• The VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!

Acererak and Orcus

BOZ

Creature Cataloguer
I'm trying to find some details on the connection between Acererak and Orcus. I was thinking a good place to start would be "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" by Bruce Cordell, but I'm not sure where specifically to look (there are well over 100 pages after all).

Do you know any other sources where I might find this information also?
 

log in or register to remove this ad

Shemeska

Adventurer
The late 3.x Dragon #353 article that covered Moil also touches on some of the same ground as RttToH with the shared connections of Orcus and Acererak to the demiplane, but not a whole lot of new stuff specific to them rather than the demiplane itself. There was some other stuff that was trimmed out for space, but that's irrelevant for your purposes. :)
 



Shemeska

Adventurer
I think the 4e Tomb of Horrors hardback has some detail on this but could be wrong.

I haven't read the 4e one, but is it set in the generic 4e PoL universe, or is it cohesive with the prior lore regarding Acererak etc? PoL doesn't really have any continuity with previous stuff, even within nominally the same campaign settings like FR.
 

Ripzerai

Explorer
I haven't read the 4e one, but is it set in the generic 4e PoL universe, or is it cohesive with the prior lore regarding Acererak etc? PoL doesn't really have any continuity with previous stuff, even within nominally the same campaign settings like FR.

The answer is kind of both. It's a sequel to Return to the Tomb of Horrors, referencing its events but taking place about a century later. However, it uses fourth edition gods rather than Greyhawk gods and uses the 4th edition cosmology rather than the 2nd edition cosmology that Return to the Tomb of Horrors used. Acererak's domain is still essentially in the Negative Energy Plane, but it's described as a voidlike region within the Shadowfell rather than a plane in its own right.

I think this is true of a number of 4th edition things. For example, 4th edition's Monster Manual 2 refers to the events of the Savage Tide Adventure Path, 4th edition's Underdark contains a version of Erelhei-Cinlu that continues the storyline established in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd edition, and 4th edition Forgotten Realms refers heavily to previous-edition events. And the Scales of War Adventure Path that was serialized in 4e Dungeon Magazines is an explicit sequel to the Incursion storyline that appeared in 3e Dungeon Magazines, taking place about 25 years later.

So there's definitely some continuity between editions, but they've changed some things as well. For me, at least, it's not as simple as 4th edition things taking place in an entirely different multiverse than 3rd edition things. Rather, I see many of the designers trying to continue old storylines and plot threads, with some constraints.

So anyway, I think 4e's Tomb of Horrors is a valid source for information on Acererak's relationship with Orcus, since the changes they made to the continuity don't affect this (and anyway, the Wikipedia article should cover all editions). I'd also check out "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" by Bruce R. Cordell, in Dragon #249.
 
Last edited:

Tharian

First Post
Going back to the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, The main section I saw mention of Orcus was the opening section of "The City That Waits" on page 56 when describing that location's background. There were a couple of other pieces that mentioned Orcus, but didn't seem to delve into the connection between the two.
 

grodog

Hero
I don't recall offhand if the Vecna: Hand of the Revenant comic book mentioned any details about Orcus, but it postulates origins for Acererak, so it may be worth a look.

I'm sure Rip will remember better than I do :D
 


Ripzerai

Explorer
Yeah, the comic doesn't mention Orcus.

But here we go, "Return to the Tomb of Horrors" from Dragon #249 says this:

"While alive, Acererak built an unholy temple to a now deceased power. When the project neared completion, he slew every worker, excavator, and consecrating priest who had assisted in the temple’s construction."

Okay, they don't mention the name of this power, but anyone who has read Dead Gods should be able to guess who it was. This article was from 1998, and Orcus wouldn't be officially resurrected until 2001's Manual of the Planes.

The Dragon article goes on to the note that the result of Acererak's temple-building was the classic Tomb of Horrors module. Area 14 of the Tomb of Horrors is the Chapel of Evil (and here I'm quoting from the original Tomb of Horrors, page 5), "obviously some sort of temple area - there are scenes of normal life painted on the walls, but the people have rotting flesh, skeletal hands, worms eating them, etc." Yeah, this is a temple of Orcus. I don't know how to explain the "faint aura of good detected," unless the temple of Orcus was formerly a temple to some good deity, now defiled.

The introduction to the "City That Waits" section mentioned by Tharian above notes that Orcus created the demiplane of Moil and then "never came again to the city, for he was slain by Kiaransalee, drow goddess of vengeance, and passed from the knowledge of both gods and men."

Acererak "had discovered its existences through his researches when he was still a breathing man. With its creator gone and its inhabitants dead, Acererak claimed it as his own."

Okay, the concrete connection between Acererak and Orcus is in the journal booklet, page 7:

"Acererak found the means to study sorcery and evil necromancy. Being an entity of enchanted lineage himself, these arts came quickly to him, and he soon became a master of spells. In the text, there was also a reference to someone or something called Tenebrous, to which Acererak owed much of his power, but the details are unfortunately not explained."

Note that Acererak was both a magic user and a cleric (1st edition Tomb of Horrors, page 10), so it seems safe to assume he was a cleric of Orcus.

If you don't think it's safe, there's this quote from Bruce Cordell in Dragon #371 (page 65):

"Bruce: I developed an entire backstory for Acererak that wasn’t included the original Tomb of Horrors by Gary Gygax for two reasons. One, Return to the Tomb of Horrors was a boxed set and I had room to do so, and two, because discovering Acererak’s backstory and future plans set the stage for all that occurred in RtToH. I developed his origins as a persecuted tiefling child to his development as a wizard and priest of Orcus, to his creation of his tomb that was actually a test to winnow souls, to his final Fortress of Conclusion."

And of course Dead Gods credits Acererak in part for bringing Tenebrous back from death into undeath (page 6): "Forces - possibly inadvertant, possibly not - conspired to bring the dead god back. Somewhere in a tiny demiplane known as the City That Waits, a number of the former Abyssal lord's worshipers suddenly awoke from their eternal slumber. Somewhere on the Prime, a lich named Acererak stirred up the dark suspension of the Negative Energy Plane with a barmy scheme."

Anyway, to sum up the connections:

1. Acererak owes Orcus much for his rise to power (Journal booklet, page 7). He was a cleric of Orcus (Tomb of Horrors (1978), page 10; Dragon #371, page 65).
2. Acererak built a temple to Orcus, killing every worker and sealing them within. This would become his Tomb of Horrors. The temple area is area 14 of the classic tomb, and the workers are sealed in the Undertomb below (as detailed in Dragon #249, page 38-39).
3. Orcus created the City That Waits. Acererak made the City That Waits his own abode after Orcus's death (Adventure booklet, page 56).
4. Acererak's tampering with the Negative Energy Plane, along with his waking the undead in the City That Waits and the last prayers of Quah-Nomag, brought Orcus back to an undead shadow of his former self (Dead Gods, page 6).
 
Last edited:

Voidrunner's Codex

Remove ads

Top