opinion and best knowledge) that rajaat didn't create the dark lens, so I would hate to have to fix it, or create a new one. That would be a storyline nightmare. Rajaat also told hamanu not to worry about how it was created or where it came from. So that leads me to believe rajaat either didn't know himself or he simply did not want anyone other than himself to know anything about his "secret weapon" beyond its uses to his cause. Which leads me to believe that the lens should be very hard to destroy. (watch its something like submerge it in salt water for 24 hours or something like that. lol!)
One last comment: I think it was very cool how Hamanu was the last champion and he was "special". He drew energy for his spell directly from Borys in the novel( on top of borys soldiers). Makes him out to be a sort of Champion slayer for when the cleansing war rapped up and it was time to eliminate the humans and the SK's. He also drained sadira of her sunmagic and rendered her unable to cast spells (for a 24 hour duration i believe). Top that with his immunity to the scourge (and his hidden bonuses against those who use the scourge) and hes one bad mofo. Even more so than his already god like warrior-ness.
Heck he might even be immune to all "rajaat blood" weapons used by the other SK's.
Rajaat is thus able to split off shards of this extended Lens - chunks of obsidian - and send them the Champions' way to punish them. Who is bringing these shards from Ur-Draxa to the Tablelands is a mystery, though.
The shards carry some of the might of Rajaat, and his wrath. If this continues, one day the shards will contain more power than even a Champion, and an encounter with such a shard will result in certain death for any of them.
The idea that Hamanu has a vision of things which differed from others' is a middleway fans have found to reconcile the discripencies of Rise and Fall with the rest of the novels. In the context of the novel, unless Hamanu was lied to, all he recalls is excatly as it is.
One last comment: I think it was very cool how Hamanu was the last champion and he was "special". He drew energy for his spell directly from Borys in the novel( on top of borys soldiers). Makes him out to be a sort of Champion slayer for when the cleansing war rapped up and it was time to eliminate the humans and the SK's. He also drained sadira of her sunmagic and rendered her unable to cast spells (for a 24 hour duration i believe). Top that with his immunity to the scourge (and his hidden bonuses against those who use the scourge) and hes one bad mofo. Even more so than his already god like warrior-ness.
Heck he might even be immune to all "rajaat blood" weapons used by the other SK's.
Yes, Abbey was the only author able to accuratly depict the power of a Champion. It's thus very difficult to put such power into game terms.
The Cerulean Storm is turning the pool of lava containing the Lens into soldified lava...obsidian. Thus the Lens is now bigger and more powerful than ever, and Rajaat's bones are encased into it.
Rajaat is thus able to split off shards of this extended Lens - chunks of obsidian - and send them the Champions' way to punish them. Who is bringing these shards from Ur-Draxa to the Tablelands is a mystery, though.
The shards carry some of the might of Rajaat, and his wrath. If this continues, one day the shards will contain more power than even a Champion, and an encounter with such a shard will result in certain death for any of them.
Oh. Do you think the shards can be used to amplify spells as the lens does? Only to a lesser degree? Instead of x100 like the lens normally does a shard would only be like x10?
I also like the theory of the shards becoming "mail bombs" that could kill a SK. Pretty cool. If someone could channel and empower spells through a shard, it would make a great weapon that the SK's would fear. They can't use it but their foes can, sort of thing. Neat to think about!
I would guess the shadowfolk (shadowlings) are probably the ones moving the shards.
In the novel fall of a dragon king, hamanu says (in his opinion and best knowledge) that rajaat didn't create the dark lens, so I would hate to have to fix it, or create a new one. That would be a storyline nightmare. Rajaat also told hamanu not to worry about how it was created or where it came from. So that leads me to believe rajaat either didn't know himself or he simply did not want anyone other than himself to know anything about his "secret weapon" beyond its uses to his cause. Which leads me to believe that the lens should be very hard to destroy. (watch its something like submerge it in salt water for 24 hours or something like that. lol!)
The idea that Hamanu has a vision of things which differed from others' is a middleway fans have found to reconcile the discripencies of Rise and Fall with the rest of the novels. In the context of the novel, unless Hamanu was lied to, all he recalls is excatly as it is.
One last comment: I think it was very cool how Hamanu was the last champion and he was "special". He drew energy for his spell directly from Borys in the novel( on top of borys soldiers). Makes him out to be a sort of Champion slayer for when the cleansing war rapped up and it was time to eliminate the humans and the SK's. He also drained sadira of her sunmagic and rendered her unable to cast spells (for a 24 hour duration i believe). Top that with his immunity to the scourge (and his hidden bonuses against those who use the scourge) and hes one bad mofo. Even more so than his already god like warrior-ness.
Heck he might even be immune to all "rajaat blood" weapons used by the other SK's.
Yes, Abbey was the only author able to accuratly depict the power of a Champion. It's thus very difficult to put such power into game terms.
to the first part: So hamanu's ability to drain SK's should be considered fooie and not canon? And his knowledge of the lens is also fooie?
To the bottom part: Yea she certainly made Hamanu seem every bit as godly as his people think he is.
Good chance the shards are secreted away through the Black by the Shadow Giants. Yes.
There is no indication a dragon cannot drain another dragon, that part is not in question or even about what she was talking about. Abbey referred to a kind of "super defiling", the kind of mega life draining perhaps (this is never described) only Rajaat uses. With this Hamanu's able to drain Borys in such a way Borys never experienced before, and Borys realises that none of his powers and abilities - Champion, wizard, psion, etc - can stop it. Thus, Hamanu could effectively kill all Champions this way.
Awesome, thanks! Manu has all the cheat codes. lol.
Awesome, thanks! Manu has all the cheat codes. lol.
It's easy to fall in love with Abbey's Hamanu. Incredibly smart (and also stupid, like real people), powerful, able to do virtually anything - like a god - and yet insanely conflicted and troubled. A kind of variant take on the modern vampire, I would say, minus the cheesiness. And of course, Abbey's superior and beautiful prose.
It's easy to fall in love with Abbey's Hamanu. Incredibly smart (and also stupid, like real people), powerful, able to do virtually anything - like a god - and yet insanely conflicted and troubled. A kind of variant take on the modern vampire, I would say, minus the cheesiness. And of course, Abbey's superior and beautiful prose.
Yup, But I see all the SK's in that sort of light. They are god like on athas, and after reading their 3e levels, they are incredibly powerful characters without a doubt. The thing about Abbeys Hamanu is you have seen his cruel warrior side many times, but in this novel you get to see something kind of unique. His humanity. You get to see him as something other than an immortal champion, a flawed human who gained powers he really did not want.
In many settings and novels we get to see the "reluctant hero" type of character. the hero who did not want adventure or glory or riches. But was put in a situation that left them no choice but to become the hero.
Hamanu fits that role in abbeys novel. He really didnt want what he got, but he had no choice. At first he just wished to avenge his people, then rajaat got a hold of him and he has no choice but to become a champion. And it seems he never wanted to become a dragon and hates rajaat for what he has become.
But he loves his city so he did what he needed too, to protect his people and his city. You also get to see his ""caring" side. Which is very rare for Any athasian story. I mean I laughed when pavek and manu embraced each other as friends. But it was still a nice moment.
If abbey would of had all the background info at the time of writing the novel I bet everyone would have loved it completely. For me, I can overlook mistakes as I'v seen many in the novels of other settings. It happens, no big deal. But its still a really good read (for me). Plus I'v always like Hamanu the most out of all the monarchs. (considering I was a Urikite for many years)
Hamanu is a cruel, heartless, evil SOB and I like that about him, but at the same time I like how abbey handled him, gives a different view on how the SK's could be in those special situations and with their favorite servants.
Ok, had to look at it again. It says the dragon of urik after diving into the lava again swims down, smashes the obsidian orb, collects the shards and leaves the lens for the mortals. He then swims into the stone. The essence (bones) of rajaat end up in the stone with the dragon, but the lens itself is still under the lava so someone could retrieve it if they wanted to.
So I wonder how that would affect rajaat.
The end of rise and fall and the lens.
Ok, had to look at it again. It says the dragon of urik after diving into the lava again swims down, smashes the obsidian orb, collects the shards and leaves the lens for the mortals. He then swims into the stone. The essence (bones) of rajaat end up in the stone with the dragon, but the lens itself is still under the lava so someone could retrieve it if they wanted to.
So I wonder how that would affect rajaat.
No one really knows and the ending is one of the more controversial parts of the novel. It was also one of the last DS products, was the last DS novel, and was probably the best DS novel. Its also last original DS material that was set in FY 15 which is the furtherest th timeline has been advanced until Paizo's version of Darksun which advanced the timeline to FY300 or so.
Hamanu and Pavek as protrayed by Abbey are more interesting than the heroes of the Prism Pentad which are a collection of stereotypes.
Hamanu is still an evil SOB but it gives him goals beyond being a psychopath which is more or less how the other SK's are portrayed.
No one really knows and the ending is one of the more controversial parts of the novel. It was also one of the last DS products, was the last DS novel, and was probably the best DS novel. Its also last original DS material that was set in FY 15 which is the furtherest th timeline has been advanced until Paizo's version of Darksun which advanced the timeline to FY300 or so.
Hamanu and Pavek as protrayed by Abbey are more interesting than the heroes of the Prism Pentad which are a collection of stereotypes.
Hamanu is still an evil SOB but it gives him goals beyond being a psychopath which is more or less how the other SK's are portrayed.
So how would you affect rajaat using the knowledge that his bones are buried in stone below the obsidian? What effects would you employ?
I also agree, of the few DS novels I own (6 total) Rise and fall is my favorite with cerulean storm trailing on its heels. As for the heroes of the pp series. I really like them. After reading realms and dragonlance for so long its refreshing to read about less than honorable heroes. I mean the treatment tithian gets at the hands of rikus and the others shows without a doubt that though they are heroes, they are not nice people. lol.
I would like to know more about the other SK's, a better insight into who they were before the war. But I think the added info on manu is helpful and needed as he was the "special edition" of the champions. So he should get alittle more attention. Although I do only have 6 novels so I know I have not even scratched the surface of whats known.
Hopefully the new novels (if we do get new novels) will shed some light into nibenay, the oba and dregoth.
Oh and Rajaat, I want a novel series all about rajaat and his progression through his life.
So how would you affect rajaat using the knowledge that his bones are buried in stone below the obsidian? What effects would you employ?
I also agree, of the few DS novels I own (6 total) Rise and fall is my favorite with cerulean storm trailing on its heels. As for the heroes of the pp series. I really like them. After reading realms and dragonlance for so long its refreshing to read about less than honorable heroes. I mean the treatment tithian gets at the hands of rikus and the others shows without a doubt that though they are heroes, they are not nice people. lol.
I would like to know more about the other SK's, a better insight into who they were before the war. But I think the added info on manu is helpful and needed as he was the "special edition" of the champions. So he should get alittle more attention. Although I do only have 6 novels so I know I have not even scratched the surface of whats known.
Hopefully the new novels (if we do get new novels) will shed some light into nibenay, the oba and dregoth.
Oh and Rajaat, I want a novel series all about rajaat and his progression through his life.
I've been thinking about doing a short story on the Oba and a combat scene in it with a powerful Druid/Preserver (see Arcane Hierophant PrC in Races of the Wild).
I wouldn't worry about Rajaat at all. In the DS games I DM I avoid Rajaat like the plague. I'm quite stingy about what information I give my players. Some of them have read the Prism Pentad and the Pavek novels but they know sod all about Rajaat, Dregoth, and the land beyond the Tyr region. They've barely glimpsed the map from the revised boxed set and know virtually nothing about Ur Draxa, Kurn, Saragar, Thamasku although they have thumbed through Dragon Kings and have seen the cover from my Mindlords of the Last Sea book.
The last DS game I ran was set in FY1015. They got a shock when I described the Rviver Agis under the elven bridge in Tyr, and raised eyebrows when they found out Sadira was a Sorcerer Queen. I also neglected to mention the date and one of them got suspicious and bribed a Templar to find out the dat for him. They got quite the shock when they found out I had advanced the timeline over 1000 years from the previous Darksun Campaign some of them had played in.
I am thinking about adding a "Cult of Rajaat" into the game though which would limit their involvement with Rajaat.
The SK's are the secret masters of this organization and absolutely will not allow information of rajaat to be gathered by anyone outside the "approved circle". Common rumors are never paid any attention to, but any truth concerning rajaat draws the attention of the organization and their wrath.
The last thing the SK's want are people knowing about rajaat and trying to free him. The SK's also hope to prevent another "tithian" effect. And stop at nothing to destroy anyone rajaat contacts.
I make info on rajaat hard to come by, but not impossible to get. Druids, wizards, psions and templars are the most common to know stories of the war bringer. Bards are also a good lead when searching for info.
The name Rajaat means nothing 90% of the time in my games as his name is not generally known. War Bringer, The Fallen God and the First Sorcerer are his known names.
But Rajaat isn't something I ignore. Rajaat is constantly planning and plotting and trying to become free, he is a major plot device and can provide everything from small quests to major global campaigns, all of which almost never shed any light into who he is or if he is even behind it.
The only real groups dedicated to rajaat are always secret and very hard to discover that they are infact worshippers or followers of raj. Some ancient temples dedicated to the fallen god exist, but all of which are underground or deep in forests disguised as part of nature. And a small band of warlords know of the cleansing war and its purpose and are continuing it in secret. Slaying every race other than halflings. But they are killing EVERY race aside from halflings because they do not know the details.
The dark lens (aka heart of the fallen god) is the most sought after and divine artifact for these groups. They believe it is the actual heart of their god.
My other question was just to gauge how others would play the effects of rajaats bones in stone under the obsidian if they were to use it at all.
I would like to know more about the other SK's, a better insight into who they were before the war. But I think the added info on manu is helpful and needed as he was the "special edition" of the champions. So he should get alittle more attention. Although I do only have 6 novels so I know I have not even scratched the surface of whats known.
I don't know about the other SK's, but this is what I wrote for Egendo of Carsys, the Butcher of Dwarves that Borys replaced. You can find it in Faces of the Forgotten North on athas.org
Egendo was born during the Time of Magic to a noble clan in Carsys, on the shores of the Sunrise Sea. Although Carsys’ residents considered their city the heart of the human "heartland" after the fall of Tanys, the other great cities of the former Tanysh Empire generally took turns dominating and looting each other. By the Time of Magic, Carsys suffered from disarray, mismanagement and corruption on a grand scale. Egendo and his younger, inseparable brother Tristero were taught from a young age that all great accomplishments required "sacrifice." Their elders drove this harsh lesson home repeatedly, and the brothers grew up watching their city leaders sacrifice their people to amass power.
Egendo’s parents sent their sons to learn the Unseen Way at Hogalay, a distant dwarven city boasting a prominent psionic academy. At that time, human psionics academies in the cities of the Heartland had a reputation of being too soft and undemanding with noble-born students. Hogalay’s academy showed Egendo and Tristero no privilege for their rank, and treated the boys’ antics with glacial disdain. Despite their solidarity against the mocking dwarves, the brothers competed ferociously with each other for psionic mastery. Egendo showed greater psionic potential and mastery than his brother Tristero, to the younger sibling’s growing shame.
Years later, now men of high standing within their clan, Egendo and Tristero heeded one of the First Sorcerer’s last rallying calls for new students of wizardry. From under the looming height of the Pristine Tower, the two brothers once again competed to master the arcane arts, and once again, Egendo proved to be the more scholarly. During the initial training, Tristero failed a simple transmutation and his brother stepped in to help. Plunging his arm into the spell to try to stop it, Egendo became wounded while in the shadow of the Pristine Tower and his arm mutated to become a hideous claw. Determined to escape his brothers’ shadow, the more martially-oriented Tristero decided to prove his worth by wielding steel rather than magic. After Tristero proved his combat prowess, one of Rajaat’s warlords asked Tristero to stay and train with a small following of Rajaat’s warriors.
As Egendo immersed himself in Rajaat’s teachings, arcane magic became his passion. After only a few years of study, Egendo came to Rajaat’s personal attention. Delighted at the attention and eager to prove himself to Rajaat, accepted an invitation to join the First Sorcerer’s privileged inner circle of students. Even though this new way of spellcasting – defiling – offered an immediate increase in power, the new methods troubled Egendo. Eventually Rajaat’s arguments won the day, emphasizing that only the most elite students were learning this new method of spellcasting; these elites must use their best judgment to determine what parts of Athas’ vast forests and grasslands needed to be sacrificed for the greater good.
Over time, the brothers gained power, honor and rank within Rajaat’s hierarchy of secret fanatics. Time also brought with it other changes - changes that would soon tear Athas apart.
After years of conditioning and hints of a great purpose and godlike powers, Rajaat gathered his "elite" together and explained their lives’ mission to them. There were those who had taken advantage of the power that Rajaat had freely taught, often misusing that power for their own selfish purposes. While Rajaat’s faithful defilers remained his loyal servants, the others were peddling their magical abilities to increase their wealth, and to advance their power and influence over cities and kingdoms. These traitors would bring all of Athas under their yoke unless the faithful put a stop to their misuse of power. At the foot of the Pristine Tower, Rajaat beseeched his elite servants to purge Athas of these self-righteous preservers before their desire for ultimate power reached fruition. With cheers and shouts for victory, began the struggle that history would record as the Preserver Jihad.
Rajaat initially gave his disciples a specific list of influential preservers for covert assassination: court advisers, wizards that had opened their own schools, and renowned mages who had taken nobles as apprentices. During this initial phase of the struggle, Irikos, the Left Hand of Rajaat, placed Egendo in command of an independent assassination squad, and allowed Egendo to take Tristero as his second. After dozens of flawless operations, Irikos rewarded the brothers’ loyalty and competence by extending their lives.
Rajaat’s followers initially managed to remain in the shadows, sowing suspicion between preservers. Even when some of the more powerful preservers began to accuse Rajaat and to try to rally other preservers to their defense, many refused to accept that Rajaat was responsible. However, opposition formed, and secret strikes escalated to open war. Soon, any city or town who sheltered preservers became targets of Rajaat’s wrath.
As power became more important than subtlety Egendo’s team grew into a larger strike force. Restless for his own command, Tristero became increasingly reckless, often forcing Egendo to use more force than necessary to save the mission and to keep his brother alive. During one such incident, Egendo was subjected to a rebel wizard’s withering attack while shielding his brother’s battered form. This sacrifice saved Tristero’s life. Egendo’s hair and beard would forever more grow as the brittle, silvered strands of a wizened, ancient man. Furious at the suggestion that he still needed close supervision, Tristero began to refer to his older brother as Silvermane. The name caught on amongst their followers, but to Tristero’s dismay, only served to increase Egendo’s appeal.
After losing his brother’ affections, despite his many personal sacrifices on Tristero’s behalf, Egendo’s lost his sense of camaraderie towards his followers, adopting the cold ruthless attitude of the lords that ruled over the Carsys of his childhood. Mercilessly executed missions brought his troop further notoriety though, and Egendo rose in the Warbringer’ esteem.
Impressed by the brothers’ string of increasingly bloody successes, Irikos tasked Egendo’s strike force with the jihad’s first overt attack on a nonhuman city, the dwarven redoubt of Urztraki. Rumor had it that the city’s lord had begun to harbor powerful human preservers marked by Rajaat. Irikos breached the normal protocol by delivering the assignment within earshot of Egendo’s troops: Enter the city of Urztraki through any means necessary, and slay all humans that appeared to be in the city’s service.
Striking during the night, Egendo’s men cut their way into the city deeps before the enemy could raise a general alarm. Within minutes, the human mages lay dead, while Egendo and Tristero engaged the dwarven lord. As the brothers beat their powerful foe to the ground, showing off to entertain their men, the dwarven lord’s heir escaped the crumbling palace complex, rallying troops for a counter-assault.
As Tristero’s blade sunk into the dwarven lord’s chest, the heir’s forces struck from behind, routing Egendo’s men. Knowing that the dwarven lord’s fall had fulfilled Irikos’ instructions, Egendo’s men saw little need to defend the leader that cared so little for their lives, and let the mindbending brothers make their own escapes.
The battle spilled out of the stronghold and into the streets of the overcity. As Egendo and his bodyguards turned to follow their troops, Tristero recklessly assaulted the heir's personal guard, ignoring his brother’s furious cry to withdraw. Egendo fought his way back towards his brother’s side, but it was too late. The dwarven heir’s hammer, a gift from the Earth Lord of Hogalay, howled through the city square, collapsing Tristero’s helm and shattering his skull.
After teleporting his brother’s body to the nearest encampment of Irikos’ army, Egendo immediately returned to Urztraki, leading the men on a three-day massacre of the city. In his wrath, Egendo drew upon the life energy of everything around him; the landscape, his enemies, and allies alike turned to ash to fuel his deadly spells. At the end of the day, Egendo stood alone in a field of ash and rubble.
Egendo nearly perished from thirst in Urztraki’s ruins, vainly spending spells and powers in vengeance for Tristero’s broken body. To this day, Egendo does not understand why his wish spells failed to return Tristero to life. Finally abandoning hope, he carried his brother to Carsys, the city of their birth.
In Carsys, Egendo’s own clan, including that he and Tristero had abandoned to follow Rajaat ages before, accepted Tristero’s body for burial, but they shunned Egendo himself. Carsys had suffered because of the jihad, unable to protect itself after ejecting its preservers as Rajaat demanded. Psionic nomad raiders from Hogalay and wemic mercenaries had just struck Carsys to retaliate for Egendo’s atrocities in Urztraki, taking a child from every noble family to serve as slaves. The city elders cursed and banished Egendo. Shattered and hopeless, Egendo accepted the decision without blinking, and returned to the ashes of Urztraki to contemplate his failure. On the spot where Tristero had fallen, he met Rajaat.
Expecting Rajaat to slay him for his reckless incompetence and the death of Irikos’ second legion, Egendo ran forward, and was surprised when his hideous master embraced him. After sitting in silence with him for hours, Rajaat offered Egendo a chance to begin again. A chance to redeem himself to the Carsys elders, to the human race, and to Tristero. A chance to become a god. All he had to do was cleanse the heartland of dwarven arrogance.
Egendo accepted, and returned with his master to the Pristine Tower.
Preparing for his transformation, Egendo became vaguely aware that there were to be other "champions." Some of these he recognized as warlords, and he dimly wondered why Irikos was not among them. Rajaat brought the champions into the Pristine Tower in groups of four, accompanied by his strange halfling followers who never spoke to them. Egendo was part of the fourth group of Champions to enter the Steeple of Crystals and gaze upon the Dark Lens. Egendo could not tell whether the ritual and transformation took minutes or days, but he emerged as the Butcher of Dwarves, and he was hungry.
After some time in a daze, contemplating the changes to his form and mind, Egendo noticed that the world had changed as well. The yellow sun had grown and turned crimson. The magnitude of his new crusade sunk in as Rajaat explained that the power that coursed through their veins had required the sun to give up much of its life and light.
Egendo found something else had changed as well: bivouacked around the Pristine Tower were thousands of men, many of them veterans of the Preserver Jihad, gathered together for the first time. Rajaat divided the men among Egendo and his transformed brethren, and declared them the nucleus of armies that Egendo and his fellow Champions were to lead.
Many of Egendo’s men had served under Dregoth, one of the new Champions who had been a mighty warlord even before Rajaat recruited him. Egendo did not idolize, or despise, the oldest of the Champions, but he respected Dregoth’s ability to command men, and sought to match the iron discipline that Dregoth demanded from his men.
On the long march south, to the great deep of Ulyan, Egendo’s to earn the respect of his men, many of whom had once followed Dregoth,. He sacrificed many of his men in an ill-advised charge at Tforkatch River, but learned from his mistake and fought with far greater discretion during the siege of Nagarvos.
When Nagarvos lay in ashes its multiracial population slaughtered, Rajaat held a final council with his Champions and then launched them into the wider world to cleanse it of its unworthy races. Egendo made short work of the dwarven holds in Ulyan, marching swiftly of this isolated southern fastness and commencing the extirpation of the dwarven race.
The immense losses suffered by Egendo and his peers in the conquest of Nagarvos’ and elsewhere in Ulyan left them with far smaller armies than they would require to even begin the great Cleansing Wars that Rajaat had prophesied. More, many of the men who marched north out of Ulyan quickly deserted – they had been recruited for raids on ill-armed preservers, not for an endless war against all the dwarves on Athas.
During the first King’s Ages of the Cleansing Wars, only the Champions tasked with destroying the weakest of races, kobolds and pixies, managed to eradicate their race from the heartland. Most of the Champions were still scheming to gather armies and gain followers: Rajaat insisted that they gather fully human armies, and few of the Champions showed the discipline that Egendo was able to enforce on his followers. Tired of waiting and hungry to see dwarves die, Egendo led his small force against a small dwarven mining colony, killing the inhabitants down to the last child. Getting away was more difficult than expected, because of the colony’s unexpected wealth. Even with psionics and magic, Egendo was unable to carry away more than half the colony’s wealth before dwarven reinforcements began to arrive, making it risky to dwindle.
After that first raid, Egendo’s army attracted a slew of new recruits, as stories of dwarven wealth inflamed human jealousy and greed. Dwarven retaliatory strikes against human cities just generated more recruits for Egendo’s army. No one understood that Rajaat was behind these attacks; Irikos continued the Preserver Jihad in the south, attacking Bodach and besieging Celik. Attacks on pixies, kobolds, and dwarves on the edges of the heartland looked like nothing more than human greed and expansion.
Refugees from Carsys and other men that had reason to hate dwarves formed the nucleus of Egendo’s new army, but there were few of these among the humans. Other than their religious wars that Hogalay against the gnomes of Udreegas, the dwarves generally attacked to retaliate against those that harmed other dwarves. Egendo’s strikes against dwarven colonies sparked more dwarven reprisals, and led to ever-more recruits for Egendo’s gathering army.
After his army grew large enough to take on small cities, Egendo became careless. His followers fell to their leader’s magic as often as to enemy weapons. In the heat of battle, Egendo cared only for the death of dwarves, but after the battle, the death of his followers weighed on him. To avoid killing his own troops, Egendo surrounded himself with animated fallen soldiers, but this tactic isolated him further from the living. In the attack on Hogalay, this isolation proved to be Egendo’s undoing.
In a dream, Rajaat commanded Egendo that he was to take the crusade beyond the heartland’s borders, wiping all of Athas clean of the dwarven stench. Flush from a series of victories, Egendo chose Hogalay as his first target. Egendo’s had long desired to punish Hogalay for its punitive raids against the cities of the heartland. Rumor said that Hogalay was the richest of dwarven cities.
When Egendo attacked the city of Hogalay, his isolation left his exposed. As he directed his forces further and further into the city, laying waste to all who stood in opposition, he found himself caught in a trap, drawn in by a large gathering of Earth clerics whose sole purpose was to destroy Egendo’s undead troops and bring doom to the Champion. As Egendo’s forces fell around him, the Champion panicking at the loss of his army, the mightiest of his opponents, the dwarven king, struck the final blow. A cleric of incredible power, the dwarf was more stone than living being, having made a powerful pact with the elemental lords of Earth. As the multitude of clerics blasted Egendo with divine magic, knocking down his psionic and magical defenses more quickly than he could raise them, the king cast an epic spell that sealed Egendo in a stone cocoon buried deep within the heart of Hogalay, isolated and alone. It was there that Egendo lay trapped for three thousand years, slowly freeing himself from a physical prison that so ironically mimicked the emotional prison he had constructed within his mind.
Now, three millennia later, Egendo finds himself in a land that looks nothing like the one he left behind. He is weak, his defeat by the Earth King, long imprisonment, and desperate efforts to escape having reduced him to a shell of what he once was, his physical and mental strength having been depleted and even his enchanted gear gone, having been magically cannibalized in the process.
Sorry for the length
So... FY 12
defiler x/ psion x/ arch defiler x / cerebremancer x/ athasian dragon x
????
and how should I play his weakened state in game terms and what would be his first order of buisness once freed?
thanks!