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Xuldarinar
2013-07-17, 02:47 PM
PHARANAM

Long have the worlds stood apart. Long have you been lost from truth. Soon, the worlds become one, and you shall meet your maker as we have met ours.. -Solae Jhanil, Pharanam Epigone.

BACKGROUND
Long ago, a group of alienists gathered together and retreated into the depths of the earth. Whispers called to them, leading them to a place in the depths of the underdark, with promises of power and knowledge beyond imagining.
As they reach their destination they began to work, carving out a home around a hole in reality, sealed only by a large set of teeth.
A being had called to them, and in exchange for his blessings it asked to be let into reality. In time, this being became known as pharanam. It's aberrant servants entered the world; working, living, and breeding with it's alienist servants.
Pillars were carved out around the spiral, their locations mimicking the model of the planes, and a set of orbs were produced, each representing a different plane. As they prepared to bring pharanam into the world, a few among them stole the orbs and hid them away. Unable to continue, many searched franticly to retrieve the orbs, to no avail.
In time, the story of their origins and the orbs of the planes became legend and the whispers of pharanam became lost. Today, known as the pharin, many have turned to sealing in creatures of the far-realm within the maw-dark spiral rather than working to let them loose upon reality.


GOALS
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PHARANAM IN THE CAMPAIGN
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TIMELINE
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SIGNS
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PHARANAM IN EBERRON
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PHARANAM IN FAERUN
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PHARANAM
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SOLAE JHANIL
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As you can see, theres a lot of work to do. If you have any ideas, better ways to express the language, so on, then please say so. I want to use this to tie together the pharin and the elder evil epigone, both being homebrews of mine. I also want to make an elder evil who's goal is basically to combine the planes together, which would certainly result in some interesting and unique encounter as the signs progress.

Belial_the_Leveler
2013-07-17, 06:41 PM
I once built a Primordial around a similar concept. Much like Orcus created the undead and spread the taint of undeath all over Creation, I had her be responsible for creating extradimensional magic and teaching the first mortals (Prometheus-style) how to call beings between the planes, travel between places or even dimensions, something only gods should be able to do. Conjuration magic is not evil you say? So, people should be capable of traveling to their own afterlife and messing things up? How about inviting demons and devils and Far Outsiders into their own world? How about the imbalance and chaos that causes between spellcasters and non-spellcasters? And what about all those extradimensional invasions?


That was the concept. For the global effects of her presence, I had the opening of portals become easier and more uncontrollable, and the desire of people to use them to become eventually irresistible. To the point that under her overwhelming influence, opening a Gate only required writing a circle upon a surface, you could not control what came through and you could not resist doing it at least once per day.
And if the good guys failed to stop her? It was bye bye dimensional barriers, with the world collapsing back into a single dimension as chaotic as the Far Realm or the Abyss.

Xuldarinar
2013-07-19, 12:41 AM
I once built a Primordial around a similar concept. Much like Orcus created the undead and spread the taint of undeath all over Creation, I had her be responsible for creating extradimensional magic and teaching the first mortals (Prometheus-style) how to call beings between the planes, travel between places or even dimensions, something only gods should be able to do. Conjuration magic is not evil you say? So, people should be capable of traveling to their own afterlife and messing things up? How about inviting demons and devils and Far Outsiders into their own world? How about the imbalance and chaos that causes between spellcasters and non-spellcasters? And what about all those extradimensional invasions?


That was the concept. For the global effects of her presence, I had the opening of portals become easier and more uncontrollable, and the desire of people to use them to become eventually irresistible. To the point that under her overwhelming influence, opening a Gate only required writing a circle upon a surface, you could not control what came through and you could not resist doing it at least once per day.
And if the good guys failed to stop her? It was bye bye dimensional barriers, with the world collapsing back into a single dimension as chaotic as the Far Realm or the Abyss.

Thats really interesting, and I'm not surprised I'm not the first to think of this concept. I do hope to, in time, fully flesh this out. Unfortunately, while I have the desire and the will to create, I lack the ideas.

SolarEdge
2013-07-21, 11:10 AM
me thinks these orbs should be artifacts, ya know so they have to be destroyed only they corrupt their bearer all the way. perhaps they all need to be broken in different ways. meh just my to cents.

Xuldarinar
2013-07-21, 04:02 PM
me thinks these orbs should be artifacts, ya know so they have to be destroyed only they corrupt their bearer all the way. perhaps they all need to be broken in different ways. meh just my to cents.

That is a good idea actually. Very general, but a good idea.

The trick is, how to make them difficult to destroy, but also if only one is destroyed it doesn't block the elder evil.

Fako
2013-07-21, 05:28 PM
That is a good idea actually. Very general, but a good idea.

The trick is, how to make them difficult to destroy, but also if only one is destroyed it doesn't block the elder evil.

The orbs themselves act as a focus for the ritual, instead of a required component. If you have enough orbs, time and manpower you can summon Pharanam. If you have less orbs, you need to either increase time or manpower, potentially both.

This way, the orbs make it easier to summon him, which is why the cult attempts to locate all of them. If enough get destroyed, the time or manpower constraints might be too high for the summon to be feasible.

As far as how to destroy, maybe they have to be taken back to their home plane and destroyed there. For some (material, shadow, etc) this will be easy, but others (Nine Hells, Limbo) this becomes a much more dangerous task.