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View Full Version : I'm seeking examples of decadent Powers in danger of dying.



Clistenes
2017-03-20, 01:15 PM
What it says on the tin...

Right now, I can think of:

Gorellik - Weak enough to be beaten by Yeenoghu, has lost most of his worshippers, been kicked out of his realm, devolved into a beastlike being, kills or turns into hyenodons every being he comes across of (he turns his worshippers, kills everybody else).

Laogzed - Is utterly obsessed with eating; doesn't care about his worshippers, except as food, if they are foolish enough to approach him; has devolved into a bloated, motionless monstruosity, demons of his abyssal layer dumping sacrifices in his open maw to keep him from hunting them; has lost most of his power, and he is a Demipower now...

Ramenos - God of somnolence and intoxication... "Once active and strong, Ramenos now slumbers most of the time, barely able to sustain attention to his own fate".

Doresain could fit too. He isn't "decadent" as such, but he has been bullied into submission by non-divine Demon Lords for a long time, so it seems he has always been really weak (a 20 HD Fiendish Ghoul with a single divine rank, maybe?)

Orcus became almost as decadent as Laogzed and Ramenos, but he was killed, and came back as a non-divine Archfiend. Savras was trapped and powerless for a long time, but he was released as a minion to Azuth, then destroyed.

Can you think of some other Power in a similar situation?

EDIT: I am thinking of the Planescape setting and all the pantheons and worlds connected by it.

halfeye
2017-03-20, 01:47 PM
What it says on the tin...

Right now, I can think of:

Gorellik - Weak enough to be beaten by Yeenoghu, has lost most of his worshippers, been kicked out of his realm, devolved into a beastlike being, kills or turns into hyenodons every being he comes across of (he turns his worshippers, kills everybody else).

Laogzed - Is utterly obsessed with eating; doesn't care about his worshippers, except as food, if they are foolish enough to approach him; has devolved into a bloated, motionless monstruosity, demons of his abyssal layer dumping sacrifices in his open maw to keep him from hunting them; has lost most of his power, and he is a Demipower now...

Ramenos - God of somnolence and intoxication... "Once active and strong, Ramenos now slumbers most of the time, barely able to sustain attention to his own fate".

Doresain could fit too. He isn't "decadent" as such, but he has been bullied into submission by non-divine Demon Lords for a long time, so it seems he has always been really weak (a 20 HD Fiendish Ghoul with a single divine rank, maybe?)

Orcus became almost as decadent as Laogzed and Ramenos, but he was killed, and came back as a non-divine Archfiend. Savras was trapped and powerless for a long time, but he was released as a minion to Azuth, then destroyed.

Can you think of some other Power in a similar situation?

Unless there's some domain constraint that I'm not understanding, Malacath from the Elder scrolls.

Clistenes
2017-03-20, 01:50 PM
Unless there's some domain constraint that I'm not understanding, Malacath from the Elder scrolls.

I was thinking of the Planescape setting. I will edit the original post to clarify it.

Khedrac
2017-03-21, 03:39 AM
You have reversed Orcus - he was an Archfiend who died and came back as a god... (and then managed to regain his archfiend status at the cost of his godhood).

In the Moonshae novels (It's been a very long time since I read them so I may get this wrong) Bane plots to destroy the old faith (I think there is a goddess there somewhere) and although he fails, the worship of the islands switches over to Chauntea iirc so perhaps he did succeed?

Clistenes
2017-03-21, 09:49 AM
Orcus was a Demon Lord who became a Power; he was killed by Kiaransalee, who stole his divinity. He came back as a quasi-divine undead fiend, tried to regain full divinity, being twarted, but he still managed to resurrect as an non divine Archfiend.

Wasn't the Earthmother an aspect of Chauntea?

Pronounceable
2017-03-21, 11:18 AM
Yuan-ti of FR had two consecutive gods who grew too lazy to care about worshippers and got usurped. You'd think the second one would've gotten the memo but no, snakemen of Faerun lost the premier snake godhood to some human douchelord from Egyptian pantheon.

halfeye
2017-03-21, 02:28 PM
EDIT: I am thinking of the Planescape setting and all the pantheons and worlds connected by it.

If it's that restricted, isn't there a subforum for it? On the other hand, why would you want to restrict it that way?

Clistenes
2017-03-22, 09:29 AM
If it's that restricted, isn't there a subforum for it? On the other hand, why would you want to restrict it that way?

I'm thinking of using them for some character/religion/organization I'm may use in a Planescape game.

LibraryOgre
2017-03-27, 02:18 PM
Orcus was a Demon Lord who became a Power; he was killed by Kiaransalee, who stole his divinity. He came back as a quasi-divine undead fiend, tried to regain full divinity, being twarted, but he still managed to resurrect as an non divine Archfiend.

Wasn't the Earthmother an aspect of Chauntea?

Answer Unclear, Try Again Later. :smallbiggrin:

While presented as such, I tend to think of it more as the Earthmother, killed by Bane in Darkwell, was absorbed by Chauntea, inheriting her druids and choosing to continue to empower them. Similar things happened all over the place in the Time of Troubles.

bigstipidfighte
2017-03-27, 10:18 PM
The entire Norse Pantheon knows their fate is to die in Ragnarok, which could happen approximately whenever. Some of them are pretty decedent, but not in the way I think you mean. Loki however is a major architect of the aforementioned badness, so his lust for the throne could qualify.