Time and the Far Realm - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Time and the Far Realm

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
MrCelsius
Aug 05, 2010 8:26:37      A few planes have differing time flows from that of the material. Spend a year in Thelanis and you'll find that you've been missing from Eberron for seven, for example. What if the Far Realm's time flows in the other direction? If you could spend a year there, you'd return to Eberron a year before you left. I've had a few ideas of what this could mean, what could arise from it, and generally how it might impact the world, but I'm going to keep them to myself at first and see what inspiration you good folk can draw from the notion. What do you think?
#2
accuser
Aug 05, 2010 10:23:09 It would be interesting to think that the daelkyr invasion was caused by something that will happen (or possibly something that the players will do).

I like it. I might use this.
#3
moonsword
Aug 05, 2010 21:34:32 It could also be that the daelkyr invaded not over something in Eberron, but to stage forces in Eberron to do something in Xoriat's past. Wrecking the Dhakaani was more of a fringe benefit, or maybe light exercise. It would also explain why they're trying to bring Xoriat back without it being the usual end of the world scenario - they want to go after whatever the heck they were really after in the first place.
#4
AvonRekaes
Aug 07, 2010 23:24:59 I believe me and another poster once came up with the idea that Dealkyr look human because they ARE human. Cyrans, specifically. And that they caused the Mourning which shunted the entire nation of Cyre into Xoriat, so that they could create themselves.

TIME PARADOX!
#5
MrCelsius
Aug 08, 2010 21:59:55      The general notion that came to mind is that some magically-inclined folk in the distant future established an emergency plan in the event of the world ending. (This would work quite well for Cyre, and don't think I hadn't pondered it.) They had long ago discovered a barrier of some nature which scrying revealed to stand between them and a seemingly empty void of a plane. They didn't realize that it was the barrier erected to keep the Far Realm at bay because, quite simply, the plane they discovered looked nothing like Xoriat.

     Moving day comes and the collective thousands of people use high arcana to pierce the barrier and escape into the 'new world' before the planes come crashing down around them. They discover, upon arrival, that the plane is heavily mutable. Deep concentration can cause matter to spring into existence. Food, shelter, absolutely anything. This is regarded as a blessing, and even more so when people become attuned to the plane over time and can do it with only minor concentration. Then at will. When things begin manifesting from people's unconscious minds without warning, however, they realize what a serious problem they have.

     The mages erect barriers to keep the plane's mutability stable, but it's a temporary solution at best. Desperate to escape their nightmares made flesh, the masses agree immediately to a procedure in which the arcanists will use the mutability of the plane to transform the humans into something else. Something more psychically-inclined which is naturally inhibited from manipulating the plane. It is by such means that the first Gish were created. The arcanists however, viewing themselves as the keepers of power and de facto lords of this new place, concocted a different form to take. Less divorced from the plane's nature, they could maintain control over their manifestations (and, it turns out, nourish themselves) by absorbing the minds of 'lesser' beings. Thus the first Illithid were created.

     Those in the highest reaches of power among the arcanists saw the potential of remaining human and had the resources of newly-augmented personnel to use wards to control their unintended manifestations indefinitely. Theirs was the luxury of humanity, though over the centuries they changed themselves ever more, subtly but steadily, until they became a twisted parody of humanity known as the Daelkyr. Over time the Daelkyr came to dread and revile their aberrant creations less and less until eventually they truly embraced them, populating all of Xoriat with horrors that had previously existed only in nightmare.

     After millennia of rule the Lords of Madness have, at long last, changed themselves so much that they can no longer alter the plane as they once could. Nor can they simply undo the changes they've made to themselves to regain that power. Perhaps it is a hunger for unaltered humanity upon which to experiment which drives the Daelkyr in their future, our past, to claim Eberron. If they can rip enough humanity from the flesh of their victims, the Daelkyr can once again rule Xoriat as omnipotent gods.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 MrCelsius Aug 05, 2010 8:26:37	A few planes have differing time flows from that of the material. Spend a year in Thelanis and you'll find that you've been missing from Eberron for seven, for example. What if the Far Realm's time flows in the other direction? If you could spend a year there, you'd return to Eberron a year before you left. I've had a few ideas of what this could mean, what could arise from it, and generally how it might impact the world, but I'm going to keep them to myself at first and see what inspiration you good folk can draw from the notion. What do you think?
#2 accuser Aug 05, 2010 10:23:09	It would be interesting to think that the daelkyr invasion was caused by something that will happen (or possibly something that the players will do). I like it. I might use this.
#3 moonsword Aug 05, 2010 21:34:32	It could also be that the daelkyr invaded not over something in Eberron, but to stage forces in Eberron to do something in Xoriat's past. Wrecking the Dhakaani was more of a fringe benefit, or maybe light exercise. It would also explain why they're trying to bring Xoriat back without it being the usual end of the world scenario - they want to go after whatever the heck they were really after in the first place.
#4 AvonRekaes Aug 07, 2010 23:24:59	I believe me and another poster once came up with the idea that Dealkyr look human because they ARE human. Cyrans, specifically. And that they caused the Mourning which shunted the entire nation of Cyre into Xoriat, so that they could create themselves. TIME PARADOX!
#5 MrCelsius Aug 08, 2010 21:59:55	The general notion that came to mind is that some magically-inclined folk in the distant future established an emergency plan in the event of the world ending. (This would work quite well for Cyre, and don't think I hadn't pondered it.) They had long ago discovered a barrier of some nature which scrying revealed to stand between them and a seemingly empty void of a plane. They didn't realize that it was the barrier erected to keep the Far Realm at bay because, quite simply, the plane they discovered looked nothing like Xoriat. Moving day comes and the collective thousands of people use high arcana to pierce the barrier and escape into the 'new world' before the planes come crashing down around them. They discover, upon arrival, that the plane is heavily mutable. Deep concentration can cause matter to spring into existence. Food, shelter, absolutely anything. This is regarded as a blessing, and even more so when people become attuned to the plane over time and can do it with only minor concentration. Then at will. When things begin manifesting from people's unconscious minds without warning, however, they realize what a serious problem they have. The mages erect barriers to keep the plane's mutability stable, but it's a temporary solution at best. Desperate to escape their nightmares made flesh, the masses agree immediately to a procedure in which the arcanists will use the mutability of the plane to transform the humans into something else. Something more psychically-inclined which is naturally inhibited from manipulating the plane. It is by such means that the first Gish were created. The arcanists however, viewing themselves as the keepers of power and de facto lords of this new place, concocted a different form to take. Less divorced from the plane's nature, they could maintain control over their manifestations (and, it turns out, nourish themselves) by absorbing the minds of 'lesser' beings. Thus the first Illithid were created. Those in the highest reaches of power among the arcanists saw the potential of remaining human and had the resources of newly-augmented personnel to use wards to control their unintended manifestations indefinitely. Theirs was the luxury of humanity, though over the centuries they changed themselves ever more, subtly but steadily, until they became a twisted parody of humanity known as the Daelkyr. Over time the Daelkyr came to dread and revile their aberrant creations less and less until eventually they truly embraced them, populating all of Xoriat with horrors that had previously existed only in nightmare. After millennia of rule the Lords of Madness have, at long last, changed themselves so much that they can no longer alter the plane as they once could. Nor can they simply undo the changes they've made to themselves to regain that power. Perhaps it is a hunger for unaltered humanity upon which to experiment which drives the Daelkyr in their future, our past, to claim Eberron. If they can rip enough humanity from the flesh of their victims, the Daelkyr can once again rule Xoriat as omnipotent gods.