So, I had a bit of an idea for us to play around with and hell, it seemed suited for us to do together. The idea is that there is an artifact that Maral is aware of, possibly MORE people are aware of, but most importantly is that it has remained elusive. Something of a white whale for Maral to chase.
The only idea that has really taken any form is the very basic concept that this artifact is a prison for something... terrible. Something that compares in devastation wrought to the more powerful things lurking in Maral's vault and whose reach has darkened as many worlds as Vasilias.
But what kind of item? What kind of being? What does it do? And what kind of history does it have?
And THAT is what I think we're going to have fun deciding. It's, after a fashion, similar to designing the Cabal. So... let's hear some ideas!
I'll start with a suggestion for what kind of creature is locked up there. Demons are fairly passe as things go, overdone, so how would people feel about it being an efreet? (Totally open to other suggestions, just throwing that out there.)
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At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
I don't know if this would work, but I want to try it:
It's a Worldsoul of a plane that was destroyed. Somehow, the Worldsoul managed to retain its existence and power despite losing its purpose. Instead, it was flung through the Blind Eternities. Bitter about the loss of its home, it started entering other planes and forcibly shaping them into reflections of the world it once protected. However, no plane can be reshaped easily, so it usually either ruined the plane completely, or ended up with such a twisted parody of its home that it turned away in disgust and sought out a new plane to try again.
...Although I do like the Efreet disguised as a Squirrel, too. Either one works, as far as I'm concerned.
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
Let's get some help from Raven and Arcades, first.
Quote:
Welcome to the plane of Egyx. It is a large plane that is a planet, and its land is mostly urbanized. It is a plane in the throes of a global revoltion, and thus a dangerous place, with several major factions. Here, things are pretty normal, all things considered. Enjoy your stay!
Egyx once had a tyrannical One-World-Government that was toppled by a loosely knit band of rebels. Upon destroying this government, however, the factions began to wage war against each other, each fighting for dominion over the plane. Whenever a faction would be defeated, new ones would rise in it name. In a hundred years, what started as a few major factions became scores of smaller ones. And the war continued just the same, even as the world about them crumbled. At some point, the emotions they generated took form, calling itself War.
War is an incarnation which feeds on war and violence, and can generate hostility on a wide scale. The wars from its home plane made it grow continuously in power. After the destruction of its plane, it began to starve, but it had gained enough power to planeshift, just as the Elder Dragons of old, and so it did. For years, War travelled from plane to plane, feeding on worlds until there was nothing left to feed on, and all that remained was ruin. Then he would do it again.
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One of War's most powerful servants is an efreet called Tatakar. Millions have killed and died under the influence of this capricious being. It took all the power of the peace-loving nature mage Nari to polymorph Tatakar into a corporeal form - a filthy scurrying rodent, a reflection of the efreet's true nature - and seal it within a living prison for the rest of days.
Okay, so this idea just sort of came to me: What if it's not one being imprisoned, but two or more that have become merged together. If we were to go with War, it could be War + other creature. Both entities are very evil, but the one is very human-feeling (but not necessarily being human) while the other is inhuman.
It could be a good being merged with the evil one as well. Like a planeswalker who merged themselves with the powerful being as part of their ploy to imprison it. Say, for instance, that the incarnation/spirit/efreet/whatever traveled from plane to plane by luring in planeswalkers, temporarily attaching itself to them, and forcing them to bring it to a new plane, most likely killing them in the process. A planeswalker loses a friend that way, and decides to stop this being once and for all. So he casts a delayed petrification spell on himself, seeks out the whatever, and uses the merging as the trigger for the spell, turning himself into a statue with the other being trapped within.
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
It could be a good being merged with the evil one as well. Like a planeswalker who merged themselves with the powerful being as part of their ploy to imprison it. Say, for instance, that the incarnation/spirit/efreet/whatever traveled from plane to plane by luring in planeswalkers, temporarily attaching itself to them, and forcing them to bring it to a new plane, most likely killing them in the process. A planeswalker loses a friend that way, and decides to stop this being once and for all. So he casts a delayed petrification spell on himself, seeks out the whatever, and uses the merging as the trigger for the spell, turning himself into a statue with the other being trapped within.
I like this idea, even if a statue is much larger than the other artifacts in the Vault.
So, for the item itself, what if the Planeswalker took the form of an angel when he sealed War (because I'm going with War for this example) inside himself. This way the statue would be put into churches and palaces. War's influence still exists, leaking out into the world, sowing discord on whatever world wherever the statue lands. It's something Planeswalkers would seek as either reusable Aether Vents (causing planes to destroy themselves), or as a way to inspire armies, so that would explain how it moved between worlds.
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
It could be a good being merged with the evil one as well. Like a planeswalker who merged themselves with the powerful being as part of their ploy to imprison it. Say, for instance, that the incarnation/spirit/efreet/whatever traveled from plane to plane by luring in planeswalkers, temporarily attaching itself to them, and forcing them to bring it to a new plane, most likely killing them in the process. A planeswalker loses a friend that way, and decides to stop this being once and for all. So he casts a delayed petrification spell on himself, seeks out the whatever, and uses the merging as the trigger for the spell, turning himself into a statue with the other being trapped within.
The primary reason I'd avoid doing this is that... the Amulet of Planeswalkers is already a thing. The Soulstone too, has already sort of played that note too, to a lesser degree.
The only way I could see it working as a statue is if it were some sort of Jinxed Idol style thing. Anything larger I don't think would work for being an object of desire. I mean, mobility would legit be an issue.
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At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
I like the idea of a powerful efreet who sows chaos through raw emotion: Something like War that moonbeam is describing, but also driving lovers to kill over their smallest spats, jealousy turns deadly, hedonists lose all control giving into the every desire for pleasure. Yes large scale war is one of the greater problems, but everyone and everything loses all reason and functions on pure emotional response.
I like the idea of a powerful efreet who sows chaos through raw emotion: Something like War that moonbeam is describing, but also driving lovers to kill over their smallest spats, jealousy turns deadly, hedonists lose all control giving into the every desire for pleasure. Yes large scale war is one of the greater problems, but everyone and everything loses all reason and functions on pure emotional response.
On the one hand, I think that might end up being a little close to the Chaos Ring, but I feel there is enough difference that it could work like that too. One of the big questions left if we went that direction would be how much awareness does it have and what form does it take? (both of those would go a long way to giving it notable differences than the chaos ring)
I imagine this is the sort of thing that would communicate with people near it in actual words rather than something more subtle.
...no, but seriously, I still prefer my original Worldsoul idea. Avoids that problem.
That's got some creative legs, I think, but I have a hard time imagining a worldsoul being trapped in an item. That would make some interesting headcanon for the Last of All though.
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At twilight's end, the shadow's crossed / a new world birthed, the elder lost. Yet on the morn we wake to find / that mem'ry left so far behind. To deafened ears we ask, unseen / "Which is life and which the dream?"
...no, but seriously, I still prefer my original Worldsoul idea. Avoids that problem.
That's got some creative legs, I think, but I have a hard time imagining a worldsoul being trapped in an item. That would make some interesting headcanon for the Last of All though.
Ah, that's what I get for not reading all the threads. I had no clue I was stepping on the toes of the Last of All, because I didn't even know the Last of All existed until you posted that. But as for an item that could trap a Worldsoul, I think I could think of something:
Zelira, the Lost Globe
Although this item looks much like the globes made by cartographers on many planes, its features do not match those of any known world. In fact, the features seem to occasionally change, as if some internal force was reshaping it. It has even been said to suddenly dissolve into a solid sphere without any features whatsoever, only to rebuild the strange map over the following weeks. The whole globe is encased in glass with strange runes etched into it, and mounted on an ornamental stand.
The globe is in fact the only remaining representation of the lost plane Zelira, and the changes are caused by Zelira's Worldsoul, which is trapped within. After the destruction of its home, the essence of Zelira was flung into the Blind Eternities, somehow retaining its character, even as its purpose was lost. It entered into another plane, and not knowing how to live without its home, it sought to force this plane into the image of Zelira. The plane wasof a completely different shape and structure, however, and Zelira's attempts to reshape it instead broke it apart, practically destroying the entire plane. Disgusted with the weakness of the project, the Soul of Zelira ventured once again into the Blind Eternities, seeking another place to establish as its new home. For years it wandered from plane to plane, sometimes being ousted either by powerful mages or a native Worldsoul, sometimes destroying the plane as it did with its first attempt, and sometimes affecting real changes, but never being satisfied with the result, and leaving the plane warped into a strange amalgamation of its natural state and the terrain of Zelira.
Finally, a crafty planeswalker identified what Zelira's true nature was, and devised a plan to trap and contain it. He crafted a miniature artificial plane, a clean canvas for the Worldsoul to work on. As he was one of the only beings alive who had ever sat foot on the plane, he was able to make his artificial version similar in many ways, despite being at such a small scale. Next he lured the Soul of Zelira into his creation, and sealed it, along with a thin layer of Æther, in a magically reinforced glass case, which allowed him to bring the entire miniature plane with him into other planes on his travels. Frustrated, Zelira's Worldsoul has turned its attention to turning its prison into a perfect representation of its lost home, but perfection is impossible, and it is never satisfied.
The planeswalker is long gone, and his possessions are scattered across the planes. The Globe, and the Soul within it, are lost, passed between collectors and scholars across the planes. Although the Worldsoul cannot escape the Globe's wards, it is said to have driven several of it's owners mad, instilling in them the need to reshape their world into the image of the Globe. Fortunately for the Multiverse, they have all been contained, and the Globe passed to new hands, before it could convince any of them to break its glass prison, and once again set it free to continue its search for a suitable plane to warp into its own reflection. If that day ever comes, may Fate smile upon us, and let the Soul of Zelira go another way.
...well, that ended up being longer than I thought it would be. I'd better get back to work now...
Now that this poll is officially over, it's time to congratulate Aaarrrgh for designing Hill, which has been decided by popular vote to be the Card of the Month for October 2013!
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