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DMwithoutPC's
2013-06-05, 08:49 AM
Hello everyone!

I'm playing a game in my one campaign word but I have some problems designing it. My troubles lie within the afterlife. I have decided that, upon death, a soul gets judged on the Ethereal plane by Enforcers. Enforcers are a new Outsider race, who takes up a key role in my cosmology. After the soul is judged, it sent to one of the nine afterlives. One for every alignment combination. Each Afterlife has its own governing Outsider Race, like demons, angels, etc.

However, which race am I to match with which alignment. Some are clear, like Demons and Devils, but not all of them. This is the list I've deducted so far

Lawful Evil: Devils
Neutral Evil:Yugoloths
Chaotic Evil: Demons
Chaotic Neutral: ??? (Fae, Asura or Slaad Perhaps)
True Neutral: Reincarnation
Lawful Neutral: Enforcers
Lawful Good: Archons
Neutral Good: Angels
Chaotic Good: ??? (valkyries?)

So basically my question is: What races would fit Neutral Evil, Chaotic Neutral and Chaotic Good the best? They can be taken from any culture, myth or fantasy world, as long as they fit the bill.

On a side note, how do you guys envision those Afterlives? I'm thinking bleak and desolate for the Neutral Evil one, a bit like the Shinigami world form Death note and just follow the D&D core stuff for Chaotic Neutral, but I'm not sure. What do you think?

llamamushroom
2013-06-05, 09:47 AM
Apparently, Djinni are Chaotic Good, so you could re-fluff them to out of being air elementals and have them be the guardians of that afterlife.

Fae seems like a fantastic match for CN, go with that!

For some reason, Rakshasa have always seemed more NE than LE to me, but that's not the case for everyone. To keep in the "based on middle-eastern mythology/religion" theme, Zoroastrianism gives us Angra Mainyu/Ahriman, which seems to be a generic term for their demons. Just pick and choose some stuff from the Demons and Devils, and slap a new name on it, call it a day?

TheStranger
2013-06-05, 09:55 AM
I like Valkyries for CG. Fae would work for CN, probably not CG. For NE, I'm not sure. I think llama's got the right idea; grab a name you like and run with it. Alternately, make the NE afterlife look like Las Vegas (what happens in Hades stays in Hades) and base your outsiders on the mafia.

DMwithoutPC's
2013-06-05, 10:05 AM
appearently, Yugoloths are the embodyments of Neutral evil, which I can work with.
I'll make fey the heralds of Chaos, cause I'd like to give them a bigger role!
still wondering about CG though... Eladrin just seem a bit boring, but I read some interesting stuff about wierd, old testement Angels, who look a bit lovecraftian but are truly benevolent in Nature. now I'm just wondering what to call them...

Kitten Champion
2013-06-05, 10:32 AM
How about Asura for chaotic neutral and Deva for chaotic good?

Divorce it from most theological context, and make them sort of representations of human passion. With neutral figures being more towards selfish pursuits like lust, sloth, deception, greediness, ect. and being embodied by an Asura. While Deva are more about embodying more positive passions like tranquility, honour, love, curiosity, friendship - people who lived for themselves mostly but weren't evil or even contributed something to the world because they were so motivated.

DMwithoutPC's
2013-06-05, 11:21 AM
on second though, I dislike the Fae for Chaotic Neutral. Fairies certenly are chaotic, but I don't think they are Chaos Incarnate (no relation to MoI).

what I envision my Neutral Chaotic outsiders to be, is the longing of the universe to go back to it's original state of Primordial Chaos. this is their main goal. the, whatever I name them, keep disrupting the flow and order of things enough and eventualy, creation will unrevel itself. At least, that's the theory.

I just don't think Fae fit this description, they have to much fun living and playing with mortals

Deaxsa
2013-06-05, 03:39 PM
wait, what about eladrin for CG? or would they just be NG?

DMwithoutPC's
2013-06-05, 03:51 PM
I find Eladrins to be really boring, so I'm searching for something to replace them with

Rhynn
2013-06-05, 04:32 PM
on second though, I dislike the Fae for Chaotic Neutral. Fairies certenly are chaotic, but I don't think they are Chaos Incarnate (no relation to MoI).

Actually, "elves/fae = Chaos" is a pretty standard fantasy thing. D&D got its alignments from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions and to a lesser extent from Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series - both involve a struggle between Law and Chaos. In TH&TL, elves are inherently on the side of Chaos. In the EC multiverse, the Eldren are elf-like humanoids with an affinity for magic and, again, Chaos. (In Elric's universe, they've become the Chaos-worshipping demon-summoning sorcerers of Melniboné.)

And fae embodying capriciousness fits very well; a lot of fae myth is about how you have to obey their inscrutable, capricious, and downright vicious rules and whims when interacting with them.

So I'd make the Chaotic Neutral afterlife the "Faerie Realm," a primal wilderland with an undertone of terrifying inhumanity, full of animals - including vicious wild beasts - and the chaotic dance of nature (not the "balance of nature" embodied by Neutral alone), ruled over by capricious Faerie.

It's a different approach, which is always good.

DMwithoutPC's
2013-06-06, 03:32 PM
I do not disagree with the notion that Fae are Chaotic, just with them being the True Incarnations of Utter and Total Chaos. I'm no planning to build a homebrewed race of ever shifting, virtually formless outsiders and make them the NC race. The low CR ones would just be like Changelings and Doppelgangers, whereas the more powerful ones are more like Phasms. Only, what to call these creatures? Phasms actually sounds nice to me. (BTW none of my players have ANY D&D experience, and they are all too lazy to read the books. So using a name of an actual D&D monster would not create confusion)

For Chaotic Good, I think I'll use Man on Fire's idea and call them seraphs, to keep the biblical feeling:


I could see it this way:
- LG are the Angels, as they are commonly seen by people, those winged beautiful androgynous beings, possibly of various races. They retain "winged humanoid" form, but as they go up in ranks, they become more mechanical in design and behavior
- CG are all those bizarre Angels, liek the ones decribed in Bible and other holy texts, the higher in hierarchy they are, the more bizarre and inhuman and chaotic they look. Most powerful ones look like this (http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1355/36/1355365807527.jpg), this (http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1335/91/1335918572144.jpg) or this (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1363/84/1363849308518.jpg), some steps lower in hierarchy there are guys like this one (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1340/28/1340283511226.jpg). The lowest are still a bit more humanoid, but even they have some really bizarre traits. Like this (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1341/44/1341440745341.jpg), this (http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1345/24/1345248526435.jpg), this (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1336/15/1336150452001.jpg), this (http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1345/24/1345248562264.jpg) or this (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1345/24/1345248630400.jpg). Maybe they have some connection to fey. On top of this there are guys who geniuqely look closer to Lovecraftian (http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1363/86/1363860454007.jpg) stuff (http://0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1337/05/1337055890213.jpg), than actual Angels, end they probably are.

Fill in whatever names you want instead of Angels.

thanks for the help everyone!