OK, I think I heard the most support for a renovation for Acheron. While not one of my favorite planes, I tolerated the standard material (with a few minor tweaks), so I don’t know that I’ll be contributing much to this one.
Let’s get one thing out of the way first, the tumbling cubes (etc.) are a little hokey. When I read about the other polygons tumbling through the other layers, I couldn’t help but think of the multi-sided dice in front of me (and if I were doing a “Barmy to the Spire” type comedy campaign, I would have the actions of Acheron just be the attempts of some war gods trying to roll a natural 20 as the had their forces fight each other).
I’m not suggesting that the shapes be done away with as they are fairly integral to the design of the plane. I just felt that it had to be said. If anyone has suggestions to restore some grandeur to the cubes, please speak up.
So what’s the starting point (Note: I know this is far from being comprehensive):
This is a plane where the group-identity (and especially group-anger) ends up sublimating any individual compassion. People battle with other groups that their group identifies as traditional enemies, racial inferiors, or infidels. They fight because they believe they must to preserve (or spread) the traditions and culture of their own superior people.
No individual from an opposing group has his actions viewed independently; he is always judged as a member of that group and answerable to any sins committed (in reality or in gossip) by that group
An individual from one’s own group is always judged by how his actions affect the group. Did the soldier show mercy to an enemy? Then that soldier must not be shown mercy for what he did to his unit. Obedience is more important than initiative or personal judgment. No person is of importance unless he is willing to fight (and die) for the cause
Harsh disciple is accepted and expected. Mercy is not. Victory for the unit (even if a bloody Pyrrhic one) is more important than personal glory.
The floating iron cubes are pitted and scarred with cracks and dents from their collisions and craters from their many battles. These cubes may rust and fracture but are never completely destroyed.
The echo of colliding cubes and the ring of battle are always in the background.
Residents in tunnels, in self-sustaining communities, eating nasty fungi. Some are sustained by high magic, while others contain unfamiliar but fully-evolved ecosystems.
These meager supplies lead to communities with harsh, strict obedience and to constant warfare with other groups as the supplies of the various groups run low. For this reason, the various fortresses and compounds are almost constantly under siege.
There are four layers:
*Avalas
This one gets covered the most. It is the battleplains universe, where armies from all eras and all planes dominate societies that are always at war.
[Note: I intepret this as all current and past armies – so a typical DnD character might see “modern” crusaders and armies of ancient Sparta; but probably not WWII fighter planes (with some rare exceptions for color)]
Most of the listed gods reside here:
Bane
Militant goblin god, Maglubiyet, clashes with militant orc gods, including Gruumsh
Lei Kung, Chinese god of vengeance with his lightning infused petitioners. A haven for vengeance-seekers [Since he is on a LN/LE plane, I would suggest Lei Kung actually pursue “almost” justified acts of vengeance instead of commiting raw acts of evil under the cloak of “justice”]
Unique sites:
“Urbane” rakshasas control some of the cubes “where laws are tedious”
The Mercykillers headquarters is Vorkeham ("the City of Fumes"), made of titanium with acid fountains. Mercykillers are immune to the fumes and don’t have dry heaves
The Blue Cube is home to a blue dragon that forgets everything each morning and has taken to etching the things he wishes to remember into his cube (ala “Memento”?) Arrivals on this iron cube are badly shocked
Wreychtmirk with a branches to different Styx locations on each side (and a environment on that face influenced by the source (or destination?) of the Styx on that side)
*Thuldanin
The universal junkyard of battle where items turn to stone. Duegar heaven is here
*Tintibulus
A universe of basalt hexagons, with no life except visiting magic-users. This is an excellent place to do magical research. One gains a point of intelligence daily, and loses a point from every other ability, the usual penalty resulting when any drops to zero.
Wee Jas, the Witch Goddess of Death and Magic resides here. She tests spell-casters kidnapped from across the planes, though none ever pass her exams.
Wee Jas spends much of her time walking the boundary ice and mentally sifting it for memories of lost magic and the memories of death.
*Ocanthus
A universe of flying razors that travel the plane like flocks of birds; and the bladelings. In Zoronor, the bladeling city, natives impale captives on black ice or vines to create more of their kind (Do they worship the surrounding thorny woods as a protector god)
Here are some assorted notes of mine which I don’t recall being canon or created (by me or others):
-The Army of Purity
-Portals exist from block to block. Most are heavily guarded and may be inside military fortresses
-When cubes collide, they sometime splinter into smaller cubes
-The armies regenerate each morning (along with the floating islands, another parallel to Ysgard)
-Battle magic enhanced
-“Friendship” magic weakened
-Acheron’s terrain is “divinely morphic” and changes at the whim of its deities. Ordinary creatures must use spells and physical effort to change the infernal battlefield.
[NOTE: will a god of war attempt to turn his cube into a battleship of sorts?]
Things that I think were my customization:
-Independent thoughts and actions attract living Fear spells that roam across the plane. Since I view Ysgard as a plane of bravery; it seemed to me that fear should feature in Acheron
-When petitioners die, it results in their later reappearance the next morning with no memories except that one must keep fighting. Often times, they join up with whatever unit is in the area even if it was the group the recently deceased had formerly been fighting. Each "death" results in a little bit more of the person's individuality being stripped away. [Another parallel/twist from Ysgard’s continual fighting]
-I placed the Norse giant realms of Jotunheim and Muspelheim here and then opened up dimensional rifts so that the groups could periodically raid each other and “pilage” a floating isle to one plane or the other (the captured island would transform over time to match the other islands of the plane)
Questions:
-How often do the cubes really collide? I cut back from what I felt was the official stance. While it happens, I felt it should be a momentous event with major ramifications; which I didn’t feel could be maintained if it occurred once a week.
-While there is a LOT of internal conflict on this plane, what motivation would a PC have to side with one army or another? Will all the “internal” adventure seeds involve trying to create accords between combating groups?
-How do we tie in Thuldanin (the junkyard) and Tintibulus (the place of isolated magical research) into the theme of the plane?
-What are some motivations and grand plans of the bladelings?
-What schemes do the rakshasas plot?
-Why did the Mercykillers set up in a city of fumes?
Potential adventure ideas:
-PCs dropped on a cube that will collide within a day or two. There is one passage to safety underground but two armies are fighting over it. PCs may need to pick sides or sneak past
-PCs asked to find magic item in the junkyard belonging to the leader of a now-lost legendary unit of fighters
-Planar rifts often open between Ysgard and Acheron and platoons often shift between the two planes without participants realizing. PCs ask to rescue an Ysgardian who got left behind before he becomes one of the mindless troops.