Well, maybe he's passed through in his planar travels, but he's never had any remotely extended stay there, and the real point of it all is he knows very little of Sigil beyond the basics.
As for a long background, it's... longer than I thought it would be... :shock: I have it coming, not done yet, and won't finish tonight. Expect it tommorow.
That's fine and dandy as far as I'm concerned. I hope to see it soon.
And here is the last installment of Linji's history and background:
Linji asks, "How does one go back to living in the ordinary world after enlightenment?"
Torpellin says, "A broken mirror no longer reflects, and fallen leaves do not return to their branches".
Wu meows, "You can never return to whence you never came."
The End of the Circle, excerpts from the Unformed Circle of Linji.
In the midst of the Chaos Storm, there she was -Torpellin of the Golden Spires. Torpellin was a legend among the Githzerai -a People who revered the great among them. Torpellin was and is one of these, but she is also an outcast of the People as well, and thus holds a unique position among the Gith -becoming something of a Boogeyman among the 'zerths as well as a Hero.
Only a few hundred years ago, Torpellin was a most promising Githzerai -she not only was a skilled psionicist, but also a warrior without peer. In time, she became one of the fabled Zerth Warriors, the master wielders of the Karach Blade and the honorific protectors of the People.
Skilled she was, and she rose in prominence and power, supposedly even serving as a personal guard to the God-King himself.
In time though, she came to view the Slaad with great interest, for the Chaos Exemplars had ever been a threat to the Gith. After a period of great meditation, she determined that in order to truly *know* herself, she must also *know* her enemy. Thus, she left the presence of her people, and departed into the maelstrom of Limbo, leaving Shra'kt'lor and the People behind in the search for knowledge.
As the decades passed, all assumed she had died, a life wasted in pursuit of things not meant to be known. Such was the tragic tale of Torpellin.
However, after nearly a century since her departure, she reappeared among the Githzerai, though at first they did not recognize her.
At that time was one of the Great Modron Marches, and the Modrons en mass were transversing across Limbo. In the wake of these exemplars of law, were the Slaad, and the two battled each other -neither giving quarter to one another. This time, the March's course was leading them directly through the Githzerai city of Err'ishtok. However, the city and its inhabitants were spared the awful calamity that loomed when a large group of Slaad attacked the Modron army, causing them to veer off their original course. In the aftermath of the cosmic battle, the People of Err'ishtok sent out scouts to see if indeed the threat had truly passed (also fearing attacks from surviving Slaad).
Linji's grandfather, Gor'Rolok (who at that time was a younger Gith), was one of these scouts on that day, and it was he that came across a wounded figure that neither appeared to be Modron or Slaad. Upon closer examination, the being appeared to be a grievously injured Githzerai. Perhaps even stranger, the unconscious Githzerai was not consumed in the Chaos-soup of Limbo, but despite being wounded and unconscious was somehow still shaping Limbo -only Slaadi have ever been known to do this. Perplexed and indeed a little worried, Gor'Rolok could not leave the wounded Githzerai, for though the 'zerth's markings identified its heritage as not of Err'ishtok, the People do not abandon their own.
Bringing the strange Githzerai back to the City Elders in Err'ishtok, they were amazed at the strange Slaad-like tattoos that covered the female Gith's body. Their curiosity and apprehension only increased all the more when they saw that imbedded within her skull was a stone-like seal -the same kind which marks Slaadi as Death Slaadi. Despite their unease at these perplexing signs, Gor'Rolok and the others treated her wounds, and in time, she healed, regaining consciousness.
It was then, to their amazement, that this strange Githzerai woman revealed herself to be none other than Torpellin herself. It was then that she told the People of Err'ishtok of her quest and her discoveries. Almost incredulously, she claimed to have had spent the last century among the Slaadi. She taught the People of what she learned about the Slaad and their culture and ways. For many days, she taught the assembled monks of Err'ishtok in their monastery about the Slaadi. In the end, she claimed to have traveled to the Spawning Stone itself (some legends even tell that she fought and defeated the Guardian of the Stone). To her shocked, yet rapt audience, she declared she had conversed with Ssendam, the Lady of Insanity and determined that it was not Xe and the Slaadi that were insane, but all the others. To the Elders of Err'ishtok, this was blasphemy, a repudiation of the sacred teachings of Zerthimon.
Torpellin withstood their ridicule, and in turn rebuked them as fools, confounding them with their own words. And then, just as mysteriously as she appeared, Torpellin of the Golden Spires departed into the nothingness-yet-everythingness of Limbo. And while most were unsure what to think of her story and words, nearly all of the monks of Err'ishtok left to follow her and learn of her seemingly heretical wisdom. Only Gor'Rolok remained, burdened with secret sorrow at her leaving, or perhaps by his not leaving.
Time passed as it is perceived in Limbo, and in time, Gor'Rolok's daughter matured and left for the Astral, and yet the monastery remained empty and Err'ishtok. However, the stories of Torpellin spread among the People. The main tellers of her tales came from the monks who had left Err'ishtok. While many claimed to have searched for Torpellin in vain, other claimed to have eventually found her, and studied with her the *truth* of Teotl. Several of these then in turn took in disciples, and it is through this group of Githzerai that most of the People's knowledge comes from about the Slaadi and their ways. Rumors still abound about Torpellin, most claiming she still lives among the Slaadi, ever learning.
The teachings of her self-proclaimed disciples are seen by most of the People as foolish nonsense at best, or heretical insanity at worst. However, the small unorganized group still exist at the fringes of Githzerai society, practicing their strange ways -among the People of Zerthimon, they are often called the Teol'tl'Kensh'ka, roughly translated in translated into Planar Common as The Disciples of Chaos, or Chaos-Monks.
Linji had heard of these Teol'tl'Kensh'ka, and their mysterious founder while living in Err'ishtok, though they were often portrayed as disturbed souls. In fact, when his grandfather, Gor'Rolok, would criticize Linji for his lack of focus or inquisitiveness, he would often hear the old Githzerai exclaim that "the Touch of Torpellin is too strong in this Zerthling".
Understandably then, Linji was amazed as he swam through the currents of Limbo, to arrive at a chaos-shaped mountain, floating in the soup, and at the very peak of the mountain was sitting in a cross-legged, meditative stance was the fabled Torpellin.
Reverently, Linji walked the slope till reaching the top, and circling three times, he sat down beside this legend before his eyes. However, Torpellin did not open her eyes or move from her reverie. Thus, Linji sat for time-seemingly-unending. However, as moments passed, he began to feel the currents of the Chaos-Maelstrom above them change, as would the mountain -and in these changes, Linji saw much, yet little of it he understood. Questions filled his mind, but yet neither did Torpellin move from her inner meditation nor did Linji dare disturb her, so he continued to wait. He pushed aside his thirst and hunger and ignored the ache of his cramped muscles, and just as he was about to break his vigil, he sensed the presence of something coming from the bottom of the chaos-mountain. Opening his eyes, he saw a Gray-skinned Slaad climbing the slope. Afraid and curious at the same time, Linji watched as the lone Slaad reached the top, and only then did Linji notice that Torpellin had awakened from her deep meditations.
Neither the Slaad nor Torpellin paid much attention to Linji, but instead, the Slaad began to speak to Torpellin. However, Linji was all but baffled by its words, for despite his training in the Slaad tongue, its speech -though Slaadi- made little to no sense to Linji, though Torpellin seemed to understand, occasionally asking some small question or making some comment. In the end, Linji realized that the Slaad was asking Torpellin for some kind of answer or insight. Her answer was very short:
"AnMitz izCatqUi OMeTeotL, mIctia YehaUnzitzIn!"
And although Linji understood the words at the time as translating as:
"If you meet the Ometeotl, kill it!",
It would be long before Linji truly understood her words. However, at her words, the gray-skinned Slaad was initially shocked, but as comprehension flooded its frog-like eyes, a radical transformation took place, and its eyes became like shining stars, and its whole body expanded, while its skin became bright and luminescent, losing the muted charcoal gray to become a brilliant white, with long-hidden hues that shifted like a prismatic sun.
Shielding his eyes from the intense light, Linji witnessed the now-white Slaad leap into the Chaos-sky, soaring away into its ever-changing sea.
Stunned and awed at the sight which he witnessed, and confounded as his mind tried to understand what he had just seen, he was dimly aware that other Slaadi had started climbing the slope, and it was not too long before others started to ask Torpellin for wisdom and insight.
Time passed, and the maelstrom was churned, as not Slaadi bickered with each other arguing and sometimes fighting, while others thought long and silently of their thoughts. But each time, Torpellin's response caused the Slaad to ponder her cryptic words. Not all received such glorious enlightenment as the first -some left in deep pondering, while others left in obvious frustration and confusion.
One such example that Linji witnessed was an arrogant Green Slaad that approached, its bright green hide ornamented with robes and rings that bespoke of arcane might.
Though Linji did not hear his question nor Torpellin's answer (he was busy pummeling a Red Slaad that had tried to eat him), he did witness the result -the Green's face twisted in painful confusion, losing its confident swagger, and soon began to shrink, and shrivel, its once emerald like hide, turning a mud-brown hue, and it soon lost its balance and slid down the mountain, past the view of the supplicants.
His hunger long since forgotten, Linji sat and watched and listened as the throng came and went, till at the end, only Linji and Torpellin remained.
Just as Torpellin seemed ready to close her eyes and meditate again, Linji could wait no more and asked her to teach him the ways of Teotl and all she had learned so that he too could do as she just had.
The response she gave was unexpected.
Torpellin smiled a kind, patient smile of a grandmother, and then reached out and took hold of a tea cup (Linji does not know where it came from, it just was there).
Setting it down before Linji (as is the custom for a visiting Githzerai), she began to pour steaming tea into the tea-cup. She poured until Linji's cup was full, and then she kept on pouring, the tea overflowing and still she poured seemingly oblivious to the hot tea that was flowing down the mountain, causing steam vapors to rise into the air.
Linji watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. He declaimed, "It is overfull. No more will go in!"
Torpellin stopped, and then looked into Linji's eyes, her face nearly concealed behind the veil of steam:
"Like this cup," Torpellin said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you the *truth* of Teotl unless you first empty your cup?"
Dumbfounded by her seeming rebuke, Linji could only watch in stunned silence as the steam vapors concealed her from his view. As they cleared, Linji saw that Torpellin was gone.
As he began to ponder her words atop the chaos-mountain, he looked down at the overfilled tea cup. Grasping it in his hands, he watched the tea's steam rising like a white smoke into the churning chaos-soup above. Almost hypnotically, he watched as the vapors mingled with the tides of Limbo, revealing their flow and shape -almost beckoning like a path. Without hesitation, Linji left the mountain and followed the steam vapors till he felt the pull of a strong current, shaping the Limbo around him to allow him to breathe and move.
Linji traveled for some time, losing any sense of even arbitrary or relative direction, until he came across another traveler in the Chaos-soup, a human ranger-planes traveler named Zhao-Zhou.
The two conversed for some time, and during which Zhao revealed that he was traveling to Zerth'Ad'lun to speak with Sensei Belthomias. Linji agreed to guide and travel with the man as he knew the "way".
As they traveled together, Zhao talked much of his travels and of his homeland of T'ung-L'ung, which was supposedly part of an Empire called Shou, on a Prime world. Zhao told of several of his exploits on the Planes, including his experiences in Sigil, the fabled City of Doors.
Linji listened and in turn explained of his time in Err'ishtok, and then later as a Zerth Cenobite, and most recently with his becoming a Chaond and meeting of Torpellin.
Linji greatly enjoyed talking with Zhao who seemed to take his story in stride, and thus Linji and Zhao arrived at Zerth'Ad'lun. Together they were able to gain an audience with the venerable Sensei. While Linji related his somewhat disturbing tale to Sensei Belthomias, Zhao inquired after certain teachings of zerthi -in particular the use of Chronolilies. Zhao thanked the knowledgeable Githzerai, and went to leave the monastery, but Linji stopped him and offered to travel with Zhao as a guide. Zhao agreed, and the two left together in search of a Slaad named Iddo the Indigo, a mysterious Slaad who supposedly was a seer of past and future.
Through myriad adventures, Linji and Zhao eventually found the Slaad-Seer, which told them of Tonalli -the Cadence of the Timestream, and that Zhao (and Linji's) path was on the Ethereal Plane, in the Xochitl-Cahuitl, or the Garden of Time.
Though Iddo's prophecies were cryptic and jarring, the pair headed to the Ethereal (using Sigil as a waymeet).
After some travels through the Ether, during which time, Linji thought often of Torpellin's teachings, the two planes-travelers reached the fabled Garden of Time, which was a field of Chronolilies floating in the Ether, their proto-matter roots tangled together.
However, Linji and Zhao were not the only ones who sought the power of the Chronolilies: the Garden was already being used by a group of Ethergaunts.
Since Chronolilies turn black and useless in the presence of evil, the vile Ethergaunts could not directly use the oracular power of the gargantuan flowers. Instead, the Khen-Zai (as they call themselves) had captured a tribe of Nathri, called the Bakris, and had dominated and intimidated them to working as slaves for the Ethergaunts, tending to the delicate flowers and acting as oracular mediums for the Ethergaunt's insatiable desire for knowledge. For what foul purpose they sought to use this ill-obtained knowledge of the past and future is unknown to Linji, but the situation became even worse when Linji and Zhao spotted a Chronotyran, a fiend-like temporal entity that acted as warden for the Garden, which seemed at least superficially to be in alliance with the Ethergaunts.
However, Zhao was not deterred, and not wanting to abandon his friend, Linji followed the ranger. Together they planned on attempting to free the Nathri, and hoping they would turn against the rest of the Ethergaunts, and while the rest would be busy with the resulting chaos, Zhao could attempt to use the power of the Chronolilies.
Initially, the plan seemed to be worked: Linji and Zhao were able to dispatch the few Reds actively guarding the enslaved Bakris tribe, and it even seemed that with the Nathri's help, they might be able to overcome the Etherguants.
However, just as Zhao went to try to activate the oracular power of the Chronolilies, the Chronotyran appeared, decimating the Nathri rebellion. Though Linji survived its storm of adamantine feathers and its killing sonic shriek, the temporal raptor then literally summoned up the Ghosts of the Past, sending forth a wave of spectres. Against them, Linji was no match. He tried to flee, but their soul-stealing touch siphoned his soul, draining memory by memory. Just as doom seemed inevitable, Iddo the Indigo appeared, and attacked his nemesis the Chronotyran. The Spectres disappeared, and weakly, Linji sought to find his friend and escape, for despite the appearance of Iddo, the Ethergaunts had rallied and were easily subjugating the surviving Nathri -so devastating had been the Chronotyran's power.
However, Zhao was gone -where he once was, now only drifted a swath of torn and bloodied Chronolilies. All that remained of Zhao was one of swords, shattered, and his cloak, torn and drenched in blood. Looking back, Linji could no longer see what became of the battle between Iddo and the Chronotyran, but it was obvious that soon the last of the Nathri would be slain or captured. Despite the apparent death of his friend, Linji could not afford to linger, and so he quickly took up the remains of Zhao's sword and cloak, and fled through the ether.
Leaving the Garden of Time far behind, he drifted among the ether, mourning his friend and attempting to heal his wounds (though the touch of the ghosts had permanently stripped portions of his life away, leaving him feeling empty inside). However, Linji did not long despair or mourn, but followed his path that he had taken with Zhao to the Portal that led to the City of Doors.
Entering, Linji began anew, first wandering its streets and learning from experience some of the good, the bad, and the ugly of Sigil (Linji came to know there was a lot of the last two). After a while he lost the "less" to the "Clue" and went to Zhao's old residence -a small apartment in the Lower Ward. There, he found Wu, the Aoskian Hound. Together, the two wandered as vagabonds within the city, without apparent purpose, but finding meaning in simply being and becoming.
This has gone on for the last two years of Linji's life, and during this time, he has traveled with the Painter (during which time Wu obtained his current "colorful coat", trained at the Great Gymnasium with the Ciphers, spent time with Modrigaaz's band of thugs, and hung out in the Great Bazaar with members of the Free League, and debated philosophy in the Lady's Ward with other pundits of religon and ideaology.
Such is Linji.
Great work as always Dialexis,
Torpellin stopped, and then looked into Linji's eyes, her face nearly concealed behind the veil of steam:
"Like this cup," Torpellin said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you the *truth* of Teotl unless you first empty your cup?"
Dialexis, again great work with Linji, its begening to look like the seed for some sort of literary venture!
Anyway, as an answer to DK's question about M'rek's trip to Sigil, I would like to add a few more facts, but leave the last stretch itself in the capable hands of our DM. Here is what I have to say, which offers an indirect tie-up with Linji's story:
(by the way, where can I find more material about the ethereal, ethergaunts and other creatures that might leave there?)
After leaving his tribe, M'rek travelled the ether at length, not really knowing what path to take, and trusting the power of the seer's prophecy to lead him where he must go. Occasionally he would come upon the traces of Nathri clans, and would seek them out to tell of his mission and confer with their Shaman Seers. Fortunatelly S'leikh was well renowned amongst the Nathri and the mention of his name, allied with the simple curiosity of his kin about his story and the legend of the demon-wolf (as it became known amongst the people of the ether) was enough to forestal agression from even the bleakest Nathri.
In this journey, M'rek learned a great deal about his people, the things that unite and differentiate the various clans, and the universal plight of his people roaming the ether, divided, many time suspicious even of their kin, most often than not hungry and always affraid of being overpowered, killed or ensalved by the various dangers of the ethereal.
It was towards the last leg of his journey that he met the first signs of the Bakris, a clan that had been enslaved by the Ethergaunts, and believed lost by the people. Despite that, M’rek identified the ether- marks that only the Nathri know how to read and which indicated the existence of at least some Bakris still roaming the ether. His curiosity picked, he followed the marks and came upon a scout, who was delighted to take him to a well hidden island of harder protomater where the last remnants of Bakri still lived, leading a guerrilla war against the ethergaunts who had enslaved most of the clan. The group was lead by an old, almost blind Shaman (Seer Mafreez Vek)and her apprentice. During their shared meal of processed protomater (flavored by M’reks infamous seasoning, which was much appreciated by the Bakri) M’rek heard the sorrowful story of the clan’s imprisonment by the ethergaunts and their forced work on the chronofields. But he also heard their beautiful tale of redemption and release. After many ears under the harsh captivity of the ethergaunts the Bakri had become downcast and resignated to their plight, lacking the energy to muster any kind of resistence. It was then that a pair of heroes came from the mists to save the Bakris. The duo ably ambushed the guards and urged the Bakris to rise against their oppressors. Such was the earnestness and the zeal in their eyes that something again began to stir in the heart of the clan, an idea and a new taste for freedom. The clan raised as one against their oppressors, while the heroes went to save Marfreez Vek, whowas being forced to scry time for the Gaunts). In this too they were successful, and Vek quickly led them to the chronollillies field, only to be ambushed by the chronotyran Ixh’charz. In a last act of gallantry, Zhao leaped on top of Marfreez, saving her life at the cost of his own, while Linji, led the tyran away from the seer. During the fight, many, most of the Nathri perished, but Marfreez managed to recover from the tyran attack and sumon her magic and allied spirits to enable at least some of her people to escape, aided by the appearance of a big magical slaad. Those Nathri who did not escape threw themselves madly against the gaunts with renewed vigour, making sure that they would not be again captured alive. None were! Now, the gaunts do not have enough slaves to do the work the Garden of Time, and the Bakris can stand proud that, because of them, and two heroes of legend, the enemies of the people have beeen twarted.
The next day/cycle, the warriors of the Bakris, to commemorate M’rek’s arrival, left their hideout to ambush an ethergaunt patrol. It was a momentous occasion and Mafreez fasted for a long time in order to summon the clan’s champion spirit who would aid in their hunt. To his surprise, the spirit was not another Nathri, but a human, who fought with two beams of light against the ethergaunts. On that momentous day, M’rek had the honour to kill his first ethergaunt, fighting alongside the spirit hero of the Bakris, the human ranger they called Zhao.
After that M'rek travelled far and wide along the ether, seldom meeting any adventures, until finally arriving at the fabled and frightening city of Sigil.
Dialexis, again great work with Linji, its begening to look like the seed for some sort of literary venture!
Anyway, as an answer to DK's question about M'rek's trip to Sigil, I would like to add a few more facts, but leave the last stretch itself in the capable hands of our DM. Here is what I have to say, which offers an indirect tie-up with Linji's story:
(by the way, where can I find more material about the ethereal, ethergaunts and other creatures that might leave there?)
After leaving his tribe, M'rek travelled the ether at length, not really knowing what path to take, and trusting the power of the seer's prophecy to lead him where he must go. Occasionally he would come upon the traces of Nathri clans, and would seek them out to tell of his mission and confer with their Shaman Seers. Fortunatelly S'leikh was well renowned amongst the Nathri and the mention of his name, allied with the simple curiosity of his kin about his story and the legend of the demon-wolf (as it became known amongst the people of the ether) was enough to forestal agression from even the bleakest Nathri.
In this journey, M'rek learned a great deal about his people, the things that unite and differentiate the various clans, and the universal plight of his people roaming the ether, divided, many time suspicious even of their kin, most often than not hungry and always affraid of being overpowered, killed or ensalved by the various dangers of the ethereal.
It was towards the last leg of his journey that he met the first signs of the Bakris, a clan that had been enslaved by the Ethergaunts, and believed lost by the people. Despite that, M’rek identified the ether- marks that only the Nathri know how to read and which indicated the existence of at least some Bakris still roaming the ether. His curiosity picked, he followed the marks and came upon a scout, who was delighted to take him to a well hidden island of harder protomater where the last remnants of Bakri still lived, leading a guerrilla war against the ethergaunts who had enslaved most of the clan. The group was lead by an old, almost blind Shaman (Seer Mafreez Vek)and her apprentice. During their shared meal of processed protomater (flavored by M’reks infamous seasoning, which was much appreciated by the Bakri) M’rek heard the sorrowful story of the clan’s imprisonment by the ethergaunts and their forced work on the chronofields. But he also heard their beautiful tale of redemption and release. After many ears under the harsh captivity of the ethergaunts the Bakri had become downcast and resignated to their plight, lacking the energy to muster any kind of resistence. It was then that a pair of heroes came from the mists to save the Bakris. The duo ably ambushed the guards and urged the Bakris to rise against their oppressors. Such was the earnestness and the zeal in their eyes that something again began to stir in the heart of the clan, an idea and a new taste for freedom. The clan raised as one against their oppressors, while the heroes went to save Marfreez Vek, whowas being forced to scry time for the Gaunts). In this too they were successful, and Vek quickly led them to the chronollillies field, only to be ambushed by the chronotyran Ixh’charz. In a last act of gallantry, Zhao leaped on top of Marfreez, saving her life at the cost of his own, while Linji, led the tyran away from the seer. During the fight, many, most of the Nathri perished, but Marfreez managed to recover from the tyran attack and sumon her magic and allied spirits to enable at least some of her people to escape, aided by the appearance of a big magical slaad. Those Nathri who did not escape threw themselves madly against the gaunts with renewed vigour, making sure that they would not be again captured alive. None were! Now, the gaunts do not have enough slaves to do the work the Garden of Time, and the Bakris can stand proud that, because of them, and two heroes of legend, the enemies of the people have beeen twarted.
The next day/cycle, the warriors of the Bakris, to commemorate M’rek’s arrival, left their hideout to ambush an ethergaunt patrol. It was a momentous occasion and Mafreez fasted for a long time in order to summon the clan’s champion spirit who would aid in their hunt. To his surprise, the spirit was not another Nathri, but a human, who fought with two beams of light against the ethergaunts. On that momentous day, M’rek had the honour to kill his first ethergaunt, fighting alongside the spirit hero of the Bakris, the human ranger they called Zhao.
After that M'rek travelled far and wide along the ether, seldom meeting any adventures, until finally arriving at the fabled and frightening city of Sigil.
Azriael,
Glad you liked the background -as well as picking up on the Koan. There are a lot of subtle Koan references throughout Linji's writings (as well as Nahual=Aztec allusions). None are necessary in reading to understand, but its always a nice kick to hear someone catch one.
JoR,
Wow! I love the development and the tie-in (I have to admit such was my secret desire that we might be able to intertwine our backstories -though I wasn't looking for Linji to become a hero either, but heh?) I really love the development you have done for the Nathri -Bakris included.
In RL mythology, the Bakris were a group of seers that prophecied by being possessed by nature spirits. I thought the tie-in, allusion was nice.
I really like the blind shaman character as well. Also the element of the Nathri throwing themselves into battle for the tribe, choosing to live free or die -such is the Githzerai way (as well as ancestral reverance, but no worship of Gods).
As for ethereal denziens, check out planewalker's revision of the Creature Codex: Denzien's of the Transitive Planes (on this site, download for free).
I have some sites on ethergaunts, but I'll have to post those later.
But, I really, really hope we all haven't put our heads on the DM's chopping block -meaning I hope Ducluck digs all this, and haven't caused him trouble but helped (DMing is tough enough).
The only trouble you are in danger of causing me is eye-strain. When I first started this thread, I figured I could get some people who would be fairly interested, but I had no idea you all would be so enthusiastic! It is not an unwelcome development.
A couple things of note, I'm not sure how Lingi would have been able to pummel a red slaad singlehandedly. More likely the Red just got bored and stopped fighting. That's the sort of thing Slaadi do. Etherguants are described in the Fiend Folio, in case you were wondering. I want to keep the time travel and (accurate) prophesizing to a minimum. Too much awareness of the future kills the suspense and can adversely affect the continuity of the story. Just keep that in mind.
Next up on the docket, we have the tale of how M'rek the Nathri made it from the Ethereal to Sigil. If you don't mind, that is a story I would like to tell:
M'rek had walked the border ethereal for days, hiding from the hunters of the ether and searching for the proper path. He never did find it. Just as he was begining to feel the pangs of hunger, M'rek heard a growling in the distance and saw a curious sight, a curious tentacled creature that looked like a giant, starved cat was making its way through the ether. Curiously, it seemed to only be visible about half the time, where it was the other half of the time, M'rek would soon find out. As he watched the strange beast move, he suddenly had the urge to flee. Before he could move more than a few feet though, the strange best disapeared, and reappeared right in front of him! The creature growled and swung at him with its tentacles, but before M'rek could succumb to their sting, M'rek heard a crowl behind him, and a strange canine creature with a yellowish coat leapt to his aid.
Both creatures' eyes shown with intelligence, and their actions showed a fire rage that nothing but blood would cool. It would have been a bloody battle, fought across two planes with teeth and claws and tentacles, except the Blinkdog had a rider the rider was a pinkish-skinned creature similar in size and shape to a Nathri, except that he looked well-fed and soft around the edges. The mounted warrior wore armor the shone even in the misty gloom of the ethereal, and he carried the wickedest looking Morningstar that M'rek had ever seen. When the Displacer Beast attacked, the Gnome, for that's what the rider was, raised his his deadly weapon high, and brought it down into the beast's skull. That's when a dozen more of the beasts appeared. Sensing that the situation was untenable, the gnome and blinkdog turned to flee, but before they did, the gnome took pity on doomed Nathri, and grabbed him and teleported away before the Displacer beasts could close in.
---------------------
The gnome's name was Chancewell. He was a Paladin from the gnomish island kingdom of Sussend on the Prime world of Backwater. He had been sent by his knightly order to investigate a report of kobold activity and had talked his semi-faithful steed, into accompanying him. When the Blinkdog got a wiff of his natural enemy the Displace beast, he went to investigate. Which led to them saving a weird green creature from the Ethereal who acted like he'd never seen the sky before. Eventually, Chancewell and the Nathri got to talking, and when he heard mention of the green-skinned traveler's destination, he immediately recalled stories of the fabled planar city of Sigil which sat atop an infinitely tall mountain. Of course, Chancewell had no idea how to get to Sigil, The best he could do to help the traveler out was to point him in the direction of a portal to Bytopia.
-----------------
It was a warm afternoon in the Bytopian village of Goodwhittle, when a strange man with green skin and wild features appeared in town. None among the gnomes had ever seen his kind before, and most looked at him fearfully remembering horrible tales of the glarzat, the purely mythical goblin-gnome hybrid that this creature so closely resembeled. The gnomes might have attacked the creature, had not the placid nature of the plane stayed them. Instead they stared at him with a mixture of fear and curiosity as he walked into the town looking flabbergastedly in all directions, especially up.
The gnomes did not know what to make of him, and finally they forced to mayor to go out and speak with them. The strange green creature told them his name was M'rek and he was trying to get to a place called "See-Jill." After a long conversation and much offered hospitallity, the mayor told the stranger that he did not know of any portals to Sigil that from this part of Bytopia, but he did know of a portal to Bytopia's Gatetown, Tradegate, that would at least put him on the right plane. The strange traveler thank him, and returned to his journey.
-------------------
By the time M'rek arrived on the Outlands, he was in a state of perpetual incredulousness. Therefore, when he stepped out of the portal and saw a weird creature that resembled a giant eyeball with fangs and eyestalks haggling over what appeared be several barrels full of dead rodents with a cadre of two-foot-tall reptillian creatures wearing breastplates and holding spears, he didn't even notice. He was too busy looking at the massive mountain in front of him and the curious floating ring above it. That was his destination, and he was close all he had to do was find the right path.
Haha! What did you think of that?
There used to be a really good fan-made Ethergaunt article on the Pits of Evil forums but that site doesn't seem to be operating anymore. I found this one through google and it looks a lot like the other. I'm really not suer what's going on with the rest of this link but the Ethergaunt stuff is near the middle/bottom (it's a big post) http://shirox.free.fr/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2212&start=30&sid=f16527807c741a1dff1d688cae3d1c6a
Long Background: Cortek, Part 1
(tell me if I wrote anything that warrants correction, I'll get to part 2 afterwards.)
By and large, the Zenythri are an enigmatic race. No particular parents or processes can be pinpointed in how they come to be, though many people among the multiverse have their own ideas on the subject(Though, Cortek, like most Zenythri, is loathe to senseless navel-gazing on how he came to be.)
Regardless of how he came to be there(plot hook?), he was first found near the edge of the town of Courage, an abandoned infant. Where he surely would've died in most any other town or plane, the Gate Town to the LG/LN Plane of Arcadia was host to many a generous soul, including one Half-Celestial Paladin and proud Hardhead, Carseav. Carseav saw this abandoned infant and didn't require a moment to know what that purplish-blue skin tone was. He knew that this abandoned child was a Zenythri, and that though he had been abandoned by whatever immoral parent or force left him there, it was now his duty to ensure that such predisposition toward order in a child wouldn't go to waste.
Adopting him as a second son(in addtion to his human wife's upcoming child, an Aasimar), he named him Cortek. A few months later, Hakkon, Carseav's biological son was born. Cortek and Hakkon grew up together with their father on fables of order, good, and righteousness, and excerpts from the Book of the Harmonium. Knowing Celestial blood didn't run through Cortek, Carseav spent more time reinforcing the concepts on him, often instilling a feeling of jealousy and a sense of favoritism into the younger Hakkon.
Despite this, Hakkon and Cortek were great friends all through their childhood. Cortek was the big brother figure, despite not even being a year older than Hakkon, and Hakkon looked up to him as much as he was jealous of the extra attention he received from their father. As the siblings approached adulthood, Carseav was proud to have them both follow him into service with the Harmonium, he believed they'd learned the precepts upon which he lived well, and that they'd carry on the beliefs with him.
When they enlisted formally, Hakkon opted to be squired to a Paladin, and become one just as his father, while Cortek, ever the focused individual, took apprenticeship to a martial Fighter of some renown, to study pure weaponry without the faith. This troubled Carseav to a degree, but he ultimately remained confident in the wisdom he'd imparted to Cortek: he'd been a remarkable student, who soaked the philosphies of the Harmonium like a sponge.
Time passed, training ended, and green assignments began. They were to accompany a diplomatic squad on journeys to arrange various agreements with NG and CG organizations on planes such as The Beastlands, Arborea, and Ysgard. Cortek and Hakkon had little to do with the actual diplomacy, they were just enforcers, and observing the more experienced Harmonium do what Harmonium do. Naturally, passing through multiple stops across multiple planes, this was an extended trip over a few months.
During this assignment, Cortek and Hakkon saw for the first time what non-Arcadians, even good natured ones, could feel about the Harmonium's tenets. Over the course of these months, the consistency of the declining replies, and blasphemous reasoning espoused by the residents on these planes almost totally destroyed the magical feeling of being a member of the faction that would bring true harmony to the multiverse.
What really killed the feeling was the stops in Ysgard. This was only a half-good plane, and primarily chaotic. Touring a plane where the diplomatic contacts couldn't even agree on basic morals across the board was the last straw for Cortek. Returning to Arcadia, Cortek wanted to be transferred to a more combative effort right away...
"My patience regarding talk is officially gone, I require an assignment where force of arms is the accented component."
Hakkon was taken aback by his adopted brother's stern tone. "Well, wait a minute. If it was so easy to get the good races to agree to combat chaos and evil, why didn't the good powers do it long ago?"
Cortek required no time to prepare an appropriate rebuttal. "Because they're about as powerful as us when it comes to seeing the truth. Are there not Evil and otherwise false-believing powers as well?"
Hakkon fell silent for a time, lost in the saddening wisdom of his big brother's words.
"I'm keeping my endeavors to those of the blade henceforth. I'm going to request my next post to be on the efforts toward reclaiming Menausus. You do whatever you want." and with that, Cortek left...
Hakkon followed regardless. Their next destination was the now layer of Mechanus, Menausus, to aid the Harmonimum's battle efforts against the Modrons to regain the former layer of Arcadia.
Arriving on Menausus, Cortek's first impression was strangely positive. Mechanus didn't seem too terrible, and whatever it had done to Menausus in the shift hadn't made it poisonous to his tastes. But the purpose of him and his comrades was to fight, to take back the lost layer of Arcadia for the right reasons. The main enemy was Modrons, but Formians were also present in large numbers.
It was nice to simply swing his blade through foes in the name of what he believed...or would have been. These weren't foes. The Modrons live in perfect order, with a flawless caste system, and execute their tasks without questions of loyalty or reward, and with maximum efficiency. These creatures whom fell under the target of their faction, the Harmonium, were curiously harmonious, and this truth was imparted to Cortek and Hakkon in the hardest way possible: military defeat.
--End Part 1
I have one complaint. you misused the word "loathe" in the first paragraph. Everything else is fine and dandy. 
Edit: Well, also you called it Menausus, instead of the traditional Nemausus. I suspect you are succumbing to Formian propaganda.
Hmm, I seem to have double posted. Perhaps I hit "quote" when I meant to hit "edit?" I really wish these things had a delete option.
First of all, thanks for all the input, thanks for the lonks on ethere creatures (I have ssooo much reading to do...) and thanks DK for the nice bit of introduction to "see-gill". I really like it.
Also I was remiss in not thanking Azrial for his offer to lug my heavy stuff, thank's , but as you saw the whole idea of the sling is to have a ranged weapon in case of capture, so the ammunition might even raise suspicions...(also I found out that small characters actually may get to carry MORE equipment than a medium one with the same strength, since they can carry 2/3 of the normal amount, but armour and weapons (the really heavy stuff) weights only about half normal...)
I also enjoyed Korchuk`s story so far!
I like the trend toward long profiles. The more I know about a character, the more I can use against him, and the better my odds of causing lasting psychological harm to him. This is going to be fun.
In case you were wondering, as I read your profiles, the first question I ask is: what do they need to change? The second question I ask though, is: how can I use this against them? I'm not kidding.
Duckluck,
I'm so glad you have enjoyed our contributions -but the kudos really goes to you -the campaign premise is the catalyst for all of this (I have to admit I have pleasantly surprized as well with the degree of involvement and development -which makes for a very exciting campaign).
That said, I am really happy that our intertwining of backgrounds have been of value and accepted.
As a player and as a DM, I have always been interested in the psychological drama of the PCs -their experiences being aggregate and making them three-dimensional characters with a past, personality that is a dialectic of those two and more.
I do realize that the more character bios we give, the more plot hooks we give (which since most of D&D is conflict-based, means that most of the plot hooks result in violence and loss, with end potentiality of gain) are going to have you (as you so ablely said) first check for errors as the DM-referee, and then secondly check for ways to integrate the plot hooks into the campaign.
That said, I hope it has been enjoyable so far for you (I know it has for me!)
As for Linji pummeling a Red Slaad -well one thing is that Linji had "more levels" at that time then he does now (he lost three levels from the Spectres) -and so his ability to "pummel" a Red was greater then (though he was probably only 5th level then. Nonetheless, pummeling really was meaning Linji was matching the Red's violent expression, as to dissuade the Red that Linji wasn't a pushover, nor an easy meal (ECL 8 vs. CR 6 -pummeling possible definately). Linji doesn't claim he would have killed the Red, just returned a couple of smacks to the head to get the message of "don't eat me" across to the Red. With the degeneration of the Green, bith Linji and the Red lost interest with each other.
All in all though, it is an extremely tangental point to his background (but nonetheless wanted to explain myself),
As for Time and Prophecies, two things to keep in mind:
1. Time according to Chaos -temporal choas views there existing a nonunified dynamic infinity of timestreams. Thus, to them, nothing is ever set, and prophecies that come to naught are not looked at as being wrong. Temporal Chaos does not believe in Fate.
That said, Linji could hear a prophecy from any kind of seer and only acknowledge it as one possibility among many -and that even that one path could change. Thus, to Chaos -chronomancy and divination are not so much about answering "What", but about the "Way".
2. All of the references to such I left very vague -i.e I leave the answers to the questions to you as the DM.
For instance, I leave it up to you as to what Zhao's real mission was. Was it something totally unrelated to the campaign -or was it related to the Prophecy of the Hissing Prophet? Or some other aspect of it? Was the use of the Chronolily to discern something in the past, present, or future? (the chronolilies can do all three, but each kind/color only does one). Who sent Zhao, and for what purpose did they have? (they may have been upfront or manipulating him).
Likewise, why were the Ethergaunts so interested in the Chronolilies? Were they just interested in the vague power, or were they two looking for something specific? Was it related to the Campaign, or Prophecy? Are they directly involved? Or are they just being manipulated in turn by the Chronotyran? Is the Chronotyran involved? If so, why and is it working ofr a higher force? Is the Chronotyran dead? All of these same questions could be posed about Iddo the seer, as well.
All of the answers to these questions, I leave unto you as the DM. None are necessary to be answered -but all could be. All could be relevant, some could, or none could be relevant to the campaign -the choice is yours.
Korchuk,
Great job in giving the character background. I really like the development of his psychology, as influenced by the planar experiences in his relative youth. Is his adopted father still alive? If so, is he still a Harmonium member (or Sons of Mercy?)? Good job, nonetheless.
DK, Azriael, here
is a link designed to be a direct anwer to the stuff you pointed to previously. Reading the two makes for pretty interesting contrast as one puts the ethergaunt on a par mith demigods and the other one debunks it...the reality might lie somewhere in the middle...
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?referrerid=406019&t=246156
Hey Dialexis, what book are chronolilies and chronotryan in anyway? Is it Chronomancer? Because I don't have that.
Good news, everyone! (Cue Futurama).
My character sheet is done, and my bio is half-fleshed out.
Oberoni_Fallacy's Conjurer (Yes, I know the sheet says Wu Jen up on the title. Sssh.
The Wand of Cure Light wounds is my present to you all. David, you can access my preliminary Summon Monster list here.
Sorry I've been so late. In my defense, my insides are a ball of raging hate and acid.
_
As far as Ethergaunts, as cool as they've been made up to be, it's important to realize that what they are is a joke.
They're space aliens with Ray-Gun-Swords who abduct and enslave people on the prime material. That's what they were designed to be. I mean, they're pretty much 'Star Wars' enemies - they're telepathic and use the force, and they look like Sterotypical Hollywood Alien (except with Masks concealing horrific insides).
"course, they've been evolved to be mighty cool villians. But their origins make me laugh. Of course, I could be wrong - Ethergaunts were introduced in the Fiend Folio (3.0), which is fairly modern. 3.0 and 3.5 designers are MOSTLY past the 'Hehe, look at this!' stage (where Spell Components came from.) But not completely.
Ah, well I see that you guys already found the two links on Ethergaunts that I was going to give -I really like both -they do a great job in showing the two extremes of Ethergaunt presentations -like has been said, the truth probably lies in between.
Duckluck,
Chronolilies are detailed on Planewalker -downloadable found in the Creatures from the Transitive Plane. Other good stuff in them too.
Chronotyrans are detailed in the Fiend Folio (3rd edition)
So it is. Of course Chronotyryn are CR 19, which begs the question of how you could beat one even with the help of a powerful Slaad. Also, I don't like the notion of you being Level Drained down from a higher level. Because Level Drains, though annoying, are fairly reversible. Just keep that in mind.
OF I like the sheet (mostly I like the fact that there is a sheet at all), even though the link you sent me for the list of monsters doesn't work.
Oh and don't diss the Etherguants. Those guys have lasers. It's not good to insult people with lasers.
Edit: I have his monster list now.
Duckluck,
Well, as said before, I never said that Linji beat the Chronotyran by any measure. From most perspectives, the events in the Garden of Time could be considered an absolute failure:
1. Zhao (who was most certainly a higher 11-15th levelish character) dies.
2. Linji (who was then a 7thish level character, but ECL of 10ish) nearly dies, loses much of his soul in the process, and only then survives because Iddo serendipituously arrives and attacks the Chronotyran, distracting it long enough for Linji to escape in the Ethereal (which in the case of the plane's mists, it is quite easy to do).
3. Iddo -who in all probability was quite powerful (CR 15+) may or may not have beaten the Chronotyran -it could have totally anihilated him in one round -only you know.
4. As has been said, the rebellion of the Nathri ended with the remaining Ethergaunts killing every single one of those still fighting. The Ethergaunts did not suffer that many loses at all, but were not able to temporarily continue their efforts of temporal scrying -due only to the lose of their thralls.
Thus, Linji by no means defeated the Chronotyran -he got took -literally. He never even landed a blow on it -heh, he never even tried to get close to it -he just tried to get away.
The Chronotyran opened up with a Flurry of Adamantine Arrows -this killed a ton of the Nathri, but Linji made the Reflex save (and due to Evasion took no damage -which is statistically what would be happen).
The Chronotyrn then used his sonic screech (killing off the remaining Nathri around it -Linji made the save for half damage and then had 5 taken off from damage reduction -thus, he was injured signicantly, but not too much (this would have required Linji to make a moderately decent Fort save, not a 19, but not a 7 either).
Linji at this point was trying to escape in earnest -and with his speed was making pretty good at it (the Ethergaunt being busy-not in danger, just busy with the Nathri uprising).
However, the Chronotyran then busts out the big magic (summoning up ghosts/spectres). These attacked Linji (and maybe some others). Linji's soul being stripped away with negative energy levels.
Linji might have been doomed even then -despite having greatly speeds at that level and all.
Iddo arrived then (not that he was trying to be a hero or save Linji -the Slaad had his own reasons).
Thus, Linji survived 3 rounds of indirect presence with a Chronotyran, and only escaped due to mitagating circumstances, and still ended up losing half his life.
The point about restoring the negative levels is true -but restoration spells would not work due to the time span. The higher levels spells that could actually do so are way beyond his reach (power, contacts, and money). It also might be an in game reason for explaining why he'll jump two levels next leveling up (versus meta-game reason of Munch points paying off LA).
Also, scouts honor, I won't ever try and pay a ton of money to some high-up to regain those levels -deal?
Note that all of my summons are things that are in all reality on fire.
As far as CR 19 monstrosities go, remember that Character Backgrounds, much like the DM, move at the speed of plot. As long as it makes for a good story, I'm all for it.
I've got to say that my background will be a bit less dramatic, but maybe that's a good thing. It will involve lots of Fire, though.
Y'know, you could likely run an entire adventure with the Player Characters on the elemental plane of Fire and they would never notice. After all, things that live there probably don't notice it - just be evasive in description.
*Grumble* Fine. I don't like it though. After all, one tenent of DMing is to never give the players something for nothing. I guess it's fine though in this case.
Oh, and OF, I don't move at the speed of Plot I move mostly at the speed of improvisation. The word "plot" implies that I have it all planned ahead of time.
Ok, glad that we're all on the same page now.
OF -I really loved your character sheet -the level of work was amazing -not only in the amount, but also in the integration of so many sources to create an excellent build. All these uber-PCs and we might be having the DM getting too trigger happy, eh?
But seriously -great PC -lots of character -can't wait to get this veritable rogue's gallery together and start Duckluck's awesome campaign.
Can't wait to hear of his background (flaming gnome and all).
So, how close are we to starting? Besides OF's background, Cortek's second half, and still waiting on Perro for his character and background -is their anything else we (as PCs) need to do?
As for plotline, I certainly understand not having everything hammered out, as well as flexibility, but it definately seemed like you had/have a pretty comprehensive campaign -is this not so?
I do and I don't. I basically know how the campaign is going to start, and I know a lot of what is going to happen in the game universe over the course of the campaign, but many of the details are still up in the air. I'd tell you which parts I've settled on, and which parts I haven't, but I don't want it to be too obvious. I'm a pretty good story teller anyway, so if I do find myself improvising, there's a decent possibillity you won't notice.
Okay, we are almost ready. I still need to see Perro's character sheet, and Perro, OF, and Korchuk need to finish their profiles. After that, I need to make a final inspection of the character sheets to make sure there aren't any problems I missed. Then I will need a little while (a day tops) to do some last minute plot finanglings that I can't do before I know all the characters, and then I'll make the post that will be heard around the world (or at least wherever you folks live). This is going to be fun.
Awesome -sounds great!
Great knews on the eminence of playing!
A couple of point`s & questions:
OF: very interesting build, just a few questions based only out of curiosity and lack of many of the newest books:
a) I could not figure the spell progression for your character at all. How can he have 0 3rd level spells, but five bonus third level spells?
b) What is bulwark of reality? And what is the other one spell about scrambling true position...it might make sence for M'rek to learn it as his second 1st levl. spell...
c)true name...what's the deal with it? Does it affect spell saves? I might also want to learn mine...
d)Also where can we find alternative spell lists for conjuration...I too am tired of the same old ones from PHB...
Azriael, and DK:
Regarding the Chronotyryn we should interpret it almost like a force of nature, reagrding the final account on the battle for the Chronollillies, we should also remember that the Chronotyrin's area attacks probably did quite a lot of damage to the ethergaunts as well, especially the ones with Fort saves, killing Nathri and ethergaunts alike, thus probably significantly twarthing the gaunts plans, at least for a while...
Let me address your questions.
My spells are all from the PHB, Spell Compendium, or Tome of Magic (Truename Section). The last is simply because I wanted some unique stuff to play around with. Note that my Wand of Cure Light wounds is my present to the party. I'd use Lesser Vigor, but as far as I can tell we don't have a Cleric in the party (and Vigor isn't on the Paladin's spell list.)
Hmm. I don't have Complete Mage, and I haven't really read Tome of Magic.
And what's this jibber-jabber about the Paladin spell list? You need to actually read everything we post, because we haven't had a Paladin in the party for pages now.
I didn't see anything in the last four pages that said we *didn't* - ach, well, I'll change it to Lesser Vigor. As long as we've got *some* method of using it, Vigor's probably the better deal for Out of Combat Healing (tm).
Duckluck, if you want to read Complete Mage, drop by my house and pick it up. I'm not really using it right now.
But that would involve going outside. Aren't there bears outside?
No, the bears are only in your mind -unless of course they eat you, which means you are then in their stomachs!
But seriously,
I was actually presently surprized by Complete Mage -had a lot more value than I thought it would. Nice job in incorporating such.
Once again, not trying to step on anyone's toes, but perhaps with M'rek's backstory of appearing on the Outlands, in the gnome community-Bytopian city of Tradegate -perhaps such might be where he met OF's gnomish wizard. Just a thought.
OF -I am curious as why you listed in your AC both the Shield spell and Bulwark of Reality -it isn't like any of those two buffs last very long -or can be cast long enough to last the majority of the day. Just curious relative to format of the posting, that's all. (and once again, I really like his incorporation of variety of elements (figuratively, not literally).
Oh, and as a side note to all -I have never been able to format my posts -i.e. italicize or bold portions. I see the buttons above, but they never seem to aply when I actually submit the post. Is there something I am missing?
For some reason, you also have to manually check the "Allow BBCode in this post" box every post.
If you edit the post, you have to check it again :x
Oberoni,
Thanks for the patieence in explaining all that...really good job, but I think I'll avoid such complications as true names, etc, as my character is only marginally, at best, a spellcaster.
That being said I do see some opportunities for complementarities between M'rek and your gnome, especially since I could "steal" one of your 1st spell slots and use the energy to cast one of my two known spells on you, currently they seem to be reduce person, and prot vs evil...both of which could come in handy for your character (especially the reduce, since it gives you +2 bonus to ac (size, and dex), a +1 to hit (on touch) and an extra +5 to hide checks (+4 size, +1 dex)...the use of ProtXEvil is well known, soll feel free to use M'rek as a sort of "spontaneous spell changer"...also M'rek could perhaps profit on occasion from your wand of shield, as well as your produce flame ability (a rogue with a touch spell is MUCH more effective...)
Just a few thoughts on future startegy.
Regarding lesser vogour, I am not sure if rangers have access to it, but my interpretation (and the only reasonable explanation as to why they would be so much better than CLW, is that the vigour - i.e. the fast healing effect - only applies for wounds taken DURING the duration of the spell (is this wrong?) which would make it less than ideal for after combat healing...)
And yes, feel free to tie up with M'rek`s backstory if you wish...
Oberoni,
Thanks for the patieence in explaining all that...really good job, but I think I'll avoid such complications as true names, etc, as my character is only marginally, at best, a spellcaster.
That being said I do see some opportunities for complementarities between M'rek and your gnome, especially since I could "steal" one of your 1st spell slots and use the energy to cast one of my two known spells on you, currently they seem to be reduce person, and prot vs evil...both of which could come in handy for your character (especially the reduce, since it gives you +2 bonus to ac (size, and dex), a +1 to hit (on touch) and an extra +5 to hide checks (+4 size, +1 dex)...the use of ProtXEvil is well known, soll feel free to use M'rek as a sort of "spontaneous spell changer"...also M'rek could perhaps profit on occasion from your wand of shield, as well as your produce flame ability (a rogue with a touch spell is MUCH more effective...)
Just a few thoughts on future startegy.
Regarding lesser vogour, I am not sure if rangers have access to it, but my interpretation (and the only reasonable explanation as to why they would be so much better than CLW, is that the vigour - i.e. the fast healing effect - only applies for wounds taken DURING the duration of the spell (is this wrong?) which would make it less than ideal for after combat healing...)
And yes, feel free to tie up with M'rek`s backstory if you wish...
Korchuk. For Planewalker, you can change whether or not it bolds or not by clicking the allow BBC and HTML buttons. Or, you can just go into your profile and set it to automatically allow them. That's what I do.
JOR, I've been wrong in the past, but I'm pretty sure Fast Healing is Fast Healing and it doesn't matter when you take the damage. But hell, I can't even seem to find Lesser Vigor. Is that in the Spell Compendium?
Wheee!
Thanks for the help guys.
And, the Vigor spells, allow you to have dast healing that will heal any damage (just like normal fast healing will heal damage taken from earlier, and not necessarily from that round -it isn't like a ring of regeneration).
Ha! fianley I've done it DK here you go!
http://www.campaign-blog.com/view.php?id=3619
Hope this satisfies,and heres the rest of the background story
Where was he? His mind was fuzzy and felt like it had been beaten with metal club and his body ached like he had walked to the ends of the planes and back. The question kept bubbling to the surface"Where was he?"
"So the metal one awakes." a cold voice hissed,malice dripping from every word. He opened his eyes, no blue strings no ghostly shapes just a man dressed in black robes and smile that curdled the blood.
"Hello metal one. So nice you could wake. Do you remeber where you are?" the robed figure whispered a sneer replacing the smile. He shook his head groggily and tried to remeber. He could see streets filled with people and a city that rose to meet it's other end and men yellig for him to stop and for him to surrender.
"You have no idea do you?Good then you will prove yourself useful yet."
Confusion bubbled up. How did he get here? Where was here? Who was this man?
as if he could hear his very thoughts the man whispered " How you got here and where here is does not matter. What matters is that you have control now thanks to that torque around your neck and that someday you will prove useful to me, that and the simple fact that you are now Kadre Sliter and I am Vladius. Now be gone my little metal man."
The world turned dark and a searing pain bit his neck.
When the light returned he was standing in an alley a circlet of gold clung to his flesh and that he remembered only the fog of war war and that the blue strands before him were his to control.
Perro,
Glad to hear you're all done.
A couple of questions -not that you need to answer to me, but am curious and want to make sure that all's in order.
You have listed Hair: silver -Bladelings don't have hair (or did you mean silver as in the metallic tone of Kadre -but such isn't usually their sheen either -though with a Cha 17, I could see an exception).
It is pretty funny though that the psychotic serial killer is the most personable out of the bunch.
Also, what kind of armor is suiseen?
Your attacks are messed up (you haven't included all the modifiers to attack and damage).
Did you spend all you gp (you seem under -or is it spent with Incarnum stuff?)
How do you have a +10 miscellanious bonus to Diplomacy? And why would a psycho killer have such?
Last point -I understand that you're from Archeron and a native there, but how is your "alignment" Archeron? I mean psycho killers aren't the banality of law, but are moreso the Abyss, Carceri, or Pandemonium -i.e. Akrasia of Violence.
Otherwise, I think all we need is for Cortek's second half, and OF's background, and I think we're done, right? (Besides giving Duckluck a couple of days to work out the mess we've created for him).
Actually that kind of makes sense. A lot of psychotics do very well in society, are very personable and often rise particularly high in the field of business. It's generally because they have no compunctions about lying to people and always feel comfortable in the company of 'lessers'.
Probably a fair point in this case though since Perro seems to have drawn more from the traditional ‘thrashing, nut-job’ concept of a psychopath rather than the calm, manipulating type (which I find a lot scarier).
Good call on the alignment Dialexis
He is calm and collected. He has an amulet of Calm Person that forces him to be. Otherwise, he truns into a psychotic killer.
Anyway, Perro, your stats are weird. You used Point buy right? Or does it just look weird because you didn't know that odd numbers on abillity scores are basically worthless. Also, how many munch points have you spent and on what? I don't have time to do the fancy mathmatics required to determine what you did with your abilities.
Also, I'm not sure there is anything wrong with Acheron. There is nothing inherently lawful or unlawful about psychosis. Gehenna would probably be a better choice though, from what I've seen.
I've heard people tout a strategy for point-buy where you use a few odd scores on higher stats to maximize your level up points, which are used to get the modifiers on each stat, since it doesn't cost more after creation.
I don't subscribe to it myself, just saying.
Also, my 2nd background part is coming, I just haven't been as creative lately 
I'm just saying, with the way I let you use munch points to boost abilities, you'd think that they'd all be rounded up.
Azriael,
Yes, you are definately right about how many psychotics have high charismas, but as you further clarified, they are usually the more sly and social versus the alienating akraisa-ridden homicide.
As for Archeron -Archeron is a plane of the Banality of Law -where "the system" exists -and questioning the system is not tolerated nor endorsed nor accepted (and to the truley integrated, never occurs). The "system" (or cosmos perspective) is very close to the Sodkillers -force is the ultimate and indeed only true source of power (Power is defined in the classical political sense of getting A to do what B whats). Like Mao Zedung said, "Power begins at the barrel of a gun". Everything is are the trappings of the system and power that hang on the fundamental principle of force. Nonetheless, this principle causes those "in the system" to act according to their needs, till the individual unit is subsumed into the greater society of power-interplay (it is the realm of the pecking order -as long as you stay in line, then no further evil befalls, but the order is maintained and enforced through violence and ultimately death -in the classical sense -D&D has much worse).
Archeron is similar to Fascism -like the Nazi's who misinterpreted Will to Power and Clausewitz. As such, it is about units, versus individuals.
Thus, psychopaths who espouse regimes of banality of law, justice and order through force, blind obediance, etc, and all those psychopaths that follow said Order all are part of Archeron.
However, those who act without thinking (i.e. premeditating consideration of outcomes and ethical/moral perameters), and also without any external source of direction (social tradition, religious indoctrination, laws and orders of secular state) are not part of Archeron.
Thus, a homicidal maniac, who kills all from a psychotic perspective (i.e. psychotic means one experiencing psychosis -which is disascociation with reality) indiscriminate of external order is not of Archeron.
Also, such beings would not be of Gehenna -Gehenna is the Plane of Ambition and Political (i.e. as pertaining to Power) through Exploitation. Law may be recognized, and indeed is desirable, but it is a means to the end (whereas in Archeron it is the means and the end, since power=law=power).
Exploitation requires the semble of order (the exploiter and the exploited -and in some sense the relationship can be transitory, but usually entails some degree of solidarity for prolonged benefit to the exploiter).
Whereas the external order/law is internalized in Archeron, in Gehenna the trappings of order and law, remain external, in that the exploiter does not internalize an external set of values -only those that it personally sees to gain it advantage (and advantage is relative -meaning it is not only nor absolute, but also requires the existence of those subordinate, or perhaps superordinate).
Thus, you have Gehenna as being Evil, but with Lawful tendancies, while Archeron is Law with Evil tendancies (not, I realize the actual alignment monikers are not used by Duckluck, but the principles which they espouse are still the core of the Outer Planes).
Thus...
If Kadre is the kind of psychopath that kills from akrasia -either from a disascociated perception of reality causing his homicidal actions to be absent full cupulbility -then such is Pandemonium -possibly the Abyss.
If Kadre kills because of homicidal mania through a desire for nihilism (i.e. -I want everything else to die) and does so wantonly, then such is the Abyss.
*note, it may be that such a discussion is tangental since we (I) may not have a good picture of Kadre -the first source is the only in depth from first perspective, the second and third being more so from a third person perspective. All three seem to paint him as a psychotic homicidial maniac that kills indiscriminatly through either an akrasiac psychosis, or from a desire for external nihilism.
Also note that I don't really mind with this set up if he is Archeron or the Abyss -I just don't want us calling it the wrong thing.
Insanity is a seperation from reality. Actual intentions matter little when you no longer understand the world around you. But the Outer planes are all about beliefs rather than actions. Therefore, it is a huge misconception to think that you have to be sane to be Lawful. You simply have to be somewhat sane to act Lawfully, and even that is debatable.
On the other hand, from what I've seen, Kadre doesn't really fit the Acheronian veiwpoint very well, and Baator is all wrong. But I don't know a lot about the character, so I'm not sure whether to perscribe Gehenna, the plane of cruelty, Hades, the plane of despair, Carceri, the plane of Sadism and betrayal, the Abyss, the plane of blind hatred, or Pandemonium, the plane of creeping madness.
I have a pretty good idea of where he should go, but, I'm going to wait for Perro to explain a little bit more about his character before I arbitrarilly assign him an alignment.
Duckluck,
I absolutely agree with you that psychosis (which at the extreme is what we often term insanity) has no ethical correlation -Mechanus can be just as mind-shattering as Limbo.
Therfore, as you said, degrees of psychosis exist among both ethical alignments.
However, the manner in which they manifest is different.
For example, a C psychopath may rant and scream at unseen monkeys on his back and attempt to kill the Bleaker warden because he decides that on Tuesdays no one should have arms (but disregards that he needs arms to rip off the other arms).
On the other hand, a L psychopath may rant and scream when his clothes are not lined up perfectly and then tries to kill the warden, because the Warden that is supposed to work on Tuesday according to the schedule is sick and didn't show.
Both are what we in modern psychology would define as suffering from psychosis. Both are ranting and screaming and attempting to kill a warden that has done nothing rationally to deserve being killed.
However, the reasons for the homicide attempt and the screaming are very different. One is Lawful (meaning, deriving from a sense of codifiable externally espoused and internally adopted order) while the other is Chaotic (meaning, without internalization of any externally extant order).
But, I digress...
Also, your plane=concept ascociations are pretty good -thumbs up!
So, yeah we seem to be in full agreement -yeah!
So, as you ably stated, I guess we'll wait for Perro to fill you in. (and us, if you desire so -otherwise we'll just have to find out what kind of nut-bag Sliter is by ourselves -hehe -but, then to Linji, all are nut-bags -including himself).
Hello all:
I agree that we would need more information about Perro's character to be better able to relate to it. But maybe that is something we are supposed to do in game? I do think though that DK should get a more fully fledged character background, also with some clues if the psichotic condition is something of an ailment that might be "curable", and possibly one nice plot hook, or a natural state that can be only remedied by the colar of calm person, or things like that..as has been stated earlier, it would be quite a challenge to relate/interact with somebody with frequent bouts of psichotic violent behaviour, especially if violence is reflected back at the PC's ...
Also, and not trying to step on toes here, I think the stats might be miscalculated, from a superficial look, I do not think that it would be possible to achieve those based only on a bladeling +2 dex bonus even if Perro spent all his munch on stat increases (a 16 costs 10 points, a 14 costs 6, so the math does not add up for two 18s and one 17 which would cost at least 30, with all the munch, race and even 4th level bonus figured in...)
That's what I figured, but I didn't make the commitment necessary to prove it. Perro initially said he was rolling his stats. He may have missed it when I posted my disapproval. So I'm going to reiterate: You have to use Point Buy. I've already explained how Point Buy works, and I'll happily provide a refresher, but you have to use it.
Edit: *Sigh.* Yes those are the same stats Perro sent me earlier. Perro, a while back (I think it was page 5 or so), I told you you had to use Point Buy, and even included a rather simple explanation as to how it works. So fix your stats. Your character won't be considered "done" until you do.
Alright, we currently have five complete character sheets (pending my final review), and one incomplete character sheet. So here they are.
Kadar (Azriael)
Cortek (Korchuk)
Linji (Dialexis)
M'rek (JaggedOldRed)
Kadre (Perro)
Baba (Oberoni_Fallacy
Now here's what I want you to do. I want you guys to copy the swanky backgrounds you've posted, give them a thorough proof-reading, and maybe even *gasp* a spell-checking, and then post them in the "Other Notes" section at the bottom of your character sheets. This way, your profiles will all be in one piece, and I will be able to find them quickly.
Alright, here's how it's going to go down. OF, Korchuk, and Perro, are going to finish their background (Perro says he's done, but I need more information about the character himself), and Perro is going to fix his character sheet. While we wait for that, I'll make the final checks on the other character sheets. Simple things like asking what a Limbo Lotus does, and complex things like making sure everyone has spent the right amount of money for their items. It shouldn't take me that long though. I'll also be working on fleshing out your first adventure. So far my outline of the entire campaign is only four pages long, so more details are needed. That shouldnt' take too long either. Once that's all taken care of, which won't be more than a couple days for me, but may be postponed depending on how quickly people respond, I'll post the In-Character thread, and we'll get to work.
Why not? Sigil has more portals than any Outer plane (which, mind you, are infinitely large), with a few possible exceptions. If you hop through any random portal, there's a decent chance it will lead to Sigil. Basically, if you have traveled the Outer Planes for a while, and you've never been to Sigil, chances are it's because you chose not to come to Sigil. Also, yes this campaign will start in Sigil, although you may not stay there for very long.