So I need some help, Athas Lore Gurus... How can we fit this character into the past or present lore of Dark Sun?
My initial thought was a race (or a handful of servitors) created by the SKs to infiltrate their nemeses' ranks, and passing off the Dark Pact as an alternate form of the new Sorcerer-King pact. Any thoughts?
The Dark Pact is with a powerful entity from the Black, probably a Shadow Giant (nothing else is known to live in the Black). Change all poison keywords in those powers to cold; you'll have to creatively reflavor a few of them, like Contagion.
Whats the curse? Make it that the character can never take on the same form more than once including the characters true form.
What sort of adventures do you plan on running?
I have a tendency to pull together a plot based on character story hooks, so this will be part of it. I might adapt a module from my collection of Old Dark Sun, as these players are all new to the setting. I will probably be launching off from the Free RPG Day module, run by (coincidentally) this very player.
That, I think, opens it up in some interesting ways that don't force anything, yet compel forward momentum.
the Black
Where can I find more information on this? Specific 2e sources are welcome. :D
As for Darkpact, I agree with having it be a creature from the Black.
the Black
Where can I find more information on this? Specific 2e sources are welcome. :D
Preservers & Defilers.
Next up, because my neophyte Dark Sun players are apparently bent on creating as non-Athasian a party as possible, I have an Elf Assassin.
It seems from what I'm reading that the Shadow power source could easily align with the Black (or possibly the Gray) depending mostly on what is happening with the Shadowfel in Dark Sun.
Do we have any idea what's going on with that (that is, the Shadowfel, the Black, and the Gray)?
It will be a surprise, I'm afraid.
Any thoughts on shardmind? I considered some sort of obsidian creature...
In reality, I think I'm just going to sit down with them and have a "welcome to Athas" character creation session.
It's as if they're actually trying at this point.
Any thoughts on shardmind? I considered some sort of obsidian creature...
In reality, I think I'm just going to sit down with them and have a "welcome to Athas" character creation session.
Shardminds are difficult on Athas, because you need to figure out how being "not having to eat or drink" will affect wilderness travel.
If you do allow the Shardmind, you could have it originate from the Black (keeping with the common theme). Nothing alive but Shadow Giants live the Black... but that wouldn't exactly exclude Shardminds. If you keep some of the existing lore from PHB3 about Shardminds, maybe some truely mutated and warped things are taking place in the Black... what could it be?... but it 'awakened' the Shardminds. Making them shards of obsidian would be neat, and could have something to do with the Deadlands?
Otherwise, what can I say... they're new to Athas.
It's as if they're actually trying at this point.
Any thoughts on shardmind? I considered some sort of obsidian creature...
In reality, I think I'm just going to sit down with them and have a "welcome to Athas" character creation session.
Going with the theory that Athas is a world where the Primordials won the Dawn War, I'd say the Shardminds could have come from a very similar origin entirely, but have become something twisted, to suit the Athasian way of things. Obsidian is a fun idea for them, maybe when the gate shattered, the fragments ended up in the Shadowfel (the Black), and the Shardminds manifested there, now formed of obsidian. Maybe they feed off life energy (like how arcane magic works). Of anything, I'd say they could very well be based on arcane magic, and they might now need to eat (anything with a life force, turning it to defiler's ash), and could be very, very outcast from society as a result.
The issue I come to now is the sustenance thing. I was planning on survival being a fairly important aspect, obviously, but I'm not sure how to bring that home for the shardmind...
Look to The Last Sea. I planned on having shardminds be floating bits of one of the obsidian orbs from the Green Age that extremely powerful psionics bound living psyches in. Most shardminds awaken later, having been buried for millennia. Most such awakened orbs become insane beings of various sorts, completely unable to resume anything their previous life. Shardminds, however, are the lucky few who awaken with their persoalities (mostly) intact. Their memories are usually fuzzy, and they are disturbed by the condition of the world they now inhabit, coming from a lush world with a highly advanced psionic civilization.
Most of these psyches were stored in orbs before the Cleansing War. Some, however, were not. In fact, some were created DURING the Cleansing Wars. Which brings me to the other living construct: Warforged. Warforged are similar, being constructs from the Green Age, not made of metal but from stone and/or obsidian, with psionically reinforced obsidian throughout their innards to facilitate the "circuitry" necessary to give them personality. Some 'forged are similar to the orbs, with living psyches stored within (generally the wealthier who could afford a more sophisticated means of surviving after physical death). Others, however, are purely artificial in nature, with intelligences created from scratch by powerful psions experimenting. Some might still have, to them, very recent memories and programming leading them to believe that one (or more, or ALL) of the non-human, non-halfling, non-construct races should be exterminated.
With a world full of so many strange beings, these artificial beings, while certainly more unusual than most, are still humanoid in appearance. This is sufficient enough to at least alleviate some xenophobic discomfort. Which leads us to survival days; That is indeed a significant advantage in the wilds. I'm personally ok with that for a few reasos. First, these beings are more likely to be the target of ill will, easy scapegoats for crimes they haven't committed, refused service at various establishments, etc. Secondly, they will be desired as components and foci of various experiments. Finally, and most importantly? They cannot breed. Even if two shardmind meet, they will never, ever produce offspring, and few people, if anyone alive today on Athas, is capable of creating new ones. Perhaps the Mind Lords of the Last Sea. Perhaps.
On the shardmind:
Look to The Last Sea. I planned on having shardminds be floating bits of one of the obsidian orbs from the Green Age that extremely powerful psionics bound living psyches in. Most shardminds awaken later, having been buried for millennia. Most such awakened orbs become insane beings of various sorts, completely unable to resume anything their previous life. Shardminds, however, are the lucky few who awaken with their persoalities (mostly) intact. Their memories are usually fuzzy, and they are disturbed by the condition of the world they now inhabit, coming from a lush world with a highly advanced psionic civilization.
Most of these psyches were stored in orbs before the Cleansing War. Some, however, were not. In fact, some were created DURING the Cleansing Wars. Which brings me to the other living construct: Warforged. Warforged are similar, being constructs from the Green Age, not made of metal but from stone and/or obsidian, with psionically reinforced obsidian throughout their innards to facilitate the "circuitry" necessary to give them personality. Some 'forged are similar to the orbs, with living psyches stored within (generally the wealthier who could afford a more sophisticated means of surviving after physical death). Others, however, are purely artificial in nature, with intelligences created from scratch by powerful psions experimenting. Some might still have, to them, very recent memories and programming leading them to believe that one (or more, or ALL) of the non-human, non-halfling, non-construct races should be exterminated.
With a world full of so many strange beings, these artificial beings, while certainly more unusual than most, are still humanoid in appearance. This is sufficient enough to at least alleviate some xenophobic discomfort. Which leads us to survival days; That is indeed a significant advantage in the wilds. I'm personally ok with that for a few reasos. First, these beings are more likely to be the target of ill will, easy scapegoats for crimes they haven't committed, refused service at various establishments, etc. Secondly, they will be desired as components and foci of various experiments. Finally, and most importantly? They cannot breed. Even if two shardmind meet, they will never, ever produce offspring, and few people, if anyone alive today on Athas, is capable of creating new ones. Perhaps the Mind Lords of the Last Sea. Perhaps.
I like this. As a huge fan of guardians (I never did get to finish my strike team supplemental guardians, like the seeker, the artillery unit, the jump unit, the support unit and the interrigator unit), I like the idea of shardminds being these other things.
As far as survival days, there seems to be to be some element of self-repair that is necessary for both. Whatever searching for supplies or whatever could apply to shardminds and the forged.
Is there anything further on Qwith and the origin of the Deadlands? All I can find it that one blurb in the timelines.
Since guardians were said to still be found anywhere on Athas, not just the Last Sea, then it's easy to integrate in one's game.
Stolen!
Is there anything further on Qwith and the origin of the Deadlands? All I can find it that one blurb in the timelines.
I'v got jack to do today, so since I have time...
Show
The Deadlands (the short and ugly version)
Rajaat had his people conduct studies of interplanar travel but after a time, deemed it difficult and abandoned it until the start of the cleansing war. He came back to the research as he wanted an advantage in the war. He figured planar allies would help so he chose a remote location and set up a community of wizards with one goal, to find the ultimate weapon with which to win the war quickly.
He put one of his best students in charge of the group, A necromancer named Qwith. They did a bunch of stuff and other stuff happened and they were doing that stuff for a long time. (lol) They discovered summoning magic and they succeeded in a way, to travel to other planes. But the return trip home never ended with good results. Rajaat popped in for tea and got impatient, so he did his thing, Qwith said "na!" but Rajaat is Rajaat and did his thing anyways. She wouldn't shut up about it, so he took away her badge and gun and kicked her off the team. Rajaat soon left to do whatever he did during the cleansing war while his henchmen continued on with reckless experiments at his command. Qwith was all butthurt locked in a tower.
Without Qwith to handle the finer details, things got all messed up and bad stuff happened. A gate was accidently opened to the demiplane of obsidian. The gate shattered and millions of tons of molten lava bum rushed the land and drank all the beer. Everyone died and came back to unlife as undead called Zhen (meaning FUBAR). The undead fubar wizards discovered they couldn't defiler, so they turned to necromancy. Rajaat shrugged his shoulders and went on with his life.
The gate is still open, though it's clogged up with obsidian. It's under the city of a thousand dead, just waiting to rush forth again and drink all the beer. If heroes die, they come back as Zhen.
The Deadlands (the short and ugly version)
Rajaat had his people conduct studies of interplanar travel but after a time, deemed it difficult and abandoned it until the start of the cleansing war. He came back to the research as he wanted an advantage in the war. He figured planar allies would help so he chose a remote location and set up a community of wizards with one goal, to find the ultimate weapon with which to win the war quickly.
He put one of his best students in charge of the group, A necromancer named Qwith. They did a bunch of stuff and other stuff happened and they were doing that stuff for a long time. (lol) They discovered summoning magic and they succeeded in a way, to travel to other planes. But the return trip home never ended with good results. Rajaat popped in for tea and got impatient, so he did his thing, Qwith said "na!" but Rajaat is Rajaat and did his thing anyways. She wouldn't shut up about it, so he took away her badge and gun and kicked her off the team. Rajaat soon left to do whatever he did during the cleansing war while his henchmen continued on with reckless experiments at his command. Qwith was all butthurt locked in a tower.
Without Qwith to handle the finer details, things got all messed up and bad stuff happened. A gate was accidently opened to the demiplane of obsidian. The gate shattered and millions of tons of molten lava bum rushed the land and drank all the beer. Everyone died and came back to unlife as undead called Zhen (meaning FUBAR). The undead fubar wizards discovered they couldn't defiler, so they turned to necromancy. Rajaat shrugged his shoulders and went on with his life.
The gate is still open, though it's clogged up with obsidian. It's under the city of a thousand dead, just waiting to rush forth again and drink all the beer. If heroes die, they come back as Zhen.
The Changeling could think he is a freak, one-of-a-kind desert mutant, when in actuality he is of a race that survived the Cleansing Wars by hiding themselves under the SK's noses. Unfortunately, since the character may have been orphaned from his guardians that would have upheld the secret, he is unaware of the importance of hiding his true nature.
When he does slip up and attract the attention of a Templar and/or his SK, not only does the SK become interested in the character, so do other local 'sleeper cell' Changelings, who hunt the character to either educate him about the importance of secrecy, or eliminate him for endangering the surviving Changelings.
The Changeling secret society could have a long-term goal of usurping or assassinating the SK responsible for their near-demise, or could merely be waiting and watching, the eyes and ears of some distant, powerful master...
On the shardmind:
Look to The Last Sea. I planned on having shardminds be floating bits of one of the obsidian orbs from the Green Age that extremely powerful psionics bound living psyches in. Most shardminds awaken later, having been buried for millennia. Most such awakened orbs become insane beings of various sorts, completely unable to resume anything their previous life. Shardminds, however, are the lucky few who awaken with their persoalities (mostly) intact. Their memories are usually fuzzy, and they are disturbed by the condition of the world they now inhabit, coming from a lush world with a highly advanced psionic civilization.
Most of these psyches were stored in orbs before the Cleansing War. Some, however, were not. In fact, some were created DURING the Cleansing Wars. Which brings me to the other living construct: Warforged. Warforged are similar, being constructs from the Green Age, not made of metal but from stone and/or obsidian, with psionically reinforced obsidian throughout their innards to facilitate the "circuitry" necessary to give them personality. Some 'forged are similar to the orbs, with living psyches stored within (generally the wealthier who could afford a more sophisticated means of surviving after physical death). Others, however, are purely artificial in nature, with intelligences created from scratch by powerful psions experimenting. Some might still have, to them, very recent memories and programming leading them to believe that one (or more, or ALL) of the non-human, non-halfling, non-construct races should be exterminated.
With a world full of so many strange beings, these artificial beings, while certainly more unusual than most, are still humanoid in appearance. This is sufficient enough to at least alleviate some xenophobic discomfort. Which leads us to survival days; That is indeed a significant advantage in the wilds. I'm personally ok with that for a few reasos. First, these beings are more likely to be the target of ill will, easy scapegoats for crimes they haven't committed, refused service at various establishments, etc. Secondly, they will be desired as components and foci of various experiments. Finally, and most importantly? They cannot breed. Even if two shardmind meet, they will never, ever produce offspring, and few people, if anyone alive today on Athas, is capable of creating new ones. Perhaps the Mind Lords of the Last Sea. Perhaps.
I like this. I think I'll toy with my own ideas for the Warforged (as artificial weapons made by preservers during the Preserver Jihad that happened before the Cleansing Wars), but I like tyhe connection to the Guardians for the shardminds. Brilliant!
I like this. I think I'll toy with my own ideas for the Warforged (as artificial weapons made by preservers during the Preserver Jihad that happened before the Cleansing Wars), but I like tyhe connection to the Guardians for the shardminds. Brilliant!
I like the idea of Warforged as automatons from long-gone armies, I was thinking something along the lines of the Terracotta Armies of China, vast catacombs of these now-defunct beings, but somehow the PC and a scattered few others across Tyr have reanimated.
Possible Backgrounds for Changelings
1. The Zik-Chil (the Leaders of the Kreen Empire and also known as Priests of Change) are not satisfied by the informations the Zik'trin'ta (the Thor-Kreen of the Tyr Region) gathered till now. Kreens aren't thrustworth enough in the eyes of the dra (other races) to rise higher in the "important" ranks it seems. To infiltrate the Tyr Region and to gather more information before the Kreen invasion, the Zik-Chil "changed" the captured dra (humans for example) to changelings, so they might use their new abilities to rise higher in the alien society and spy upon those in power.
Dark Packt Walrocks: The Changeling doesn't hase to be aware that he is used, the Haazi bestowed some great powers upon him, though in exchange he can see what the Changeling sees.
2. When you are wounded and near the Pristine Tower, you will change into an abomination, most minds don't survive this process and become insane. However, sometimes a rare individual has enough willpower or an innate immunity to partially "resist" the mutation and even to "control" it to some extent.
Dark Packt Warlock: The Shadow Giants experiment with Humans, searching for the raw individuals. Once a "changeling" is "made" a packt is made between him an rajaat himself. Though unable to act directly Rajaat is still able to bestow some greater powers upon the changeling. Now it's time to spy on the SK and prepare their end.
3. A Child of an human and a rouge (evil)pyreen the changeling inherited some a weaker form of the shapechanging abilities of his Pyreen parent.
"Dark" Pact Warlock: The Pyreen still watches over his child and the (insane through defiling magic) Spirit of the Lands grants this new proxy some of his power.