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I have a question

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Wed, 2006-05-31 22:06
#1
Vaevictis Asmadi
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I have a question

Hi I'm new here, mostly I only registered so I can ask this one burning question... but since I think Planescape is pretty cool, someday when I have more time I may stop by again.

Anyway, my burning question is, what happens to Petitioners on the "in between planes". Meaning Ysgard, Beastlands, Bytopia, Arcadia, Acheron, Gehenna, Carceri, and Pandemonium. I know petitioners to the more "cardinal" planes eventually can become members of the Fiend/Celestial/Modron/Slaad/Rilmani races there, but I've looked long and hard and can't find corresponding races for most of these in-between planes. There are inhabitants, but none that seem to specifically come from petitioners. So what happens to petitioners on those planes... are they doomed to forever remain Petitioners forever? What forms do petitioners themselves take? (such as larvae, talking animals, whatever)

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Thu, 2006-06-01 04:42
#2
simmo
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I have a question

I'll answer part of the question - Petitioners who reach a certain level eventually merge with the plane becoming one with the embodiment of their life's beliefs.

Thu, 2006-06-01 05:45
(Reply to #2) #3
Clueless
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On Ysgard they get to enjoy the benifit's of the plane - in which they get to do the classic Nordic thing: "drink and drink and drink and fight and die and drink..." On Ysgard they take the form of - themselves. I don't believe they have any formal 'advancement'. They just get to enjoy being dead. Most of the upper planes the petitioner form reflects their form while living.

On the Lower Planes petitioners are generally considered useful tools or trash. Carceri, they're trapped and often used as slave labor. Gehenna and the Grey Waste they're often used as spell components, food, or paper. Again, no advancement. On the Lower planes they often take the form of larvae (hence the food comment), sometimes as hordlings on the Greys. Carceri they may take the form they had while living, the better to slave away trapped.

In fact, I'd say no advancement is more a standard than turning into something else is. Petitioners can't become loths from what I understand of it, nor can they become sladdi or rilmani or modron, they have their own ways of progeneration - it's only the celestials and the L, and C of the fiends that use mortal souls to swell their ranks.

Petioners are sort of at the end of the mortal life cycle - they're supposed to be a little bit 'not involved' with much of the politics or coming and going. Hence why they don't seem to be listed under inhabitents. They *are* inhabitents of the plane, they just don't tend to *do* much until they get killed on their home plane and die. Note that petitioners are not considered a viable PC race because they're essentially aspects of their planes and can't leave them. I know techncailly there really should be more information about them, but it wasn't somethign the PS designers really addressed. I would suggest that a sizable population of the listed inhabitents are actually petitioners and they're just going about their afterlives in a fairly normal fashion.

Thu, 2006-06-01 06:51
(Reply to #3) #4
simmo
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On the Beastlands the petitioners commonly take the form of animals (and they retain the ability to talk). There is also a link to how a petitioner looks and the layers of Arcadia that I can't quite recall.

Thu, 2006-06-01 11:48
#5
Vaevictis Asmadi
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I have a question

'Clueless' wrote:
In fact, I'd say no advancement is more a standard than turning into something else is. Petitioners can't become loths from what I understand of it, nor can they become sladdi or rilmani or modron, they have their own ways of progeneration - it's only the celestials and the L, and C of the fiends that use mortal souls to swell their ranks.

Weird. Well, interesting to learn, thank you!
Maybe it is because of the Blood Wars that they use outside sources. But don't some Larvae develop into Hordelings and Night Hags?

OK, I have another question. Obviously there is an outer plane for each possible alighnment, so every soul has a specific place to go. But I think a few alighnments are missing! There are the in-between planes that I mentioned, but there are no in-between Neutral planes! No Neutral "with a touch" of Lawful, for example, or with a touch of G or C or E, or LE or LG or CE or CG. I started inventing planes for those once, but never wrote them down and forgot them. My idea was that petitioners only stay on them long enough to "develop" toward either True Neutral or one of the other alignments and then get shunted to a more permanent afterlife.

Thu, 2006-06-01 12:01
#6
Jem
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One take on such planes was described in an article on mimir.net, which called them the "Cordant Planes". The URL is http://www.mimir.net/mapinfinity/cordance.html .

Fri, 2006-06-02 12:41
#7
Vaevictis Asmadi
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Nice, thanks for telling me about it.

Sun, 2006-06-11 01:19
(Reply to #7) #8
nick012000
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I have a question

Limbo's petitioners can too become Slaadi, just like everyone else. They just need to get implanted or infected by a red or blue slaad first.

I know that most of the in-between-planes do have exemplars, though they might not promote from their petitioners. Ysgard has the lillends, Arcadia the formians, Archeron the rakshasa and the archeriai, Gehenna the yugoloths, and Carceri the gehreleths. I don't know if the Beastlands, Bytopia, or Pandemonium have their own exemplars, though.

Fri, 2006-07-14 16:35
#9
princessbunny99
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Beastlands would be the Animal Lords, I'd think...

but yeah, Bytopia and Pandemonium I have no idea...Maybe they get turned into stalagmites. Or wind. Ha ha ha.

Fri, 2006-07-14 18:47
#10
Iavas
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Bytopia and Pandemonium

According to the 3e+ rules, Bytopian petitioners almost always turn into Gnomes, although, in the original Planescape setting, Bytopia wasn't nearly so gnomeful. Pandemonium petitioners just kind of go barmy, as far as I understand. Hope that helps.

Fri, 2006-07-14 22:37
#11
Swiftbow
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I have a question

I thought the "in-between" sorts would find themselves on the Outlands, and, based on alignment, closest to the Gatetown that matches them.

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