Every royal court needs a jester, and Erevan Ilesere is the Dark Seldarine’s. Perched from a tree branch, lounging in a grassy glade, or peering down from a nearby balcony, Erevan fires volleys of jokes, puns, and pointed observations to keep the elven deities alternately rolling with laughter or seething with anger. Which is just the way Erevan likes it.
No wise power turns his back on Erevan, however; nor should any mortal. He is a thief to his core and a backstabber by nature. Elven thieves worship him and elf assassins consign their blades to his care.
Erevan is also a gambler. He has a devil’s eye for knowing just what a mortal wants and what that mortal will wager to get it. But at least the Hells’ own are lawful. Chaotic Erevan, on the other hand, will cheat, lie, and invoke all the godly power he can muster to win, even against the most naïve child. Only with the other Dark Seldarine does the Dark Jester play fair (after one too many stern—and scarring—reprimands from Corellon Larethian).
Erevan loves evil pixies for their sharp wits, sharp blades, and natural invisibility. (The fact that they are handy with poison never hurts either.) His friendship with dragons—and their deities—is more complicated. He will partner with one from time to time when there is a mighty hoard or priceless artifact to gain, and more than one demon lord or stuffy deva has found herself the poorer after such a collaboration. These elf/dragon pairings are epic capers involving much wordplay, side bets, and very, very careful negotiation ahead of time of how the take will be split.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Cleric Alignment: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos, Elf, Evil, Luck, Trickery
Favored Weapon: Short sword
Monday, August 11, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
The Dark Seldarine: Hanali Celanil
Of all the Dark Seldarine, Hanali Celanil is perhaps the most beautiful, the most radiant…and the most terrifying. Her passion knows no restraints and her vengeance knows no limits. Hanali is the lover who lures servants into her bed and then calls for their master, the sadist who flays the skin of a bound slave, and the cat who toys with her prey before discarding their broken bodies.
At the dawn of time Hanali was a simple fertility goddess. But she watched avidly as the elves civilized themselves, trading their tree-bole shelters for canopy palisades, illusion-wrapped hill forts, and crystalline cities. Entranced, she abandoned the portfolio of fertility to become a deity of love, romance, beauty, and art. But like a spoiled child, she quickly became bored of each new discovery. Her quest for novelty took her down darker and darker roads, till even the fleshpots of the Abyss drew a multiverse-weary yawn. Now she hungers after new sensations, however vile.
Hanali’s worshippers are the pampered, the spoiled, the cruel lovers, the sadists. She inflames elven passions and delights in instigating trouble so she can watch the resulting ruination play out.
While rarely fruitful, careless Hanali’s liaisons do occasionally result in divine-touched elves, fey’ri (Monsters of Faerûn), and succubi. She bears all these beings with alarming speed and in total secrecy. It is whispered that more than one atropal (Epic Level Handbook or Libris Mortis) is her responsibility as well.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Cleric Alignment: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos, Charm, Elf, Evil, Magic
Favored Weapon: Dagger
At the dawn of time Hanali was a simple fertility goddess. But she watched avidly as the elves civilized themselves, trading their tree-bole shelters for canopy palisades, illusion-wrapped hill forts, and crystalline cities. Entranced, she abandoned the portfolio of fertility to become a deity of love, romance, beauty, and art. But like a spoiled child, she quickly became bored of each new discovery. Her quest for novelty took her down darker and darker roads, till even the fleshpots of the Abyss drew a multiverse-weary yawn. Now she hungers after new sensations, however vile.
Hanali’s worshippers are the pampered, the spoiled, the cruel lovers, the sadists. She inflames elven passions and delights in instigating trouble so she can watch the resulting ruination play out.
While rarely fruitful, careless Hanali’s liaisons do occasionally result in divine-touched elves, fey’ri (Monsters of Faerûn), and succubi. She bears all these beings with alarming speed and in total secrecy. It is whispered that more than one atropal (Epic Level Handbook or Libris Mortis) is her responsibility as well.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Cleric Alignment: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos, Charm, Elf, Evil, Magic
Favored Weapon: Dagger
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Bonemortar Dwarves Continued
Bonemortar dwarves have well-kept black hair and beards streaked with silver. Their skin tends to be quite pale—sometimes to the point of white—but will vary; dark tan and jaundice-yellow coloring is sometimes seen. Given their cultural history, a tendency toward dark clothing with silver, white, or yellow accents and bone or skull motifs is unsurprising. They exhibit a reticence beyond even the “dour and taciturn” dwarven stereotype. Seeing themselves as a nation under siege, too much laughing and joking is consider unseemly and occurs only in the privacy of their own apartments.
Bonemortar dwarves do not shy from horses. The height and speed horseback allows is invaluable for keeping order over their human thralls. Breeding warhorses with draft horses (similar to Clydesdales), they have created a steed with both a martial temper and the strength to carry even the most over-plated rider. Often these horses’ feathery-haired legs are incongruously augmented with steel shoes, vicious spikes, and other wicked innovations in barding. Bonemortar dwarves’ favored weapons—halberds, urgroshes, Lucerne hammers, horseman’s picks, and Lochaber axes—are all ideal for combining dwarven weapon familiarity with the realities of mounted combat.
Bonemortar Dwarf Characters
[Stats TBD]
Favored Classes: Fighter or wizard (specialists only, in the schools of abjuration or necromancy)
Dwarven defenders are highly valued by the Bonemortar clan. They also often take levels in the runecaster (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting), true necromancer (Libris Mortis), and geometer (Complete Arcane) prestige classes.
In the later two cases, it should be noted that though the Bonemortar clerics still invoke the names of the dwarven deities, their people’s turn to dark magic has divorced them from Moradin and the Morndinsamman. Any divine favors they receive thus come from other sources—in some cases, human gods of death and undeath, but mostly from a dedication to clan and a determination to survive that transcends all wordly concerns.
Bonemortar dwarves do not shy from horses. The height and speed horseback allows is invaluable for keeping order over their human thralls. Breeding warhorses with draft horses (similar to Clydesdales), they have created a steed with both a martial temper and the strength to carry even the most over-plated rider. Often these horses’ feathery-haired legs are incongruously augmented with steel shoes, vicious spikes, and other wicked innovations in barding. Bonemortar dwarves’ favored weapons—halberds, urgroshes, Lucerne hammers, horseman’s picks, and Lochaber axes—are all ideal for combining dwarven weapon familiarity with the realities of mounted combat.
Bonemortar Dwarf Characters
[Stats TBD]
Favored Classes: Fighter or wizard (specialists only, in the schools of abjuration or necromancy)
Dwarven defenders are highly valued by the Bonemortar clan. They also often take levels in the runecaster (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting), true necromancer (Libris Mortis), and geometer (Complete Arcane) prestige classes.
In the later two cases, it should be noted that though the Bonemortar clerics still invoke the names of the dwarven deities, their people’s turn to dark magic has divorced them from Moradin and the Morndinsamman. Any divine favors they receive thus come from other sources—in some cases, human gods of death and undeath, but mostly from a dedication to clan and a determination to survive that transcends all wordly concerns.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Dark Seldarine: Solonor Thelandira
If Corellon Larethian is the noble who loves a merry (or baleful) hunt, Solonor Thelandira is his master hunter, tracker, and game warden. Eschewing the life of the trouping court, Solonor hunts alone if it all possible, stalking prey with divine patience and cunning. That his quarry occasionally includes creatures that most folk would never consider game—including men, unicorns, blink dogs, metallic dragons, and the odd insufferable archon—is of no consequence to this solitary hunter.
Solonor is a good steward of the land; he never kills pregnant females or the young. But he has little patience for those who see hunting as a proxy for honor or a statement about the nature of elfhood. He brings home meat and hides, not trophies, and in a pinch he is as happy to kill with a snare, a knife, or his own bloody jaws as he is with his beloved bow.
A remote deity, Solonor does little more than provide spells to his clerics. Worshipping rangers model their behavior after him (always choosing the bow over double weapons) but rarely ask his assistance, calling on him only for the most impossible shots. Aside from Corellon, Solonor avoids communicating with other beings. The lone exception is Rillifane Rallathil, whose woods he frequents. By exterminating those who have angered the Green Regent, Solonor ensures unrestricted access to his favorite hunting grounds.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Cleric Alignment: CE, CG, CN
Domains: Animal, Chaos, Elf, Plant, War
Favored Weapon: Longbow
Solonor is a good steward of the land; he never kills pregnant females or the young. But he has little patience for those who see hunting as a proxy for honor or a statement about the nature of elfhood. He brings home meat and hides, not trophies, and in a pinch he is as happy to kill with a snare, a knife, or his own bloody jaws as he is with his beloved bow.
A remote deity, Solonor does little more than provide spells to his clerics. Worshipping rangers model their behavior after him (always choosing the bow over double weapons) but rarely ask his assistance, calling on him only for the most impossible shots. Aside from Corellon, Solonor avoids communicating with other beings. The lone exception is Rillifane Rallathil, whose woods he frequents. By exterminating those who have angered the Green Regent, Solonor ensures unrestricted access to his favorite hunting grounds.
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Cleric Alignment: CE, CG, CN
Domains: Animal, Chaos, Elf, Plant, War
Favored Weapon: Longbow
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Bonemortar Dwarves
So my original plan was to post new subraces, tribes, cities, gods, etc. Monday/Wednesday/Friday, with the occasional commentary on Tuesdays or Thursdays when inspiration struck. Miraculously, I’ve managed to post every weekday for over four weeks. I’m going to try to keep that streak going, but in the process I may play a little bit with which content shows up on which days.
Since presenting the Dark Seldarine pantheon for your evil and neutral elves to worship is monopolizing the MWF posts, we’ll take today to look at a new clan of dwarves…
Some nations, when confronted with an undead menace at their borders, become beacons of light for the world. In these proud bastions, embattled paladins and clerics stand against all that is blasphemous and vile. The very threat that hangs over them throws their nobility into sharp relief.
Other nations do not. Lacking the fire of faith or reason or charity, these nations decide—consciously or not—that the only way to survive great evil is to become it. They stare into the face of their nemesis until they become its mirror.
The Bonemortar dwarves are a terrifying clan who make their homes on the slopes of the Kartacian Mountains. For centuries, the Bonemortar dwarves toiled under the pallid thumbs of a line of necromancers, who were themselves locked in a never-ending struggle against a triumvirate of lich-kings who claimed the Kartacians as their own.
Naturally, these necromancers relied on their dwarven serfs for the skill of their stonework. But the Bonemortar dwarves were powerful in magic as well. Like most dwarves, they were masters of the ancient art of runes. But they lacked their race’s usual prejudice against arcane casting, lacing their glyphs with abjurations to create fortifications of unearthly strength.
Even so, the lich armies hammered at the dwarves and their overseers. Skeletal hordes, bone wyverns, and siege engines of nightmarish proportions broke through their walls and tore down their gates. And so the Bonemortar dwarves tapped the might of their masters and learned the necromantic arts as well. To their rune-carved stones they added mortar made from the bones of countless creatures, including their own dead. In doing so, they earned a new name.
And the walls held.
The tide turned, and soon one of the lich-kings was crushed into powder by the combined might of the dwarves and the spell-slinging of their human liege, Velshard II. The dwarves then turned on the weakened wizard and reclaimed their freedom. Now they exercise dominion over all his lands and beyond, while still weathering the onslaughts of the remaining two undead armies.
Obsessed with protecting their borders, the Bonemortar dwarves are driven to find more bones with which to anchor their magicks. And so they enact a terrible tithe on all those who dwell in the windward side of the Kartacians. When the clattering of their iron-shod horses is heard on the cobbles, townsfolk know the dwarves have come to collect the old, the infirm, the weak, the lame, and the barren.
The dwarves ride into the lands of men and harvest them for their skeletons.
More to come in two days…
Since presenting the Dark Seldarine pantheon for your evil and neutral elves to worship is monopolizing the MWF posts, we’ll take today to look at a new clan of dwarves…
Some nations, when confronted with an undead menace at their borders, become beacons of light for the world. In these proud bastions, embattled paladins and clerics stand against all that is blasphemous and vile. The very threat that hangs over them throws their nobility into sharp relief.
Other nations do not. Lacking the fire of faith or reason or charity, these nations decide—consciously or not—that the only way to survive great evil is to become it. They stare into the face of their nemesis until they become its mirror.
The Bonemortar dwarves are a terrifying clan who make their homes on the slopes of the Kartacian Mountains. For centuries, the Bonemortar dwarves toiled under the pallid thumbs of a line of necromancers, who were themselves locked in a never-ending struggle against a triumvirate of lich-kings who claimed the Kartacians as their own.
Naturally, these necromancers relied on their dwarven serfs for the skill of their stonework. But the Bonemortar dwarves were powerful in magic as well. Like most dwarves, they were masters of the ancient art of runes. But they lacked their race’s usual prejudice against arcane casting, lacing their glyphs with abjurations to create fortifications of unearthly strength.
Even so, the lich armies hammered at the dwarves and their overseers. Skeletal hordes, bone wyverns, and siege engines of nightmarish proportions broke through their walls and tore down their gates. And so the Bonemortar dwarves tapped the might of their masters and learned the necromantic arts as well. To their rune-carved stones they added mortar made from the bones of countless creatures, including their own dead. In doing so, they earned a new name.
And the walls held.
The tide turned, and soon one of the lich-kings was crushed into powder by the combined might of the dwarves and the spell-slinging of their human liege, Velshard II. The dwarves then turned on the weakened wizard and reclaimed their freedom. Now they exercise dominion over all his lands and beyond, while still weathering the onslaughts of the remaining two undead armies.
Obsessed with protecting their borders, the Bonemortar dwarves are driven to find more bones with which to anchor their magicks. And so they enact a terrible tithe on all those who dwell in the windward side of the Kartacians. When the clattering of their iron-shod horses is heard on the cobbles, townsfolk know the dwarves have come to collect the old, the infirm, the weak, the lame, and the barren.
The dwarves ride into the lands of men and harvest them for their skeletons.
More to come in two days…
Monday, August 4, 2008
The Dark Seldarine: Deep Sashelas
The pounding surf that brings down a cliffside. The coming storm that turns sails to tatters. The raging whale sperm maddened by the harpoons of seamen. All these things are the province of Deep Sashelas, the Wave Lord.
The patron of the sea elves sits at a remove from the rest of the Dark Seldarine. He keeps an ambassador in Corellon Larethian’s court in the form of a male nixie called Rivertooth (who is actually an aspect of Sashelas, and into whom he has poured the entirety of what little humor he possesses). But he is a king in his own right of the world’s oceans. Any elf crossing a great body of water pays homage to him, as does the entire race of sea elves.
Like the oceans, Sashelas is ever-changing and often contradictory. He is the patron of rangers who go out to hunt alone with just a trident. He revels in the destruction of crushing waves, casually erasing coastal villages. But he also calls sea elves to create huge undersea empires, and he blesses their coral cities with strength so that they defy even his own destructive urges.
Sea elf clerics thus have to be careful readers of signs and portents, divining Sashelas’s mood and adjusting their rites accordingly. One spring they might call for all seal pups to be protected; the next they might order the blood sacrifice of a halfling every night of the full moon. Often sea elf communities become theocracies, as that is the simplest way to ensure their lord's demands are met.
Deep Sashelas’s great secret may be that these whims are actually part of a careful balancing act. Despite the harsh rituals he calls for, he is not naturally as chaotic nor as prone to evil as his kin in the Dark Seldarine. He finds grace in the inherent order of the coral spires constructed by his worshippers. And he recognizes that it takes discipline and teamwork to survive in the ocean depths—and even moreso to build an empire.
The plain truth is that he cannot afford the selfishness and self-indulgence of the Chaotic Evil mindset. Besides his ancient enemy Sekolah, the sahaugin deity, the Wave Lord and the sea elves share the watery depths with beings the likes of Yeathan, the deity of death by drowning (Book of Vile Darkness), and the alien intelligences of the aboleth powers (Lords of Madness). By alternating bloodletting and beneficence, he keeps his followers close, protecting them from the other sea deities—both their predations and their proselytizing. He knows full well that there is madness in the depths, waiting to drag him under like an unwary swimmer should he let down his guard.
Alignment: Neutral (Evil tendencies)
Cleric Alignment: CN, LN, N, NE
Domains: Elf, Knowledge, Ocean, Water, Watery Death (Underdark)
Favored Weapon: Trident
The patron of the sea elves sits at a remove from the rest of the Dark Seldarine. He keeps an ambassador in Corellon Larethian’s court in the form of a male nixie called Rivertooth (who is actually an aspect of Sashelas, and into whom he has poured the entirety of what little humor he possesses). But he is a king in his own right of the world’s oceans. Any elf crossing a great body of water pays homage to him, as does the entire race of sea elves.
Like the oceans, Sashelas is ever-changing and often contradictory. He is the patron of rangers who go out to hunt alone with just a trident. He revels in the destruction of crushing waves, casually erasing coastal villages. But he also calls sea elves to create huge undersea empires, and he blesses their coral cities with strength so that they defy even his own destructive urges.
Sea elf clerics thus have to be careful readers of signs and portents, divining Sashelas’s mood and adjusting their rites accordingly. One spring they might call for all seal pups to be protected; the next they might order the blood sacrifice of a halfling every night of the full moon. Often sea elf communities become theocracies, as that is the simplest way to ensure their lord's demands are met.
Deep Sashelas’s great secret may be that these whims are actually part of a careful balancing act. Despite the harsh rituals he calls for, he is not naturally as chaotic nor as prone to evil as his kin in the Dark Seldarine. He finds grace in the inherent order of the coral spires constructed by his worshippers. And he recognizes that it takes discipline and teamwork to survive in the ocean depths—and even moreso to build an empire.
The plain truth is that he cannot afford the selfishness and self-indulgence of the Chaotic Evil mindset. Besides his ancient enemy Sekolah, the sahaugin deity, the Wave Lord and the sea elves share the watery depths with beings the likes of Yeathan, the deity of death by drowning (Book of Vile Darkness), and the alien intelligences of the aboleth powers (Lords of Madness). By alternating bloodletting and beneficence, he keeps his followers close, protecting them from the other sea deities—both their predations and their proselytizing. He knows full well that there is madness in the depths, waiting to drag him under like an unwary swimmer should he let down his guard.
Alignment: Neutral (Evil tendencies)
Cleric Alignment: CN, LN, N, NE
Domains: Elf, Knowledge, Ocean, Water, Watery Death (Underdark)
Favored Weapon: Trident
Friday, August 1, 2008
The Dark Seldarine: Rillifane Rallathil
If Corellon Larethian is both king and prince of the Dark Seldarine, Rillifane Rallathil is the Green Regent. After Corellon, he is the most venerated of the elven deities, both lord of and at one with the ancient forests and his special charges, the wood elves.
Like an oak that has had a spike driven into it, Dark Rillifane is an old, gnarled, and bitter deity. At his best, he was Nature—cold, remote, and wild. But the assaults on his forests by men and humanoids have quite literally poisoned him, and his character has become actively malicious and evil in turn. Even wood elves are not immune from his hatred, should they grow careless. Rillifane is the natural world turned xenophobic and reactive: the root that bores through your walls, the wolf that terrorizes your penned sheep, the deadfall that crushes the unwary lumberjack. If you have ever stared into a thorny thicket with the uneasy certainty that some…thing…was staring back...you were right.
While Rillifane is enthusiastically worshipped by wood elves (and elves in general), their prayers resemble that of unwanted guests asking their host for yet another favor; they know Rillifane too well to expect more than grudging guidance and protection. The Green Regent prefers instead the company of treants, plant creatures, and the most ancient animals.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil (formerly Chaotic Neutral)
Cleric Alignment: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos, Elf, Evil, Plant, Protection
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
Like an oak that has had a spike driven into it, Dark Rillifane is an old, gnarled, and bitter deity. At his best, he was Nature—cold, remote, and wild. But the assaults on his forests by men and humanoids have quite literally poisoned him, and his character has become actively malicious and evil in turn. Even wood elves are not immune from his hatred, should they grow careless. Rillifane is the natural world turned xenophobic and reactive: the root that bores through your walls, the wolf that terrorizes your penned sheep, the deadfall that crushes the unwary lumberjack. If you have ever stared into a thorny thicket with the uneasy certainty that some…thing…was staring back...you were right.
While Rillifane is enthusiastically worshipped by wood elves (and elves in general), their prayers resemble that of unwanted guests asking their host for yet another favor; they know Rillifane too well to expect more than grudging guidance and protection. The Green Regent prefers instead the company of treants, plant creatures, and the most ancient animals.
Alignment: Chaotic Evil (formerly Chaotic Neutral)
Cleric Alignment: CE, CN, NE
Domains: Chaos, Elf, Evil, Plant, Protection
Favored Weapon: Quarterstaff
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