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ThinkMinty
2015-10-25, 02:23 AM
...for some reason, I imagine that Celestials and Infernals and whatnot are sort of reincarnated/reconfigured individual mortal souls being refitted to a higher/lower/etc purpose. Like, there was a really free-spirited lady who was so wonderful that when she died and went to Elysium, her soul was metamorphosed into a Lillend.

A Planetar or Solar was a great defender against cosmic peril in life, so in death they're being equipped to handle what they handle best.

The worst of the worst evil souls get made into Devils and Demons and Neutral-Evil Whatevers.

Thoughts on this?

Eldan
2015-10-25, 05:48 AM
That's absolutely how it works, yes. D&D, especially in older editions, makes that very clear.

Well, you don't usually start in the top ranks. Generally, a newly dead souls is remade into a low-level outsider like a lantern archon and works its way up. Though Angels aren't made by the planes, they are made by the gods, so there's no reason why a god wouldn't directly make a Planetar out of an especially nice soul.

ThinkMinty
2015-10-25, 05:51 AM
That's absolutely how it works, yes. D&D, especially in older editions, makes that very clear.

Well, you don't usually start in the top ranks. Generally, a newly dead souls is remade into a low-level outsider like a lantern archon and works its way up. Though Angels aren't made by the planes, they are made by the gods, so there's no reason why a god wouldn't directly make a Planetar out of an especially nice soul.

Huh. I like those moments where guessing turns out to be correct.

Eldan
2015-10-25, 06:01 AM
Mm. The nine major races, by the way, are Archons (LG), Modrons (LN), Devils/Baatezu (LE), Daemons/Yugoloth (NE), Demons/Tanar'ri (CE), Slaadi (CN), Eladrin (CG) and Guardinals (NG).

Well, there's some really silly fluff in one book that says that Eladrin work entirely different from that, but that's the basics. Souls that go to one of the outer planes are reconfigured into petitioners of some kind of another. Those who devoutly worshipped a god most often go to that god's realm, though, and then the god says what happens.

ThinkMinty
2015-10-25, 06:05 AM
Mm. The nine major races, by the way, are Archons (LG), Modrons (LN), Devils/Baatezu (LE), Daemons/Yugoloth (NE), Demons/Tanar'ri (CE), Slaadi (CN), Eladrin (CG) and Guardinals (NG).

...that's eight. True Neutral probably has one, or shunts people into one of the other eight based on some abstract notion of balance.

Eldan
2015-10-25, 06:20 AM
Oh yeah, sorry. Rilmani.

M Placeholder
2015-10-25, 06:45 AM
Mm. The nine major races, by the way, are Archons (LG), Modrons (LN), Devils/Baatezu (LE), Daemons/Yugoloth (NE), Demons/Tanar'ri (CE), Slaadi (CN), Eladrin (CG) and Guardinals (NG).

Well, there's some really silly fluff in one book that says that Eladrin work entirely different from that, but that's the basics. Souls that go to one of the outer planes are reconfigured into petitioners of some kind of another. Those who devoutly worshipped a god most often go to that god's realm, though, and then the god says what happens.

There is also Faces of Evil - the Fiends, which states that the Loths are the only fiends that don't arise from petitioners, and instead the Loths gain power from Gehenna itself. When one dies, a Mezzoloth (lowest rank) rises from near the Wasting Tower in Hades or The Tower of the Arcanaloths on Gehenna.

In the lower planes, the souls of evildoers start off as Larva, and if they end up in Hades, they have a chance of turning into Hordlings. Every one is unique and is stuck in its form until it dies.

Eldan
2015-10-25, 06:56 AM
Yeah. I have my own personal headcannon regarding that.

Regitnui
2015-10-25, 07:29 AM
That's explicit canon up until 5e, in fact, though angels (no guardinals here) and modrons have no 'soul source', while Slaadi reproduce through their red and blue forms, injecting eggs into humanoids that become slaadi and continue up the chain.

Though I do like the implication this has for the souls in Dolurrh that gradually fade into shades. The essential 'personness' is siphoned off to create outsiders, and since all alignments are stuck in Dolurrh after death, it provides endless fuel for Shavarath, the Endless War along with less horrible planes.

Hawkstar
2015-10-25, 07:46 AM
Mine is... well, first, the order of all planes. It's a sphere, sort of, or disk. The center is the Prime Material, the outermost are the, well, Outer Planes.

The material plane is a 'life energy generator", and the only source of true, renewable and ever-increasing life-energy (souls). The elemental inner planes have a constant level of life energy that is perfectly recycled - if you kill a fire elemental, its soul's power returns to the plane of fire to be re-used.

The outer planes, however, are constantly hemmorraging souls - If you destroy a Demon, the evil soul energy it's made of is destroyed permanently. You only get another demon if a chaotic evil person dies and its soul goes to the abyss for processing. It plays into the alignment system - two pairs of factions battling for dominance over their diametric opposite. This battle spills over into the material plane, with the dominant factions subtly gaining stronger influence over the world. Stabbing demons in the face literally makes the prime material world a more Good place. But is it a better place? Not really. Despite being more comfortable, "Good" is harvesting souls in the same way Evil is, as are Law and Chaos. The world is just a big farm. Good is a comfortable and painless way to be turned into a soulburger, Evil is the most painful way to be turned into a soulburger, Law is the most orderly way to end up a soulburger, and chaos somehow manages to turn people into soulburgers eventually.

The arrangement is a creation of the Gods (Greyhawk pantheon, sans ascended mortals). Who are all actually pretty good friends outside the context of the planes. Except Gruumsh and Corellon, because Gruumsh wants to play Age of Empires (and take over the world with the race he designed in his own image. Kinda like how I play Age of Wonders!) while Corellon wants to play Animal Crossing (Or something like that)... while Moradin and that Grey Dwarf god are both playing Dwarf Fortress, and actually appreciates the extra challenge Gruumsh puts in. Hextor and Heironeous are brothers, and also good friends. They're playing Command+Conquer against each other - Heironeous gets the shining beacon kingdoms and armies that march to triumphant and uplifting fanfares while wearing shiny armor and shouting "FOR GREAT JUSTICE!", while Hextor gets the awesome Evil Empire that wears red+black and marches to Hell March (and other songs, such as the Isengard theme, etc) while shouting "PEACE THROUGH POWER!" Erythnul wants to blow everything up. Of course, they need soul energy to power and play the game.

Undead are labeled Evil, but don't actually fit into the alignment system - their souls go to where they would have gone prior to undeadification.Evil is more tolerant of the undead, though, because it managed to get those who create and propogate undead counted as Evil. But really... the entire cosmos hates the undead, because they're the ones that escape the soul factory. Wights and wraiths see themselves as heroes - Yes, they hate life. They don't want to be pawns of the gods. They see themselves as the heroes in The Matrix.

Regitnui
2015-10-25, 08:53 AM
Wights and wraiths see themselves as heroes - Yes, they hate life. They don't want to be pawns of the gods. They see themselves as the heroes in The Matrix.

That's actually kind of awesome. Liches would be included there, though, even if their method (Chewing up souls like the Outer Plans) is kinda Evil. :smallconfused: Wait, now I picture the matrix trilogy with all the humans as undead. Eww.:smallyuk:

All of this is being adopted into my personal Eberron (because what kind of slob lives in a world where they don't have the internet?) headcanon/campaign world.

Do I have any headcanon of my own to contribute...? Hmmm.

The Material Plane or 'Soul Factory', is the perfect merging of the Elemental Planes. Aboleth remember a time when they lived in a world of pure Elemental Water, without the 'taint' of air, earth or even that hateful fire and its 'sun'. The Astral Plane is a second 'universe' in which the Material Plane Universes and their Feywild/Shadow Counterparts float like a three-layered bubble in foam. The other planes orbit the material plane, sometimes in an orderly ring (Great Wheel), sometimes in separate orbits (Eberron's style) or so wildly/distant that they cannot be 'seen' at all (Dark Sun).

Each campaign world is a separate 'bubble' with its own 'ring' of planes. The so-called 'Near Astral Plane' is just where the majority are located. The 'Far Astral Plane' is a more sparsely-populated region, beyond which might be another 'Near' with its own Material Planes. 'Demiplanes' are Rogue Bubbles, occasionally slipping into orbit and slipping out again just as quickly, the asteroids in the galactic 'Astral Plane'.

Space travel is possible within the individual Material Plane 'bubbles'. So it is possible to land on one of Eberron's moons and look down on the planet, for example. Travel between 'bubbles' is near impossible. Only the Githyanki have even begun to chart the Nearest corner of the Astral Plane, and they only do so to note which 'bubbles' are ripest for plunder at any given time. (Astral Plane Vikings) Within the 'Bubbles' space is effectively infinite, so it's the work of a concerted effort to even see the 'edge'.

Oh, yeah, and the Mind Flayers aren't from the future. They just managed to 'pop' their native bubble and fling themselves all over the Astral Plane into various other Material Planes. That's why aboleth's can't remember them, and why the illithid civilizations can't know if what they're doing leads to 'their' world.

Psyren
2015-10-25, 11:44 AM
Mm. The nine major races, by the way, are Archons (LG), Modrons (LN), Devils/Baatezu (LE), Daemons/Yugoloth (NE), Demons/Tanar'ri (CE), Slaadi (CN), Eladrin (CG) and Guardinals (NG).

Well, there's some really silly fluff in one book that says that Eladrin work entirely different from that, but that's the basics. Souls that go to one of the outer planes are reconfigured into petitioners of some kind of another. Those who devoutly worshipped a god most often go to that god's realm, though, and then the god says what happens.


...that's eight. True Neutral probably has one, or shunts people into one of the other eight based on some abstract notion of balance.

Pathfinder's list is slightly different:

- Archons are still the LG race.
- Inevitables became the LN race - they were made outsiders with the "Constructed" trait rather than extraplanar constructs because Modrons are trademarked.
- Devils are still the LE race, though of course Baator/Baatezu are trademarked.
- Daemons are still the main NE race.
- Demons are still the main CE race; "Tanar'ri" is trademarked however.
- Proteans are the new CN race, since Slaad are product identity.
- Azata are the new CG race, since Eladrin are trademarked.
- Agathions are the NG race, but they're functionally identical to Guardinals (i.e. animal themed); the latter appear to be trademarked.
- Aeons are the main TN race; probably because there is no OGL TN race so "Rilmani" couldn't be used.

Hawkstar
2015-10-25, 04:57 PM
That's actually kind of awesome. Liches would be included there, though, even if their method (Chewing up souls like the Outer Plans) is kinda Evil. :smallconfused: Wait, now I picture the matrix trilogy with all the humans as undead. Eww.:smallyuk:

All of this is being adopted into my personal Eberron (because what kind of slob lives in a world where they don't have the internet?) headcanon/campaign world.This is sort of what Keith Baker was going for with the ideas of The Blood of Vol. Vampires and Liches, though, are out to destroy the Sovereign Host to free the world from their tyranny. Wights and wraiths are trying to 'save" everyone. But they don't have, and will never have, the power to do anything about the root cause of the problem.

Of course, in my headcanon, the mind-shattering secret is that, if the Gods decide the world stops being fun to play in, they'll simply unmake it and start a new one. Not even the "Good" gods really care about their people - it's just a game to them. (Remember this next time you're marching hundreds of dudes to their deaths in an RTS). They think it's cute that mortals believe themselves to actually be relevant. Of course, this is also why, despite being very easy by the rules, Wightpocalypses never happen - It's an event that DOES get all the gods to

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with Nerull. I don't like the idea of mortals actually being able to ascend to true deityhood - That would be like one of your NPC minis in a D&D game suddenly getting up and sitting to play at the table with you. He might be an ass who just wants to take all the toys away from the other gods. He's the polar opposite of Pelor, who is actually Zarus, who isn't as bad as his church misinterprets him to be. Zarus/Pelor has one goal - maximizing the success of humans, who he created then disowned so they wouldn't be shackled to him. He made them a complete hack of the system, able to survive in any alignment environment, but absolutely thrive and benevolently dominate the whole of Good. He doesn't hate other races, though: after all, you reach higher points being held up by a friend than standing on the back of a prone subject. The lack of being tied to causes problems because humans don't inherently understand the concept of existential debt. All other races know that, without their creator gods, they have nothing and are nothing, and that life is a privilege (Humans are deluded into believing it is a right)

... which ties back to planar cosmology. Racial deities have first dibs on their creations' souls, regardless of the individual's alignment or religion. The Good gods generally respect their creation's religious decisions - Moradin talks with every wayward dwarf first, inviting them to a feast and "going away" party (and passive-aggressively trying to tempt them to stay). Yondalla still watches over the traveling souls of all her halflings, even if they choose not to come to the hobbitat she has set up for them, but lets them know she can't follow them into the lower planes (But the Yondalla/Dalla Thaum split lets her watch them on all other planes). Corellon throws a hissy-fit and banishes elves that turn from him from his presence forever because he's a petty drama queen like that - leaving them free to go to the afterlife they've earned, but will never be able to see any Corellon-loyal friends ever again (He hasn't picked up on the idea that they don't consider no longer having to put up with his petty jerk behavior as "Not a Punishment")

The evil gods, however? They forcibly take all their creation's souls back... and aren't happy with them. They're sure to make sure their creations know this, and it's another reason Orcs are "Always Chaotic Evil" - Not only do they fight for Gruumsh out of loyalty for giving them the chance to live in the first place, but they know that they'd be damned to eternal torment if they stray from him. He has no power over Half-Orcs, because humans are hacks. Goblinoids have a similar deal. No, hobgoblins will never put anything above The Great Maggy - it's better to march among his honored soldiers when they die than slave away in the afterlife. Yeenoghu, being a Demon Prince who merely corrupted an existing species (hyenas) instead of making them from scratch, does not have the ability to claim ownership over the souls of gnolls. But he does invite all of them to his sadomasochistic mosh-pit party in the abyss. Party Vrock is in the house tonight! And The King also performs regularly!

goto124
2015-10-25, 10:31 PM
Not even the "Good" gods really care about their people - it's just a game to them. (Remember this next time you're marching hundreds of dudes to their deaths in an RTS).

I like to imagine gods as developers of a computer game. It makes it a lot easier to understand the way they act, and gives plenty of room for fleshing out many different personalities.

Heck, change 'computer game' to 'tabletop game with way too many co-DMs'.

The other interpretation is of gods being essentially rulers of countries, but that's harder for me to get into the headspace of :smalltongue:


I don't like the idea of mortals actually being able to ascend to true deityhood - That would be like one of your NPC minis in a D&D game suddenly getting up and sitting to play at the table with you.

More like a player joining your game and saying 'oh hey I wanna play this NPC!'

Mr.Moron
2015-10-25, 11:21 PM
I usually vary quite a bit from as-presented-in-the-book cosmologies, when I'm even running something that resembles them at all.

When I do have souls and higher planes, I don't like the souls to stay intact. Death ceases to have any meaning when there is some existence roughly analogous to your current one to be had after you body expires. This is particularly true if there is a reward-afterlife, some cosmic meadow where the good go after they die. In a setting like that one of the kindest thing to do would be to go around and execute every poor, suffering or other person just not having a good time. They get sent off to the eternal playground and live as they were in life, but without all that hunger and pain. It turns mortal life from something sacrosanct, fragile, and wonderful into an inconvenient and cruel waiting game.

When I have them I like to cast Angels/Demons and whatnot as sort of soul repositories. A being with it's own mind, personality memories and "Soul" which is distinct from the mortal kind. The souls of mortals make up their spiritual body with the memories, experience and personality in a sort of permanently dormant state. The being which they make up can access and experience these memories and feelings but in an archival sense. They can remember your experiences, but they aren't you. This keeps mortals mortal and death remains a loss but at the same time gives some sense of permanence, something always remembers you in a very real and direct way.

Regitnui
2015-10-26, 03:50 AM
When I have them I like to cast Angels/Demons and whatnot as sort of soul repositories. A being with it's own mind, personality memories and "Soul" which is distinct from the mortal kind. The souls of mortals make up their spiritual body with the memories, experience and personality in a sort of permanently dormant state. The being which they make up can access and experience these memories and feelings but in an archival sense. They can remember your experiences, but they aren't you. This keeps mortals mortal and death remains a loss but at the same time gives some sense of permanence, something always remembers you in a very real and direct way.

Interesting concept. I'd go so far as to say Inevitables; the LN extraplanar constructs designed to enforce the Laws of the Universe are a combination of those wronged by the Law being broken, and justice-seekers like Paladins.

Eldan
2015-10-26, 04:21 AM
I usually vary quite a bit from as-presented-in-the-book cosmologies, when I'm even running something that resembles them at all.

When I do have souls and higher planes, I don't like the souls to stay intact. Death ceases to have any meaning when there is some existence roughly analogous to your current one to be had after you body expires. This is particularly true if there is a reward-afterlife, some cosmic meadow where the good go after they die. In a setting like that one of the kindest thing to do would be to go around and execute every poor, suffering or other person just not having a good time. They get sent off to the eternal playground and live as they were in life, but without all that hunger and pain. It turns mortal life from something sacrosanct, fragile, and wonderful into an inconvenient and cruel waiting game.


You have to remember htat that is already soft of what happens. First of all, you lose all your memories after death. So whatever your soul becomes is only very tangentially relate to the "you" that was alive. Then, over time, your soul either dissolves as the plane it is on uses it for power, or it is turned into a soldier for said plane. There's very few souls who get anything like happiness. Most get to fight in eternal wars between semi-lovecraftian absolute principles of philosophy that have come to some twisted form of awareness.

Mr.Moron
2015-10-26, 04:53 AM
You have to remember htat that is already soft of what happens. First of all, you lose all your memories after death. So whatever your soul becomes is only very tangentially relate to the "you" that was alive. Then, over time, your soul either dissolves as the plane it is on uses it for power, or it is turned into a soldier for said plane. There's very few souls who get anything like happiness. Most get to fight in eternal wars between semi-lovecraftian absolute principles of philosophy that have come to some twisted form of awareness.

In which settings though?

Clearly the GitP-setting has the "Personality & Memories Intact" version of the afterlife.
The Iron Kingdoms has a split between the two, with your memories & personalities remaining (assuming your soul is properly ushered to the afterlife intact), but also having to be a soldier in a god-war.
The game Pillars of Eternity has reincarnation with a memory partition that sometimes breaks.

The reward-afterlife is pretty common trope for reasons that should be fairly obvious.

ThinkMinty
2015-10-26, 05:12 AM
You have to remember htat that is already soft of what happens. First of all, you lose all your memories after death. So whatever your soul becomes is only very tangentially relate to the "you" that was alive. Then, over time, your soul either dissolves as the plane it is on uses it for power, or it is turned into a soldier for said plane. There's very few souls who get anything like happiness. Most get to fight in eternal wars between semi-lovecraftian absolute principles of philosophy that have come to some twisted form of awareness.

Well that sounds horrible.

M Placeholder
2015-10-26, 05:15 AM
In which settings though?

Clearly the GitP-setting has the "Personality & Memories Intact" version of the afterlife.
The Iron Kingdoms has a split between the two, with your memories & personalities remaining (assuming your soul is properly ushered to the afterlife intact), but also having to be a soldier in a god-war.
The game Pillars of Eternity has reincarnation with a memory partition that sometimes breaks.

The reward-afterlife is pretty common trope for reasons that should be fairly obvious.

The Planescape setting, you lose your memories when you shuffle off this mortal coil - in the Astral Plane, your memories are stripped away and they float in a memory core in the silver void, then you go off to the plane of your alignment.

Dark Sun setting, dead souls end up in the Gray - a bleak wasteland that prevents Interplanar travel. The dead end up there, and they slowly fade away. Its also the power source for many of the unique undead that roam that planet.

Eberron has Dollurh - "Its not a reward. Its not a punishment. It just is", similar to the Gray.

Dragonlance - Judging from the books, that is a reward-afterlife. In Birthright, its not stated what happens to the souls of the dead, but it could be they end up in the Shadow World, or travel to the outer planes.

The Order of the Stickverse uses the great wheel, and in 3.5, the dead kept their memories (I think).

Mr.Moron
2015-10-26, 05:27 AM
The Planescape setting, you lose your memories when you shuffle off this mortal coil - in the Astral Plane, your memories are stripped away and they float in a memory core in the silver void, then you go off to the plane of your alignment.

Dark Sun setting, dead souls end up in the Gray - a bleak wasteland that prevents Interplanar travel. The dead end up there, and they slowly fade away. Its also the power source for many of the unique undead that roam that planet.

Eberron has Dollurh - "Its not a reward. Its not a punishment. It just is", similar to the Gray.

Dragonlance - Judging from the books, that is a reward-afterlife. In Birthright, its not stated what happens to the souls of the dead, but it could be they end up in the Shadow World, or travel to the outer planes.

The Order of the Stickverse uses the great wheel, and in 3.5, the dead kept their memories (I think).

Well I mean in Order of the Stickverse we can see a character go to the afterlife with his personality intact and talk to his dead family who also have their personalities intact. Clearly the dead do keep their after memories there


However yeah we agree "It Varies". Just the post I was responding to was saying "It's obviously this one way", which isn't correct. Unless he meant to say "Oh yeah, it varies but this is the way I do it" but it didn't read that way at all because the wording implied I should already have understanding of the version he presented.

"You have to remember [that] is already [sort] of what happens."

Eldan
2015-10-26, 05:31 AM
In which settings though?

Clearly the GitP-setting has the "Personality & Memories Intact" version of the afterlife.
The Iron Kingdoms has a split between the two, with your memories & personalities remaining (assuming your soul is properly ushered to the afterlife intact), but also having to be a soldier in a god-war.
The game Pillars of Eternity has reincarnation with a memory partition that sometimes breaks.

The reward-afterlife is pretty common trope for reasons that should be fairly obvious.

Planescape, so by implication, it's also true in every other setting that doesn't explicitely contradict it.

Mr.Moron
2015-10-26, 05:39 AM
Planescape, so by implication, it's also true in every other setting that doesn't explicitely contradict it.

What? That make zero-sense. That's like saying Kanye West exists in all settings unless explicitly contradicted because I find introducing Kanye West into settings as NPCs to be amusing.

Eldan
2015-10-26, 06:26 AM
I meant official settings. Specifically, Planescape was originally written as an attempt to unify all existing official settings by giving them a shared hub. The assumption was that all worlds share the same outer planes and that the different settings were different prime material planes. A bit like different planets in the same galaxy, though D&D space is weird and not at all like real space.

It states Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, Greyhawk, Mystara, Spelljammer, Birthright and Ravenloft, so they were all part of Planescape in AD&D. Forgotten Realms has since, in third edition, changed it's planar cosmology, so officially it's not a part of Planescape anymore, which makes things weird, as lot of famous Planescape NPCs come from Faerun.