Campaign idea inspired by Divine Power - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Campaign idea inspired by Divine Power

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
kahluah
Jul 30, 2009 0:36:42 I was reading Divine Power and Eberron Player's Guide (campaign guide is still sadly en route to Australia), and after reading the fluff for the Keeper of the Nine PP for Invokers, I got to thinking how I could make this a central theme for an Eberron campaign.

Essentially, the backstory for the campaign would be that, back before even the oldest races can remember, the gods of the Sovereign Host sealed some entity away in an extra-dimensional prison - it would have to be something suitably terrifying. The Sovereign Host locked this entity away in its prison with a series of sigils in the earth, one sigil for each deity, and the sigils acting like the locks on a collection of overlapping chains that keep the entity contained in its prison.

The course of the campaign would see the adventurers start off in the heroic tier as dealing with seemingly random events and disasters as the first couple of the seals are broken open to unleash calamity. As they get drawn into the plot of the main story, they learn more about the obscure piece of history (that has largely been overshadowed by the Draconic Prophecies and other lore) regarding the Sovereign Host locking away this entity, and I’d like to introduce the Keepers of the Nine as an organization rather than just a PP. The campaign will end with most of the seals broken, the world at the brink of complete destruction and the PCs trying to stop the last of the seals from being destroyed and the entity within the prison being kept there through a glorious battle and a desperate sacrifice from the PCs (especially if any of them take ED’s such as Harbinger of Doom or similar destinies).

Now, as I don’t yet have access to the campaign guide (and I don’t own any of the 3.x books either) what I’m lacking in is ideas and elements for what to fill the basic arc with to make it suitably Eberron-ish in style and flavour. Should I keep it limited to just Khorvaire, or extend it past that continent so that there are sigils in places such as Xen’drik or Argonessen or something? What could the end entity be, and what organization(s) would be interested in destroying Eberron by setting something of this magnitude free, what would they hope to gain from it, etc?

Any input is valuable to me, so feel free to make suggestions or criticisms.
#2
zsig
Jul 30, 2009 10:19:29 Well, there are already the Lords of Dust, which are powerful beings (and I mean something really powerful, as in god-like powerful fiends) that are trapped on places much like those you mentioned...

... except they have followers (exrachs/rakshasa) around who can communicate with them whose only purpose is to set free their overlord.

The idea is pretty similar (partly, at least), have you considered using them instead?
#3
veltharis_ap_rylix
Jul 30, 2009 15:57:15 Personally I'd say make the creature sealed by the Sovereign Host (or rather the earliest dragon heroes that inspired the religion of the Sovereign Host) be one of the Rajahs of the Age of Demons, perhaps the suitibly named "Ran Iishiv, the Unmaker" bound in the peaks of Adar, and have the Keepers of the Nine be an originally Sarlonan group (seeing as the religion began there) affiliated with the Storm Guardian dragons who guard his prison.

Perhaps the Teeth of the Three which imprisons him is merely the "innermost" of the seals which bind him, with the others scattered across the continents.
#4
Beleriphon
Jul 30, 2009 19:33:23 There is also an unspoken of deity that the was ignored, and presumably "destroyed" when the Dhaakani goblins were introduced to the Sovereign Host. I've seen mention of this before in a few places, I think Faiths of Eberron covers this in slightly more detail.
#5
phoeris
Jul 30, 2009 21:05:20 I think for what you're trying to do paying attention to the theoretical time frame is very important. If you're having something that The Nine sealed into the world it'll have to be something from mythic history.

The Daelkyr and Quori can be extremely powerful and are bound in the ground but they are one of many and were dealt with by civilizations whose remnants are still around enough to have a cohesive archeological and oral history.

This pretty much leaves you with two things. One of the Demon Rajahs bound by the Couatls and the Dragons in The Age of Demons or something worse.

I used Ran'Ishiv, a Rajah, and his chosen disciple Amir in the last campaign I ran as the focal point and that worked well for nearly avoiding an apocalyptic scenario but I get the feeling you need something more...unique.

Which comes down to the "worse" category. I'd suggest using an obscure D&D Fiendish Lord of Dark God or perhaps an obscure mythological deity from Babylonian or Assyrian origins. H.P. Lovecraft works great too. He has a whole host of horrible super beings from beyond the realms of time and space that would work well. I would recommend Azathoth, Cthulu, Yog Sothoth or Nyralothotep. Look up "Great Old Ones" or "Outer Gods" on wikipedia and you'll find a whole trove of them.

Another thought, if you have The 4.0 DMG there is always Tharizdun. He inadvertently created The Abyss.

End-times organizations consist of The Lords of Dust, The Lord of Blades (though he's small fish), certain Cults of The Dragon Below...and that's about it. Usually organizations like this are either a.) completely insane or b.) used to live in The Age of Demons and want to go back to "The Good Old Days."

If you're using The Nine as the power that bound this entity, I think it would make sense to have the seals all around the world. But that's only because I feel that having all of them on one continent just doesn't make much sense when you're involving something that's supposed to represent the entirety of creation (more or less). If you want to have more travel as a focus and exposure to strange and barbaric cultures then by all means make them be widespread and force your players to globe trek. If you want to keep it localized to Khorvaire and maybe...Xen'drik then that would bring in more politics and intrigue into it. It would also allow you to dramatically show the rising chaos and its effect on modern civilizations that everyone's familiar with. Your choice really.

Overall I like the idea. It reminds me of The Book of Revelation and the anime "X" by CLAMP. If I were going to run it I would use either an H.P. Lovecraft creature or something from obscure ancient myth and create a nationwide/worldwide insidious Cult of The Dragon Below that was working to free it. You could do it with a small group of mad cabalists but I like having a larger hidden organization because your players will never know who they can trust.

A random thought. If it comes up you might want to come up with which seal belongs to which god and which unique ritual tailored to that god's portfolio is needed to be performed to break the seal.

And I'm out of ideas....hopefully it works out well!
#6
ars51
Aug 04, 2009 17:36:07 I too saw this in DP and had a moment of inspiration. My idea ran along the idea that the SH bound the Tarrasque under where Stormreach is now. And that Ancient enemies of the SH (maybe the Dark Six) were working their evil to unleash the Tarrasque the embodiment of Wanton Destruction. Possible seals that were broken could have been all over the world, but the most recent was the mourning. Now the Tarrasque shifts under the world causing earth quakes and tsunamis, and its up to the heroes to stop them!

but I have always wanted to do 2 things in D&D, run a Tarrasque and run a Titan riding a Tarrasque

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 kahluah Jul 30, 2009 0:36:42	I was reading Divine Power and Eberron Player's Guide (campaign guide is still sadly en route to Australia), and after reading the fluff for the Keeper of the Nine PP for Invokers, I got to thinking how I could make this a central theme for an Eberron campaign. Essentially, the backstory for the campaign would be that, back before even the oldest races can remember, the gods of the Sovereign Host sealed some entity away in an extra-dimensional prison - it would have to be something suitably terrifying. The Sovereign Host locked this entity away in its prison with a series of sigils in the earth, one sigil for each deity, and the sigils acting like the locks on a collection of overlapping chains that keep the entity contained in its prison. The course of the campaign would see the adventurers start off in the heroic tier as dealing with seemingly random events and disasters as the first couple of the seals are broken open to unleash calamity. As they get drawn into the plot of the main story, they learn more about the obscure piece of history (that has largely been overshadowed by the Draconic Prophecies and other lore) regarding the Sovereign Host locking away this entity, and I’d like to introduce the Keepers of the Nine as an organization rather than just a PP. The campaign will end with most of the seals broken, the world at the brink of complete destruction and the PCs trying to stop the last of the seals from being destroyed and the entity within the prison being kept there through a glorious battle and a desperate sacrifice from the PCs (especially if any of them take ED’s such as Harbinger of Doom or similar destinies). Now, as I don’t yet have access to the campaign guide (and I don’t own any of the 3.x books either) what I’m lacking in is ideas and elements for what to fill the basic arc with to make it suitably Eberron-ish in style and flavour. Should I keep it limited to just Khorvaire, or extend it past that continent so that there are sigils in places such as Xen’drik or Argonessen or something? What could the end entity be, and what organization(s) would be interested in destroying Eberron by setting something of this magnitude free, what would they hope to gain from it, etc? Any input is valuable to me, so feel free to make suggestions or criticisms.
#2 zsig Jul 30, 2009 10:19:29	Well, there are already the Lords of Dust, which are powerful beings (and I mean something really powerful, as in god-like powerful fiends) that are trapped on places much like those you mentioned... ... except they have followers (exrachs/rakshasa) around who can communicate with them whose only purpose is to set free their overlord. The idea is pretty similar (partly, at least), have you considered using them instead?
#3 veltharis_ap_rylix Jul 30, 2009 15:57:15	Personally I'd say make the creature sealed by the Sovereign Host (or rather the earliest dragon heroes that inspired the religion of the Sovereign Host) be one of the Rajahs of the Age of Demons, perhaps the suitibly named "Ran Iishiv, the Unmaker" bound in the peaks of Adar, and have the Keepers of the Nine be an originally Sarlonan group (seeing as the religion began there) affiliated with the Storm Guardian dragons who guard his prison. Perhaps the Teeth of the Three which imprisons him is merely the "innermost" of the seals which bind him, with the others scattered across the continents.
#4 Beleriphon Jul 30, 2009 19:33:23	There is also an unspoken of deity that the was ignored, and presumably "destroyed" when the Dhaakani goblins were introduced to the Sovereign Host. I've seen mention of this before in a few places, I think Faiths of Eberron covers this in slightly more detail.
#5 phoeris Jul 30, 2009 21:05:20	I think for what you're trying to do paying attention to the theoretical time frame is very important. If you're having something that The Nine sealed into the world it'll have to be something from mythic history. The Daelkyr and Quori can be extremely powerful and are bound in the ground but they are one of many and were dealt with by civilizations whose remnants are still around enough to have a cohesive archeological and oral history. This pretty much leaves you with two things. One of the Demon Rajahs bound by the Couatls and the Dragons in The Age of Demons or something worse. I used Ran'Ishiv, a Rajah, and his chosen disciple Amir in the last campaign I ran as the focal point and that worked well for nearly avoiding an apocalyptic scenario but I get the feeling you need something more...unique. Which comes down to the "worse" category. I'd suggest using an obscure D&D Fiendish Lord of Dark God or perhaps an obscure mythological deity from Babylonian or Assyrian origins. H.P. Lovecraft works great too. He has a whole host of horrible super beings from beyond the realms of time and space that would work well. I would recommend Azathoth, Cthulu, Yog Sothoth or Nyralothotep. Look up "Great Old Ones" or "Outer Gods" on wikipedia and you'll find a whole trove of them. Another thought, if you have The 4.0 DMG there is always Tharizdun. He inadvertently created The Abyss. End-times organizations consist of The Lords of Dust, The Lord of Blades (though he's small fish), certain Cults of The Dragon Below...and that's about it. Usually organizations like this are either a.) completely insane or b.) used to live in The Age of Demons and want to go back to "The Good Old Days." If you're using The Nine as the power that bound this entity, I think it would make sense to have the seals all around the world. But that's only because I feel that having all of them on one continent just doesn't make much sense when you're involving something that's supposed to represent the entirety of creation (more or less). If you want to have more travel as a focus and exposure to strange and barbaric cultures then by all means make them be widespread and force your players to globe trek. If you want to keep it localized to Khorvaire and maybe...Xen'drik then that would bring in more politics and intrigue into it. It would also allow you to dramatically show the rising chaos and its effect on modern civilizations that everyone's familiar with. Your choice really. Overall I like the idea. It reminds me of The Book of Revelation and the anime "X" by CLAMP. If I were going to run it I would use either an H.P. Lovecraft creature or something from obscure ancient myth and create a nationwide/worldwide insidious Cult of The Dragon Below that was working to free it. You could do it with a small group of mad cabalists but I like having a larger hidden organization because your players will never know who they can trust. A random thought. If it comes up you might want to come up with which seal belongs to which god and which unique ritual tailored to that god's portfolio is needed to be performed to break the seal. And I'm out of ideas....hopefully it works out well!
#6 ars51 Aug 04, 2009 17:36:07	I too saw this in DP and had a moment of inspiration. My idea ran along the idea that the SH bound the Tarrasque under where Stormreach is now. And that Ancient enemies of the SH (maybe the Dark Six) were working their evil to unleash the Tarrasque the embodiment of Wanton Destruction. Possible seals that were broken could have been all over the world, but the most recent was the mourning. Now the Tarrasque shifts under the world causing earth quakes and tsunamis, and its up to the heroes to stop them! but I have always wanted to do 2 things in D&D, run a Tarrasque and run a Titan riding a Tarrasque