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  1. - Top - End - #1111
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    My own question on Acheron, assuming an answer for it exists: why exactly does it take the form of floating iron cubes random distances from each other? Seems like sort of a random setting for a plane of pure Law with Evil tendencies; why shouldn't it be, say, an immense flat checkerboard of alternating black and gray squares
    Who says it wasn't at some point? Hell, who says that Acheron isn't what all chessboards aspire to be? Can you imagine a massive three-dimensional grid of 512 cubes, each hosting an army with specific abilities to move and combat other armies on other cubes? That would make for one awesome game.

    Most of the Outer Planes, even if seemingly random at first glance, have fairly obvious mythological roots (Gehenna, Tartarus, the Happy Hunting Ground, the original greek conception of Xaos), but this one just seems like they pulled it out of a hat. Does it have a source I'm unaware of, or is it just random weirdness?
    Acheron, like Carceri, is just an unusual design, though in function it makes sense: Acheron is order without harmony, structure lacking unity. Cubes are very rigid and ordered, but their interplay is calamitous and violent, as brutal as the plane itself. On lower layers, other regular solids express themselves as structure migrates still further from unity, until at the lowest level there is nothing but the bladestorm and the eternal ice wall.

    To make the whole question more general, did any of the original designers ever discuss how they came up with the ideas for the cosmology?
    Often, but not on this question.

    The Dao actually have an immense mine called the Great Dismal Delve. I'm surprised Afro didn't mention it
    1) Because it doesn't relate to you setting up a mine; the GDD has been the center of the dao empire for millennia and is beyond the scope of "mining."

    2) Because it's a city and labyrinth much more than it is a mine. It is a realm with mines adjoining. A much better example would be the Valley of Light, a massive rift of diamonds owned by the jann, but I wasn't really interested in bringing that up again.

    Another question, more answerable this time, though not technically about the Planes at all, I'm just hoping Afro's impressive body of largely-Planes-related lore happens to contain this information as well. The Elans, present as they are in the (Expanded and possibly regular) Psionics Handbook, and given important additional backstory in the Psionic supplement to Tome of Magic. Were they originally created specifically for Third Ed's version of Psionics?
    3.5's, actually.

    And, as the capstone to these lead-in questions, why are they a RACE instead of a template??? They're supposed to retain the memory of their previous lives, yet all of their game stats are set to those of a first-level character when they're given "the treatment" (I forget what the fluff calls it officially), and thus they have no Knowledge skills.
    There's no point in "elan" being a template, because all elans are former humans. In that manner, it's essentially a "pre-applied" template. Further, elans actually subtract a few important qualities from humans, specifically the bonus feat and skill points. Those are a bit hard to execute via template (it's obnoxious to take flexible allocations away). You could easily convert it into an (obnoxious) applicable template, but it's just as easy to do the whole race swap-out.

    Elans retain the memory of who they were, but their bodies have been transformed; muscle memory, cerebral links, proprioception are all wiped clean. Part of choosing to become an elan is for the chance to become a blank slate, an opportunity to reinvent oneself.
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  2. - Top - End - #1112
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Hey afroakuma, this might interest you. It's nowhere near done (almost as far away as it could possibly be), but it's definitely begun.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by afroakuma View Post
    Who says it wasn't at some point?
    Okay, that's a good possible answer for any given campaign.

    Hell, who says that Acheron isn't what all chessboards aspire to be? Can you imagine a massive three-dimensional grid of 512 cubes, each hosting an army with specific abilities to move and combat other armies on other cubes? That would make for one awesome game.
    I agree that this would be good...but it seems to me that adding a rule where the cubes randomly wobble about and bonk into each other would be a step backward from a Lawful perspective, unless it occurs on a well-documented schedule (maybe not known to the grunts IC, but certainly to the generals, and more importantly reliable enough to print in the MOTP). If you got rid of the randomness and made it exactly such a game, I think that would be a huge improvement. But it's not where the canon is, alas. (Mind you, the other layers do make a bit of sense with the way the best-known one works; I forget what layer 2 is about, but layers 3 and 4 stick in my mind, and both are distinctly fitting with Acheron being a horrible and rather chaotic place, specifically to make its lawful denizens more miserable than they were originally, so Wee Jas can have her privacy. Myself I might go the whole hog and switch WJ out for the Queen of Air and Darkness; Pandemonium is interesting enough that I feel she's a bit wasted there.)

    Acheron is order without harmony, structure lacking unity. Cubes are very rigid and ordered, but their interplay is calamitous and violent, as brutal as the plane itself.
    Mmm...a valiant effort at justifying, but I still don't quite buy it; keeping the cubes motionless would be more ordered and still not harmonious (you could make them grind together in a slow predictable and horribly noisy fashion or something). Still, it matters little; I can and will change it for my camp, so the canon can go shot itself. :smallbigggrin:

    On lower layers, other regular solids express themselves as structure migrates still further from unity, until at the lowest level there is nothing but the bladestorm and the eternal ice wall.
    Right, this part is more cool to me as I said. Though since I always forget layer 2, I think it would amuse me to make it themed around pointier stellated solids - merkabas, dodecahedrons, and generaly spikey things that remain too polyhedral to be taken for spheres from a distance. Yeah I'm liking this plan... Can always add the canonical layer back in as a 1.5 or whatever, random out-of-place fractions would be a fun way to tick off the 'Tockmen (Inevitables).

    Often, but not on this question.

    1) Because
    2) Because
    Mm, gotcha. Neat. May actually use those guys someday, unlike my previous plan to replace them with a homebrew I'm excessively proud of (which I had better not discuss on GITP alas, it might offend a certain group..man, I need my own forum something fierce....).

    There's no point in "elan" being a template, because all elans are former humans.
    Could be a human-only template easily enough, there's ones more restrictive than that after all....

    Further, elans actually subtract a few important qualities from humans, specifically the bonus feat and skill points.
    True, and worth pointing out, as I easily forget such details...but still possible, albeit hacky, as a template. Easy if it were Inherited since you'd always be 1st level, but that's the opposite of what we're talking about...still, could be done with a little annoying bookkeeping, and justified by fluff. (It actually bugs me that there's no mechanic for forgetfulness or atrophy in the game, apart from draining entire levels or blunt-object versions like Modify Memory that don't interact with character capabilities. More homebrew I gotta do someday.)

    You could easily convert it into an (obnoxious) applicable template, but it's just as easy to do the whole race swap-out.
    It still rubs me the wrong way...compare it to the Dragonborn of Bahamut, who also do a rebirthing ritual, but don't lose their skills in the process, despite having changed far more significantly (in a way that totally could justify your Hide and Jump checks being utterly ruined).

    proprioception
    Urg...too tired to go to a dictionary right now....

    Part of choosing to become an elan is for the chance to become a blank slate, an opportunity to reinvent oneself.
    Mm. It works as a post-hoc I guess, but still bugs me. Oh well, I'm easily bugged (hence why I get a lot of spiders, presumably).

  4. - Top - End - #1114
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post

    I agree that this would be good...but it seems to me that adding a rule where the cubes randomly wobble about and bonk into each other would be a step backward from a Lawful perspective, unless it occurs on a well-documented schedule (maybe not known to the grunts IC, but certainly to the generals, and more importantly reliable enough to print in the MOTP).
    Wobbles on every prime numbered day/hour/minute/second starting from a certain point in history. Then the count restarts everytime someones cube changes ownership or position.
    Perhaps it operates off of a Riemann mathematical function or something. Looks random, but it isn't.

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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    Urg...too tired to go to a dictionary right now....
    Your sense of where your own body parts are, the speed and direction of any moving body parts, the amount of force any given body part is applying, etc. Similar and related to the notion of "muscle memory" (which is a misnomer, as muscles have no memories at all).

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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Has their ever been a Fallen/Evil Couatl?
    I had a 2nd question, but i just remebered that you don't do Eberron...
    (Question, If you might actually know, Can you tell us more about the Shulassakar?)
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Okay, so I have a question on Acheron that will involve zero percent whining about the answer you give:

    How are permanent structures protected from the clashing of the cubes on Acheron? Obviously several groups have divine realms, barracks, and other assorted places where they live/work/sleep/hide from adventurers/build moar dakka, but it seems like the landscape would end up crushing them eventually. How do they stop that from happening?


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by ShadowFireLance View Post
    Has their ever been a Fallen/Evil Couatl?
    Oh, probably, but I can't think of a specific example off the cuff.

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth View Post
    How are permanent structures protected from the clashing of the cubes on Acheron? Obviously several groups have divine realms, barracks, and other assorted places where they live/work/sleep/hide from adventurers/build moar dakka, but it seems like the landscape would end up crushing them eventually. How do they stop that from happening?
    Well, first of all, some simply aren't. They're built where it's hoped they won't get smashed, whether from research or just desperate necessity. Cubes are somewhat predictable if you know where to look, though some forces mess with the equation (see below).

    Of those that are, most are dug into the cubes, whether in internal hollows or artificial trenches. Collision damage might still be catastrophic, but it would be more on the order of a powerful earthquake than getting crushed to death. This is, of course, not an easy thing to do.

    Lastly, gods tend to use their powers to prevent the collision of cubes or to push together cubes. This throws off the strict predictability, but it's an ironclad way to ensure that you're not in a collision zone.
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  9. - Top - End - #1119
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    To what extent to chronomancers influence planar politics? What sorts of foes do they face on a regular basis?


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Do any of the outer planes specifically erode free will by causing visitors to conform to the ethos of the plane over a period of time by the nature of the plane itself directly (aside from Elysium/The Grey Waste straight-up "eating" even non-petitioners)? As opposed to indirectly, like visiting Ysgard at the wrong time of day and having to do something about the drunk yahoos trying to decapitate you.

    When Acheron gets brought up, it seems like visitors end up getting twisted into going native if they don't leave quickly, and I couldn't tell if that was canon or fanon or a misinterpretation on my part.

    What are the majority of armies on the Cubes in Acheron comprised of anyway? I recall that portions of the Blood War are fought there, but my impression is that those aren't even close to a drop in the bucket, nor are the various factions that exist there purely because of various Powers giving afterlives of Total War to their petitioner followers. Is it a hodgepodge of the detritus of the planes and prime worlds, with various factions made up of petitioners, planar refugees, traders who stayed an hour too long negotiating a contract? Is it that petitioners make up the majority of the armies rather than becoming any kind of proper outsider or fiend?
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth View Post
    To what extent to chronomancers influence planar politics? What sorts of foes do they face on a regular basis?
    They don't. Chronomancers messing with Big Things get told off in a Big Hurry.

    Chronomancers most often have to deal with one another, with the dangers of the time periods they enter, and with the denizens of Temporal Prime, such as temporal hounds, time dimensionals and a few other unpleasant predators. There are also strands, more of an occupational hazard than a foe, which aggregate on a chronomancer as he or she travels and attempt to yank him or her "downstream." They can be extremely annoying.

    Quote Originally Posted by Coidzor View Post
    Do any of the outer planes specifically erode free will by causing visitors to conform to the ethos of the plane over a period of time by the nature of the plane itself directly (aside from Elysium/The Grey Waste straight-up "eating" even non-petitioners)? As opposed to indirectly, like visiting Ysgard at the wrong time of day and having to do something about the drunk yahoos trying to decapitate you.
    Not particularly. Mechanus will annoy you, Limbo will confuse you, but in general being on an Outer Plane would have no impact on you different from, say, living in a Material Plane community of a certain character over a span of time.

    When Acheron gets brought up, it seems like visitors end up getting twisted into going native if they don't leave quickly, and I couldn't tell if that was canon or fanon or a misinterpretation on my part.
    The second layer, Thuldanin, has a petrifying effect on objects and creatures that stay too long. That may be what you are thinking of.

    What are the majority of armies on the Cubes in Acheron comprised of anyway? I recall that portions of the Blood War are fought there, but my impression is that those aren't even close to a drop in the bucket, nor are the various factions that exist there purely because of various Powers giving afterlives of Total War to their petitioner followers. Is it a hodgepodge of the detritus of the planes and prime worlds, with various factions made up of petitioners, planar refugees, traders who stayed an hour too long negotiating a contract? Is it that petitioners make up the majority of the armies rather than becoming any kind of proper outsider or fiend?
    The Blood War doesn't touch Acheron; it's not in the way. What does go there are major conflicts between powers, as well as the armies of the kobold, goblin and orc deities, who wage great and terrible wars on one another. Their armies are comprised of some few living members, a large number of petitioners reshaped into soldiers, and the odd fiend pressed or paid into service.
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    Lightbulb Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by afroakuma View Post
    Lastly, gods tend to use their powers to prevent the collision of cubes or to push together cubes. This throws off the strict predictability, but it's an ironclad way to ensure that you're not in a collision zone.
    has "Aha!" moment Perhaps it is the only such factor, and perhaps Acheron's architects are displeased with the deities for messing up their carefully-choreographed 4-dimensional geography. Perhaps it was originally even part of Mechanus before being corrupted by people who insisted on fighting their wars there? scribble scribble

    Quote Originally Posted by Coidzor View Post
    When Acheron gets brought up, it seems like visitors end up getting twisted into going native if they don't leave quickly
    This would probably just be a factor of needing to adapt or die; if you get thrown into a war zone, there are few safe alternatives to becoming a soldier.
    Last edited by willpell; 2013-02-02 at 04:15 AM.

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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    What can you tell us about the prime material world of Ortho?
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Could you describe Temporal Hounds and Temporal Dimensionals in more detail (or, if that would take up a lot of your time, could you list the sources they appeared in)?

    Also, what other creatures besides Time Dragons live in the Temporal Plane?
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Larkas View Post
    What can you tell us about the prime material world of Ortho?
    Very little, I'm afraid. It's a distant Prime world; not on any of the usual Flow routes. When I say distant, I mean really distant - it's not on the orders of magnitude of some truly alien races, but... well, let's see.

    Ortho is off the Arcane Outer Flow, itself a rather distant flow river. It's not as far off as some truly segregated worlds, but it will still take 13d10 days of navigation to get there from the AOF. To get an idea of what sort of distance is involved, if you departed from Realmspace (Toril), you'd be looking at a solid year of travel on some large flow rivers to get to the point where you'd launch off of normal routes to get to Ortho.

    It is, of course, the Material Plane world that gave rise to the Harmonium, which is why you're asking in the first place. Unfortunately, it is largely undocumented beyond its placement on the star charts and its mention in that role. It is suggested that it's a world dominated by lawful neutral individuals and governments, with lawful good and lawful evil both represented in numbers and chaotic individuals few and far between and quite displeased with the world on which they find themselves.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Hmmmm, interesting. A pity it was never properly fleshed out, however. But your answer raised a question for me: where in the flow is Athas? I know it has the Grey impeding entrance into the Crystal Sphere, but is it out of regular routes in the Phlogiston, like Ortho?
    Last edited by Larkas; 2013-02-02 at 11:08 AM.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    I hope I didn't just miss the answer to this, but can you elaborate on the Harmonium? I tried googling it and got nowhere.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Larkas View Post
    Hmmmm, interesting. A pity it was never properly fleshed out, however. But your answer raised a question for me: where in the flow is Athas? I know it has the Grey impeding entrance into the Crystal Sphere, but is it out of regular routes in the Phlogiston, like Ortho?
    Fans call it the Crimson Sphere, due to the light shed by its dark sun (title drop!) and possibly also to the many lives lost trying to get in and out (it is doable, but nobody would recommend it. The Crimson Sphere is situated off of an unnamed flow river with one end in touching Heartspace, itself on the Radiant Flow (the main river linking Greyspace [Oerth], Krynnspace [Krynn] and Realmspace [Toril]). It's about 7d10 days out from the nearest river, and very close to a known sphere. It would take about 138 days to get to that sector of space from Realmspace; you could shave a few days off using some less known routes around the Radiant Triangle.

    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    I hope I didn't just miss the answer to this, but can you elaborate on the Harmonium? I tried googling it and got nowhere.
    Perhaps this will help you out.

    Also, Larkas, you may appreciate this.
    Last edited by afroakuma; 2013-02-02 at 11:51 AM.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Larkas View Post
    Hmmmm, interesting. A pity it was never properly fleshed out, however. But your answer raised a question for me: where in the flow is Athas? I know it has the Grey impeding entrance into the Crystal Sphere, but is it out of regular routes in the Phlogiston, like Ortho?
    If you want to know more, look up the "Ortho Project" on Planewalker. It's a fan project, but a rather expensive one, to flesh out the Harmonium's homeworld.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Eldan View Post
    If you want to know more, look up the "Ortho Project" on Planewalker. It's a fan project, but a rather expensive one, to flesh out the Harmonium's homeworld.
    Expensive, Extensive, or Expansive? I don't want to pay a lot of money to look at a fan project...
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by LOTRfan View Post
    Could you describe Temporal Hounds and Temporal Dimensionals in more detail (or, if that would take up a lot of your time, could you list the sources they appeared in)?
    Temporal hounds are relatives of blink dogs native to Temporal Prime. They have time-based powers (they can haste themselves, for one) and are generally rather friendly. Sometimes they slip into reality to hunt food, though it weakens them greatly.

    Time dimensionals are the "elementals" of Temporal Prime, creatures composed of the essence of time itself. Immensely powerful, even the most common and lowly can cause temporal shockwaves, pull temporal echoes of themselves in to join an attack, and absorb chronomantic spells while resisting most other magic entirely. Higher-level time dimensionals wield tremendous powers over time and are to be avoided at all costs.

    Also, what other creatures besides Time Dragons live in the Temporal Plane?
    The aforementioned two creatures, plus chronovoids (a type of aggressive splitting ooze), temporal gliders (mantalike beings that slide between timestreams), temporal stalkers (undead that hunt linear intruders in Temporal Prime), tether beasts (behir-like beasts that stalk along lifelines, devouring any prey they can get) and vortex spiders (relatives of the phase spider, they spin concealing webs in vortices to trap their victims).

    Quote Originally Posted by DMofDarkness View Post
    Expensive, Extensive, or Expansive? I don't want to pay a lot of money to look at a fan project...
    Extensive. They're putting a lot of work into it, which is very cool. Fanmade stuff for outdated settings tends to put a great deal of care into it (the star chart I consult on distances has included even third-party worlds such as Golarion based on context when there's no canon available).
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  22. - Top - End - #1132
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by willpell View Post
    has "Aha!" moment Perhaps it is the only such factor, and perhaps Acheron's architects are displeased with the deities for messing up their carefully-choreographed 4-dimensional geography. Perhaps it was originally even part of Mechanus before being corrupted by people who insisted on fighting their wars there? scribble scribble
    Acheron has no architects. None of the Outer Planes do. Look, if you don't like canon, then you don't like canon (Asmodeus only knows that I hate quite a bit of it) but stop acting like just because the canon you're learning here is something you dislike it must be wrong and non-canon.

    Yes, Acheron looks a little Chaotic on the outside. You know what, from the outside Carceri looks a little lawful. But Acheron isn't chaotic. Acheron is battle without resolution, law without harmony, order without structure, misery without hope, death without glory, unity without individuality. Acheron is not a plane that hates you; indeed, it is Acheron's utter indifference to you that eventually kills you. Acheron is the grinding monotony of hopelessness, and it is the weary horror of cynicism so great that it consumes morality. The sergeant who grows weary of fighting corruption and embraces bribery goes to Acheron; the office drone who takes out his misery on others by providing them barriers to actual help goes to Acheron. It is the punishment for which there was no crime, the penalty without a violation, the monolithic crushing indifference of Law with no moral compass, of conflict without belief, of tyranny without vanity.

    Acheron doesn't hate you.

    It wants you to die anyway.
    Last edited by Lord_Gareth; 2013-02-02 at 08:07 PM.


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Well spoken, sir.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Lord_Gareth View Post
    *Planar flavor text that blows anything I've read from wizards stright to the bowels of Nessus*
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Quote Originally Posted by 'Able' Xanthis View Post
    This is what a properly motivated caster is like, people. Concussive explosions able to rip the front end of a hummer in twain and Chilling is using them to filter out those who don't make the cut. Those unworthy of his true magistic might.

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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
    Sigg'd ^_^


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Here here. That was a mighty good description.

    Would anyone happen to have a similar one for Carceri / Tarterus (whichever you want to all it).
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Carceri, the Red Prison, is a plane of injustice. Carceri is a mockery of law and lawful thinking, seen through a lens of powerful and self-defeating malevolence. Carceri is full of vain struggle, wretched anguish, trapped rage, and a heady mix of hope and despair that drives its inhabitants mad. From the outside, Carceri looks lawful - it is a prison, after all - but the thing that separates Carceri from ordinary prisons is that no one is in charge, and despite delusions to the contrary no one can ever be in charge. Though the denizens of Carceri make some effort to separate 'prisoners' from people who 'just live there' (that is, who are not locked up in a specific prison complex, prison structure, or torment) the truth is that all being in Carceri are prisoners, trapped there by their own fear, hate, mistrust, paranoia, vices, greed, desires, and malice.

    And, really, that's the thrust of Carceri. The Red Prison mocks you with hope, offering escape and giving only frustration and despair. Even if you leave, it drags you right back, proving that any escape is merely temporary. Its "wardens" cannot leave, and they cannot impose order on their prisoners any further than the reach of their weapons. Riots and murder abound, a seething mass of hate and frustration that shakes the bars and rattles the cages, echoing through the plane and mixing with the shrieks of pain and pleasure. Really, it's not the plane keeping you there, it's you.

    It was always you. It's Carceri's greatest and cruelest irony. In the end, the reason you will never leave is that even if you were fit for society once, you never will be again. You can leave Carceri, but Carceri, it never leaves you.


    Quote Originally Posted by Chilingsworth View Post
    Wow! Not only was that awesome, I think I actually kinda understand Archeron now. If all the "intermediate" outer planes got that kind of treatment, I doubt there would be anywhere near as many critics of their utility.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Ooh, so deinitely not a holiday location then.

    Thanks for that Gareth! Helps my BBEG development a ton.
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    *watches thread function on cruise control*
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    Default Re: afroakuma's Planar Questions Thread! (You ask, I'll answer)

    Acheron and Carceri have now jumped way closer to the top of my list of most interesting planes. I really like how they're corrupted versions of the opposites of their ethical components; that's just so incredibly fitting.
    Last edited by Answerer; 2013-02-03 at 10:55 AM.

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