Final Destination

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Evil's picture
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Final Destination

Planescape cosmology covers in great detail what happens when a greek, norse or celtic sod dies. Egyptian, Indian, and Chineese and japanese all have their alternate endings as well, though hardly with as much detail. Dwarves, elves, gnomes and halflings; dragons, orcs & goblins, even nagas and couatl have their gods or pantheons properly represented too. Not a single prime from toril or other CS world wonders where his soul will go when he dies either.

But this still leaves a significant portion of the world's peoples and cultures without a place to go in The Great Wheel. We can probably send aborigins and American Indians to beastlands as petitioners. But, for example where does Turk-Mongol nomads go when they die? Is there an African pantheon in Beastlands? Do the gods of Incas and Aztecs really dwell inthe Astral?

The same is also true for some DnD races as well. We don't know about the vistani, or about any other gypsy culture for that matter. We don't know about githyanki, now that their lich queen is dead. I really wonder where the Giff go. These are just a few.

If you know the dark of it, or have some idea or opinion on the subject please write. (Because thats what I intend to do)

 

ripvanwormer's picture
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The Aztec gods live on the

The Aztec gods live on the Material Plane, according to 2e's Legends & Lore, though there are a few exceptions. The benign afterlife of Tlalocan which Tlaloc created for victims of drowning is in Arcadia, according to the Maztica boxed set. Mictlan, the Aztec underworld, is associated with Niflheim. The realms of the Inca gods haven't been officially defined to my knowledge

Most people travel to the realm of their patron gods or, if they have no specific patron, their plane of alignment. So githyanki go to the Lower Planes (this was true when the Lich Queen was alive, too, unless Vlaakith specifically harvested their soul. This generally only happened to high-level githyanki). Vistani will usually go to the Outlands (being a generally neutral people). The giff are mainly lawful neutral, so you'll see them in Acheron, Mechanus, and Arcadia.

Many African deities have official alignments (download the gods list), and you can extrapolate appropriate home planes for there. The Native American pantheon is scattered throughout the planes with a surprisingly large concentration on the Elemental Plane of Air, if you believe 1st edition, or they all live in demiplanes connected to the Beastlands if you go by 2e.

 

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This probably goes against

This probably goes against canon (though I know of nothing specific, so it might not), we have established in the Rrakkma project that githyanki souls (those that are not consumed) are reincarnated again as githyanki.

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As far as I get it you end

As far as I get it you end up as larva-thingy or fiend when you become petitioner on the lower planes without having deific protection. Technically its maybe impossible to tell what race a cutter down there belonged to before she died.

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"La la la, I'm a girl, I'm a pretty little girl!"

--Bel the Pit Fiend, Lord of the First (in a quiet hour of privacy)

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Illithids are also quite

Illithids are also quite dark. They have a super-brain-god, but do they go to it as petitioners?

Also, I don't think that all petis in all lower planes become larvae. They probably retain their form in carceri and pandemonium, and they appear humanoid on Gehenna too. On Acheron they also seem to appear  as they did in life. This is the opinion I get from reading the books anyway.

As for the nomads I'm researching for the early creation myths. Turns out there are some similarities between the sumerian mythos and the Middle Asian. So far I have two names: Ulgen the creator of the heaven and earth, and Erlik, the first man (sometimes also called the devil, for he rised up against his creator.) These nomads were mostly ancestor worshippers and shamanistic, though they had a few gods probably. I don't know if shamanistic cultures have a place on the great wheel. If we consider them druidic, probably the beastlands, and outlands. If we look at them in more of a spiritual way, Arborea or Elysium. CAnon says there are spirits for all lakes, rivers, forests etc. on Arborea, which is mostly what shamanism is about as far as I know. But this is a religion wise approach. Culturally these nomads were much closer to being Ysgardian.

I'll try to create a background for the nomadic cultures on the great wheel for use in my games. If a can come up with anything good I'll post it here. 

Also thank you for the info rip. I'll check the African gods out soon.

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Evil wrote:Illithids are

Evil wrote:
Illithids are also quite dark. They have a super-brain-god, but do they go to it as petitioners?

 In case you don't want to get spoilers, most mind flayers do not go to Ilsensine.  That does not seem to be a problem for the brain , because it is said that deities depend on worshippers, but do not need or depend on petitioners.

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"La la la, I'm a girl, I'm a pretty little girl!"

--Bel the Pit Fiend, Lord of the First (in a quiet hour of privacy)

ripvanwormer's picture
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Most illithid souls merge

Most illithid souls merge with their elder brains. Those dedicated to Ilsensine are a minority in their society, because devotion ot the brain-god means their brains are not suitable to become one with the elder brains, which they believe to be a form of immortality - it's not, the elder brains have got them peeled. Their personalities are consumed and erased by the hungry elder brains, leaving nothing left. It's not entirely clear if petitioners of Ilsensine get a better deal.

 Pandemonium petitioners look similar to how they did when they were alive, but their hands and feet become claws for better purchase on the rocks, and their bodies become more sleek and wind-resistant. Petitioners in Acheron, Carceri, and Gehenna seem to more or less resemble their living selves. Petitioners in the Gray Waste and the Abyss start out as larvae. Petitioners in Baator either start out as larvae (Faces of Evil) or as soulshells (Fiendish Codex II). Those who end up in the realm of a specific god have their forms determined by that god - for example, Set's petitioners become desert animals.

There's at least one canon example of a githzerai petitioner in Limbo (in Uncaged: Faces of Sigil).

 

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