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echoes in the wind

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Fri, 2005-01-21 20:59
#1
Drasoni
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echoes in the wind

A voice swirls out of the echoes ringing around her, the echoes of ages trapped within this everdark and deadly cavern of Phlegethon. It is a gravelly voice, full of hate, rage, and contempt, speaking in a language of nauseating syllables and crashing consonants. It seems to be the middle of a conversation: "You are fools. Fools! The cosmos is changing. Who among you have stirred from your plotting to go forth and see? The place of our birth is long gone back to the not-time, the Ring is now surmounted with an entirely new existence. Mortals, those you call insects infesting the Prince's miserable experiment, are more important to the future than your complacent minds could ever know." Another voice, wearied and sibilant, speaking at the same time: "You dare question us, stripling? We have wisdom that your mind will never-" The first, continuing heedless: "Have you forgotten so swiftly the titan born of mortal dreamings whose corpse lies atop dozens of our kind in the Waste? Are you so obstinate that you will refuse to see what is in front of you?"

The second, continuing in the same measured tone: "You are young and ignorant! Our plans lay deeper than you will ever know, now that you display your unworthiness!" A third, in a voice beautiful to hear like perfect golden chimes: "Even this titan of which you speak will fit into our devices. All things are tools to us, as you should know, impetuous child."

A pause, full of silent tension.

A new voice: "Our punishment shall be rendered upon-" The first, in a near-scream of rage: "No! I will not submit to your out-dated and insane mandates! You have not my knowledge! You have not dug into these mortals, examined their insides, tasted of their strange fleshly forms! You have not pried the spirits from them, molded and shaped them! ... You have not seen what I have seen. You have not understood the secrets of mortal life, and mortal death, and the reasons for each. They are a well of power that you old fools will never understand, or at the least not until it is too late and your bastard children have unseated you!"

A mellifluous, yet shocked voice replies: "You do us wrong, young lord! We know our place in the Great Unfolding, and will hold to it. None of us could ever have conceived of such a masterful plan, and none of us would dare think himself capable of guiding its mysteries, even assuming beyond all belief that we could win even a single conflict against our creators!"

A snort. The first continues. "I have watched you more closely than you realize. You almost lost yourself there - that was nearly not perfectly believable. I only reveal my knowledge of your plans of rebellion because I am leaving behind these fools. Do with them as you will."

The last, adding outrage to its shock: "You are seeking to sabotage the Unfolding by sowing distrust in the most valuable tool of the masters! My kind knows its place, and takes pride--" It is cut off by the third voice, eerily beautiful and full of cold anger. "Silence, First. We need not your amateur analysis to see the plans of this mad dog. You are leaving the Unfolding? It is no loss to us. Your obsession with the mortals makes you worthless. A place will be found for them in the grand pattern, of course, but there are more important devices to control."

"I fear I feel no regret now that you reveal your incompetence, Grandmother. I will make a new place for myself in the Ring - indeed, I must admit I already have it waiting for me. I learned more than I will tell from testing the mortals. I learned how to make them my tools, in life and death. You will see how great my discovery is, how crucial the mortals could have been. If your pet lets you live that long."

The second voice, shouting in rage: "You are exiled! Begone forever from us, Orcus!"

and the long-dead echoes died again, replaced by the whispers of madness that ever filled Pandemonium's caverns.

She rose from her lotus upon the great stalagmite in the vast cavern of echoes, and started making the long way down the twisting ramp carved into its side. The furious wind fiends that guarded this place drew away in confusion and fear as light welled up from her, light where no light had ever been. Illumination upon the secrets of ages.

Thanks to Shemeska for part of the inspiration, and Vehrec for urging me to post it here. I hope it has a higher reader comprehension rate here.

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Sat, 2005-01-22 00:27
#2
Shemeska the Ma...
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I inspired someone? Cool!

Ok, it's super late and I just skimmed over it, but you had me hooked from the first few lines. When I'm fully lucid and awake tommorow I'm going to read this in depth (when I can fully appreciate it). But damn if this isn't looking nice.

Will say more later. *grin*

Sun, 2005-01-23 00:05
(Reply to #2) #3
Shemeska the Ma...
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echoes in the wind

Ok, I'm not quite sure where to really begin. Bravo. That sums up my first impression here for the story, it's evocative, and chock full of mystery since you don't name any of the characters but one.

The cavern this is all taking place in, I assume to be Howler's Crag? Listening in somehow to words long ago spoken and carried aloft on the winds of pandemonium since that time? Looking, or rather, listening back in time?

Now as to the identities of the voices:

1) Orcus, you name it, so safe to say that's true.

Now Orcus refers to a titan, dead in the waste, dead atop others of 'our kind'. So I'll assume that he's not referring to Tanar'ri, but rather to outsiders in general, very ancient ones, with no direct link to mortals, since they later refer to petitioners as something not in their original plans.

2) Not a clue...
3) Pale Night? Assuming that it's CE outsiders here... dunno... the voice fits perhaps.
4) Not sure
5) Not sure

The Unfolding: Sounds like a general name for plans of this group for the multiverse at large, but be it one of domination, control, or destruction, I can't really speculate. Intriguing though, very much.

The voices also seem to refer to beings older than themselves, and that they wouldn't dare hope to win a single conflict against them. *ponder*

You've got me curious and perplexed here. Please do illuminate me on what you intended, and where oh where did I manage to inspire this story? *a grinning and curious 'loth is a dangerous 'loth*

Sun, 2005-01-23 01:26
(Reply to #3) #4
Drasoni
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echoes in the wind

Thank you, Shemeska. I'm gratified that my little story incurred your interest so well.

I'm somewhat pleased that the story is so vague that it is not clear, even to those who know nigh all that I speak of. It means that it's completely safe to unleash on my players when the campaign rolls around to that point, as I like to keep them guessing. Eye-wink

You indirectly inspired this write-up of my ideas through a friend of mine relating a portion of, iirc, your story hour to me, in which Orcus refers to your Dark Shepherd as 'Grandmother.' If you look, you will see that this very word is used when he is speaking... and I assume that most of the rest falls in place now, but I will elaborate for any others who have read this thread.

The first speaker is of course Orcus, during a trial before the council of his superiors for his chaotic tendencies and his obsession with modifying mortals (which resulted in the creation of undead through his manipulation of their unique connection to the energy planes).

The 'titan born of mortal dreaming' whose corpse is in the Waste now has his spine used as a monument to loth strength.

The second speaker is an unnamed baernaloth. The less naming, I thought, the better, when dealing with these creatures.

The third is the Dark Shepherd, or who 'she' used to be before reaching that title.

The fourth is another unnamed baernaloth. Keep it shady.

The fifth voice, who is shocked at Orcus's incredibly blunt (for these people) accusations, is the First yugoloth, the General. I thought of somewhat of a more antagonistic transfer of power between the generations of loths, though of course not physically violent one! They would never stoop to that level. Heh.

The Unfolding is my pet name for the grand plan of the baernaloths, which the yugoloths have largely inherited. Using, as I do, the idea that Demogorgon ("The Prince") had somewhat of a hand in the creation of the mortal Prime through his Venom Fount mishap, the loths would have had little to no warning before mortals and hence petitioners started emerging.

You are largely correct concerning the location where this takes place: a cavern in Phlegethros, where the echoes of the distant past can still be listened to (if you make it there sane and sound). I admire your "listening back in time" description. I wouldn't use such a well-known or comparatively lightly guarded locale as Howler's Crag, however, or everyone would know everything about most of the darks of the planes, heh.

As mentioned, I thought somewhat about the possible connections twixt Orcus and this Shepherd, this most cunning and persuasive baernaloth. Wouldn't it be interesting, I thought, if it were literally (as much as possible when dealing with exemplars) true? I also wondered about the fact that Orcus, generally accredited creator of undeath, had spawned a collection of beings that were as often NE as CE. I reflected upon someone's comment at dicefreaks that Anthraxus wouldn't be missed, as there was another bloated and corrupt fiend with a goat head just a couple planes over. That of course led to: weren't baernaloths supposed to have goat heads?

These were spread out over the course of a couple days, and it was all very whimsical. I'm pleased at how well it came together.

Sun, 2005-01-23 03:15
(Reply to #4) #5
Drasoni
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echoes in the wind

Actually, I somewhat admire your own interpretation of it. Not enough attention is paid to the plotting abilities of the powers of the Abyss, in my opinion. Perhaps something should be done about this.

Sun, 2005-01-23 03:57
(Reply to #5) #6
Shemeska the Ma...
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echoes in the wind

Lots of idle speculations and comments on my part:

"Drasoni" wrote:
You indirectly inspired this write-up of my ideas through a friend of mine relating a portion of, iirc, your story hour to me, in which Orcus refers to your Dark Shepherd as 'Grandmother.' If you look, you will see that this very word is used when he is speaking... and I assume that most of the rest falls in place now, but I will elaborate for any others who have read this thread.

Actually it wasn't my storyhour (though Tellura Ibn Shartalan, the 'Dire Shepherd' does sporadically feature as an NPC in the background there), but rather another story of mine about the Shepherdess herself and her backhistory, etc. And the 'grandmother' bit wasn't actually my term at all:

1) that story of mine inspired Rip van Wormer to write a little addition of his own to it, in which he relates the tale of some Tanar'ri who conquer a village and the Shepherd is there waiting, amused almost. The Tanar'ri do nothing to her and otherwise inexplicably keep her around and see to her whim without asking themselves why, and they present her to Grazzt, not Orcus. Grazzt pauses, recognizes her for what she is, and very humbly, refers to her as 'Grandmother'. I would use that term metaphorically though, not a direct lineage thing.

You might argue that the Shepherdess and the Baern might be viewed as creators of the 'loths, and then in turn the Baatezu and Tanar'ri (of whom Grazzt is one of those Tanar'ri). And while Pale Night is Grazzt's mother, he might then view Tellura as his grandmother in some manner. Or, it might just be her exerting some influence on a being who is, comparatively, an infant to her.

The next Baernaloth I'll be writing up and doing fiction for is The Flesh Sculptor, and I hint at a more definate link to the Tanar'ri there, at least in my own mythology of such things. But that's neither here nor there.

Even though the original link was between the Dire Shepherd and Grazzt, I don't think you need to change your use of orcus at all. The same link to him could be made, and I'm curious to see where you go with it, since it's not a tie that I'd have exploited myself. *curious*

Quote:
The first speaker is of course Orcus, during a trial before the council of his superiors for his chaotic tendencies and his obsession with modifying mortals (which resulted in the creation of undead through his manipulation of their unique connection to the energy planes).

Another link I wouldn't have assumed, Orcus creating undead. However you could go places with it, and again, I'd like to see how it progresses. Smiling

Quote:
The 'titan born of mortal dreaming' whose corpse is in the Waste now has his spine used as a monument to loth strength.

I figured as much that it referred to a god in general, but I've used the term 'titan' rather expressly to define the unknown progenitor race of chaotic good. Hence my confusion there. Nice call there, I like.

Quote:
The second speaker is an unnamed baernaloth. The less naming, I thought, the better, when dealing with these creatures.

*nodding* While I've begun to define the 13 Baernaloths of The Demented, I've made a number of them, named and not, who are not members of that group, and I've mentioned in various places others of their kind who have since vanished, withdrawn into seclusion, been killed over various ideological conflicts among themselves, etc. I've got a ton of mythology about them to work with, but not naming them does build up a mystique in this case for your story, and it works very well.

Quote:
The fifth voice, who is shocked at Orcus's incredibly blunt (for these people) accusations, is the First yugoloth, the General. I thought of somewhat of a more antagonistic transfer of power between the generations of loths, though of course not physically violent one! They would never stoop to that level. Heh.

Interesting call. Not just the first Ultroloth, but the first yugoloth in general. Smiling

Quote:
The Unfolding is my pet name for the grand plan of the baernaloths, which the yugoloths have largely inherited. Using, as I do, the idea that Demogorgon ("The Prince") had somewhat of a hand in the creation of the mortal Prime through his Venom Fount mishap, the loths would have had little to no warning before mortals and hence petitioners started emerging.

Venom Fount mishap? I'm not familiar with that one.

Though for another look at Demogorgon's role, though it's not one that I use, you might look at the origin of Demogorgon's name in real world mythology (though Gygax's and DnD's demogorgon don't have anything in common other than the name). In at least some branches of very early gnostic christianity, the creator of the flawed, sinful, corrupt, physical world was named Demo Gorgos, which later was either corrupted or mistranslated over time, and became a demon, demogorgon, after gnosticism effectively vanished after 400AD or so.

Quote:
As mentioned, I thought somewhat about the possible connections twixt Orcus and this Shepherd, this most cunning and persuasive baernaloth. Wouldn't it be interesting, I thought, if it were literally (as much as possible when dealing with exemplars) true? I also wondered about the fact that Orcus, generally accredited creator of undeath, had spawned a collection of beings that were as often NE as CE. I reflected upon someone's comment at dicefreaks that Anthraxus wouldn't be missed, as there was another bloated and corrupt fiend with a goat head just a couple planes over. That of course led to: weren't baernaloths supposed to have goat heads?

Yes, the Baern had goat-like heads, partially skeletal or wasted, snake-like eyes, two sets of horns and at least in my conception of them, a single unique physical flaw for each of them.

Orcus and Anthraxus both however seemed to be more Ram headed than goat headed. Minor difference perhaps, but I never saw a direct resemblance between either of those two and the Baernaloths. Though one person, whose name I can't place, did suggest that Anthraxus's appearance might be almost an attempt on his part to resemble the Baern and take up in some way their mystique.

Sun, 2005-01-23 08:28
(Reply to #6) #7
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echoes in the wind

Very good story!

Quote:
Quote by ripvanwormer The shadows seemed to form into a perfect humanoid body, whose well-formed limbs and beautiful torso were made just slightly fiendish by his mouth, which beneath his full lips were filled with needle-sharp fangs, his slightly pointed ears and just a few extra fingers and toes. He stretched like a cat, always eerily comfortable in the Gray Waste. Doubtless, this was because one of his layers had once been part of it.

"An'nada," Graz'zt said to his general, a marilith whose ritual scars looked like intertwined serpents covering both her humanoid and serpentine halves. "I thought I told you to exterminate the whole of this wretched village. Yet you have defied me." His voice was gentle and slightly mocking. "Why?"

An'nada looked at him in surprise, as if this was the last thing she would have expected her master to say. Her eyes left the menacing green orbs of her lord for an instant to glance at the tiefling child whose hair she had been fondly brushing moments before. "Well," she hissed hesitantly. "She is a young female. I thought... we thought... you might enjoy her as a... a..." She could not get the word out. 'Plaything' seemed the least appropriate term imaginable. More like daughter, mistress, goddess...

Graz'zt studied his marilith's prize, allowing his expression to look ever-so-slightly annoyed. "An'nada," he said, sighing like a weary teacher to a slow pupil. "Did I not say 'exterminate them all?' That doesn't leave much room for... for..."

Suddenly there seemed to be three beings in Graz'zt's place. One seemed to be a winged fiend, like a nabassu or a balor - or was it a nycoloth? Another seemed a faceless, black larva. Thirdly, there was a swirling, turbulent darkness, something far more ancient than either of the others, but unformed, as if waiting for something to arrive. The three entities began to war, the crawling darkness dominating the others until the tiefling girl made a small gesture. The darkness retreated.

Graz'zt seemed whole again, but diminished somehow. He looked at the girl with changed eyes, their vivid green the faintest shade bluer than before.

And Graz'zt knelt. "Grandmother," he said reverently, his eyes not leaving the small figure for an instant. Behind her, her shadow began to laugh.


I think your friend may have referred to this post Smiling

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Sun, 2005-01-23 13:03
(Reply to #7) #8
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echoes in the wind

"Shemeska the Marauder" wrote:
Quote:
The Unfolding is my pet name for the grand plan of the baernaloths, which the yugoloths have largely inherited. Using, as I do, the idea that Demogorgon ("The Prince") had somewhat of a hand in the creation of the mortal Prime through his Venom Fount mishap, the loths would have had little to no warning before mortals and hence petitioners started emerging.

Venom Fount mishap? I'm not familiar with that one.

Wait, isn't that part of the Dicefreaks' cosmology? Or is The Serj (or Ro3, or whichever of the higher ups posted that bit) getting it from somewhere else?

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