Prince Rolan and the keepers

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ripvanwormer's picture
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Prince Rolan and the keepers

In Planescape, the keepers (Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II, 3e Fiend Folio, Dragon #353) are the creations of a mysterious ancient member of the Fraternity of Order who discovered the dark of discovering or creating alternate realities that contained exactly what he wanted. He found a reality in which a race of perfect servants, who would keep his secrets safe for him, existed. The keepers performed their task to their utmost, even murdering their creator/discoverer to make absolute certain his secrets could be discovered by no one.

There was only one problem with this plan. Without the dead Guvner, there could be no more keepers, and so the race dwindled. If the keepers became extinct, who would keep the secrets safe?

The 4th edition Manual of the Planes presented the keepers as the enigmatic guardians of Gloomwrought, the Dark City inspired by the titular city from the movie [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_City_(1998_film)]The Dark City[/url], with the keepers playing the role of the Strangers of that film. Gloomwrought is ruled by the enigmatic Prince Rolan.

"Locals whisper that Prince Rolan lives under the weight of a terrible curse that forever denies him the peace of death. Others say he’s made a pact with an unnatural entity, offering his service in exchange for eternal life. Whatever the truth, Rolan has never explained the source of his longevity, and seems content to rule for as long as Gloomwrought stands." - Manual of the Planes (4th edition).

So, my suggestion is this: what if Prince Rolan is the murdered creator/discoverer of the keepers, resurrected by them so that he could create more of their kind, and periodically murdered by them whenever they decide he's more of a threat than an asset, only to be resurrected again when their numbers grow too low? He could have been murdered and revived dozens of times over the centuries, given amnesia, taught what he needs to know, then given amnesia again, the eternal prisoner of the race he brought into being.

sciborg2's picture
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Re: Prince Rolan and the keepers

I like this idea - that the original guvner is the Wisher-Father of the Keepers, that they need him around. But why and how does he become a threat? And after being resurrected so many times, how do the Keepers coax him into make-finding more of them?

I can see him slowly gaining more and more mental control over himself and the city, like in Dark City, except before he gets too powerful the Keepers kill him. Or perhaps he decides the secret that trapped him in this nightmare cycle is something to "kill" by spreading knowledge of it and at that moment the Keepers execute him - perhaps this sending of the secret into the Multiverse is how PCs get involved.

As for working with the Keepers, perhaps in some lives he is agreeable to their designs, for awhile anyway, as each time they try to adjust his memories to make him think of the life he has as being satisfying and upheld by the Keepers. But it never works out, eventually he always wants something more and this brings him and the Keepers into conflict.

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Palomides's picture
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Re: Prince Rolan and the keepers

Regarding the question of "after being resurrected so many times, how do the Keepers coax him into make-finding more of them?"; I could see this "father" being something of a tragic figure that gets brought back to life disoriented and confused with only slivers of memories from his prior existance(s).

For several months after being brought back (again), he just follows the commands of his creations because in his confusion, he doesn't know what else to do. At first the process of creation is slow (as his disorientation prevents him from summoning the will power to manipulate reality). But as time progresses, he become more of himself (i.e. his original self) and the process for creating/summoning new Keepers speeds up.
But then as his reality-altering ability grows and his original memories and personality begin to surface, he is once again viewed as a threat by his creations and is put down only to be brought back again when needed.

Perhaps this cycle has been going on for so long that his orignal memories of his precious secrets are long burried under eons of memories of his resurrected and sacrificed existance. Now he must suffer the unbearable weight of his role of a tool for the Keepers and all he truly wants is to die and not have to repeat this endless cycle.

If PCs get invovled, they could either:
1) find a way to end this cycle of resurrection (while the former Guvner would be on their side; the PCs would be opposed by the Keepers and perhaps by some embodiment of the creator's will to live - when you can manipulate realities, things like this might come out - I could see this as some shadowy figure that mystifies the PCs with its actions to thwart them, only to turn into a feral power if the PCs actually get close to ending the creator's life)
2) find a way to break the creator free. At this point (and exposure to the stomping grounds of his original life), he might start recalling some of the precious secrets he hid (including one or two that might be useful to the PCs)

P.S. I haven't seen "Dark City" so if my comments re-state the obvious or contradict the original vision, I appologize

ripvanwormer's picture
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Re: Prince Rolan and the keepers

While I think Gloomwrought does owe a debt to the movie Dark City, and that movie does deal heavily with similar themes of amnesia/secret control, I didn't mean that the ideas had to match that movie's vision or anything.

I notice in the boxed set The Shadowfell: Gloomwrought and Beyond, there are two hostile factions of keepers. The boxed set explains this rather simplistically: one faction is more evil than the other. Instead, maybe one faction wants Lord Rolan dead, considering his continued existence a blasphemy against the race's purpose, while the other is convinced that the keepers still need him alive.

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