Issue 4: Tasting the Weird

Good stuff. Some quick thoughts on this:

Otiax - This vestige is apparently connected in some way to the Far Realms.

Daelkyr - I'd love for someone, possibly myself, to make a new daelkyr.

Sartre's Nausea - What if we were to be touched by a Far Realm disease that made us perceive our world as perhaps the denizens of the Far Realms did?

Elder Evils - There were hints and connections between the Abyss (specifically a prisoner in the Wells) and Bolthamogg (sp?), the Elder Evil who, IIRC, is responsible for keeping the Wheel from infecting the Far Realms.

Also, we may want to mention the Weird Fiction Review in this issue.

Conspiracies of the Cerulean Sign

From the other side of the bar Reu watched, remolding the lenses of his currently synethesic eyes to examine theit speech across the drunk filled distance. Their words emerged from their mouths like ink vomited underwater.

At least some of his brothers and sisters spoke with similar tones - though again this was not, to his mind, necessarily a cause for comfort.

=-=-=

"....The power of the Cerulean Sign has not faded over the eons; it has grown..."
-Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

Those who've stood before the openings to Far Realms know that the skin between the Wheel and those alien dimensions is thin and easily wounded. Even wayward cults in distant, rural lands made find a way to pierce the barrier, letting through horrors that can spell doom for entire nations.

Against such scales, such stakes, veterans of the long embattled Cerulean Sign long ago realized that only by making whole societies into weapons could they hope to hold back the aberrant tide that seeks to drown out the known Multiverse.

-Cerulean Conspiracies on the Prime

The Cerulean Sign is ancient, possibly dating back to before the current structure of the Great Wheel. Yet despite the efficacy of the Sign against aberrations, it seems as if all the great civilizations that honored its cause now lie in ruins. Those touched by its grace and mission are often too few in number to effectively organize though other enemies of the Far Realms often recognize them and give them succor.

Yet over time a scattered few have gathered together to ensure a bulwark against the threat, secret societies that can weather the ages and thus hope to stand, when the time comes, against their ageless foe. Among the Prime holdings of the Sign the following are a few prominent examples.

The Cerulean Sign on Ortho

The very nature of the Far Realms ensures the goals of the Harmonium are not wholly divorced from the Sign, yet the inclusion of beholders among the accepted citizens of this world ensures only a few dare to wear the willow openly. Their publicity is in truth a sham, designed to keep eyes from turning to their more secretive brethren.

These hidden members use this world as an enriched base from which to launch attacks against alienists and aberrations, all the while making a show of promoting the factions more lawful goals. Oddly enough, it is the beholder citizens of Ortho who often find themselves perishing on these "necessary" strikes against Chaos's taint.

The Cerulean Sign on Feremnex

On this ruin strewn moon of an azure gas giant, the Sign has established a conservatory that has popularized various songs - ranging from ditties to orchestral pieces - among the lunar populace. You may in fact catch yourself humming such tunes as you travel between the argent cities awash in fluted architecture, marveling at the sound echoes across the surfaces of the buildings around you.

Like most of the populace, you'll almost assuredly be ignorant that the musical resonance nullifies the power of frustrated cultists who number among the more prominent families. Even the mooncalves secreted away in their mansions have proven useless at deciphering why they fail to commune with the Elder Evils whom their ancestors served.

None of them suspect the machinations and machinery of the Sign in this place, given that the feat of continual misalignment between Feremnex and the Far Realms is an exceptionally subtle power that interweaves magic, technology, and the massive city spanning Cerulean Signs carved by forgotten peoples in the core of the moon.

The Cerulean Sign on Axradia

This world was long conquered by the hive empires of the abeil, who emerged from the mountain-bordered nation only to find the medieval and primitive nations who shared both sea and land easily subjugated by the superior artificing of the bee-people.

The Sign might have vanished from this world, had not one of its bearers saved the life of a now dead abeil queen by disintegrating an aberration through use of the willow-glyph. This fortunate occurrence allowed the savior, a human woman whose bloodline was endowed with psionic gifts, to rise from slave to a valued adviser on countering such unnatural threats as well as the mysteries of the Mind.

With the queen's aid, the woman forced an arranged marriage between herself and an elf, with subsequent marriages tying together elven longevity and varied psi-empowered families.

The Cerulean Sign has managed to establish itself through this servitor bloodline, offering paranoid council to abeil royalty terrified of the scattered threat of gates to the Far Realm presumably hidden in the winding nightmare of the Underdark. As yet, only two gates were found, and it isn't clear either actually led to the Far Realms as they were destroyed without study.

Although the most powerful non-abeil in the world of Axradia, much the servitor family's power comes from abeilian ignorance about both psionics and the Sign. The exact source of the family's power against aberrations is thus seen as miraculous and limited to itself. The family has eliminated numerous threats from rebels and usurpers, but many abeil nobels have privately wondered if the evidence of alienism was planted by agents of the crown.

The abeil empire is one now ruled by paranoia and mistrust, one in which the authority of the crown has been extended and the rights of even the greatest abeil families curtailed. All this has been done to defend the world against the Far Realms, but whether the formation of a global tyranny is justified remains to be seen.

The Cerulean Sign in the Land of Ind

"This is the work of Dalang. His skill makes us believe that we see a war between two great armies, but there is no war. There is only the Dalang." -Grant Morrison, Invisibles

To the sages of Ind, whose souls inexplicably reincarnate between the mortal coil and the planes, the Far Realms is not a dangerous Other but rather the fear of the Other projected onto the Universal Mind. Once we accepted that all duality is illusory, we can reintegrate our fears into our beings and transcend to a higher level of existence.

Yet to the scattered Keepers of the Cerulean Sign, this is nothing less than sedition against reality itself. Thus the Sign supports religions that challenge the authority of the sages, faiths that propose the Mind being set against the corruption that is Madness.

While outsiders might expect the Sign to support religious persecution, the Keepers across Ind recognize that the mental disciplines of the sages are useful in defending against the mind-warping powers of the Far Realm. Additionally, the killing of a sage is known to be taboo and even the gods themselves are wary of taking such action.

Thus it is rarely the sages themselves that are targeted, but rather their philosophies that prevent the Keepers from rousing the populace against the aberrant threat. Of course, there are times when a limb must severed, no matter the cost, if the body is to live...

The Cerulean Sign in the Empire of the Invisible Hand

The Empire of the Invisible Hand spans crystal spheres, as do many interstellar empires, but the Invisible Hand has also chosen to engage in conquest across bordering Alternate Primes. This has been made possible by the collective power of the Imperial Council, whose membership consists entirely of deathless dragons, and their sponsorship of Four Schools - The School of Dynamism, The School of Resurrection, the School of Maya, and the School of Conjuration and Binding.

It is the last that concerns the Keepers of the Cerulean Sign, as they have been drawn from across the planes as a safeguard against the vital yet naturally transgressive arcanists of that School. The Sign's own fortress surrounds the School, and its Keepers patrol the grounds as well as regularly attend any attempt to bind and control the creatures of the Far Realms.

Normally Keepers of the Sign would not hesitate to gut any alienists in their vicinity, but they too recognize the need to understand the Enemy as well as the reality that the Imperial Council has given them the resources to train hundreds upon hundreds of new Keepers.

Though this has led to centuries of relative peace between the Keepers and their charges, a recent near disaster that followed the School's conjuration of an entity that named itself daelkyr has led to much debate about whether even the wisdom and power of deathless dragons can truly provide a defense against the threat of the Far Realms.

-The Cerulean Sign on the Planes

The Cerulean Sign among the Gith

The acceptance of the Sign among githyanki and githzerai societies is complicated by the ultimate message the symbol carries - that the Far Realms makes small all other divisions, all other tyrannies. Prejudices between the two races, as well as adherence to the tenets of their respective undying rulers, are often relinquished in light of the Sign's call for all beings of this Multiverse to stand together against that which is wholly Other.

The Sign is seen among the Gith as symbolically connected to the still revered Zerthimon, proof that conflict between these two races is folly. Those who possess the Sign often work together in secret, keeping tabs on their respective tyrants who, in their eyes, squander resources that should be devote to the grand Cause of erasing first the illithids and then all aberrations from the Wheel.

The Cerulean Sign on the Outlands

The Keepers of the Sing gravitate to one place on the Outlands - Ilsensine's Caverns of Thought. None approach too closely, but a loose perimeter has been established via plinths of blue jade that all bear the sign on the side facing *away* from illithid god's realm.

@Anerta: Thanks for the kind words, hoping I can actually fill in the Cerulean sections I left blank.

@Loki: So the Multiverse numbers among the "Boltzman Brains" of the Far Realm?

Interesting. I'm not sure if it needs a whole essay, but I would like a Theories on the Far Realm section to include a few possibilities about the nature of this place.

ETA: But perhaps this is a good issue to talk about your campaign, as I do think a DM's use of the Far Realms in such an interesting fashion is worth exploring. I just want to give multiple Far Realm theories to readers without recreating 3.5's Lords of Madness.

So ideally an in-character piece that's 2-3 paragraphs is ideal, allow us to have 3 theories about the Far Realms to elaborate on.

The other good Far Realm theories I recall are:

-The Far Realms are an Alternate Multiverse that is anathema to the Great Wheel. There exists the possibility that the Great Wheel is *just* as dangerous to the Far Realms.

-The Far Realms is different from Chaos because in the Far Realms the rules are broken, whereas in Chaos the rules are meaningless or at the least non-existent. (This one was by Rip a long time ago.)

ETA II:

Missed Michel's theory - Michel, can you elaborate on the micro-dimensions angle? It seems rather different from the usual ideas about the Far Realms that are discussed!

Oh, I just meant the Multiverse is in truth the "aberration" arising from the "normal" primordial sea of the Far Realms.

Coolio - one more theory to add to the pot!

Promethea looks at the "Abyss" (which draws the comparison/question between the obyrith, the Abyss, and the Far Realms as a mere aspect). You should right-click and view image to expand the panel:

The other thing to note is that this "Far Realm" of Moore's is associated with Pi b/c it's an irrational.

This ties into the idea of the Far Realms as the encompassing reality around the Wheel, given Cantor's great quote (which I admittedly overuse haha):

"The rationals are spotted on the line like stars in a black sky. The dense blackness is the firmament of the irrationals."

Promethea is pretty incredible, though I have yet to finish it!

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19558806/Layers_of_the...

Just want to add Rip's Far Realms stuff in the above link is amazing.

Daelkyr -> Uuchnogtha, The Saint of Lycanthropy

Of all the daelkyr which trouble the Prime Material Plane, it is likely that only Uuchnogtha is seen as a blessing by peoples across the world. Though rarely worshiped by its actual name, varied cultures have erected shrines to it as protector and purifier.

This aberrant lord is fascinated by lycanthropy, a disease that not only shifts one species into another but creates something new in the middle point of the flesh's journey from origin to destination. As such, Uuchnogtha has armed its aberrant servants with natural and borne weapons of silver and commanded them to hunt down and retrieve the were-people of the world.

Grell soldiers led by illithid commanders, these hunting parties are led to lyncanthropes with the aid of hounds of gloom and Tindalos. While the seals upon the Underdark and the watchfulness of the world's guardians prevent too many of these aberrations from journeying with ease across the world, many such parties manage their architect's purpose via the aid of alienist cults. The cults manipulate locals, and even holy churches, into aiding them against the were-beasts who oftentimes have committed no crime save for being bitten by a more villainous foe.

It is the daelkyr's beauty, in addition to its cause, that has caused it to be associated with far more benevolent spirits and gods. Like all daelkyr, Uuchnogtha possesses the unnatural beauty of a sexless Adonis, but unlike its kin its form is not marred by the symbionts and grafts so disturbing to the Nature of the Multiverse. Instead the arch-aberration has grafted its skin with a symbiont of liquid silver. Even its hair, floating above its head as if the daelkyr were underwater, shines with metallic lustre. This symbiont can produce all manner of weapons, though like its brethren Uuchnogtha favors the whip.

Uuchnogtha has not been content to create the more common werebeasts nor has he settled for transformations between humanoid and vertebrae. Weremantises shifting from centaurs, were-jellyfish shifting from sharks, and other unusual "art works" haunt the area around its deep underground prison. In a bit of tragic irony, the locals for miles around pray to Uuchnogtha for deliverance from the very horrors it has created.

This is great stuff Wicke. I like the idea of tumbling through colors.

Cosmic Horror / Cosmic Hero:

http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page12543.php#.UBlW_ER-D-U

"The elder gods run into trouble when they collide with heroic fantasy. Mighty warriors and wizards battle supernatural horror all day, every day. What makes Tsathoqqua and Shub-Niggurath any more frightening than a lich or a dragon?"

Part 2:

http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/front-page12567.php#.UBlaTkR-D-U

The Cerulean Lake: A massive, miles-wide lake in a temperate climate that is perpetualy frozen and shrouded with mist. Someone has chipped grooves, lines, and indented regions into the ice which glow faintly with cerulean light. Under the surface of the lake one sees frozen aboleths staring up at you, some part of their consciousness free from their imprisonment. If one were to clear away the mist and see the lake from above, one would see a massive etching of the Cerulean Sign.

Note title change.

Wanted to open this up to the "Weird" in general, of which the Far Realms is definitely a subset.

This also ties into a Planejammer spotlight as well as my hopes of doing an interview with someone putting out a product on aliens, psionics, or both.

Also, anyone every do anything with Monte Cook's Chaositech stuff?

Here's a good example of the Weird:

http://weirdfictionreview.com/2012/07/the-neglected-garden/

It's about a woman shifting into a kind of plant life. That site has all kinds of interesting ideas for the Weird.

(The story itself is a bit violent, less than most D&D things but more poignant as it's sort of a horror story)

I do think places like the depths of Fairy, the heart of Hell and heights of Heaven should be "Far Realms", places where the closer you get the more your frames of reference on what is "normal" is challenged.

What's so special about the Far Realms Discussion:

http://www.enworld.org/forum/general-rpg-discussion/270232-whats-so-spec...

Great vid - did you post that earlier? I know I've seen it before.

I wonder, what can we count as weird in the D&D cosmos. For me it'd at least be the following:

Spellweavers

Aberrations as a whole obviously, with or without the Far Realms.

Obyrith

Loumara

Draedan

Derro

Brux

Tetramorph

Protean

Visages

Vestiges